The Hated Villain Guide Knows How to Handle the Defiant

My take on the Sentinel-Guide genre, an evil-role handsome man who is an irresistible top, the sole protagonist, and a somewhat satisfying power fantasy

Shang Que, an S-rank control-type Guide, is every Sentinel in the Northern White Tower's worst nightmare.

He's arrogant and conceited, looking down on everyone.

He's selfish, malicious, and ill-tempered.

He turns purification into a cruel game, coldly watching partially mutated Sentinels struggle for their lives in contaminated zones. He occasionally tosses them a scrap of pity, recklessly breaches the mental landscapes of top-tier Sentinels, and watches from on high as they suffer. After repeatedly toying with them, Shang Que naturally earns the hatred of every Sentinel in the Northern White Tower.

But so what?

He's an S-rank Guide, the most precious and powerful purifier.

Until he has a nightmare.

He dreams of someone, another Guide.

Shang Que is an S-rank control-type, while the other is a double-S-rank healing-type.

Shang Que charges at least thirty thousand points for purification, while the other is compassionate and does it for free.

Shang Que weighs the pros and cons, while the other would rather risk a rescue when the Sentinel is unconscious, never abandoning a Sentinel or giving up on one. With misty eyes, he comforts those madmen: “Sentinels are soldiers, not expendable tools.”

The double-S Guide is a gentle, considerate ideal, while Shang Que looks downright cruel by comparison.

In the dream's ending, Shang Que is brutally avenged against. His limbs are broken, his eyes gouged out, and he is abandoned in a contaminated zone. His possibly peaceful life ends in despair, without a gravestone or anyone to mourn him.

“Whoa!”

Shang Que wakes from his dream and, after reflecting on his bitter experience, takes a good hard look at himself.

“I'm not that bad, am I?”

Conclusion: I did nothing wrong.

But perhaps he really could be... a little gentler?

And so the Northern White Tower's nightmare Guide begins putting on a “gentle” front.

He smiles at the resentful top-tier Sentinels, then turns cold while purifying them. He offers a hand to a dying comrade, then calls him an idiot. Purification fees are temporarily discounted. Sometimes, he even imitates that double-S Guide's compassionate expression, eyes misting over...

Unfortunately, he can't keep it up for more than three seconds.

Shang Que is still the same nightmare Guide.

But strangely enough...

The Sentinels who once hated him to the bone begin to look at him differently.

A savage wolf-type Sentinel bites down on his sleeve with his canine teeth. “Not enough. Do it again.”

A proud falcon-type Sentinel, eyes bloodshot, blocks his path. “Why do you smile at everyone?”

A self-restrained scorpion-type Sentinel's Adam's apple bobs. “Crush me. Trample me.”

Shang Que: “...A bunch of idiots, meow.”

The dream's events draw near.

That double-S ideal Guide finally appears at the Northern White Tower. Faced with his righteous condemnation of Shang Que's “cruel nature,” Shang Que knows he really does enjoy tormenting people and can't deny it. So he plans to finish out his last month and return to the Central Tower to await reassignment.

With such a paragon in their midst, the Sentinels once again come to his defense.

“Guide Shang has a bad temper, but he's a good person.”

“Guide Shang is a young master from a wealthy family. Do you expect him to be bullied at the Northern White Tower?”

“Sorry, but please bear with us.”

It becomes common knowledge that Guide Shang Que is temperamental, hard to please, and loves tormenting people.

The Sentinels start eagerly volunteering to share his bed, one after another. They even bid against each other without limit for his “thirty-thousand-point purification” rate. By the time Shang Que finishes a meal, rumors have raised his purification fee to four hundred and twenty thousand points, and it's still climbing.

Shang Que: “I've got nowhere to spend these points, so I'll just toss them into the street.”

[Reading Guide]:

Little Sparrow is the sole protagonist.

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