I Thought It Was a Fairy Tale but the Genre Is Strange

Punishment

“You filthy scum, how dare you touch my daughter!!!”

Captain Hook grabbed Peter Pan by the collar with his hook hand. His eyes were filled with murderous rage, as if he wanted to skin Peter Pan alive and torture him to death. But Peter Pan didn’t budge.

Captain Hook shook Peter Pan violently to wake him, but when he didn’t wake up, he momentarily withdrew his murderous intent and looked at us with puzzled eyes.

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

I shook my head, looking at Peter Pan’s twitching foot.

“I’ll make him wake up myself.”

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

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

Peter Pan’s face twisted in pain as he grabbed my hands holding his sideburns and struggled to break free.

“What? Have you been pretending to sleep all this time?”

Cassandra snorted in disbelief. Captain Hook, already enraged by Peter Pan’s insolent act of pretending to sleep after killing his daughter, drew his sword in a fit of rage.

Peter Pan turned pale with fright as Hook’s sword approached his neck.

“He, heek! Wh-what are you trying to do, you villainous Captain Hook!”

“What do you think? I’m going to kill you, the real villain, to avenge Wendy’s death!”

Hook raised his sword high into the air and swung it down with all his might, aiming for Peter Pan’s neck.

Thud. But his vengeful blade did not cut Peter Pan’s neck. Cassandra and the children had stopped him.

“Ugh, let go of me! That wretched scum must be eliminated to avenge Wendy!”

“I understand your feelings, but you can’t decide his fate on your own.”

Cassandra spoke firmly.

“Because we are victims too.”

The children nodded in agreement. Hook bit his lower lip and lowered his head, then threw Peter Pan to the ground. Peter Pan groaned and tried to crawl away to escape, but Ariel and I blocked his path.

“Sigh, I see. I haven’t been acting like an adult. I’m sorry.”

At Hook’s apology, Cassandra gave a bitter smile.

“It’s okay. We’ve been thinking about how to deal with this trash. How about we discuss it among ourselves and decide together? In a way that everyone can agree on.”

“You mean to have a discussion and vote on it. That seems reasonable. But, may I make a suggestion first?”

“Of course.”

Hook sheathed his sword and clenched his fist.

“First, since we all hold a grudge against Peter Pan, how about we give him a good beating? But don’t kill him.”

The children nodded vigorously at his words.

“Good idea!”

“Yes, yes! Let’s teach him a lesson right now!”

[None! And my prince is only Siyu!]

This is quite troublesome. If there was a prince among the children that Ariel saved, I would have matched them and left. Because I am not a character settling in this fairy tale, but someone struggling to return to the original world.

But clinging so firmly like this is very troublesome. Of course, seeing the jewel-like sparkling eyes, slightly thick cherry-colored lips, a sharp nose, and a face the size of a fist up close felt like meeting an idol, which was nice.

Ahem, for now, there’s no choice. As I looked at Ariel, who clung to me like gum, I felt my heart pounding and judged that if I stayed like this, I might have a heart attack, so I looked back at Peter Pan.

Peter Pan, who was much more seriously damaged than before, was gasping for breath. Countless kicks poured down on him. The beating continued for nearly an hour before it stopped.

The children, still not relieved of their anger, spat on Peter Pan’s face whenever they had a chance.

“Phew, that’s better.”

Cassandra looked at me with a refreshed expression and smiled brightly. When I smiled back at Cassandra, whose freckles were charming, Ariel puffed up her cheeks and grabbed my face to make me look only at her.

“Now, let’s start the discussion. Everyone, sit in the center.”

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

“Now, let’s start the meeting on how to dispose of that trash. If anyone has an opinion, speak without hesitation.”

“How about burning him to death? He turned people into magic powder, so let’s turn him into powder too!”

When one child raised their hand and answered confidently, the other children nodded in agreement. Captain Hook, seeing the children’s reactions, said.

“Good opinion. Does anyone have any objections to this opinion?”

“Hmm, I think a little differently.”

The person who voiced a different opinion was Cassandra, who was sitting next to me. She continued in a serious tone.

“Of course, I want to kill Peter Pan, but that would end with a moment of pain. I think we should give Peter Pan the kind of pain that makes him feel like he’s breathing in the hell we experienced. So instead of killing him, we should make him want to die.”

“For example?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!”

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

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

It was a chilling discussion. A punishment not dictated by law, but by the victims themselves. Hearing the severity of it made my head spin.

[Too weak! Just skin him alive!]

Even Ariel was casually chiming in from the side.

A bizarre world beyond my common sense. The punishments in this world, soaked in violence and blood, made my heart sink. Peter Pan, who was listening to what kind of punishment he would receive in real-time, had turned pale and wet himself.

“All excellent opinions. The consensus seems to be not to kill Peter Pan but to cripple him and make him suffer forever. However, there is still one person whose opinion we haven’t heard. Let’s hear from our black reaper, Siyu.”

“Me? Uh, I, I’m not a victim, so I don’t have the right to say anything, do I?”

Suddenly being singled out, I was bewildered. Cassandra looked at me and spoke gently.

“Of course. If it weren’t for you, we would still be suffering. I want to hear the opinion of the one who ended Peter Pan’s story.”

“Tchahaha! Yes, Siyu! Your opinion is very important too. Don’t hesitate, speak up!”

All eyes were on me in an instant. I could feel the children’s expectant gazes, waiting to hear what kind of novel punishment I would come up with.