485 The Boundary

The toy hammer, wrapping Kai's figure, vanished.

Kai looked at The Cartoonist, and the man looked at him, his face changing colors with every passing moment.

I lie beyond the end.

The clue had freshened up in his memories. The clue, which he had bought at the shameful price of only 25000 MC from the auction. It was the same clue that the High Priest of the Many-faced God had suggested to him to buy, for according to him, it was invaluable.

However, even he and Item-M had later found that it was perhaps nothing more than an old myth, coming back alive now and then.

Now that Kai was standing in front of the "old myth", he could scarcely believe what he was seeing.

"You are a Contestant or not, doc?!" The Cartoonist screamed, smoke whistling out of his rabbit ears. "You better not lie, or you will turn to stone. Don't believe me? Well, why don't you try it then? Come on!"

Kai nodded, hoping to move the conversation forward. In return, he just wanted to know one thing. If The Cartoonist lay beyond the end, then — "Where are we?" Kai asked, burying his curiosity to know about his man for later.

"Not so fast!" The Cartoonist held up a stop sign. From where, when, and how had he taken it out? Kai didn't know, but he did look at it. The Cartoonist rolled up his non-existent sleeves, dropping the stop sign. "Who sent you, eh? Who else is coming? You think I fear you all? You kingly mongrels! Tch! You can't do anything to me here. Haha!"

"I have nothing to do with the Kings," Kai told him calmly. "Can you tell me where are we now?"

"Nothing to do with Kings? Hmm…" The Cartoonist began walking around Kai in circles, chomping on the leafy carrot. "What about the Kings' children, eh?"

"I don't even know if they have children…"

"Oh! Trying to be smart with me, matey?! What about the grandchildren?"

"I don't know…"

"Great-grandchildren?"

"Never heard of it," Kai replied, his patient incomprehensibly vast.

…

…

1 hour later.

"%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% grandchildren?" The Cartoonist asked the same question again.

Kai shook his head, his eyes still.

"Emperor?"

Kai paused. It was as if he was falling down and down, and suddenly the direction of "down" reversed.

"Aha! Got you, didn't I?!" The Cartoonist laughed smugly. "Pretty-face-no-brains… How did you like my intelligence? So… not Kings, but Emperor. I sure am getting famous, eh? Perhaps He wants to marry His daughter with me. I do have some soft ears, you see. Girls like playing with them."

Kai's gaze flickered. There were two words in the sentence this man uttered that truly unnerved him. "I don't know if the one whom I met was an Emperor or not," he said, hoping the man would stop yapping any longer. "Your question just made me recall a distant memory. That's why I paused."

The Cartoonist regarded him, chewing on the carrot. "Ah, well," he said, throwing himself in the beach chair. "I do have some respect for you Kings, doc. I don't know how you arrived here. But now that you have, you can't go back. You see, there is this…"

"I am not a King," Kai told him, approaching the beach chair.

"Yeah, right," The Cartoonist scoffed. "If you aren't King, then I am not a… Ah! You tricked me, didn't you? You wanted me to say I am not a man? I am! I am twice… no. 10 times a man than you are, yes, I am!"

If it was before, this world would have been burning in ashes.

Even though this man was stupidly annoying, he couldn't even come close to Selene's erratic change in personality.

For the first time, Kai's gaze softened as he remembered the serpent. Would he ever see her again?

"Why are you smiling?" The Cartoonist asked, looking Kai up and down. "Are you crazy? Sorry, mate. You see the sign over there —"

Kai looked in the direction in which the man was pointing, and he frowned.

Somehow, and at some point, a "sign" had indeed planted itself in the white, sandy shore, some 20 ft away from Kai.

It said —

Tailless Dogs, Kings, and Crazies are not welcome here!

The corners of Kai's lips twitched. He looked back at the man with the pointy goatee. "I am not Crazy," he said assuringly. "I am really not a King. Nor am I a tailless dog…"

"Oh, are you sure about that?" The Cartoonist mocked, raising an eyebrow. "What do I see behind you, then?"

Kai instantly snapped back, dearly wishing to not find a tail on him, cut or not. Nothing. There was nothing on him.

"Hahaha!" The Cartoonist guffawed, holding his stomach. "Made you look, didn't I? Now call me the Greatest Lord of Foolery, and I will just tell you some things."

Let's start anew, Kai thought, drawing a deep breath. "The Greatest Lord of Foolery."

The Cartoonist nodded, satisfied. "Some things."

"…"

"Cough!" The Cartoonist cleared his throat, seeing the look in Kai's eyes. Something must have stirred him, for he shrugged and said, "If you are not a King, and nobody helped you, then how did you arrive at The Boundary?"

"The Boundary?"

The Cartoonist nodded. "There are only two ways for Contestants to come here," he said, lifting three fingers. "First, an Emperor helps you, sacrificing his butt. Na, I am not joking! Don't believe me? Well, suit yourself. Second, you die at a place, which is neither in the Random Worlds nor in the Primordial Tower, with the Resurrection Stone, and a particular Title in your Stats."

Resurrection Stone? Kai raked his mind, but felt more puzzled the more he thought about it. "I did die at a place like that… But I didn't have any Resurrection Stone. What is this particular Title?"

The Cartoonist gave him a look as if Kai's lies disgusted him. "You have it? Naaa! You don't have it," he said, eying Kai suspiciously. "Do you really have it? The Title… Death Scion?"

A stupefying realization dawned on Kai. Titles didn't work without equipping them. And, during the long course of experimenting, there had come a time when Kai had equipped Death Scion Title, and then he had left it there, finding all Titles useless.

Compelled by a sudden urge, Kai reached for his right hand and pulled up the sleeves of his white lab coat.

Ten long, dark, and hideous marks of Death's fingers were still there, pulsing.

The Cartoonist's jaw dropped, his chin reaching his chest. He looked at the mark, then at Kai, and then back at the mark. "You can't be that lucky?!" he blurted, making Kai remember a word that he still hated. "Come on! Death Scion and Resurrection Stone, both? Why not snatch my Carrot, too, you thief?!"

"As I said…" Kai hissed out, "… I didn't have the Resurrection Stone." Or did he?

Thousands of years' worth of memories flashed by in his mind. No. He couldn't recall anything like that on him.

The Cartoonist had no intention of believing him, though. "You must have," he said, stating it like a fact. "Damn! Where did you find such a place to die, doc? And… did you have to die there? Coming here, ruining my dinner?"

Kai sighed inwardly, shaking his head. "I died in the Tournament of Worth…"

"Oh!" The Cartoonist nodded to himself and resumed eating the carrot.

Kai had yet to finish his words, though. "… in the 3rd Stage. Failed it," he added.

"Cough! Cough!" the Cartoonist choked, spitting out nails, toothbrushes, and walnuts. "Failed?! FAILED?! Damn! You sure are crazy, aren't you, not-king? Tch-Tch! So hardy, eh? Couldn't you just Give Up before dying, saving your life… and my very important time."

Give up? Once entered the 3rd Stage, the Contestant can't back out.

Kai still remembered the words, clearer than he should have. "I had no such option."

Silence.

No laugh. No yapping. No witty remark.

Absolute Silence.

The Cartoonist looked at Kai, the carrot a few inches away from his mouth. He looked at Kai, stunned. "You… have a Glitch?"

Kai gave a brief nod. "I had." What was the point of hiding it now, when he had already died?

"You…" The Cartoonist mumbled, pointing his carrot at Kai. "—how? You got Debugged?!"

Despite himself, despite the overwhelming calm, something snapped in Kai. Debugged? The word thundered in his mind. It was as if something sinister had been going behind the veils and he had no hint of it. The word stabbed deep.

"What's Debugged?" Kai asked, his tone shaking, just the tiniest. "Tell me."

But, even more agitated than Kai, was The Cartoonist. "2nd Floor Contestant…" he mumbled, taking a step back, away and away from Kai. "Glitch… Death Scion… Resurrection Stone… Meeting an Emperor-level Contestant, for God's sake…"

Kai had never seen such horror on someone's face. Even the agitation, bubbling in his heart, felt puny compared to the paling face of the man. Who could say that he was the same man who had been joking, mocking, and laughing so much a few moments ago?

The Cartoonist stopped and looked at Kai as though it was the very first time he was looking at him. "White hair…" he mumbled, possessed. "Hazel eyes… Pretty face… Oi! Ahem! Do you find yourself surrounded by pretty girls wherever you go?"

Hmm? Kai couldn't make head or tail of this question. Now that Kai thought about the question, he did find an awful lot of beautiful girls around him wherever he had been to.

Kai's silence was an answer in itself.

The Cartoonist gulped. "What was your Code Name?"

This was the most normal conversation Kai was having with this Being, whatever he was. And he needed some answers from him as well. This was the best chance he could get. "Blood Demon."

"Blood Demon?" The Cartoonist frowned. "That's a common… Wait! Did you… Did you die because it had something to do with your own Demonic Attitude? And did you… did you perhaps explain the reason for your death before dying to someone?"

This truly caught Kai's attention. He indeed had done so.

The Cartoonist saw the answers on Kai's face as plain as the sand beneath his feet. And he ran.

No words. No warnings. And no hints.

The Cartoonist just jumped and ran, dashing like a rabbit chased by a wolf.

Well. Kai was chasing him, blurring behind him at his top speed. He was calm, but he wasn't stupid. The Cartoonist was his only hope of knowing what was going on.

"No!" The Cartoonist shrieked, looking over his shoulder. "Leave me alone, man! I was just passing my time, troubling no one! Please! No!"

Something was wrong! Kai could feel it in his bones, running faster. The Cartoonist knew something.

"NO!" the man cried, seeing Kai gaining in on him. "My hole! Where's my hole?!"

And a hole appeared in the white sand, going deep into the earth. The only thing was… it had appeared near the Beach Chair, not near the one who had asked for it.

The Cartoonist looked up as if he could see me. "You asshole! No! Why now?! So much time has passed… My poor little life… troubling no one!"

Kai rammed himself into the man and pinned him down.

"Now, hear me, alright!" The Cartoonist reasoned, not forgetting to take a bite of the carrot. "Oh, for fuck's sake! (-he threw the carrot away-) Brother, look. I will tell you everything… OK? Just… forget about me… You just take out the Resurrection Stone, and I will connect you to Big Brother Death. Please, man… I was lying about my ears… Girls don't like them! OK?"

Kai's heart was thumping. The feeling of sensing something amiss had shot through the roof. So… his Instincts still worked. Even after death. "What's going on?" he demanded, his grip tightening on the man's collars. "And I want the truth out of you. Go on!"

"Look," The Cartoonist said, looking up, and then back at Kai, "even if I tell you, you will not believe it."

"Try me."

The Cartoonist again took a fleeting look toward the sky, making Kai look at the sky, too. Nothing.

"Damn it!" the man cursed, looking into Kai's eyes. "We are in a Novel, alright! And you are the main character!"

Kai looked at The Cartoonist, dumbfounded. This man… this idiot… Even now he was fucking with him?! Must he make him bleed?

"See?!" The Cartoonist bellowed, spit flying everywhere. "I told you that you wouldn't believe me. Look, man! I will be straight… I mean, I am straight, as I am not gay. How do I know? Well, yeah, good question, because I am sure as well… OH, FOR FUCK's SAKE! FUCK YOU!"

The man cursed, looking up, not seeing anything but the sky.

And I laughed.

************

AN: Mass Release!!! 4 more chapters today.