## Chapter 154 – A Card to Discard, a Card to Keep
Having experienced the unjust incident with Song Doori-ssaem, my former homeroom teacher, I realized something.
In the end, the truth is written by the victor, and preparation is needed to win that fight.
I took out Shin Seok-ho’s notebook from my inventory, hid it well in a secret place in the settlement, bought a camcorder, and held it firmly in my hand.
‘Please, let it go as well as I think it will.’
The result comes according to the preparation.
I held the camcorder in my hand and brought it to a rock. Then, I scratched it against the rock.
***
That evening, Emma brought food to welcome me.
“Please, have a bite.”
A dish made with rabbit.
I stared down at it and shook my head.
“I don’t really like rabbit meat.”
“How about taking just one bite for the sake of the person who cooked it?”
Emma smiled and nudged one of the girls with her foot, and the girl, followed by the others, nodded awkwardly with a smile.
They looked at me with their hands clasped tightly, asking for just one bite.
[There’s an anesthetic in the food.]
[Oral sedative anesthetic. If you eat it, you will fall asleep with an anesthetic effect. It usually takes about 30 minutes to an hour for the effect to appear.]
“The kids are asking too, so how about just one bite? Everyone worked hard to treat you, Woo-jin-nim.”
Emma’s eyes shone brightly as she looked at me. I stared intently at the dish on the plate and nodded.
“If that’s the case, I have no choice. I have to eat this one plate for the sake of the kids.”
I willingly ate it.
“It’s delicious. Thank you, everyone. For preparing something like this for me.”
“…Yes.”
The kids couldn’t even meet my eyes. Only Emma was excited and smiling brightly.
‘Is it starting now?’
It seemed like Emma had already decided on her course.
Her colors were so clear that I wondered if there was any need to watch her any longer.
‘But humans are different in thought and action.’
Even if you have all sorts of fantasies in your mind, what matters in the end is whether you put them into action.
From now on, I was going to watch that.
But a problem arose.
Even though I ate the anesthetic, there was no reaction. My senses should have been dulled, and I should have been falling asleep, but I was perfectly fine.
[The physical strength stat is too high, so it was naturally detoxified.]
‘It’s hard to deliberately fall into this trap.’
In the end, I decided to play it with acting.
After about 30 minutes, I pretended to doze off and collapsed to the floor.
“Woo-jin-nim? Are you sleeping? Woo-jin-nim.”
Emma shook me, slapped my cheeks a few times, and checked my pupils by lifting my eyelids.
“The drug has taken full effect.”
Emma, judging that the drug had taken effect on me, picked me up. Then, she seemed to carry me somewhere and put me down in a place with a hard backrest.
A bizarre oak tree.
After leaning me against it, Emma gave instructions to the kids.
“You two. The thing we took out of the warehouse and prepared earlier, right? Go and get it right away.”
“Yes, Unni.”
The two ran off somewhere. Isabel said to Emma in a trembling voice.
“Unni. That drug really doesn’t have any problems with the body, right?”
“Don’t worry. There’s nothing wrong. It’s just an anesthetic, so he’ll wake up while sleeping.”
“That’s a relief.”
Looking at it from the [Omniscient Observer’s Viewpoint], I could see Isabel and the other girls feeling relieved.
Camilla whispered softly in Isabel’s ear.
“Isabel Unni. So when are you going to steal the key?”
“Depending on the situation. Let’s do it when Emma Unni is completely relieved and sleeping soundly. Then, we’ll all run away together with the Mister.”
“Okay.”
It seemed they were planning to take me away in the middle.
For being bullied and gaslighted for eight years, they were making a rather courageous decision.
‘Still, to expose my weaknesses and participate in the crime like this.’
If this happens, both Emma and those kids are screwed.
I had already given one side enough chances, so recovery was no longer possible.
Then, should I have some expectations for the other side?
“Unni, here it is.”
The kids who had disappeared returned. In the kids’ hands were long-chained handcuffs.
Emma grabbed them and approached me, who was leaning against the oak tree, and grabbed my arms behind my back.
After making me hug the oak tree from behind, she handcuffed my wrists.
“Maya. Water.”
“Yes, Unni.”
Then, Maya brought a bucket of water and splashed it on my face.
Splash!
“Hey. Are you awake now?”
I shook my head a few times as if I had just woken up and moved my body.
Clang, clang. The handcuffs made a chilling scream.
“It’s no use. No matter how strong you are, you can never break those handcuffs. Give up.”
“…….”
I moved my body back and forth to shake the tree.
“Heh heh. I’m telling you, it’s no use shaking it like that. I’ve already figured out how strong you are. There’s nothing you can do while you’re still not fully awake from the anesthesia.”
Emma came up to me and pressed down on my shoulder with her foot. I stopped moving and looked up at Emma.
“…Why did you do this?”
“You’re not really asking because you don’t know, are you?”
Of course, I know. But it’s important what kind of answer Emma gives.
Emma, receiving my obvious gaze, let out a smirk.
“I hate men.”
“…….”
“I hate men so much that I want to beat them to death just by looking at them.”
According to what I’ve observed so far, Emma always revealed her inner thoughts and told the other person before harming them.
She revealed the truth to the other person.
-Even though I’m annoyed because you’re a man, I’m trying to save you as much as possible because you’re a doctor, but you’re urging your own death, old man.
It’s true that Emma hates men.
And she just told me that. That she hates men.
The fact that she revealed a long-hidden secret was very significant.
It implied that she was confident in her victory at this moment and that she was planning to harm me from now on.
“What are you planning to do with me?”
“Well. I’m going to keep starving you for now.”
“Are you going to starve me to death? It would have been faster to just give me poison instead of anesthesia.”
“Pfft. I would never kill you. You’re a goose that lays golden eggs.”
“…….”
“You’re going to be a daily sustenance for us. Like the rabbit and fish you ate a little while ago. Honestly, you want to live too, don’t you?”
Then, Emma smiled with crescent-shaped eyes.
“If you create something to eat in order to live, we’ll take it away from you. And we’ll only give you some of it to eat. Only a small amount so you don’t die.”
“Interesting.”
“Right? But don’t worry too much. Like I said a little while ago, I’ll never let you die. I’ll take responsibility and save your life. Only your life.”
In the end, this woman wasn’t the same case as Lee Hyun-ji.
Well, there are many people in the world, and personalities are diverse.
Not everything will go according to my plan.
I blew air through my nose and looked straight up at Emma.
“So, in the end, you betrayed me.”
“Betrayal? Pfft. There’s no way I would become a slave to a man. I pretended to be on your side from the beginning. I accepted all your actions for a while in order to make your special ability mine.”
Emma was excited and chattering.
“I can’t believe you didn’t even notice that. Why are men so stupid? Do they really think they’ve conquered a woman when she moans every time they stick their dicks in?”
“Hmm. So, you acted all along to deceive me?”
“Yeah, you idiot. Ugh. If you don’t have any sense, you should go die.”
“So, in order to perfectly deceive me, you swore to be my slave and stood still while getting your nipples and clit pierced?”
At those words, the girls behind Emma whispered.
“Emma Unni declared herself a slave to that person?”
“So, she put those things in her chest and there because of that? Not just because she felt like it?”
Emma glared at them, and the girls immediately shut their mouths. I smiled brightly and added more words.
“Is that all? You even sucked my toes to become my slave. You probably licked up all the dirt between my toes with your tongue, right?”
Slap! Emma immediately slapped my cheek.
“You son of a bitch with only a mouth! Keep talking! Keep going!”
Slap! Slap! Slap!
“Me, lick your toes! Nonsense! Do you think this Emma would do such a vulgar thing? Fine. If that’s how it’s going to be, I have my own plans.”
Emma took off her shoes and held out her foot to me.
“Lick it. If you don’t want to die.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Can you kill me?”
“What?”
“Do you have a way to kill me? Then kill me.”
“…….”
Emma couldn’t say anything.
In the end, the reason she had the kids find out my weaknesses was because she couldn’t find a way to kill me.
Now that she’s somehow found out my weaknesses, well… it’s definitely not easy to feed poison to someone who’s wide awake.
“And let’s say I lick your feet. Can you willingly give me your feet? How do you know how I’ll move? What if I grab your feet with my teeth and tear them off?”
Emma, who had held out her feet to me, was startled and retracted her feet.
Everyone would know by now.
That Emma doesn’t have the power to beat me. That she can’t do anything to me.
“Let’s see. Is there any need to watch any longer at this point? There’s no need to wait any longer since I don’t need to taste whether it’s shit or soybean paste to know.”
“You… what are you talking about right now?”
My body is restrained, and my life is threatened.
This is enough justification.
Now, even if I trample on or harm Emma, the girls will all understand.
Before, if I, an outsider, suddenly beat Emma to death, they would look at me like a psycho, be afraid of me, and avoid me, but not anymore.
Even if I beat Emma to death, it would just be seen as self-defense.
The kids won’t distance themselves from me or anything because of that.
So, now is the time to move.
“You… what are you plotting right now?”
Emma stepped back from me, faltering.
“Well.”
Emma can’t leave the stage like this yet. She had something to do.
“Emma, since you’ve shown your true feelings, I can’t just stand still. I’ll tell you some truths that I’ve been hiding from you too.”
“Truth…?”
“Yes, truths that you don’t know.”
From now on, it’s truth game time, which will be very exciting for Emma and the girls.
Emma, who took the bait, stopped in her place and focused on me.
People often can’t let go of their curiosity even in dangerous moments like this.
Like in horror movies, like the supporting characters who know it’s dangerous but can’t let go of their curiosity and approach and die.
“You guys probably think that I, an outsider, don’t know anything. Not at all. It’s the opposite. I know almost everything that’s happened here.”
“What? What does that…?”
“The people who fell on this island 10 years ago. And everything they’ve been through. I mean I came up here knowing all the inside stories.”
Then, I looked at the five girls in front of me and told them the truth.
“Shin Seok-ho. He didn’t leave you. Emma shot him and pushed him off the waterfall.”
“!!”
“He saw you being bullied by Emma and tried to stop it, and he died.”
“Th, that’s.”
The girls all widened their eyes at once.
It didn’t seem like they believed it. They were just widening their eyes because the fact was so absurd.
“Wh, where are you spouting such ridiculous nonsense from!”
But as Emma rushed at me and shouted, and exercised excessive violence at a glance, the girls’ eyes began to change.
Thud! Thud! Thud thud thud!
Could it be? The possibility began to seep into their eyes.
“Hah. Huff. Huff.”
Emma, who kicked without giving me a break, took rough breaths.
Regardless of that, I continued to speak when she was no longer able to hit me.
“That’s the first one.”
“The first one…?”
## 다소 충격을 먹은 여자애들이 정신을 퍼뜩 차리고는 날 주목했다.
“You guys probably heard about it. How one day, the rope suddenly snapped, and all the soldiers and men died within a single day.”
The girls nodded.
Even though it happened when they were young, it was such a shocking event, and with so many sad things happening afterward, they still vividly remembered it even after eight years.
“It wasn’t that the rope snapped. Someone cut it.”
“!!”
“Moreover, people didn’t die even falling from that height. Many survived. But the culprit who cut the rope went down the cliff alone, searched for the survivors, and shot them in the knees until they died.”
-E, Emma. What are you doing?
-Sorry, but for my enjoyment, all of you have to die.
-C, calm down. Please don’t shoot. Please. We’ve been together for years… Aaaagh!
The girls, their faces stiff, turned to Emma in unison.
Back then, there was only one person with enough stamina to go down the waterfall and climb back up to the top.
“It’s not me! This crazy bastard is talking nonsense!”
Emma, her face pale, denied that it was her.
The relaxed demeanor she had just shown was nowhere to be found.
But this is just the beginning.
“The real stuff starts now.”
“What…?”
『May 25th. Because of the food shortage, we selected volunteers to go down to the sea to live, and the adults, regardless of gender, didn’t hesitate to sacrifice themselves for the children.』
“Your parents, who went down the mountain, saw the bodies of the men and realized something was wrong. So they struggled to climb back up the cliff. With all their might. But what awaited them was a gun.”
Parents who came up to protect their children were shot by a crazy sadist and fell down the cliff.
The other parents who saw that couldn’t bring themselves to climb back up.
But they couldn’t go down the mountain either… Unable to leave the waterfall, worrying about their children, they eventually starved to death there or died of hypothermia.
“T, that’s all lies. You guys trust me, right? W, why would I do such a thing? Huh?”
Emma tries to persuade them, but the girls’ eyes are full of distrust.
Wasn’t the karma she had built up over the past eight years too malicious?
It was too late to change things now.
Seeing that, Emma’s eyes sharpened.
“You guys don’t suspect me, do you?”
Flinch.
In the end, Emma chose the path of fear-mongering as usual instead of persuasion. She spread her palm and raised it above her head, taking a posture as if to hit them.
As she looked at each of them with a creepy smile in that state, they all trembled and lowered their heads.
Smirk.
Emma, who watched that with great satisfaction, turned to me and sneered.
“So, is that it? If you have anything else to say, go ahead. It’s not like these kids can be your saviors.”
Of course, there’s still more to say.
“Isabel.”
At my call, Isabel slowly raised her head and looked straight at me.
“Isn’t it strange? Why did only the boys disappear from this Eden one day? Why are all the girls here, and only the men went down the mountain?”
“Huh…?”
Isabel, her focus momentarily lost, turned her head creakingly and looked at Emma.
“Unni. It’s not true, is it…?”
“Of course not!”
“Well, is that really the case?”
Emma, frustrated by my words, shouted.
“Do you have proof? Do you have any proof!”
Proof.
“Isabel, you must have seen it too. The notebook I was holding.”
“That time…?”
“You guys saw it right. That’s Teacher Shin Seok-ho’s notebook. All the things I just said are recorded in it.”
It was a lie.
Shin Seok-ho only vaguely realized that all of this was Emma’s doing right before he died.
That’s why he didn’t record everything in the notebook.
Even so, the reason I know the truth is because I confirmed the cause of death of each corpse with the [Encyclopedia] and glimpsed into their past.
But to those who don’t know the contents of the notebook, the existence of the notebook itself could be a powerful trigger.
“Our mom… Dad….”
“Were they murdered?”
Children who have desperately lived under the enemy who killed their parents.
Cleaning for the enemy, cooking, licking their vaginas to satisfy the enemy’s lust….
Those moments must be flashing through the minds of the five girls.
The last 모습 of their parents, who willingly sacrificed themselves and went down the mountain to save them, will also come to mind.
‘Then now, a big wind is needed to ignite the kindling.’
“Isabel, come here.”
Isabel approaches.
Emma couldn’t stop Isabel’s approach.
All the girls were emitting an ominous aura. It was an atmosphere where something was about to explode at any moment.
As if vividly feeling that, Emma was flustered and stuttered, unable to stop Isabel.
“Take it.”
I took out an item from my inventory and handed it over.
It was a camcorder.
Inside the camcorder, which I deliberately scratched against rocks and wooden walls to make it look old, was a video.
-Nuna, I’m scared. Sniffle. Isabel nuna.
Inside, there was a 모습 of her younger brother, Cesar Luzgard, dying among the corpses with a broken leg.
There was a 모습 of Cesar Luzgard sadly crying towards the camera.
Of course, this is the past of Cesar Luzgard that I glimpsed through the [Encyclopedia].
It is a manipulated video that captures his last moments in the camcorder.
If you look closely, you can suspect that the camcorder is new, and the video inside is somewhat high quality for something from eight years ago.
But would such trivial things matter to Isabel, who has confirmed the last 모습 of her blood relative and the reason for his death?
“Why my brother…?”
“Emma said it earlier. She hates men.”
“!!”
-I hate men. I hate men so much that I want to beat them to death just by looking at them.
“Ugh, aaaaaah!”
Isabel screamed and ran towards Emma. She immediately climbed on top of her and clung to her head.
“Aaaagh! Are you crazy? Can’t you get off right now?! Get off right… Aaaagh! My ear!”
As Isabel rushed at her, the other four also jumped on Emma and climbed on top of her.
They bit with their teeth, and pieces of flesh and blood splattered into the air several times.
“You bitches!”
Of course, it’s impossible for five kids who have never fought in their lives to win against a soldier.
“You fucking bitches. You want to get your asses beat to death.”
They were quickly subdued and all rolled on the floor. Emma, dripping blood all over her body, spewed out harsh curses.
“You guys are in for it. Don’t even think about dying peacefully. I’m going to torment you for a long time and send you to your parents’ side.”
But even if she yelled like that, there was no fear in the girls’ eyes now.
Rather, there was only burning anger.
‘It’s a success.’
And I watched that 모습 with satisfaction.
I thought I was throwing away all the cards, but I managed to salvage as many as five.
“First, I’m going to deal with you, who caused this situation. Damn it, even if my body is, my eyes won’t be able to block bullets.”
With that, Emma strode towards me.
‘I’ve gotten everything I need, so it’s time to leave the stage.’
Hoo. I let go of the expression I had been trying to smile normally. Ending the acting with a short exhale, I looked at Emma, who was approaching with a gun.
Stumble.
“Y… Your eyes…?”
[State: Fear]
[She felt some fear after seeing your expression and eyes.]
I don’t know why people react like that when they see my eyes.
That’s why Han Do-gyun beat me up so much in high school, whenever he had the chance. Because my eyes were annoying.
Gritting my teeth.
I got up and firmly supported myself with my feet on the tree. Then, I gave strength to both arms and pulled the arms bent backward forward.
Creak. Creak.
The tree and the shackle chain met and screamed.
Emma, seeing my 모습, sneered.
“Haha, you fool! Do you think you can do anything about those shackles?! No human on Earth can ever break them! Not even a professional athlete!”
I understand.
Shackles can never be broken without considerable force.
But-
[Copied .]
[All stats and resistance increase by 300%.]
Strength: 14.2 -〉 42.6
[The mystical power of ‘Strange Oak’ surrounds you.]
Strength: 42.6 -〉 85.2
Creak.
“H, huh?”
The leg muscles swelled taut. The arm muscles on both sides also swelled greatly.
Tendons bulged, and soon a scream was heard from somewhere.
‘Of course, I can’t break the shackles.’
They were made so that they couldn’t be easily broken and run away, so there’s no way they could be easily broken.
But the story is different if it’s a tree.
Crack. Crack.
I twisted my body back and forth to break the tree.
Accordingly, the tree screamed more and more.
“N, no way!”
Clang!
And finally, there was a breaking sound.
But the sound was a little strange. It wasn’t the sound of a tree breaking, but the sound of metal breaking.
‘The shackles broke.’
Looking closely, the joint connecting the chain and the shackles was broken.
Was it a defective product? Or was it originally so weak in durability?
‘Well, it’s not my business.’
I released my wrists and looked at Emma.
“H, huh?”
Emma’s face, seeing the broken shackles, had turned pale.
Stumbling, Emma took a step back and turned her body, hurriedly starting to run towards the waterfall.
‘Where do you think you’re going.’
I immediately caught up and kicked Emma’s leg with my foot.
Emma rotated 360 degrees in the air as it was and sprawled on the floor.
“Aaaagh!”
Oops, I failed to control my strength because it became too strong.
Emma, with both legs seemingly broken, crawled on all fours.
I grabbed one of her ankles.
Emma, grabbed by the ankle, floundered and looked back at me, shouting.
“W, why are you doing this!”
“?”
“If you had that much power! You should have shown it from the beginning! You should have crushed me with overwhelming power without needing to test me! If you had…!”
“If I had, you wouldn’t have done this? Hey. We’ve already seen everything, so let’s not make such lip service lies. Would a woman who even shot the President of the United States not have underestimated me?”
In the end, she was a human who would betray me first if the situation got even slightly worse.
Even so, the reason I gave her a chance was in case she became a case like Lee Hyun-ji.
And because Kim Jae-joon and Yoo Ha-na would have given her a chance at least once.
‘But if it’s a wild cat that keeps showing its teeth to its owner, there’s no choice.’
She’s no longer useful, so there’s no reason to show more mercy or take care of her.
As I grabbed Emma’s ankle and dragged her, Emma shouted.
“Please save me! Please save me! Aren’t I your slave! Isn’t my master a merciful person unlike me!”
“Sorry. You’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m more evil than you, not good. Maybe I’m more cruel and ruthless than any human you’ve ever seen.”
“What does that….”
“Look at my eyes. What kind of human do you think I am when you look at me? How do you think I survived on this island? What kind of life do you think I’ve lived?”
Emma, looking at my eyes, trembled all over.
“Y, you are 대체….”
“Still, don’t be too scared. After all, I’m also human.”
Her face brightens.
“And they are also human.”
“Huh…?”
“The punishment for you will be handled by them.”
Isabel and the girls were coming with clubs.
“O, oh….”
“Killing you and tormenting you will be their responsibility from now on. In short, you’re their slave now. Livestock. So, try to get along with your new owners.”
I stepped on Emma’s arms and broke them. Aaaagh! Then, I shook off my hands from Emma, who was wriggling like an earthworm, and stepped back.
“There have been a lot of discords built up, so you’ll have to work hard to be loved. Good luck.”
Then, as I made way, the kids immediately approached and surrounded Emma.
‘If you want to defeat the leader who rules an area and take over that area, what should you do?’
The orthodox method is to wage war and conquer it, but then various secondary problems arise.
The biggest problem is that the residents may revolt.
So, usually, after occupying the area, they take measures such as appointing one of the natives of that area as governor.
But there is an even better way.
‘First, show my weakness and make the opponent attack me to create a justification for self-defense.’
After that, catch the leader and deal with them.
The way to deal with them is simple.
Tell the residents in detail that he exploited and did dirty things to his residents in front of them.
Tell the parties all the dirty and ugly truths that have been hidden until now.
“H, hey guys. That thing is, so….”
Then the things that will happen are simple.
I don’t need to get my hands dirty myself. I don’t need to spend a lot of time and effort.
Because the residents will take care of punishing and educating the leader themselves.
“Ack! Aaaagh! Guys, please! Let’s talk…! Aaaagh!”
Thud! Thud! Thud thud thud!
“Please stop! Don’t hit me! Don’t hit my face! Not my chest or my…! I was wrong, guys!”
Thud thud thud thud thud!
‘In the end, there are only two kinds of people in the world.’
People who approach me with goodwill.
People who show their teeth to the end.
When I return to Earth, there will be people who approach me with goodwill like my women, but there will also be people like Emma who show their teeth to the end even after getting a chance.
‘Not everyone will show me goodwill. That’s natural.’
So I will also act in two ways.
To those who repay me with goodwill, I will also repay with goodwill.
To those who treat me with hostility despite being given a chance, I will respond with merciless retribution.
I vowed that while looking at Emma suffering from the girls.
“Aaaagh. I’m sorry! I was wrong all along! Please Isabel-nim! Camilla-nim! Maya-nim!”
Thud thud thud!
“Inoue-nim! Anastasia-nim! Please forgive me just once…!”
Emma’s screams, like a pig being slaughtered, continued without end.
Until the darkness cleared and the bright sun dawned. All the time.
