107 – Suddenly, the Ninjas Appeared! #4
The Nymphs spouted a tremendous pressure of water from their mouths.
Puuuuuuuuuu-.
It was like a waterfall.
As the Nymphs combined their powers and released the water, the ninjas’ flames were snuffed out, unable to hold their ground.
“Are you telling me that flames raised by magic can be extinguished this easily?”
“These strange ones are strong!”
“Not strange ones, but the Nymph Inoi of the ditch water…!”
“Our Nymph sisters’ water cannon has special magical power, capable of extinguishing any fire…!”
“Are you telling me to pay for the water…? Can’t you listen that there’s nothing free from Adam Smith, the disciple of Illinois…?”
Before long, the playground was filled with water.
The ninjas were soaking wet as well.
Soon, Cha Yura reached out her hand.
“If you’re soaked like that, it’ll be easy to subdue you! Now, freeze! Frizzdent!”
Sooze—.
The ninjas, drenched in water, froze at a rapid speed.
It happened in a very quick moment.
“Blizzard Breath!”
Puuuuuuuuuu-.
Seizing the moment, Cha Yura exhaled cold air from her mouth.
The playground froze over like an ice rink, and the ninjas were instantly frozen, like frozen tuna.
In a very short time, nearly ten Awakened ones were subdued.
Indeed, the combat power of an S Rank Awakened was like a natural disaster.
“This is the joint attack of me, Cha Yura, and my Nymph sisters! With the Nymph sisters by my side, I, Cha Yura, am truly invincible! Muahahaha!”
With a flourish, Cha Yura raised her hand.
The combination of Cha Yura, who could actually manipulate cold air, and the Nymphs, who could spout water freely, was excellent.
“Domo-. Cha Yura-sama. Ambush Ninja desu.”
Pat-!
At that moment, someone dashed toward Cha Yura.
It was a black shadow.
Moving at a very fast speed.
Just when I thought I might not be able to block it, a silver flash sprang forth, intercepting the black shadow’s kick with its own foot.
Paaang-!
An intense shockwave burst forth as the two were flung back.
They quickly regained their postures and spoke to each other.
“Ambush.”
“Cyborg Ninja.”
Is it a battle among the Awakened of Japan?
They soon drew their swords and fiercely began fighting, with the clash of mana creating an intense situation where others couldn’t intervene.
Kang, Kakakakakang-!
The ninjutsu and lethal karate moves intertwined, creating sharp slashes that whipped around the area.
That “A. Ninja” seemed to be a fully packed A Rank, but the power in his hands battling against the “S. Ninja” was tremendously strong.
“Hiieeek…! It’s too fast to see…!”
“Inoi! Come this way with the other Nymphs!”
I thought I had to evacuate the Nymphs first.
Just as I successfully got them into the bunker on the playground.
—–Crurung…!
Kkungkkungi, who had been sitting on my shoulder, puffed up his fur.
Turning to look, I saw Ki Seung-jae appearing on the playground amidst a swarm of countless machines.
“The essence of an Awakened is that of a combat weapon. Just like a car has significance from moving, we Awakened have significance only when we are on the battlefield.”
“Ki Seung-jae, you’ve really caused some trouble.”
“If you don’t want to be forgotten by everyone, you have to make the world a battlefield. Forever!”
Had he transformed his body into a machine, with his soul consumed by cold metal?
Ki Seung-jae had become a truly insane human.
—–Crurung…!
Pababat-!
Even though I didn’t ask, Kkungkkungi charged at Ki Seung-jae.
Of course, the mechanical squirrel that popped out from Ki Seung-jae’s sleeve blocked Kkungkkungi.
—–Kang. Kang.
Pajijijik-!
A mechanical squirrel emitting an evident current from its body.
Kkungkkungi quickly dodged the electric current, moving swiftly.
Having fought the mechanical squirrel once, he must have figured out its patterns.
“You—! You terrorist! Nice to meet you!”
It was then.
The air heated up suddenly, and I saw Seo Ye-rim spreading her palm toward Ki Seung-jae.
She looked extremely angry.
“Flame Maple!”
Flame in the shape of a maple sprang from Seo Ye-rim’s palm.
It struck Ki Seung-jae, and the coat draped over his body melted and evaporated in an instant.
“You monster! To vaporize the arson coat all at once!”
Ki Seung-jae seemed flustered by Seo Ye-rim’s firepower.
Did he not know that the power of an S Rank Awakened was like this?
No—.
That wouldn’t make sense.
This guy wasn’t the type to make such sloppy mistakes.
“Wait—.”
I realized something strange.
Seo Ye-rim’s palm was already primed with a blazing second flame.
If this continued, everyone would be gravely hurt.
“Lee Jin-A! Stop Seo Ye-rim!”
“What? How am I supposed to stop that!”
“Just! Try to calm her anger!”
“No, that’s not an easy task—. Ughhh-.”
Swish-.
Lee Jin-A placed her hand on her temple.
Soon, the bulging veins on Seo Ye-rim’s forehead slowly disappeared.
“What’s this? My feelings have calmed down. It feels kind of bad, though. Since my feelings have calmed, I think I’ll get angry instead.”
Did I succeed in temporarily controlling Seo Ye-rim?
But I doubt this state will last long.
I quickly racked my brain.
# # #
I recalled the past.
All the pasts I didn’t want to remember.
In my mind, Ki Seung-jae was particularly a being pursuing perfection.
“Look at this. A robot moving with perfect algorithms and assemblies. Isn’t it amazing? You can’t achieve this with a shoddy creation. Only someone as perfect as me can…”
Right.
Ki Seung-jae was, in his own way, a perfectionist.
He steadily rose to A rank with the sensitive and keen manual dexterity he gained from becoming Awakened.
Terror perpetrated by such a guy—
Now that I think about it, isn’t something strange?
I spoke to Ki Seung-jae.
“Why are you trying to create an exaggerated incident and do such foolish things? If your goal was to hurt people, you could have handled things without us noticing.”
Ninjas were individuals capable of moving stealthily.
If there were the killing drones created by Ki Seung-jae, the damage would have been much greater.
But the current situation had a comical aspect like children’s play.
Suddenly making a huge fire only to be easily subdued by the Nymphs, extinguished.
I found this suspicious in many ways.
“I may not fool anyone else, but I can’t be fooled by you, Ki Seung-jae. You are exceptionally sloppy. It seems like a plan devised with the assumption of failure. In many ways, it’s sloppily careless. This goes against your algorithms.”
From the start, a normal operation wouldn’t have rushed into a battlefield with at least four S rank Awakened on standby.
That would be as foolish as jumping into a burning house with a gas tank.
“However, if you think that just causing problems is your goal, then I can understand it. You just wanted to attract people’s attention, didn’t you?”
I was a human who craved attention for a long time.
I understood better than anyone the desire to attract attention and aggro.
But Ki Seung-jae didn’t acknowledge that.
“No. What nonsense. Haildo. Don’t chatter so much; just come at me, you punk! How can a lowly fool who’s been stuck at D rank for so long brag like that? Do you still think you’re the best among us?”
Pat-.
Ki Seung-jae spread his hand.
Then, the tail of the mechanical squirrel fighting Kkungkkungi revved like a chainsaw.
“Go! Iron Tail!”
Ki Seung-jae shouted loudly.
However, Kkungkkungi opened his mouth wide and roared like thunder.
—–Crurung…!
Flames erupted from Kkungkkungi’s mouth.
Seeing that, Ki Seung-jae was taken aback.
“A Squirrel Beast can breathe fire?”
“There are occasionally Squirrel Beasts among the top ones that can breathe fire; those squirrels can evolve into the ‘One and Only King,’ the Fire Squirrel.”
“…Fire Squirrel….”
Ki Seung-jae’s expression twitched as if he couldn’t comprehend.
But what mattered was that Kkungkkungi charged toward the flaming mechanical squirrel and bit down hard on its nape.
—–Kkungkkungi…!
—–Kang. Kuuuuuuuuuuh…!
Had it lost a crucial wiring, the mechanical squirrel sagged.
The message this scene conveyed was clear.
The second round ended in Kkungkkungi’s victory.
“Then I guess I should make my move as well.”
Zuuung-.
I drew my beam saber.
And dashed swiftly toward Ki Seung-jae.
“Come at me! You punk! Haildo, do you think you can make even a scratch on my body?!”
He raised his arm to block me.
It was a mechanical arm, but I pretended to swing my sword and easily tripped him, aiming my lightsaber at his neck.
“It’s the same as ever, you still can’t fight. Ki Seung-jae, you were the type who disliked fighting from the start. You always pretended to be dragged along during operations, hiding away.”
“…What are you talking about? We were indeed dragged along. Did we voluntarily fight?”
Ki Seung-jae obediently raised his hands.
I was worried he might pull some unexpected stunt, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.
Ki Seung-jae was a clever guy.
I asked such a guy.
“Why did you do such a foolish thing? Be honest with me. You and I have a connection, don’t we?”
Ki Seung-jae seemed to realize that everything was over.
After a moment of hesitating, he finally let out a small sigh and opened his mouth.
“Min-kyu.”
“Min-kyu?”
“Min-kyu’s daughter entered elementary school this year. When I went to visit, I saw Min-kyu’s parents and daughter living in a cramped room, sweating profusely in summer without even a fan. They gave me ice cream even while dripping sweat.”
“……”
“Three people living in a tiny room. The compensation money Min-kyu received was taken away by his wife. Haildo. Do you think this makes sense?”
I had no words.
Jeong Min-kyu was the first of my friends to pass away.
He was a kind-hearted person.
He hated fighting.
At that time, kind-hearted people were the first to get hurt and fall.
“Now, I’ll just be known in the newspapers and news for disrupting the executives’ soccer match. While Min-kyu’s daughter is living in a one-room apartment, neglected by everyone. Do people even know who Jeong Min-kyu was?”
“……”
“Everyone has forgotten us. What’s most infuriating is that we’ve also forgotten ourselves. Excuses aside, we’ve forgotten ourselves. If I don’t do this even now, I will truly be dead.”
I could understand Seung-jae’s feelings.
And that made me angry.
“Was there really no other way? You, a smart guy, thought this was the best option?”
Ki Seung-jae chuckled.
He said,
“Haildo. I know you sent that meager money to the deceased. That’s why you lived miserably. But that doesn’t solve the fundamental problem.”
“Seung-jae. No matter how you put it, your actions are acts of terrorism.”
I restrained Ki Seung-jae’s two arms.
Though most of his body was now machine-like with hardly any human parts left, for some reason, I could still feel that he had hot blood flowing and a beating heart.
It was then.
Someone emerged suddenly.
“Are you trying to brush over the criminal scene with a melodrama…? Even if you try to sneak over the wall like a snake, it won’t help…!”
It was the Nymphs, whom I had evacuated to the temporary bunker on the playground.
“That Illinois holds a grudge for having wagered everything on the victory of the Japanese soccer team and will never forget…! The Nymph sisters will punish this steel type human…!”
“This Inoi also wanted to see the soccer game…! But how disappointing it is that it got disrupted by the ninjas…!”
“This Coris doesn’t know what’s happening, but feels happy alongside the Nymph sisters…!”
“Let’s do it…!”
Dududududududu-.
The Nymphs surrounded the tightly bound Ki Seung-jae and began to beat him up!
