Chapter 38 : Trick of Fate. (8)
Chapter 38: Trick of Fate. (8)
Originally, the chair-snatching game was a lively and exciting game.
To upbeat music, people spun round and round around empty chairs.
Then, when the music stopped, young men and women laughed “haha” and “hoho” as they claimed the one and only chair.
However, the Dio Guild’s chair snatching looked like a slaughterhouse.
KABOOOM!!!
Ear-splitting, noisy heavy metal music blared throughout the banquet hall.
“Y-you fucking bastards!”
“This is mine! Don’t come any closer!”
“Fuck off!”
Already rough men tangled together to take the chairs, and the venue instantly turned into chaos.
By the rules, once you sat on a chair, the winner was decided at that moment.
But since when did the words ‘fair and square’ suit the Dio Guild?
Even if someone sat on a chair, they beat them up and took it back.
They punched, kicked, and even yanked hair.
The injured piled up, and blood that no one knew the owner of soaked into the carpet.
‘Damn it.’
If this was how it was going to be, they shouldn’t have called it chair snatching in the first place.
It was just a sham excuse to make everyone fight each other.
I checked the stage.
The judge had his eyes closed, shaking his head to the beat.
Then he brought the microphone to his mouth and spoke.
“Everyone. Life is chair snatching. If you stake everything and ‘dibs!’ the chair, you protect your own rice bowl. If you can’t dibs it, you’re eliminated. Do you want to live miserably as an unemployed bum and end your life that way? Now, where is your fate headed? Will you dibs the chair! Or will it be taken from you!”
That bastard’s fate talk again. I was sick of it.
I wanted to sew that flapping mouth shut.
I frowned and lowered my posture.
“Hyung. Come behind me!”
Bang Su-hwan stepped forward to protect me.
He had better physical specs than me, and his expected rank was higher.
Bang Su-hwan knew how strong I was, but for now, he considered me someone who needed protection.
‘Why?’
I looked at his back.
His tightly clenched fist was trembling without fail.
“…Hyung. Do you know a hero called Strong Man? He was a character I really liked when I was young.”
Of course I knew.
I knew most heroes from comics.
“The name’s kind of corny, but he’s a cool guy with a body like steel and an indomitable spirit. He’s someone I admire too.”
Bang Su-hwan turned his head halfway.
“Hyung. I’m Power-type. My toughness is insanely good. So I’ll protect you. So please don’t use your ability and just stay still.”
He revealed his mana type.
Revealing a hunter’s inherent trait in a crisis situation meant……
‘It means he trusts me that much.’
Bang Su-hwan considered me a comrade he could trust and rely on.
One guy threw a punch at Bang Su-hwan.
Thud.
Bang Su-hwan’s cheek swelled up as he took it head-on.
He glared at the guy who had hit him.
He didn’t curse loudly like usual.
“Go.”
“Go where, you little shit!”
“My expected rank is B. Are you really confident you can see this through with me to the end?”
“…….”
The opponent checked Bang Su-hwan’s name tag and hesitated.
The guy who hit him was expected rank C.
“Tch.”
He muttered under his breath and ran off in another direction.
Bang Su-hwan let out a sigh of relief and opened his mouth.
“…Hyung. Actually, I’m scared of fighting. I still dream about my seniors trampling me. Even now, to be honest, I want to run away.”
How ironic.
Bang Su-hwan, who had innate talent but remained a coward stuck in the past.
Me, a terrible dullard who luckily obtained a fraudulent talent.
Yet even that talent of mine had limited resources within the scope of [Awakener’s Balance].
So, who was really at an advantage?
The judge adjusted his grip on the microphone.
“Everyone! It’s already been five minutes! Huh? No one’s properly secured a chair yet? This is getting so loose it’s making me yawn. Alright, then let’s do this!”
When he snapped his fingers, Dio Guild agents came out from all directions.
They were holding a bunch of something in their hands.
They were long, solid steel pipes.
They threw them on the floor as if scattering them.
With metallic clangs, the steel pipes rolled around.
They weren’t ordinary steel pipes.
Judging by the smooth surface and flesh-colored sheen, they were superalloys mixed with burn light.
If you got hit by one of those, no matter how much of a hunter you were, you wouldn’t come out unscathed.
‘Those vicious bastards.’
Were they pouring oil on a burning house?
The judge grinned as if he was enjoying the situation.
“Let’s go all out! Flesh-Cutting, Bone-Shattering! Let’s give up the flesh and smash the bones nice and clean!”
The hunters who had been fighting barehanded sized each other up.
They weren’t guns or knives, but among novices, using a weapon was advantageous no matter what.
When one person let out a shout and rushed for a steel pipe, everyone else grabbed one too.
Thanks to that, the chair snatching became even more intense.
Clang! Claaang!!
The judge burst into loud laughter.
“Puhahaha! They say life is a comedy when viewed from afar. This almost looks like some Star Wars lightsaber thing. This is fun!”
Just like that bastard said, from up there it might have looked like pure comedy.
But from inside the scene, a brutal feast of survival of the fittest unfolded.
They smashed each other’s faces with steel pipes, struck ribs, and stabbed into abdomens.
From someone’s mouth, shattered teeth spilled out along with chunks of blood.
Another person, pale-faced, gasped for breath, as if a broken rib had pierced his lung.
I could also see people already collapsed on the floor as if dead.
Just five minutes.
If I’d been lying comfortably, it would have passed in the blink of an eye.
But time flowed viciously slowly.
The nightmare-like war showed no sign of ending.
Crash!
Three or four burly men grappled, and two chairs rolled away.
Bang Su-hwan stretched out his trembling hand toward a chair flying right in front of us.
“First, let’s secure chairs for you and me, hyung…….”
Just as his hand was about to touch the chair.
Some hunter jumped out and smashed the back of Bang Su-hwan’s head with a steel pipe.
Clang!
Bang Su-hwan’s head burst open, and blood sprayed into the air like a fountain.
“Ugh.”
Bang Su-hwan collapsed after letting out a dying groan.
When his heavy body crashed down loudly, everyone’s attention snapped over at once.
“What the hell. Big body, but not worth shit.”
“Hey. Let’s stomp that guy first.”
“Yeah. If we’re gonna get rid of him anyway, better crush the bud early.”
At someone’s lead, several applicants kicked Bang Su-hwan mercilessly.
Bang Su-hwan tried to shield his head with his arms and evade the attacks, but it was too many to handle alone.
“Ughh. Ngh!”
He looked like he’d fallen into despair, as if old memories had resurfaced.
Watching him wander without his wits about him, I quietly inhaled and exhaled.
If I used a hero’s ability, I could clean this up easily.
However.63.*
My gaze lifted upward.
An unusually large number of CCTV cameras were installed on the ceiling.
As if they intended to record every single action of all the participants without missing anything.
I had already attacked the Dio Guild once before.
If I used the same skill Purple Devil had used, they would obviously notice immediately.
Even aside from that, it made no sense for an F-rank like me to wield Speeder’s <Infinite Acceleration> or <Regeneration>.
Moving like a flash of lightning and miraculously healing wounds—
Those were skills that rivaled an S-rank hunter in terms of ability.
For these reasons, I couldn’t use multiple hero abilities at once.
It would be like advertising that I possessed a special talent.
If I wanted to operate as Purple Devil, I had to thoroughly conceal my strength.
In that case.
The remaining options were Super Kid’s <Judgment of the Superhuman> and <Aura of God>.
One was offense.
One was perfect defense.
My choice was—
I clenched my fist and charged toward the group beating Bang Su-hwan.
Ding.
<Judgment of the Superhuman> is activated.
Boom!!!
Five people went down in a single blow.
“Ugh…….”
“What the hell is this guy?”
“I got hit in the stomach…… Uwehck!!!”
The guy who took the hit to the abdomen vomited violently.
Vomit poured out onto the blood-soaked carpet.
Bang Su-hwan’s face, after being beaten, was a complete mess.
His eyes were swollen shut, and everything above his neck was dyed purple.
I reached out my hand toward Bang Su-hwan.
“Get up.”
“……Y-yes. Hyung.”
Bang Su-hwan grabbed my hand and pulled himself up.
The guys I had hit took stances as if they were about to rush us again.
I picked up a steel pipe rolling on the floor.
With a slight squeeze of strength, I snapped it clean in half.
Crack!
“……Huh?”
“That thing could break?”
“……Isn’t that guy F-rank?”
According to the SRI analysis results.
As an awakener, I belonged to the Special-type, which didn’t fall into any of the five tiers.
Special-types consumed mana in unique ways to generate energy.
“He’s definitely Power-type.”
“Fuck. Even so, he’s just F-rank.”
“Come at me! You bastard!”
That was enough to deceive their eyes.
And from here on—
I tore the T-shirt I was wearing.
Rip! Rip!
I wrapped the cloth around my grip and the steel pipe, binding them together.
That way, even if my grip loosened, I wouldn’t drop my weapon.
“Hey, outcast.”
I called out to Bang Su-hwan, who was standing firmly beside me despite swaying.
Maybe he didn’t like the nickname, because his voice shrank back.
“Yes. Hyung.”
I turned around, putting my back to Bang Su-hwan.
“How long are you going to crawl before pieces of trash like that? You want to live your whole life being trampled by others?”
“…….”
I had no intention of offering half-baked comfort.
This place was a battlefield where life and death crossed paths.
“Just follow behind me. Fall behind, and I’ll leave you.”
That was the minimum encouragement I could offer.
A loud voice rang out behind me.
“Yes. Hyung!”
I heard the sound of forceful breathing, as if he had regained his spirit.
‘Kid. You’re finally living up to that big body of yours.’
I raised our momentum, but the situation itself hadn’t changed.
The brutal struggle to claim the chairs continued unabated.
I lifted the steel pipes connected to both hands.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
From then on, it was a vicious melee.
I swung the steel pipes like dual blades.
With my ferocious movements, hair soaked in sweat and blood whipped through the air.
Metal clashed against metal, and breathing grew ragged.
I smashed every bastard in sight indiscriminately, and blocked steel pipes flying in from all directions with my entire body.
One ear was torn open.
Ringing filled my head, and my vision blurred.
I endured, and endured again.
I swung, and swung again.
“Kraaaah!!!”
I abandoned defense and roared like I was possessed.
It was madness incarnate.
Someone’s steel pipe smashed into my knee.
The hairs on my body stood on end.
Indescribable pain spread throughout my entire body.
I barely held on by putting strength into one foot.
Bang Su-hwan seemed to have reached his limit as well.
When the hunters launched a combined attack, Bang Su-hwan could only stand there, helplessly taking it.
“Ugh…….”
I grabbed Bang Su-hwan by the collar as his eyes rolled back.
“Get a grip!”
I slapped his cheek, forcibly bringing him back to consciousness.
“Ugh…… Y-yes! H-hyung!”
I unwound the cloth wrapped around my hand.
I grabbed a steel pipe and hurled it at the guy attacking me.
The guy was struck by the pipe and toppled over backward.
“Aaagh! You cowardly bastard!”
The judge dragged the chair placed on the platform and came down below.
“Alright, 30 seconds left. I’ll enjoy the view from down here. Wow. Up close, it feels like I’m watching a 3D action movie.”
The bastard sat comfortably in the chair, watching the desperate scene unfold.
“25 seconds, 24 seconds, 23 seconds!”
Nearly ten people still standing in the banquet hall hurriedly secured a chair each.
‘What about my seat?’
As I looked around, a chair suddenly came into view.
“……Hyung. Sit down.”
Bang Su-hwan, beaten into a bloody mess, smiled faintly and offered me the chair.
I didn’t know where he’d gotten it, but he yielded his chair to me.
Then he lost consciousness just like that.
I slung an arm around Bang Su-hwan as he collapsed.
Ding.
At the perfect timing, the elevator doors opened.
A familiar face appeared.
‘Lee Yu-seol…… and next to her, Go Ju-hoon?’
I was certain I had killed that bastard.
For a moment, my mind fell into chaos.
That couldn’t be. There was no way he could be alive.
After blinking a couple of times and looking more carefully, I realized it was just someone who looked similar—it wasn’t Go Ju-hoon.
Seeing the greasy pomade hairstyle and the obnoxious suit made nausea rise up.
“Fuck. What are you looking at.”
The judge didn’t stop counting.
“10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds!”
If I sat on the chair like this, I would pass.
But Bang Su-hwan, who had sacrificed himself for me, would be eliminated.
I helped Bang Su-hwan down onto the chair I was supporting him with.
“5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds……!”
Then I rushed toward the judge who was enthusiastically counting.
“2 seconds! Huh?”
The bastard saw me and jumped up from his seat.
I had conserved my strength until now.
But that bastard was an S-rank hunter.
Even if I used <Judgment of the Superhuman>, his head probably wouldn’t explode.
I grit my teeth and attacked the judge with everything I had.
“You crazy bastard……! Ghk!”
The judge blocked the punch with both hands, but took the full impact and was sent flying far away.
I immediately plopped myself down onto the empty chair the judge had been sitting on.
“Dibs.”