Chapter 118: The Pickpocket.
Chapter 118: The Pickpocket.
I wasn't sure if the boy never had any ill intentions to begin with, or if my threat had actually worked.
Fortunately, the situation I feared didn't come to pass.
Instead, there was a different problem.
"I can't believe you actually live in a place like this."
"If you don't like it, go back."
Perhaps he had calmed down over time, as The Kid was back to being prickly.
I didn't intend to scare him more than necessary, so I just let it slide. If I pressured him too much, he might get desperate and run to some organization without thinking of the consequences.
In extreme situations, it's hard for people to react rationally, so it's important to give them some breathing room. It was a simple piece of victim psychology I’d picked up through long experience.
Besides, there was a more pressing issue: the state of his "home."
I looked around, feeling a stench so foul it managed to pierce even my nose, which was well-accustomed to filth.
The wastewater was so viscous it barely flowed, undulating sluggishly. Dust from the ceiling trickled down constantly due to the vibrations overhead.
In the dim light, something massive scurried past with a scratching sound. At a glance, it looked like a rat, but rats don't usually have shimmering carapaces.
I should have expected this the moment we entered the alleyway. To think he’d actually open a manhole cover.
Still, after threatening him like that earlier, I didn't have the face to ask him to guide us to a different lodging.
"I hope your house isn't like this..."
"It's better than here."
Well, that was a relief. I couldn't even imagine how it could get any worse than this. I had the experience, but this was a rather unique case.
"I think I'm going to throw up."
"Si-hyun, hang in there. Here, take this medicine."
I heard my disciples' voices, but I kept my head fixed forward, feeling like I shouldn't look back.
"Si-hyun, blow. Blow your nose."
Pfft.
I heard the sound of something liquid being expelled, but I chose to ignore it.
"If it were just those girls back there without you, I would've cleaned them out," The Kid muttered.
"...It probably wouldn't have been that easy."
Even if Baek Si-hyun looked like that, she’d be sharp as a razor when it came to things like that. Probably. I had to believe that for the sake of my own mental health.
"Kyaak! Something's under my feet!"
"A roach! A roach!"
Thud. Thud.
I heard the sound of a hammer slamming down. Since I didn't hear anything being squashed, it seemed they missed.
"This is hilarious... Just follow me."
It seemed The Kid had moved past his fear and was now looking down on us.
I felt like crying.
"Stop the sideshow and follow him. If you get lost, you'll have to dance with those roaches or rats or whatever they are."
"Huh? Yes! We're coming!"
"A-bin, wait, I haven't caught that thing yet—"
"Is now the time for that?"
My disciples seemed exceptionally foolish today. Maybe the energy of this place was just bad.
The Kid seemed to have given up on the idea of running away, as he waited at the corner, tapping his foot. The bickering between my disciples ended when Han A-bin dragged Baek Si-hyun along by the hand.
"Let's go."
"Sure."
With that brief exchange, The Kid began to move. For some reason, he looked slow, but he was actually moving at a high speed.
He didn't lift his feet high, moving as if skimming the ground, and he kept his upper body perfectly vertical to minimize swaying. Because there was almost no bobbing, it looked like he was gliding across the floor.
If you didn't look closely, the lack of vertical movement would mess with your depth perception, making it look like he wasn't moving at all.
He was quite talented. It looked similar to a Martial Artist’s Footwork Technique. Did he figure it out himself? Or did he have a master?
Moving like that would consume very little energy and would be incredibly useful for pickpocketing.
Between his lineage and his skills, there was a reason this kid without any backing had managed to survive in this hellscape.
I followed him slowly, analyzing his every move.
Judging by the lack of signs that he used weapons, he didn't seem to be a Martial Artist. Perhaps he’d picked up some miscellaneous street skills.
He wasn't showing any suspicious signs, and his heart rate and breathing were stable—maybe because he’d seen how idiotic my disciples were...
For now, it seemed safe to relax. If this was all an act, it would have to be a trap set by a highly trained operative.
The chain of thought was broken by a sound.
Tap.
It was the sound of The Kid abandoning his footwork to take a short leap.
"There's a trap there, so be careful."
A trap?
At his words, I looked down. In the darkness, I saw something that seemed to absorb the light.
A thin wire painted with matte black paint. A trap hidden in the shadows.
If I had been focusing, I would have noticed it easily, but I’d been so distracted by The Kid that I’d only just realized it was there.
I knelt in front of the wire and stared at it. I didn't want to trigger it by touching it, so I hovered my finger about a centimeter above it and slowly traced its source.
It was connected to both walls. One side was firmly fixed, but the other was attached to something like a nail.
"What is this connected to?"
"A grenade."
Is he crazy? Connecting something this flimsy to a grenade?
"...Just kidding. It just opens a pipe in this sector for a moment."
A pipe.
At those words, I looked up and saw a pipe that was strangely twisted, pointing toward the walkway. Normally, a pipe should be aimed toward the gutter running down the center.
So that thing opens?
"You're more vicious than I thought. Didn't you think about an innocent person getting caught in it?"
"Anyone coming into the sewers is fair game. Even if they die, the wastewater hides the body, so cleanup is easy. Not that I've ever actually tested it."
I suppose so.
Now that I knew it was there, it didn't matter to me, but those two idiots might trip it even if I told them. Maybe I should scare them a bit.
"Did you hear that?"
"Is this the trap?"
"I can't see it!"
The two fools approached the wire, and I reached out to stop them.
"You're going to touch it. Pay close attention; this is dangerous."
"But even if it goes off, wouldn't we just get a bit dirty?"
A-bin asked, as if she didn't quite understand the gravity of my warning.
"If you touch that, your body will start to dissolve. You'll go blind, your senses will be contaminated, and you'll lose your mind. Something like that."
The moment those words left my mouth, the two disciples scrambled backward, distancing themselves from the wire.
"The stuff up there is just dirty water. The stuff down here is what's been accumulating for decades."
Blood, flesh, drugs, chemicals, oil. A black sludge created from all of that. It likely possessed significant toxicity.
"So don't get caught. And if you do, don't struggle. Just lie flat on the ground and scream."
That way, it would only end with a bit of pain. If they thrashed around because it hurt and fell into the Waste Water Pool...
"Got it?"
Nod-nod-nod-nod.
The two disciples nodded so vigorously I could practically hear the sound of it. Having scared them this much, they shouldn't be tripping any traps.
"Are the other traps around here the same structure?"
"Yeah."
Then I just had to remember this.
"Pay more attention to the ceiling than the floor. It'll be easier to spot the twisted pipes. Though the best thing is to just memorize the locations."
"Ah."
Hearing my words, The Kid let out a surprised sound, as if he hadn't considered that blind spot.
"It might not be a bad idea to actually get some grenades. If you bury them in The Wall, the wastewater will take care of the mess automatically."
As someone accustomed to such traps, I offered him a piece of advice.
"Well, shall we keep going?"
I hopped over the trap and nudged him along.
"Uh... yeah."
The Kid looked a bit flustered as he started moving again.
"Uwaaaaah."
"Si-hyun, look where you're going!"
The two disciples put on a slapstick show, struggling just to jump over a wire. I swear, what are they doing?
I watched them just in case, and they managed to clear the wire safely. Seeing their legs trembling slightly, I felt a twinge of regret for scaring them so much, but it was better than them falling into a trap.
And so, we continued to follow The Kid.
There were more traps, but the Wastewater Trap was the only lethal one. The rest were somewhat charming in comparison—tin cans hanging from the ceiling, bricks removed from the floor with slime-coated nails underneath, or floor mats coated with oil on both sides to make people slip.
"They are not charming!"
"Ah, did I say that out loud?"
"Look at how black and rusted those nails are..."
They were classic traps. He’d done well with limited resources. The slipping mats were almost cute.
Of course, it wouldn't be very cute if someone slipped and fell into the wastewater.
After learning the location of each trap, we turned a corner with The Kid.
"Now this feels a bit more like a place where people live."
A wall draped with old gray cloth came into view. The alleyway was blocked off by the wide fabric, serving as a makeshift door.
"Come in."
The Kid said as he pulled back the cloth and stepped inside. I followed immediately, seeing no reason to hesitate.
"Welcome back, Big Brother!"
"Who are they?"
Two boys. One girl. A family of four?
Seeing as they were all children, it seemed this pickpocket was the head of the household.
The two boys were ordinary humans. And the girl...
"I wondered if she was a hybrid. A feline, I see."
"My blood is on the thinner side, though," the girl replied.
"I knew the moment I saw you."
No matter how thin the blood, a hybrid with a Mutant is bound to have something unusual about them. Their fundamental structure is different.
The two boys looked unrelated, so were these two siblings?
"Is she your younger sister? Or older?"
"We're twins. I'm the older brother."
It's hard to guess the age of Mutants.
I turned my gaze back to the girl glaring at me from the corner.
Slightly furry hands and feet. Pupils that glowed in the dark. Sharp fangs, and animal ears that blended into her hair. They weren't actual ears sticking out like in some movie; they were just tufts of hair shaped like ears, but they looked the part.
She was within the range of being able to pass as human with a disguise, but... there was one problem.
"You should have taken a bit more of the human side."
"That's a cruel joke."
The girl's face was more beast-like than human. It would be difficult for her to go out in public.
Had they been abandoned by their parents, or had their parents been killed? Perhaps they were Mutants we had killed ourselves.
Even I didn't have the heart to ask about that, so I remained silent.
"Huh? A Mutant...?"
"A Mutant?! Where?!"
The two idiots who entered late started making a fuss, completely failing to read the room.
"Didn't I tell you before? There are Mutants who blend into society. So don't be hostile and stay quiet."
I threw out a warning before my foolish disciples could cause trouble.
"Where do we sleep?"
"I'll show you. Just a moment."
The Kid left us and went over to the three children, slowly opening his pockets.
Discolored bread, a few scraps of meat. Some kind of fried insects. Even for Nanjido, where food quality was poor, this was bottom-tier stuff.
The Kid told the children to eat first, then returned to us.
"Let's go."
"Tsk."
I clicked my tongue and tossed him two more Black Rods.
"Feed them something decent. What kind of food is that for kids?"
"I'd like to, but business hasn't been great. This way."
The boy took the rods without a word of thanks and led us to a corner of the alley.
It looked like it had originally been a much larger room, but it was partitioned in the middle by a cloth. On this side, there were four sleeping spots.
When he pulled back the cloth to the other side of the room, there were four identical sleeping spots.
They weren't even mattresses—just thick cloth spread over the stone floor with a single sheet for a blanket. The pillows were just bricks wrapped in cloth. It was a wretched sight.
The only difference from the other side was the layer of dust on the blankets, suggesting they hadn't been used in a long time.
"Do you need anything else?"
The Kid suddenly bowed his head and spoke in a polite tone. I suppose he was trying to act like a proper host since he’d been paid.
"This is enough. Go look after the kids."
At my words, The Pickpocket Kid gave a bitter smile and withdrew.
I threw myself onto the bed.
Even with several layers of cloth, it was still just cloth. The hardness of the stone floor seeped right through, and the pillow was just as cold.
"...! ...!"
"!...!"
Through my fading consciousness, I heard my disciples shouting something. They were probably complaining about the sleeping arrangements. It might be harsh for them, but...
This was a familiar sensation to me.
And then, I fell into a deep sleep.