Why Would I Even Attempt to Become A Hero

"Hey," Ren called out, rushing forward and drawing his arm back, his right hand clenched for a punch.

The lanky, snakelike man shouted.

"Hey, Boss, look out!"

Before the big man could turn completely, Ren's fist slammed into his face, connecting with his jaw and making him stagger forward. Then, the pitiful reality set in.

Ren's face contorted in pain as he staggered back, looking at his bruised hand. He tried to grab his wrist, but a wave of pain surged through him, making him wince and step back.

It was his first time throwing a punch at anyone. Hell, it was his first time ever fighting. His physicality wasn't the best either, so when he threw that punch with all his strength—without any training or conditioning—at an enormous and muscular man's jaw, the bones in his hand and wrist fractured.

No, no, no, no! This is bad! Really, really bad! Quick... I have to continue my plan!

With his face still contorted in pain, he bit his bottom lip, still holding his forearm, and attempted a spinning back heel kick—only to fail horribly and spin awkwardly before his body slammed onto the cobblestone floor shoulder-first.

"Auck! Augh!" Ren writhed on the ground, holding his shoulder, his eyes narrowing with pain and nervous sweat appearing on his face. Tears began to form at the corners of his eyes.

"Augh..." the boss groaned, rubbing his jaw as if trying to rearrange it.

His two lackeys ran up to him with concern, the lanky one speaking first.

"Boss, are you all right?"

"Yeah... I was just caught off guard. Looks like it was his first time punching something," he said, looking down at the sobbing and pained Ren.

"Hey, Boss! I got an idea! How about we show this guy how a—" The short one cut himself off by kicking Ren, making his eyes widen and drawing a gasp from his lips. "—bout we show him what a real punch feels like?”

This is bad, this is bad, this is bad...

Ren shifted his eyes toward the nun, squinting.

W-What the hell is she doing here...? She has her chance! She just needs to run!

The nun stood frozen in shock and fear before finally speaking.

"Please, do not fight! He's already down! Please, have mercy on him," she pleaded, beginning to walk forward—only to be pushed back by the lanky one, who turned to her in anger.

"You bastard, I'll—"

Before Ren could finish, the small man punched him in the face, making his head bounce off the ground. His nose began bleeding as his tears became more prominent, turning into choked sobs.

"Look, Boss, he's crying! Hah, he's actually crying! Trying to act all tough and whatever," the small man laughed, prompting the leader to chuckle and kick Ren in the side. Ren began to squirm, and the lanky man, seeing what was happening, smiled and joined in as they all began to beat him up.

It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! Stop it, please! It hurts! Stop! I'm sorry!

That’s what Ren thought. All he wanted to do was beg them to stop and tell them he was sorry, but it was already too late. He had punched their boss and tried to fight, and saying anything like that now would just make the beating worse. He was left hopeless, without any miraculous burst of strength like he imagined.

After a while, Ren was battered. He had been stomped in the sides, punched repeatedly to the point where he could barely see, and now lay there, sobbing like a child.

With a shaky and rough voice, Ren said, "Please... stop... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

His entire body burned with pain. All he could do was ask for forgiveness and beg them to stop. And to his surprise, the men did stop, their fists bloody and faces slick with sweat.

"Crap, Boss... Did we go too far? Is he dead?"

"I—I don't know... W-We should get out of here before someone sees us," the boss stammered, beginning to run.

"What about the woman?" the lanky one asked.

"Forget about her! Hurry up!"

The lanky man followed, and soon, all their footsteps faded into the distance. That’s when the nun quickly crawled to the broken man lying on the ground. Her face filled with extreme concern, she grabbed his hand and clutched it tightly.

Ren heard muffled words as his vision began to dim, the adrenaline wearing off.

"Don't worry, sir! I will get you help from Mother! Please hang ooooo...."

The nun’s concerned voice faded, and everything went black.

***

Ren was alone by himself in a white space. 

As he floated, words appeared in front of him.

《How pitiful a man is in pursuit of a woman... You tried to be a hero, but instead, you were beaten for not keeping quiet and minding your own business.》

Yeah, that sucks. Why did I even attempt to become a hero? I'm not strong in any way. I'm not ambitious, determined, or brave. I'm not some prophesied human destined to save the world. I'm just a normal guy who got transported to another place because he was useless in the one he left behind.

Why did I think I could become a savior when I can’t even stand back up after a single punch? All I did was embarrass myself, make a fool of myself, and hurt myself. Why would anyone want to become a hero? Right… because they were born with some talent, some purpose. All I have, right now, is myself. Not Dad, not Mom, not any of the friends I had before I shut myself off. Just me. So I should only do things for myself. Right?

《That’s right. You should only do things for yourself. You did that. You decided to walk away from your home in anger. You decided to come here. And you chose to accept delusional outcomes with realistic consequences.》

That’s right... but it was stupid to do that. I wouldn’t have gotten hurt.

《You wouldn’t have made any progress in your own life... Right?》

《END OF CHAPTER 3》

Note from the Author:
“It’s me, once again! I can’t believe people are actually reading my story. I know it’s not the best read, it’s fairly slow, and all of these things just happened quickly. The pacing is gradually getting better, but I still have some time to improve. I’m going to start doing character facts at the end of each chapter when an important character appears, or when I think a character should be fleshed out more. I may make an entire chapter to explain what things do or how the world works to increase world-building so it isn’t just one-dimensional. Irrelevant characters will unfortunately be one-dimensional too. The nun seems one-dimensional, but I swear I’ll flesh her character out more. Anyway, that’s it for me! Bye-bye!”

Character Facts: Ren Yamaguchi

When Ren was around the age of 13, his father, named Shinji Yamaguchi, was killed in a traffic accident. Being an extroverted and compassionate man, Shinji would always get Ren out of the house whenever Ren just wanted to stay inside and play video games. He would take Ren out to lakes to fish or just walk and talk—in his terms, "man-to-man"—about things Ren didn’t want to talk about.

Once Shinji died, Ren and his mother’s relationship became somewhat strained. Ren didn’t go outside. Whenever he was bullied or picked on, he didn’t tell his mom his problems, which led to his isolation and the beginning of his thoughts of hopelessness, as if nothing he did would help anything. This led him to start reading novels to transport his mind into a different world.

With suppressed anger, Ren would always get scolded by his mother and turn his head away, saying he’d do something and then never doing it. He knows that he’s selfish, but he doesn’t care—because if he suddenly changed just because his mother wanted him to, he wouldn’t be making a decision for himself as an adult.

He feels guilt and often thinks about it, but it quickly subsides.

Question for the readers to answer if they’d like:

What do you think would’ve happened if Ren would have stayed home that day instead of leaving?