Chapter 381 - 381: Winning Hearts

After eating his fill, Oliver wiped his mouth and looked at the devastation he had left across the table.

He seemed slightly embarrassed.

All he could do was give Karl an apologetic look before saying wistfully,

"Sorry. I've been stuck in that godforsaken place for so long that my taste buds practically turned to stone. I haven't had a chance to taste anything sweet, sour, bitter, or savory in years."

"So when I suddenly saw real food again… I got a little carried away."

"What's there to apologize for?"

Karl spoke leisurely.

"After starving for years, there's nothing wrong with eating your fill and enjoying a few drinks."

"By the way, I still don't know where home is for you. If it isn't too far out of our way, I might be able to drop you off."

Internally, however, Karl was thinking something entirely different.

No matter how he looked at it, witnessing the future Green Arrow of the Justice League in such a miserable state was quite entertaining.

Oliver thought for a moment before answering cautiously.

"I really don't want to trouble you any more than I already have."

"I'm extremely grateful that you're willing to take me off this island."

"Just drop me at the nearest port on the American coast. That'll be enough."

Karl immediately understood why Oliver was being so cautious.

As the heir to one of Star City's wealthiest families, openly revealing his identity right now could attract all kinds of unwanted attention.

Oliver still barely knew Karl.

He had no way of knowing whether revealing who he really was might suddenly turn his rescuer into another threat.

And there was already something suspicious about Oliver's original accident.

The entire affair smelled of conspiracy.

If he rushed home carelessly, whoever had been behind his disappearance might make another move.

"That works for me."

Karl showed no change in expression.

"We'll stop at a port city first. Our ships need to replenish their fresh-water supplies before we continue toward Gotham."

Then he added apologetically,

"I know you're probably desperate to get home, but unfortunately we still need to finish what we came here to film before we can leave."

"Otherwise, this entire trip will have been a complete loss."

Oliver nodded in understanding.

That explanation actually made him feel more at ease.

Nobody worked for free, and Karl insisting on finishing his production before leaving made his story seem more convincing.

It made Oliver increasingly certain that Karl was exactly what he claimed to be—some strange adult-film director who had chosen an isolated island as a shooting location rather than an enemy who had specifically come looking for him.

The possibility that Karl and his people were pirates seemed increasingly ridiculous as well.

Oliver's guard lowered even further.

…

Karl didn't waste the following days.

Every day, he made sure Oliver ate and drank well.

He treated him with remarkable hospitality while casually filling him in on recent events in the outside world.

Every now and then, he deliberately slipped in some information about Star City.

Oliver had spent five years isolated on the island, much of that time completely alone.

Now that he finally had someone willing to talk with him—and someone who had apparently traveled all over the place—he quickly opened up.

All the complaints and stories he had accumulated over five years came pouring out.

The natural result was that Oliver and Karl became increasingly close.

Oliver eventually even volunteered to help with Karl's filming.

Not as one of the performers, of course.

Instead, he offered to act as a consultant, using his years of experience surviving on a deserted island to point out anything in the production that looked unrealistic.

There was only one problem.

Karl's entire filming operation had originally been nothing more than a cover story designed to conceal his movements and eliminate Oliver's suspicions.

There had never been a real production plan.

Faced with Oliver's enthusiastic offer to help, Karl was suddenly trapped by his own lie.

He had no choice.

Drawing on years of theoretical knowledge, Karl spent the entire night hurriedly writing a script.

The next day, he began rehearsing it with the women he had brought along.

The truth was somewhat embarrassing.

Karl might have possessed plenty of theoretical knowledge, but when it came to actual experience, he was hopelessly lacking.

Despite having somehow acquired the ridiculous nickname "the Arkham Stallion," the man had barely even held a woman's hand.

The only time he had ever come remotely close to kissing someone had been in a hospital.

Oliver, on the other hand, was very different from Bruce Wayne.

Before reaching the island, Oliver had accumulated plenty of romantic experience.

He read Karl's script and thought it was reasonably good.

But once filming actually began, Karl immediately started making one amateur mistake after another.

Oliver spent half the day watching with an increasingly deep frown.

Eventually, he couldn't stand it anymore.

He simply grabbed one of the cameras himself.

Using his own experience, he began gesturing, correcting positions, and offering practical suggestions.

Before anyone quite realized what had happened, Oliver had effectively become an unofficial on-set director, throwing himself wholeheartedly into helping Karl create what he considered an extraordinary adult film.

…

It wasn't until nine days later that Karl and his group finally left the deserted island.

Rather than saying the film was finished, however, it would have been more accurate to say that the ship's supplies were running low and they had no choice but to return to civilization to replenish them.

Oliver was actually dissatisfied.

In his opinion, if they stayed for another month, they might be able to create a genuine masterpiece.

He even asked Karl to let him participate in the inevitable sequel.

The production itself was only a low-budget adult film, so it didn't require particularly sophisticated filming techniques.

The people participating were also a rather eclectic group.

Oliver never became suspicious.

Karl's filmmaking technique was visibly poor, and every additional day spent filming in such a remote location increased the cost.

From Oliver's perspective, it was perfectly reasonable that Karl would want to return as quickly as possible.

…

"Thank you very much for bringing me back, sir!"

Oliver stood near the harbor and sighed.

"You still haven't even told me your name."

"Without you, I might have wasted the rest of my life on that damned island."

"So…"

"Thank you. Truly."

After another nine days without a razor, Oliver looked even more weathered than before.

Karl couldn't help laughing when he heard those words.

"That's enough of that."

"When you're far from home, people should help each other when they can."

Then he suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Oh, right!"

"You helped me quite a lot over the past few days."

"The production went far more smoothly because of you."

"And with your experience, everything gained a much more authentic deserted-island atmosphere."

"So…"

Karl reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and pushed it into Oliver's hands.

"You need to think ahead."

"Especially after spending years stranded on an island."

"If you don't have any money now, even getting home is going to be difficult."

"Consider this a small thank-you gift."

At that moment, Karl's image seemed to grow infinitely taller in Oliver's eyes.

Oliver suddenly felt an urge to call after him.

"Who are you?"

"I'll repay you someday!"

But Karl had already turned away with effortless composure.

Facing the slowly setting sun, he casually raised one hand and waved without looking back.

"Like I said…"

"Learning my name comes with a price."

"And right now, you clearly don't have the ability to pay it."

"So…"

"Goodbye, stranger."

"If you really want to repay this debt, then someday, when you come across someone else who's helpless and has nowhere to turn…"

"Help them."

"That'll be enough."

Oliver stood silently on the shore as the ship slowly sailed out to sea.

His emotions were complicated.

This was the second mysterious foreigner he had met during his years of isolation.

And somehow, both of them had ended up helping him more than he could ever have imagined.

(End of Chapter)

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