1. Entering A Novel

The crumbling buildings, the destroyed roads, the look of despair on the people's faces as she passed by. It was all too familiar. It made her felt suffocated. The unpleasant memories began to resurface but she pushed it away to the back of her mind. Now is not the time. She looked at the person escorting her inside of a still intact building.

Although it's not long since she got here, she knew very well what this place she was in. It's a central shelter where people could protect themselves from the calamity outside. This central shelter could contain two to three hundreds people at max. There are other central shelter in other areas as well but they were quite far from each other.

The person escorting her stopped in front of a door. There's a person guarding the door and he asked the person who visited, a few questions.

"What is your purpose?" he asked with a stoic look on his faces.

"We have a newbie here," the person answered while pointing at her. The guard glanced at her and look stunned. He stared at her as if in a daze. The person escorting her just chuckled.

"I know," he nodded his head in understanding. He also like that the first time he saw this girl.

"Let her in. I'm sure the boss would be very happy." The guard open the door and the man led the way. The girl can hear their conversation very clearly but didn't care about it. She just followed the man into the room.

"Greetings, boss!" The man bowed to the person sit on the couch in front of him.

The girl looked at the person being called 'boss' and thought, 'So this is the third-rated villain. How typical.'

The person in front of her looks like a bastard. A messy shirt, a hard glare, a face with tinge of red and a bottle of alcohol in his hands. Not only that, he also known as a tyrant. There's only one rule in this central shelter; follow the strong, ignore the weak. And it's unbelievable the strongest person in this central shelter is this bastard.

"Hmm? Why are you here?" he asked with a slightly drunk voice.

"We have a newbie here." He stepped to the side so the other person could see the girl behind him. The moment he saw the girl, the bottle in his hand dropped to the floor. The girl smiled at him.

"W-wow." The man wowed. This is the first time he saw someone so beautiful. Even the top actresses and models would pale in comparison in front of this girl. She has a smooth white skin, a small face, a high delicate nose with cherry pink lips. Her silver moon eyes and blue-nightsky hair made her looks like she was out of this world.

"I'm new here. I will do my best to assist you and the people of this place." The girl bowed a little. The moment she said that, something flashed in the man's eyes but she pretended to not know of it.

"What a coincidence. We have an important task but it seems we're short on hands. I'm currently searching for people to fill in that task. Would you like to do it?" The man picked up the bottle on the floor and put it on the small table.

"I would like to hear it in details first," the girl answered with a smile still on her faces. The man glanced at the person escorting her earlier. The person immediately excused himself, leaving the two of them alone.

"Would you like to drink some?" The man offered her the bottle of alcohol. She just stared at it before saying in a gentle voice.

"What's the point of drinking if you're not going to get drunk?" She put her chin on her hands while looking at him with amused look. "Nice fake blush."

The man faces suddenly changed to a cold look. The redness on his cheeks has disappeared and replaced with a pale white instead. The atmosphere has somewhat changed but the girl didn't care.

"Max. Or should I say, Poison Master?" The girl casually said as if she didn't just revealed this man's biggest secrets. The reason people scared of him is because he has killed people with just one punch. No matter what strength or unique ability the other person has, they all died after one punch from him.

To be more accurate, it's one punch on the face.

This man's body is full of poisons. And what he used when he punched people faces is a fatal one that instantly resulted in death. But this poison is very hard to detect. Couple with the facts that this world is in chaos, no one figure this out yet.

The man whose name is Max, leaned his back on the couch. His faces not as cold anymore and he looks relaxed. That is, until the girl spoke again.

"Poison does not work on me. You should try another method," she said as she played with the matches placed on the table. Max instantly stood up to charged at her but instantly stopped.

"H-how.."

The reason was simple.

There's a match slightly pierced into his forehead. Blood started to drip down to his faces. After that, his pupils started to turn white and he collapsed on the couch. All of this happened quietly in this room.

That's why the guard at the door also quiet. Of course, he didn't think a girl could do anything to his boss. The girl pushed Max to the floor and sat on the couch. She heaved a sigh.

"Finally, I can relax a bit." She closed her eyes as she began to organize everything in her head. Starting from the moment she opened her eyes and found herself in this world, to the moment she met the guy earlier and entered this place. She became certain.

'I have entered a novel. Not as a character like the one I always read in a lightnovel but as an 'outsider'. I entered this novel with my original body, as someone completely unrelated to the story or this world.'

'That only means one thing,' she started to smile. 'I don't need to follow the plot at all! As me being here alone will change a lot of things even if I don't do anything. So why don't I completely change it?' She repeatedly nodded her heads as if it's the most brilliant ideas.

'But, I still need to follow some of the main scenarios. It's important for the main character after all.'

Then she looked at the unconscious Max. She stood up to pick up a thick chain that was hanging on one of the shelves in the room. She used the chain to tie up this man. She could sense the guard has left a long time ago so that's why she relaxed back on the couch.

* * *

Max opened his eyes to see a girl with a look that could only appeared in fairytale, to be sitting on the couch in front of him. She seemed to be deep in thought and mumbling something he couldn't hear. Then she began to notice that he's awake and smiled at him but he flinched after seeing the look in her eyes. It's cold and emotionless.

"Now, if you want to live," she leaned forward before continue, "Tell me where you put the child you kidnapped yesterday."

"Do you thin-" Before he could finish his sentences, he flinched.

On the girl's hands was the thick chain just like the one used to tie him. The girl clenched her hands and the chain easily broke like it's made of stick. Then she stretched out her hands and did the same motion while aiming for his neck. It was clear what she meant. She would crush his neck just as easily if he didn't do what she says.

"Ored!" he shouted.

"It's useless," she said with a bored look. "Look around you."

He's been so busy looking at the girl in front of him that he never thought of looking at his surroundings. At the corner of the room, a few of his loyal subordinates were unconscious while also being tied up like him. Although they are not strong as him, some of them were just a bit lacking compared to him and the fact this girl can take them down easily made him realize the situation he's in.

"I will tell you where the kid is. But you must promise to never kill me," he quickly said after meeting those cold gazes again.

"I promise," she readily agreed.

"How can I believe you?" Max looked at this mysterious girl warily. Thinking of it, he doesn't even know her names.

"It will be alright if we sign a contract with a cursed effect, right?" she stills smiling but it gave Max more chills.