Mutual Acknowledgment - 7
"Aaaargh!!!"
A dull thud echoed through the air. It was a scene of primal violence.
Hmm... She didn't seem intent on killing them right away. With impressive skill, she was pounding their torsos in spots without nails embedded.
"B-Boss! Wait, guhk!"
I watched the spectacle, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction. Taking pleasure in seeing people in pain might be a bad habit, but this didn't feel wrong at all.
"You fucking bitch!!!"
"S-Sorry! My bad!"
"I fuck up sometimes too, you shits!"
Seohee roughly tossed her bat aside and pounced on one of her subordinates in mount position, smashing her face into pulp.
"Aaaargh!"
"Hurts? Yeah, it fucking hurts, you bitches! I hurt too! I hurt so goddamn much!!!"
The women were bewildered but didn't dare resist. They seemed convinced they couldn't win against Seohee in perfect condition. And since her level had risen quite a bit since then, that made even more sense.
Hmm...
But I kept spotting women ready to bolt. I flashed a faint smile and fixed them with a cold glare.
"Hey. You lot."
"...Yes?"
"You saw me beat the shit out of Seohee, right?"
They nodded silently.
"Right now it's Seohee beating on you, but she's not the only one pissed at you."
"W-We didn't do anything wrong to you, sir!"
"You fucked with Seohee. I'm tight with her... but not so much with you. Hell, I could watch you all die here and not give a shit."
Fear flickered in their eyes.
"Don't run. Don't fight back. Take your beating from Seohee. Or I'll punish you myself."
Half threat, half truth. They waited helplessly for Seohee to pick her next victim, offering no resistance.
"Aaaaaargh!"
It looked a bit dangerous. Hating the person right in front of you wasn't easy—especially if you knew them.
I didn't care how much those women suffered, so I could purely enjoy the sight of the ones who'd put Seohee through hell now writhing in agony.
But Seohee was different. Her body brimmed with rage, yet even as she turned these women into mincemeat, she was grieving.
"Ugh..."
Then she grabbed the last one.
"Fuck, I can forgive the others, but you? You shouldn't have done that!"
"Sorry, Boss... I'm sorry..."
"You were there too, right? Stepping on me when I couldn't even twitch a finger—what'd that feel like? Huh?"
"I-I don't know..."
"The hell you don't!"
"I just... watched..."
Seohee tilted her head.
"For real?"
She scanned the other women. Bloodied faces, bruises everywhere—they nodded like, Yeah, pretty much...
"I was out of it back then, so I couldn't tell exactly who stepped on me... but you stood by and let it happen, huh?"
"Y-Yes... Sorry..."
"Fine. One hit, then."
Seohee slammed her fist into the woman's solar plexus.
"Guhk!"
"...That's enough."
Having thoroughly tenderized the women in seconds, Seohee approached me, her face more complicated now.
"Sorry. Should've given you a heads-up. Got too worked up."
"...I get it. It's fine."
Surprisingly, she seemed to have kept her wits about her.
"But why the last one?"
"Never told you why I left Seven Seed, did I?"
I nodded.
"Some bullshit happened. Political infighting, I guess... This bitch got scapegoated."
"What?"
"Big problem blew up—someone had to take the fall. Happens all the time in the organization."
"..."
"But I... couldn't stomach an innocent getting fucked over. So I rebelled."
Seohee seemed lost in the past. A past she could brag about as righteous and honorable.
"Our group was a solid combat unit in Seven Seed. We handled the dirty work, sure... but I figured they needed us."
"What'd you do?"
"Told 'em if they pinned it all on her, me and my crew were out."
"..."
"Thought the council would find another way. Wrong. Those cunts just exiled us all."
"So..."
She let out a hollow laugh.
"After that? Nothing much. Merc work here and there, but it sucked. Had to eat, so we crawled into Anseongu..."
Seohee pushed on, voice strained.
"Holed up in a convenience store as a base, stuck to safe spots. But food ran low, got obsessed... then I met you."
From there, it was the Seohee I knew. Betrayed by her subordinates, limbs useless, became my slave.
"No big deal. I did what I wanted... now you handle the rest."
"This enough?"
She'd suffered horrific pain. She'd beaten them mercilessly, but it didn't seem like payback on the same scale.
"I did something stupid, yeah. Realistically, you not killing us all back then was pure luck."
She forced the words out, reluctant to admit it.
"If it was my subordinates pulling that shit instead of me... not reading the room, mouthing off to you, putting everyone at risk..."
She opened her mouth.
"I might've done the same to them."
"Then why beat them?"
She yelled, indignant.
"That's that, and this is this! Thinking 'I might've done it too' doesn't mean I'm not pissed!"
"Fair enough."
Anyway, her business was done. Time for my interrogation.
I approached the fallen women.
"Because you did some... violent shit, it's caused problems on my end..."
"W-What..."
"Seven Seed folks guarding a supply point. Gonna deny it?"
They cried out, indignant.
"Th-Those fucking bitches started it!"
"What?"
"We just... wanted to beg. Figured old ties might get us a ration or two..."
Seohee snorted.
"Wishful thinking. You haven't suffered enough from those cunts yet?"
"..."
The women bit their lips, swallowing their anger.
"Said they'd give a cracker for eating pussy, then threatened us..."
"What?"
This was getting serious. The dead ones had committed worse atrocities than I'd imagined.
"Said we agreed not to come back here after exile—if we didn't want command knowing, hand over all weapons and clothes..."
"Clothes too?"
"Those fucks weren't after our clothes! Just wanted to see us naked, forced the demand..."
"Ha."
Ambiguous. Just testimony. No way to verify.
"What do you think?"
I looked at Seohee. Only extra info I could get now was their rep from her.
"Hmm..."
She frowned.
"Never happened on my watch. But... not impossible."
"Yeah?"
"Heard bad rumors. Merchants and survivors passing by badmouthed them. We were Seven Seed muscle, so we were fine."
"Hmm..."
"They were probably starving. Had dirt on us, and without me, thought the leftovers were pushovers."
Reasons to flip attitudes, to pull that shit—plenty. Plausible. Not proof, but possible. No inconsistencies in their faces. Seemed truthful, at least for now.
Not enough for certainty, though.
"Even so, you killed them. Can't just brush it off as 'we were mad.' Seven Seed won't either."
Even if everything they said was true, it didn't erase their crime.
"...What the hell? They're dead?"
They wailed, wronged.
Seohee stared at her subordinates, incredulous.
"Y-You didn't kill them? Weren't they pieces of shit?"
"Yeah, we fucked with you, Boss, but that doesn't make us all bandits!"
I met their eyes calmly.
"You didn't kill them?"
"N-No! We just beat 'em and took stuff—no fatal wounds!"
They pleaded their innocence.