Chapter 16

“Damned trash, how dare you!!!”

Captain Hook grabbed Peter Pan by the collar with his hook hand. His eyes were filled with murderous intent, ready to peel off Peter Pan’s skin and torture him cruelly until death. But Peter Pan didn’t flinch at all.

At this, Captain Hook shook Peter Pan violently trying to wake him up. When he didn’t respond, he momentarily held back his killing intent and looked at us curiously.

“What? Why isn’t this guy waking up? Did he hit his head and become a vegetable or something?”

I shook my head while looking at Peter Pan’s twitching feet.

“Let me make him wake up myself.”

I grabbed Peter Pan’s sideburns and pulled them straight up.

“Aaaaaah! It hurts! It hurts! Let go, let go!!!”

Peter Pan’s face contorted in pain as he grabbed my hands holding his sideburns and struggled.

“What, were you pretending to be asleep this whole time?”

Cassandra blew a raspberry in disbelief. Captain Hook, whose daughter had already been killed, went berserk at Peter Pan’s audacious attitude and drew his sword immediately.

Peter Pan turned pale as the sword came close to his neck.

“H-H-Hey! What are you doing?! You fiend, Captain Hook!”

“What am I doing? I’m killing you, the real villain, to avenge Wendy!”

Captain Hook raised his sword high into the sky and swung it down with all his might at Peter Pan’s neck.

Thud. But his vengeful blade failed to cut off Peter Pan’s head thanks to Cassandra and the children stopping him.

“Grrr, let go of me! This damned trash needs to be eliminated to avenge Wendy!”

“While I understand your feelings, we can’t let you decide what to do with him alone.”

Cassandra said firmly.

“Because we’re victims too.”

The children nodded in agreement. Captain Hook clenched his lower lip tightly and threw Peter Pan onto the floor in frustration. As Peter Pan groaned and tried to crawl away toward the edge of the ship, Ariel and I blocked his way.

“Hmph, right. I was out of line. Sorry.”

Captain Hook apologized while Cassandra gave a bitter smile.

“It’s fine. Now, I’ve thought about what to do with this trash. How about we discuss it among ourselves and come to an agreement that everyone can agree on?”

“That means having a debate and vote, correct? Well, that seems reasonable. However, may I make one suggestion first?”

“Of course.”

Captain Hook sheathed his sword and clenched his fist.

“Since we all have grievances against Peter Pan, how about we beat him up thoroughly first? Not enough to kill him, though.”

His words were met with vigorous nods from the children.

“Great idea!”

“Yeah, yeah! Let’s give him a good thrashing right now!”

“You’re done for, Peter Pan!”

So, by unanimous decision, Peter Pan was dragged to the center of the deck. His face, full of terror as he pleaded for mercy while being dragged, was something he would never forget for the rest of his life.

The once irresponsible king of Neverland, Peter Pan, literally got beaten up by the group. He vomited after being punched in the stomach, had his face shoved into his own vomit, and rolled around on the ground after being kicked in the ribs. One of them grabbed his hair and tilted his head back while the children took turns punching him.

“Cough-hack! Whee-aaargh!”

Every time Peter Pan got punched in the face, he let out strange moans. Though relatively weak punches from the children didn’t cause much pain, Cassandra and Captain Hook’s punches made Peter Pan’s teeth fall out effortlessly.

“Aaarrgh! My teeeeth!!”

As his teeth fell out, blood gushed from the empty spaces, quickly turning Peter Pan’s mouth into a bloody mess.

I watched Peter Pan scream in agony and take responsibility for his karma with Ariel. But my heart wasn’t at ease. The sight of someone being beaten so excessively, no matter how evil they were, wasn’t a pleasant scene.

[Prince, expression not good. Are you okay?]

To Ariel’s worried question, I smiled faintly in response.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Oh, that’s right. Thanks to you, we were able to defeat Peter Pan. If it weren’t for this ring, I’d be dead. Thank you very much.”

At my words, Ariel blushed and shyly leaned against my shoulder, tapping it lightly.

[Awkward! Glad I could help. Joy! Happiness!]

“Now, I’ll return this ring to you. Thanks for letting me use it.”

As I tried to remove the ring, Ariel gasped and grabbed my hand firmly to stop me. Her touch was as soft as silk.

[No way! This is my token of love! You must wear it absolutely!]

Her determined attitude made me chuckle awkwardly.

“Ariel, is there any prince you saved among those kids?”

[None! And my prince is Siyoo only!]

Oh dear, this is problematic. I was hoping to matchmake her with one of the princes she saved and leave, since I’m not a fairytale character settling here but someone struggling to return to my original world.

But now that she’s clinging to me so firmly, it’s quite awkward. Of course, seeing her gem-like sparkling eyes, slightly thick yet cherry-tinted lips, straight nose bridge, and fist-sized face up close feels like meeting an idol at a fan meeting – enjoyable, but…

Ahem, anyway, I can’t do anything about it for now. Watching Ariel cling to me like gum, I felt my heart racing and decided to look away at Peter Pan again to avoid a possible heart attack.

Peter Pan, now much more battered than before, was wheezing pitifully. Endless kicks rained down on him. After nearly an hour of beating, it finally stopped.

The children still spat on Peter Pan’s face whenever they got the chance while he was tied to a pillar.

“Huff, I feel better now.”

Cassandra looked refreshed as she smiled at me. Her freckles made her smile even more charming. When I smiled back, Ariel puffed her cheeks and grabbed my face to make me look at her only.

“Alright, let’s start the discussion then. Everyone, gather in a circle.”

Following Captain Hook’s words, we sat in a circle.

“Alright, let’s start the meeting on what to do with this trash. If anyone has an opinion, speak freely.”

“How about we burn him alive and make him suffer? Since he turned people into magic powder, let’s turn him into powder too!”

One child raised their hand confidently, receiving nods of agreement from the others. Captain Hook, observing the children’s reactions, said:

“Good suggestion. Does anyone object to this?”

“Hmm, I have a different opinion.”

The dissenting voice came from Cassandra sitting next to me. She continued seriously:

“Of course I want Peter Pan dead, but dying quickly is too easy. I think we should make him live in the same hell we experienced, feeling endless suffering. So rather than killing him, we should make him wish he were dead.”

“For example?”

“Hmm~ Cutting off his limbs to make him completely disabled, or making him blind would be good. Cutting off his fingers and toes wouldn’t be bad either.”

Cassandra’s words made the children’s eyes gleam.

“Oh, great idea!”

“Yeah, he shouldn’t die easily! He needs to feel the pain we went through!”

“Right! Let’s disable him! While we’re at it, let’s cut out his tongue so he can’t taste anything!”

This chilling discussion was beyond my comprehension. Punishments decided by victims rather than legal justice made my head spin. Peter Pan, hearing his own fate in real-time, turned pale and wet himself.

“All excellent suggestions. It seems we’ve reached consensus on not killing Peter Pan but disabling him permanently to suffer endlessly. But there’s one person left whose opinion we haven’t heard. Finally, let’s hear from our grim reaper, Siyoo.”

“Wha-what? Me? I’m not a victim, so I don’t have the right to say anything…”

Suddenly called out, I was confused. Cassandra smiled gently at me.

“Of course you do. If it weren’t for you, we’d still be suffering. We’d like to hear your opinion on finishing Peter Pan’s story.”

“Tsuhahaha! That’s right, Siyoo! Your opinion is very important too. Don’t hesitate, speak up!”

All eyes suddenly turned to me. I could feel the children’s expectant gazes, waiting for some brilliant punishment to come out of my mouth.