NOVEL WEB Chapter 13: But Why Me
At the cleanup site...
Red was still scrubbing blood from the floor — the kind of mess you didn't think about too hard. Another hunt. Another stain.
He dragged the mop across the tiles, then paused.
"But why me?"
He wasn't anyone special. Just a cleaner. Just a kid with red hair, rubber gloves, and bad timing.
He was so deep in thought he didn't notice when a coworker called out — not until they were almost shouting.
"Hey, rookie! You've got orders! Boss is coming to pick you up!"
Red blinked. "W-What? Orders?"
That's suspicious…
He already told me about the orders at midday. And now he's calling me again? Yeah... I think he's gonna fire me. Or kill me.
"No clue," the coworker said. "Just be at the gate in twenty."
Red stared at his gloves, the red blood clinging to them like ink. His red eyes burned with fatigue. He finished the job without saying a word, then headed to the gate.
---
A long black car pulled up. Sleek. Loud engine. Pulled straight from a nightmare. Just like its owner.
The rear window slid down.
Michael's voice came through, smooth and sharp — like a knife through fog.
He didn't say "Get in."
He didn't need to.
He just looked at Red — with calm eyes and a polite smile that made everything worse.
A smile that said:
You have one second. Not two.
Either get in the car, or be corpse lying in the ground.
Red swallowed and tried to open the door where Michael was sitting.
"Other side," Michael said without looking.
Red got in.
The doors locked with a click. Michael lit a cigar — something expensive and careless — and filled the space with thick smoke. Like a ritual.
"You've been assigned to a Hunter," he said. "Name's Blade. You follow him. Clean what he breaks. Learn. Survive. Pass the test — you level up."
Red sat straight. His heart was pounding. The words didn't all register, but he knew how to answer.
"Yes, sir. I'll do my best."
There was no room for choice. Just survival. And he already knew what happened to cleaners who said no.
---
The car rumbled across the black hills and jagged rocks.
Eventually, they passed through a thick fog.
Red's tired eyes widened. "Whoa…"
He saw something he thought only existed in fiction — walls. Giant, black, and ancient.
They weren't just tall.
They swallowed the sky.
Like mountains carved by monsters.
"They look like something out of an anime…" he muttered.
Michael glanced over. Almost smirked.
"Right. You're not from here."
He nodded toward the window.
"These walls wrap around the whole island. Built with volcanic channels — to keep the devils out."
Red leaned forward. "They're devils, not titans. You really need this much protection?"
Michael didn't answer.
He just lit another cigar and the car kept driving.
No answers.
No comfort.
Just smoke...
And the mission ahead.
Red didn't ask where they were going. The fog still in his head, the walls towering behind his eyes. He couldn't shake it. This place didn't feel like the Valheim he heard about. It wasn't a city. It was something else.
Something worse.
People moved. Worked. Lived. But under these walls, it didn't feel normal. It felt like a prison with permission.
---
The car rolled to a stop.
In front of them — the black wall. Cold steel. Endless height. No door in sight.
Except…
One lone security camera. Flickering red. Too new. Out of place.
Michael looked at it. No expression. He pulled a pocket watch from his coat and held it up.
A crack echoed.
Something behind the wall shifted.
A hidden door began to creak open — mechanical and rough, nothing smooth or advanced. Just raw engineering and cold metal.
Inside was a tight, narrow chamber. Enough room for maybe two or three people.
When the door closed behind them, the floor began to lower.
A metal elevator.
Silence followed.
Michael was too tall for the space, making the tension worse. Red didn't speak. Didn't breathe too loud. The elevator smelled like steel and old smoke.
Then — finally — it stopped.
The doors opened.
They were underground.
Not just under the wall — beneath something bigger.
Red tried to feel surprised. But after devils, blood, and smoke... nothing could really surprise him anymore.
Still, this place was wrong.
Black steel walls. Harsh white lights. Lined corridors that stretched like arteries into nowhere.
They walked.
No one explained anything.
Until they reached a door.
Michael paused. Finally looked at Red with something close to seriousness.
"Behind this door is your new fate. You rise — or you fall. There's no middle ground here."
He looked him in the eye.
"Don't disappoint me, Red boy."