Chapter 96
A Strange Encounter (2)
Arthur let out a quiet sigh, then stepped back into the cage.
He bent slightly, lifted Han Sooyoung, and carried her in his arms without hesitation.
Then he started moving.
"Oooi… what is this nonsense?"
Arthur paused for a moment.
"So… you're awake?"
"Of course."
Han Sooyoung raised an eyebrow mockingly, then continued,
"Do you think I'm stupid? I was just waiting for them to lower their guard… then I was going to kill them all."
Arthur glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
"Sorry for ruining your plan, but I already killed them all."
Her eyes widened slightly.
She looked around and saw the corpses scattered across the ground, blood covering everything, and a heavy silence dominating the rooftop.
Then she looked back at him, her expression shifting into clear astonishment.
"Who exactly are you?"
"Why does it matter to you?"
She bit her lip for a moment, then said seriously,
"Because you're very strange.
You're strong… even stronger than Yoo Joonghyuk.
Your actions and plans are incomprehensible, savage… and yet you saved me.
Don't you know who I am?"
Arthur looked at her coldly.
"And who are you? Aren't you Kim Dokja's friend?"
Her expression changed instantly, anger flashing across her face.
"That damned bastard is my enemy.
I'll kill him at the first chance I get."
Arthur suddenly stopped moving.
He looked at her directly, his expression calm… a frightening calm.
"You want to kill Kim Dokja?"
At that moment, a cold killing intent emanated from his body.
Han Sooyoung's body trembled involuntarily, her throat going dry.
Her mouth moved with difficulty as she spoke without thinking—
"No."
The aura vanished instantly.
"Good…"
Arthur said simply.
"Then we're not enemies. Let's continue."
He smiled calmly and resumed walking, descending from the building and stepping outside.
"So… did you save me for coins?"
Arthur stopped and looked at her in confusion.
"?"
She laughed mockingly.
"Oh, don't make that innocent face.
You know… the hero cliché.
He saves the beautiful girl, gains glory and fame, and becomes everyone's hero.
A damn storyline, right?"
Arthur smiled quietly, a strange hint of happiness appearing—he felt an odd sense of familiarity with this girl.
"You've got quite the imagination."
"My name is Han Sooyoung."
Arthur smiled at her.
"They say I'm Arthur Narin."
Then he added seriously,
"And no, I didn't save you for some coins."
"Oh? So you don't want to become a hero?"
Arthur stopped and looked at her.
"A hero? Me?
No, Han Sooyoung.
I'm just a damned monster.
I'm not a hero, not good, not evil.
I'm just… me.
I'm Arthur Narin. Nothing more, nothing less."
She looked at him in surprise, as if trying to read something beyond his words.
"So you're just interested in saving a beautiful girl?"
She smiled slyly, resting her hand under her chin, then laughed wickedly.
Arthur blinked… then laughed.
"Hahahahaha… this is the first time in a long while I've felt this entertained.
You're amusing."
She suddenly stopped.
"What do you mean?
Are you joking? Do you think I'm ugly or something?"
"I didn't say that," he replied calmly.
"I only saved you because you were there. Nothing more."
"Put me down."
He smiled and set her on the ground.
Han Sooyoung brushed the dust off her black clothes, while Arthur looked around calmly.
Then she spoke in a low voice:
"This is a damned novel."
Arthur froze.
"What did you just say?"
"Oh? Are you interested?
Don't you know that everything happening here… is just a novel?"
Arthur stood still.
"Don't worry, you won't believe me anyway."
"I believe you."
Her eyes widened.
"What? How?
How did you believe that nonsense?"
"I've read many novels in my life.
And things like this… only happen in novels."
Then he fell silent.
He remembered Kim Dokja's notes—some lines he had glimpsed before…
predictions that had actually come true.
Then he recalled people talking about the novel during the fight with the small dragon Agniel, and how everyone laughed as if they couldn't accept the truth.
'So… it's a novel.
But who wrote it?
Why did it become reality?
And why am I here?
What is my role?'
Thoughts flooded his mind.
'Should I have saved those people instead of killing them?
Should there have been a king?
Was the story of the King of the Ruined World not meant to be mine?
Did I do the right thing… or the wrong one?'
He raised his head, looking at the sky as if piercing through it.
'Am I… just a character in a novel?'
He sighed.
"Who cares?
I am me.
A real person, not a character in some damned novel.
And who would be stupid enough to write a story about this madness anyway?"
He smiled, then started walking again.
After a few seconds, he turned around.
"Why are you following me, Han Sooyoung?"
"I'm not following you."
He sighed and continued walking.
---
"Tell me… why did you destroy the Absolute Throne?"
{Han Sooyoung has activated: Lie Detection}
'If I had my Joker mask, this wouldn't work… but whatever.'
"Fine. Let's play a game I learned from my impatient companion, Kim Dokja.
I'll ask you three questions, and you'll ask three."
"Deal."
"I destroyed the Absolute Throne because if anyone ascended to rule, it would destroy all of Seoul."
{Han Sooyoung has confirmed the statement is true}
Her expression froze.
"What? How… how would Seoul be destroyed?"
"I don't know."
{Han Sooyoung has confirmed the statement is true}
"One question left."
"Damn it… why did I answer?
Fine, my last question: where are you from?"
"From this damned earth."
{Han Sooyoung has confirmed the statement is true}
"Answer properly, you bastard."
Arthur smiled at her anger, finding it oddly entertaining, then waved his hand lightly.
"Fine, take one extra question."
"Have you read the novel?"
"No."
{Han Sooyoung has confirmed the statement is true}
"Then… if you didn't read the novel, how do you know all this?
Who are you really?"
"Your three questions are over."
"Damn you."
"Thank you."
"Aren't you going to ask?"
"Not now. I don't have any questions at the moment."
Before Arthur could finish, he heard fast footsteps approaching.
'That's not a human aura…'
"Where are they?"
A monster appeared…
a werewolf.
It was holding a human in its hand, speaking arrogantly. When the trembling human pointed toward Arthur and Han Sooyoung, the werewolf smiled… and bit his head off in a single bite.
"It's one of the Inhumans."
"What do you mean?"
She explained calmly.
"Wanderers have their ways of survival…
either coin farms, or the path of savagery.
They use the power of a meteor, like the small dragon Agniel's meteor,
and create a new race to survive."
Then her expression changed.
"I know this person."
"Who?"
"Song Minwoo.
Someone who stopped reading the novel."
Arthur noticed their scent…
and turned.
"Found you."
He rushed toward Han Sooyoung and struck her.
She flew back, crashing into the wall.
He stood before Arthur, sniffing the air.
"Why do you smell like that bastard… that bookworm?"
"Who?"
"Kim Dokja! Where is he?"
"I don't know what your connection to him is, but I can see your thirst for blood.
So get out of my way, dog… before I cut your soul apart."
The werewolf laughed madly, full of joy.
"I'll find him, kill him, and take the novel!"
Arthur sighed, tired and uninterested.
"You're weak."
"You bast—"
He didn't finish.
One strike.
It pierced his stomach and came out the other side.
He died.
Arthur looked at the rest as they rushed toward him like rabid dogs.
He sighed in exhaustion.
"Damn… you're all pathetically weak. I won't find any enjoyment in killing you."
Without mercy or hesitation, Arthur slaughtered the rest with ease.
{The death of the werewolf Song Minwoo has drawn the attention of the Demon King of Discord}
{He will remember you}
{He will pursue you until death}
Arthur laughed.
"Then come. Among the list of bastards who want me dead, you're the last… so maybe you should wait a bit."
Then he returned to Han Sooyoung.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah… damn, you really are a monster."
He grabbed her hand and helped her up.
They moved together—
And suddenly—
A gunshot echoed.
---
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