al_squad
patreon
The Mist Vol 3 Chapter 17
🕑 Added 2024-09-11 12:54:47 +0000 UTCVol 3 Chapter 17
His clothes had become blood-soaked rags due to wounds from losing his balance and getting hit or cut by knives. The aching and stinging all over his body was bearable, but the unprecedented exhaustion left him unable to take a single step from where he stood. However, more than anything, there was a belated joy of having attacked a real opponent for the first time in three years, forgetting everything else—a feeling he hadn't had time to experience earlier.
"Heh... haha... hah..."
Even laughing was difficult, but somehow feeling like he might cry, he couldn't help but laugh. Kapros walked forward, letting out monstrous laughter. Anyone who heard it would have thought he was insane.
He didn't forget to step hard on the men strewn about like garbage as he passed, sighing with regret. The faces of the guys who had been beaten several times more than he had been hit were unrecognizable, but the unresolved anger still left him feeling unsatisfied.
If just one of them had been conscious, he would have asked about who had hired them and the details of the situation, but perhaps because he had beaten them with his eyes completely rolled back, when he came to his senses, he found himself still attacking the men who had long since lost consciousness. He tried to wake them by kicking and hitting them belatedly, but they wouldn't get up.
He considered stepping on their groins, but in his exhausted state, it didn't seem like it would do much damage, so he gave up. Normally, he wouldn't have spared such perverted bastards and would have buried them, but now he was at the point of exhaustion himself.
'No choice. I'll have to go to the nearby kendo dojo and come back.'
Fortunately, the dojo was less than 500 meters from this alley. As it seemed difficult to collect these guys with his remaining strength, he planned to go to his master and ask for help.
After giving one last hate-filled glare at the damn bastards who would clearly be unconscious for at least half a day judging by how they had fallen, Kapros wiped the blood flowing from his cheek and left the alley without hesitation. For once, his still-limping leg didn't feel frustrating or angering.
His master and his wife were greatly surprised to see the boy who had left a few hours ago return injured.
"Oh my goodness, Mu-heon!"
At the sound of his master's wife crying out in surprise while supporting his collapsing body as soon as he opened the door, his master rushed out and helped Kapros in. Only after drinking water frantically and resting a bit was he finally able to properly explain the situation. Of course, he omitted what those pervert-like bastards had tried to do to him, only telling them about the situation before that.
When Kapros said that he had suddenly been dragged away and shown a photo of Yoon Seok-ho, and that the men had asked if Yoon Seok-ho hadn't visited the dojo a few times about three years ago, to which he had answered that he didn't know, a puzzled look appeared on the faces of his master and his wife, who had been listening to his story seriously.
"...Did you say about three years ago?"
"Yes. The dojo's signboard was clearly visible in the photo."
"Well... I don't remember well... Actually, around that time, there were so many reporters for interviews and such..."
"Ahem. Dear."
His master interrupted his wife's words with a cough. His wife then looked at Kapros's face apologetically, startled.
"...I'm fine."
Kapros roughly knew why his master and his wife were acting this way. He had heard about the reporters from media outlets who had swarmed in after he was hospitalized following 'that day.'
Apparently, journalists had been quite interested in the tragic story of the national high school kendo championship winner becoming critically injured less than an hour after grasping the victory cup. For a while, people had crowded around his master's house, the dojo, and even his parents' home to the point where they couldn't go outside.
His parents and master's couple had been so stressed from rejecting most of the interview requests that all four of them now didn't even read online newspapers, but despite this, no one had properly told Kapros, who had risen after hovering between life and death. They probably judged that hearing such stories wouldn't be helpful to him, but as a result, even after several years, the topic remained taboo in front of him. Kapros smiled at his master's wife as if to say it was okay.
His master's wife sighed as she wiped the blood flowing from Kapros's face and arms with a cotton swab. At the same time, his master spoke up as if to redirect attention.
"Right... So what happened then?"
Ah... He had only talked about the photo, not yet mentioning its subject.
"Yes. But the person in the photo was a familiar face."
At those words, his master and his wife's faces changed strangely.
"A familiar face?"
"Yes. I don't mean we're close, but it was a face I happened to know. The person in the photo was someone named Yoon Seok-ho."
After taking a breath, Kapros added his final words.
"He's the head of the Korean branch of a company called Saturn that made a game called THE MIST."
At that moment, his master's face, which had been subtly changing as he listened to the story, transformed dramatically.
"Ah! It must be that person from back then."
"Dear. You remember?"
In response to his wife's question, his master nodded.
"Yes. About 3 years ago, didn't a man who looked like an entertainer come, saying he worked for some game company?"
Kapros barely managed to suppress a sneer at the word "entertainer," forgetting the situation for a moment. However, unlike him, his master's wife seemed to get a hint from those words and brightened up, her face flushing.
"I remember now. That man who looked like the movie actor Jo Chan-sung..."
"Never mind that. Yes, I think it was that person, Mu-heon."
"From the description, it seems likely it was that person."
If nothing else, a man with an entertainer-like face working for a game company was unmistakable. Kapros's heart pounded with tension at the fact that Yoon Seok-ho had indeed visited his master.
Upon hearing Kapros's answer, his master's expression became serious again as he opened his mouth.
