Chapter 712: The Wooden Block (2)
“Puhahaha—!!”
Upon hearing Oliver’s response, Puppet—well, more accurately, the mound of corpses of prisoners and guards entangled together in the prison—burst out in a hearty laugh.
The vocal cords, woven together from countless human flesh, produced a sound that defied anything a living creature could create, shaking the floor and ceiling alike.
It was hard to tell whether this laughter stemmed from joy or anger, but soon enough, it became clear.
“Puhihi! Puhihihihi—!!”
Like paint peeling away, the robust laughter morphed into a mocking, frivolous tone.
True laughter, stripped of pretenses, revealed Puppet's genuine emotions, dominated by discomfort and anger.
It seemed Oliver had hit a nerve with Puppet.
“Haaaa… Now that’s some amusing wordplay you’ve got there.”
“Is it bothering you?”
Oliver’s question conveyed curiosity but with an undertone of indifference, as if daring Puppet to respond. Puppet shook his head.
“To be honest, it’s more surprising than offensive. It’s no secret, but very few have the nerve to say such things to my face… unless they’re utterly insane.”
Utterly insane—it brought a certain someone to Oliver’s mind.
“But the amazement outweighs the annoyance. Davidel and now you—you can see straight through someone’s essence just by looking at them. Experiencing it firsthand, it’s impressive… practically like the Eye of God.”
A fitting description. Indeed, at that moment, Oliver’s gaze was no different from divine eyes.
With merely a glance, he could pierce through a person’s identity, background, and sins. These were the kind of eyes one might expect a deity in holy scripture to possess for detecting human sins.
“That’s why I find it truly pitiful.”
Puppet passed judgment.
This eye, which allowed one to see through everything about a person and exercise absolute influence based on it, seemed almost omniscient.
Surprisingly, Puppet’s evaluation was no attempt at justifying himself, like the fable of the fox and the sour grapes.
Puppet genuinely pitied Oliver’s ability.
For no matter how good an object might be, if it didn’t align with its owner’s disposition, it was nothing but a burden.
Unfortunately, Oliver’s temperament did not match well with these seemingly omnipotent eyes.
“If you were a pervert who delighted in uncovering secrets or a tyrant who relished exploiting others’ weaknesses, then it would’ve been a blessing. But, of course, blessings and curses are often only a hair’s breadth apart.”
“You speak as though you know all about it.”
“Oh, I do. I’ve existed for hundreds of years and experienced much. I know well how agonizing unnecessary truths can be, and how painful it is to see the bare faces of those close to you.”
Puppet smiled. Through that smile, Oliver could tell that Puppet was speaking the truth. At the same time, Oliver instinctively turned to look at the three people trapped behind the bars.
Forest, the underworld broker; Jo, the Fighter Crew member; and Captain Hook, the pirate of Bin City.
Each of them had a personal connection with Oliver, and he even had a certain fondness for them.
Forest, despite meeting Oliver for the first time with only an introductory letter, had warmly welcomed him and helped him adjust to life in Landa as a fixer, providing guidance and valuable insights. He continued to be reliable, offering assistance through his competence and trustworthiness.
With Joe, their initial meeting hadn’t been the most friendly, but through a series of incidents, they’d developed a solid rapport. Joe had admirable qualities, such as taking care of a friend’s younger sibling.
And Captain Hook? He had been there for Oliver in his time of greatest need and spent his life seeking Neverland for the sake of children who were strangers to him. He embodied qualities that Oliver found truly respectable, beyond anything he could imagine himself achieving.
Yet, they were also sinners.
In his youth, Forest had been consumed by greed during a real estate boom, deceiving and threatening desperate, innocent people, sometimes even driving them to death to amass a fortune. He justified it by telling himself someone would’ve done it anyway.
With his divine-like eyes, Oliver could see every detail of Forest’s actions from that time and could even feel the despair of those who had been driven to freezing deaths on the streets because of him.
Although Forest had lost a like-minded friend who had been a loyal colleague in that period, he hadn’t relinquished the wealth he accumulated. Instead, he rationalized his actions by buying a decent restaurant and hiring Red-Skinned staff, as if that could erase his past.
Joe, to survive in the perilous W-District, and under the pretense of protecting his community members, had committed countless acts of violence.
Robbery, extortion, debt collection, human trafficking, intimidation, contract violence, and murder… Whenever he began to question his own conscience, he used his responsibility to care for his siblings as a shield to protect his own moral comfort.
He told himself he had no other choice for his family.
And Hook? Using the excuse of losing Wendy and rescuing children from Neverland, he had become a pirate, raiding countless merchant ships.
Those ships carried people trying to escape grueling lives honestly, but all of them saw their dreams shattered by the Wendy, leaving families and lovers weeping in their absence.
Compared to these three, Mari was less severe. She had killed people who had simply wanted to leave, under the noble excuse of serving a divine cause.
At that moment...
“I kept wondering.”
Puppet’s voice echoed, drawing Oliver’s attention back to him.
“Why you locked yourself up in prison after the shell broke. What weighed on you so much that you voluntarily confined yourself in an underground cell? At first, I thought it was the shock of realizing you were the Prince of Hell.”
An invisible shockwave rippled through the underground.
Forest, Joe, and Captain Hook, who had been standing as if they were part of the furniture, were taken aback, left speechless by the revelation that Oliver was the rumored Prince of Hell from recent whispers.
However, what surprised them even more was how naturally they accepted this fact about Oliver.
For Oliver, they could accept anything.
“But after locking eyes with you in the Holy See State, I realized it wasn’t just that. Those eyes of yours… They’re beyond your control, aren’t they? Those eyes that see through all of humanity’s sins.”
Oliver didn’t respond. That, in itself, was answer enough.
“As I thought. So you locked yourself away. You didn’t want to meet people… especially those you held dear. Of course, seeing the true faces of those you love would be excruciating.”
At Puppet’s words, Forest, Joe, and Captain Hook froze in their cells.
Although they couldn’t fully grasp the conversation, they instinctively understood what Puppet meant after knowing Oliver.
Though the background was unclear, it seemed, according to Puppet, that Oliver could see everyone’s sins… including theirs.
At this revelation, they, especially Forest and Joe, felt immense dread.
No matter how evil or lacking in conscience a person may be, most still hesitate to reveal their sins to friends and family.
Seeing sins… It was something inconceivable in their rational minds, yet they believed it, as it explained the faint glimmer of disappointment in Oliver’s expression when he looked at them.
“Knowledge can be terrifying and painful. Knowing your own identity or seeing the true faces of those close to you—both are equally burdensome.”
“Is that why you killed your grandfather?”
Puppet, who had been talking with a lyrical tone, fell silent for the first time. That wasn’t the end of it. The grotesque pile of blood, flesh, entrails, and bones that formed Puppet visibly trembled.
It made sense—Oliver’s words touched on a secret more significant than Puppet’s true nature, something that pierced through his very purpose.
“Like your student, you’re quite complicated yourself, Puppet. You look down on humanity… yet you want to become human and revive the grandfather you killed with your own hands. Truly ironic—”
“—Aren’t you the same?”
Puppet cut off Oliver’s words.
“You’re no different from me. Although I’m a wooden block too humble for even that expression, we’re fundamentally the same. You’re a being born in the highest place, yet you pretend to be human just as I do.”
Now, it was Oliver who fell silent, gazing intently at Puppet.
Puppet flashed a triumphant smile.
“Why the look? Oh, are you trying to intimidate me?”
“…No, I know you’re not afraid of something so trivial. The only thing you fear is failing to achieve your goal. So, you created a Prince of Hell artificially, summoned a demon to bring about an apocalypse. All just to gain the power of destruction… to become human, even if only for a moment.”
“The apocalypse only happens with divine permission. With that divine power, the wooden block can become human, and the dead can return to life.”
Puppet’s ambition, modest yet intense, was laid bare.
Just as Oliver had said, it was an ironic ambition. This being, who had lived as a Dark Warlock for centuries, established the Black Hand, and was now trying to bring about the end, wanted nothing more than to become human and revive his grandfather.
“But you keep getting in my way.”
“Well, I had no particular intent to interfere, but I can see I’m displeasing you. It’s coincidence… I don’t like this situation either.”
“If you’d kept your promise, it wouldn’t have come to this. I don’t understand. Your goal was to just mimic a human, wasn’t it? Then, you could’ve stayed quiet and done nothing. Why disrupt things?”
“I don’t know. I want to remain still, but circumstances keep arising.”
“It’s not too late even now. Step back and stay quiet, and I’ll take care of everything here in the prison and release everyone by the end of the day.”
Puppet’s offer was sincere.
“All I want is for you not to stand in my way.”
“So you want me to wait quietly until you bring about the apocalypse and everyone dies.”
“Precisely. Isn’t that what you wanted anyway?”
Oliver couldn’t deny it.
It wasn’t that he wished for death, but in the face of such a monumental event, the idea of meeting a predetermined fate seemed oddly comforting.
However...
“First, would you return Kent to me? I heard you took him.”
“If you meet him with those eyes, it’ll be painful—more so than with those three.”
Kent… Indeed, Oliver feared what he might see if he encountered him.
Kent had been a caretaker for beggars without money or power and ran a welfare center, but he, too, had once turned countless tears into profit during the real estate boom, alongside Forest.
“That’s none of your business.”
“No, it is. At this point, I need at least one safeguard.”
“It’s not a request. I said I wanted to see him, and I will.”
Oliver conveyed his intent firmly, leaving no room for misinterpretation.
“Do you think it’ll be easy?”
“Why do you think it won’t be?”
“Power alone isn’t always enough to achieve one’s goals. The world is complex, influenced by many factors. That’s why the Archive failed to prevent the apocalypse, and that’s why they couldn’t stop me either. I’m not just holding Kent hostage; I’m holding this entire city hostage.”
“So?”
“It means you can’t ignore it. Just as you couldn’t completely sever ties after seeing the ugly truths of those close to you, you can’t want to see the city drenched in blood or destroyed. But as for me? I can send soldiers who know nothing to you, and if needed, I can burn this city to the ground—”
Snap!
As Puppet voiced his powerful, venomous declaration, he was abruptly silenced.
Oliver’s shadow had lunged, biting deeply into the mound of corpses that served as Puppet’s vessel.
The spot bitten contained Puppet’s mouth, rendering him forcibly mute.
Fortunately, the ears were left intact, so he could still hear. This, of course, was Oliver’s intention from the start.
Oliver deliberately left Puppet’s ears untouched to convey his message.
“Do your best.”