Ch.159Season 2 – Trap or Opportunity

30 minutes ago.

After spending the entire night with Rio, Shinwoo was starting to recall his original mission and growing anxious.

“Um… shouldn’t I be heading to prison now?”

“Prison? Do you really want to go there?”

“No, but I am a prisoner after all… Shouldn’t I?”

I came here under the pretense of being a human rebel.

Yet Rio had let him stay in her room overnight.

Thinking about Kang Mirae who would be waiting for him, Shinwoo wanted to get underground as soon as possible, if only for Jaewon’s sake.

But.

“No way~.”

“…!”

Rio giggled playfully as if he would be staying here forever.

“From now on, you human, will live with me forever, got it?”

“W-what?!”

This isn’t right!

Even criminals have human rights, don’t they?

…But then he remembered that in this world, humans had no rights whether they were criminals or not.

“Besides, you’re getting special treatment from the deputy warden of the prison tower. You should be happy about it!”

Shinwoo had no response to Rio’s brazen attitude.

“What would you even do if you were dragged down to the prison basement?”

“Well… nothing in particular, I guess…”

“Exactly. Even if you had something to do, you’d better give up. This is the Prison Tower! It’s ruled by the warden, who happens to be my father, the current ruler of the world.”

“…Huh?”

Did I hear that right?

The warden of this prison is Han Shinwoo.

My future self?

Shinwoo’s eyes widened at this revelation. Wondering if his future self might be here, he urgently grabbed Rio, who had been chuckling.

“Is Han Shinwoo here?!”

“Uh, what?”

“Han Shinwoo! I mean… is His Majesty here?”

“…No, he’s not.”

Phew.

That’s a relief.

Though he was somewhat confident he wouldn’t lose this time, having witnessed that overwhelming power firsthand…

If they were to suddenly face off, he’d honestly be caught off guard.

However, he breathed a sigh of relief knowing his future self wasn’t here yet.

Meanwhile.

“…Is my father your target?”

Perhaps because he had revealed his true colors in that moment of surprise.

Rio’s expression, which had always been smiling at Shinwoo, hardened for the first time.

Then, with a cold expression, she placed her fingernails—which had suddenly grown sharp as blades—against his throat.

“No matter how much I like you, I don’t appreciate that attitude.”

“……”

“Be careful. You humans have already lost. The world has ended. There’s only one way to survive here: obey our father.”

The Hunter Association.

The World Federation.

And all the rest.

All had been defeated.

A world created by destroying over 95% of Earth’s habitable land.

Rio calmly explained that this was the current state of the world.

“You said you were a rebel?”

“Huh? Well, um…”

“Stop with that nonsense and try to earn the favor of monsters like us. Then at least you could become a pet human that only wealthy nobles in the empire can afford to keep.”

Had Rio wanted to make Han Shinwoo her pet from the beginning?

When she turned back to face him, she was holding what looked like a dog collar in her hand.

“Come on, let me put this on you. I want to check if it’s the right size.”

Rio spoke as if telling him to give up everything.

But her collar…

Grab.

Never made it around Shinwoo’s neck.

“…What, still clinging to your pride?”

Well, she didn’t dislike this kind of courage, but it would make training difficult, she sighed.

But only for a moment.

Rumble.

“Wh-what?!”

An enormous amount of energy began flowing from the human man she had merely regarded as Rebel A.

That energy surpassed that of a monster and resembled that of a god she knew… no, perhaps it was of equal power.

“Who are you?”

As Rio now regarded the man before her as someone completely different from before, she asked.

“Shall we head underground first?”

With a smile on his face, Shinwoo decided to persuade the girl by patting her head, hoping to achieve his goal quickly and escape this place.

***

Back to the present.

“You’re saying you made Rio… join our side?”

“Yeah. It just happened that way.”

“Hehe. Since a father is still a father either way, I should side with whoever gives me more attention, right?”

“Rio! Do you… understand what you’re saying?”

The deputy warden of the prison tower has returned as an ally?!

Faced with this absurd situation, Shinwoo’s group standing right in front of Eve’s prison cell all wore expressions of disbelief.

Especially Yurian, who knew Rio well, spoke with caution.

“Joining our side means rebelling against the Empire!”

“Yes, I know.”

“You know… but you haven’t particularly disappointed Father or done anything wrong. So why are you siding with us?”

The sister who had always done well no matter what.

Yurian was genuinely curious why such a sister would do this.

For the first time, the smile disappeared from Rio’s face, which had always been smiling.

“Sister, do we always have to do well?”

“Huh?”

“Must we never disappoint, always show excellence, and be punished for the slightest flaw? Can such a relationship really be called family?”

She countered with questions of her own.

“…!”

“You think I look good in Father’s eyes? Of course I have to. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t even be noticed and would be discarded. You’ve been mistaken from the beginning.”

“Mistaken…?”

Rio decided to make it clear to Yurian who was truly afraid to turn against their father.

Who hadn’t yet made up their mind.

“We weren’t born with the choice to be loved. We were simply forced to seek approval.”

“…!”

“And I hated that father and that home environment so much. The imperial palace felt as suffocating as a cramped pigsty, and I entered this prison tower myself to escape that wretched place.”

“Rio…”

“Sister, wake up. To Father, we aren’t his beloved daughters. We’re just convenient tools!”

Having said everything, Rio took out a key and began walking toward the door where Eve was imprisoned.

The only monster who sided with humans in the war started by Han Shinwoo.

At the same time, a being who had devoured even National Disaster-Level monsters and whose strength was directly acknowledged by their father, potentially making her one of his wives.

“Aunt Eve was the only friend who listened to me.”

“…!”

“Aunt Eve…?”

“You actually met and talked with Eve?”

“Of course. There was no one in this prison tower on my level, and if it weren’t for Auntie, I would have been cooped up in my room every day.”

Although Auntie herself was restrained from head to toe except for her mouth.

Nevertheless, she struggled to speak and kept her niece company.

They often talked together.

They promised that if Auntie were freed from her restraints and they both gained freedom, they would go on a pleasant journey together.

Although all the places to travel had already been burned to nothing, the time for both to gain freedom had finally come.

And so.

Clank.

The most heavily guarded iron bars in the prison tower slowly began to open.

Finally, from behind the thick doors covered in multiple layers, breathing could be heard.

“Huff…!”

“Ah!”

“Auntie!”

A white humanoid monster suspended in midair, wrapped in numerous chains.

Rio immediately ran to Eve and began unlocking the locks one by one with her key.

“…?”

But something felt strange.

‘Isn’t this too easy?’

Although they had won over the deputy warden to their side, things were going too smoothly.

As if it was fine for Eve to be released.

No, as if it would be better for her to be released.

Moreover, with each lock of the thick chains being unlocked, an ominous feeling rose from deep within his chest.

Shinwoo, who had been watching quietly among the group, carefully walked toward Eve, whose restraints were almost completely removed.

“…?! Rio?”

The moment Eve regained consciousness and opened her eyes wide in surprise.

“Ah, no! Don’t release her restraints!”

“Huh?”

“Damn it, Rio!”

As his suspicion turned to certainty, Shinwoo partially transformed into a monster and leaped into Eve’s body, which had begun to glow.

He grabbed Rio, who seemed to be getting pulled into the light, and quickly threw her backward.

Flash!

“Ugh…”

“Where am I?”

Having been caught in what seemed like a teleportation trap, Shinwoo entered the light with Eve and opened his eyes to find himself in a dark room with purple torches blazing.

A room that exuded a magnificent aura yet also gave off a strangely unpleasant feeling.

…It was like, how should he put it, bad taste?

As he turned to face forward in this room that seemed to have the opposite aesthetic to his own…

“…So you’ve come.”

“!! …Yeah.”

There, sitting on a golden throne and looking down at him with an expressionless face, was his future self, Han Shinwoo.