Chapter 407: Interlude – It Was Summer (Part 2)
Chapter 407: Interlude – It Was Summer (Part 2)
It hadn't been long since I successfully infiltrated without triggering the security system using my three-second causality erasure, yet a violent impact shook the ceiling above me, raining down fine stone fragments.
The ceiling, looking as if it might collapse at any moment, fractured, and the red energy of erosion and decomposition began to seep through the cracks.
Looks like Edward has started.
With that thought, I ran slowly through the underground passage.
If I were following the plan we discussed beforehand, I should have charged in simultaneously with Edward’s attack.
But there was no need for that.
Edward’s preemptive strike was merely a means to create an opening for entry.
Since I had seen a gap to slip in before that, I was already inside the basement of the target building before the operation even officially began.
While this increased the risk to myself, the result was a successful entry, so everything was alright.
As I was mentally congratulating myself on my actions—
“It’s an ambush!”
“The Bureau bastards finally showed their true colors…!”
I heard the sound of people swarming from beyond the corner of the passage.
I pressed my body flat against The Wall just before the corner and checked The Enemy’s numbers.
I sensed four of them. They were running in a tight group.
Then, I began to time it.
Three seconds until they rounded the corner.
Two seconds.
One second.
The moment the opponent turned the corner—
Vroom.
I felt the vibration in my semicircular canals from the sudden shift in position.
At the same time, I could feel the people running past my back.
Well. Unfortunately, I succeeded.
Lamenting my misfortune for surviving yet another dangerous gamble, I turned around and checked their identities.
…Regrettably, none of the four were on the list.
Truly a shame. If even one of them had been on the list, I would have risked the danger to engage.
It seems my ruin is still far off today.
Since it was not yet my time to die, this success was only natural. Thus, without feeling any particular emotion about it, I turned my back on them and walked down the hallway.
I moved forward, believing that within this organization, there must be someone capable of bringing about my destruction.
Poetic Justice. It’s a phrase I like.
As in the old tales, the villain must perish, and the good must survive.
This is the truth of the world, so I, too, will one day meet my ruin.
Born into a world where everything was broken, I have killed, and killed, and killed, and killed. I am one who has committed evil.
For someone like me to perish is the natural order and the rightful flow of the world.
And yet, despite continuing my evil deeds, I have not met my end.
I have pondered this for a long time.
Why do I not perish?
The answer came to me one day, struck into my head as a realization of truth along with the power I was granted.
It is because there are countless beings in this world more evil than I; therefore, my turn for destruction has not yet come.
If villains are to perish, it is only right that the greater villains perish first.
Thus, in order for me to meet my ruin, I must erase the villains who are worse than I am.
Following this conclusion, as a villain killing other villains, a door suddenly entered my field of vision.
The intuition that had led me, a man on the verge of ruin, this far whispered to me: Jump 2.8 seconds beyond that.
Beyond that door where nothing could be seen.
I prepared to jump into that blind location.
Opening the door, entering, closing it, and standing tall in a proper posture.
I visualized that image and jumped. I did not know the situation inside, nor did I know what would happen to me after the jump.
According to the ability researchers, it is normally expected for someone with this kind of power to be able to infer the situation after the jump.
But I cannot see.
They speculated it might be a psychological issue, but they were wrong.
This ability of mine is the power to confirm my fate, granted by the truths of the world.
Subjective will should not interfere with such a power.
Therefore, without a moment's hesitation, I stepped inside the room.
Whir.
As I felt the tremor in my semicircular canals, I grasped the information before my eyes.
There was an enemy.
Alone in the room, face contorted in a deep scowl, she was biting her nails.
“Who…?”
As she shouted, I realized she was an individual on the list.
Immediately, I jumped 1.5 seconds.
My target was her neck.
Judging by her rough appearance, she was a mage.
I might be wrong.
But even if I were, it didn't matter.
The world is Poetic Justice.
If the opponent is a greater villain than I, I will survive.
If I am a greater villain than the opponent, I will be destroyed.
This is the fundamental law of the world.
Having jumped, I immediately clasped my hands and strangled The Enemy’s neck.
Her yellow skin, contrasting with my black hands, was gradually encroached upon by my darkness.
“Urgh, ack, gurgle…”
The strangled opponent struggled, flailing her limbs, but her weak villainous body could not withstand my grip and lost the elements necessary for survival.
Leaving behind a violet face, her body went limp.
After staring at the unconscious opponent in my hands for a moment—
Crack.
I immediately twisted my hands, snapping her neck.
One villain has perished.
I am a villain, but it seems I am more virtuous than this person.
And so, I survived.
Ah. Today, too, I, Montague, have survived.
It seems the world is still overflowing with evil.
* * *
“Hwaaaaah.”
I can't stop yawning.
Thanks to the Edward couple taking on the dangerous work, the entry was easy, but I still can't find any motivation.
As I was walking along listlessly—
“^%%$#&#@@@!”
Edward’s scream echoed from beyond the floor.
The roar that shook my brain briefly woke me from my muddy drowsiness.
At that, I quietly muttered to myself.
“…If it’s that hard, Edward should just kill Henrietta and be done with it.”
Killing people isn't that difficult.
You just put a gun to their head and curl your finger.
In Edward’s case, it would be even easier. He literally has claws on his fingers that can tear people apart.
I don't know why he takes the hard road when there's such an easy one.
With that thought, I moved into the shadow of an opponent running toward me from up ahead.
Having moved behind the opponent's back, I immediately aimed my gun at the bridge of their nose.
“Hwaaaaah.”
Phut.
The silencer provided by the Bureau appropriately dampened the gunshot.
The Enemy’s body collapsed, hit squarely between the eyes by a bullet fired at point-blank range.
He died while running in a panic, without even realizing what had happened to him.
After taking care of that one, I looked at his face.
“Ah. He wasn't a target. How bothersome.”
I absolutely hate bothersome things…
I don't know why Captain Lee Ha-ram suggested individual infiltration.
If I have to neutralize people not on the list, they should have assigned extra personnel to me so it wouldn't be so annoying.
Killing is easy; neutralizing is hard.
Killing is a simple task—just pull the trigger once and clean up the corpse a bit. In some cases, you don't even have to clean up the body.
But neutralizing means you have to stop the opponent's reactions and then move a heavy, struggling body.
Compared to killing, it’s several steps more bothersome.
Hmm… Let’s just kill them all.
That must be why Captain Lee Ha-ram didn't assign extra people to me.
It’s as good as giving me permission to kill. Yeah. That must be it.
With that thought, to at least earn my keep, I moved the corpse lying before me into a nearby shadow.
Working is bothersome, but to live comfortably, one must work. Even I can endure that much.
Of course, I have to work as efficiently as possible to avoid further annoyance.
Anyway, let’s release the shadow-fied opponent.
Squish. Squilch.
“….”
Was he a bit too big?
I tried stuffing the corpse into a nearby locker, but it seemed the body was too large for the locker to handle.
Crushed flesh and blood leaked profusely through the gaps and holes of the locker.
It looked like a grotesque murder scene to anyone who saw it.
“Ah…”
To clean it up, I’d have to open the locker and transport the corpse again.
I don't want to see it.
No matter how I think about it, doing that much work just doesn't balance the books. It’s bothersome, too.
Therefore, I just left it there and walked forward.
Moving between shadows, I pumped bullets into everything I saw.
My batting average was about 50%.
I’d killed about seven, and two were on the list.
Wait, was it? I think it might have been three.
It probably isn't that important.
I don't think it was seven, either…
The important thing is that this job is bothersome right now, and I want to go home and rest quickly.
With that thought, I pulled the trigger.
Phut.
The bullet lodged into the opponent in front of me, and I tried to keep moving after confirming their death, but—
“You…!”
The opponent didn't die, even as blood splattered from their head.
Instead, they burned with a fighting spirit directed at me.
Only then did I look at the opponent's face.
Ah. It’s a face from the list.
Let’s see, what did they say he was? A boss of some organization?
With that thought, I immediately thrust his head upward.
From the shadow beneath the man’s feet, a Shadow Spear rose high.
It pierced through The Enemy’s jaw and mouth.
“Ugh-wuh-uh-uh…?!”
With his mouth and jaw skewered by the spear, unable to open his mouth, he let out an annoying sound.
“…How bothersome. Just die already.”
You’re suffering longer because you’re pointlessly sturdy.
With that thought, I continued to skewer the struggling opponent with shadow spears.
Hands, feet, internal organs, limbs.
After piercing every movable part to stop his actions, I pressed the gun against his head again.
“The brain isn't invincible, right?”
Asking that, I shoved the muzzle into the gunshot wound on his head.
The opponent trembled in pain and let out an indescribable scream, but he brought it on himself.
If he had just died easily, he wouldn't have had to experience this kind of pain.
Making me use shadow spears, which are exhausting to use.
Why do I use a gun in the first place?
Isn't it because it’s not tiring and not bothersome?
Shadow spears make me tired and are a bothersome ability that requires concentration for manifestation and activation.
You’ll have to pay for making me go through that trouble with your pain.
The world is always like this.
I just want to live a normal, quiet life of eating and sleeping, but the world won't leave me alone.
There are beings who talk to me and make me speak, and they demand money every time I do something.
Well, let’s let the latter slide; I’m not a wild animal, and if I want to enjoy conveniences, I have to provide something in return. It’s a proper system where everything is handled just by the numbers written in a bank account, completing a convenience without bothersome interactions.
It was hell in the old days.
Even to eat one thing, you had to do complicated tasks, and there was no place to properly stretch your legs and sleep.
On top of that, they bothered me with things like being an Awakened.
That’s why I like the Bureau.
I hate complicated things, but this is a workplace without bothersome issues. They give me a normally easy task, and if I just go and do what I need to do, they don't nitpick and deduct from my numbers; instead, they increase the numbers and quickly fire them into the bank account with my name, Svetlana, on it.
Aren't they the ones primarily responsible for bringing back that society of numbers?
For someone bothersome like me, it’s a truly great society.
So today, too.
“Hwaaaaah.”
It’s bothersome, but… I have to earn my keep.
Just, as efficiently as possible.
With that thought, I pulled the trigger.
Now… then, next.
* * *
This workplace is full of lunatics.
I hadn't been inside for long when I found a mass of crushed corpses inside a locker.
I have no idea what kind of psycho would do such a thing.
Are they openly advertising, ‘I’m crazy’?
Well, I guess it was already ruined the moment Edward did his thing.
What kind of assassination is this, anyway?
Isn't it an assassination because you kill them quietly?
But this noisy mess is an assassination?
I’ve argued about that before.
But our reckless number one, Captain Gore, gave me an absurd answer.
‘It’s an assassination because no one knows until the day of execution.’
I mean, that’s obvious. Every bad thing in the world is fundamentally done without the other party knowing.
Then does an illicit trade mean a transaction where the buyer or seller is forced to complete the deal without knowing about it until the day of?
He’s talking absolute nonsense.
I think it every time I do this job, but I feel like a normal person like me is constantly suffering in a workplace like this.
A guy who would laugh while spinning a Russian roulette loaded with five bullets.
A guy who kills others like he’s drinking water for the sake of a peaceful daily life.
A guy who calls his crazed lover’s killing beautiful.
A guy who turns people into bloody messes and believes what he’s doing is justice.
A guy who slaughters people saying it’s only natural to work at a job.
And various other guys.
But the biggest lunatic in this workplace is our meat-chef Captain.
A foul, wretched gutter that seems to have mixed all those things together into one.
The most malicious part is that he looks perfectly normal on the outside.
Sigh.
How did I end up in a workplace like this?
With that sigh, while crawling through the vents for the assassination—
Ah. Found him.
It didn't take long to find the target.
A bald man with impressive, bulging muscles.
A man whose appearance, somehow stuffing those massive muscles into a suit, was quite striking.
He was in the middle of a conversation with people who looked like organization members.
Ah… I can't go in there.
No matter how I think about it, a one-on-one situation is one thing, but a one-versus-many situation is a bit awkward.
Thinking that, I waited inside the vent, hiding my presence to the extreme and waiting for the right timing for the assassination.
But there was no sign of a one-on-one situation arising, so I briefly thought about giving up and going back.
No, that would be a waste.
Hadn't I been thinking about it since I saw that man on the list?
That he was my target this time.
That he was the opponent I’d picked out for this operation.
I can't just leave such good ingredients behind, but…
After being lost in thought for a moment.
I soon made a decision.
Right, there’s no guarantee I’ll meet ingredients like this again.
A person only dies once, not twice.
Having made up my mind, I jumped down from the vent.
There were five enemies.
The muscular brute and his four subordinates.
As if they were used to such situations, the five of them didn't show any signs of panic even though I appeared suddenly, and immediately began to unleash their respective techniques.
I clicked my tongue and released my power.
“BONE.”
As I muttered the activation word for the magic I’d been preparing since I was in the vent—
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Three explosions were heard in succession.
And what appeared in their place were three sharp, white star-candies.
Three humans who had burst, unable to withstand the rapid growth of bones from within.
Hmm.
I thought killing just one would be enough, but to think three died.
Did none of them have countermeasures against magic?
This is a great harvest.
Looking at my works of art, I reached out toward the remaining one who was bewildered by the situation.
Crack.
The sound of his skull shattering echoed.
By a Bone Spear generated from my arm bone, shot through my palm.
Killing like this wasn't my intention, but it can't be helped.
I shouldn't be stingy with one person.
Because the main dish is right in front of me.
After pitying the one who died regrettably without becoming beautiful, I looked at the main dish.
Even though his subordinates were dead, he looked at me calmly and spoke.
“…Are you Ed Gein of London?”
Tsk. A nickname I hate came up.
I guess he’s someone who knows me.
“Don't call me by that nickname. That guy is a crazy murderer, and I’m not.”
That guy is just a serial killer.
I’m a sensible person who only kills those who are clearly villains.
Killing civilians or people living normal lives is something only truly crazy people do. How can someone born as a human live like that?
Well, it’s been a bit ambiguous since I joined this workplace. But for now, most of them are villains.
“…To think they’d take in someone like you, the Bureau really has lost its mind.”
Hey, even so, I can't stand people badmouthing my workplace.
This is about the only workplace that officially gives out licenses to kill.
For a normal, small-town person like me, there’s no better workplace than this.
“Is that so? I find it stranger that you guys negate the Bureau.”
So, unlike my usual self, the moment I tossed out that one line—
“…Even after seeing this situation, you can say that!”
He was originally a hot-blooded man, but anger poured out of him as if he had been forcibly suppressing it.
Immediately after.
Bang.
An explosion rang out in the room.
“Yes, good work.”
I bid farewell to the opponent.
Toward the opponent who had been hit by numerous bone spears, with more areas pierced by bone spears than intact skin.
He showed no movement, as if he had died from that.
After using magic to dissolve the bone spears made from the bones of his three subordinates, I looked at the mess of a corpse, which was now unrecognizable.
the skin was ruined and the flesh was crushed and useless.
But anyway, flesh, muscle, and blood aren't my specialty.
What’s important to me is the pure bone dwelling within.
That snow-white structure always excites me.
Now… then.
How much will this person’s foundation delight me?
The operation isn't over yet, but I consider my job done by taking care of one of the people on the list.
The other crazy bastards will take care of the rest.