Chapter 105. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted.
Chapter 105. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted.
While I was thinking about the one who got away, the girls spoke up beside me.
"Sihu, what if that guy shows up again?"
"Hmm..."
I called Kkamangi, who was circling overhead, and scratched his chin as I gave him an instruction.
"If that same guy shows up, don't ask me—just take him down immediately."
"Sihu, he failed once. You really think he'll come back?"
"He'll definitely come back."
"...?"
Psychos who get off on shooting arms and legs instead of killing instantly, who feel ecstasy watching that—they don't give up on prey they've chosen. They'll come back, even better prepared. And the moment they do, that's when they realize they're the prey.
"He's probably furious he couldn't kill us."
"No way..."
Honestly, not sensing that guy earlier wasn't a big deal. When you're walking, who pays attention to an ant passing by? But if that ant starts talking like a person using mana, that would be something.
If I see him this time, I could kill him before he even blinks. Still, I was a little curious why he does this shit. If I could confirm his teleportation again...
'Just let me catch you once...'
Time passed, and before I knew it, the sun was setting, painting the sky red. Then Kkamangi, flying high above where ordinary people couldn't even see, signaled me. In that instant, mana began gathering somewhere just like before.
I turned my head in that direction and locked eyes with the bastard on a rooftop, aiming his gun at me.
Startled, he pulled the trigger. A burst of mana shot from the barrel straight at me. At the same instant, Kkamangi dove straight down at him, and I heard a ripping sound and a metallic clang all at once.
—Crack!
—Ting!
"I told you, didn't I? Pieces of shit like that always come back."
This time too, I lightly deflected the bullet and looked that way. Just like before, space rippled and the guy vanished. But this time, I confirmed it for certain.
'Found you.'
I scooped up the girls and leaped onto the building's roof. There, a telescope and some emergency rations were scattered about, but no sign of the guy or his gun. However, I saw splattered flesh and bloodstains.
"What do we do? Didn't he get away?"
"No. I definitely saw his Origin."
I pinpointed the Origin, confirmed the coordinates of where he'd gone. Then I drew my sword and slashed the void, tearing space to go there.
'As long as you're not heading to another dimension, you can't escape.'
- Chaos Sword Technique: Dimension Severance
* * * * * * * *
He fired the gun and, in the same instant, felt searing heat in his thigh. He fled using Weapon Inspection.
"Gyaaaah!!! M-Mom...! My leg...!!"
Overwhelmed by pain, he wailed miserably, tears and snot streaming down his face. The only silver lining was that being an Awakened had probably saved him from dying of shock.
To stop the spurting blood, he tore a blanket, wound it tightly around his thigh, and pressed down with all his strength. Then he frantically sprinkled some powdered medicine he'd brought with him that helped stop bleeding.
"Hrk..."
He'd pulled the trigger and felt something flying at him in that instant, so he'd immediately used Weapon Inspection and couldn't confirm if the guy got hit. But how could anyone block an invisible bullet? And the jet-black eagle hadn't even been near the man.
Even if he'd blocked it somehow, there was no way he dodged it. The eagle must have signaled him so he noticed the direction, but the gun had already fired the instant he did.
"Heh heh... I won. I won...!"
I am the protagonist of this world. The protagonist can't die from a measly ordeal like this. Surely later, magical potions like 'Elixirs' will appear. I just have to hang on until then. I'm not the type to go out and fight; all I have to do is shoot from afar.
After staying motionless for hours and losing a lot of blood, drowsiness overtook him, and he fell asleep right there on the bed. He woke without realizing he'd dozed off; thirsty, he propped himself up to get a drink.
—Thud!
He'd tried to stand up like usual, but with one leg missing, he just collapsed. He tumbled off the bed, hobbled into the living room on his one leg, and gulped down a mouthful of water. Then, catching a faint glimpse of his pathetic reflection in the cupboard glass, tears burst from his eyes.
"Hic... Why is my life... I finally thought it was turning around..."
At first, he'd thought he succeeded—he'd sniped, taken a hit but escaped with his life. But losing a leg was too huge a blow. Suddenly, unbearable rage toward that already dead bastard began to boil up.
"Fuck... I'll find those women he drags around and work them like dogs."
"I don't know... I doubt it'll be as easy as you think."
A voice he'd never heard came from a space he'd thought contained no one but himself.
* * * * * * * *
To catch the guy who'd already fled, I tracked his Origin and tore space toward the coordinates. When I crossed over, I found him lying on a blood-soaked bed, passed out like a knocked-out fool.
"I-Is he... seriously sleeping like a baby right now...!?"
"Chaeyeon, let's wake him up right now! I'll just...!"
"No, leave him. He's about to see hell—let's give him a moment."
The room was such a mess, piled with trash, that you couldn't tell if a person or a bum lived there. Leaving that trash heap behind, we went out to the living room. On the wall hung a family photo that included him.
'So he hadn't squatted someone else's place—it was his own home...'
Passing through the living room into the master bedroom, I found enough food to last a single person a couple of years easy. There were no signs of fighting in the house, either.
'Did his parents pass away already?'
As we sat on the sofa chatting idly, we heard a thud from his room. Missing a leg, he managed to crawl out to the living room, grabbed the fridge to pull himself up, and started drinking water.
After drinking, he stood there quietly for a moment, then burst into blubbering about his life through his tears, and started badmouthing the girls. I was still seated on the sofa; I took my eyes off him and tossed out a remark.
"I don't know... I doubt it'll be as easy as you think."
Startled by the sudden voice, the guy spun around and said,
"Y-You're not dead...?"
I got up from the sofa, trudged over to him, and drew my sword.
—Shing...
Seeing me draw the sword, the terrified bastard squeezed his eyes shut and covered his face with both arms.
"Ee, eek...!"
"Why the hell were you going around killing people?"
"Because everyone looked down on me...! Behind my back they said I was dirty, that I stank...!"
Listening to this piece of trash whine for a while made me want to puke. I despise bastards like this—guys who make no effort to change, just blame society, their parents, others, and justify themselves.
'He killed people just because of that?'
"Heh heh... All those bastards who mocked me—I watched them scream and beg for their lives...! When this world came, I became the protagonist... Those guys all became my XP...!"
Now he was spouting delusions, too. Deciding he wasn't worth dealing with, I sheathed my sword. This guy was just trash who got drunk on power after awakening and went around committing violence.
'XP?'
"What's this about getting XP just from killing people?"
"You've never killed a person? If you kill people, you can grow through the System...!"
Without thinking, I glanced at Chaeyeon—she was an Awakened already—but she shook her head, having never directly killed a person. Then Jia approached the guy, showed him a photo, and asked about the person in it.
"Have you seen this person?"
Maybe because a pretty girl was talking to him, he didn't think to answer and just stared at her face with a dumb grin.
"Dunno, how am I supposed to remember the faces of everyone I killed for fun?"
He wore a smug look like he had some great leverage, and I didn't like it, so I raised my hand to smack him, but Chaeyeon was way faster than me.
"You little shit...!"
—Whack!
"Gwaaak!!"
Chaeyeon didn't even want to touch his cheek with her hand—she kicked him in the stomach, and his heavy body tumbled pathetically across the floor. I walked up to where he lay sprawled and crouched down.
"Looks like you're seriously misunderstanding because I was nice about it..."
I let a little killing intent seep into my voice, and his face went pale.
"I don't know... I really don't know...!"
"No, even if you don't know, you have to give an answer."
He was racking his brain, trying to remember something. Then something must have come to mind, because he started talking.
"W-Well... I have an idea!!"
"Spill."
He said the person might be at the prison. Since it's a closed space, defense was easier, and he'd heard survivors had formed a group there. I suddenly remembered and pointed in the direction the solid line of compatibility led.
"Is it that way?"
"Yes, that's right, but... how did..."
The direction of the solid line and the direction he mentioned both pointed to the prison. So it's pretty much confirmed that person is there.
"Wait, so why didn't you join them there?"
"W-Well, a prison, there'd be a lot of criminals..."
Hearing that from a bastard who killed people for fun without a second thought left me speechless. The girls looked at him with cold eyes too. Having gotten a rough answer, we got ready to leave.
'This guy...'
Just before leaving, I decided to give him the most fitting punishment imaginable.