Chapter 261 260. The Expected And The Unexpected.

(AN: Ladies and gentlemen, I apologise for the irregular updates from the past few days, it was because my relatives are marrying left and right, I don't even know a few of them!! Ahem, food was good so no complaints, anyway I don't think there are any more from now on, so updates will return to normal with Saturdays being an exception because I am not sure if I'll update one chapter on that day or none, anyway, thank you for reading, and [Peace])

(AN: Ah! And this chapter hasn't been edited)

***

A few moments before.

A white-haired, handsome elven man stood in front of an average-looking man whose vibe screamed depression. He was sitting in the corner of a king-sized bed in a gloomy room.

"Jiwoo, I won't know why you called me if you don't speak." I said to the depressed Jiwoo, by the looks of it, it seems like he wants an answer from me, of course, I know what it was about.

"E-Eshwar.... who am I?" Gang Jiwoo asked without looking at me, while I stood at the other end of the room.

"You are Gang Jiwoo." I replied in a stern tone. Jiwoo abruptly jerked up, got back on his feet, and zoomed towards me with a frantic expression on his face while gritting his teeth. Of course, from my perspective, he seemed like a snail, but that isn't important right now.

"YOU!!!" Jiwoo grabbed and clenched my collars, his face twisted in madness.

"You!! What nonsense are you talking about? You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Then answer my f**king goddamn question!! Who am I? Am I even living? Or am I one of your f**king "characters"? Huh? Answer me, you f**king...." Jiwoo roared with tears streaming down his cheeks.

'Yes!! This what I wanted!! This is it! Jiwoo! You make me feel exhilarated!! This what I wanted to see, now, I don't have any regrets of not being there to watch similar madness in Vinny's case!! Hahahaha!!!' I laughed hysterically, inwardly.

'You....are the perfect piece, Jiwoo. This is what makes me want to continue to break you guys! How dare somebody so insignificant try to harm my Isha. Doesn't matter in what way, you don't respect what's mine, then you guys are bound to be.... destroyed.' My version of a frantic voice roared in my mind. I knew that they did nothing but watch as Vinny harmed Isha, but that too wasn't acceptable; they should have tried to help Isha, no, stop Vinny! After I used [Alter] on Vinny, I checked the others "thoughts" too, but as soon as they left the room, everybody thought, "It wasn't any of my business anyway, and she was the one that was in the wrong in the first place." Those were the exact thoughts they had; they thought of nothing else!

At that time, they were trying to push their own blame and guilt onto Isha, who wasn't even blaming them in the first place. They walked into her room, picked a fight with her, and when she fought back, she became the one in the wrong, the bad guy. The weird thing was that everybody blamed Isha for it, even though they were the ones who picked a fight with her. And that fuelled my rage, which was already soaring to new heights when I saw Isha's head bleed.

".... please.... answer me, Eshwar...." Jiwoo's sobbing voice trickled in my ear and snapped me out of my trance, helping me calm my slowly rising rage when I remembered Isha's blood trickling down her face.

"You are Gang Jiwoo, Jiwoo." I looked down and answered his plea. He raised his head to look at me with slightly hope-filled eyes,

"But...." I said and smirked savagely, inwardly when I noticed his hope in his gaze flatter, almost instantly.

"You are indeed a character that I created for," I replied and continued.

"Entertainment purposes." I said, and despair flashed in Jiwoo's face as the last glint of hope died completely.

"Y-you.... You!!!" Jiwoo roared loudly and stood back up, clenching my clothes to help his flattering legs.

'Jiwoo, haaa.... this is... this is the expression I wanted to see!!!!' I gazed at him in delight, inwardly of course. I maintained a serious expressionless expression on my face on the outside.

"Why!? Why? Why? Why? Why me? WHY ME!!!??" He roared loudly, and suddenly a huge burst of an extremely familiar killing intent oozed out of his body. I rolled my eyes when I remembered that he still had one last use of "Eshwar's rage" that he had stolen from me.

'Haaa, is he dumb? Why would my own skill do anything against me?' I gazed at Jiwoo in pity; maybe it was because of his depression, but he had lost his ability to think, which was the most important and one and only amazing thing that he had.

"Shut up." I said in a low, commanding tone, and Jiwoo froze.

"Jiwoo, think carefully. If I knew that my writing would become another person's reality, why would I ever write anything? What I wrote was a novel, a fantasy, and if you don't even know what a fantasy is, then I can't explain anything to you." I explained, but of course, I knew he wasn't listening to a word of it.

"I don't care; send me back to Earth! The same Earth, I have 34 years of memories of!" Jiwoo roared in a stubborn tone, throwing a tantrum.

'Hahaha, then at least act like a 34-year-old man!" I chuckled inwardly.

"Jiwoo, that isn't possible...." I said it in a "concerned" tone, trying to calm him down.

"F**k off, you brought me here, so just send me back!" Jiwoo yelled again.

"Because the Earth is no more!" I suddenly roared, and Jiwoo froze, turned to face me with a tear and madness-filled gaze. What I said was completely true, at least to me, but the Earth still existed, and its live proof was Seol So-Young.

"What?" he asked.

"Why would I, an author, come into my own novel? And that, too, as a villain that dies in the first half! Instead of a protagonist?" I roared again, and Jiwoo turned silent as his mind registered my words.

"Th..." He opened his mouth to ask a question, but I cut him short. I can't have him questioning me when I want to manipulate him in the way I want.

"The Earth, I lived in, was exposed to mana one day, and dinosaurs from the past resurrected and killed people before humanity could prepare itself, and after surviving for a long time, I, too, was killed by something that I didn't even know!!! Didn't you find it strange that I, an author who wrote stories, am able to fight strong monsters as if I had done this all my life? I had fought almost half my life to survive, so of course I would know how to fight!" I yelled loudly, and Jiwoo had stopped speaking anything, trying to process everything I just revealed.

"I, too, want to go back to Earth, but..." "Tears" welled up in my eyes and began to steam out as my body trembled in "sorrow."

"But... the Earth that you and I have in our memories is..." I walked towards him, hugged him, and sobbed in "sorrow."

"No more. No matter what I do, nothing changes; my rage against the monsters that killed my parents right in front of my eyes is still so fresh that I can't help but feel helpless and powerless." I wept, resting my head on Jiwoo's right shoulder, slowly raised my head, and stuck out my tongue. I said those words for many reasons, one of which was to give him a reason for "Eshwar's rage," which he had acquired when he tried to copy or crook my traits.

All the words I had just said were to give reasons for everything I am right now—a reason behind my strength, a reason behind my rage, and finally, a reason for him to despair, yet help him get out of his depression, because

"I, too, am just like you; I also don't know what I am, but I do know that I am Eshwar, so I'll always be Eshwar."

*

And back to the present.

I "consoled" Jiwoo for half an hour straight, allowing him to sob in despair. I had asked him to come to me if he ever felt like that again and added, "Even though I can't do anything now that we're in this story, no, in this world, let's just be there for each other and survive." I said while walking out of his room, receiving a bright yet sad smiley nod in reply.

WHOOSH

TAK

"You are here." I smiled at Seo Hana, who landed in the warehouse I stood in.

"Eshwar!!" Seo Hana smiled brightly as she walked towards me, hugged me tightly, and then let go, but her face instantly turned solemn by the next second.

"Eshwar...." Hana called out and began to explain all the things that had happened in the association—about the Rank-SSS gates, the expedition team, and the ploy—and only then, when she completed her explanation, did I understand where that "Queen" had ran off to when I, no, we attacked Azazel to rescue Louie.

"No, do not resign from the association; since you hate the association anyway, can you help get me any information from the inside?" I asked with a playful smile, walked towards her, and stared at her in the eyes. Suddenly, I felt a chill run down my spine; Isha's mischievously smiling face flashed in my mind; her words and gaze when she said that there would be consequences if I did something like this again resurfaced in my mind; and I slowly moved away from Seo Hana, who had a dejected look on her face.

RING-RING

"Excuse me for a sec." I said, turned around and picked up Arngrim's call.

[Eshwar, I found a way to treat Louie completely, but...]

[I think, I'll need a Rank-SSS or at least a higher Rank-SS grade monster core.]