episode_0112

In fact, bears aren’t that dangerous. No, I’ll rephrase that. [If their stomachs are full], they aren’t that dangerous.

What does that mean? Bears that have completed preparations for winter aren’t very dangerous. After all, why would they expend calories to catch something like you when their bellies are already full? They’d just think, ‘Oh, it’s a human,’ and leave it at that. Of course, if you mess with their cubs or brazenly pee all over their territory, they’ll turn into a [monster].

That’s why most bears seen in photographs are usually plump and furry. And in that sense, I was pretty screwed. The bear in front of me was, at least to humans, the most dangerous kind: ‘A bear that had failed in the competition for food and was desperately hungry.’ In other words, it was a bear ready to chew a human to bits.

*Growl.*

See? It’s clearly a growl filled with the intent to kill you—no, to eat you. Thanks to that, I was building up my own intimidating aura. As I quietly unleashed my killing intent, the bear seemed incredibly cautious, despite being much smaller than its size. Its instincts must have been telling it that catching this guy would be dangerous. This is why momentum is crucial in a fight with an animal. If I lost even a little momentum, the bear would instantly revert to its beastly nature and attack.

And so, Takuya slowly tried to pass while engaging in a battle of wills with the bear. Just then, the watch on his wrist chimed.

*Beep! Beep!*

It was an alert that the villain’s location was getting further away.

‘Damn it, there’s no time.’

Hearing the alert, Takuya internally decided he was running out of time. The further the distance, the higher the chance Momiji would suffer something strange.

Doesn’t Momiji escape on her own according to the game’s plot? That’s true, but honestly, it was also a labyrinth puzzle game, and there were so many events where failing meant getting raped, so it was better to go quickly.

‘What should I do?’

Takuya’s worries deepened. He was already slow because of the bear in front of him, and now the villain was getting further away… Nothing was going right.

After a moment of contemplation, Takuya looked at the bear.

‘Wait, now that I think about it. Aren’t bears quite fast in the mountains?’

Then, a brilliant idea suddenly popped into his head.

‘I had a Taming skill, didn’t I?’

It was technically hypnosis, but either way, if he had that, couldn’t he tame this bear right now? A happy circuit rapidly spun in Takuya’s mind, and a plan was formulated simultaneously.

‘First, I should give it some food. If I try to hypnotize it like this, I’ll be eaten before I can even cast the hypnosis.’

As soon as Takuya thought that, he pulled out 500g of meat stolen from his refrigerator (his house) from his subspace pocket and threw it to the bear. This, by the way, was just the beginning; countless other food items—or rather, raw ingredients—then emerged.

The bear instantly eyed the food Takuya had thrown, wary. But Takuya did nothing more than empty the food from his pocket and offer it.

‘Hmm, first, chicken, beef, pork, oh. There’s fish too.’

Countless ingredients poured out of Takuya’s subspace pocket. Enough food that anyone who saw it would wonder if one person could eat it all for a month. The bear glared at Takuya as it looked at the piled-up food. Its expression seemed to say, ‘Are you trying to buy me off with mere food?!’

But for a bear that had been starving for a long time, there was no choice. With a vexed expression, the bear began to eat the food I gave it, and Takuya, watching the bear, cast hypnosis on it. The hypnosis Takuya cast was nothing special. It was simply a request for the bear to act as a private vehicle to take Takuya wherever he wanted. He’d cast the hypnosis thinking that even if he didn’t tame it, just getting a ride would be enough. Fortunately, Takuya’s hypnosis worked very well.

[Taming List] [Hachishakusama] [Yuki Onna] [Wild Bear (Name Change Available)][NEW]

It was even tamed. It seemed giving food to the bear had a great effect. Or maybe the hypnosis itself was just very effective. Anyway. By the time the bear had eaten through the pile of food (by human standards), reaching the bottom, Takuya, who had been watching the bear’s live eating show, checked the villain’s location.

‘Is this where the warehouse Momiji is trapped in is located?’

The villain was using a suspiciously large warehouse with a bunker, making one wonder how on earth they’d accumulated so much money. It was so big that if you didn’t know the way properly, you could get lost.

‘But seriously, who installed this? To build such a massive bunker in the mountains.’

Just as Takuya was thinking that, the bear, having finished its meal, spoke.

*Roar.*

The bear nodded its head as if telling him to ride on its back, and Takuya, in response, nodded back and then climbed onto the bear’s back. Thus, Takuya gained a ride (a bear) with a smooth riding experience. No. This wasn’t just any bear.

[Taming List] [Hachishakusama] [Yuki Onna] [Kim Chunsik][NEW]

“From now on, your name is Chunsik.” “Roar!” From now on, your name is Chunsik.

***

Meanwhile, as Takuya galloped through the mountains on Chunsik.

“Gasp! Gasp! Finally, I’ve arrived!”

Tsutomu, who had carried the bag containing Momiji and climbed the pre-planned route, put down the bag and wiped his sweat. Then he looked around at the scenery. If the building had been properly maintained, it would have been a warm and cozy-looking place, but because no one had managed it, it was filled with a desolate atmosphere, so ordinary people would have been horrified to see it. But for Tsutomu, this atmosphere was the best.

‘This way, people won’t come around often.’

Occasionally, weird occult enthusiasts who like psychic spots might come, but that’s only for the outside; they wouldn’t be able to get inside. Inside, there was an underground bunker that could hold hundreds of people. Naturally, Tsutomu didn’t create a place like this. Tsutomu had neither the resources nor the money for that. This was a place said to have been built by some rich person.

‘No one uses it.’

Although it seemed no one was using it now, Tsutomu had secretly come and renovated it for his own use. Does the owner of the house not come? From what he had seen over several years, there were no traces of anyone coming near. That’s why Tsutomu was able to use it as an abduction site with peace of mind.

Anyway, after resting for a moment and looking around, Tsutomu soon hoisted the bag containing Momiji onto his back and went inside.

*Plod, plod.*

Each step deeper into the underground reverberated with sounds matching his heavy weight. And by that sound,

‘Ugh, where is this…?’

Momiji woke up.

‘I can’t see anything!’

Momiji was startled by the darkness enveloping her vision for a moment, but then realized what had happened to her.

‘I’ve been kidnapped!’

That she had been abducted, and.

‘Th-that man at home just now…’

Who had abducted her.

‘Wh-what should I do? Did the text message go to Takuya? Ugh, I don’t know…’

Even so, Momiji’s mind was not just complicated, but utterly confused. From why she was subjected to such a thing, to where she was, and if Takuya would come to save her, and so on. Her emotions were a tangled mess. However, Momiji didn’t cry. No, it was more fitting to say she *wanted* to cry, but Takuya’s words came to mind, preventing her.

Takuya, unexpectedly, had given Momiji various advice while escorting her. No, to be precise, it was advice on how to survive in unforeseen circumstances.

‘Momiji, if you ever get kidnapped, just obey them quietly.’ ‘Why? Isn’t it better to resist?’ ‘That might be true for adult men or women, but for a child like you, quietly obeying the kidnapper increases your chances of survival.’

Takuya said that and gave Momiji various other pieces of advice.

‘If you fall asleep due to drugs or something and then wake up, pretend to still be asleep and absolutely do not move.’ ‘Why?’ ‘It varies from person to person, but usually, more criminals enjoy watching the victim’s reaction while they’re awake rather than while they’re asleep. Especially those scumbag criminals.’

Momiji remembered unconsciously nodding and replying to the strangely vivid story. Thanks to that, Momiji obediently followed Takuya’s words, doing nothing but pretending to be asleep. And as a result, Takuya’s ‘education’ certainly helped. By the time Tsutomu arrived at the room where Momiji would stay in the basement, Tsutomu had simply tossed Momiji onto the bed and then gone off to take care of his own business. Normally, he would have done something before leaving, but Tsutomu, having already expended considerable stamina dragging his bulky body up the mountain, headed to another room to rest before doing anything to Momiji. Once Tsutomu disappeared, Momiji quietly, very quietly, sobbed, making sure no sound escaped. For the still-young Momiji, this situation was too cruel.