"Burn it."
"Burn… it?"
"Yeah, burn all of it. I do not want even a single gram to remain."
"But this is a ton…"
"And who cares?"
Daniel could not believe what he was hearing, and even more than that, he could not believe that the order was real, that it was not some kind of joke or test, because standing there in front of him was Arman, calmly, telling him to burn a full ton of Snow that was worth millions upon millions, a fortune that entire organizations would kill for.
And yet there was nothing on Arman's face, no emotions, no hesitation, not even the smallest sign that he understood what this meant for the market, or for their own pockets, or for the balance of power in the underworld.
"Burn it?!" Another now a female voice joined in with anger and frustration. "Are you fucking crazy, Arman?! Half of it is mine, and you think you can do whatever you want with it?!" She shouted as she stood at the entrance of the warehouse, dressed in a tight black dress and high heels, with two men behind her holding submachine guns.
"I made a promise." Arman said calmly as he lifted his hand slightly, signaling his men, who immediately began pouring gasoline over the stacked packages. "And I like to keep my promises, so yes, I am going to burn it."
She too could not believe it, yet it was happening right in front of her eyes, and she was forced to watch as a ton of Snow, worth around two hundred million, was being soaked in gasoline as if it were nothing more than trash.
Not by the government, not by the military, but by one of the key players of the criminal underworld.
Why is she staring at me like I am the dumb one? Arman thought, as for him it had a meaning, doing all of it, but looking at Melisa, she was not having it at all. More like she looked like she was about to kill him rather than anything else.
And well yeah she was more than angry.
"You lost your fucking mind!" Melisa shouted again as she pointed at Arman. "He is a traitor to the family!" She shouted as stated at him. "Kill him!"
Her order was clear, not just clear but, as the heir of the most powerful mafia family, but was the will of others.
But nothing happened.
Not a single shot rang out.
"You know, Melisa, people always say that money speaks louder than anything, and people like you believe that more than anyone else." Arman began, his voice still calm as he looked directly into her eyes. "But fear speaks even louder than money. And I am, darling, the fear itself."
This was corny… fuck. Arman thought as fast as he said it, and he had truth in it, but he needed to say it.
"Anyway," he continued. "You are nothing but a dirty bitch. So bye."
Nothing again. Not a single shot rang out. And now both Arman and Melissa just stared at each other.
"The fuck?" He looked at Daniel. "Shoot her bitch ass."
"Uh, but she is Melissa," Daniel whispered as he glanced at Arman, who was clearly delighted by it.
"Then you two go back there," Arman raised his voice at the two bodies of Melissa. "Kill her."
Well, they didn't do anything. They looked confused, or more so they were questioning which side they should join, while Melissa herself was confused by why his men weren't shooting Arman.
"Well, I am disappointed by all of you." Arman didn't wait on anybody, rather he pulled his own gun out pulling the trigger.
Melissa's body quickly hit the floor as the bullet went into her heart, while the two bodyguards got hit in their heads, dropping to the ground.
It was quick and precise, though in the process even Arman himself was unsure, as the slide on the pistol hit his hand, but he played it off cool as he turned back facing the tone of Snow and threw the gun there before hiding his hand behind his back and looking at Daniel, who was frozen, just staring at the body of Melissa.
"What do you think, Daniel?"
He said nothing first, he just stood there, his mind unable to process what he had just witnessed, but some second later he turned to Arman with a face that was drawn from life.
"I-I think you… you just started a war."
"Good." Arman said or more so whispered and with it stated walking toward the same spot where he threw the gun and grabbed it. "So I fucked up again."
"What—
Poor Daniel, he couldn't even begin to understand any of it, the burning of the drugs, the killing of Melissa, it all happened too fast, far faster than his mind could ever process, and before he could even catch up, the next thing he saw was his boss, Arman, slowly raising the gun to his own head and pulling the trigger.
And then there was the endless darkness filled with frustration to say at least.
"Why the fuck does it never work, fuck this shit!" He shouted, his voice echoing through the void that stretched in every direction. "If I act nonchalant and cold, it does not work, if I act like a fucking madman, it does not work, then what the fuck am I supposed to do?!"
[System: Be yourself.]
"Shut the fuck up! You said three fucking attempts ago that the woman who would appear would be a great fucking help!" He pounded his hand against the System Window. "But fuck no! If I kill that bitch, then I am fucked, if I don't kill her, then I am even more fucked, so what the am I supposed to do?! And Daniel acted like a little bitch when it was the most crucial moment!"
[System: You wanted to burn a ton of Snow, and moreover, you killed Melisa, the daughter of the Don. Those actions would have led to a great war where hundreds, if not thousands, would have died. Of course he acted the way he did.]
"But every single path leads to this! Every single choice, every single road leads to an all-out war! It doesn't make any sense at all! How should I even become a villain when everybody is a villain themself?!"
[System: It does make sense, you're just stupid. To become a villain, you must first be accepted as one. You have been seen as a villain, but you have not truly become one nor accepted. You were more like a problem than anything else.]
For a moment, Arman said nothing.
The anger inside him was so much that he couldn't even say a single word.
He did everything. He even killed good people because he watched movies and read books and knew that villains are people who go against the good and the great, but that failed too.
That is when he turned to killing criminals to become a villain there, but that too failed.
Everything failed and he suffered so much. And now the same System that said it is a blessing now calls him stupid.
The same System that abducted him from his chill life in the first place.
It had been months since he suddenly received this System that gave him only one purpose.
To become a villain, yet no matter what he did, it never worked.
He killed people, but it was not enough. He built connections with ministers and powerful figures in the government, but it changed nothing.
He took control over the entire city blocks dominating everything in his path, yet even that meant nothing.
He tried everything he could think of, everything that should have made him a true monster in the eyes of the world, but every single attempt ended the same way.
Failure.
And every time he failed, everything reset.
This was already the sixth time.
Each time the world changed, the country changed, the cities changed, even the people around him were different, with new faces replacing the old ones, new families rising and falling, new structures of power forming from nothing, and yet the main quest never changed.
To become the villain.
[System: Would you like to reset?]
"Yes, do it before my demons come." Arman said as he didn't want to experience it once more.
This darkness and void he floats in after every single one of his deaths is his own darkness, and more so it is filled with all the people he killed across all his life. And if he stays long inside, they come out with all their rage, begging, pain, and fear, just breaking Arman's mind apart.
It is torment, and the first time he stayed in too long and experienced it. Experienced the darkness of his own actions and its consequences.
[System: Beginning attempt Number 7. Good luck, Arman!]
It was a blink, nothing more, nothing less and from the darkness, he suddenly found himself sitting in a chair, chained down, naked.
[System Notice: Congratulations, you unlocked an extremely rare achievement.]
[Achievement Earned: The Worst Beginning — Reset in the body of someone who is being tortured.]
"Huh…?"