“Nghh….” The father groaned.

“Oh! You’re finally awake!” A gleeful voice shouted.

“Nghh… What… Just happened to me?” The father shook his aching neck. His vision was still slightly blurry but he could see the shape of a long black object.

“Oh… Nothing much… I just beat you up slightly… Heh Heh” The gleeful voice said.

“B-beat me up? But I was… wait…” The father tried to recall what happened to him before he was knocked out. “That… boy… Jin… He was doing something to my wife…” Then, while thinking, when he was able to make out the shape of the object in front of him. ‘A shoe?’

From the shoe up, the father saw a man wearing a golden hanfu. “Ha ha ha ha! Oh her? I tied her up next to you” The father and mother was tied together bounded by a long rope.

“Y-you! What have you done to her?”

“Oh… nothing… but I think you should worry more about your two daughters and the stupid idiot Darius over there.” Jin pointed.

Currently, Meracle, Ophelia, and Darius was tied up all together as well. “I’ve separated you into two groups as you can see. Why? You’ll see. Heh heh heh heh…”

“Y-You madman! Let my family go!” The father barked.

“Hmmm I could… but I don’t feel like it.” Jin walked over to the group of three. “Hey~ Wake up~”

“Mmmmm J-Jin?” Meracle murmurs in confusion. The man in front of her was caressing her cheeks and slowly woke her up. One by one, everyone else woke up as well right after Meracle.

“Nope. I’m the trickster~ hihihihihi” Jin laughed crazily.

Darius, who was the last one to wake up flinched at the sound of Jin’s laughter. “H-Huh!? W-What are you doing!?”

Jin stopped laughing and took a deep breath. “Oh… I’m here to expose everything this family is. Whether it has a good ending or not is up to the five of you.”

“E-Expose!? What in god’s name is that supposed to mean!?” Meracle’s mother shouted. She was still angry that Jin force feed her with a ton of alcohol.

“Eh heh…  I guess it would mean that I will be toying with the five of you for a while. I also suggest to keep the smart comments to yourselves if you don’t want to end up like her~” Jin pointed to a body lying in the corner.

“A-A-A-Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Aria!!!!!!!” Meracle’s mother screamed out in shock.

“Mhm She died like the dumb b*tch she was. She was overly violent. Overly dramatic. Over all, she was plain annoying saying that she did not want to go along with my game. Oh well~” A crooked smile formed on Jin’s lips. “Now, anyone want to join her before I start my game?”

“W-W-Wait! What happened to all of our other daughters? Where is Ania? Sam? Adrian!? Rhea!? Fia?” The father asked in a demanding tone.

Jin paced around the room. “Oh… They were not a part of my game. So I sent them off to a very very very very fun place where the light will shine down on them. Can you hear it? Their souls are safe!”

“Y-You bastard!!!! I’ll kill you!!! I’ll kill you!!!!” The father continuously threatens him.

*Whap!*

Jin pulled back his leg and let loose a strong kick to the father’s face. “Ha ha!! Don’t you get it!? You’re not the one in command right now! I am! So I would advise against threats as well. By the way, you get three warnings before I kill any of you individually. But, if it so happens that everyone gets two strikes, then I’ll kill everyone here on the spot!”

His words resounded like a silent thunder within their hearts. They could feel that Jin was not joking about killing people. “I’ll start the game. Hm… I think I’ll call it a test of faith!”

“Now, Let’s start with Ophelia~.” Jin said in a merry voice. “Ophelia

“N-No! Start with me! I’ll take her place!” The father shouted.

*Whapap!* Jin kicked Meracle’s father once more to shut him up. “As I said, my game. No interference.”

“Now Ophelia. Let me ask you something. How much you know about Darius? Just how much?” Jin snickered as he asked Ophelia the question.

“W-What do you mean!? I know everything about him!” Ophelia loudly declares.

Jin turned his head towards Darius’ direction. “Oh? Is that right Darius?”

Darius, seeing that Jin was looking his way, turned his head away to avoid his gaze. *glup*

When Ophelia saw how Darius turned his head away a strange feeling of doubt sprouted inside her. “D-Darius? W-what’s wrong baby?”

‘So it has begun… oh boy… this will be fun.’ Jin smiled. “Oh… That’s right Darius. Tell us. What’s wrong? What. Are you keeping that many secrets from us Darry boy? Ha ha ha ha!”

“…” Darius stayed silent because he was afraid. He wasn’t afraid that Jin would tell his secret but he himself would yell it out loud in guilt.

“Alright then. I’ll tell you. Darius is gay.” Jin spoke out.

“Huh!?” all of them said in unision.

“Mhm. Your boyfriend Darius was gay from the get go. He was sucking every sized d*ck imaginable.” Jin made the lie up on the spot. He then walked right over to Darius to laugh right in his face. “Isn’t that right? Darius? Mmm mmm mm all that sticky white stuff must’ve gone straight to your brains but you still try to deny right? Ahahahahahaha”

“God dammit! I’m not gay! I have my own secrets! I can prove that-” Darius stopped himself before he leaked any further.

“Oh? Able to stop yourself from saying the truth? Hmmmm Not bad. Well then, let’s go to the next victim. Leah Cross!” Jin announced it in such a way that Leah, herself, was shrinking in fear. There was something a lot more different than how he was when he first came. He was no longer the warm, calm and kind person they knew. Instead, he carried a demonic aura around him that was bent on pulling every secrets out of their roots. “Let’s hear your secret as well ma’am. I mean, who don’t have secrets? Personally, my secret is that I am one of the worst guy any person can meet in their life time. Don’t worry. Even if you don’t want to tell your secret. I’ll tell it if you don’t want to say it.”

Leah bit her bottom lip that was still quivering in fear and let her head droop. “I-I”

“Ah… yes… The I’s. What is keeping you from being open and playing my game?” Jin lifted Leah’s chin upward. “Say, isn’t it boring to keep worshipping a mysterious magi in the sky? I mean, keeping on the morals, following the rules, sh*t like that?”

In Leah’s eyes, she pleaded to Jin with soft wet eyes. ‘Oh god. P-Please don’t Jin. D-Don’t do it dear. Please! Not while my family is here!’

“Humph! *slap!* Play my game or else you’ll die just like her!” A loud slap echoed within the room. It was so loud that everyone in the room could hear it.

“nnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiiii mmmmmmmmmmm ahhhhhhhhhhhhh” Leah softly cries from the pain.

Jin hits the wife a few more times until both her cheeks turned red.

“Dammit you bastard! Don’t hit my wife! If you are going to pick on someone, pick on me!”

“Well!? You heard him. Are you going to play my game!? If not, I’ll go to your husband! Then he’ll be my next victim!”

Once Leah heard Jin’s threat, her heart sank even further. “I’ll play! I’ll play! *Haaaaaaaa*”

The evil smile curved up so far that Meracle could no longer recognize Jin. The time they spent was short but she never saw this side to him. ‘J-Jin? What are you doing? Why are you doing this? Please tell me this is a dream.’

“I-I’m a part of the church’s inner circle…” Leah mutters.

“What!?” the father nearly had a heart attack from what he’d just heard. “W-Wait. Isn’t that a good thing dear?”

“Not just a good thing dear old man. It has too many good things. Care to explain Leah? Everyone is all ears.” Jin insisted that Leah would share everything there was about the inner church.

“*cries*… I-It’s… a church that engages in orgies, bribes, bondage and slave play, and the worshipping of the false ones…” Leah wanted to run and hide. It was because the inner circle of the church was so bad that once she realized that she was too deep in, the feeling of shame overwhelmed her every time she was home. She would try to pretend as if nothing happened every day and did her best to keep a straight face.

“!!!!” everyone was thoroughly shocked except Jin of course.

“She also engaged in one of those dark plays because it was too much pleasure for her. In other words, she cheated on you for a very long time old man and you had no clue. Ha ha ha ha!!!!” Jin laughed loudly.

“W-What!? B-B-B-But then!!!! Why!? How!? Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

It was such a sad sight to see. A man, who was raised to believe in good had to be quickly broken by such a simple cold and dark truth. He was tied to the one he thought loved him. The one who he thought would be by his side forever only to learn the taste of pure pain.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!” The father roared out so loud in pain that he nearly passed out from the sadness.

“Now that you’ve suffered enough Mister Cross, it’s time for you to suffer Miss Cross. Oops. I mean, Leah Cross. Miss Cross is too confusing since there are three Miss Cross. Four if you count the person laying over there.” Jin nonchalantly said.

“Stop it! Stop it Jin!” Meracle pleaded. “W-Why are you doing this?”

“Heh… Didn’t you always wondered why your father kicked you out Meracle? Well, this time, this is your chance to learn. Isn’t that right? Mister Cross?”

“W-Wait! I thought you promised that-“

“I promised that he won’t be my next victim which was you. But now, he is…. my next next prey.” The father was still crying his heart out but Jin did not let him continue to cry. “Old man. Since you are in such a sorry state, I’ll also tell your secret as well.”

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“!!! Please! Don’t! Please!!!!!” The father begged.

“No no. I’ll tell it for you. Rest assured. You can… calmly cry in peace after this. Ha ha ha ha ha!” Jin walked over to a drawer and pulled out a revolver. “Eight years ago, you went drinking with a few friends. You were drunk one day and heard that there was a legendary revolver owned by someone. At the time, you were so drunk that you went over to ask to buy the gun from the owner. The two of you signed a contract but you didn’t read the contract clearly that the special revolver cost over a hundred thousand D. You, only paid half of it. So, what did you do?”

“N-No!!!! Stop it!! Please!! Stop it!!!” The father cried even louder.

Jin ignored him and continued. “You went to a loan shark to borrow the other half. When you were done paying with the revolver, the loan sharks came in and pulled up the contract of loan. They came in and told you that it was time and yet it wasn’t am I right?”

“No!!! Please!!! Don’t go any further! I beg of you!! Meracle! Please! I’m sorry. Please!”

But no matter how much the father begged Meracle, she did not listen. Inside Meracle’s heart was a furious flame that she long held since she was disowned. Now, she gets to find out the real reason why she was kicked out and was not as simple as she thought. “No Jin. Continue. I want to hear it all.”

Her words caused her father’s face to ashen. “Y-You!!!! How could you!!?? I’m your father!”

“Meracle! I can’t believe you!” Leah scolded her. But the words of a mother held no meaning to Meracle.

After learning her parents’ secrets, she felt like she didn’t know who they were anymore. The morals that she was taught was almost extinguished by her mother’s immorality. Her love for her father too dwindled to near nothingness now that she was about to hear the truth. “You… were my father until you kicked me out! You too! You were my mother until you too disowned me! For a short time, I wandered the streets, and during those days, I had no one to help me. Not even my family members helped me. I went to shops to take care of my daily hygiene in their bathrooms, I went to homeless shelters that I once despised just to find a good place to rest! It was only by a stroke of luck that I was able to live in a different house and it’s no thanks to parents like you guys!” Fiery tears streamed down Meracle’s beautiful blue eyes. A clear and hidden sadness was held deep in her heart for a long time and it was only now she decided to release all of her sadness.

Ophelia and Darius was about to say something when Meracle spoke out her inner feelings. But Jin shut them up with a glare that says, “If the two of you talk, you’ll regret it!”

“*Sigh* If that is all you have to say Meracle, I’ll continue.” There was a slight change in Jin’s attitude before he re-commence the torturous game. “The loan sharks purposely forged a fake contract and switched the date to an earlier time so that he would be forced to pay early. But, not only that, the interest rate skyrocketed to an interest rate of 120% if not paid within that year. A long time passed and two years went by in the blink of an eye. You nearly was able to pay off the loan. But the loan sharks would not let you go that easily. Thus, they forged another fake contract, one that cannot be fought by the law, and raised the interest rate to 50% per month. Even as a general in the military, you weren’t paid much. So, they offered a way for you to pay it off. Can you guess what it was Meracle?”

“… I’m not in the mood to guess Jin. Just say it.” Meracle felt angrier and angrier as Jin progresses with the story. ‘A loan? For a stupid gun!? This is my father!?’ Her heart was filled with so much turmoil that she didn’t want to guess.

“heh… Fine. Since you are my girlfriend Meracle, I’ll tell it to you straight. Human slavery. He was offered to sell one of his daughters as a bargaining price to pay off the loan. But he did not know who to sell. He was so conflicted that in his moment of pain, he chose the person who gave him the most headache. You Meracle.”

Ophelia, Darius, Leah, and Meracle were endlessly shocked. “Y-You were planning to sell me!? Me!? Me!? For a gun!? You were planning to sell your own daughter!? You couldn’t have sold the damn gun!?”

The father couldn’t bear to look at his daughter and lowered his head in shame with tears falling from the corner of his eyes. “I-I’m sorry Meracle. I-I’m so sorry. But let me explain! I had a different alternative that day!”

“*Snort!* Of course you did. Because, that day, the alternative you had was taking the boy Meracle and Ania stashed away to be sold in her place. Can you remember his name?” Jin asked coldly.

The father shook his head. “N-No. I never knew his name! Ania never told me!”

“N-No way! It can’t be!” Ophelia, who could piece the truth together looked at Jin in shock.

At the same time, because she was reminded of an old past, memories flowed back into her mind. Though it was not complete, she remembered the haggard face that came to her that day. ‘J-Jin?’

“… That boy… when he came to your house by chance, he was tortured to the brink of death. He was starved, beaten and was… in a world of unimaginable pain all while hiding in a trash can. It matters not that you remember his name or not. But that day, when you found out that he could be used as a scapegoat, you were resolute to capture him and sell him in your daughter’s place.”

“*humph!* In any case, even if you couldn’t sell him, you could at least sell the gun back. But who knows when someone would buy the gun? Who would believe if it was legendary or not. Well, on that very same day you planned to sell him, the boy stole the legendary revolver and ran off with it and never returned. You… were in so much debt and now had to face such a deep state of madness that you almost took it out on your family. Not my definition of a father really.” Jin snorted. “But the next day, your debt was suddenly cleared as if nothing happened. The loan sharks came by and apologized with all their hearts and even gave back some of the money.”

The father stared Jin directly into his eyes with a baffled look. “H-How!? How did you know? How could you know!? How!?”

‘Heh… I think I pieced that memory quite well. Not sure if it went one hundred percent this way based on Mammon’s information. When I probed him for information, it became at least 80% certain. But still is good enough.’ Jin bent his head down for a moment and smiled. “Heh… Isn’t it obvious? Think a little longer old man while I take care of Darius.”

Jin came over to Darius and said, “Darius! Young and hopeful bank owner. But… you… hide so much from the family… it’s appalling!!!”

“*Che*…. I know you know everything about me Jin. No, Belphegor. You know so much about me and I know so little on you that I might as well tell it to the world.” Darius knew that he lost. ‘If... Why… Did I have to target this family boss? Why did you make me target them?’

“Fine. Ophelia. Listen and listen well. Darius is into animals and not humans.” He started to joke around.

Ophelia jumped up. “What!? You are Darius!?”

“Argh!!! Jin you bastard! Fine! I’ll tell the truth! I’m a debt collector! I work as a loan shark as well! I’m f*cken thirty and my purpose was to come here and turn you all broke!” Darius finally caved. If it wasn’t the truth, Jin would label him in ways worse than the truth.

“Ah! Finally said it! Good for you! Ahahahaha.” Jin felt extremely good by now. The first part of his plan was almost done. “But you forgot to add that you worked for the loan sharks that came after Meracle and her family all those years ago.”

“!!! How did you!?” Darius’ breathing gotten rougher as Jin expose more and more truths.

“*tch* In addition, the methods you guys uses are ingenious. You aim for their daughters or sons, seduce them, trick them to get a loan and them take all the money and leave. That very money goes back to the loan shark’s banks and now we have an entirely new debt bubble for not only the sons or daughters but the entire family. Very clever.” Jin added.

Ophelia furiously turned her head but could not see Darius’ face. As of this moment, she had millions of questions for him.

“B-But this time is different! I truly do love Ophelia from the bottom of my heart. Please Ophelia! Believe me!”

“I-I… I believe you.”

Just as Ophelia said she believes Darius, Jin pulled out an sp3 player and played the one sp3 file on it. “Darius: Psh I don’t love that dumb b*tch. The voice of the red haired man: All these b*tches are nothing more than horny sl*ts for your big long d*ck. Darius: Heh… That’s a little weird… The red haired man: Just wait till she gets in bed, she won’t ever leave you! Darius: When the time is right, I’ll make her take a loan saying that we need it to buy a car or a house and then force her into debt. Then she’ll never leave me!”

Ophelia head butt Darius using the back of her head in fury. “If I can get out of these bindings Darius, the first person I’ll kill is you!!!!”

“Ah! Wait! I can explain! Wait!!! Ah!!! It hurts!!!”

A smile ran across Jin’s face. Darius was a fool. He and Ophelia was played like fiddle. ‘Success. Darius a liar and Ophelia finally sees the light! Jeez…’

“For the second and final part of…. *badadadadabump!* Test of faith!, I’ll leave the five of you to your own things. I’ll take a long break and come back to talk amongst yourselves before I decide to kill anyone. Oh! That’s right, gonna need to bury Aunty’s body.” Jin cheerfully said before walking away. But as he walked out, he carried Aria’s body out of the room.

Jin went out the door with Aria in his arms. After getting a far distance away, he let Aria down. “Phew… Thanks for playing along Aunty. Couldn’t have done it without you.” Jin smiled.

“… Did you have to hit them?”

“Of course Aria. It makes my act all the more convincing.”

“… What are you going to do now? You seriously can’t be walking out in the middle of the night just to get some fresh air.”

“Haha… Ofcourse not Aria. But I really want you to watch over Meracle and the others. I want them to become a family again. Even if it means that I become a villain in their eyes.”

Aria Cross sighed in her heart. “There was a simpler way you know. All it needed was time…”

“Eh… I simply don’t have time Aria. I can’t stay near Meracle for long because…. You know… I think you know atleast..”

“Hm? Ah. That’s right, you are The Sloth right?”

“Heh heh…. I don’t know. Is the Sloth a nice person or a mysterious demon?”

“Whether or not you are an underworld ruler Jin, I thank you. If this does go well, I-”

He interrupted her praise mid-way. “Oi… Don’t. Say. Another. Word. I got business to do, places to go and people to meet until I come back. So…. Remember, take care of them. Don’t let them kill each other. If needed, jump in to prevent suicide.” And he left just like that.

“His acting is so believable that even I hated him with all my guts at that moment. Thankfully, he filled me in before I could stab the guy…. *Sigh*… You make yourself a villain so that even if you do prove that you are the better boyfriend, there would be no real winners or losers. Ophelia sees Darius for who he is and Meracle could be back with her entire family… You truly are an interesting person Jin. Shame that you don’t want to marry Meracle… We might even like a guy like you.” Aria muttered before going back to watch the five from a distance.