The Worst Villain is Actually a Cute Girl-Chapter 59

Chapter 59: Malice Devours Paradise

In the dead of night, outside the orphanage building.

The moon, terrified by the horrors unfolding on the ground, hid behind the clouds, casting the world into darkness.

The streetlights struggled to push back the gloom, but a strange chill lingered in the air.

It was always quiet here since the orphanage was in a remote area, but now the silence felt even heavier. It wasn’t just because of the early morning air.

The two people outside were fully aware of that fact.

They weren’t standing outside instead of in the yard without reason—they were there to protect the children.

Their footsteps melted into the darkness, swallowed by silence. Yet, a damp, unpleasant presence seeped through the shadows, unable to blend in.

Slowly, moment by moment, it drew closer.

Red shifted her gaze toward the presence. They were already surrounded.

From the darkness, several skull masks emerged.

Recognizing those masks was inevitable, and the two’s expressions grew more serious.

"Grim Reaper Cult..."

Red muttered the name softly before continuing.

"Rene."

"It’s already done."

Rene had extended her tendrils to surround and protect the children, ensuring they wouldn’t be caught in the chaos.

The moment anyone with ill intent stepped inside the orphanage, those tendrils would snatch away the intruder’s life without hesitation.

Red stared at the cultists with half-lidded eyes, pondering why the Grim Reaper Cult had shown up here.

There was one possible reason.

"Revenge, maybe?"

"Who knows. Maybe. But if they knew who was here, I doubt they’d be reckless enough to attack."

"They’re not the type to care about that. How did they even find this place...? No, wait."

The orphanage’s location wasn’t well-known. Few people knew where it was.

But Isaac, a former ally, did know—and Isaac was connected to the Grim Reaper Cult. It wasn’t strange for them to know the location.

Still.

They weren’t the type to pursue meaningless revenge.

Above all, the Grim Reaper Cult wasn’t bound by camaraderie or loyalty.

They were terrorists driven by madness, moving not for comradeship or profit but pure belief.

Which meant they had a purpose for being here.

The children? Or perhaps themselves? Could it be Lily?

"Well, whatever the reason, let’s leave a few alive and—"

Before Red could finish her sentence, the cultists suddenly launched forward.

There was no sound of footsteps. Moving swiftly in the darkness, they resembled elite assassins.

But neither Red nor Rene showed a hint of surprise or fear.

Rene lightly stomped her foot.

At that moment, tendrils burst out from every crack in the ground and gaps in the building.

Flesh-like tendrils shot toward the cultists with the speed of a predator closing in on its prey.

"Urgh."

"Aaagh!"

Screams echoed through the darkness.

The sound of muscles tearing and bones breaking was vivid, even in the shadows.

No matter how fast they moved, they were slower than the tendrils, and even if they tried to hide their presence, they were quickly detected and caught.

They thought the darkness would be their nest, but in truth, it was the maw of a beast—and they hadn’t realized until it was too late.

Of course, some of them, like seasoned warriors, managed to break through the tendrils and charge forward.

Dodging the tendrils with skilled movements, they aimed their iron staffs at Red and Rene’s lives.

"Hoh..."

Red let out a small breath of admiration, seemingly surprised.

To not only survive Rene’s tendrils but also aim for them—it meant they were quite skilled.

Red had underestimated the Grim Reaper Cult a bit, and this was a refreshing shock.

However, that level of skill was far from enough to take their lives.

One cultist, who reached her first, swung his staff toward Red’s head—only to be sent flying by an invisible kick.

The second cultist aimed a strike from the side, but Red easily dodged, swept his legs out from under him, and kicked him away as he collapsed, groaning at her feet.

Another cultist tried to launch a surprise attack from her blind spot, only for Red to grab his staff and twist it sharply.

Without even a chance to resist, the arm holding the staff snapped violently, dislocating immediately.

Just like that.

Without moving a single step from where she stood, Red easily took down the incoming cultists.

Even if their strength could wipe out an ordinary village or even a decently skilled Problem Solver office, it wasn’t enough to overwhelm these two.

Despite the overwhelming gap in power, the cultists continued to charge forward to their deaths, and Red found it puzzling.

’What on earth are they...?’

Before Red could finish her thought, a figure approached with a distinctly different aura from the other cultists.

For the first time, Red raised her guard. A tremendous force struck her, tearing through the air with an explosive roar.

The shockwave blasted the air outward and shook the ground.

Red’s body slid back slightly.

’!!’

Frowning just a bit, Red snatched a fallen staff scattered by the shockwave and hurled it toward the figure.

With a thunderous crack, the staff cut through the air, but the figure casually deflected it and took a step back, increasing the distance.

The moon, once hidden by the clouds, slowly revealed itself again, pouring silver light onto the scene.

"So, it was you after all."

"..."

Black hair, black suit.

Red eyes met black eyes, locking in a fierce stare.

The man lightly tapped his foot against the ground, as if shaking something off.

Red also shook out her arms, loosening the tension that lingered in her body.

"So, Midas was right. You were here, Choi Hyun."

At the name Red mentioned, Rene’s eyebrows twitched.

"Choi Hyun... Could it be that Choi Hyun?"

"Yeah. It’s the Choi Hyun you’re thinking of."

Choi Hyun.

The one who embodied Wrath among the Seven Deadly Sins.

Now, the sole surviving member of the Seven Deadly Sins.

"So, you had something up your sleeve. But you should know by now that you can’t beat me. You didn’t come here to die—so why are you here?"

"..."

Choi Hyun remained silent.

Invisible sparks seemed to fly between them as the chaotic surroundings grew eerily still.

A tense, suffocating atmosphere thickened between Red and Choi Hyun.

Both of them subtly shifted their stances at the same time, and just as the tension reached its breaking point—

"Enough!"

A sudden voice echoed from the darkness.

The air changed.

The aggressively advancing cultists suddenly withdrew, and Choi Hyun also eased his hostility.

Rene retracted her tendrils for the time being, and Red stared down the dark path beyond Choi Hyun.

Step, step.

Clap, clap, clap.

A man with black hair and narrowed eyes appeared from the shadows, clapping his hands.

"Impressive. As expected of the two of you. You’ve exceeded my expectations."

"Who are you?"

"Introductions are important for first meetings, right? I’m Prophet. I serve as the seer of the Grim Reaper Cult. Simply put, I give them advice and show them the way."

Realizing this man was the prophet Midas had warned about, Red and Rene heightened their vigilance.

Prophet smiled warmly, as if he were a friendly person.

"The reason we’re here is simple. We came because we wanted to become friends."

"Friends?"

"Yes."

Red’s eyes twitched slightly.

She tried to read the hidden meaning behind his words, but his cheerful, smiling face made it difficult. Not being able to grasp his true intentions was dangerous.

Midas had warned them—if they met the Prophet, they should avoid speaking with him.

Red observed Prophet closely.

Judging by the circumstances, his ability was likely related to brainwashing or hypnosis.

But he had no special tools, nor did he make any suspicious movements. If it was some kind of hypnotic or manipulative power, there were no visible signs of it.

He appeared to be an ordinary man.

Red responded with a cold sneer.

"Did the way people make friends change without me noticing? You came swarming in, attacked out of nowhere, and now you’re saying, ‘Actually, we just wanted to be friends.’"

"I just wanted to check something. And I believed that with you two, it would be fine. You’re not hurt, so it doesn’t matter, right?"

"Hah..."

At his shameless attitude, Red let out a scoff.

She hesitated, unsure whether to end the conversation and attack. It was rare to get a chance to interact directly with someone so high up in the Grim Reaper Cult.

Remaining wary, Red decided to keep the conversation going for any valuable information she could gather.

At the same time, she stayed ready to react at any moment should he make a suspicious move.

"So why do you want to be friends?"

"I... Ahem. We have something we want to do, and for that, we need your power. Normally, I’d take things step by step, let us get to know each other, but I thought, why bother? I decided to come personally."

"And the reason for that?"

"You’ll naturally find out once we’re friends."

"Not planning to tell me now?"

"It wouldn’t be any fun if I told you now. There’s a proper order to everything."

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Proper order? What nonsense. Red swallowed those words inwardly.

She slightly lowered her gaze but kept her awareness sharp.

She couldn’t feel anything from Prophet. There was no overwhelming aura or sense of danger one would expect from facing a powerful opponent.

So was he lying? She considered that possibility, but when she looked at Prophet’s face, she sensed no deceit.

Her instincts, honed over years of experience, told her to focus more on Choi Hyun than on Prophet.

She couldn’t figure it out.

She couldn’t afford to let her guard down.

If he had come here so confidently for such an absurd reason, then he must have something up his sleeve.

At the very least, Choi Hyun wasn’t his trump card.

"For someone claiming to be friendly, you sure like to close the distance quickly."

"It’s fine if I approach first. Everyone likes me, after all. And really, who would dislike someone coming close if they already like me?"

"You’re so full of yourself."

Red concluded that continuing the conversation any longer would be meaningless.

The enemy was right in front of them.

They weren’t the type to retreat just because they were told to. There was no choice but to fight.

"Sorry, but I’m picky about who I make friends with."

Red pulled her leather gloves tight.

Rene shifted her legs slightly, causing tendrils to emerge from all directions, ready to strike.

Despite the rejection, Prophet didn’t lose his smile.

"Everyone says that at first. But once they talk with me, they always change their minds. Even this friend beside me, and those you’ve already defeated—they were all the same. You’ll be no different."

Prophet’s lips curved into a chilling smile.

He raised one arm high.

Clap!

At the same moment, Red kicked a small shard from the ground and sent it flying toward him.

It had enough force to shatter an arm, moving faster than a regular bullet—so fast that neither the cultists nor Prophet noticed it.

It should have hit its target directly—

But Choi Hyun’s leg shot out and crushed the shard mid-air.

Prophet smiled lightly.

"Seems we need a change of scenery for this conversation."

Red stomped on the ground.

In an instant, her fist lunged toward Prophet’s chest—but Choi Hyun’s leg blocked it just before it landed.

When fist and leg collided, a fierce gust of wind howled violently.

The raging wind slammed into Prophet’s face, but he remained unfazed and simply snapped his fingers.

The ground shook violently.

Dark energy surged from the floor, spiraling into the sky.

It writhed like a snake ascending toward the heavens, cloaking the entire area in deep darkness.

The darkness morphed into the form of a colossal serpent, its massive jaws gaping wide as it descended to devour the orphanage and everyone outside in a single swallow.

Within the overwhelming darkness, sinister crimson eyes gleamed as Prophet’s voice echoed ominously.

"When you awaken from this dream, everything will have changed."