Flick to the Head

. . . The nexus was destroyed, and the game ended.

"Aaaargh! Fuck!!!"

Diamond promotion match. Lost the final game to some total retard mid laner. The second the nexus blew, I lost my shit and punched the monitor.

The screen crumpled like a rag and shattered to pieces.

"Fuck. My diamond."

Of all times, I run into a fucking moron right when it mattered... This worthless sack of shit who can't play for shit but blames me. Can't I just use absolute power to track his IP or something?

Snap.

I flicked my fingers and restored the busted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠monitor.

Wishing for an IP-tracking authority, I went to spin the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gacha.

"Nothing's going my way."

I remembered blowing all my points this morning tormenting that high school girl. Useless slut. Wanted to mess with her more, but she lived over 1km from my studio, so I couldn't reach her now.

With that in mind, I decided to hit the skill and item gachas one more time.

"Just a bunch of garbage."

But Beatdown—what the hell? It's D-rank? Two whole tiers above Slash (F). Name sounds like trash, but maybe it's decent. Whatever.

"Time to watch Eun-byeol shower."

Today's pulls sucked too. I flopped back onto the bed.

Activated Diorama and headed to the convenience store. Time was 11:50. Eun-byeol was about to clock out.

"5,500 won."

Eun-byeol was still at the counter. A customer was there.

A brown-skinned guy with yellow-dyed hair slouched over and handed her his card.

Eun-byeol swiped it through the reader and finished the transaction. She handed the card back to the blond punk.

But then, the blond tanning thug ignored the card, leaned over the counter, and hit on her.

"Hey, can I get your number?"

"Pardon?"

Eun-byeol stared at him like he was a moron. She let out a short sigh, avoided his gaze, and said,

"I have a boyfriend."

"Nah, not asking to date. Just wanna get friendly."

"No thanks."

"C'mon."

The thug took the card from her hand. As he pocketed it in his wallet, he pulled something else out.

The guy was slyly covering the "D-rank" part with his finger.

Lame, but a D-rank hunter was still a hunter. Probably pulling eight figures a year easy.

"We could grab drinks sometime. You go to Myeongcheon University, right? Me too. Graduating soon."

"Don't go to school."

Eun-byeol's eyes flickered at the license, but she quickly looked away and shut him down.

That slutty high schooler from morning would've spread her legs at the sight, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but Eun-byeol held the line.

Eun-byeol ignored the thug and headed to the back room. The pig bastard was fumbling with boxes in there.

"Time to switch shifts."

"Oh, haha, yeah. Just... organizing stock..."

Looks like he was pretending to sort shelves cuz he was scared of the thug. Always jerking off like crazy normally, but hides when a punk shows up. Pathetic.

Guess I'll let him steal 50,000 won today too.

Eun-byeol changed roughly and came out. Pants again, no panty view. But she'd strip at home anyway. No diff jerking off now or later.

"Gotta snap pics today."

Bought an iPhone for this. Stupid expensive, but mom's card, so no hit to my funds. She'd rage when the bill came, but I'd calm her with the awakening story. Or whatever. She wouldn't kill her precious only son.

I fiddled with my phone, watching when Eun-byeol would get home.

Then I spotted someone tailing her.

"What the fuck's that guy."

The thug from the store, creeping after her.

The moment Eun-byeol turned into a narrow alley...

"Kyaa... mmph, mmph!!"

The thug jumped her. Clamped her mouth shut to stifle her scream.

She struggled, but a normal college girl couldn't overpower a guy—let alone a licensed hunter.

"Heh heh, you slutty bitch, playing hard to get like a pro. Lemme taste that pussy, you whore."

"Mmph!!"

The thug grinned sleazily as Eun-byeol thrashed.

I shot up watching this shit.

"That fucking asshole, what the hell is he doing?"

Not just any girl—Eun-byeol. My daily fap material.

Didn't give a shit if some random slut got raped, but Eun-byeol? Different story.

Pure virgin Eun-byeol taken by that punk? Rage boiled up.

I zoomed out the Diorama. She and the thug shrank to palm-sized.

Like I was looking down from the sky.

I curled my middle finger to my thumb, prepped a flick.

And,

"How dare a mere convenience store bitch defy a hunter..."

Thwack!

I flicked, materializing the impact to smash his skull.

"...? Gah, kyaaaaak!!!"

The thug's head exploded from my finger flick.

Blood and brains splattered the alley wall. Neck stump gushed red.

Eun-byeol blanked out for a sec, then screamed and collapsed. She scrambled back on her feet, clawed the ground, and bolted out of the alley.

"Huh? F-fuck."

My mind went blank too.

This wasn't what I planned.

Didn't mean to kill him. Fuck, he's a hunter—shouldn't he be tougher? Head pops from a flick? I just wanted to knock him out or send him flying...

What the fuck just happened?

I panicked hard. Punching and running was one thing—no cops, no reports. But murder? Whole different level.

Police investigation for sure. Mana forensics team 100% scooping patterns.

Every Korean baby's mana pattern in the international DB. Mine too, from a normal family. They'd match it on-site and...

'Fucked. Totally fucked.'

Terror hit. I shut off Diorama.

Now what? Am I really screwed?

"Fuck. Dunno."

A million thoughts in seconds. Cops call if caught? Suspect summons. No CCTV of me, but mana pattern means suspect for sure.

Then interrogation. My powers exposed in no time.

Unregistered awakener's mana at murder scene? Instant perp.

Mana patterns weren't foolproof. High-level guys could scramble theirs. Faking another's impossible, but random matches to others happened sometimes.

But for a D-rank hunter murder? No way they'd bother. Unregistered suspect? Red flag city.

Now a criminal—my name on news, articles everywhere, hunter forums too. Parents flooded with calls...

"Uwaaaargh!! Fuck!!!"

I imagined superhuman prison and stopped thinking. More fantasies and I'd break.

'Just game.'

Forced my shaking hands calm, sat at the PC.

Even queuing, wild thoughts raced. But once the game started and time passed, the anxiety ghosted away like magic.

League is god. I'm invincible.