Reality 4: I Quit
I showed up for my shift at the PC bang where I worked part-time and told the boss I was quitting. The guy's face, balanced on those broad shoulders, crumpled like a discarded can.
"What? Who the hell drops something like that out of nowhere? You got a replacement lined up?"
"I'm not skipping a shift. I'm quitting. Why the fuck would I hunt down a replacement?"
"Aigo, Kang Cheol-in, is that any way to talk? Don't even think about quitting until you find someone to take your place."
"Changed my mind. I'm quitting right now, so deal with it yourself."
"What? Has this bastard finally lost his mind? Kang Cheol-in, you follow me outside."
Sure enough, the rumors that he used to be a gangster were true. The boss put on a pretty vicious front and headed for the back door.
I grabbed a can of cola, dropped two thousand won on the kiosk, and walked out the front entrance toward home. Since I was done with this place anyway, there was no reason to waste time getting pissed off while staring at that pathetic face.
On the way home I stopped at a fancy bicycle shop. I had been ready to buy the most expensive one without hesitation, but when I saw the insane price tags exceeding ten million won I settled for the durable model the staff recommended. It was a two-million-won downhill bike that looked a bit like a motorcycle, which I liked.
The employee explained that it was heavier than the other models and at a disadvantage on flat ground, but I didn't care. My strength, agility, and stamina were all at 30. Heavy or not, once I rode it that bike would be the fastest thing on the road. So I bought the sturdiest one they had.
The chain whirred as I tore up the uphill slope at overwhelming speed. The insane spinning of the chain combined with the refreshing blast of wind across my face felt unrealistically good.
"Haha! This is sex!"
When I came back to my senses the sun had already gone down. I'd traveled pretty far thanks to the speed, so I decided it was time to head home.
"Get back, shower, eat a full meal, binge web novels until I pass out. Perfect day."
In the past I would have hurried to beat the darkness, but now that I saw better at night and felt more comfortable, I took my time and pedaled slowly instead.
While cheerfully climbing the narrow, dark slope where the broken streetlights had remained unfixed for months, I spotted an expensive-looking foreign car parked in front of my studio building.
I stored the bicycle in my inventory and approached the building while avoiding the faint glow of the streetlight. Three burly men were sitting out front smoking. Someone was also sitting inside the car. It was clearly the PC bang boss.
"Well, well. I can feel some impure intentions here."
I crept up behind the three squatting men who were staring at their phones and pulled out my weapon.
Swish— Clang!
The Stun Bat cannot inflict injury.
If the impact is strong enough to be fatal, the target will unconditionally fall unconscious.
The first target toppled forward in the exact same seated position and passed out. The remaining two jumped up in shock at the sudden bat attack, but the difference in positioning was overwhelming.
Whoosh— Clang!
The middle-aged man with tattoos climbing up his neck crumpled limply after getting halfway to his feet and fell asleep. The third man, full of fighting spirit, used his bent legs as leverage and reached out toward me.
Even while high-speed riding earlier I had noticed that with 30 agility I was roughly three times faster than normal people. I could see the leather-gloved hand coming for my leg with perfect clarity.
I casually twisted my body and leg sideways. His momentum was decent, but the leather-glove uncle hadn't considered direction changes at all. My bat came down on the back of his head, trailing a faint afterimage.
Swoosh— Clang! Thud!
The leather-glove uncle's face slammed straight into the ground and he passed out.
"That guy's nose is probably broken."
When I looked toward the foreign car, the boss had opened the door and was halfway out but had frozen solid. His thoroughly flustered expression stood out clearly even in the darkness.
Kang Cheol-in, you son of a bitch. I'd thought well of him because he worked quietly and obediently, but the moment he got cocky I was going to teach him a small lesson. This bastard was completely insane.
I had no idea when he'd arrived, but I suddenly saw him swinging the bat at Gwangseop and was so startled I tried to get out of the car. By the time I opened the door he had already taken out all three of them alone.
Fuck... This guy definitely knows how to fight... We're screwed...
If you get hit by a bat like that you might not die but you'll at least become a cripple.
For now, if I get out of here and call the cops I can send him straight to prison...
With the fastest speed of my entire life I closed the door and turned the ignition. I had to peel out of here—
Screeech—!
The boss tried to make a run for it, so I sprinted forward at full power and smashed the driver's side window with the bat.
Through the shattered glass I reached in, grabbed his shirt collar, yanked him out of the car, and threw him to the ground.
"Aaaagh! W-wait, fuck!! Just a second!"
This is going to wake up the whole neighborhood if I'm not careful.
Whoosh— Clang!
I sent that ugly face straight to dreamland.
Now what to do with him... Leaving him on the cold ground felt wrong, I didn't want to drag him into my room, and putting him back in a car full of glass shards was also awkward.
For now I stuffed the three guys into the foreign car's trunk. It contained a golf bag, umbrellas, a shovel, a bat, masks, rope, and other random junk. I moved it all into my inventory to make space.
I had already claimed the leather gloves for myself. Three people wouldn't fit in the trunk, so I cleared the glass shards and sat the boss in the passenger seat.
To stop him from causing a scene when he woke up, I used the convenient item already in my inventory—the rope that doesn't fray, ten meters long—to tightly bind both hands, then looped his arms over the seat's headrest and tied them there.
It would be a little uncomfortable, but since I didn't know any proper restraint techniques it couldn't be helped.
I collected every scattered piece of glass and stored it in my inventory.
And so, in front of the building, there stood one foreign car that looked like its driver's window was open, one man sleeping in the passenger seat with both hands raised, and me sitting in the driver's seat.