15 Days

I pulled the mask off the fallen bastard. A middle-aged man's face stared back at me.

A familiar face.

One of the group that had come looking for us at the lodging earlier that afternoon.

"Ah, so this son of a bitch came for revenge. You came ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠alone? Why?"

"Khhh… I—I came to pay you back for the humiliation you inflicted on my father…!"

"Father?"

I blinked. I had no idea who he was talking about.

Nakagami Risa, who had finally wrested the hatchet from me, spoke up.

"He means the old man whose knees you shattered and forced to eat mud."

"Oh. Nakagami-senpai. You're sharp. Can I call you Risa?"

"Do whatever you want. I'll call you Yujin however I like too. But this hatchet… I really want to try it once… Is that okay?"

"You can't kill him, got it?"

"I won't kill him."

"Then go ahead and try."

Nakagami Risa beamed. She gripped the hatchet in both hands and approached the man. He looked up at her with eyes full of terror.

"S-stop! You must have things you want to know from me, right? I'll tell you! Spare me—please spare ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me!"

"Spare me? This bastard still doesn't get the situation."

"Haa, haa, haak…."

Nakagami Risa's breathing was ragged. Cold sweat poured down her face and her pupils trembled wildly. She looked like a woman who had completely lost her mind. In a way, her expression was almost like someone on the brink of orgasm.

Earlier she smashed that guy's dick to pieces just fine…

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Well, chopping an arm with a hatchet was a little different. Maybe it was a matter of taste. She might simply prefer hurting people with a weapon.

"Here I go…!"

Nakagami Risa drove the hatchet into the bastard's forearm. Blood sprayed.

She hadn't managed to sever the arm completely. She lacked the strength for that, and the angle was all wrong.

But she seemed satisfied with just that much, trembling all over in pure ecstasy.

"Hauk, haaaa…. What is this…. It feels so good…!"

Thud, thud-thud, thud!

She hacked wildly at the bastard's right arm with the hatchet.

"Aaaagh! Aaaaaaagh! Y-you crazy bitch!! Aaaagh! P-please spare me! Please! Aagh!"

The bastard tried to crawl away across the ground. I grabbed Nakagami Risa's body as she, in her frenzy, prepared to bring the hatchet down on his head.

"Risa-senpai. Calm down a little."

"Haaak…. R-right. I got a bit carried away."

"That wasn't 'a bit.'"

I approached the bastard. His right arm was shredded to ribbons. Blood was a given, and even bone was visible. I rifled through his pockets. A single knife came out. Thud! I drove the knife into his thigh.

"Gyaaaaagh!"

"W-wait. That knife looks fun… Can I use it?"

"Later."

I began interrogating him in earnest.

"Tell me about this village."

"W-what about it?"

"What the village is hiding. From where I'm standing, the stench of something rotten is overwhelming."

"We're not hiding anything…! M-more importantly, please send me to a hospital. I-if this keeps up, I'm really going to die."

"I dunno. Doesn't look to me like you're about to die anytime soon. Your eyes are bloodshot red and you're crying tears of blood… Are you even human?"

"I-I am human!"

"Then why are your eyes like that?"

"……."

"Not talking? Senpai."

Nakagami Risa grinned brightly and stabbed the knife into his thigh over and over.

"Gyaaagh…. I-I'll talk. It's Hyeoldan!"

"Hyeoldan?"

"It hurts so much I can't—khk… Please stop stabbing…!"

I caught Nakagami Risa by the shoulder. She licked her lips with a look of regret.

"What is Hyeoldan?"

"…It's our village's secret medicine. If you take it, your strength increases for a short while…, all fatigue vanishes…, and your recovery improves. If you take it when you have a cold, the cold clears up instantly."

"And you're the only one stuffing yourself with something that good? Give me some too. Where do they sell it?"

"That's…."

"This bastard's stalling again."

"Sh-Shimada! If you ask Shimada, you can receive Hyeoldan!"

Shimada.

The chief of this village's police box.

"There's someone above you, isn't there?"

"Huh?"

"Whose orders are you taking?"

"I-I'm not taking anyone's orders."

"Then why did you all come swarming in this afternoon?"

"Shimada asked for help, so we just moved together!"

"Shimada didn't tell you to kill me?"

"No! I was trying to avenge my father."

"You're not lying?"

"In this situation, why would I lie?! Please spare me! A hospital…. At ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this rate for real…."

I asked him a few more things.

He answered diligently. That only made me more suspicious.

"Fine. I'll take you. Where's your house?"

"……Why my house? I need to go to a hospital."

Nakagami Risa beside me let out a snort of laughter.

"What an idiot. You've been begging to be taken to a hospital this whole time, so of course it's suspicious. You probably set a trap at the hospital."

"R-right. That's exactly what I was about to say, senpai."

No—honestly, I hadn't thought that far.

I had simply been so pissed at this bastard for trying to kill me that I was going to slaughter his whole family too.

"Talk."

I sliced off his ear with the knife. The bastard's eyes bulged and he clamped his mouth shut tight. I could feel his absolute will not to speak.

I tortured him for about five minutes, but he never opened his mouth. And then he suddenly died on me. Apparently even this Hyeoldan stuff had its limits.

"What are you going to do? Chop him up and bury him?"

"Why bother. Just leave him."

"Where are you going?"

"To the hole-in-the-wall shop. Villages like this are small enough that all the residents know each other. The old hag at the shop will know where this bastard's house is."

"Go on, then. I'll… practice a little more."

Thwack! Thud! Thwack-thud!

Nakagami Risa started beating the corpse with the hatchet. Being dead, it was less satisfying than before, but she still looked like she was having a decent time.

I entered the hole-in-the-wall shop. The lights were off and the door was locked. I kicked the door in and stepped inside.

"Huuuuh?!"

A startled old hag came rushing out from the back room of the shop.

"Y-you…! W-why are you here agai—hup!"

The old woman took one look at me and recoiled in shock. Because of the blood soaking my clothes. She trembled violently with fear.

"I've got something I want to ask. Middle-aged guy… dirty beard…"

I described the bastard's face in words.

"…You mean Junichi from the Yamamoto family? Don't tell me you did something to Junichi…."

"Just tell me where that bastard's house is."

"……."

"I said tell me."

I approached the old hag. She backed away until she fell on her ass. I snatched the smartphone she was holding. She had been about to call someone.

"I-I'll tell you. G-give that back."

Her legs must have given out, because she crawled toward me trying to reclaim the phone. I kicked her in the shoulder and unlocked the smartphone. No pattern or passcode, so it was easy. I flipped through the contacts and dialed the person she had called most frequently of late.

The ringtone went on for about twenty seconds before someone picked up.

"Hello? Mom?"

Because I had already set it to speakerphone, the woman's voice filled the entire shop.

I looked at the old hag. Her face had gone deathly pale.

"What's going on this late at night? Mom? Why aren't you answering?"

I jerked my chin at the old woman. Answer her.

"I-I just wanted to hear your voice, so I called."

"Your voice sounds off. Nothing's wrong, is it?"

"N-nothing's wrong, you brat. I-I heard Tokyo's a mess. Are you okay right now?"

"I'm at a shelter. Aftershocks keep happening. Tomorrow I'm leaving the shelter and going home. Haa. Will the insurance company bastards actually pay out without a fight? I'm so pissed off about that I could die."

I gestured at the old hag. Hang up.

"A-alright. It's late now, so I'll call again tomorrow."

"Mom, you were the one who called firs—"

Click.

I ended the call.

I kept fiddling with the old woman's smartphone. She watched my every move with anxious eyes. I found photos in the gallery. Family pictures. The old hag with a middle-aged couple, and a boy and girl in school uniforms.

"Your family, hag? They live in Tokyo, huh?"

"P-please…."

I tossed the smartphone back to her. She barely caught it and started crying.

"Hag. I'm not going to kill you. Why? Because I'm coming back here tomorrow."

"……."

"I've been eating nothing but Japanese food lately and I'm sick of it. I want Korean food. You prepare it."

"I-I don't know how to make Korean food…."

"Not my problem. I'll be by around lunchtime tomorrow, so have it ready."

"……Yes."

"There are only two things you need to know, hag."

"Two things…?"

"If you report me, you die. If it tastes like shit, you die. If you put anything weird in the food, I'll throw you in a pot, boil you until you're bubbling, and feed that broth to your daughter. …Ah, now that I say it, that's three things. Whatever. Close enough. Anyway, I'm going."

I didn't forget to grab two cans of beer on my way out.

The moment I left, I saw the old hag's crotch growing wet. It wasn't a pleasant sight, so I erased it from my mind.

I approached Nakagami Risa. She greeted me with a smiling face.

"You even brought canned beer? Nice touch."

Covered in blood, she cracked open a can and downed the beer.

I looked down at her feet. The man had been chopped into pieces. More than twenty chunks. His guts reeked, and his head was split open enough to show the pink brain inside.

"I found out where this bastard's house is. Let's go."

"…Do we really have to? I don't think we need to."

"Says the woman with a face full of anticipation."

"Hehehe. You know what? I'm soaking wet down there right now."

I looked at her hot pants. The white fabric was stained with blood. I focused on her crotch, but it was hard to tell with the naked eye whether she was wet.

Watching her flushed, excited face, I undid the button of her hot pants and slid my right hand inside. The hand holding the beer can was cold, and she shivered.

"Hnnngh…."

Her pussy was hot and sticky. Her inner lips caught on my fingers. I carefully stroked her. The thoroughly soaked pussy was a virgin's.

"Senpai. No hair?"

"In the summer I take tons of swimsuit photos. Grooming is essential."

"Makes sense."

"Ah, that feels good…. This is its own kind of… haaung…. I want to have sex. Want to do it right here?"

I nearly shouted YES to that proposal on the spot. But with superhuman patience, I held back. I wanted to have sex somewhere brighter. That way I could properly enjoy her body.

"Let's finish what we need to do first. It won't take long."

I walked forward with my hand still inside Nakagami Risa's lower half. By the time we reached the place, the thoroughly aroused woman had climaxed three times.

"Three houses with a big ginkgo tree out front. The one in the middle with the brown gate…. This is it."

I smashed through the front door and went inside. There was a middle-aged woman and a young man. The mud-eating old man wasn't there. Probably hospitalized. After killing the mother and stepping back outside, ten people surrounded us holding knives and weapons fashioned from farm tools. Every last one of them had red eyes streaming with bloody tears—they had all taken Hyeoldan.

"You goddamn bastard!"

"You killed Yamamoto-san?!"

"Unforgivable!!"

"We have to kill him to put Yamamoto-san's spirit to rest!"

I shoved the frozen Nakagami Risa back into the house and shut the door.

"Yujin?!"

"Just stay in there for a bit. It'll be over soon."

I charged the young man beside me. My goal was to snatch the Japanese sword he was holding.

Thuk. Thuk, thuk!

Had I underestimated them too much?

They all rushed me at once and stabbed into my body. Kitchen knives, spears, crowbars sank into my flesh. I clenched my teeth harder at the shitty feeling.

Thuk. The Japanese sword punched straight through my neck.

I moved my hand forward.

"Hiiieeek!"

The bastard who had stabbed me through the neck recoiled in terror. Anyone could see it should have been an instant kill, yet I was still moving—of course he was scared.

I gripped the hilt of the Japanese sword piercing my neck and pulled it free. I looked around. They were standing a meter away from me. Terrified, they were waiting for me to collapse.

But too bad for them.

Death Resistance still had ten seconds left.

I yanked every weapon embedded in my body free and let them clatter to the ground.

Pain flared as the wounds vanished. I flashed the bastards a crooked grin.

"M-monster!"

Listening to their terrified breathing, I raised the Japanese sword.

"Ahh, this cool, heavy sensation…. It was a short and painful time…. Now it's time to return as Heavenly Demon Seong Yujin."