I Will Never Forgive This Bastard Who Even Touched My First Love, Auntie Min-jung [Re-educating the Rapist][2]
"Guhhhh!!! What kind of ridiculous baseless accusation is that?! It's true I like A-young, but stalking?! Even if you're close to A-young, Geum Tae-yang, this is going too far!!"
Faced with Geum Tae-yang's exposure of the truth, Kim Man-bok wore an expression of pure, maddening injustice as he pleaded his case.
But Tae-yang's analysis had been spot-on.
Back then, pretty much everyone around them knew Kim Man-bok had a thing for Park A-young. He was an outcast, but such a complete freak that he couldn't hide it—he broadcasted it for all to see. The biggest reason for that pathetic display was his severe delusional streak. And those delusions only grew. Once he started stalking Park A-young and seeing her often, it spiraled into a near-hypnotic fantasy that he was already dating her.
Hmm... Strictly speaking, it's not entirely wrong...
At Man-bok's desperate defense, Geum Tae-yang just tilted his head with a blank look. He figured his old self might have bought it.
"Going too far, you fucker? A piece of shit who raped and killed women the second the zombie outbreak hit—yeah, I think that kind of deduction is more than fair, Kim Man-bok, you bastard."
That, however, was only true for the pre-awakening Geum Tae-yang. The current Tae-yang, armed with his awakened abilities, already had absolute grounds for self-confidence. Without hesitation, he laid bare the decisive evidence that had driven him to act with such certainty.
"What????"
At the mention of the rape-murders, Kim Man-bok's eyes—already full of grievance as he shouted his appeals—went wide as if his brain had short-circuited.
Even while fleeing from Tae-yang, Man-bok himself had sensed that the other side had caught on to his long history of stalking Park A-young. His self-hypnosis ran so deep he'd already slipped up twice, but his natural street smarts were still sharp. The moment stalking came up, he immediately set his face into a prepared look of pure injustice and launched into his wounded rebuttal. But the rape-murders? He had zero mental preparation for that. So the raw, unfiltered reaction to the rape-murder cases was plastered all over his face.
"Okay, that expression is perfect! Absolute art, our Man-bok's face."
It was the genuine panic of a man who'd been caught red-handed, plain as day. And so Geum Tae-yang rattled off words that basically thanked Man-bok for helping him trust the information his status window had given him.
"Bullshit!!! You're framing an innocent man!!! Fuck, just be honest already!! That whole 'nice guy' act was a mask!!! Just say it, Geum Tae-yang—you wanted to bully weak people just like me!!!"
"You never showed it on the outside, but you looked down on me as a creepy freak too, didn't you!!!"
"You talked shit behind my back about how I was out of my league obsessing over Park A-young, didn't you!!!!"
Just moments earlier Kim Man-bok had worn a pitifully wronged expression, but once cornered he glared with venomous eyes and poured abuse on Tae-yang. Like a cornered rat baring its teeth, he tossed aside every last scrap of his previous timid act and tore into him. It almost looked like his mental state had completely snapped.
Geum Tae-yang was the only one who never looked down on me... This guy actually has sympathy. I found out his mom died when he was really little.
This bastard has some kind of good-kid complex. I can use that. That way I can at least create a tiny opening!!!!!
But even the "broken mental state" act was largely calculated—designed to fully exploit the gentle personality Man-bok thought he understood in Tae-yang. Back in school, Geum Tae-yang had hated causing trouble that would burden his father, so his self-censorship had been intense. He never stepped forward unless he was certain, and even with his strength he deliberately kept his distance from the delinquent lifestyle. Man-bok was building up to use that self-censoring nature against him.
"Look down on you, you fucker? It was the opposite, and now I regret it, Kim Man-bok, you piece of shit. In the end my rival A-young's instincts were right. I was the one who misread you. You were just a complete fucking psycho all along, Kim Man-bok."
—CRACK!!!
"—Guhhhhhh!!!"
But Kim Man-bok had no idea that Geum Tae-yang had recently undergone a massive update. After losing his father in the zombie outbreak and receiving the love of Kim Min-jung—the landlord auntie he adored—Tae-yang was no longer the same person. In the best possible way, he had become a man who no longer held back. The seal had been completely broken. Tae-yang drove his fist straight into the mouth of the bastard spewing nonsense.
"Guhk...! Guuhk...! Guhhhh...!"
From the blow to his jaw, Kim Man-bok's teeth shattered and the inside of his mouth was completely wrecked. He groaned, thick blood pouring out.
"Fuck... No matter how hard you push that, it's just self-justification, Geum Tae-yang!!! Cough!! Making baseless accusations and tormenting an innocent person doesn't erase your own crime!!!!"
Still, Man-bok clung to the image of the old Tae-yang to the bitter end. In the end, that was the only escape route he had left.
"Pfft! 'Evidence'? Save that shit for the cops or a judge in a normal world."
"This big brother here already has the full picture, you worthless piece of shit."
Hearing a rapist-murderer start talking about "evidence" made Tae-yang let out a laugh of pure disbelief.
"No. Maybe I can actually give you the evidence you asked for."
A smirk curled his lips. Something had caught his eye.
"Guys like our Man-bok usually keep something real special saved on their phones."
He reached out.
"Ah!! N-No!!!"
Pinned face-down, Kim Man-bok had his phone in the back pocket of his pants. Tae-yang pulled it out, and Man-bok—who'd completely forgotten about it—panicked hard.
"Tch... It's locked... Hey, Kim Man-bok, what's the password?"
The phone was locked. Tae-yang immediately demanded the code.
"Y-You're insane!!! Why the hell would I tell you that!!!"
Man-bok snarled like a cornered animal making its last stand.
—CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!!
The sound of bone snapping rang out again.
"—AAAAAARGH!!!!"
Man-bok let out a raw, piercing scream.
"From now on, every time I ask, one of your fingers goes flying. I'll ask again—what's the password?"
Tae-yang had crushed Kim Man-bok's left pinky with his projected steel pipe. Then he asked for the password again.
"AAAAARGH!!! You crazy bastard!!! You fucking psycho!!! Help meee!!! Fuck, somebody help meeeee!!!!"
Having completely abandoned any hope based on the old Tae-yang, Man-bok started screaming at the top of his lungs.
—CRAAAAACK!!!
"Third time. What's the password."
"—GYAAAAAAH!!!"
Ignoring the screams, Tae-yang immediately snapped Man-bok's right ring finger and asked again.
"123695!!!! 123695!!!!!! AAAAARGH!!! So stop!! Stop breaking them already!!!"
Completely overwhelmed by Tae-yang's total lack of hesitation, Kim Man-bok finally spat out the password.
Ha! Combat Mental Master is useful in so many ways. Honestly, with my original personality I never could have gone this far.
A satisfied grin spread across Tae-yang's face. Even he was impressed with himself. He probably could have done the actions themselves without the awakened ability. But doing it without so much as a change in expression—even the torture—was thanks to the correction from his Combat Mental Master trait.
"Oh! The evidence just popped right out! Alright, Man-bok. First off, looks like you're definitely a murderer. This bastard didn't just kill the women I saw. There are more photos here."
"Guhhhhhhhh...!"
Just as expected, Kim Man-bok had recorded the rapes on video. Tae-yang held the footage up right in front of his face for confirmation. Man-bok could only groan in defeat.
"Tons of A-young photos too. Looking at them roughly, these seem like ones from last year when she was still living at home."
The stalking evidence for Park A-young was just as easy to find.
Nooooo... No... No...
Every time Tae-yang listed another piece of the collection on Man-bok's phone, the man clutched his head with his still-intact right hand and trembled with dread. Somehow it felt like what had been revealed so far wasn't everything.
"What's this...?"
And then Geum Tae-yang found the collection Man-bok had been most terrified of him discovering.
"At the very bottom of the secret photos of A-young, there's a separate folder named Kim Min-jung... Is this referring to Auntie Min-jung?"
Kim Man-bok had been secretly photographing Kim Min-jung as well.
"Aaaaah!! Tae-yang!! Tae-yang, about that!!!"
Still clutching his head and shaking, Man-bok shot Tae-yang a sidelong glance with an expression that screamed this is it, calling his name. With his head pinned under Tae-yang's knee, a sidelong look was all he could manage—but the desperation in those eyes was absolute.
"Yeah... It's Auntie Min-jung... You fucking bastard..."
Tae-yang opened the Kim Min-jung folder on Man-bok's phone. Inside were numerous shots: Kim Min-jung hanging laundry in the yard, Kim Min-jung heading out to the market, Kim Min-jung coming out to greet him and Park A-young, and more.
"Tae-yang, no!!! I really stalked A-young because I liked her!! That's why I took the photos!! But Auntie Min-jung—I swear it wasn't like that with her!!!"
Man-bok's plea was more desperate than any before. He knew Geum Tae-yang had feelings for Kim Min-jung. In the photos he himself had taken, Tae-yang looked at Min-jung with eyes and expressions overflowing with genuine affection. Realizing that his chances of surviving this situation were now approaching zero, Man-bok begged with everything he had.
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean? You stalked Auntie Min-jung too, but you didn't want to?"
"Then who did want it?"
"Does this have something to do with Chang-je, the one you mentioned a little while ago?"
Through his heightened sensory traits, Tae-yang could tell—Man-bok's tone and eyes right now weren't lying. So he immediately brought up the already-mentioned Joo Chang-je.
"Like I said, the fact that you and Chang-je are close is weird as hell by itself. That guy was a delinquent, and you were what people call a total loser nerd. Even when the other kids avoided you for being a freak, those bastards were the only ones who still went out of their way to mess with you."
The moment Joo Chang-je's name first came up, Tae-yang had started putting the pieces together. The idea that the two of them were friends had been a red flag from the start.
"Huh? No answer? You were wailing like you were about to spill everything a second ago. Did our Man-bok have a sudden change of heart? Maybe this time I should pull out one of your internal organs instead of a finger?"
The second Tae-yang brought up Joo Chang-je, Man-bok's attitude turned evasive. Seeing that, Tae-yang pressed him with even more murderous eyes and threats.
"Uwaah... Nooo..."
Tremble...! Tremble...! Tremble...! Tremble...!
Kim Man-bok even used his left hand—the one missing two fingers—to clutch his head as he shook violently. The terror gripping him was enormous. But it didn't seem to be solely because of Tae-yang's threats.
"Wow... Even with me showing off my own crazy side and casually mutilating your body, you're still like this? From where I'm standing, the fear you're feeling right now is bigger toward the guy who ordered you to stalk Auntie Min-jung than it is toward me. How about it—is my analysis accurate?"
Tae-yang clicked his tongue as he recognized the dynamic. Then he checked Man-bok's text and call history. But anything that might have pointed to the mastermind behind the Kim Min-jung stalking had been completely deleted.
"Okay... Then let's do it this way, Man-bok."
A smirk rose on Tae-yang's lips. No matter how he looked at it, Man-bok wasn't going to smoothly name the person behind it. So Tae-yang devised a method of his own to pry that mouth open.