Chapter 35. City of Dionysus (5)
Jooheon grinned as he shook the children’s storybook in his hand.
“Why are you making that face?”
“I remodeled it into a children’s book with a little more style.”
“You should be thanking me.”
Betrayne’s masked face slowly turned toward him.
“You turned my law book...”
His voice lowered.
“Into a device for producing excrement?”
“Yeah.”
Jooheon shrugged.
“It suits this city better.”
“This place uses drug-type Artifacts to make people regress, doesn’t it?”
“A law book was way too intellectual for it.”
Majesty Yoo Jaeha stared up at the ceiling as if his soul were leaving his body.
“...Ha.”
“Maybe you’re more creative than I am, and I’m the <Creator>.”
He looked at Jooheon.
“At least when it comes to insanity.”
Jooheon shrugged as though accepting the compliment.
Then he looked at Betrayne.
“You’re the one who called someone else’s world a garbage dump.”
“So I turned your son into garbage too.”
He smiled.
“Fair, right?”
Light flashed behind Betrayne’s mask.
Jooheon laughed.
“Don’t get so upset.”
“Besides...”
He shook the book.
“It was a little undignified like that.”
The book changed shape.
It became something closer to one of Aesop’s fables.
That wasn’t all.
When Jooheon opened it, lines written in the simple style of a children’s story began glowing across the pages.
[What role do bad people play in fairy tales?]
Artifact power radiated from the sentence itself.
The words began wrapping around Betrayne.
His eyes narrowed slightly beneath the mask.
As though he had understood what was happening.
“...An attribute-conversion type?”
Julian had originally been a law book of judgment.
An Artifact that defined crimes and carried out punishment.
But after being transformed into a children’s storybook...
Its rules had been completely reversed.
[The judgment function of <Law Codex> is changing.]
[Assigning a <Role> to the target.]
Once a role was assigned...
The target could not escape it.
If someone was assigned the role of a villain, they were forced to behave like one.
If the role contained restrictions, they were compelled toward its designated ending.
And breaking the assigned role brought consequences.
The language of the children’s book sounded cute and harmless.
But in reality...
It trapped its targets inside the rigid framework of a moral fable.
A low sigh escaped from beneath Betrayne’s mask.
“You turned my proud masterpiece into this?”
Was this Seo Jooheon’s Majesty ability?
An ability that steals existing powers...
And even steals the target’s mental framework.
Jooheon flicked his finger.
Another page turned on its own.
A sentence appeared.
“Greedy people in fairy tales try to keep everything for themselves, then get punished.”
This time, the words transformed into a sticker.
It looked ridiculous.
Cute.
Childish.
Something a little kid might play with.
But—
“Equip.”
The instant Jooheon said it...
The sticker slapped itself onto Betrayne’s face.
His hand shot upward.
But he couldn’t remove it.
“Greedy people try to eat everything themselves...”
“Then they trip and fall.”
An innocent, childish sentence.
And then—
The ground beneath Betrayne tilted.
No one touched him.
And yet—
BOOM!
He lost his balance and dropped to one knee.
Everyone inhaled sharply.
Betrayne.
The masked man.
The exalted Majesty.
The Designer who toyed with life.
The dreaded Settlement Collector.
“He...”
Someone whispered.
“He knelt?”
It hadn’t even lasted a full second.
But no one who knew Betrayne had ever seen him kneel before.
Even Majesty Yoo Jaeha muttered to himself.
“...That’s actually insane.”
Dionysus Cynthia was speechless too.
Jooheon continued as though he had been waiting for this moment.
“Now we need the punishment.”
Another sentence appeared.
“Greedy people cry or get angry...”
“And everyone comes to hate them.”
The letters turned red.
Betrayne’s fingertips trembled.
His body was forcibly pulled upright.
It looked as though invisible strings were compelling him to display emotion.
Then a voice escaped from beneath the mask.
This time...
There was unmistakable emotion in it.
“...How irritating.”
The entire plaza froze.
Majesty Yoo Jaeha stiffened.
So did Cynthia.
He actually forced an emotion out of that arrogant bastard.
Jooheon smiled.
“Looks better on you.”
He smirked.
“Much better than pretending to be some smug little king.”
Jaeha silently whistled.
Only then did Cynthia understand.
Jooheon hadn’t attacked Betrayne’s Artifact.
Nor his body.
He had attacked—
His pride.
Betrayne remained silent for a long moment.
Still kneeling.
Then he slowly steadied his breathing and rose.
A glacial chill radiated from behind the mask.
“...Fine.”
His voice was calm.
But it carried a clear message.
He would not make the same mistake again.
Sure enough—
“You crossed the line.”
He pulled out a scroll.
“From this moment onward...”
[Settlement Mode]
