There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 98

‘Wow, damn…’

I wanted to laugh it all off as a joke. I felt like if I believed it, there would be no turning back. You holding me gently and whispering that you loved me was a wish I had hidden in the deepest part of my heart.

You pierced through me like an arrow cutting through the wind, penetrating the wish I had hidden in the softest, most tender place. When a vital spot is suddenly grabbed, pain often precedes pleasure. I wasn’t happy. Rather, I was afraid and scared.

‘You son of a bitch. You don’t even know what responsibility means.’

You don’t know what a shitty job it is to take responsibility for a useless bastard like me. Do you know how selfish of a bastard I am? Do you even know? What do you know… You don’t even really know who I am. You don’t even know who Jeong Ian is, so what do you…

You don’t even love me, and yet you…

“Don’t use formal speech. I like it better that way.”

At that moment, my heart sank. Thump. To me, those words sounded like you liked Jeong Ian. It was an over-interpretation, but it sounded like you were saying you preferred me, who spits out informal speech, over Cassis de Millang who uses formal speech… You really have a talent for making a person’s heart drop with words said without a damn thought… You fucking bastard.

“You like it? Well, I don’t.”

I forced the corners of my mouth into a twist and snapped irritably. However, Ryuseong, who had completely regained his composure, was smiling crookedly yet somehow affectionately.

“It’s okay. I’ll take responsibility for everything.”

You’re looking at me as if you’re crazy about me. In fact, that’s what was driving me crazy.

‘You bastard.’

You want me to fall for it, don’t you? But what to do. I have no intention of doing so. I will never misunderstand. The thought that you will take responsibility for me forever…

I will never have it.

“You can’t take responsibility for me. I know that.”

“Well. You need to be more arrogant.”

This statement was quite absurd. What was this guy, who knew Cassis de Millang’s disposition better than anyone, talking about?

“Don’t you know my nature is already bitchy?”

“So you do know it yourself. I’m relieved.”

“…”

Wow. Fuck. You’re leaving me speechless. You crazy bastard.

“But keep being bitchy… You’re allowed to. I’ll take responsibility and go with you to the very end. Don’t worry. I’ll see just how crazy you can get…”

Ryuseong nonchalantly spouted this kind of nonsense. But you’re saying that because you don’t know a damn thing. You don’t know what I’ve done. You can say such nonsense because you don’t know what a sinner I am. Because you know so little about me. You don’t even know who I am…

I was flabbergasted by Ryuseong’s arrogance. In the first place, didn’t you think I was Cassis de Millang, the one who destroyed the world? But responsibility? How are you going to take responsibility for me? How are you going to be with me until the end?

If I, having gone completely mad, try to destroy the world, are you going to kill me to prevent the accident?

If that’s responsibility, then, yes. I suppose that wouldn’t be bad.

But remember. If you die before that, I won’t forgive you. Same goes if you run away. You must not break. Keep the promise you made. No matter what happens, you must live. Because you have to take responsibility for me. Got it? You…

‘Why do you keep making me want to believe you…’

A burst of laughter erupted from me. I laughed. As if a switch that sends out emotions was broken and only pressing strange buttons, I cackled and laughed, then collapsed into your arms as if falling, and laughed for a long time again. Like I was crazy. It was absurd. Wanting to believe such words was an absurd thing.

I had walked this path so steadfastly. The pride that no one but me could have survived in my place had supported and sustained me. And you dare to come to support me. You dare to try and save me. You dare to say you’ll take responsibility for this tattered and wretched life… you.

To make me want to believe such nonsense… it’s not even funny.

So I said with a laugh.

“If you don’t take, responsibility, I’m going to kill you…?”

Hey… I’ll make it crystal clear that you’ve picked the wrong one. I’ll make you remember what kind of guy I am… I think I have to do at least that much to be fair. So listen.

“Don’t take this as a joke. I’m serious. I’ll make you regret saying you’d take responsibility for me. Because I can’t live like I used to ever again… If you dare to abandon me and leave… that’s not taking responsibility, right? Right?”

“That’s right.”

A sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob escaped through my teeth. What the hell is this guy trusting in to act like this?

Why do you love a bastard like me?

“Abandoning me is treating my life as if it’s nothing. If I tried to trust you with my life on the line, it’s your fault, your responsibility for not understanding its weight at all.”

“You’re right.”

“So you have to take responsibility for me. You have to love me no matter what I do. You, if you don’t run away now, you can never leave me. Even if someone tries to kill you, you have to survive. You have to live even if you’re stabbed with a knife. You can’t die. The world can’t take you away from me either. I won’t hand you over to God. The only one who can kill you is me. Got it…?”

“Yes.”

Ryuseong looked at me and replied. Those blue eyes. That deep blue, shining… I just wanted to die at your hands, then I could have disappeared while happy. I could have closed my eyes as if crumbling into dust that shines white in the sunlight and floating away somewhere…

You cut me off as if I didn’t deserve to die peacefully. With your gaze and voice and warmth, you pulled me to my feet, pushed my back, and forced me to walk the world, to live, to hold on a little longer… to change my way of life. Saying you would show me a life where I could be happy as a matter of course, while promising eternity…

To put it bluntly, what are you going to do if I become pathologically obsessive or violent, you, promising eternity? Especially when I’m even threatening to kill you if it’s not eternal.

If you were in your right mind, you shouldn’t love a crazy bastard like this. But you keep making me…

“To obtain someone like you, I think that’s a price worth paying.”

“…When did I say I’d give myself to you? Don’t be ridiculous…”

As if I were something special… As if, perhaps, you’d wanted to do this for a long time, you carefully pulled me into an embrace. Then you gently rubbed my blood-stained lips and patted my back. And so, right now, for the first time, I felt like I wasn’t a miserable person. The feeling of wanting to kill myself out of mortal shame felt like a dream.

I felt precious. It was because you treated me with great care. Just for that reason, I thought I was… tolerable. I decided that there was no need to stop the part of me that wanted to take a chance on you, that wanted to live. If you were to betray me, to leave, to abandon me… I could just ‘kill you’ then. Thinking that, a strange sense of calm came over me. Was it because the jazz music was caressing the air? Outside, it was snowing, and next to us, opposite the fireplace, lay a corpse that could no longer squirm…

Everything surrounding me felt somehow romantic. Even the air. Though it wouldn’t be the least bit so if I came to my senses.

I wanted to get drunk on this feeling right now.

I languidly leaned my body against yours and whispered softly.

“…If you break your promise, I’ll kill you.”

“Go ahead.”

“Are we really dying? You promised, okay? If you abandon me for even a second, I’ll rip your limbs off and send them to your father…”

“…Stop with the parental insults.”

“…”

Oops, did I cross the line? I took a moment for self-reflection. But it turned out another bastard was the one who had crossed the line.

Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble…!

The dungeon had begun to awaken. And it was doing so with the intent to swallow us whole!

Originally, the dungeon was not supposed to awaken now. However, ‘someone’ forced the dungeon’s break, and as a result.

“He, help me. I said, help me. I don’t want to die. Mom! Dad! Please. I miss you… my love.”

Crunch!

The miracle that was to be achieved on the surface was nipped in the bud. Sorrow overflowed and misery flowed like a river. In that very situation, looking down at the land that had become hell…

“Is this insubordination?”

“…”

“Answer me, my son!”

A man, gritting his teeth as if confronting ‘someone,’ shouted with a murderous look. He was a boy who looked too young to be called a father, but the sheer force he exuded seemed to prove the power and years he had accumulated.

“Out of respect for the family head, I did not interfere with Rewersa’s suspicious movements. However, I cannot stand by and watch the act of accelerating the dungeon break! What are you plotting!”

—His identity was none other than Cassis de Millang’s great-grandfather.

As he, who was once de Millang itself, shouted as if erupting with force, ‘someone’ answered with complete composure.

“I intend to reclaim de Millang’s true sovereignty. Father.”

It was the moment the ‘someone’ who had triggered a named-class dungeon called Cassis de Millang’s great-grandfather, Father.