Chapter 30- The Main Duty of the Student (8)
“What are you thinking about now? You tell me. Don’t you know that I could read your mind?
“Tell the older brother that I’m just drinking and playing around. But I have a plan, and I think it’s going to be fun.”
Although smiling, a 17-year-old Arthur became scarier than before. He, with his natural energy flowing, pressed the skinny boy harder. Such was a peril whom Jeongjin never felt before.
“I hate to be swayed by other people’s will, regardless of who they are. I am young and have done some stupid things. But I couldn’t stand it anymore. Should I fail, I have done it my way,” Arthur said.
“Yes, if that’s your choice, I’ll cheer you up. Get off me!” Clayo said, after shaking off Arthur’s hand.
“How could you do this to me? Are you telling me not to care? Oh, “Ray,” wouldn’t you be wondering why you got that scar in your hand also?”
Jeongjin, in Clayo’s character, put his hand to his forehead and thought carefully. He was wondering why Arthur’s tone and attitude have changed, but strangely, all his words were just the same. And it caused Jeongjin to think further how the previous story hid Arthur’s temper at the time Arthur attended school.
Then a similar phrase in the novel flashed before him as it transcribed by “Memory” of the “Promise.” It was a phrase taken from the story that could not be stricken out. Such was the time when Arthur declared that ‘no one could persecute him.’
“No one can destroy me. Neither God nor the Devil cannot intervene. I will act solely on my own!”
Arthur was a strong protagonist who never compromised when threatened. And he might be one of those characters created by the author, who have chosen to do their ways independently without the will of their architect.
Even if the author tries to hook this guy, speaking of chances, he can’t hit him nor flood him right away. He can’t merely stop Arthur quickly. And it’s unbelievable that this fiction world has strongly tied to causality, unlike in the real world.
Instead, in the real world, some rules might compel a person to limit his actions, lest he will be penalized by circumventing such rules. However, in a serial novel, owing to this kind of situation, most of these characters might exhibit the worse. And they would end up crooked.
‘Oh, I don’t know this kind of situation. But I’m not used to it. Why is it happening in the novel when I’m already here? It’s been better off to be in the real world.
At this time, Jeongjin thought that he was only contributing to a novel’s publisher and deemed accomplice in launching its campaign.
And maybe it’s the result of not verifying first who the author was.
After all, good authors, ironically, were hard to find nowadays.
In the meantime, Clayo was about to escape from the peril at hand. But Arthur had no intention of looking in the eye to the boy who just turned him away.
“Anyway, I can’t help it if you don’t want to tell me. But I’ll stick with you until you feel like talking,” Arthur said.
“What are you talking about? What am I supposed to say when I don’t know anything about it?
Yes, what should Jeongjin suppose to say?
Isn’t Arthur, the main character of the story?
But what made Arthur changed into something strange?
What would happen if somebody might change ‘the existence’ that was deeply involved with the composition of this story? Can the author catch the reins and flings? And a tattered manuscript would still stand up?
Jeongjin just couldn’t afford to do whatever it was. Because modifying the story was beyond his capacity.
“It’s not that you have nothing to say, but there’s something you don’t want to tell me. And those two were different. Let’s find out what’s going on.”
Again, Arthur smiled a mischievous one. Then suddenly, a golden phrase of the Promise flashed before Jeongjin’s mind while he was in an unhappy state.
[-The user’s narrative intervention continued to rise.]
“Never. F*ck off, you son of a b*tch!”, Clayo has blurted.
“Huh? You call my mom a b*tch? Let’s see, after all, we’ll see each other every day. You’re mean. This warehouse won’t clean up in just two weeks. And surely, you’ll have to keep coming here after the vacation with me,” Arthur said, furiously.
Hence, Jeongjin was screaming in his thought. ‘Ahhh!’
He can’t help but wrapped his head like a shattered man. It was now clear to him that the more he involved with Arthur, the higher the level of a narrative intervention he got.
What’s the point of increasing my ability? It’s burdensome! This author is sure to use me!”
At this point, the “Promise” felt like a leash and not a blessing to Jeongjin. A sort of rope that dragged him to the story that could otherwise deviate from his will. Thus, he resentfully looked down at his left hand.