6. Someone to Resent (1)
100 Coins. The price of a hundred human lives.
I don't care anymore about the preciousness or dignity of life.
All I cared about was how good a skill I'd get... nothing else.
It had better be a skill that lets me earn Coins again. That way I won't feel cheated.
I looked around and confirmed once more that no one was there.
Only after I was certain my safety was absolutely guaranteed did I press the button.
100 Coins deducted, and the conditions appeared one by one.
One can know the location of the nearest food, if one has not eaten for at least one hour.
I laughed in disbelief at the conditions in the text that appeared.
No. Fuck. I couldn't help swearing. What the hell is this? Is this some kind of joke?
As befitting a 100-Coin skill, two conditions were missing. This confirmed that every time the Coin price goes up tenfold, one condition disappears.
Right now, WHEN and WHERE were missing. So it must be correct. But still.
If I don't eat for at least an hour, I can know the location of the nearest food?
Wow. With just this skill, I won't starve to death. Ahaha. Fuck.
It was a letdown. No joke, a fucking massive letdown.
It was enough to make me feel sorry for the hundred people who died for a shitty skill like this.
No. I mean, what is this? Are you kidding me?
Sure. It could definitely be good. It will be good.
If I weren't alone—if I were someone moving around in a group with several people—this could be an excellent skill.
I don't know how "food" is defined, but it would probably find me something edible.
Then, at least, I wouldn't starve to death. I wouldn't have to wander around looking for something to eat.
And this has other uses too. It definitely does.
I don't know how the skill activates. I don't know how it tells me, because I haven't used it.
But what if it's a skill that tells me direction or distance? Or what if it tells me the location directly?
Then this could be an excellent Detection Skill.
All I'd have to do is get rid of all the food within a certain range.
But if a person carrying food approached, then it could also be an excellent location-detection skill.
But still, this is a skill that's only good in a group.
When there's a guarantee that someone who won't kill me will definitely protect me—that's when this skill will shine.
But that's not me. Fuck.
So I pressed No. And just like that, the skill disappeared. All I had left was the Shadow Skill.
Remaining Coins: 152.
Enough for one 100-draw, five 10-draws, and two 1-draws.
Will a versatile, people-killing skill like the first one really come out within eight tries?
Will I really get a skill that won't make me regret having swapped it for nothing?
Thinking about it won't give me an answer. So now is the time to draw.
So I pressed 100-draw again. Hoping that this time, a skill worthy of being called a skill would come out.
One can completely conceal one's presence and appearance, if one wears a hat, if someone resents one.
The moment I saw the skill, I clenched my fist.
It came out! A fucking broken skill came out. The conditions are a bit much, but there won't be another skill like this.
It can completely conceal my presence and appearance? Not just my appearance?
What kind of cheat is this? It practically makes me an invisible man, doesn't it? And it even automatically hides my presence, the biggest weakness of ordinary invisibility?
I was about to press Yes right away, but paused for a moment.
It's a good skill. It definitely is. But there are conditions. So I can't use it immediately just by learning it.
Someone has to resent me?
That means there has to be someone, first of all. And I have to do something to make that person resent me.
Suddenly, I thought of that female nurse I killed. The woman I raped.
If that woman were still alive, I could have used this skill right away.
I laughed without realizing it after thinking that.
I'm insane. Now I think things like that without batting an eye. What the hell has happened to me?
But I didn't dwell on it. It wasn't important.
There's no time to agonize over things like that now.
I'd rather use that time to make another woman like that nurse.
I can't draw a new skill. So I have to use my current Shadow Skill to make someone who will resent me.
If I have a choice, a woman would be best. Like that nurse.
It's a decent idea. So now I need to find someone like that.
Fortunately, even with its restrictions, the Shadow Skill is fairly useful.
A skill that can only be used while sitting on the floor. So the place I need to find now is somewhere I can sit and observe my surroundings.
After racking my brain, the first thing that came to mind was a building with floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
A place like that would let me sit on the floor and watch outside. Like a café or fast-food place.
To do that, I'd have to leave this place first. But that's too dangerous. Going outside recklessly is too risky.
Then something suddenly came to mind.
The pharmacy. There's definitely a pharmacy on the first floor here. With three hospitals, there has to be a pharmacy, no question.
If it's a pharmacy, the door will be made of glass. Then I can sit on the floor and see outside. Definitely.
So it seems like I should just sit there. That seems like the best way to do it without leaving this building.
I headed to the stairs. And carefully went down.
The problem is that my skill requires me to sit on the floor.
Stairs aren't the floor. When I tested it, sure enough, the shadows didn't move when I sat on the stairs.
Still, the landings between floors apparently count as floor. When I sat there, the shadows moved.
The conditions are so bizarre. Why is it so damn picky?
But I'll put up with it. Once I find one person to resent me, I'm ditching this skill anyway.
So there's no need to complain. For now, I just have to use it as it is.
Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.
The condition was sitting on the floor. So does kneeling count as sitting?
I tried it. And when I tried it, it worked.
Fortunately, kneeling apparently counts as sitting.
But when I lifted my butt, the shadows didn't move. That must have counted as kneeling upright, not sitting on my knees.
Fucking finicky. Then what about kneeling on just one knee?
I tried it, and that worked. Apparently, that counts as sitting too.
Then I probably don't need to go all the way down to the pharmacy. There should definitely be a window at this height where I can see outside.
I went back up and checked the windows of the hospitals one by one. And I found a window where I could kneel and see outside.
Good. This is good enough. So I'll watch outside from here, and if a suitable person appears, I'll abduct them right away.
For now, it doesn't matter if it's not a woman. I just need one person who resents me, whoever it is.
Then I'll be able to use that Invisible Man Skill.
But a thought suddenly occurred to me.
The Invisible Man Skill. It's definitely good. It's a good skill, but... it's hard to kill people quickly with it.
A skill with no killing power at all.
That means I'd have to kill everyone one by one. It would get pretty tedious.
I thought it over for a moment.
But soon I dismissed the worry. I don't necessarily need a skill to kill people.
At worst, I can get my hands on a gun or something. If I become an invisible man, I'll be able to go anywhere and get a gun or something like that.
A police station, or whatever—there'll be one somewhere.
And killing people doesn't necessarily require a gun.
There are ways. If my presence and appearance can't be detected, there'll be plenty of ways to kill.
I sat down in the ophthalmology clinic to look outside, but the smell of blood was pretty strong.
Come to think of it, there are still bodies here. It hasn't been long since they died, but those bodies will soon start to smell bad.
Then it'll be hard to stay here for long.
I should get rid of the corpses.
Fortunately, I have a skill that can move shadows. So I won't need to move the corpses myself.
I can just control the shadows to move them.
I do have to sit on the floor, but so what? Compared to touching them directly, it's no problem at all.
I sat in front of the corpses and moved the shadows.
With the lights off, there were plenty of shadows I could move. I lifted the corpses easily and gathered them in one place, then raised all of them together.
But wait. Is there maybe something like that? Like just stuffing the corpses into the shadows?
So I tried it... but it didn't work.
Too bad. If that had worked, cleaning up would've been simple.
Still, the good news is that there's no limit to the shadows' movement.
So I went out into the hallway outside the ophthalmology clinic, looked inside, and moved the shadows to carry all the corpses out at once.
In the same way, I brought all the corpses from the pediatrics clinic and the dental clinic into the hallway, and moved them to the end of the hallway.
Then I opened the window at the end of the hallway and was about to throw the corpses out one by one, but I thought that wasn't a good idea.
If I throw them out now, someone outside might see.
Then someone might notice that something is going on in here.
That's not acceptable. What if some guy with an insanely good skill comes this way?
My skill isn't weak, but there's no need to go looking for danger.
So I decided to wait until night. I can throw them out after it gets dark.
No one will be watching then.
I piled the corpses at the end of the hallway like that and returned to the ophthalmology clinic.
While I was at it, I grabbed the lunchbox I hadn't finished earlier. I don't know how long this will take, so I'll save it and eat later. I can't starve.
After clearing away the corpses, it's at least a bit better. But it still smells like blood.
So I moved the shadows and wiped up the blood on the floor.
It's nice being able to clean the floor without lifting a finger.
This skill really is convenient, isn't it? It's just that the conditions are shit.
Once I wiped up the blood too, it became a somewhat tolerable place to be.
Okay. Now I just have to keep watch out the window.
Any living person just needs to show up, so I only have to wait until then.
It probably won't take that long.