episode_0036

Magic and Ad-lib (2)

(*Click, click*)

Arthur was installing something in every nook and cranny of the hostages’ room, including the door and the walls.

“…”

“…”

The hostages looked at Arthur with fearful expressions.

“Oh, this is a motion-detecting high-explosive grenade. Simply put, if someone walks out of the door or if there’s a strong vibration on the wall, it will explode, blowing up this entire room. Technically, it’s an unquenchable fire that engulfs the entire room, but it’s all the same, isn’t it?”

“Gasp!”

“But if you all stay still, there won’t be any problem.”

(*Shuffle, shuffle*)

Arthur walked among the hostages.

“Ugh!”

“Move, move aside.”

As Arthur walked towards them, the hostages made way for him.

“…”

“Hello?”

Then, he greeted one of the hostages warmly.

“Do you happen to have something for me?”

“…”

“Well, if you don’t want to be a living hostage but rather a dead hero…”

Arthur said as he tried to take out the handgun he had just used from his pocket.

“H-Here it is!”

The hostage hastily handed his phone to Arthur.

“Now, did you hear that? Officers?”

After receiving the phone, Arthur held it up to the microphone and spoke.

[…if you touch the hostage]

“Yes, yes.”

(*Crackle!*)

As Arthur was about to start a cliché story, he broke the phone in half.

“…Ah, should I ask about this?”

Looking at the broken phone, Arthur said as he put his hand into his coat.

“No, it’s okay!”

The hostage who saw that scene shouted desperately.

“Really?”

“Yes! Yes!”

“I’m sorry about this. Do you want anything?”

“Yes?”

“Should I send you out from here?”

“!!”

“!!”

Upon hearing Arthur’s words, everyone, including the person in question, was taken aback.

“…R-Really?”

“Of course. I don’t lie.”

“…….”

“I should probably verify this. Stand up.”

Arthur reached out his hand and said.

“…”

“My hand feels numb?”

“Oh, yes!”

At Arthur’s words, the hesitant hostage took Arthur’s hand and stood up from the spot.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Wait! The grenade in here—”

As Arthur tried to leave the room with the person, a hostage urgently pointed to the bomb that had been hastily installed in the room.

“…Ah, right.”

(*Swoosh, beep!*)

Arthur seemed to have really forgotten something, as he took out a switch from his pocket and pressed it.

“Phew, that was close.”

He then nonchalantly spoke and left the room again.

(Click!)

“Everyone, be careful.”

As Arthur opened and left the room, he pressed the button on the switch again and said to the hostage in the room, “Let’s go.”

Shouldering the hostage, Arthur began to descend the building’s stairs.

“Do you know? The reason the police kept negotiating with those scumbags who took you all as hostages and kept calling was to find out their location.”

“…”

“However, those scumbags also knew that, so they kept changing phones during the calls. Thanks to that, your location was thoroughly concealed. And us… Excuse me, what is your name?”

“Oh, it’s Austin.”

The hostage, Austin, responded upon hearing Arthur’s question.

“While I was causing a ruckus, Mr. Austin here tried to trace the police’s location through a phone call. But unfortunately, I found and cut off the call before the tracing could be completed.”

“…Um, but won’t my location be revealed if I leave?”

“…Mr. Austin, don’t you often hear that you’re not very cautious around others?”

“Huh? Yes.”

“If you had told that story to another villain, Mr. Austin, you would have been dead.”

“…”

“Of course, not by my hand. I’m not saying I would kill you. It would have been someone else. From now on, it’s better for you to develop a habit of thinking twice before speaking. For your own sake.”

“Yes, yes.”

(Creak)

Suddenly, Arthur, who had reached the first floor, opened the door and went outside the building.

“Goodness, if we’re going to do this, we should do it in a more secluded building.”

Outside, Arthur looked at the abandoned building where they were located and said, “Oh, by the way, a question here. What do you think is the reason I sent Mr. Austin outside?”

“…?”

“Mr. Austin, do you have any intention of becoming a surviving hero?”

*Sigh* “When will they come?”

Lying on the sofa, Arthur murmured while staring at the ceiling.

“Do we have anything interesting here?”

Bored, Arthur got up and started rummaging through the villains’ bags.

(Thud, clink, clink)

“Whiskey, bourbon, gin, rum, brandy, beer, soju, makgeolli, cheongju, and goryangju. There are various types of alcohol.”

When Arthur opened a bag, he saw the bottles of alcohol filling the bag.

“Ah, is there nothing else?”

He cleared away the bag of alcohol and muttered while searching through another bag.

“…Huh? A deck of cards?”

Arthur took out a deck of cards from the bag.

“…This is fine.”

Holding the deck of cards, Arthur returned to the sofa.

“Careful, careful.”

Then, he began carefully stacking the card tower.

“……..Careful, even more careful, extremely careful.”

After nearly 30 minutes, Arthur, who had unknowingly built up to the 6th floor, tried to place the card for the final 7th floor with trembling hands.

“…”

(Swish)

He entered the stage where just a touch of his hand would complete the 7th floor, forming two cards in an “S” shape.

(Why-ang! Why-ang! Why-ang!)

“Huh?”

(Woosh!)

Suddenly, a siren blared, and as his concentration broke due to the sound, the card tower collapsed in an instant.

“…”

Standing up, Arthur, holding only two cards, blankly stared out the window.

“When I call you, you don’t come, but you always show up at such strange times.”

Arthur muttered, tossing the cards as if exasperated.

Then, this time, without forgetting, he deactivated the explosive device with a switch and entered the room where the hostages were.

“Alright, everyone, I have some bad news.”

“…B-Bad news?”

“The police have arrived and are currently surrounding the building.”

“The police!”

“…But why?”

Upon hearing that the police had arrived, the hostages’ faces turned pale, but they expressed doubt at the mention of bad news.

“Oh, that’s because if the police act strangely, then boom goes the explosive here, and screams.”

Arthur described the explosion with his hand.

“…”

“…”

“Well, just in case. Alright, take care, everyone.”

Having said that to the hostages, Arthur left the room.

“Now, I should put this on.”

Arthur, who came out of the hostage room, took out a small case from his pocket.

Then, he put something small from that case into his ear.

[Hey! You! Crazy person!!]

“…”

As soon as he put it in his ear, Arthur raised his hand to his ear due to the tremendous noise.

“…Hey, I think I can’t hear from my ear.”

“Are you out of your mind?!”

“Hmm, no. I hear you well.”

At Hector’s loud shout once again, Arthur confirmed that there was nothing wrong with his ears.

“You crazy man! What am I supposed to do if you cause this commotion without saying a word! Suddenly, the keyword ‘Mad Hatter’ started trending on the police network, so I checked it out and what kind of terror are you causing! And all by yourself!!”

“Is it improvisation?”

“I’d rather you took a few haters with you! Why go alone?!”

“Improvisation isn’t planning in detail.”

“You crazy man.”

“But that doesn’t mean there’s no plan at all. Heart burns hot, head stays cool, you know?”

“…First, keep me informed about the police situation.”

“Okay, got it. Do you need help from Seohyun or Jim, or maybe some Grenda magic?”

“How did you get in, can’t come in.”

“…Really doing this alone?”

“Of course. But if I carry out this level of terror alone, wouldn’t my reputation rise?”

“You crazy man.”

“Haha! Am I really becoming the Mad Hatter for nothing?”

“…But did you take a lot with you? Planning to start a war or something?”

“I told you, heart burns hot, head stays cool.”

(Phone ringing)

“Yes, I received a call from the Mad Hatter.”

“Mad Hatter.”

“Ah!! Detective Layton! It’s really nice to hear from you.”

Arthur greeted Layton happily over the phone, hearing the familiar voice coming through the receiver.

“The detective who just called me was really boring. He kept repeating the same thing like a broken record. Ugh.”

“What’s different about me?”

“Of course. By the way, how have you been lately? Have the heroes been coming in a lot, making your job easier? Or are the villains increasing, making it harder?”

“Aren’t we in a position to exchange pleasantries?”

“Oh, then I’m sorry.”

“What’s the condition?”

Knowing that there were already hostages in the room where the bomb was installed, Layton immediately began negotiations.

“Um, what will you do?”

“How about confessing?”

“Hahaha!”

“Hahaha!… Are you serious by any chance?”

Laughing loudly, Arthur stopped laughing at the silence on the other end of the line and asked if Layton’s words were not a joke but a serious matter.

“I don’t really like jokes.”

“Is that so? Then let’s make a deal. Hm.”

Arthur briefly dropped the phone and cleared his throat.

“I have two ends in the middle. It confuses or amuses you. What am I?”

[…What?]

“I’ll give you a minute.”

[What’s that?]

“If you can’t solve it within a minute, I’ll kill one person until the answer comes out.”

[!!]

“It’s already been 10 seconds,” Arthur said, looking at the clock.

“Wait! Wait!”

“15 seconds”

“There are two ends in the middle. It confuses and amuses…”

Beyond the phone, Layton, the detective, could be heard hurriedly racking his brain.

“Tock, tock, tock”

Arthur made a clock sound with his mouth to the contemplating detective Layton.

“40 seconds have passed.”

“Wait! Wait!!”

“45 seconds”

“The answer is! The answer is!”

“50 seconds”

(Thud)

“Puzzle”

“…PUZZLE, the alphabet’s last letter Z appears twice in the middle.”

“…Hahaha! Nice to meet you, Miss Snow Flower!”

The voice of a woman, Snow Flower, could be heard on the other end of the phone, as Arthur shouted brightly.

“Yes! That’s correct! Puzzle!! A puzzle can confuse and amuse Miss Snow Flower! How was this puzzle? Was it fun for you?”

“It was the worst.”

“Ugh, that hurts my feelings.”

“Release the hostages. Right now.”

“Okay! I’ll release them.”

“…What?”

“Hmm? What’s this reaction? Do you not want to take the hostages? Does it mean you want me to kill the hostages?”

“Yes? No!”

“Haha, understood. I’ll release half of the hostages.”

“Why?”

“No, if the person who asked me to release them asks why I’m releasing them, what should I say?”

……”

My sudden cooperation made Snow Flower’s words disappear. Even the police in the situation room would be staring blankly at the phone, although I couldn’t hear it now.

“Oh, did I forget? If I don’t solve my riddle, I’ll kill all the hostages, but if I do, I’ll release half of them… Did I forget to mention that?”

“…I see.”

Detective Layton replied. His tone was full of anger, but he managed to speak calmly.

“Haha, well, let’s release half of the hostages.”

[………]