Part 16: Goon Playthrough - Part 16

Some do it to attain higher status or more riches. It's also a way to ensure you aren't alone when you are old. And sometimes love, or at least mutual respect, plays a role too.


You're right. For instance, an ugly girl like me would only attract men looking for status. They would try to climb the social ladder using my back for rungs. It was the opposite with Mother. She used her looks to attract a man of higher social standing. If you had a penchant for melodrama, you could say she climbed his dead body to be where she is now. Carmosa comes from a poor family. They had a title of nobility, but they'd lost most of their riches and splendor. The only way for her to advance up the social ladder was to marry, and she was ambitious. She married an officer who was relatively rich and had a lot of accolades. She probably planned ahead even there.




How can you say that? That's such a cruel assumption!


Cruel? It's not like she killed him. He would have died anyway. She just wanted something more out of life.


It's still a cold thing to do.


Cold? Sure it's cold—it's business! I don't see what's wrong with it. Mother's not dumb. She did what she had to.




So back then, was your life as bad as it is now?


Worse.


What? How so?




…


Listen, if you're not around, who do you think becomes the victim? Mother's always needed a scapegoat and Gloria would do anything to please that woman. I'm not as pretty, smart, or ambitious as them. So naturally, she humiliated me, and Mom didn't disapprove.


And now that I'm here, they no longer target you. Is that it?


That's exactly it. Mom and Gloria have a new scapegoat, and my life is finally a little better.


Oh, I see! So now that you're no longer tormented, you choose to torment me instead!


Of course! Nothing personal, but it's either me or you, and I certainly won't be a victim again. Besides, you should be grateful. Didn't your father shield you from the real world too much? Well, now you get to see exactly what it's like! That's the way of all things—you're either the hunter or the prey.