NOVEL WEB Chapter 173
The Evil Society was, without a doubt, a gathering of villains.
Unlike the Liberators who rallied under a ’cause,’ it was more like a sewer where the scum of society got washed in.
No matter how big the organization was, it was fundamentally a tumor feeding off humanity that has thrown away beliefs.
There were no proper regulations, no justice to chase after, and no clear goals.
In this shambles, there was no brotherhood to be found; it was considered wise to ponder how to kill the guy next to you to get a bigger slice of the pie.
It was truly a trashy group.
Given the defeat by such a force, I naturally expected to fall into a miserable state. The thought of being mocked by those who grew up in sewer filth made me consider just dying right now…
But, surprisingly, that didn’t happen.
“Bring me something! Doesn’t it lose its flavor when it gets cold? I’m at least sure it’s better than that pale paste. Or are you just not in the mood to eat? If that’s the case, then I understand.”
Instead, I was treated to a feast.
Not that we were treated like esteemed guests. No, absolutely not. In fact, we were treated as prisoners to a rigorous extent.
The fighters, including myself, were trapped in a prison-like place, unable to use our abilities as they held the life of our leader hostage.
I had no idea what became of non-combatants like Wei or Aileen. They were all separated, and I didn’t even know what happened to my subordinates.
Were they dead? Alive? Trapped like me? Or had they already surrendered?
I couldn’t know. The only piece of information I had was that our leader was still alive, and depending on my actions, their survival could change.
It was blatantly obvious they were trying to manipulate me with our leader’s life as leverage, but that just put me in an even more helpless position.
If I acted recklessly, these guys might do something to our leader. It could be a fate worse than death.
However, seeing that smug face made it impossible to speak kindly.
“What kind of trickery is this?”
Arman casually replied while picking the bones out of his fish with a knife and fork.
“You should know best. Unless you’re asking because you really don’t know, in which case, my bad.”
He didn’t look sorry at all. While nonchalantly filleting the fish, he suggested that I should come to serve under him.
“I’ll pass.”
“How about you think it over a bit? Immanuel, that friend of yours gave it a good amount of consideration for a few hours, didn’t he?”
“How dare you speak his name with that filthy mouth!”
I jumped up, ready to kill that bastard on the spot, but I couldn’t move due to Justitia’s grip on me.
“Those eyes full of intent to kill are always a delight to see, especially in situations like this.”
He savored his fish while casually waving his hand to release me from Justitia’s hold.
“Watch your words, especially if you value your leader. If something were to happen to the one you revered so much because of your mouth…”
“If you dare to touch him, you’ll witness a living swamp of poison.”
How terrifying. Arman playfully raised his hands, then continued cutting another steak.
“If you keep being uncooperative like this, I’ll have no choice but to reconsider your treatment. For now, you’re an irreplaceable asset, so I’m trying to coax you…”
He smiled, as if he was saying anything could happen in this world. Then he posed a hypothetical about forcibly extracting a similar trait from me, asking for my thoughts.
There wasn’t even a thought to join that guy.
But I was a little curious why he didn’t mention domination as an option.
“Why not just do it to Justitia? Just dominating is enough, right? Why the messy coaxing?”
“That’s because your abilities are unique and complex,” Arman answered, using a simple analogy.
“Most abilities are simple. Just look at this woman; she activates and deactivates all the time, right? For your friend, say… yeah, the speedy black-haired boy. His is also activation and deactivation. But you’re different, aren’t you?”
Listening to that explanation made sense. My shape-shifting ability indeed had murky activation and deactivation features.
“I can’t tell if asking someone to melt a person will produce an acidic or basic solution. And if I instruct to create poison, I don’t know what kind it will be. Unless I’m savvy with chemistry, which I’m definitely not…”
Arman pointed to Justitia as an example, claiming that expecting complex thought from a controlled subject was unrealistic.
“It’s like transforming into a puppet. It won’t react unless commanded—just a mindless tool which is simple to control, but complex situations are totally different.”
On a separate note, he solidified his point about preferring to dominate through rhetoric and power rather than abilities.
“That’s quite a depraved taste.”
“The so-called apostles of justice often say that. But isn’t life meant to be lived like that? More than anyone else, higher than anyone else, by any means necessary.”
Arman seemed unwilling to lose in this war of words.
As I glared, disgusted by how stubborn he was, I couldn’t help but ask how he managed to dominate Justitia.
“Speaking of Justitia… how did you do it?”
“Powerful abilities often lead people to mistakenly think that everything hinges on them. Not at all. At the end of the day, abilities or not, we’re just human. Humans have to live entangled with other humans, whether we like it or not.”
Arman rambled, admitting he simply made use of a few grumpier loyalists on our side.
“Without them, capturing you lot would’ve taken longer. I’d call it a stroke of luck.”
…Indeed, I should’ve done something to prevent those loyalists from joining him.
“It seems unfair for you to be the only one asking questions, so here’s my turn. Were you the one leading the raid on our auction?”
“Why? Are you gonna seek revenge?”
“Do you think I’m that petty? No way. There aren’t any fools who’d seek revenge on things that belong to me.”
My face twisted with absurd confidence, but I held back a scowl. I was just going to say it was Minho who led the mess, but if I did, who knew what Arman might do to my friends?
He probably knew my friends’ identities. I couldn’t let that info slip.
“Um… I did it. I couldn’t just sit idly by while you shamelessly spread your business.”
“I see. It was just business, was it?”
“It was for the sake of justice! In the world we create, there’s no place for scum like you.”
“If that was meant to rile me up, you seriously lack talent. Typical of a nobody, I suppose.”
“You bastard…”
“You don’t need to try so hard to hide your bad habits; I already know all that.”
After finishing his meal, Arman seemed about to ask me one last thing.
“So, does that mean you still have no intention of joining us?”
“Not now? No, never.”
“We’ll see about that. For now, just remember that. I might have to change your treatment a bit. Oh, and let me tell you a few more things. The boy is already on our side.”
“Wei…? What kind of trickery…?”
“It’s simple: molding a malleable mindset to suit my purposes.”
As Arman waved me off, indicating he had nothing more to say, the underlings who had been waiting outside dragged me somewhere.
I could definitely kill them right now, but that could put our leader in danger.
Killing Arman was a possibility, but finding our leader? How could I possibly do that? Even if I figured out where, would I make it in time?
The slime that had been inside our leader was extracted by me before we separated, leaving me without any means to locate either them or any distance.
With such thoughts swirling in my mind, I couldn’t move recklessly.
When I first saw the Evil Society, I was bewildered at how this group operated with such low-life individuals.
But now, I understood.
The Evil Society resembled the structure of the solar system.
Arman was at the center, using overwhelming presence to command the debris. Essentially, he was single-handedly running the organization.
So, if I could only take him out, the Evil Society would meet its end.
If only I could kill him.
…That was impossible for me. I couldn’t bring myself to abandon our leader. That much was for sure.
Everything else remained uncertain.
What will happen to me from now on?
And what will become of my friends? Are they doing alright?
Only hollow questions spun around in my head without any answers.
Somebody, please save me.
But wishing for that felt too brazen.