Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Shut Up and Take It
* * *
My forehead had definitely been pierced. But to get back up again—what in the world was happening?
When one of the group took a step back, the young man shouted.
“You idiots, he’s a slot!”
If one underwent cybernetics surgery, the very strength of their musculoskeletal system could be enhanced. Maybe he had even modified his genes. The methods were endless. He was no ghost. Just one branch of evolution that humanity had pursued.
“If that's what you want to believe, fine.”
A highly developed society.
It had become harder to verify one's identity, but as a result, it had become easier to hide one's true nature. People interpreted and accepted things on their own without needing explanations. That’s why I had boldly revealed my true self.
Bang! Bang!
Bullets fired right in front of me, but I dodged them head-on without even blinking.
A duck that was sharp and precise.
In contrast, the young man’s face was twisted beyond measure. Even though it was a misfire that exploded right in front of him, it felt like something that had happened far away.
That’s how absurd the situation was.
But unfortunately, reality crashed in along with a jarring pain. I had closed the distance and driven my foot into his abdomen with a spinning kick.
The blow was so intense it felt like his insides were turning upside down, but the young man couldn't even collapse as he pleased.
Because I hadn’t let go of his hand.
“Even if you're leaving, you’ve got to give this up first.”
I roughly snatched the pistol from his grasp and pulled the trigger toward the two people running at me.
Without even looking.
Bang, bang.
Only two bullets were used.
No more, no less. That was all it took. Before the gunshots even faded, the ones who had followed the young man fell backwards.
Violence so efficient, it bordered on grotesque. Faced with a situation he had never experienced before, the young man—
“How…?”
—could only utter such a foolish question.
“I’ve got nothing but time.”
And it was true.
Shin, who neither aged nor died, had walked alongside human history for a long, long time. Sometimes as a bystander, other times as a collaborator.
As time passed, civilization matured, but humanity's mindset still hadn’t escaped the Third World War.
Round and round, what advanced technology had given birth to was a new age of barbarism.
Life had become abundant, but daily existence had become desolate.
Learning martial arts, just to protect oneself, had become inevitable.
And most decisively—
“Just seeing trash like you makes my body twist. I’m not particularly interested in sanitation, but shouldn’t you at least know how to sort the recycling?”
Threat and attempted theft.
He might protest that such punishment was too harsh for that, but I didn’t care.
“Let’s see here.”
Shin took out 50,000 Pia and slipped it into the young man’s breast pocket.
“With this, we’ve established a motive. And the weapon…”
Staring down at the pistol, Shin smiled brightly.
“Here it is. Even if a Strider like you dies over a disagreement, no one will care.”
Just as roughly as when he’d taken it, Shin shoved the pistol back into the young man’s hand and hooked his index finger around the trigger. Then he pointed the barrel at the young man’s temple.
“No, I…”
He had only meant to scare him.
The young man, who had been about to spit out a half-baked lie, froze. Come to think of it, the trigger had already been pulled. There was no way excuses would work now.
Realizing that he wasn’t someone you could beg for mercy from, the young man screamed.
“Let go of me! I said let go!”
Despite struggling with all his weight, Shin’s hand didn’t budge. The pressure felt like being caught in a vise, and the young man’s thrashing turned into near-convulsions.
“If my people find out, you’re dead. Every Strider in this zone will be your enemy. You better think carefully. Otherwise…”
A cliché that sounded like it had been repeated thousands, even tens of thousands of times. Looking down at the young man with an indifferent gaze, Shin delivered his judgment without a hint of emotion.
“Shut up and take it.”
Bang!
* * *
“Oh, Mister Testosterone. Look at this—what you’ve been begging for: the rent.”
Pulling the envelope out with an air of mischief, Shin tilted his head.
Arnold’s face didn’t look right.
Normally, he’d have thrown some jab about the nickname, but today, his stiff expression showed no signs of easing.
“I went through all the trouble to get this—what’s with that reaction? What’s going on?”
Arnold stared blankly at Shin and let out a low murmur.
“Now that I think about it… you said you’re a fixer, didn’t you?”
“How’d you figure that out?”
“Do you think it makes sense for a landlord not to know the job of a tenant who’s lived here for 15 years?”
“Fair enough.”
Despite his cold demeanor, Arnold had still offered Shin a place to live, even with his uncertain background.
But that didn’t mean he’d done so without keeping an eye on him. He must have investigated in some way.
And since he’d found nothing incriminating, he’d accepted him.
“So? Are you looking to hire me for something?”
At that, Arnold responded with a gloomy face.
“My nephew’s being bullied at school.”
“That’s a… rather minor reason.”
Of course, Shin didn’t mean to belittle it. It just felt like too trivial a topic for such a heavy atmosphere.
“Not sure if you know, but I specialize in retaliation. I’m not some babysitter who has a heart-to-heart with the kids.”
“Don’t worry. That’s exactly why I came to you. If you can resolve it cleanly, I’ll never charge you rent again.”
When Shin raised an eyebrow as if to ask what he meant, Arnold stood up from his seat.
“Visiting hours are just around the corner.”
* * *
Winter was an ordinary student. Except for the fact that his parents had died early, and his uncle Arnold had taken their place.
Unfortunate, yes—but not unlucky.
At least, that’s what Winter truly believed.
Until he caught the attention of Gerald and his crew.
“I heard you’re the top student in school. Share the answer sheet during tomorrow’s midterms.”
A few days before the incident, Gerald had approached him. Making an absurd demand as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Using a device to communicate during an exam is against school policy.”
Winter had protested confidently, but it meant nothing to Gerald.
“You gonna do it or not?”
Worse yet, he called over his crew to pressure him.
“He’s asking you a question.”
Winter didn’t respond. He ignored them. He knew all too well that if he flinched or hesitated, he’d become easy prey.
He’d also heard the rumors floating around the school.
About how vicious and cruel Gerald could be.
At the time, Winter believed staying firm was the best choice. But it didn’t take long for it to lead to the worst possible outcome.
He was dragged by force to an abandoned factory.
If Gerald had been alone, he might have been able to escape. But Gerald had his gang with him. They came at him from all directions, and Winter was powerless on his own.
“You must’ve felt great, huh? Ignoring me like that. So a model student like you sees a thug like me as less than livestock, huh? What’s with that look? Eyes down, before I rip them out.”
In the short time they’d been apart, Gerald’s attitude had grown even more vicious—too much for Winter to even argue against.
“If I can’t take the test, then you can’t either. That’s fair, right? Grab him.”
“W-what?”
“Time for some real education.”
What followed was a brutal beating. Gerald seemed used to violence, and it showed in his merciless blows. Still, Winter resisted and didn’t give in.
“Someone like you thinks you can ignore me? Just because you’re good at studying?”
Come to think of it, hadn’t Gerald once said his dream was to join the Public Enforcement Corps? This was all clearly to boost his grades.
But knowing someone’s motive didn’t mean you could escape the crisis.
“Shit, once I graduate, I’ll just get a sub-brain implant in my head. That’s it. Don’t even need to memorize this crap anymore! And you, you smug little beggar, think you're better than me because you can read a few lines of text?”
Rather than calming down, Gerald seemed to be getting more worked up. In some ways, he looked almost intoxicated with rage.
“Die. Just die already!”
“Ghhk.”
Winter sprinted the moment he saw an opening, but he didn’t get far. Gerald’s gang was stationed outside the factory, too.
“This still isn’t enough to break you, is it.”
Maybe because he’d escaped once.
The situation spiraled out of control.
Being dragged in front of a cutting machine used for molds was simply the next step.
“Well then, how about this?”
A rusted saw blade and an uneven frame.
Its appearance was chilling, but Winter forcibly suppressed his pounding heart. It was obvious that the factory’s power had been cut off long ago.
There was no way it would run.
The moment he asserted that to himself, catastrophe struck.
* * *
Even Shin, who was used to things like this, couldn’t help but recoil after hearing Winter’s story.
When people talked about school violence, it usually meant beatings. Anything beyond that crossed into a realm that could no longer be dismissed as mischief.
“This is… pretty bad.”
What he could see were two legs of mismatched length. It was easy to guess that coercive methods had been used. Inhuman ones, at that.
Arnold clenched his molars and turned the breath leaking from his mouth into words.
“They said it wasn’t intentional.”
“Bullshit.”
It was such a pitiful addendum that the word slipped out reflexively.
“What about reconstructive surgery?”
“They said it can’t be done.”
It was frightening even to ask how it had been severed.
If Winter asked whether he had to live like this, the answer was obviously no. Modern medical technology had long since surpassed human comprehension.
Growing replacement body parts or obtaining prosthetic limbs wasn’t difficult.
Yes—if you had the money.
The world operated under a basic income system, but that only guaranteed the minimum dignity of being human. It didn’t promise vast wealth. Luxury goods and non-essentials could still only be obtained through labor.
Shin let out a low hum.
“I get that this isn’t a simple case. But isn’t this within the jurisdiction of the Public Enforcement Corps?”
Aggravated assault and forming a criminal group—there was no shortage of charges that could be pinned on Gerald.
Arnold’s shoulders sagged as he clenched his fists.
“Protesting to the school was meaningless. The Public Enforcement Corps was the same.”
“Why?”
It was a serious enough incident that there was no way it wouldn’t make the news. Settling it before it escalated would’ve been the smart move.
The answer came not from Arnold, but from Winter.
“Because his older brother is a sheriff.”
“So that’s why you came to me.”
A sheriff.
A position only attainable after serving more than ten years in the Public Enforcement Corps. Of course, it also required commensurate achievements. Fewer than one in ten investigators ever became sheriffs.
In other words, an elite among elites.
For ordinary people, it was no different from a disaster.
“What do you want?”
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Could you teach him what it felt like?”
The direction he wanted was so clear that Arnold opened his mouth without realizing it. That Gerald should suffer as much as Winter had meant—
“Wait, Winter. You promised me. We agreed to keep the request within reasonable bounds.”
“You’re saying the victim has to hold back out of consideration for the perpetrator. I can’t accept that.”
The two stared at each other in silence for a while. Not because they had nothing to say, but because there was too much.
The one who broke the silence hanging in the room was Shin.
“You’re right.”