15 Days
Creak.
I eased the door open and stepped into the carpentry workshop. I pushed as gently as I could, but the old door still groaned loudly.
The gazes of the men who'd been enjoying their gang rape swung toward me.
"That bastard?!"
"It's him! The one who killed Sasaki!"
"Kill him! He's already taken out more than a few of us!"
Naked men charged at me. It was a horrific yet familiar sight.
I've seen this a few times in porn.
They were chasing after an AV actress, but who would've thought I'd end up as the target.
I hurriedly grabbed the weapon lying next to the door. The blade of the Japanese sword gleamed under the light.
"I never wanted to see you bastards naked…"
I decided to kill them all.
The naked men hesitated for a moment when I took up the sword, then charged again. More carefully this time, surrounding me. I was alone, and there were over ten of them. What they were counting on was their numerical advantage.
I'll teach them just how worthless that advantage is.
I couldn't use Complete Recovery. The cooldown was twelve hours, and not even a quarter of that had passed.
I had to be careful, but I didn't think I'd lose. I had a sword in my hand, and they were bare-handed and naked.
"Haaah."
I drew in a breath. My muscles swelled. Gripping the hilt tightly, I charged at them.
"A-all at once!"
Hands reached out from every direction. I spun my body and swung the sword in a wide circle.
Blood and screams sprayed out.
"Aaaagh! My eyes!"
"My hand!!"
They panicked. Fear began to creep out among them. Terror filled the eyes that looked at me. A few of the smarter ones ran to grab the weapons lying nearby, but I wasn't about to allow that. I prioritized killing those going for weapons, then started slaughtering the ones closest to me.
Frozen in fear, they could only watch as their comrades were butchered. Escape? The only exit was behind me, and the windows were too small for a person to squeeze through.
A little time passed.
Including me, only three people were left alive in the workshop. And I was the only man among them.
I started to approach Minewaki Jurie and Aizawa Nachiko, then stopped. They were trembling as they stared at me. Killing over ten people in three minutes would do that.
"……"
Should I kill them? Or not.
Honestly, I felt no killing intent toward them.
Their betrayal? I never trusted them to begin with, and I didn't even care about them, so could that even be called betrayal?
They're not my type either, so I have no urge to rape them. What do I care what happens to these bitches?
If they were men, I'd have killed them, but since they were women, I decided to show mercy. You never know. They might give birth to beauties in the future.
Well, once the quest is over, I'll be going back to reality anyway.
One way or another, I didn't feel like killing them. So I decided not to.
Clang.
I dropped the Japanese sword.
It wasn't that my grip had weakened. I discarded it. After cutting down over ten people, the edge was damaged. I needed another weapon. Fortunately, there wasn't just one Japanese sword. There were two more. Being Japanese, they preferred Japanese swords.
There's this weapon too.
A chainsaw.
It was a power saw.
Setting aside its actual efficiency as a weapon, the engine roar of a chainsaw inspired terror in people. I grabbed the chainsaw and left the workshop.
I didn't even glance at the two women inside.
They'll figure it out themselves.
Wiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!!
The sound of the spinning chainsaw echoed through the village.
"Aaaaaaaaah!"
One of the villagers screamed and fled. I chased him all the way and swung the chainsaw. It split his back open. Blood sprayed everywhere. I wiped the blood flowing down my forehead with the back of my hand and kicked the corpse aside.
I could see the hospital up ahead. On the way here, I'd killed every villager I saw. Roughly eight of them.
I thought everyone was dead since I didn't see anyone… so they were over there.
Beside the hospital, at the mansion, the villagers were gathered, fighting a small siege. The villagers were trying desperately to get inside the mansion, while the university students were holding out from within. They threw rocks or swung weapons at villagers climbing the walls.
At the center of the villagers was Police Chief Shimada. He was calming the dozen or so excited villagers as he spoke. They still hadn't noticed my presence.
"The resistance is too fierce. When we try to climb the walls, rocks come flying… We need more people. How's the backup coming?"
"We contacted the ones at the carpentry workshop, but… no response at all."
"Something happen at the workshop?"
"What could happen? They're probably lost in the women, forgetting the time."
"If we just had ten more, we could all climb the walls at once and overwhelm them…"
"Can't we just set the mansion on fire? Then those kids would come running out on their own."
"Have you forgotten whose mansion this is? It's the shrine maiden's main residence. Can you handle the shrine maiden's wrath?"
"…I misspoke. Please forget I said that. I only said it because I was so frustrated…"
"I'll forget it."
Wiiiiiiiiiiing!
The chainsaw spun. The villagers in front of the mansion whipped their heads around to look at me. They glared at me silently, and I grinned at them as I charged. By the time Shimada drew his revolver, it was too late. I swung the chainsaw merrily among the villagers.
"Aaaaaah!"
Screams rang out.
Bang! Baaang! Bang!
Even with villagers around him, Shimada pulled the revolver's trigger without hesitation. The villager in front of me took the bullet and fell. I moved behind another villager. Using people as cover, I approached Shimada.
"You're shooting way too openly. Don't you feel sorry for the villagers getting hit by the bullets?"
"Killing you comes first."
Bang!
The fourth bullet grazed my head. I tossed the chainsaw to the ground. Then I pulled two pistols from my pockets. Not revolvers—automatic pistols.
"Guns?! You crazy bastard!"
"I killed those black-clothed guys and took them. Pretty sweet, right? My shooting skills are terrible, but… at this range, it's a different story."
With dual pistols in both hands, I sprayed fire at Shimada. Seven bullets embedded in his head and torso. Then I chased the fleeing villagers, spraying bullets.
Every time I pulled the trigger, someone died. At ten meters maybe not, but at three meters, even I could land headshots.
The street was filled with villagers' corpses. I tossed the empty pistols and walked up to the mansion.
"Anyone home?! It's me, Seong Yujin! I've taken care of all the villagers! Open the door!"
"……"
No answer came right away.
I was debating whether to force the door open when—
"What are you doing? Open the door."
"…Nakagami. Aren't you… afraid?"
"Yujin's my boyfriend. Move. I'm opening it."
"……"
The door opened.
The blonde beauty, Nakagami Risa, looked at me and grinned.
"Looking pretty cool, aren't you?"
I was covered in blood from head to toe. Of course, none of it was mine.
"Glad you're safe, senpai."
I stepped inside.
The circle members, including President Mori Masahiro, came into view. All of them were wary of me. It was only natural. I'd just shot dozens of people to death right in front of them. Plus, they'd be curious why I was outside.
"Seong. The reason we didn't open the door right away…"
"I understand, Mori-senpai. Someone else could've been pretending to be me."
"…Thanks. Why you came from outside, where you got the guns… I've got a lot of questions for you."
"I'll explain everything. But is it okay if I shower first? I'm feeling pretty gross right now."
"I'd rather be the one asking you to."
After finishing my shower and changing clothes, my body felt soft and clean.
I looked at my clean hands. In comics and movies, hands stained with blood still look bloody even after washing thoroughly… but not for me. My hands were clean and smelled of fragrant soap.
I entered the room where all the circle members were gathered.
They watched me with tense eyes. I plopped down in their midst and told them about this village. Everyone who heard my words was shocked. Some clenched their fists, faces holding back nausea. Among them, Mori Masahiro ground his teeth with eyes full of rage.
"…So they're making a drug called Hyeoldan using humans as ingredients. This village was… that factory."
"Yes. We almost became ingredients ourselves. I also found the corpses of Tanaka-senpai, Gonzo-senpai, and Sakurai-senpai in the hospital basement. If you don't believe me… you can go check the annex right now."
"We checked the annex too. We confirmed that… Hyeoldan and the drug powder were there. We did find an underground passage, but… we blocked it for now. It'd be trouble if villagers came in that way. …I never imagined there'd be machinery like that beyond the underground passage…"
Mori Masahiro tried hard to control his anger somehow. The reason he felt rage was probably because of his friend who went missing in this village last year.
"From what I saw, this isn't just Ookaruma Village involved. There must have been outside help."
"…If they're continuously producing Hyeoldan… they'd need to bring in corpses from outside too."
"What I'm trying to say is that the outside collaborators might already have the base of the mountain surrounded."
"…So we're trapped in this village. If what you say is true, even if we go down the mountain, the ones surrounding us would rush us and we'd be helpless."
"Yes. And staying put here isn't good either."
"Because they… could come up to the village."
Mori Masahiro let out a sigh. Everyone's expressions were grim.
"There is a way."
"…A way?"
"The person responsible for this is the shrine maiden. If we capture the shrine maiden… a way will open up. Not only that, if we can just contact the outside… we can report the horrific things that happened here and get help."
"What if the Japanese government is in on it?"
"Then we just ask for help somewhere that isn't the Japanese government. Like America or Korea."
"……This is Japan."
"Hyeoldan. Once that drug becomes known, will America and Korea just sit still? Especially Korea, which doesn't get along well with Japan."
Everyone fell into thought.
"…There's a possibility."
Fudo Jun spoke. The others' eyes sparkled. I could feel their will to live. They didn't want to die in a place like this either.
We talked a bit more and reached a conclusion.
We would go to the shrine, capture the shrine maiden, and threaten her to contact the outside. Even if the shrine maiden didn't yield to the threats, she would still have value as a hostage.