Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: New Flesh Toilet (3)
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[Hello?]
"..."
[Shin Nari? I've arrived at the place you mentioned. Hurry up and explain what this is about.]
I don't know where she came from, but judging by the fact that she got here before Nari's conditioning was over, she must have rushed like hell. Good job.
[Shin Nari, why aren't you answering? Are you messing with me? I cleared my entire training schedule to come here. What the hell do you want—]
"Looks like you're at the entrance. Drive straight in. About halfway through the village, you'll see a big house with a black roof. Wait there on the main road."
A brief silence fell as she panicked at the unexpected low male voice.
[...Who the hell are you? What's your game? You think you can blackmail me with this bullshit and just walk away?]
No. I have zero intention of letting it slide.
"Heh heh."
[What do you want? Money? And what have you done to Shin Nari?]
Pretending to be the good guy now. She acts like she's worried about Nari, but she asked all her questions about her own safety first and only tacked on the one about Nari after I didn't answer.
If this bitch actually cared that much about her friend, she wouldn't have spouted crap like "What do you want?" or "Do you want money?"—she would've screamed "What did you do to Shin Nari?" the second she heard a strange man's voice.
"You're still the same as ever."
[...? What the hell do you think you know?]
Aurora, the kendo club captain. Role model for every girl in school. Spotless reputation, not a speck of dirt on it. The emotionless, impeccably thorough beauty of a swordswoman.
But inside? Pitch black.
A woman obsessed with her reputation to the point of neurosis.
A man-hater who treated guys like vermin just to hide her own perverted desires.
A wicked witch who crushed anyone who didn't meet her lofty standards.
That's the true face of the "genius beautiful swordswoman" Aurora. And no one knows it better than me.
[Hello? Don't you dare talk like you know me, you piece of shit. Answer properly. Did that fake blackmail material vanish now that I'm here? I can call the company right now. You'll be done for—]
"Shut up and drive your ass over here."
[Wait—]
Click.
I hung up without waiting for a reply.
Aurora will come for sure.
Call the company? You? Pffft...
What a load of dogshit.
.
.
.
Vroooom—
I was already waiting at the spot when a heavy engine roar approached.
Jeep? Range Rover? Whatever, some beefy off-road four-wheel-drive beast.
Too big for a woman to drive... but I knew exactly what kind of psychology drove Aurora to tool around in something like that.
"I can drive a manly car like this too."
"I'm not the fragile girl you think I am."
Something like that. A fragile ego hiding behind bloated pride.
Thud!
"Come out! Show yourself like a man!"
Who's not acting like a man? You.
She would've seen it on the drive in—no people, not even a single private car.
Most houses in the village had shattered windows, and the unkempt greenery was overrun with mysterious weeds taller than a person.
Contaminated Area perks, I guess.
Anyway, Aurora figured it out. That's why she's yelling even though she got dragged here by blackmail she can't let leak out.
Always was quick on the uptake.
Back then, she sniffed out that I'd witnessed her dirty deeds and moved to neutralize me.
"There you are. What now?"
"!... Y-You?"
Same reaction as Nari. Guess those rumors spread big time in school—that I got expelled in senior year, washed up in a Contaminated Area, and died screaming.
Made sense if I thought about it.
The school wouldn't dispel the rumors; they'd probably encourage them. To outsiders who didn't know the truth, I was the guy expelled for assaulting a female classmate—not to mention sexual crimes.
In a "normal" situation, it would've landed me in prison, not just expulsion. But weirdly, it stopped at expulsion.
Anyway, the board figured it'd be less messy to inflate rumors that I was dead than let the school get chaotic over a guy like me.
"S-Sh-Shin Yu-hyeon?"
Unlike that poor bastard whose face got ground off like a whetstone, at least she remembers my name. Should I be honored?
"Not some life-failure like Song Woo-seop, but a superstar like you remembering my name? Must have a good memory."
"H-How the hell are you still alive, you bastard?"
I brushed off Aurora's stammering panic.
"Or... maybe there's a reason you can't forget me? No nightmares?"
"D-Don't talk shit... You piece of trash... You're the human garbage expelled for sexual assault—"
"Shut the fuck up!!"
Shut up─── Shut up───
Even I was shocked by the roar that exploded from my mouth. Aurora flinched at the curse echoing across the empty lot.
A kendo practitioner wouldn't blink at a normal shout, but I'm packing semi-Grade 2 Awakener stats, plus a clear psychological edge.
"Urgh...! Hah! F-Fine. So what? What're you gonna do? Evidence? That crap's long gone. Where the hell are you gonna spread it?!"
She tried regaining momentum, aiming her slung wooden sword at me as she ranted.
"Wooden sword? Pffft... You fucking idiot."
Does she even grasp her situation? She should be packing a gun or real blade, and she's pulling out a kid's toy? Against me?
"Shut up and answer! The evidence! What bullshit are you talking about!!"
I flashed a sinister grin and pulled some crumpled papers from my pocket.
"Evidence? Right here. Forensic records of the group chat where you sicced kendo club members on me to frame me as a sex offender."
"B-Bullshit!! I deleted every trace of that chat!"
"Yeah? Too bad, the former club members... y'know..."
What were those regular girls' names? Whatever.
"Hee-sun or Hye-jin or whatever, they all sang. Felt guilty or some shit? Got their confessions too."
"...Hee-seo? Hye-jin? No fucking way... Those mouths cost a billion each to shut...?"
Her grip trembled on the sword hilt, rage boiling over.
Jesus, how does a brainless chick like her play mind games in kendo?
Tsk tsk.
"Heh heh heh. Kidding, there's no such thing. You hid it thorough as hell, like you said. No one would believe me no matter how much I screamed injustice."
She turned beet red with fury the instant I flipped the script.
What kind of "cool sword girl" image does she have if she swings her emotions like this?
"Y-You fucking bastard! You playing games with me?!"
The moment she lunged, wooden sword raised overhead—
Click!
Ding dong— Saved.
A dry announcement leaked from the voice recorder in my off hand.
"....?"
"Oops. Looks like we've got evidence now."
"G-Give it here!!"
The second she decided she had to snatch it, she dropped the polite act and charged screaming.
Her gold medalist rep wasn't total bluff—her strike at my wrist was sharp enough, but...
Swish— Swish—
Precise, thanks to proper training. But the speed? Yawn-worthy.
"What're you doing?"
I'm a semi-Grade 2 Awakener. I could outrun sea kaiju on land. No way her swings land.
Especially non-lethal toys against someone who's rolled in real life-or-death battles swinging live steel?
"Hah, huff huff."
Five minutes in, I'd mapped her sword forms. Full-throttle panic swings had her gasping to her jawline, white shirt soaked, black bra peeking through.
"Boring. That all you got?"
"Huff huff... Wh-What the hell... How can trash like you... How?!"
"That's all you have to say?"
"Hah huff... Urgh... N-No... Wait, hah! Haha!"
Sudden creepy laugh? Losing it?
"I panicked for a sec. But that recording? Think it'll hold up in court? I can call my lawyers—"
"Yeah yeah, I know. You think a thick-skulled bitch like you gets it, but I don't? Sure, for someone like you, the company'd roll out top ex-judge lawyers. Legit system might accept leading-question audio as evidence... but the world's fucked. No way, right? I know."
"What? Then..."
"When did I say I'd take it to court, dumbass? I'm blasting this to video sites and press. 'Ugly Truth Behind the Golden Smile.' Catchy headline, huh?"
"Urgh... grrr..."
Grind grind.
She's gnashing so hard her teeth might crack.
"Plus... you were weirdly meticulous plotting that sleazy scheme. The frame job—you didn't call the cops on purpose, right? Couldn't risk fake evidence like that hitting the courts, or it'd blow up if exposed. So you trashed me locally, got me expelled, and called it good. I know all that. Why the hell would I go to the cops?"
"!?"
Her eyes widened—she never dreamed I'd pieced it together that far.
"Still, wonder how a jock bitch like you pulled it off so clean. With your temper, you'd have called cops, sued, thrown a fit, tried to jail me. Right?"
"H-How did you..."
How? Obvious for a bitch like you.
"Whatever, not important."
I'm not here for Q&A.
"Hey, one question."
A chill wind blew across the lull in battle.
I finally spat out the question that'd bugged me for years.
"Why'd you do that shit to me?"