The Last Circle - Chapter 20: Voices of Perdition

Pain, Pain, Go Away is a novel by Sugaru Miaki, also known as Fafoo, author of Starting Over and Three Days of Happiness. Unlike Miaki’s previous two books, Pain, Pain, Go Away is not a rewrite of any story posted to 2ch, but an entirely original one.

The plot involves a young man who becomes a killer (by accident) – but his victim has the power of “postponement,” temporarily delaying her death.

In her last life, Qu Zhi tried her best to be a good wife who was sensible and did not cause trouble, a filial and good daughter who helped her family, and a good mother who accompanied her children. However, Qu Zhi worked hard and suffered all her life. When she was about to die, she realized that in the end, all she got back for her hard work were complaints. Her husband complained that she was an idle, rich wife all day long who wasn’t satisfied with her happiness at home, and that she was a greedy woman.

But after decades of marriage, her husband had a firm, deadly hold on all her money, and she didn’t even have a dime to her name, nor a property to call her own. Every time she asked for money, he would trample all over her self-esteem. Her husband’s cold and sarcastic words made her unable to lift her head, and his friends would demean her while drinking wine, making her tremble with anger. This man had once said he would take care of her, yet he turned a blind eye! Those people focused on her happiness as a topic, and made a joke out of it.

Even her three children resented her for her uneven love towards everyone, and their relationship only became more strained as time passed. She had spent her whole life as a loner, and she had nothing. Lying on the operation table, Qu Zhi thought that if she could do it all over again, she wouldn’t be a housewife. She wouldn’t have given her second daughter away, and she wouldn’t take care of her blood-sucking relatives.

She wouldn’t marry her indifferent, cold husband either! When she next opened her eyes, she was back to twenty years in the past. Her eldest daughter was still in elementary school, and her second daughter had been in her belly for several months…

Somebody once told a joke.A man ran in place all his life. He worked a job he didn't love for people he couldn't stand. But at the end of the day, the number in his bank account went up.That man got a second chance at life. He woke up in another world, full of adventures and romances and monsters and gods. And floating above his head he saw the number “1”. So what did he say?“Gosh I better make the number go up.”Not today. Not for this old soul. Reborn as a beast of battle meant to live a short life and die screaming, Garek refuses. He puts the madness of skills and levels behind him and sets out to found a little farmstead. He grows crops. Maybe someday he'll get a pig, and have bacon.It's a shame the world won't let him be. It's a shame that the warmongers and level-grinders hate nothing more than a soul at peace.He put down his sword for a plowshare, but when trouble comes calling, he'll pick it up again.

Upon entering the world of Genshin Impact, Lucas unexpectedly activates the “Villain Simulator,” forcing him to take on the role of a major antagonist in a simulated reality. His missions include:Bullying Keqing at schoolBlackmailing Shenhe into carrying out various tasksRaising an army of undead to destroy MondstadtAnd much more...To balance the evil acts committed in the simulation, Lucas must earn good karma by acting virtuously in the real world. However, he never imagined that one day, Shenhe, wielding a spear, would confront him in reality:“Lucas, you have committed countless evil deeds. Today, I will kill you to uphold justice!”Lucas: “...Wait, weren’t those just fake simulations?”