Chapter 71: Can I Really Do it?
The way Victor Frank had been praised by the world as one of the best attorneys of his generation had made Klaus expect him as someone ambitious, someone hungry for more, but the man he met was far from that.
That man was someone who had already assumed that he had reached his limits and didn’t wish to go beyond that.
He was joyous and satisfied with where he was, and regardless of his talents, he didn’t wish to use them to rise further.
He was a dragon who had come to fear the skies, a tiger who had become pacifist, and a human who had stopped being greedy the right way.
Klaus rubbed his face as he sprawled in his seat with a deep frown on his face.
He wanted Victor to join him because he knew how unkind the world was.
Once their rise began, all the hyenas would pounce on them in various ways. That was why he wished to secure everything — money, influence, law, connections — that could be used to stop him.
But at the end, he had failed, and the reason was his own heart.
He couldn’t make himself work with someone who had no ambition for a future.
Maybe it was because he was a father, a tether to another young dream, or maybe he had come to fear the hyenas. Regardless, Klaus didn’t have any reason to feel disheartened.
While searching for Ryan, he had gained Bruma Syndicate, Erick Elten, and Marcel Levy.
’I have to calm down...’
Today had really taken a toll on him.
First, Sarin answering Trina’s phone, then Erick getting caught, and the meeting with Marcel, and lastly, this meeting with Victor.
Perhaps that was the reason he had gotten angry so easily, despite Victor only doing what he could to keep himself and his son safe from the world.
Or maybe he was still undestimating how much his life had been changed by the arrival of the Apocalypse System.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Drive faster."
The driver looked at him with an irritated look and rolled his eyes. "Okay."
The taxi moved through the busy streets of the Golden City.
Klaus opened his eyes and looked outside the window with a melancholic look on his face.
The sun was already high in the sky, the roads were already packed with vehicles, and the people were living their lives.
Completely unaware of the reckoning that would follow five years later. Perhaps Klaus had been wrong about him only surviving and not living because soon what he considered survival would become luxury.
Or maybe in some corner of the world it already was.
As those thoughts settled in his mind, a new thought rose like a tree bearing fruit.
Can I really rule the world while being ignorant of the people living it?
Every part of the world was different than another. In some cases, the difference was barely noticeable, but in most it was clear to the naked eye.
Can I really unite them?
Unlike before, when he could strike his chest in pride and say something grandiose like he would know once he tried, he couldn’t this time because back then he too believed how far that dream was, but now... it was closer. Slightly, but closer.
He wanted the world so he could change it, but how could he change something he didn’t even understand?
The taxi came to a halt at the main street leading to his house, and he stepped out of it.
With his mind heavy and blurry, he walked to his house in silence with a look of somber thoughtfulness.
Once he stepped into his house, his feet took him to the bathroom on their own, and before he knew it, water was showering on him, wetting his clothes and making them stick to his body.
"I have to get better..." A humorous chuckle escaped his lips, and he brushed his black hair to the back.
He wasn’t depressed or overwhelmed by any particular emotion. He simply wanted to understand himself better.
Since always, he had one belief in his heart, which was to always know what his true self was.
Not the surface but deep within.
It was fun to know what he was and what he could become.
Some parts of him were embarrassing, some were good or bad, and a few were filthy, but knowing that he could still differentiate between what was filthy and what was not told him that he hadn’t become something he himself would hate.
And as long as he continued to differentiate and understand his own self, he could become the person he dreamed of being.
The cold water slid down his body, refreshing him like never before.
The world is burning, and it will continue to do so.
Those in power were already ruining the lives of the people for their own profit.
The apocalypse isn’t just the beginning of the end; it’s also a revolution against the current system and those who sit on those high thrones.
He didn’t wish for the throne just because he wanted power; he wanted something far more. Something he himself didn’t yet completely understand, just like how he didn’t entirely grasp himself.
I will make use of it to build something better.
He pushed his hair back with both of his hands and whispered in a faint yet firm voice, "Something better."
His expression hardened, and he looked straight in the mirror, in the eyes of his reflection.
I will learn and not stay ignorant of the people.
I will not run away from the power that I have been given by the system, nor will I let my desires taint it.
If I want the world and people’s lives to get better, I must do it myself.
[Host, can you please come out of your delusions and stop wasting so much water?]
"You speak too much for something that can’t even turn a shower knob."