The Little Devil's Lesson in True Evil
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"Kishit! So this is Jinglebell Middle School!"
A cute little black creature with a pint-sized body was floating in the air. It had two small horns on its head and a mischievous grin on its face—like a mascot-fied version of a demon.
The spot it hovered over was the entrance to Jinglebell Middle School, right by the students' shoe lockers.
"The negative energy from these tender-hearted kids' crushed innocence is the ultimate delicacy! This great Kishishi will blanket this place in despair!"
Kishishi, a monster from the Shadow World, chuckled to himself as he muttered.
Even as a low-grade monster, it was still a monster. Absorbing negative energy would let it grow stronger, maybe even aim for upper-grade status.
Dreaming of a rosy future, Kishishi conjured a letter out of thin air with a pop.
"If I slip this love letter into a shoe locker, some kid'll think it's a confession and get all fluttery! Then when they realize it's a prank, delicious negative energy will pour out! Kishit! I'm a genius!"
"What the hell. It's you, huh."
A human voice cut in suddenly. Startled, Kishishi whipped around. There stood a blond man eyeing it.
'Eek! Play dead! Play statue!'
Kishishi froze mid-air, pretending to be a doll, but it was useless against Taeyang.
"Cute little shit. Hey, you're a monster, right."
"Kishit!? How'd you...? No way, a magical girl?"
"You blind or what?"
Taeyang smirked in disbelief. Even if, calling him a magical girl? That was too much.
This guy was straight out of the original story. Name's Kishishi, a Shadow World monster.
If anything, its role was like Team Rocket—villainous comic relief that never felt threatening, even till the anime's end. Hell, what it was doing right now was too damn adorable to call evil.
"A monster pulling this timid crap? Other monsters'd cry."
"Kishit! It's n-not timid! I'm gonna suck up negative energy from Jinglebell Middle School kids and become an upper-grade monster someday!"
"Kid, you think this petty shit'll get you there? Watch close. Big bro's gonna teach you how real bad deeds are done."
Taeyang grabbed Kishishi by the scruff like a kitten and hauled it out of the school. The little thing trembled in his grip.
'What the hell is this guy? Human? Somethin' about his vibe...'
Taeyang headed to a dingy alley on the city outskirts—a spot he'd scoped out before, where delinquents liked to gather.
Sure enough, a few high schoolers were smoking there. Away from the main story's spotlight, the town had its share of gritty, kid-unfriendly realism.
Taeyang sized them up. The two girls were decent-looking. The two guys? Textbook punks.
"Lemme see... somethin' to hide my face..."
◈ Perfectly conceals the wearer's identity.
◈ Can alter voice, fingerprints, genetic info, etc.
Taeyang slipped on the Black Mask. It hid his identity perfectly, but the glossy black finish? Kinda lacked punch. Like some faceless perp from a mystery manga— a bit lame.
'Wonder if enhancing it changes things up.'
◈ A large silver box. Insert an item and pay credits to enhance it. One enchant per item max.
◈ Good things don't come cheap.
Enhancing Black Mask (B-grade) will consume 10,000 credits. Proceed?
It cost a ton of credits. 10k could've bought a skill.
But skill acquisition was a total gamble. You might hit the jackpot like Elemental Mastery, or get trash like 'Death Throes' or 'Clowning Around'—skills he'd never found a real use for.
'Enhance the mask, and it'll probably get some special perk. Might even counter identity-detection skills.'
Hiding his identity would come up plenty in other worlds. Long-term, it wasn't a bad investment. After mulling it over, Taeyang went ahead and enhanced the Black Mask.
◈ Perfectly conceals the wearer's identity. Grants a random special ability unique to the wearer. Immune to A-grade or lower detection skills.
◈ Can alter voice, fingerprints, genetic info, etc.
The upgrade was killer. Just like he'd hoped—resistant to detection skills, plus a random special ability. Worth a skill slot easy.
"No visible change, huh."
Taeyang mused as he put on the mask. A new alert popped up before his eyes.
Persistent Pursuit has been granted. Tracking ability on targets activated.
As Taeyang donned the mask, it morphed into a snarling lion face. He strode toward the punks, mask on.
"Students smoking? This country's gone to shit."
"Huh? Who's this old fart?"
"Dude's got some weird lion mask on his face."
The two guys gawked at Taeyang in disbelief. He answered with a low kick to one's leg.
The punk's leg snapped backward on impact, bone piercing skin like some berserker from a game. Grotesque as hell.
"Gyaaah!"
The girls screamed. Taeyang pummeled the fallen guy without mercy.
"This is what real bad deeds look like!"
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The punk's teeth flew like popcorn kernels. His cig got crushed, bits scattering everywhere alongside sprays of blood.
The yellow-dyed hair and pierced punk's face ballooned from my fists. Bruises everywhere—he looked like a waterlogged corpse.
I wasn't just beating a student. This was enlightenment.
These punks were done with their delinquent ways after today. A good thrashing's been the best medicine for mad dogs since forever.
I'd given these bottom-feeder wannabes a life lesson: half-ass the thug life, and you get wrecked. Fair trade for their teeth.
The girls collapsed like dogs on a hot day, legs giving out from shock. Piss stench wafted up. They'd pissed themselves.
"Kishit! Th-this is bad deeds!?"
Kishishi gaped at me in awe.
"Hmm... nah? More like cleaning up trash. Could be a good deed."
The two punks were in critical condition in seconds. I hadn't gone lethal, but left alone, they'd croak. The girls'd call 119 or whatever.
I dusted my hands and eyed the piss-soaked girls. Green fruit still—better to let 'em ripen.
"You girls got lucky."
I chuckled and slipped out of the alley. Kishishi trailed me, yelling.
"Insane negative energy, kishit! This much in seconds... You're amazing, kishit!"
"This? Standard stuff."
"Let me call you Master! Keep stacking this negative energy, and I'll hit upper-grade monster, kishit!"
"Do what you want."
A cute mascot hyping me up wasn't bad. Beating punks relieved stress too. If it leveled up on negative energy, might be useful later.
'Company and school's on track now. Time'll handle the rest.'
My job? Patrol the office and school, score some chicks.
'Volunteering like this ain't half bad.'
No ID risk at all. Backed by Fine Company, any heat gets buried. I felt an omnipotence I'd never known in real life. This is living.
The serial assaults rocking Jinglebell City had the Jinglebell precinct in overdrive. Over a hundred victims in the last month.
"Boss! Another one. Residential area this time."
"Fuck. Today too? Roll out."
Violent Crimes detective Bong Jun-man threw on his coat with a scowl. The case had brass riding his ass nonstop; the world felt like shit lately.
His wife, at some top firm, was always too busy to come home. And he was swamped with this serial shit.
The sly bastard treated cops like jokes. Sixty-plus incidents in a month, zero leads. No wonder it mocked them.
Jun-man arrived with junior An Geun-sik. Blood everywhere, victims critical—like all the others.
"Welcome, Sergeant Bong."
The uniform saluted. Jun-man grimly scanned the scene, checking CCTV first.
"CCTV everywhere in a neighborhood like this. Two that way, one here. Dashcam on that parked car?"
Geun-sik scratched his cheek. "If it's our guy, probably zilch anyway."
"Tch. Can't just sit on our hands."
The perp pulled some black magic—no footage on nearby cams or dashcams at incident time. Experts said remote deletion without destruction was impossible, but this guy made it happen.
"Witnesses secured?"
Jun-man asked the uniform.
"Walker nearby at the time, but testimony's worthless—like the others. Tall guy, over 180cm, lion mask, brutal beating. 'Moved like a dude,' they added."
"Hmph. CCTV wiped clean, witnesses useless... We got that semen sample before, right?"
"Forensics couldn't even confirm it was human."
"What the fuck is this guy?"
Geun-sik sighed at Jun-man's mutter. "Tell me about it. Public's roasting us online, no breaks on the case... Fuckin' hell."
Jun-man agreed.
"And get this—the perp's a hit online. You seen?"
"Huh? What bullshit is that?"
"Check this out."
Geun-sik pulled up his phone, showing comments on a news article.