48. The Company’s Hunting Dogs (3)

Four people remained in the basement.

Me, Chain, Danbo, and the female assassin who’d lost all sensation below her neck.

Jin was dead. I’d blown open his chest.

“Alright, let’s have an honest talk now.”

If this had been my usual self, I would’ve killed all three of them immediately.

That’s my basic stance toward people in this world.

But right now, it seemed like some conversation was needed.

I needed information.

First of all, these were members of the worst villain group that appears in the story, they’d dragged me to some unknown location, and they were showing excessive obsession with the Fragment of the Other Realm.

Meaning there was a lot of information to extract from these bastards.

“So first question-where are we?”

“Ggrrk…”

I removed the mask Chain had been wearing.

The face of an East Asian man with haphazardly grown facial hair was revealed. Quite handsome, actually. Still a trashy third-rate villain, though.

“Hey, answer me.”

“Fuck…”

Chain kept avoiding my questions while side-eyeing me, clearly searching for a way to turn this situation around.

I handed Chain’s severed right hand to Danbo.

“Uu, u-us…?”

“Swallow it.”

“Uuuu…”

When I pressed the gun I’d taken from Chain’s severed hand against Danbo’s face, he reluctantly swallowed Chain’s right hand despite his discomfort.

Truthfully, there wasn’t any real meaning to this act. I just suddenly felt like making him eat it.

“Wow. You eat well, Danbo.”

“U, us!”

BANG!!!!

Maybe I just wanted to completely erase Chain’s right hand from this world.

If you put something in your inventory before killing someone, they can never retrieve it.

Doing something cruel like this made me feel a bit better.

After all, these bastards were the ones who captured me while I was peacefully hunting, tortured me for information, then tried to use me as their plaything to rape until I died.

If I want to play around with society’s trash like this, who’s going to stop me?

I can play with them, right? It’s fine.

These bastards messed with me first. They even threw the first punch but were too incompetent to actually kill me.

Then they deserve what’s coming. Once a captive counterattacks and turns the tables, they’re nothing more than toys from that point onward.

If anything, wasn’t I showing mercy by giving Danbo-the one with the least crimes-a clean death with a single bullet?

Right, letting him die painlessly with one shot was a blessing. I granted Danbo a merciful death.

“Ugh, uwaaah!! Danbo!!!”

Apparently Chain didn’t see it that way. Seeing Danbo collapse, he screamed and burst into tears.

No matter how much he wailed, the idiot Danbo with a hole in his head wasn’t coming back. He’d bled out and died. Too late now.

‘Crying his heart out? Were they close?’

No, I killed him because there was no need to keep such a useless bastard alive. Chain’s reaction seems more intense than I expected.

“What? Were you two that close?”

“Danbo… Danbo was from the same orphanage as me…”

“Stop right there. I don’t give a single fuck about your heartwarming backstory, so shut up.”

I pressed the gun against Chain’s head.

“Alright, then I’ll ask again. Where are we? Who are you people? And why did you capture me?”

“Y-you fucking bitch!!!”

Still rebellious, this Chain.

Three strikes and you’re out. No more chances. Now it’s time for some torture training.

Of course, he might break mentally like Number 2 did. Or maybe he’ll stubbornly hold out like Jin Seon-mi.

Seems like this bastard will just break, though. Then it’ll be hard to get answers.

Well, whatever.

I was planning to torture him anyway.

Even if this bastard can’t give me information, there’s still the paralyzed assassin woman clinging to life.

I withdrew the gun and grabbed Chain’s head.

Since threatening him with death doesn’t seem to work, I’ll just torment him until I feel better, then kill him when he breaks.

If he doesn’t want to die cleanly, that’s not my problem.

“W-wait!! I’ll tell you!! I’ll tell you everythingeee!!!”

“Too late.”

“Gyaaaaaaah!!!!!”

Activating Other World Infiltration while holding his head, Chain drooled and screamed, desperately begging for his life.

“See, why didn’t you just answer properly from the start? Huh? I gave you three chances. Why’d you have to shit all over my mercy? Are you insane? Did seeing Danbo die not move you at all?”

“Ghhhhaaah. Ghhhrk… I-I’ll answer!! Y-Yeongdeungpo! W-we’re in Yeongdeungpo!!”

Chain told me where I’d been imprisoned.

Luckily, it seems we hadn’t left Seoul.

“You only open your mouth after getting beaten, huh?”

“Haa. Haaa. Hhhhaa…”

I released Chain’s head. He immediately faceplanted on the floor, continuing to cry.

Looks like he’s ready to answer my questions now.

“Huuu. Second question then. This seems like a soundproofed, sealed space. Are there more people outside? Is it just you guys, or are there more lackeys outside?”

“Th-three… three more people.”

“Awakened?”

“N-no. Just normies. Th-they have guns.”

“I see.”

I’d already confirmed this through my shadow snakes.

Just as he said, three people were waiting outside. Doesn’t seem like he has the mental capacity to lie right now.

“Third question. Why did you capture me?”

“W-well… There weren’t any open Gates, but people were moving around… And yesterday, a Gate opened and closed abnormally, so we thought there might be a connection…”

“What’s this about the scent of the Other Realm coming from my hands?”

“Th-that was just a bluff…”

“Huh. How did you find the Gate?”

He tried to pull something from his pocket.

I kicked him in the chest, knocking him down, then searched his clothes.

In case he was trying to pull out another gun.

“What’s this?”

Luckily, no gun came out. But something strange did.

“Th-that’s called a Resentment Bug… It’s a native species of the Other World. They gather around Gates, like insects… If you have one, it can track the direction where a Gate opened…”

“Got it. I roughly understand. So you used this to track the Gate’s traces?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

“You’re subordinates of The Gatekeeper?”

“N-not direct subordinates yet… Ah.”

He quickly covered his mouth.

So not direct subordinates, but still underlings. Got it.

“Too late. I already had an idea when I asked.”

“Agh…”

“You didn’t even bother hiding the symbol on your mask.”

“W-well… We wanted to show our loyalty that way.”

“Next question. What’s the Fragment of the Other Realm? Why are you looking for it?”

Of course I know what the Fragment is.

But I don’t know where to get more. I found one by chance, and the other was supposed to be a reward.

“I-it’s… something monsters sometimes drop… You can use it to open doors…”

“Oh?”

“Yes. If you embed the Fragment in your hand, you can absorb Gates.”

“So there are others like me who use Fragments?”

“A-a few… But most people die if their bodies can’t adapt to the Fragment.”

Seems I was lucky to survive.

Maybe it’s a perk of being a possessor.

“I see. Then why are you looking for people with Fragments?”

“I heard The Gatekeeper can extract the Fragments from those people.”

From what I gathered, this Gatekeeper guy has firmly established his own kingdom in the Other World, and he’s been eliminating external threats to protect it.

Like people with Gate-related abilities, or visitors like me who travel between worlds using Fragments. These guys seemed to have found me while looking for merits to become The Gatekeeper’s direct subordinates.

“Then you could’ve just taken me to where The Gatekeeper is. Why drag me here?”

“In case you weren’t the real deal…”

Apparently, they’d already failed twice before.

After the world went to hell, gates to the Underworld connecting to the Other World appeared everywhere, and the number of people crossing over skyrocketed.

So there were many false leads.

They thought someone might have a Fragment, but often it was just people who’d come through randomly generated Gates.

So rather than bothering the busy Gatekeeper, they agreed to verify targets first and only bring in the sure things.

Honestly, if I were The Gatekeeper dealing with constant illegal immigrants and having to conduct something like border control, I’d be pissed too.

I asked a few more questions.

Like the location of The Gatekeeper’s base, or the secret hideouts he’d established in the Other World.

And information about the black market in the Other World, and the permanent gates to the Other World that The Gatekeeper had fixed so they wouldn’t close.

“Well, I get the gist now. So there wasn’t any special reason for ambushing and capturing me? You just tortured me half for fun?”

“…”

“Huu.”

I sighed deeply and picked up a kitchen knife as a notification window appeared before me.

[Quest Complete]

The rewards were distributed.

2400 Points, a Fragment of the Other Realm, and a faint set of clothing materialized before me.

Seems 24 hours had already passed since I entered the Other World.

“Here’s the Fragment of the Other Realm you were looking for.”

“Ah…!”

I immediately embedded the Fragment in my left hand.

Using Other World Infiltration with just my right hand was inconvenient.

Of course you’d want to punch ugly monsters with both hands.

“Ggrrk…”

It still hurt. But having experienced it once before, it was bearable.

Now I have Fragments in both hands, and my monster absorption limit has increased from 3 to 6.

Nice.

“And I can do this too!”

“W-wait..!! I told you everythiiiiing!!!!”

I grabbed Chain’s head with both hands and activated Other World Infiltration.

He screamed everything he could scream until finally-

BOOM!!!

His head exploded.

His skull couldn’t withstand the Other World Infiltration and burst apart.

“Done.”

BANG! BANG!!!

After putting two bullets in the paralyzed assassin woman’s head (since I’d gotten all the information and didn’t need to keep her alive), I opened the general store.

First, I’ll buy some Shadow Race gear to wear, accept new quests, get out of here, slaughter the three remaining lackeys outside, carefully offer all the corpses, then go home.

I need to rest when I get home.

Oh right, I should check that faint clothing from the quest reward too.

Let’s finish this quickly and go home.