Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Back Alley
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Is it because of the Regeneration Boost trait effect? Even though I'd pulled an all-nighter, after just an hour of sleep, all my fatigue vanished. My body and mind had never felt more refreshed.
But that wasn't what mattered right now.
"Hmm..."
I tilted my head, staring at my left leg.
"Why'd a tattoo show up?"
No matter how much I rubbed my eyes and looked again, the tattoo etched into my left leg wouldn't disappear.
"Did I customize a tattoo on this body? Nah?"
As far as I could remember, when I'd customized this body, I definitely hadn't added a tattoo. That much was crystal clear.
So what the hell was this tattoo?
There on my left leg was a massive scorpion tattoo. The body and claws were inked across my thigh, with the tail snaking down my calf.
"Scorpion... that bastard I killed at dawn..."
Giant Scorpion King, right? The guy with that superpower had transformed into a scorpion. I'd already forgotten his name. He was just some dismantled scorpion punk.
Anyway, if I had to pick the most likely culprit for the scorpion tattoo on my leg, it'd be that scorpion bastard.
"But why didn't I notice?"
Getting a tattoo carved into your leg should've come with some kind of sensation, but I hadn't felt anything weird at all.
"No changes in the status window either. Guess it's nothing big."
Just in case, I'd checked my status window, but nothing had changed.
"What are you? Come on out, scorpion bastard!"
Smack smack smack!
I smacked the scorpion's head drawn on my thigh and yelled. I hit it until my thigh turned bright red, but nothing happened. My thigh just hurt.
"Whatever. If it's a problem, it'll show itself eventually."
No point agonizing over something with no answers. Clinging to it won't make answers appear. If they were gonna come, they'd have come already.
If this scorpion tattoo held some special power, it'd reveal itself eventually. I could figure it out then.
"Alright, so the tutorial's basically done now?"
I'd failed to awaken Cruemora Doctor as a villain, but I'd succeeded in making my presence known to the world.
I'd beaten Ice Queen, an A-rank hero, one-on-one. Sure, she'd pounded me unilaterally, but since she ran first, I won.
Then I'd taken on five B-rank heroes in a row and crushed them. Those punks were total pushovers.
I didn't know exactly why six heroes were at Sanctuary Corp, but it was probably Cruemora Doctor's experiments.
Anyway, those loser heroes I'd beaten would've reported me to the Hero Association. They were probably panicking right now, scratching their heads over how to deal with me.
And I couldn't just reveal myself to one side, so I'd stirred up a storm in the back alleys ruled by villains. Not just the Hero Association—the villains would be wary of me too.
The ultimate villain that both the Hero Association and villains feared. Damn... that sounds badass.
"Ah~ so busy."
Though I'd failed to awaken Cruemora Doctor, I'd succeeded in etching my villainous existence into this world.
It was like finishing the tutorial at the start of a game.
"Time to kick off Chapter 1, then?"
The back alley looked totally different in the bright daylight than it had at night.
At night, it reeked of gloomy death, but now it felt no different from any ordinary street.
It almost brimmed with life, like any place where people lived.
"What're you lookin' at, you punk? Wanna die?"
"..."
Of course, the problem was that this "life" didn't match the usual wholesome image at all.
"Hey, hand over everything you got. Unless you wanna get fucked up."
"..."
"Kekekeke! This punk's scared shitless. What a waste of a big body, you retard."
The rough-looking guys surrounding me burst into laughter. They prodded my side with the pistols in their hands, threatening me.
What was this? Some new suicide method?
"Hmm... all I got is..."
I rummaged in my inner pocket and pulled out a mask. It was a skull-patterned one.
"Just this."
"What? You fuckin' crazy? Then strip naked at least."
"One buck per bullet if it comes out dead. Hand it over nice or get holed."
As I pulled the mask over my face, their vibe turned even nastier. They shoved their guns right in my face, ready to fire any second.
Grab—
"Huh?"
Crunch!
"...Huh?"
I grabbed the gun pressed to my forehead and crushed it. The guys just blinked in confusion, unable to process what they'd seen.
Grab—
"L-Let go! You fuckin' psycho!"
I seized the front guy's collar and hurled him sky-high.
"Gwaaaah!"
Thud!
"Gaaah! Gyaaaah!"
"..."
"..."
The guy proved humans could fly without wings—right before crashing back to earth. His limbs twisted in all the wrong ways.
His buddies stared blankly at their half-crippled friend, then belatedly opened fire on me.
"Shoot! Kill him!"
"Fuck!"
They emptied their clips into me. Hmm... what should I call this?
They threatened first before shooting, so maybe the intimidation-shoot method?
Anyway, since they used the villain-only shoot method, these weren't good citizens—they were villains. And villains besides me deserved extermination.
"My turn—bullet beatdown!"
"Guhk...!"
I caught the flying bullets between my fingers and smashed their solar plexuses. No gun, so bullets it was.
Wasn't shot from a gun, but hit with bullets—still counts as shoot method. Gotta respect villain etiquette to be a good villain.
"Ughhh..."
"Guh! Keuugh!"
"Spare me..."
"You idiots should've picked your targets better."
The thugs who'd blasted me were now crawling on the ground, puking up breakfast. That's losers for ya. Gotta steer clear of losers.
"...Ah."
Suddenly, I remembered my villain concept: the silent type. Maintaining character is key, but I'd gotten too hyped and forgotten.
Fighting strong superpowered folks was fun, but bullying pushovers was the real thrill.
Of course, I didn't mess with innocent civilians. These guys tried to rob me—and shot at me, no less.
So even if they were non-powered, I had every right to mess them up. Hell, if I weren't superpowered, I'd be dead right here.
"Silent."
A bit late, but time to stick to character. I clamped my mouth shut and rifled through the groaning punks' pockets.
Since I'd taken them down, everything they had—even their undies—was mine. Not that I'd take the underwear.
The cash they had was pocket change to me, son of billionaires. But I took it anyway. Rich folks can't just waive their rights.
Like my motto: bad people exist, but never bad money.
'Kill 'em? Or nah?'
Cash secured, no more business here. Cleaner to just off them...
"..."
I felt eyes on me from all sides. Back alley residents. They'd watched everything from behind windows and curtains.
Killing these punks in front of them would spread my infamy fast. They were just small-time thugs, so maybe not huge, but still.
"...Aha!"
Then I remembered my favorite hero. Yeah, that'd work.
"How could one person kill another?"
Taking a page from that hero, I'd decided to avoid killing when possible.
"Haa... uh, wh-what? Wh-Why?"
"..."
I approached one sighing in relief—maybe he'd heard me—and grabbed his leg. His voice shook.
Crack!
"GyaAaAaH! M-My leg! Aaaah!"
I snapped it clean off. He screamed bloody murder. Nice pipes. Then I broke his other leg and both arms.
Like Batman bro, who leaves villains alive— from now on, I'd do the same.
After shattering all the limbs of the crew that shot at me, I strolled away from the scene.
No cops showed—back alley stuff, probably no report. Or even if reported...
Didn't matter much. Even if someone ID'd me as the perp, cops wouldn't come after me.
My parents ran Sanctuary Corp, Dark City's top company. Arrest me on some back alley rat's word? No way in hell.
"This the place?"
Anyway, I'd reached their hideout in Sector 78. Scorch marks and rubble on the walls screamed recent shootout.
The damage jogged my memory of what that special agent I'd caught at dawn said.
'K.T.V (Kill The Villain)...'
Hero Association's anti-villain special forces—non-powered, regular folks dedicated to villains.
But don't underestimate them for lacking powers.
Ex-military, cops, battle-hardened mercs. No superpowers, but individual combat skills rivaled low-level powered folks; as a team, way more.
Dozens of villains captured, over thirty groups wiped out.
Heroes couldn't handle every villain, so K.T.V took C-rank and below.
No need to search online—the memories force-fed into my head yesterday, plus the tutorial system, fed me K.T.V info on demand.
'Play it right, and I could spin some fun stories using them.'
Since I'd gone full villain, Hero Association was enemy territory.
My parents had endless hooks in them, but not me. To track their every move, I needed my own.
'Later for that.'
Hero Association hooks mattered, but priority one: real money-making ops.
"Uh..."
"..."
Inside the building, my ex-scorpion minions—now my direct underlings—spotted me and froze.
I glanced around and spoke.
"Numbers are up."
"We all gathered to follow the boss!"
Originally, thirteen in my grip—one K.T.V agent—so twelve real underlings.
Now? Over twice that: twenty-six.
"We'll follow the boss for life!"
"..."
'Villain biz as expected.'
Their eyes held fear... and faint greed.
Tearing a man apart alive was terrifying, sure. But they'd seen my power firsthand—that's why they pledged loyalty.