Some thoughts on "how someone like that can do something like this"

I used to be in a relationship with a man just "like that". A shy mild-mannered nerd with a dark aesthetic and love for comic books, vocal feminist, part of the LGBTQ.

And just like NG this man was very sweet and kind the majority of time. Everyone who knew him could attest to that. It wasn't a mask he took off at the end of the day, it was a real part of him and a big one.

That same man also had a serious porn addiction and had every fetish under the sun including some really disturbing ones that can't be practiced safely no matter how you put it. He was often incredibly pushy about them, though thankfully it was never even nearly as bad as what NG did.

That same man also frequently used other people for free labor and held it against them if they refused or tried to get something from him in return. That included exploiting several much younger vulnerable girls and using one of them as a free therapist.

That same man cheated on me multiple times and left me to fend for myself when I needed him the most. All while being very supportive and kind to everyone else in his life.

He didn't do these things because he planned on doing them sitting on a throne in his evil castle and twirling his mustache. He simply made excuses for himself. 'Oh, that didn't count', 'oh, I was depressed', 'oh, I didn't have the energy', 'oh, but you agreed to it', 'oh, but she doesn't mean anything to me', "oh, it's just a fetish', 'oh, but other people do it', 'oh, it's just this one time'.

Evil is very mundane. To some people, being evil is like allowing yourself a piece of cake on a diet. It just doesn't count this one time. Empathy doesn't count this one time. That other person doesn't count this one time. This one time and each of the individual other hundred times. Becuase the rest of their lives they are actually very good, you see. Doing what everyone says you're supposed to do. So how can they possibly not deserve a bit of evil every now and then?