Chapter Twenty Five - Playing A Game.

During their break, Tyler and David sat inside the former's empty cell and stared at the chessboard with squinted eyes. The former couldn't believe this was happening.

At first, when the two of them were playing casually, Tyler even felt that he was going to win! But at one point, David used such an unexpected move that the other person was stunned and had to recreate the steps in his mind before he could play confidently.

But just as he would use two or three of his tactics, the other would again use some of his unexpected moves and surprise him!

Tyler really wanted to curse the other person to death!

He hadn't known that David was really an evil genius in chess. Otherwise, he wouldn't have agreed to it. But he hadn't really wasted his time in those worlds he went to previously.

He had learned chess. Well enough to save himself from losing terribly under the pressure of some top player in this game.

So Tyler exhausted all of his tactics, and the result was a tie. This was the result that he had expected. But when he glanced at David, there was a surprised look in his eyes. It was as if he hadn't expected this and suddenly chuckled.

"Ah...you've really changed," David muttered under his breath without thinking, but Tyler heard it.

"What?" Tyler frowned and couldn't help but ask.

Before David could open his mouth to save the situation, someone came barging inside.

It was none other than Alex.

"There you are!" He glanced at his son and smiled mockingly. "How're you, son?"

Tyler looked indifferently at this person. If there weren't any wrinkles on his face and differences between their jawlines, Alex and Tyler could be considered to be twins. It was just that Alex was smaller than Tyler, and his hair was shoulder length.

Seeing his grown-out beard, it seemed he hadn't shaved for a long time.

Tyler didn't want to see this person. He wasn't the original villain, so he refused to associate with Alex. He was going to leave this world anyway. That was why he had managed to avoid confronting Alex, but who would've thought that the latter was so stubborn?!

Alex didn't even understand the sign when someone ignored him.

Tyler couldn't help but rub the bridge of his nose, exhausted.

To be honest, he was so exhausted with this transmigrating thing that he just wanted to die, for real this time. It would be even better if he couldn't wake up.

For a while, he had gotten a little bit of happiness due to David's association, but ever since the latter had backstabbed him, he came back to his bitter reality.

Had he just assumed that this was another novel where David was some "ML" who had come marching in the transmigrating system to save him?

There was a self-mocking smile on his face at that.

He was already in his depression mode when he had started this world. Now David's actions made it even worse. He feared that he might not be able to take it and end up doing something terrible to himself in the next world.

Just as he was getting these self-destructive thoughts, David said something to bring him back to the Earth, "Can you just f*ck off?"

Alex didn't like the way David talked. So he walked toward him and grabbed his collar.

"You two-faced person!" He glared at the male lead. "You shouldn't even dare to speak to me when my own son is readily seducing you!"

"Did you ever think of him as your son?" David smiled and looked at Alex in a provoking manner.

"Do you want to die?!" Alex was so angry that he wanted to punch the guy. Just when he was about to lash out at the other person, Tyler stood up and simply left the room.

If someone were to be chosen for giving an "escaping award" from the most uncomfortable situations, it should be Tyler. He had managed to escape from so many problems because of his mental exhaustion and depression that he really deserved this kind of award.

He went to the cafeteria and took the food, sitting on an empty seat without raising his head.

To be honest, he felt that the situation where David was trying to protect him was really ironic. The male lead was the person who had sent him to prison previously. What was David doing saving him like this?

Tyler wasn't a vengeful person, but he hated people accustomed to choosing betrayal as their only option.

So he was feeling pretty much complicated while facing such a kind of male lead.

Escaping from that place, away from David and Alex, was his better way out.

Why should I play some cheap game to get the male lead to listen to him? He could simply leave and live the rest of his life in this world in peace. And he would make sure to make up to himself in the next world and take an extended vacation!

He was habitual of dying like this anyway, so it didn't matter if he was hanged to death.

***

Back in the cell, David's eyes flashed darkly after seeing Tyler disappearing in the corridor. He wanted to rush after him, but he knew he had pissed off that person in the wrong way.

He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced coldly at Alex. "Are you done?"

Suddenly, Alex smiled evilly. "My son reacted just as I expected."

"What do you mean?" David frowned.

"You'll see." Alex smiled again and left the cell.

"When will you stop messing with him?" David suddenly asked the older man. Even he was curious about why this kind of father hated the villain, his own blood, in the original story.

"Never!" Alex spat. "I hate every single person who ruined my life!"

"How did Tyler ruin your life? From what I know, you seemed to be targeting him ever since he was younger." David was talking about when Tyler hadn't taken up the role of Tyler Smith in this world. When the villain was a kid, Alex had instigated the child's mother into breaking the relationship between Tyler and her husband.

The older man sneered. "Do you know the reason why Amelia suddenly decided to kill herself?" His eyes flashed with hatred. "Because she had realized I was merely playing with her! She couldn't take it anymore and killed herself probably because of being too embarrassed!"

David was surprised to hear that. Amelia was the villain's mother, and this kind of twist wasn't even mentioned in the story!

But Alex wasn't done yet. The hatred in his eyes triggered the insane bones in his heart. So he kept yelling out everything like a radio. "That woman…I actually never liked her in the first place!"

"Then why did you do this?" He knew this person was behind all the fiasco that had been troubling him and Tyler's peaceful life here. He also knew that he was the one who had secretly approached Elsa through an unknown email address to instigate her against them. Even if David hadn't focused on dealing with these characters, he knew what was happening in their lives.

He knew someone had sent Elsa those pics from the airplane. He knew someone was instructing Elsa secretly. And that someone was Alex.

But David was confused as to why he did even do that to Amelia in the first place and give birth to the original villain!

Initially, David had never planned to come face-to-face with this person. He found it somewhat troublesome and had millions of ways to deal with him. But he knew Tyler was going to leave this world after soon, and he didn't want to waste his time dealing with this person.

So he had ignored the old man all this time, but if it weren't for the fake documents prepared by this older man, fulfilling David's goal would've been difficult.

Thinking about it made him swallow his anger, and he stared at the man again. "And you just hated her, but why're you still after Tyler?"

"That's because I hate her entire family!" Alex spat as he trembled in anger. "Do you know what Amelia's parents did to my family?! They were childhood friends! All four of them! And they were even business partners!

"But Amelia's freak of a father snatched the company and hired a few gunmen to kill them all! That night, when I was just seven years old, I had already become an orphan! If it weren't for me staying at my friend's place throughout the night, I'd have died too!" 

At this time, Alex took a few deep breaths to calm himself and opened his mouth again. His voice was already hoarse. "I hated that family to the bones, and I wanted to destroy them thoroughly!" And he turned to look at David with his bloodshot eyes. "That's exactly what I've been doing."

"But isn't Tyler your son?" David was stunned, but he managed to ask this question.

"What son?! He behaves exactly like his mother! Just his looks are similar to mine, but his behavior reminds me of her! That seductress!" Alex hit the iron bar behind him with his fist in anger.

After a few minutes, Alex seemed to have realized that he was spouting these things, but there was no meaning behind it when he spoke to David. This person should've been his friend, but just like Amelia, his son snatched away his best friend too!

What kind of shitty luck was that?!

So he glared at David in anger and left.

But he didn't know that Tyler had seen all of this through the camera that he had installed on David while sitting in the cafeteria.