Volume 1 - CH 1

To be honest, having both of my arms tied behind me was a first for me. The feeling was uncomfortable and hard to describe…let’s just say that it makes you feel that you would die through no blood circulation instead.

When I opened my eyes, all I saw was darkness and when I closed it, all I saw was darkness as well. The first thing that popped into my mind was that I had become blind.

Of course, I couldn’t rule out the possibility of me being enclosed in a small dark room. At least I still had my glasses.

Then fear hit me relentlessly as I panicked. Unless you’re a blind man yourself, anyone would panic when they were in a completely dark environment. Maybe it was due to my sense of sight being robbed, but my sense of hearing and smell became more keen.

“Is anybody out there?”

I tried to call out, but didn’t get any reply other than my faint echos.

“Is there anyone out there?”

I tried to call out again, this time with a louder voice.

This time. there was a reply, but it wasn’t a positive one. A weird bad stench assaulted my nose coupled with creepy rustling noise.

And then, I got hit.

I’ve been hit so many times in my whole life, but to be hit while  my vision was robbed was a first time for me. The attacker even deliberately aimed for my head.

It wasn’t that  painful, not until to the degree of me being beaten to death, at least. If you ask about the dizziness, then I really felt dizzy. It felt worse than the worst hangover I had in my whole life. The dizziness overcame me as I fainted.

I couldn’t tell how long I was out, but when I could finally open my eyes, the disgusting stench and rustling sound had vanished. I felt lucky that I didn’t die, but maybe the situation I was in wasn’t something that lucky. My arms suddenly felt painful around the wrist. Oh right, My hands were tied up.

“I’ve only lived for 20 over years, it couldn’t be my karma, right? Or is it the karma of the me from the previous life?”

I felt tired and sighed. Craving for a cigarette, I tried to reach for the lighter and a pack of cigarettes in my shirt pocket but couldn’t reach it with my tied-up limbs. I couldn’t run, and calling for help would only attract the attention of that guy who kept hitting me. If I couldn’t use my limbs, then let’s use my brain to at least figure out who did this to me.If there is a slight chance that I can escape, I could directly go to a police station and report a kidnapping.

But now that I think about it, isn’t it kind of scary?

First was the horrible stench. It was impossible for a human to emit such smell unless they had an intention to. Next, the rustling sound. It didn’t sound like someone was out there making the sound but it sounded like it was from my surroundings. Furthermore, as long as you were a human, your footsteps would make sound. With sound in mind, I also didn’t hear any door opening. This means that I was in an open area, and not in an enclosed space.

I’m a genius at reasoning! Please call me Detective C※nan!

Still, what’s the point of knowing these stuff?

Furthermore, based on these knowledge, didn’t the possibility of the opponent being not a human become higher?

Still, not being in an enclosed space was beneficial to me. As long as I could get these ropes off, I had a chance to escape.

Ugh, I should just save my brain power.

Although it felt like I was going to die, my mind screamed in protest to live. It didn’t matter if I became blind, broke my limbs, or even have no chance to see those who were important to me.

I just wanted to live.

Suddenly, as if it heard my thoughts, the horrible stench assaulted my nose again. I didn’t struggle, because I felt a pair of hands tying a rope around my waist.

My reaction was——”Don’t kill me, please! Anything but that!”——I said such unmanly words without a moment of hesitation.

There’s only one reason I would say this: I didn’t want to die.

However, I felt the pair of hands untying the rope binding my hands and continued with the ropes binding my legs. I didn’t move a single muscle as if I was an acrobat walking on a tightrope. Hope, survival and confidence. These words materialised within me as my limbs felt like they were filled with strength.

However, in reality, I was just sitting on the floor. Indeed, I was filled with confidence, but those few hours of being tied up caused me to be unable to move my arm.

“THE HELL!?”

When I tried to move my arm, I immediately screamed out these two words loudly. It wasn’t because my arms hurt, but because the rope tied around my waist was pulled from the other end by someone. If I had to describe the strength, I would say that rather than a human, it could be a 125cc motorbike¹ pulling it.

My muscles desperately tried to protect my fragile backbone, causing painful muscle cramps coupled with the pain of being dragged on a floor. Clenching my teeth, I put my hands around my head to protect it from the unending impacts on something that was like a wall. Also, maybe it was because of the sand and dust that had entered my lungs, it hurts like hell.

Unable to take the pain anymore, I howled out painfully.

That’s right. I howled. I didn’t even know a human such as myself was capable of making such a sound

The only thing I was glad of was that it didn’t last long. If this continued on for 30 more seconds, I was sure I would be dead.

And then, another good thing happened——I saw a light!

The sunlight was so strong that it made me dizzy. Even though I may be an idiot, I was not blind! My eyes were properly executing their duties!

Looking at my hands, although they were covered in scratches and wounds,at least I could still move them; Looking at my body, although my favorite T-shirt was ruined, at least my backbone was still intact; Looking at my legs, the knees were scraped and bleeding, but I would still be able to run and even jump after it heals!

Talking about jumping, I finally remembered the rope binding my legs…..

Maybe it’s because I was tortured until I had become crazy? Or maybe I was just having a nightmare right now?

The ‘rope’ which looked like a snake at a first glance still looked like a snake.

No, seriously. It was a real snake.

The brown stripes on the snake didn’t look that appealing. After gulping down my little saliva left in my mouth, and looked upwards. The ‘rope’ tied around my waist was actually a thick yarn fabric. I couldn’t discern whether the fabric was a piece of ‘cloth’ or not, but the problem didn’t lie there. The real problem was that the snake had a waist……

IT HAS A WAIST?!

I sat dumbfounded at the sight of what was in my field of vision as I tried to decide whether my eyes were telling me lies.The curvy waist, big breast, sexy collarbone, beautiful face, snakes that were slithering their tongues among her hair and the rope on her hand.

All of it showed the signs that she was a mythical monster, the ‘Medusa’.

Okay, now that there was a real monster in front of me, there was no procedures or experiences whatsoever that I could use as a reference at all. All I could do now was pray that she didn’t eat humans.

In other words——’Survive first, others later’.

I didn’t utter a single word as I quietly became a half-dead man.

She didn’t utter a single word as she quietly became a Medusa who had tied up a half-dead man.

The animal fur underneath me on the floor didn’t utter a single word.

The warm sun shining down on me didn’t utter a single word.

An unending dripping noise from somewhere was the sound of water.

I glanced at the water spring in front of me and crawled over. Turning my head, I glanced at the owner of the ‘rope’ tied around my waste. Thinking that the action of drinking water doesn’t show any hostile intent, I lowered my head to the small spring of water to drink.

The source of the spring was from a cliff on top of it. Water dripped down from a protruded rock into a small pit of water, forming a spring gradually. The spring was also surrounded by pebbles, probably by that monster to prevent sand and stone from contaminating the water.

So thirsty. The first mouthful of water felt as if it evaporated when it reached my throat. I kept on drinking even though the water tasted weird, but still, I kept drinking until I didn’t feel thirsty anymore. More than half of the water in the spring had been drunk by me when I raised my head to see that monster’s face around 10 centimetres from my face.

Although I was surprised, I didn’t move away. It wasn’t because I wasn’t afraid, but because I was too tired to even move. Even nodding my head now would prove impossible.

To be honest, she wasn’t really that pretty. She had a normal face if you looked at her more deeply. Her eyes that were droopy yet slit eyes²  looked weird and the bridge of her nose wasn’t that high. But unexpectedly, her lips were quite thin. If she puts on makeup, she would look like a beauty. Without it, she would still be considered good looking. Women who were still beautiful after taking off their makeup totaled up to less than 30% of the world’s women.

Of course, the above evaluation I gave didn’t include her bodily stench.

Ahh……Have I already broken down mentally to be appraising a female monster’s beauty?

Just like how a body will grow tired, a brain would too. I think that I may have overused my brain today, because I have no idea why I woke up in a dark place while being tied up, beaten and then dragged on the floor till I was nearly dead by some monster. It even had a feminine face which I had no idea how it grew one……

I really want to sleep now. At least when I sleep, I won’t feel scared.

If I could make a wish, then it would be that I would still be alive when I wake up. Miss Medusa, wait, let’s call you Sister Sa to be more intimate……

Good night.