Chapter 53
"At this rate, you'll end up cutting my hand off with a saw too!"
I opened my eyes wide. I stared at the Troublemaker Detective with my mouth slightly agape.
There was no doubt about it.
He was talking about me cutting off the Man Hunter's Hand yesterday. It didn't Make Sense otherwise.
...But how did that Ajje know about that?
"Why are you looking at me with such surprised eyes? Did I perhaps say something I shouldn't have?"
He asked so Calmly that it almost made me wonder if it was weird for me to be surprised, or if it was only natural for him to know.
"Do you know what happened here yesterday?"
When I asked back, the Troublemaker Detective readily nodded.
"Of course I do. How could a Detective as well-informed as me not know?
I heard that last night, right here at Dragon's Lair, the Bratva-affiliated Ronin, Man Hunter Alexei Sergeyev, ended up getting his hand cut off by you."
"...How on earth did you find out?"
It wasn't like a lot of time had passed; it happened a mere 18 hours ago.
Had the rumor already spread? Or did he really have his own information network because he was so well-informed, just like he said?
The Self-Proclaimed Holmes's subsequent Answer let me know which of the two it was.
It was the former.
"It would be stranger not to know. The rumor has already spread all over the Ronin's Net Forum. That the infamous Man Hunter had his wrist cut off by a mere bar's On-site Manager.
There were so many witnesses, and quite a few among them harbored a grudge against the Man Hunter. It seems they eagerly spread what they saw and heard, if only to humiliate the Man Hunter."
"Uh..."
Then again, thinking about it logically, it was only natural.
For whatever reason, the bar had been swarming with Ronin that day, and since there were many who witnessed the Crime Scene, rumors about what happened that day were bound to spread one way or another...
Moreover, this wasn't the Medieval era where stories were passed down solely by word of mouth, but a highly advanced Cyberpunk World.
It was entirely possible for the news to become known in less than a day.
Even if the Net System was Insular compared to my Previous World, that could actually be the very reason news spread even faster.
For now, it seemed that in the Ronin Community the Troublemaker Detective mentioned, what happened yesterday had become such a hot topic that it was impossible not to know about it.
I wasn't exactly thrilled.
It felt like things had blown up beyond my imagination.
‘The Employee who cut off a Troublesome Customer's wrist.’ Imagine becoming famous on the internet for that.
Whoever it was, they wouldn't feel too good about it, just like me.
It wasn't like I became famous for excellent service, nor was there some heartwarming story behind it; it was just an unpleasant incident.
How could I go around bragging about a series of events where I somehow became the target of a Gay Hunter's constant vigilance, and in response, ended up cutting off his arm when he tried to touch my ass?
Since it wasn't a good thing, the very fact that it was widely known was quite uncomfortable.
Furthermore, the guy whose wrist I cut off wasn't an ordinary human either.
Even if the Man Hunter's infamy was so great that many people found what I did satisfying, infamy was still a type of reputation.
Just as my wrist was almost cut off by the Hand Blades of the subordinate Ronin following him at the bar that day, there was no guarantee that something similar wouldn't happen in the future.
Especially the Man Hunter's affiliated gang, whose prestige had been smeared—the Russian Red Mafia members, where Alexgey supposedly held a fairly high Position within the Organization, would undoubtedly be quite furious about this matter.
Although the Dragon President had left work early last night saying he would handle the aftermath regarding that, the Dragon President wasn't some kind of god, and I couldn't just blindly trust in that Alone.
Just like how I ran into some Street Robber on my way to work today, there was no telling when or where I might Encounter a Bratva henchman/minion or a Man Hunter follower lunging at me for revenge.
Not only that, but receiving more Attention than necessary from the Ronin wasn't exactly a good thing in itself.
As Sey pointed out, it was somewhat intentional.
I deliberately tried to look strong so as not to be looked down upon by the Ronin, and to do so, I turned the crisis known as the Man Hunter into an opportunity instead.
However, it was actually troublesome if it worked this well.
What I had intended was to plant an impression along the lines of ‘That guy's pretty Tough? Better not mess with him carelessly.’ in the Ronin swarming the bar,
but things had gotten bigger than expected, potentially Sparking a dangerous Competitive Spirit like ‘He's that famous guy who cut off the Man Hunter's Arm? I wonder how skilled he is. I want to test him out once.’ not only in the Ronin who were at the bar, but in all the Ronin who heard the topic.
Well, of course, all of this could just be pure paranoia.
It might just be needless worry, and the Troublemaker Detective might have exaggerated and blown it out of proportion, while the reality was merely that the news had slowly trickled out by word of mouth.
Unfortunately, my Ominous Premonitions always tended to be spot on.
The Troublemaker Detective immediately turned my concerns into an established fact.
"You've become quite the Celebrity among the Ronin now! As the bar Manager who cut off the Man Hunter's Hand.
It seems the Ronin who witnessed the scene that day even banded together to give you a fancy nickname... What was it again. Ah."
Like someone suspected of having dementia symptoms, he pondered for a moment while fiddling with his Cyber Monocle, then muttered “Right, that was it.” as if he had remembered something, and spoke.
"hand Butcher."
"..."
"That's the nickname attached to you, Watson. They say the way you achieved the Neutralization of the Man Hunter in an instant and ruthlessly cut off his hand looked just like slaughtering a beast!
Hahahaha, it's just a shame I couldn't see the sight myself since I had a case to solve that day. It's a truly wonderful alias!"
The Self-Proclaimed Holmes laughed heartily, Shaking his sagging cheeks as if something was so great, but I couldn't laugh.
Wonderful alias my ass.
Being called Masked Asian or Nakamura was bizarre enough, but now, on top of that, hand Butcher.
The nuance was like... wasn't it a nickname that would be attached to some cruel villain or Criminal?
Even worse, the most Headache-inducing part was,
“hand Butcher... Damn it. The Ronin are going to go absolutely Crazy.”
Just as I had feared, it was a name optimized to provoke the highly competitive Ronin of Dusk City.
I could already vividly picture burly Ronin picking fights with me, saying, “Are you that hand Butcher?”
Please, I just hoped that unlike yesterday, the Ronin wouldn't flock to the shop in droves today.
Please.
* * *
"Nice to meet you, hand Butcher."
It was the greeting a Customer spat out the moment he first entered the bar and faced me.
Yeah, well.
It wasn't even surprising anymore. I had already met dozens of Customers like that.
The bar was still Bustling today.
It was filled with Ronin who had flocked from all sorts of places, just like yesterday.
Looking at their faces, most of them were even newcomers I hadn't seen yesterday.
Just what on earth had happened for them to gather like this, as if honey had been smeared here?
“Because something came up around here.”
“It might get noisy around here for a while. Not just here, but all of East Monica.”
Suddenly, the story I heard yesterday came to mind.
Then again, if it was something that would end in a day, he wouldn't have used the expression “for a while.”
I saw earlier that Ravin Haywood, that Agent Yangban who had given me the news, had come again today and was recruiting Mercenaries.
He sure is hardworking. Even if I asked him again what was going on, he'd probably use the non-disclosure clause as an excuse just like last time.
Should I ask the Troublemaker Detective? It didn't look like that Ajje had left the bar yet.
He might be overly obsessed with conspiracy theories, but considering he was the first to let me know that the rumor had spread among the Ronin, and seeing how he was surprisingly quick with news, he might know something about this matter too.
With those thoughts, I moved to Guide the newly arrived Customer.
What needed to be done was mechanically organized in my head.
Explain the regulations and tell them to hand over their weapons first, emphasize that fighting or drugs are absolutely forbidden inside the bar,
and especially warn them multiple times that the stories about the hand Butcher are nothing but baseless rumors, and since I'm just an ordinary On-site Manager, they won't gain a single thing by picking a fight with me.
Though I don't know if they'll actually listen to a damn word I say.
Damn it, I'm busy to death, so when on earth is the Dragon President coming.
He said he'd arrive before opening, yet he still hasn't shown up.
Even when I asked Tony or Sey, both of them just consistently gave indifferent answers like ‘Well. He'll be here soon.’
Those Ruffian-like Ronin bastards are only somewhat suppressed when the Dragon President is here.
It was a mistake to kindly explain that the President hadn't arrived yet to those bastards making a fuss and demanding the President come out.
Because those sons of Bitches were causing a ruckus, saying the dragon had vacated its seat or whatever, acting like they had nothing to fear in the World, Sey had to Step up and sort them out herself.
She snapped their arms and legs in an instant and refreshingly kicked them right out the door.
Even though the Crowd had been filtered out to some extent like that, there were still many of those bastards who tried to ignore the Bar Regulations upon realizing the Dragon President wasn't here.
The severity of it was clearly noticeable compared to yesterday.
Fortunately, no Major figures like the Man Hunter had caused problems yet, but small disturbances kept happening, making me distracted.
I had found it strange yesterday that the Ronin diligently followed the regulations despite all their complaints, but it seemed that was entirely thanks to the Dragon President's presence.
From what I overheard the Ronin saying, it seems the Dragon President is some kind of legendary figure in their industry.
They were whispering among themselves, using embarrassing titles like “Red Dragon” and “Sky-Shattering Dragon.”
I don't really know if he was a famous Ronin in the past who Retired and opened a bar or what, but anyway.
They say you only realize it was spring after the flowers wither; I never knew the absence of the Dragon President, who was always just killing time in the boss room as if he were barely there, would feel this huge.
He really needs to get here soon.
We desperately need that Dragon Totem, whose mere presence instills a minimum of manners into those Unruly Ronin.
It was right when I was about to face the Customer with a sigh and say, ‘Yes, Welcome to you too. This is Bar Dragon's Lair.’
"...!"
The appearance of the Customer who told me “Nice to meet you, hand Butcher.” was quite familiar.
A bronzed, muscular man who looked like a Hollywood action star. His cleanly waxed head shone brightly.
And on his back hung a very large and massive Means of Communication that drew everyone's Attention.
It was a very familiar object as well.
"Chainsaw... Man."
I muttered blankly as I looked at the Chainsaw Man Ronin, the Owner of the Super-Vibrating jet engine saw that I had owed a debt to once yesterday.