Chapter 21: A Trivial Matter
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 21: A Trivial Matter
Having heard Tojo’s roar from point-blank range, the delinquents finally seemed to recognize who she was.
"Well, if it isn't Tojo-senpai! We didn't recognize you with all that thick makeup!"
The delinquent snickered as he said it, then pointed at her clothes.
"You usually dress like a tomboy, so what's with getting all dolled up today? Ah, are you on a date with this pretty boy here?"
"It doesn't suit you at all. Not for someone who just goes around beating people with a kendo stick."
"If your chest is that small, you should just stay quietly at home. What's with that look?"
Even though it wasn't my business, my blood started to boil just listening to them.
Just then, Sakamoto, who was next to me, cut in.
"Shut your mouths! Tojo isn't someone you can talk to like that!"
"Oh my, playing the hero again today, are we, Mr. Pretty Boy? Well, isn't this a shame? We didn't come alone today, you see."
"Boss! We need you!"
As the two delinquents spoke, they stepped aside, and from behind them, a man with slicked-back, bleached-blond hair slowly walked out.
"You're the one? The one who dared to mess with my boys."
The tall man, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, blew a bubble with his gum and looked down at the protagonist with a thuggish posture.
Sakamoto scowled at the man's threatening demeanor and took a step back.
Seeing this, the delinquents grew excited and started spouting information they didn't need to.
"Our boss is a former pro boxer who was on his way up! If he hadn't gotten drunk and beat someone up, he'd still be active in the ring today!"
"No matter how tough you think you are, you're still just a high schooler! There's no way you can beat our boss!"
Hearing their helpful explanation, Sakamoto must have decided this wasn't going to work. He spoke to Tojo behind him.
"Tojo! Leave this to me and run! I'm the only one they're after anyway!"
"I can't do that! How could I leave you alone in this situation!"
At that, the man they called "Boss" hardened his expression as if he found the whole thing absurd.
"Give me a break."
"Ugh!"
"Did you really think if someone asked to leave, I'd just say, 'Oh yes, please go right ahead'?"
He suddenly shot out his right hand and grabbed the wrist of Tojo, who was hiding behind Sakamoto.
"Hey, pretty girl. Instead of playing with a pretty boy like this, why don't you have some fun with me today?"
"Kyaaah!"
"Tojo!"
Sakamoto hurriedly tried to separate them, but the man had no hesitation in using violence.
"Get lost!"
"Keuk!"
"Sakamoto!"
Tojo cried out, her wrists caught in the man's grip.
Sakamoto, having taken a solid punch to the stomach, threw up what he had eaten for lunch.
Watching the scene unfold, I could no longer contain my surging anger.
"...Rika, wait here."
"Huh? Ryu-chan! Where are you going!"
I dropped the bag I was carrying on my back and began to walk slowly toward the delinquents laughing around Sakamoto and the slicked-back-haired man who held Tojo's wrist with a vile smirk.
To hell with interfering with the original story. I didn't care anymore.
Honestly, looking at guys like them just makes my stomach turn.
Lawless thugs who rely on their pathetic strength, unafraid of even the city's authorities.
What's so damn fun about beating someone up in broad daylight?
If they love the fear they create with violence so much, I'll become that fear for them.
*
Seeing Tojo Karen captured by the suddenly appeared slicked-back-haired man, the Toseikai executives who had been tailing her all shot up from their hiding spots.
"How dare that bastard!"
"Whose wrist does he think he's touching!"
"Chairman! Should we get the tools?"
"Wait."
At the calm voice of the one person who should have been more furious than anyone else present, they all froze.
"There's no need for us to get involved in a kids' fight. And look at him."
The 6th Chairman of the Toseikai, Tojo Naoto, pointed toward a large man walking forward, emitting an overwhelming killing intent from his entire body.
It was the young man who had an extraordinary aura from the moment he first saw him, Kim Yoo-Sung.
Tojo Naoto looked at him, then down at his own trembling hands.
This feeling... it was very familiar.
It was the same feeling he'd had for the first time back in his reckless, hell-raising days, when he'd accidentally come face-to-face with the boss of the Red Mafia who was in Japan at the time.
The fear of someone overwhelmingly powerful.
Back then, he had thankfully managed to escape with the help of his right-hand man, Takeyama, but he didn't think for a second he could win if they were to meet again now.
And this young man, Kim Yoo-Sung, who couldn't be more than twenty years old, was exuding an aura similar to 'Ivan,' the God of Destruction, a legend in the underworld.
Even now, in his completely unrefined state, he radiated such pressure. What if he were to meet a proper master and learn martial arts?
Gulp.
Just imagining it suggested a high probability that an unbelievable monster would emerge.
'I want him.'
If possible, he wanted to scout him as an asset for the organization.
But he couldn't very well ask his daughter's friend if he wanted to become a yakuza.
And from what he'd heard, despite his appearance, the kid was an exceptional student, so there was no need for him to step into the dirty underworld.
It was a true shame to let him go, but he had no choice but to give up.
'Still, I should at least watch.'
If that young man hadn't stepped in, he would have had his right-hand man, Takeyama, subdue all those delinquent bastards before sinking them into the sea with a block of concrete.
But his anticipation to see the power of a young man with an aura similar to the God of Destruction in his prime made him subconsciously stop his other subordinates from acting.
'Now, show me. Show me your true power.'
Naoto watched Kim Yoo-Sung's profile as he slowly pulled down the hood he was wearing, a smile of exhilaration spreading across his face.
*
"Hold on."
At the sudden low voice, the man called "Boss" by the high school delinquents, Hayashi Gen, scrunched up his face with a "Huh?" and turned around.
"And who the hell are you?"
Though he spoke nonchalantly, inwardly, he was incredibly flustered.
'What the hell is with this guy? What kind of training did he do to get a body like that?'
It was like a giant stone statue was standing in front of him.
The developed forearms, the broad shoulders, the thick trapezius muscles, the prominent neck muscles, and the massive pectoral muscles.
Even to his eyes as a former pro, it was an extraordinary physique.
A rough estimate put him in the heavyweight class.
Compared to himself, a light heavyweight boxer in his pro days, this guy had at least 10kg on him.
The punching power generated from that frame would be formidable.
'Don't get scared. He's just a civilian. He probably just knows how to throw a punch, that's all.'
In a normal fight, his menacing aura and massive muscles would have made his opponent back down, but that kind of difference was no demerit for a man like Hayashi Gen.
After all, facing opponents much larger than himself was common in back-alley brawls.
As he was sizing up his opponent with a sharp eye, figuring out how to take him down, the large man who had suddenly intervened spoke to the red-haired girl who was staring at him with a surprised look.
"Tojo, leave this to me and get away with Sakamoto."
"But!"
"I won't lose to guys like these."
Listening to him, it was clear he was treating them like complete nobodies.
Just as his temper flared and he was about to throw a punch at the back of the guy's exposed head, his boys who had stepped back shouted.
"Boss! That's Kim Yoo-Sung! The strongest man at Ichijo Academy, the one who took down a biker gang in a 50-on-1 fight a while back!"
"Hah? Are you idiots? How can one person win a 50-on-1 fight? And a high schooler? With that mug?"
Hayashi Gen lamented his own foolishness for even considering a serious fight with this opponent just moments ago.
"You're pretty big for a high schooler, but don't think you can beat me with just that little weight difference, kid."
Feeling wronged for having been momentarily intimidated by a kid who'd eaten hundreds fewer bowls of rice than him, Hayashi Gen immediately started his footwork, throwing out jabs at an invisible speed.
"There it is! Boss Hayashi's specialty! The Flash Jab!"
"That's our Boss Hayashi for you! All we can see is the afterimage of his fists!"
A super-fast jab that landed nearly eight times a second.
As much as his right straight, he was confident in the speed and power of his jab, which was normally used for feinting.
Most opponents would collapse from a concussion after just a few flurries of his Flash Jabs.
However, despite landing clean hits continuously, his opponent didn't fall.
No, to be precise, he didn't move 'a single step'.
Like a great tree rooted firmly in the earth, he was just silently taking every jab Hayashi threw.
Even though he was the one on the offensive, the monstrous durability of his opponent, who took every attack as if it were nothing, fueled Hayashi's impatience.
"Grr! Then how about this!"
Finally, Hayashi gave up on ending the fight quickly with just his Flash Jabs and threw the right fist he had been saving.
A textbook straight punch.
A punch of formidable power, perfected by the simultaneous twisting of his waist and torso, flew in a straight line toward Kim Yoo-Sung's face.
At that very moment, Kim Yoo-Sung's body, which had been silently absorbing the attacks, moved for the first time.
POW!!
The punch collided with something, making the sound of air exploding.
However, the place his fist had struck was the frontal bone, one of the thickest parts of the human body.
With blood streaming down his face from the torn skin, the monster before him spoke dryly.
"From now on, it's self-defense."
In that instant, goosebumps erupted all over Hayashi's body.
'This bastard, he took that hit on purpose?!'
But by the time he realized it, a massive fist was already crushing his handsome face.