Chapter 115
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Kidnapping (6)
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Meanwhile, Takuya—who had just started climbing the stairs—was tense.
It wasn't just because he thought Tsutomu up above might ambush him.
He had experienced ambushes like that hundreds of times during battles.
So why was he feeling tense?
The answer was surprisingly simple.
'I can't sense Tsutomu's presence at all.'
The presence he'd felt on the stairs just moments ago had vanished.
It could have simply fled and disappeared.
In fact, that was the most likely possibility.
But his instincts were telling him otherwise.
This was definitely not a retreat.
His gut, which he couldn't explain in words, was absolutely certain of it.
That was why he ascended the stairs with utmost caution, and at that very moment...
-Thud!
"Guh!"
He was ambushed.
More precisely, Tsutomu's massive bulk—coming from who knows where—slammed into him, sending him tumbling awkwardly across the ground.
And at the same moment, dozens of spears appeared before his eyes.
[Villain is entering berserk mode. Exercise caution.]
[Villain's strength is surging dramatically.]
[Villain's agility is surging dramatically.]
[Villain's violence is surging dramatically.]
[Villain's skin is hardening.]
Takuya could only grit his teeth at the messages flooding his vision.
'If he was in that state, you should've warned me sooner!'
If he'd known, he would've sprinted up!
The steel plate over his abdomen had kept it from hurting too badly, but that didn't make the shitty feeling any better.
Even as he cursed the screen, Takuya kept his cool.
Getting worked up in a situation like this would spell doom.
As Takuya thought that, Tsutomu—who had flung him far away—stared at him and let out a roar.
"Grrrrr!"
Takuya was dumbfounded by Tsutomu's beastly cry.
He'd seen the violence increase, but did that make him growl like an animal?
Of course, it was actually a side effect of his feral nature surging too—a detail Takuya had missed—but compared to Tsutomu's changed appearance, the growling was minor.
His body was now twice as massive as it had been underground, and for some reason, he looked like he thought he was the protagonist of a pirate manga, his entire body flushed red.
Takuya gripped his sword properly and watched as Tsutomu charged at him.
"Raaargh!!"
Sure enough, Tsutomu—his intelligence reduced to that of a beast—came rushing in.
Takuya charged right back at him.
Not because he was crazy enough to clash head-on.
-Slash!
'Tough bastard.'
He just wanted to test how tough the screen said his skin had become.
Having confirmed it, Takuya was shocked.
His blade should've buried into Tsutomu's arm, but it only left a shallow cut.
As he reeled from the feeling—like scraping a wooden board...
Tsutomu charged again.
Takuya eyed him, deemed the knife useless, and drew a weapon beloved since the Joseon era—not modern Korea—the iron mace.
It was much smaller than the massive ones people knew.
-Crack!
But plenty enough to smash a human skull.
Tsutomu clutched his struck arm in agony.
Takuya saw his chance and closed in to deliver more mace strikes.
Of course, he approached from the side of the pained arm to make punching difficult.
-Boom!
If only that mad beast hadn't grabbed the struck arm and punched anyway.
'What the hell, Baki?!'
Takuya stared in shock at Tsutomu, who grinned despite clutching his pained arm after landing the hit.
No, even fighting game characters wouldn't pull that!
But there was no time for complaints.
Even with the steel plate, the cumulative damage was severe; Takuya barely had the strength to move.
He needed to get up fast, retreat, and prepare for the next attack.
And Tsutomu seemed to sense that.
"Kuhahaha!!"
"Guh!"
Like a monster, he leaped and pinned Takuya down, preventing him from rising.
As Takuya gaped at the monstrous Tsutomu, he raised his now-enormous fist to smash down.
Or tried to.
"Groooar!!"
Because Chunsik burst from the bushes, biting Tsutomu's nape.
Takuya cheered at the sight of Chunsik dragging Tsutomu away by the neck.
'Fuck yeah, that makes this easy!'
No matter how inhuman Tsutomu's strength, fighting a bear was impossible...
"Raaargh!"
"Groooar!"
...or not.
No, what the fuck is that?
Takuya was stunned by Tsutomu holding his own against the bear.
Chunsik had bulked up for days and just eaten, but a human matching a bear? Impossible.
He was floored by the absurdity, but the shocks weren't over.
Incredibly, Tsutomu took a direct punch from Chunsik—then countered with a decisive blow of his own.
"Groooaaar!!!"
Chunsik howled in pain from the fist.
Takuya was too shocked to speak, but it was only momentary.
'What a fucking unbalanced game.'
He muttered internally and gripped his weapon, ready to charge.
Chunsik wouldn't last long against that.
While Chunsik held Tsutomu's aggro, Takuya dashed in and swung the mace at his head to finish it.
Or tried to.
'What the—?!'
Tsutomu, aggro'd on Chunsik, caught the mace with his hand—and...
-Pow!
"Groar!"
...knocked Chunsik down with one punch.
Before Takuya could react, Tsutomu closed in, grabbing not his collar but...
"Gack! Guh!"
His slender neck in a massive hand.
Takuya writhed as his airway was crushed, but stared at Tsutomu's face.
His eyes were strange.
Not just insane.
At first, clear hatred. When fleeing, fear. Before fighting Chunsik, pure feral instinct. But now... yes, like...
An arch-nemesis, irreconcilable hatred.
A gaze all too familiar to him.
But that raised a question.
Why was Tsutomu looking at him like that?
Hatred made sense, but this intensity? Why?
'No, to begin with...'
Was this even Tsutomu?
"Grrgh!"
As he pondered, the grip tightened; oxygen cut off, he was on the verge of blacking out.
Then he sensed someone approaching Tsutomu from behind.
He didn't turn or shift his eyes; as if in reward, the someone...
-Crack!
...smashed Tsutomu's head.
A blow that would've caved in a normal skull.
But Tsutomu—no, whatever it was—endured it.
"What the hell, that didn't work?!"
It turned to glare at the woman who'd struck it, then back to him and rasped.
"Don't... think... this... is... over... ■re■."
-Thump.
With those final words, it collapsed into the nearby bushes. Takuya slipped free and gasped for air.
"Cough! Cough! Hah... Hah..."
He spat the saliva pooling in his throat and steadied his breathing.
"Hah... Hah... Thought I was done for."
Once stable, he approached the fallen Tsutomu.
His build had shrunk and fattened even more than underground.
Takuya checked his pulse and thought.
Tsutomu had ended his life...
"He's just unconscious..."
...nope, only knocked out.
'Good.'
Relieved at Tsutomu's mere unconsciousness.
Why relieved?
Not for ethics, morals, or law.
Simply...
'He can't die before receiving the punishment I give him.'
That's why he couldn't die so easily.
Takuya stared at the fallen form, then plopped down exhausted.
Whether from the choke or the brutal brawl, he couldn't stand.
As he sat, he pondered the final Tsutomu—or whatever it was.
'What the hell was that?'
It clearly knew him.
More than knew—despised him deeply.
'What could it be?'
What connection did it have to make it stare like that? And that monstrous form at the end?
Takuya pondered but found no answers.
At least, nothing within his common sense.
"Ah, whatever."
Dumping the headache on future-him, he lay back to sleep.
Until a shadow fell over his vision.
"Don't play dumb. You're gonna need a proper explanation for this, kid."
Caught by the female detective's stern gaze, he reflexively...
[You lose all memories of these events and pass out simultaneously.]
"Wha... t..."
-Thump.
Honestly, he hated any more hassle.