Villain Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

Noon at Decon Prison. Sunlight poured in through a palm-sized window. This was the brightest time of day.

At this drowsy hour, heavy footsteps echoed through the narrow corridor.

As bored inmates peeked out, a guard slammed the iron doors shut. Bang! Bang! The sound cracked through the air like an explosion.

“Did I say you could talk?! You damn pigs!!”

That greasy, grating voice could only belong to one person. It was George, the pot-bellied guard.

What’s gotten him so cranky today?

A metallic clank followed, and the bars slid open. The guard waved irritably.

“Clenner! Out!”

Finally. Is it today?

Never thought I’d be happy to see that bulldog face of George’s. You really do live long enough to see everything.

I hopped down from the top bunk, where I’d been swinging my feet.

“You called me? Is it today?”

Ah, finally.

One year that dragged on like ten. The day to get out of this hellhole had finally come.

Honestly, I don’t even belong here.

What did I do that was so terrible I had to be locked up for a whole year?

If they’d kept me in here one more day, I was ready to sue the government for human rights violations.

Sure, I was a key member of the infamous villain group, Clenner. And yeah, maybe Clenner tried to dump nuclear waste in Downtown.

But look, I betrayed Clenner, my own family, and stopped the attack, didn’t I?

Thanks to my bold whistleblowing, their decade-long plan, “Project A-1,” completely fell apart.

And yet they threw someone as upstanding as me in prison?

Totally unfair. Absolutely.

I strolled to the door with a spring in my step, and gave the guard, who was slouching like a melted popsicle, a sharp chin-jut.

“What, you not moving?”

George’s eye twitched violently as he stared me down.

“Shut it and follow me.”

He clearly wasn’t thrilled about my release. Typical.

But I was practically floating.

A bleak, black prison on a treeless island. Tiny windows that barely let sunlight in. Cold, hard concrete floors.

The ever-present smell of mold, violent and filthy inmates, squeaky mattresses, and itchy blankets. It’s time to say goodbye to it all!

The guards flanked me with sharp eyes, but I just hummed a tune and walked the narrow hallway.

My wrists were chafed from the cuffs, but I didn’t care. I’d be free of them soon enough.

To think I’m finally leaving this place after a year. People will call it a miraculous sentence reduction.

Even if I did turn over a new leaf in the end, the list of things I’d done wasn’t short.

The prosecutor’s case file was hundreds of pages long. I didn’t even know I’d committed that many crimes until I saw it myself.

Yet somehow, most of it got reduced. I was worried my lawyer was too dense to get the point across, but I guess we got lucky.

I never doubted my good deeds would count for something.

As I passed the dusty prison yard beyond the bars, I thought of that frustrating lawyer who visited during those long months.

His glasses always slid down when he talked, and he just couldn’t wrap his head around why I’d betrayed Clenner.

“What made you suddenly blow the whistle?”

“I just didn’t feel like doing it anymore.”

“…Sorry?”

“I said, I just didn’t feel like it anymore.”

“Right, but could you please explain why you suddenly felt that way?”

“Do I need a reason not to do something I don’t want to do?”

“Um, well… yes. It’s kind of important for your defense…”

Watching him scratch his head with his pen, I sighed in frustration too.

Why was it so hard to understand that I got cold feet and gave info to the heroes right before Project A-1 kicked off?

Was it really that strange to betray Demon Clenner, Clenner’s boss and my foster father?

I just didn’t want to do it anymore. Sure, I once thought our vengeance against the elites was cool. But that was when I was young and stupid.

Demon Clenner wasn’t even targeting the corrupt elites anymore. He was just tormenting regular people. Those lazy, dumb, pitiful civilians.

He called it groundwork for the “great cause.” But honestly? It just looked like a tantrum to me.

Running around terrorizing people like that… it started to look pathetic.

Of course, I didn’t plan to betray anyone at first.

It’s not like I wanted to sell out the only family I ever had even if they were hopeless villains.

But the moment I decided to change my mind…  

It was while I sat on a bench at Square Park, quietly watching people pass by.

 

It was an unusually blue, warm spring day.

‘Just a few days from now, high-level radioactive waste will be dropped right in the middle of Downtown, and yet everyone’s so peaceful.’

That’s what I was thinking as I watched the carefree citizens go about their day.

An old man fought traffic while crossing the street with a cane.  

A man ogled a woman jogging with his newspaper held upside down.  

A student had their lunch stolen by a seagull.  

A woman walked by with a piece of toilet paper stuck to her pants.  

And a child strolled along with a dog that looked exactly like them.

They laughed, clueless about their impending deaths. It was pathetic—and kind of funny.

But then, oddly enough, a strange feeling stirred in my chest.  

In just a few days, all of this would vanish.  

Imagining that day made me feel… unexpectedly hollow.

Was I actually going to miss them?

You’re wondering why a villain would think something like that? Well, even villains don’t live on pure hate and bitterness, you know.

Sure, there was a time when I loathed the world with every fiber of my being. I was just a kid then.

It was a pitch-black night and it was the same night I ran away from the orphanage.

I’d been hiding behind a dumpster and finally crawled out of that piss-stained alley to step toward the street where the neon signs flickered.

The place I was standing in was so dark and cold, I just wanted to move toward the light. That was all.

Then, a well-dressed kid my age pointed at me. Next to him stood an equally well-dressed adult. I still remember the looks on their faces vividly.

The kid laughed out loud, like he was seeing a monkey at the zoo. Meanwhile, the adult frowned like they’d just stepped in dog crap.

Startled, I ran back into the alley like a rat scurrying from the light.

Back then, I was no different from Demon Clenner.

I hated the ones who had full bellies, wore fine clothes, and were never lonely because they had people who loved them. Those people were so happy they couldn’t help but smile. I wanted all of them to die.

But that was back when I wandered the slums like a stray with its ribs showing. Not anymore.

Now? They’re all pointing fingers at each other, calling one another stupid and they’re going to destroy themselves in a few days?

I couldn’t even laugh. It was just… dull.

That bright spring day, I lost interest in Project A-1. No, more than that, I came to loathe it.

It was never my wish to destroy this city. It was his, my foster father’s.

He was the one burning with rage after losing his family. Not me. They weren’t even my real family.

I’d never even seen their faces. They were long gone before I was adopted.

Looking back, the idea that I was seeking revenge on their behalf is almost laughable.

I was just the pretend child Demon Clenner picked up for kicks. He’d always warn me not to confuse fiction with reality whenever I called him “father.”

When I once demanded to know his real name, he slapped me across the face and told me to stop whining like a child.

Maybe it was time to finally listen to him.

If I’m fake, then I should act fake. No more suffering for the sake of his dead family.

Let those dumb, clueless people keep living their boring lives, smiling like idiots with no idea they’re supposed to die soon.

That was far more entertaining. That’s why I betrayed him. That’s it.

Do I really need a more profound reason?

And honestly, things got way more interesting after I turned on Demon Clenner.

Sure, prison life wasn’t exactly fun… but still.

 

At the prison exit, I was waiting for release review.

George threw a sneering glance my way.

“Don’t get too excited just yet, Chichi. The outside’s worse than hell.”

Worse than hell, huh? As if he didn’t know I’d crawled my way up from that hell already.

Getting looked down on by a pig like him. Seriously, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Inmate number P1002, Chichi Clenner. Step outside.”

Beep. A mechanical chime rang as the door slid open.

I didn’t walk out right away. Instead, I tilted my head and stared straight at George, eyes cold as ice.

Don’t know my name? Chichi Clenner. A-Class psychic, you idiot.

Looks like he thinks I’m harmless with this suppression collar on. But take this thing off, and I could crush a pig like him with a flick of my finger.

As I stood there staring him down, sweat started to bead on George’s forehead. Took him long enough to remember my reputation.

Just then—wham!—another guard shoved me in the back.

“Chichi Clenner, move it!”

But hey, it’s my glorious release day. I’ll let it slide.

Still, if I see you out there… you’d better watch your back. That day won’t be your lucky one.

I turned sharply and stepped across the threshold. Toward the warm sunlight of freedom!

Behind me, George’s petty curses chased after like a bad smell. Guess his pride took a hit.

“Don’t fool yourself into thinking a criminal like you is being freed. Community service? Ha! What a joke. They call it that, but it’s worse than this place! Much worse!”

I flipped him off over my shoulder.

Watching his face crumple like cheap paper sent a crooked smile crawling across my lips.

“You’ll be begging to come back here! You’re destined to return!”

Ugh. A man who clings like that is just sad.

Come back? To this dump crawling with villains desperate to erase the traitor?

“Yeah, keep dreaming.”

No way in hell I’m coming back!

…Or so I swore.

Then why the hell are Hero Company agents standing outside the prison? And fully armed, no less?

I glanced at them and gave an awkward smile, pointing behind me.

“Should I just… go back in?”