Chapter 194
The face that had been writhing in agony just a moment ago suddenly stiffened, turning expressionless in an instant. It was a somewhat bizarre sight.
The man spoke with a familiar tone, good-natured and warm.
“Angela, could you move this hook first? It hurts a little.”
“That must hurt. Sure, why not.”
Angela, with a voice equally full of affection, thrust her Silver Arm even deeper.
“Ugh!”
Blood splattered from the hook that pierced through his shoulder blade and penetrated his body. Angela pulled out her blood-soaked arm and this time, swiftly scratched the man’s face with the hook.
His face split open surprisingly cleanly. The Elaborate Rubber Face Mask peeled off, revealing Dr. Chang’s true appearance.
“I moved the hook like you asked. I did well, right, Felix?”
Even with the wound, it was still a pretty face.
His true identity was Felix.
He was the frail man who had lived like a real brother with Chainsaw Man for many years, the person known to have been murdered.
It wasn’t too surprising, as it was something I had expected to some extent.
The unrecognizably crushed corpse and the note from the Cyber Undertaker Nigel left a clue that the culprit was the already dead 'Customer'.
There was plenty of foreshadowing. In fact, neither I nor anyone else looked flustered.
“It’s nice to see your pretty face after a while. Why were you wearing Dr. Chang’s face when it doesn’t even suit you? When people talk, they should look at each other’s faces. Right?”
At Angela’s words as she grabbed Felix’s chin, he answered quite calmly.
“I thought I had nothing to lose. I thought the chances of success were quite high, but you’re thorough as expected. What a shame. If I had known a bit more about Dr. Chang, I might have fooled you completely.”
“Yeah, right. Lead Chang is already dead, isn’t he?”
“Probably. The Corporate Bastards probably took care of it. The last time I saw him was when he made me that mask modeled after his own face. He really held out, saying he wouldn’t work unless he was paid, no matter how much I threatened him. So it was because he was a massive miser.”
“What about Nigel?”
“I don’t know. He seemed to have figured something out while disposing of my net accounts, so I tried to kill him, but he quickly noticed and hid. I guess Cyber Undertakers learn stealth techniques these days. If possible, I wanted to wear Nigel’s face rather than Dr. Chang’s… but he made it difficult.”
What a shame. If I had killed him then, none of this would have happened. Seeing how you aren’t very surprised to see it’s me, Nigel must have left some kind of clue, right? Damn it. Of all things, I had promised to entrust him with my Cyberspace Funeral while I was alive. I never imagined that would come back to bite me like this.”
Instead of answering, Angela swung her hook again. Swish!
Felix, startled, jumped and lifted both legs. The sharp silver metal sliced through his waistband and grazed his skin, drawing blood once more.
“Whoa, careful! It’s not a Metal Leg like before.”
“You swapped out your legs, both of them. You must have missed having a body made of flesh and blood. A skin-grafted Bio-Prosthetic Leg? That must be horribly expensive. The Trash Corporation must have fitted them for you in exchange for killing Miguel?”
Felix laughed awkwardly, “Haha.”
“Two legs, enough money to play and eat until I die, and the guarantee of thorough post-mortem Identity Laundering and absolute safety - that was the price. Though it seems the absolute safety is already out the window.”
“Wow, you took quite a lot. The Trash Corporation must have also fabricated your crushed corpse that supposedly underwent Bio-Identification? You worked hard.”
“Well, for the price of murdering a Legendary Ronin, this might even be on the cheap side. It turned out the owner of the factory that Miguel-hyung destroyed was the son of the Trash Corporation’s Chairman. He must have wanted him dead no matter what, even if it meant taking a loss.”
“Aha. So you took that request and killed him?”
“Yeah. I thought you would understand, Angela. Unlike me, for whom this is the first time, you’re a pro. You have to separate business from personal matters. I just took a job - “
Pow!
Someone had clearly struck another person’s face, but instead of a smacking sound, there was a loud noise like something exploding.
“Shut your mouth.”
Angela seemed very artistic this time too.
With one hit, Felix’s cheek burst, blood dribbling from his mouth, and he dropped broken tooth fragments as if his teeth had been knocked out.
“Keuk, keuhub, ptoo… Why are you doing thith, Angela? I don’t think I thaid anything wrong. In the end, getting paid and killing people ith the thame, ithn’t it.”
His face was swollen like a steamed bun and heavily slurred pronunciation. As Felix grated on her nerves once more and Angela was about to strike him again, someone else stepped forward instead.
Thwack!
“Guaaaaaaaah!”
A terribly desperate scream.
It sounded like the most agonizing one I had heard so far. And rightfully so.
Hina had kicked Felix in the crotch.
I didn’t have any good feelings toward Felix, but even so, seeing his intensely contorted face made me flinch involuntarily.
It was a vital spot that was irresistible for any man. Certainly, as I had foreseen, Felix was steadily paying the price for what he had done.
“You killed Mister for such a petty reason? Because of legs and money? Someone who was like family?”
As she grabbed him by the collar and shouted, spitting as she spoke, Felix barely managed to recover from the pain from his ruptured crotch and spoke.
“What’sh sho big a deal about shellin' out family for money, Hina. Thish city ish rotting with people killing and being killed for money… Theshe two legsh of mine, my parentsh, the factory I worked at, all becaushe of money… Guaaah!”
Hina kicked Felix in the crotch once more as he pathetically tried to spin a story about 'his past and circumstances that justified it'.
At Hina’s fierce ruthlessness, my own balls naturally ached.
“So, because you suffered for money, you’re going to do the exact same thing for money? Don’t give me that bullshit! Others might sell out their families for money. But Mister wasn’t like that.”
Miguel was someone who would do anything for his family. He gave his money, his house, even for people who weren’t his real family… Fuck! Mister even bought you your legs!”
Shouting that, she kicked his legs this time. Felix groaned and spoke weakly.
“Yeah, hyung wash that kind of pershon. A noble pershon. Thanksh to that, it wash easy living ash hish Younger Brother. It wash good that I leeched off him early on… Hic, hic, hic. But unlike hyung, if you look closhely, I’m a calculating pershon. I jusht pretended to be ash nice ash posshible. Becaushe that wash profitable.”
Felix spoke, looking incredibly ugly.
“I leeched off him becaushe it wash profitable, and I threw him away for the shame reashon. Becaushe a more profitable shide appeared… The latesht Cybernetic Prosthetic Leg? Great! But ishn’t a Bio-Prosthetic Leg even better? Plus, they gave me thish much money. Wouldn’t it be shtupid to refushe?”
Hyung wash a dead man walking anyway. The corporation’s son wash furioush! It’sh a world where you can’t shurvive if you make enemiesh with a corporation. You know that! Rather than dying to shome other assassination and lining the pocketsh of a total shtranger, it’sh better to die to me, hish closhe younger brother, and treat it like leaving an inheritance. Ishn’t that why hyung died without much reshistance? Out of that great heart of hish for hish family?”
His voice no longer felt good-natured, but rather cunning. The words he had said before overlapped in my ears.
'A person like hyung shouldn’t die.'
That had been an act to avoid suspicion.
Perhaps the fact that he had made a resolution at that moment was true. The only problem was that instead of a resolution to protect Miguel, it was a resolution to definitely kill him and get the reward himself.
“Right. You Bastards. Your profit and loss calculations are certainly clear. Did you calculate this too? Whether it’ll be a profit or a loss after you die? Huh? Is this a profit?”
Hina gritted her teeth and pulled a handgun from her jacket.
Everyone was startled. It wasn’t a great weapon, just a cheap plastic gun, but I never dreamed Hina would be carrying a firearm.
She aimed it straight at Felix’s head and hooked her finger on the trigger. Her hands were trembling.
It was only natural. No matter how tough she acted, she was ultimately a high school student.
No matter how much of an Artist she was, killing a person wasn’t something easily done.
The death of her guardian, followed by the betrayal of someone she trusted, had occurred. The back of the girl who had received such massive wounds in succession looked precarious, as if she would collapse at any moment.
Should I persuade her not to kill him? But revenge was definitely her rightful privilege. Who was I to make her give up her revenge?
It was also true that Felix had committed a crime worthy of death. Even without him, we had already spilled enough blood to get here…
Felix spoke to the wavering Hina.
“Shtrange. I thought you would undershtand me.”
“…What? What the fuck am I supposed to understand?”
As she pressed the cold muzzle closer and yelled, Felix raised both hands and continued.
“Weren’t you cold, and unbound by affection just like me, the rational one, Hina? You said you were going to be a Militia High-Ranking Official… Then things like this will be commonplace.”
No. Hina did seem cold on the outside and appeared not to care about others.
She acted so much like the opposite sex that she was the kind of girl who naturally elicited the question, 'Are you a T?'
Sometimes I was afraid that if she succeeded in life, she really would throw away our old bonds like an old shoe and come to catch me as a Militia Agent.
However, this was a different issue from whether she was an F or T, or whether she was calculating or not.
You shouldn’t demand understanding from people after doing something you shouldn’t do.
As Miguel had said, Hina was a kid with a kinder heart than anyone else, and she wasn’t someone who should have to hear such insulting words from an ugly murderer.
Angela must have had the same thought, as she snatched the gun from Hina’s hand.
“Shut your mouth. You’re a bastard who doesn’t even have the right to dirty Hina’s hands. Die.”
“Wait!”
Just as she was about to pull the trigger, Felix shrieked.
And then he said.
“You guys are already too late.”
Anxiety washed over me at the sight of him grinning with his contorted face.
At the same time, the Shaolin Monk shouted in our direction.
[Patrons, a certain group is coming this way. This is…]
Thump, thump, thump, thump-
Not long after, a noise arose that was loud enough for me to hear, even without the Shaolin Monk’s warning.
The sound of military boots running down the stairs and the corridor was audible. There were many of them. And they were powerful.
The ceiling shook. They were clearly coming down to the clinic.
The tense expressions of the Shaolin Monk and Angela and the agitated atmosphere were evident.
Additional troops from Dysis Waste? They’re going this far? Damn it, we should have killed him quickly -
DCPD, open up!!!
…It wasn’t Dysis Waste.