Chapter 98 — Karen Decides to "Call Herself"
"You'll find out in a minute. Get out of the car."
With that, William took Karen out of the BMW.
He locked the doors, then led her straight into the landfill.
It was winter, so the stench wasn't as unbearable as usual—still within a tolerable range.
But Karen's face already screamed disgust.
"Hey—what the hell are you bringing me here for?"
Karen's patience was wearing thin, and the famous "blonde sweetheart" was starting to get irritated.
"We're looking for something. And then we're gonna play this."
Seeing her mood turning sour, William calmly reached into his pocket and pulled out a Beretta M9, handing it to her.
"H—holy shit… is this a real gun?" Karen froze, shocked.
"Yeah. In a minute, we'll find a mannequin or something. You'll imagine it as the person you hate the most…"
William's voice was steady, casual, like he was suggesting a fun little activity.
"…and then you shoot it."
Karen's bones were wired for thrills.
So bringing her here? Bringing out a real gun?
William knew exactly what he was doing.
Sure enough, the moment Karen understood—
her earlier boredom vanished instantly.
Her eyes lit up.
"Thank you, William."
This time, her gratitude was genuine.
In her mind, it wasn't just a gun.
It was William knowing she was hurting… and deliberately bringing her somewhere she could explode.
That kind of attention—
Karen found it… comforting.
A few minutes later, the two of them dug through the trash and found a mannequin.
It was still relatively clean. William didn't care and dragged it out of the pile.
Soon after, they propped it upright.
Karen had played with guns before, but never fired a real one.
So William stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, guiding her posture.
He corrected her grip, tightened her hands around the Beretta, then flicked off the safety.
Leaning close to her ear, he whispered:
"Picture that mannequin as the person you hate most… and pull the trigger."
His words were like a devil's lullaby—soft, seductive, coaxing her into darkness.
But the truth was…
Karen didn't need much pushing.
She stared at the mannequin and, in her mind, pasted Eddie's face right onto it.
"Go fuck yourself, Eddie!"
She spat the curse like venom—and squeezed the trigger.
Bang!
The gunshot made the nearby homeless people flinch and duck.
The recoil was strong, but with William stabilizing her, it felt like nothing.
And then—
Karen snapped.
Like she'd finally found the switch to turn off her pain.
She fired again.
And again.
And again.
Until the magazine was completely empty.
To be fair…
"The South Side produces crazy women" wasn't exactly wrong.
William took the M9 from her hands, smoothly ejecting the magazine.
"You want to keep going? I've got plenty of ammo."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out another fully loaded magazine, clicking it into place.
Karen's lips curled into a bright, dangerous smile.
"Yeah~"
Karen didn't hesitate.
She took the gun without a word—this time not even waiting for William to steady her—and fired at the mannequin.
Bang!
Now the recoil hit her for real.
Her arm jolted violently, and she nearly lost her grip.
"H-holy shit! This is insane!"
Instead of getting scared, Karen looked thrilled—like she'd just discovered a brand-new addiction.
But after realizing she had to absorb the recoil herself, the South Side "yellow moonlight" stopped dumping the mag so recklessly.
Her arms simply couldn't take it.
Ten minutes later, under Karen's highly questionable aim—more "spray and pray" than marksmanship—the mannequin's head was finally shredded into pieces.
Only then did Karen feel like she'd truly vented that bitter rage she'd been choking down.
William stood a short distance behind her, watching quietly.
He couldn't help wondering—
with him interfering like this, would this South Side "yellow moonlight" still end up the same way she did in the original storyline… turning into the darker kind of moonlight?
"So? Done playing?"
Karen walked over, gun in hand, and returned the M9 to William.
"Yeah. I feel a lot better. Let's go."
Her mood was… complicated.
Truthfully, she had the urge to push William down and ride him into the mattress until he couldn't breathe.
William, of course, had no idea what was going on in Karen's head.
But even if he did, he probably wouldn't be surprised—
Karen's brain was basically made of nothing but horny chaos. Completely normal.
They got back into the car.
And what came next… both of them understood without a single word.
The moment Karen climbed in, she swung one leg over the console, straddled William, and leaned into his ear—
"Fuck."
William prided himself on one thing:
He never did anything that went against a woman's will.
"Wait. Let me drive somewhere quieter first."
He glanced outside—at the homeless men clustered around barrels of fire—and blocked Karen's incoming kiss with one hand.
Karen followed his gaze toward the people outside.
"You don't think that makes it more exciting?"
Unfortunately for her, William didn't have a "let strangers watch" fetish.
So he rejected it immediately.
"Stop messing around. Let me find a spot first."
Karen pouted slightly.
"But I can't wait."
William gave her a calm, almost lazy smile.
"Then it's fine. I'll drive my way—
and you do your thing."
Karen's eyes lit up. "Seriously?! Isn't that dangerous?"
William almost laughed.
With WRC-level driving skills, if he couldn't handle this, he might as well go revoke his own license.
So as the pink BMW's engine roared to life—
the atmosphere inside the car ignited too.
---
[Ding!]
Congratulations, Host. Mission completed: Successfully intercepted Lip and Karen's encounter.
Reward obtained: Metal Manipulation (Level 3).
---
A night passed.
Jackson house—Karen's bedroom.
William checked Karen, confirming she hadn't woken up yet.
Last night had been… busy, leaving him no time to test the new skill.
Now that he finally had a moment, he focused on a steel pen on the desk and activated his ability.
Smooth. Ridiculously smooth.
The pen floated into the air, spinning and dancing exactly as he willed it—like it had become an extension of his fingers.
"Mmm…"
Karen made a sound beside him.
William immediately returned the pen to its original position.
"You're awake?"
"Yeah. Just woke up."
Karen stared at him with sleepy eyes—
and they were full of satisfaction.
Yes. Satisfaction.
Because William had been terrifyingly good last night.
Even with her obscene amount of experience, she'd been utterly crushed—no chance to fight back at all.
For the first time in her life, she'd entered a match that was a complete stomp.
Not her stomping someone else.
Her being stomped.
Now that he had Metal Manipulation, William planned to start preparing things he might need for the new world.
So he sat up, intending to get dressed and leave.
"Hey. Where are you going?" Karen reached out, grabbing him.
William turned his head—
and saw that iconic Karen smile.
A second war was unavoidable.
Two hours later, Karen lay flat on her back, staring blankly at the ceiling.
But inside her chest—
a fighting spirit had ignited.
Next time, I'm definitely going to crush this psycho instead.
William finally spoke.
"Hey, Karen."
"Hm?"
"I might be leaving town for a while."
"So?"
William shrugged. "Let's put it like this—if you want to keep what we have right now…"
He looked straight at her.
"Then during that time, you're not allowed to 'play cards' with other men."
"If you do, this ends automatically."
"Of course," William added casually, "I'll give you a thousand bucks a month."
Karen used every ounce of strength she had left to roll over and face him.
Her grin turned wicked.
"So you're gonna be my sugar daddy now?" she purred.
"Does that mean I'm supposed to call you Daddy?"
"Whatever."
William didn't care.
"I'm just making the rules clear. The choice is yours."
To him, Karen was just a fling.
And without any special abilities, she wasn't particularly valuable anymore.
He'd already gotten the reward.
Karen giggled, deliberately teasing.
"I get it, Daddy~ I'll protect my precious purity for you."
William shook his head, half amused.
What a little succubus.
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