Chapter 136: Wait for Me, I’m Coming
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 136: Wait for Me, I’m Coming
Wait for me, I’m coming.
I stand up from my seat, wearing a confused expression.
Since I’m handcuffed, they don’t bother staying on guard.
The women surrounding me snicker mockingly, while the woman sitting in front of me just stares at me blankly.
"W-why are you doing this to me?"
"We don’t know either. We’re just doing what we were hired to do."
"Don't make me laugh! Do you think you'll get away with this? You think Square Garden will just sit back and watch!?"
When I shout, the women beside me giggle.
"And where is that great Square Garden right now?"
"Oh~ I'm so scared. Hurry up and call them. 'Help me~ Save me~'"
These bastards are really enjoying the mockery.
I turn my body as if terrified, looking around, then move my trembling legs in an attempt to run forward.
"You don't listen, do you?"
Seeing me approach, the woman stands up and grabs my shoulder.
Thump—
"Urgh..."
Ah, my solar plexus. She hit me right in the solar plexus.
I’m supposed to be a civilian since I’m in handcuffs! What if I die from being hit that hard?!
As I collapse against her shoulder, coughing, I immediately undo the handcuffs.
Click—
At the cold metallic sound and the sensation of the handcuffs being snapped onto her own arm, the woman panics and tries to push me away, but it’s already too late.
With the strength of a regular person, she couldn't push me off. I immediately pull her into a hug, spin her around, and lock her in a chokehold.
"Gack—"
"Big sis!"
Seeing the woman collapse without even being able to resist, the others rush in.
I draw the sword from the unconscious woman's waist, and the woman in the lead spits out a curse.
"You son of a bitch!"
I don't know Chinese, man. Speak Korean.
I parry the sword she swings in a fit of rage and slam my fist into her jaw.
As she flies off into the distance, another woman lunges at me, and I hurl the sword at her.
"Hmph!"
She dodges it easily, but is it really okay to dodge? What about your defenseless comrade behind you?
"Aaargh!"
Startled by the scream of her comrade, who died instantly when my thrown sword pierced her solar plexus, the woman curses and looks back.
"You shouldn't look away during a fight."
Having already closed the distance, I punch the shoulder she’s trying to swing her sword with and place my palm against her abdomen.
Boom!
It was just a light touch, but the woman is sent flying backward from the massive impact.
"Fajin?"
No, it's just magic.
Fajin, my ass. I just mimicked the skill with mana. It’s honestly hilarious how these Chinese people make such a fuss about martial arts and 'Qi.'
Ignoring the woman who is kneeling on the floor, wheezing but still alive, I approach the last one remaining.
Mana leaks from her body as a skill activates.
Suddenly, arms sprout from under her armpits.
So that’s why she was carrying so many weapons.
Seeing the woman wielding four swords, I stop in my tracks and cast a spell.
She rushes at me when she sees my mana, but she’s already too late.
You have four hands? I have hundreds of tentacles.
As I manifest a magic circle on the floor, tentacles that feel like metal wires erupt and swarm her.
She resists by swinging her weapons, but after cutting down the first few dozen, she can't keep up with the ever-increasing number of tentacles and is gradually pinned down.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!"
"And how are you going to do that?"
Startled by my voice right next to her ear while she was fighting the tentacles, the woman turns her head, but my fist is faster.
Thwack—
The clean straight punch twists her jaw, and as she loses consciousness, she is sucked into the wriggling mass of tentacles.
Phew—that’s that.
As long as there are no B-ranks, inexperienced C-ranks are easy.
One dead, two unconscious...
The woman who had been rolling on the floor after being hit by my magic is staring at me with terrified eyes.
"I thought you'd have more spirit. Not going to attack?"
"W-what are you... You're a Supporter."
Hmm... I guess the concept of a Supporter still has a long way to go before it's globalized.
I thought the perception was changing a bit in Korea, but it seems they’re still looked down upon in China.
Is that why they were so careless? I’m grateful for it, though.
As I walk toward her, the woman panics and picks up a sword dropped on the floor.
"Don't come any closer! Fuck, this isn't what the request said! What kind of C-rank Supporter is this?"
"I am a C-rank. And I am a Supporter."
Though I used to work as a close-quarters Attacker.
The woman looks for an opening to escape, but she’s caught in an instant.
As I tie up the unconscious ones one by one, the woman speaks up spitefully.
"If you touch us, the Hongjeong Sect won't let this slide."
What the hell is the Hongjeong Sect that you're acting so tough?
Besides, do you think I’d be scared of you blabbering about your country's business here?
"Hongjeong Sect? Okay, I'll get rid of them soon too. Are they in China?"
"Do I look like I'm talking nonsense? You're really in for it now!"
"Aren't I already 'in for it'? I mean, I was kidnapped and all. Also, if you're going to torment others, you should live with the expectation that the same will happen to you."
I pat the head of the woman tied to the chair as she screams, then turn away.
Now then, how should I handle this to make sure the word gets out that I handled it well?
I search the warehouse, gather things that could be used as torture tools, and line them up on a table.
The woman scoffs when she sees them.
"Looks like you've watched a few movies, but torture isn't that easy. What have you ever done with those pretty hands? The most you've done is slice a steak."
"Isn't slicing a steak enough?"
Usually, when I start slicing them into bite-sized pieces, everyone talks.
"Ha, a young master who knows nothing is taking torture lightly. Instead of that, let's make a deal. I'll tell you everything you want to know. If you let us go, we'll leave without doing anything. Sound good?"
"Mmm... no."
When I refuse, the woman screams and pours out curses.
"Fuck! Let me go! I won't forgive you if I get out of this! I'll rip out your intestines and feed them to your mother! Fuck, let me go!"
I stuff a sock into the mouth of the woman, who clearly doesn't understand the basics of negotiation, to shut her up.
While I’m subduing the violently resisting woman, the others regain consciousness.
The woman they called 'Big sis' blinks quietly, checking her surroundings, then lets out a hollow laugh.
"I made a foolish mistake."
"Yeah. Still, it seems like I can talk to you. Do you want to do this the easy way? Or the hard way?"
When I speak while looking at the torture tools on the table, the woman glares at me coldly.
"No matter how much you torture me, my lips will never open."
"Everyone says that when they start. But in the end, everyone is the same."
When I speak with a smile, the woman stares at me for a moment before letting out a slow breath.
"You're not bluffing... Just what...? You've done torture before...?"
"I don't know. It's my first time too. I guess we'll find out once I try. Want to check?"
Since it's the first time with this body.
When I shrug and speak, the woman shakes her head.
"No, it's pointless. If you promise to let me live, I'll tell you everything."
"Mmph!! Mmph! Umph!"
The woman eating the sock is shouting something, but it's unintelligible.
The woman called 'Big sis' ignores her and only looks at me.
"Tell me what you want to know."
"No, why would I trust you? I'm going to cross-verify. Ever heard of the Prisoner's Dilemma? Well—it's not exactly the Prisoner's Dilemma, but the format is the same. I'll listen to each of you separately, and if your stories don't match... you know, right?"
"Dammit, I stepped on a landmine."
The woman hangs her head in resignation.
"Instead, if you answer well, I'll give you a reward."
I give her a smile and then create stone walls to make isolation cells.
The ceiling is a bit unstable, but it's not my problem if it collapses.
I put them in one by one and scan the surroundings.
It seems they intended to stay here for a week, as they have daily necessities stocked up, just like I overheard in their conversation.
I searched for anything that could prove their identity, but their work was clean, so nothing particular came up.
Eating a potato chip, I enter the isolation cells one by one to ask questions.
The woman with the arm-lengthening skill is Wang Hai, and the woman who seems to be the leader is Chiwei.
They probably have names called in the Korean style, but that’s not important.
After questioning the two underlings, I enter Chiwei's room.
"I want to go to the bathroom."
"Here."
Chiwei stares blankly at the cola can I hold out.
"What? Did you think I'd give you prisoner-of-war treatment? You can control that much, can't you? Why don't you stop trying to play games?"
"... ..."
Receiving the light from the desk lamp I brought from outside directly in her face, Chiwei frowns and turns her gaze away.
"Like I said, if you cooperate well, not only will you live, but there will be a reward."
"A reward? Are you going to give me money?"
"Something better than that."
Something the women here go crazy for.
I give her a grin from behind the lamp's light, but Chiwei just scowls, perhaps unable to see clearly.
"Shall we start simply with names?"
"I am Chiwei. In the order you entered: Wang Hai, Zhou Yang. And the one you killed is Zhu Xuan."
She answers exactly the same as the ones who talked before her.
"Who commissioned you to kidnap me?"
"... ..."
"Don't say 'rescue.' Zhou Yang? She's unconscious right now because she said that."
"What did you do to her?"
"Want me to tell you?"
"... ..."
When I speak with a laugh, Chiwei shuts her mouth.
"They praise you as a hero, but you're a filthy man."
"A hero is for ordinary citizens. Don't expect me to be kind to a villain like you."
Chiwei, who had been speaking in Chinese, looks at me in surprise at my response.
I’m not exactly fluent, but in my previous world, I fought against China under the radar so much that it was hard to carry out operations without knowing the language.
"I don't know who commissioned it because it went through an intermediary."
"The intermediary's name?"
"Na Eun-jae. I don't know if it's her real name."
"You don't know much."
I grumble and write down the name Na Eun-jae.
So if I catch this person, I can find out who’s higher up?
From the other two, I only got the answer that they didn't know because Chiwei handled all the contact.
"I have a way to contact her."
"How kind. I wanted to continue this game a bit longer, though."
"There is no need to do such things to pressure me. As I said before, I will tell you everything I know."
Hmm... did she receive military training? She’s not just a simple Awakened.
She recognizes that I'm intentionally being annoying to provoke her.
I shrug and write down all the information Chiwei gives me.
She doesn't know much either, as she was commissioned through the intermediary named Na Eun-jae.
She says the mission she received was simply to kidnap me while I was in police custody and hold me for a week.
"When did you receive the request?"
"Two weeks ago."
Two weeks ago was when those mysterious phone calls started coming.
So that's when they started plotting something.
"Do you know Anna Gyeom?"
"I don't."
It's annoyingly and thoroughly being handled separately.
I'll have to hope this Na Eun-jae person is coordinating everything.
"I've told you everything I can."
"Yeah, seems like it. I only found out that you know almost nothing."
"Now that I'm useless, are you going to kill me?"
"Why? I'm not a villain."
"Don't make me laugh. I can tell by looking at your eyes. They are drenched in blood from how many people you've killed."
No way, I haven't killed anyone with this body. It's a clean body.
Anyway, what I need to do is crush Na Eun-jae and find Anna Gyeom.
I stand up from my seat.
Chiwei looks up at me with a strong gaze now that I’m standing over her.
"I'd prefer it if you killed me as painlessly as possible."
"I told you, I'm not killing you. Since you cooperated well, I'll give you a reward."
"... ..."
Smiling at Chiwei, who is staring at me with eyes full of zero trust, I unzip my fly.