episode_0024

Another Possessor

“Where is this? A dream? Subconscious?”

Arthur looked around the empty space and said.

“I don’t know for sure either. At least it allows me to do everything I think of…”

(Thud!)

Before the man could finish speaking, the table and chair fell from mid-air.

“Oh, the principle seems the same.”

(Swish)

Arthur, the one who summoned the table and chair, casually sat down on the chair.

“…”

(Rumble, thud)

Soon, a simple snack was laid out on the table.

(Glug glug)

Then a teacup floated in the air and poured tea into the cup.

“…Feels very familiar.”

Watching Arthur summon and manipulate objects so effortlessly in the dream space, the man said.

“I’ve been in this kind of space often.”

Taking a sip of his tea, Arthur replied.

“Yeah, I thought I must be somewhere. A possessor like me.”

“Why?”

The man asked as he sat on the chair.

“The reason I possessed this world was an event that came through a phone call. But events usually have multiple winners, right? So I guessed, ‘It could be an event where multiple people win.’ Well, seeing you, luckily, my guess was right.”

“You’re quite clever?”

“To be honest, it was just a lucky guess. What’s your name?”

“Kim Doyoon. And you?”

“Mad Hatter.”

“Hey, I told you my name, why keep it a secret?”

“I haven’t built a sense of camaraderie yet. Isn’t that a basic part of negotiation?”

“Ugh, fine. So what are you? Did you possess midway or from the beginning?”

“…Are you asking if I possessed when I was born?”

“Huh?”

“In that case, I possessed from the beginning.”

“Really? I had a hard time because I had to live through childhood twice.”

“I can relate.”

Being treated like a child when you’re an adult… It’s enough to drive you crazy. Of course, I didn’t get treated like a child.

“Right?! When your mind is adult but you try to get along with kids, it drives you nuts.”

“So, seeing how we’re having this conversation, you’re a villain too, aren’t you?”

“Of course, I haven’t properly debuted yet.”

“Why do you want to be a villain?”

“Huh? Isn’t it inappropriate for a villain to say that?”

“It’s an important question for you.”

“Hmm? For me?”

Doyoon looked puzzled at the mention of an important question for himself.

“Because I’m deciding whether to kill you or not.”

“…Kill me?”

“I really hate bad guys, a lot.”

“Do you have the ability to kill me?”

“I’ve made a lot of effort, though.”

“If you die in your dream, do you die in reality. Don’t you know?”

(Swish! Swish!)

At that moment, knives appeared around Arthur’s neck, pointing at his throat.

“You know, but isn’t that the same thing?”

(Clink!!)

The blades of the knives rolled up like paper.

(Thud, thud)

And then they fell to the ground.

(Clink! Clink! Clink!)

This time, guns appeared around Kim Doyoon and aimed at his head.

“…You handle dreams better than I do.”

“I told you, I’ve spent a long time in this space. So what’s your answer?”

“…If I have no choice but to become a villain, would you believe it?”

“You can tell me the reason. Then I’ll believe it.”

“…”

(Thud! Thud!)

As Doyoon hesitated, his hands and feet were tied to the chair.

“…I have someone precious. And to protect that person, I have to become a villain.”

“Hmm, such a classic story.”

(Click! Click! Click!)

The guns aimed at Doyoon’s head disintegrated and fell to the ground, and his hands and feet were released.

“…Do you believe me?”

“Well, then, won’t you believe me?”

(Click! Click!)

The disintegrated guns began to reassemble.

“No! No! No!”

“Arthur Riddle.”

“Hmm?”

“My name.”

“…Is this some kind of tsundere?”

Doyoon muttered about the unusual experience.

“What’s your villain name?”

“Hehehe, I’ve been waiting for that!!”

(Thud!)

Doyoon slammed the table and stood up from his seat.

(Thud!)

And suddenly, the room darkened.

(Snap!)

“…”

When the lights came on, Doyoon was gone.

(Swish, swish, swish)

A shadow appeared on the floor where nothing was, and from that shadow, Doyoon slowly rose, turned backward.

(Thud)

Doyoon, rising with his whole body, looked back at Arthur with a burden on his back.

“Villain, let’s get started.”

“…”

“How is it?”

Loosening his solemn appearance, Doyoon asked Arthur.

“Is it cool?”

“That’s right! How much did I practice this?”

“But why ‘get started’? Is it a motif for ‘dusk’?”

“Well… yes.”

“Why? You don’t look alike at all. Or do we look a bit similar?”

“That’s… ”

(Sip)

While waiting for Doyoon’s answer, Arthur took a sip of tea.

“Duokshini is my father.”

(Sound of pouring)

The tea that just went into Arthur’s mouth flowed down.

“What?”

S-class villain Duokshini, not only with cruelty and wickedness but also with his power, the worst villain at the top of the United City, is your father?

“…You must have had an ordinary life too.”

“Yeah, you seem similar. No, you weren’t ordinary from your past life, were you?”

“……”

“I didn’t mean to show it, but I can just see it because of my ability.”

“…What ability?”

“Darkness.”

“Darkness? Not shadows or darkness?”

“I can see and draw out the darkest memories of the opponent. Well, using shadows and dreams freely is a bonus.”

“…”

“I can also read dark memories of oneself. I can’t just read something slightly sad or angry; it has to be a terrible memory. Thanks to that, there are very few people who can see memories, and yet among the people I’ve seen, you had an unprecedented amount of memories I could see.”

“…I guess so.”

Even thinking about it, my past life wasn’t ordinary.

“So what’s your ability?”

“Hypnosis.”

(Clack)

Arthur took out a pocket watch from his pocket.

“…Oh my.”

“Oh, bad idea.”

(Thud!)

Arthur swung the pocket watch and hit Doyoon on the head. It shouldn’t have been possible at that distance, but he could hit him as the string of the pocket watch extended.

“The basis of hypnosis is using a coin or a smartphone app!!”

“What are you talking about. Oh right, we need to release the hostages.”

“Don’t worry, time here and outside is different. Probably only about a minute has passed?”

“Let’s start going out. There’s something I need to do.”

“Can I come along?”

“Of course.”

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

“Ugh!!”

The headhunter grabbed his head and got up from his seat.

(Swish, swish, swish)

The haters who had lost consciousness began to come to their senses.

“!!”

(Snap!)

The headhunter aimed his gun at Doyoon, not Arthur.

“Whoa, put the gun down.”

Arthur stopped the headhunter.

“Here, this friend is called Duokshini.”

Arthur said, holding Doyoon’s shoulder.

“…”

“…”

“…”

The headhunter, Seohyun, and the haters looked blankly at the two.

Hector, who was not here, also silently watched the situation. He must be more bewildered than them.

“Oh, by the way, I’m Dukyung’s son.”

“!!”

“!!”

[!!!!]

At Arthur’s last words, Headhunter, Seohyun, and Hector were startled.

“Please take care of me today,” Doyoon politely greeted.

“…So, you look a bit like him.”

“Yeah, I do.”

[Wait, Dukyung got married? That crazy villain?]

“Fortunately, it seems our personalities are opposite,” Headhunter said, looking at Doyoon.

“Hmm?”

In front of Arthur, who had finished greeting, hostages lying in front of his eyes appeared.

“Oh, I put them to sleep. There’s no point in keeping them awake. Should I wake them up again?”

“No, let them rest.”

[Hey, hero, step back.]

When the heroes completely stepped back from the bank, Hector spoke to Arthur.

“Okay, let’s start heading home now.”

“Everyone, get ready.”

(Tadak!)

At Headhunter’s command, the henchmen flocked to where military crates were stacked.

(Click, click, click, click)

And they took out grenade launchers from the crates.

“Let’s go up.”

Arthur held the rear and walked up the stairs with two henchmen following him.

“We’ll go too.”

Headhunter, Seohyun, and Dukyung followed him.

“Huh? Is this the rooftop?”

Where Arthur and his colleagues went was not exactly the rooftop when the door was opened. Of course, going to the rooftop now would increase the chance of being sniped.

“Fire.”

Headhunter ordered through the radio.

(Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!)

Henchmen on each floor, including the first, pulled the triggers of the grenade launchers.

(Ssssshhhh!!)

The smoke grenades fired from the launchers instantly spread a huge amount of smoke. And before long, the entire block was filled with smoke to the point where nothing could be seen right in front of their eyes.

(Clang!)

When the sight was completely blocked, Arthur opened the door and went up to the rooftop.

“How do we get out from here?”

Due to the smoke, they couldn’t see clearly, but they could see police officers around in all directions.

“To the sky.”

“What?”

“You go up first.”

(Thud! Thud!)

Headhunter and Seohyun gathered in one place and caught something in the air.

(Whoa!)

Then the two started floating in the air. No, something on the ground where they were rose into the air.

“What’s this?”

Dukyung seemed puzzled and ran beneath the two.

“!”

As they descended, it seemed as if the interior of some kind of object in the sky had a hole in it.

“…Cloaking!”

The detected helicopter was using cloaking technology.

“It’s Black Enterprise’s.”

“Damn, how did you get it?”

“…I got it at a high price.”

Ah, my money. It’s not regrettable, but it’s a shame.

“Wow, it’s right below us, but I can hardly hear anything.”

(Clank!)

As Headhunter and Seohyun entered the helicopter, the boarding platform descended again.

(Thud)

“It seems like this is as far as we go.”

Aser said as he climbed onto the platform.

“Let’s meet again next time.”

(Squeak, squeak)

Doyoon walked to where there was a shadow on the rooftop.

(Swish)

And just like that, Doyoon’s figure disappeared.

(Swoosh)

“?”

As Aser tried to climb onto the platform, he saw something above him.

Something flying through the sky, splitting it.

“Hey! It’s Snow Flower!”

(Thud!!)

The sound from the earphones and at the same time, a woman landed on the rooftop.

“…Snow Flower Yang!”

Aser was momentarily taken aback, but then calmly greeted Snow Flower, who had landed.

[Shall I lift her?]

“No, don’t lift her, or we’ll expose the stealth helicopter.”

Aser said quietly, covering his mouth with his hand so that Snow Flower couldn’t hear, to Hector.

“This is really… what’s going on up to Zone C?”

After finishing his story, Aser looked at Snow Flower with a momentarily bewildered expression and said,

“Mad Hatter! You’re under arrest!”

“Hey, Hatters? We should welcome our newly arrived guest, treat her well enough.”

(Rat-a-tat-tat!!!)

At Aser’s command, the Hatters began shooting at Snow Flower.

Amidst the terrifying sounds of gunfire, a large number of bullets were fired at Snow Flower.

(Rat-a-tat!)

Snow Flower created a shield and agilely dodged the hail of bullets.

“Mad Hatter! Stop right there!”

(Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!)

The haters kept shooting towards the Snow Flower running towards Arthur. Thanks to that, they were able to stop their advance.

“So that’s why thorough preparation is always good.”

Arthur muttered to himself as he looked at the Snow Flower coming towards him.

“Haha, then I’ll be off now.”

*Bang! Bang!*

As Arthur flicked his finger, a huge black smoke billowed from the rooftop, obscuring the view.

*Clang*

As the smoke obscured the view, Arthur climbed onto the board and entered the helicopter.

“What are you doing, stepping on it?”

“Yes!”

*Chomp*

The helicopter pilot replied while chewing on the candy in his mouth.

*Vroom!*

The helicopter, unseen, smoothly escaped the encirclement.

“…Darn it.”

A little while later, as the smoke cleared, Snow Flower quietly spoke at the sight of Arthur not visible on the rooftop.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

As the smoke disappeared, the haters on the rooftop began attacking Snow Flower again.

*Clang!*

“Ugh!”

Snow Flower froze the body of one hater except for his face with ice.

*Bang!*

At that moment, another hater accurately shot the frozen hater in the head.

“What!!”

Startled by the action of the hater who shot his own comrade, Snow Flower turned his head.

*Click*

At that moment, the hater immediately put the muzzle of the pistol into his own mouth.

*Bang!*

And without any hesitation, he pulled the trigger.

“…What is this”

*Click! Click! Click!*

Upon news of the Mad Hatter escaping, the special forces entered the bank.

“!!”

“!!”

Inside the bank, the special forces saw the haters who had committed suicide with guns in front of them.