episode_0044

His fingers and hand, which I had crushed, would be very uncomfortable from now on.

His bad-smelling mouth would also be unable to chew meat.

I threw the unconscious man in front of the young man who had been provoking me from behind.

Even with a gangster, who appeared to be his associate, lying at his feet, his expression remained unchanged.

Outwardly, he had a weak presence and an ordinary appearance.

However, unlike his appearance, he seemed accustomed to such situations.

‘…Look at that bastard.’

I didn’t like it.

I was completely pissed off, but he showed no reaction.

My companions had bled, and his companions were injured, yet he was indifferent.

It was as if the atmosphere conveyed that it had nothing to do with him.

His subtly annoying tone and his detached, observational stance were truly infuriating. It was clearly a skill, if nothing else.

He alternated his gaze between the fallen gangster and me, his expression turning sour.

It was a look that genuinely conveyed he had encountered something bothersome.

His actions displeased me even more.

The young, ordinary man turned his head and met someone’s gaze.

Then, about 10 men came forward from behind with swaggering steps.

From head to toe, their swaggering posture was somewhere between a gangster and a thug.

Such unpleasant masses grinned as they approached.

His associate had just been forcibly disabled right in front of him, yet he remained at ease.

At this point, those guys started to seem pathetic.

They seemed like a type that had lived without much fear…

‘They won’t run away.’

That was a relief.

At least the bother of having to chase them was reduced.

I slowly bent down in front of the approaching gangsters.

Ignoring those who paused at my sudden action, I carefully lifted Young-cheol.

Hyuk hyung, who had been highly agitated, rushed over as soon as our eyes met.

As if he understood what I wanted to say, he immediately piggybacked Young-cheol.

I slowly turned around and began to approach the gangsters.

‘Dialogue…?’

Dialogue was a good thing.

The act of expressing one’s opinions and conveying thoughts.

One could call it an intellectual action.

However, the atmosphere was too stiff for a conversation right now.

Even those vermin in front of me held too rigid a posture.

Weren’t their necks still stiff with tension?

Making them soft and pliable was the priority.

For anything—be it leather, meat, or a person—beating it will make it soft.

I intended to handle them delicately, just as a master of pork cutlets tenderly pounds the meat.

Before that, no one in my group was dead.

Therefore, I wouldn’t kill them.

I truly wouldn’t kill them.

I hadn’t even taken a few steps when one of them rushed at me.

He must have underestimated me greatly, as his attack was incredibly sloppy.

Without fear, he entered my range.

Calmly, I raised my right foot and kicked.

Just enough so his body wouldn’t burst and kill him.

Thud-!!

“Squeal!!”

With a sound like a pig being slaughtered, the gangster flew forcefully backward.

The ordinary man standing behind him happened to be pinned beneath the gangster’s massive body.

Since he was already an eyesore, the corner of my mouth subtly curved upward.

The gangsters were flustered by the sudden turn of events.

Just as their gaze turned to the gangster who had suddenly flown backward.

Crack-!!

Another gangster, caught off guard, had his jaw dislocated and collapsed like a puppet with cut strings. But ending it with one hit was too anticlimactic.

Crunch-

“Aaaaargh!! Ahh!!”

I stepped on and twisted the right wrist of the man who was about to lose consciousness.

The sensation of bones pulverizing beneath my foot was refreshing.

The feeling of delicately crushing was not bad.

The tearing screams that filled the hall made everyone flinch.

Only now did the gangsters’ eyes become slightly serious.

“You sons of bitches! Why are you just standing there?! Attack!”

‘Is that the one?’

It wasn’t the boss, but a guy who seemed like a mid-level enforcer gave the order, and the gangsters began to rush forward, stomping heavily. The customary curses were a bonus, though I didn’t know their intent.

I felt a faint smile form on my lips, filled with a small anticipation.

I wondered just how piercingly delightful the screams from those guys in front of me would be.

Thud-!!

My fist connected with the charging mass of flesh before he could even fully extend his arm.

He spun once in the air against the direction of his charge and fell headfirst.

Snap-

As he fell, I stepped on and broke one of his arms.

It didn’t matter if it was the left or the right.

In that opening, another came in from the right.

As if he’d seen it somewhere, I punched the body of the man who was thrusting in with an off-beat rhythm, sending him upward.

“Gaghh…”

The wobbling mass of flesh shot up to my head height and then fell straight down. I gently twisted and stepped on the knee of the guy who couldn’t even curl up.

The guy, gasping and unable to breathe properly, seemed unable to withstand the pain and went limp.

With three men falling in an instant, the gangsters and the ordinary man finally panicked.

It was obvious from their expressions.

These guys had realized they’d made a mistake.

But that wouldn’t change anything.

Moreover, there were still many opponents left.

“I won’t kill you. Don’t worry.”

Everyone flinched at my softly murmured words.

As I slowly approached, the two closest ones rushed forward.

It would have been better if they’d yelled a battle cry instead of curses.

Whump-whump-!!

Blows struck almost simultaneously, with incredible speed.

Unlike their charging bodies, their struck faces halted abruptly.

They fell backward in the direction they had been running.

Crack-

I also didn’t forget to step on the fallen ones.

I slowly approached the gangsters.

As if I were just taking a leisurely stroll, completely relaxed.

A gangster, shouting a charge, lunged out from among the hesitant men.

In one hand, he held a sashimi knife, the kind commonly known.

“You son of a bitch-!!”

Grab-

“Gasp?!”

Without needing to dodge, I snatched the hand that was thrusting the knife towards my stomach.

I then twisted his arm, bending it in the opposite direction of the joint.

Snap-!

Human bones break surprisingly easily.

Just like now.

Snap! Snap!

“Aaaaargh-!!”

The broken bone protruded through his flesh, but it was no problem.

I folded the broken, limp arm and used it to stab the gangster’s collarbone.

With the very knife he had been holding.

“Ughhh…”

His eyes were about to roll back, but fortunately, he hadn’t lost consciousness yet.

I gripped the gangster’s hand, still clutching the knife, and twisted it violently left and right.

“!!!!!”

He merely opened his mouth wide.

The gangster, unable to even scream, finally lost consciousness.

I slowly straightened up.

There were still quite a few gangsters left in front of me.

But they couldn’t bring themselves to rush forward.

I said politely, with a soft smile,

“Nothing will change if you don’t. Hurry and attack.”

Hesitation-

“Motherf*ckers!!”

A thick stream of curses instead of a roaring battle cry.

The sight of the gangsters rushing forward all at once was somehow pathetic.

It felt as if they were being pushed from behind and had no choice but to attack.

It seemed someone was watching them.

‘Yes. It’s better they attack.’

They must also fear their boss.

They probably didn’t know what kind of punishment awaited them if they hesitated to attack.

But I wouldn’t kill them, at the very least.

They would just hurt a lot.

The charging gangsters instantly tumbled to the floor.

Every one of them had at least one broken part.

One thing was certain: even if they recovered, they wouldn’t function properly.

They would forever regret it as they looked at their dysfunctional limbs.

As soon as I calmly fractured the right arm of the last trembling gangster, an attack hooked in. A sharp, piercing aerial kick.

The attempt was good.

Thwack-!!

“Cough-!”

As I spun to avoid the attack, I simultaneously struck his side with my elbow.

It truly felt like my elbow was piercing through his ribs.

The gangster who fell with a thud couldn’t even breathe properly, curled up. A quick glance suggested he was probably a top enforcer, representing the gang.

Crunch-!!

But it didn’t matter.

He was just one of the gangsters, after all.

I forcefully stomped on the leg that had tried to kick me, pulverizing it.

With the last gangster screaming and writhing like an insect, no one else dared to attack. They merely stared at me with fear-filled eyes.

Slowly, I approached one of those men.

The ordinary-looking man who had been irritatingly pretentious from behind the gangsters.

As I approached, his weak-heartedness was evident in how noticeably his body trembled.

If this was how he would react, I didn’t know why he had provoked me in the first place.

He was clearly afraid of me.

Unlike before, his current posture was very much to my liking.

Snap-!

“Aaaargh!!”

I adjusted his eye level, as I didn’t like it.

The ordinary man fell, clutching his unnaturally bent knee.

Now he looked somewhat presentable.

I grabbed the hair of the man who was screaming and crying hysterically, and pulled him up.

Smack-!!

A slapping sound loud enough to startle onlookers.

The cheek I had struck instantly swelled red, leaving a clear handprint.

I leaned down and stared into the eyes of the man who couldn’t regain his composure.

“…Hey.”

“U-Uh, yes!?”

“Why did you do it?”

“Huff, huff.”

“I’m asking you. Why did you do it?”

He trembled as if struck by a terrible fever, his pupils shaking.

His lips moved, but no answer came out.

Slap-!!

“Gasp!!”

Slapped again while still held, the man spewing blood couldn’t collect himself. Guys like this never listen to words.

Just as I was about to hit him again, the man’s eyes looked at someone.

His gaze, desperate, even twisted his head slightly, still held by my grip.

Following his gaze, I saw two bastards.

I slowly stood up and approached the two men.

My left hand still gripping the ordinary man’s hair.

“Pl-Please save me! Please save me!”

The man, with his two uninjured hands, rubbed them together frantically, begging for his life.

“I, I just did as I was told-”

Thump-!!

Annoyed by his unchanging excuse, I knocked him unconscious.

“Since you did as you were told without thinking, you have to take responsibility. Don’t you agree?”

I lightly asked the two men I had approached.

One was an elderly man.

The other was a sturdy-looking middle-aged man with a bit of flesh.

For some reason, these two were relatively clean-dressed.

And they definitely exuded an aura different from ordinary people.

“This one’s a gangster. What are you, Old Man?”

“You young man, your words-”

Slap-!!

“Cough!”

The old man, whose difference from ordinary people seemed to be only his aura, fell with a single slap.

Perhaps because he was old, he didn’t grasp the situation well-

Click-

“You mere blood clot, how dare you act up and cause trouble?!”

The man who appeared to be the gangster boss was aiming a gun at my temple.

A gangster with a pistol in Korea, no less.

Snatch!!

“!!!!!”

“What? Is this real?”

The gangster boss’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Indeed, he had clearly been pressing the muzzle against my temple, but then it was suddenly snatched away.

I, who had confiscated the gun, was curious.

If this was a real gun.

Bang-!

A single gunshot fired into the air, followed by the screams of startled people.

“Wow~! Look at this bastard. He really points a gun at someone’s head?”

“N-No, that’s not what I meant…”

Bang bang-!!

“G-Gaaaah-!! You crazy bastard!!”

One shot in each knee.

Bang bang-!!

“Gasping cough-”

One shot in each hand.

Only after four bullets were lodged in his body did the gangster boss regain his true identity.

His appearance, crawling on the floor and bleeding, was truly fitting of a vermin.

I pressed the still-hot muzzle of the gun against the fallen boss’s face.

Sizzle-

“Ughhhh!!”

“What did you just say?”

The gangster boss’s eyes twitched uncontrollably as he looked up at my face, which wore a refreshing expression as I asked. His pale, disgusted expression had a slight positive effect on my foul mood.

No sooner had that happened than my mood soured again, as I saw the gaze of someone looking at a madman.

Moreover, seeing him tremble violently, drooling and crying, was even disgusting.

“…Tsk.”

I turned my gaze away, feeling as dirty as if I had encountered filth right in front of me.

Beside him, the old man who had been slapped and fallen to the floor was just staring blankly in this direction.

Seeing his stunned expression with his mouth agape, his reaction wasn’t bad.

“Now, the atmosphere is just right.”

His shoulders, which had been puffed up with arrogance and tension, now slumped.

His trembling movements, like an aspen leaf, also clearly showed his current state of mind.

His eyes, which had been full of contempt just moments before, looking at me as if I were a dog or pig, couldn’t stay still for a moment due to the fear etched into his body.

The piercing moans of the gangsters from behind me were satisfying.

These were exactly the fitting images for those who, trusting in their meager power and numbers, acted like tyrants towards the weak.

Befitting those who live at the bottom, their crawling on the floor suited them well.

Even if their injuries healed, their limbs would not function properly.

They would regret it every time they lived an inconvenient life with their disabled limbs.

That they had touched my people.

Instead of arrogance, fear.

Instead of stiffness, the humiliation of crawling on the floor.

Instead of curses, piercing moans.

A desperate gaze focused on their opponent.

Even a chilling silence, as if the stillness had been shattered.

The atmosphere they had spoken of had been created.

Pointing to the ordinary man sprawled on one side, I spoke to the old man and the boss.

“This guy said it was time for a conversation earlier, didn’t he? Go on, recite it.”

Now, I was ready to have a conversation.