Chapter 50: Fight, Flight… or Freeze?

Arthur walked out of the apartment building with an annoyed expression plastered on his face.

The moment he stepped outside, the morning sunlight struck him immediately, forcing him to shut his eyes. He winced and narrowed his eyes into thin slits, raising a hand above his brows, trying to shield himself from the brightness.

For someone who barely left the room, even ordinary sunlight felt dangerous.

After a few seconds, as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight and the surroundings were clearly visible again, he shoved both hands into his pockets and began walking toward the nearby repair shop.

It wasn’t exactly nearby.

It was a bit far away, and he didn’t have enough money to take a cab, which made him even more annoyed.

‘She should’ve given me more,’ he thought irritably, kicking a pebble out of his path as he walked.

‘It’s not like I asked much.’

The hypocrisy of that thought didn’t even cross his mind.

In his version of reality, he was always the reasonable one. He was always the misunderstood one—the victim of constant nagging and unnecessarily stupid lectures.

To him, Catherine—his mother, was simply stingy.

She was just making excuses for not wanting to give him money, because according to him, she was just always bitching at him every day since he still didn’t have a job yet.

‘Why would I even work in those shitty places?’ he grumbled internally.

‘I would rather become the owner of that place. Free money, and no need to work, just signing up some papers and getting the chicks lining up for me.’

His mind had truly been rotten into the lazy fantasy factory for him to think like that. (I think he read some brain-rotting Pornhwas for his mindset to be like that.)

It had been days since he’d last stepped outside.

He was like a vampire, but aside from the fact that at least they went out at night.

Most of his time was spent locked in his room—gaming, eating, jerking off to some porn, sleeping, and repeating the cycle.

He had grown comfortable with such a life.

Predictable and Safe.

The outside world was… inconvenient to him. It was demanding and judgmental.

After barely ten minutes of walking, sweat began to cling to his back, soaking his entire shirt. It wasn’t just because of the heat—the temperature was moderate, even mild—but simply because he was already too exhausted.

His breathing grew heavy, uneven.

“Ha… ha…”

He panted, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. He was annoyed at how quickly his body betrayed him.

“This shitty weather. Why the hell is the repair shop so far?”

In reality, the shop wasn’t too far, perhaps a 30-minute walk at a normal pace, and the weather was also good. The sun wasn’t harsh. People walked comfortably without breaking a sweat.

But to Arthur—whose stamina was less and far worse than an old grandpa’s, even this small walk felt like a marathon.

He scanned his surroundings and quickly spotted an empty bench near a small convenience store. Without hesitation, he walked over and dropped heavily onto it, the wood creaking slightly under his weight.

“Ha… ha… ha…”

His chest rose and fell unevenly. His heart pounded harder than it should have for such a small walk.

He leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees, trying to steady his breathing.

A few pedestrians walked by.

One older man gave Arthur a curious look before continuing on his way.

A pair of teenagers glanced at him and whispered something to each other, barely suppressing the smirks appearing on their faces.

Arthur noticed.

He scoffed internally, resentment bubbling inside.

‘Yeah, stare all you want,” he thought bitterly.

‘Like any of you are doing anything important.’

He convinced himself that they were inferior, that they were just sheep going to their boring jobs and schools.

He sat there for a minute, letting his breathing settle. He didn’t even have a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face, so he just wiped it with the back of his hand.

Just as he was about to stand up again—

He heard it.

A scream, distant, high-pitched, and filled with something raw.

Terror.

Arthur frowned.

“What now?” he muttered, frowning slightly.

Before he could think further, the sharp wail of sirens pierced through the air. A police vehicle sped past him at an alarming speed. Its tires screeched slightly as it turned the corner toward the direction of the scream.

Arthur blinked.

‘Who’s that screaming like a bitch?’ He thought irritably as he pushed himself off the bench and walked towards the source of the sound.

He was curious what was going on.

His curiosity outweighed his caution.

As he walked in the direction the police had taken, he suddenly saw people running.

They were running towards him, and their expressions weren’t good.

Their faces were pale, their eyes wide. Their breathing was erratic like they had seen something horrifying.

“Hey—!” He jumped aside in panic as one man nearly collided with him.

“What the hell?!” he barked loudly, but no one even looked at him.

They rushed past him, some nearly tripping over each other.

“What’s wrong with you people?!” Arthur shouted after them.

No one replied, aside from some shouting desperately.

“Run!”

Arthur stood there,confused.

Run?

From what?

Was it a gas leakage? Or some other accident?

‘What exactly happened?’

He didn’t know.

Then—

Bang!

Gunshots.

Arthur flinched violently, as his entire body jerked upwards.

His heart skipped a beat.

‘What is happening?’ he thought, feeling unease creeping into his chest all of a sudden.

He stepped forward slowly.

And then he saw it.

Not far from him stood something, something that looked like a human… but at the same time not.

It was a short, humanoid figure. Green skin. Thin, wiry limbs. Long, pointed ears. Its nose was crooked and flat. Its eyes were a sick yellow.

Arthur’s brain instantly rejected the moment he saw it.

“What t-the fuck?!” he shouted, his voice cracking mid-sentence.

His heartbeat spiked up immediately.

“A goblin?” he let out a short, hysterical laugh, disbelief cracking in his voice.

“What the hell is this? Some freak in cosplay?”

He glanced around frantically—but there were no cameras. No film crews.

He even thought it might be some prank, and there might be a camera somewhere around just for the host to jump on him saying, “It’s a prank!”

But no, it wasn’t a prank, and there was no host.

By the time he looked back at the creature, it had already walked up close to him.

In its hand was a small, crude stone dagger.

Its gaze locked onto his.

Arthur froze completely.

His mouth went dry seeing the fresh blood slowly dripping from the dagger.

His laughter died instantly in his throat.

The goblin took a step closer.

Then another.

Each movement was jerky but purposeful.

Arthur’s legs felt weak.

Then—

It let out a shrill screech and charged directly at him.

“AH—!”

Arthur stumbled backward in blind panic and fell hard onto his ass, the impact sending a jolt up his spine.

His palms scraped against the rough ground.

His vision blurred.

In moments of danger, the human body typically chooses between two responses.

Fight.

Or flight.

For Arthur, it was to freeze in fear.

His body was locked in fear, and he couldn’t move as his mind went blank.

His limbs trembled uncontrollably, but he didn’t move—more like his body and his brain had almost shut down, not being able to think of anything.

The goblin closed the distance instantly, with its weapon raised high.

Before the goblin’s dagger could hit him—

Bang!

The gunshot echoed sharply as it rang out like thunder.

The goblin jerked mid-step violently. A burst of blood exploded from its stomach.

It let out a small shriek—a sharp, animalistic sound—before collapsing forward, landing barely a foot away from Arthur. The dagger slipped from its fingers and clattered against the ground.

Arthur stared with wide eyes.

His heart pounded so violently he thought it might burst through his chest.

His body trembled—half in fear, and half in disbelief.

The world around him turned distant and muffled again. All he could see was the goblin’s body twitching and the dark, green blood dripping.

Then—

A police officer sprinted towards him, his boots pounding against the ground.

“Kid! Get up!” The officer shouted, his voice laced with urgency.

But Arthur didn’t move. He didn’t respond, still frozen in his place.

Seeing this, the officer grabbed Arthur’s arm and yanked him roughly, dragging him away from the fallen creature.

Arthur stumbled, finally snapping out of his paralysis. His legs felt weak as he was suddenly pulled up.

He had to give it his all to stand upright after seeing the scene before him.

“W-What i-is that thing?!” He stammered, scrambling backward with his legs shaking.

His teeth chattered audibly.

“I-is that a g-goblin?!”

The creature twitched, its fingers curled slightly.

It was still alive.

Arthur flinched, taking a few steps back with his wobbling legs.

“We don’t know,” The cop said tensely, raising his gun once more. His eyes never left the monster.

“Just get away from here. We’ll handle i—”

His words cut off abruptly.

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