Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Damian abruptly stood up at the creaking sound in the hallway.

It was strange enough to be wandering the halls at this hour, but what was even more suspicious was how cautiously the footsteps approached.

‘Could it be someone Parker sent?’

Well, Parker wasn’t someone who would just let things slide.

But Damian had come all the way out here to avoid him...

‘Is he still holding a grudge after taking such a beating?’

Or perhaps, because of the beating, he had become more determined.

But there were no regrets.

If he hadn’t beaten him up, it would have haunted him forever.

Swoosh.

Damian moved closer to the door.

Soon, he could sense someone outside.

It felt like they were pressing their ears against the door.

“......”

Damian held his breath, staying completely still, and soon heard the sound of the lock clicking as the door, which had been locked, was opened.

‘...Are they all in on it?’

But Damian didn’t blame the innkeeper. He likely had no choice but to go along with it.

He couldn’t risk protecting a guest and then later face who knows what kind of misfortune for crossing these people.

Click.

Bang!

As soon as the door opened, Damian pushed off the floor and launched himself towards it.

“Argh!”

“What the...!”

Before the door had fully opened, the sight of Damian charging through the gap made the intruders scream in terror as if they’d seen a ghost.

They were amateurs.

Thud!

Damian, prepared for the possibility, drove his knife into the right thigh of the one in front.

Squelch!

“Gaaah!”

Damian frowned at the knife that went only halfway in.

Even though the knife was sharp, it didn’t penetrate as deeply as it should have.

Rip!

“Aaaahhhh!”

But it didn’t matter.

Damian dragged the half-embedded knife downwards and then slashed at the side of the one next to him.

Slash!

“Gah!”

It was a shallow cut.

The man had instinctively pulled back just in time.

“You bastard!”

The man who had been slashed in the side quickly pulled out a knife and swung it at Damian.

The original order had been to beat Damian enough to incapacitate him, then bring him back.

But after being slashed, he lost his temper completely.

“I’ll kill you!”

Swish!

At the moment when the knife was about to stab Damian...

Whoosh.

“...Huh?”

The boy, as if knowing where the knife would strike, had already moved.

Confused by the sudden shift in his target, the thug hesitated. But...

Thud!

“Aaaah!”

A scream erupted as pain shot through his left leg, making him collapse.

Damian’s dagger had slashed through his thigh before he realized it.

“Haah... Haah... Haah...”

Why am I out of breath already?

Damian tried to steady his breathing, calming his heaving chest.

Then, grabbing the fallen thug by the collar, he asked,

“Did Parker send you?”

“P-Please... Spare me... Aaaahhh!”

Thud!

“Did Parker send you?!”

Damian yelled as he dug into the man’s wound. But at that moment...

“You’re quite the terrifying little thing, aren’t you?”

“...?”

Damian turned to the voice that came from the side.

The man was slightly taller than the average adult, but his frame was somewhat lean.

Wearing what looked like a black leather jacket, his face was marked by a long, vertical scar across his left eye, a striking feature.

As Damian saw him chewing gum or something, his expression hardened.

“...Mukman?”

“Hmm? Did I introduce myself?”

Mukman seemed puzzled by Damian’s murmur, not expecting the boy to know his name.

But when he appeared, a puzzle piece in Damian’s mind clicked into place.

A deeply twisted piece of the puzzle, that is.

“Kh-kh-kh-kh... Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

Damian shook with laughter, his shoulders trembling uncontrollably.

Mukman frowned slightly at Damian’s sudden outburst.

“What’s wrong? Have you gone mad?”

“Damn it... Was it all planned from the start?”

The thug Damian had encountered in the alley was Mukman.

Yes, looking back, there were several strange things.

No matter how deep into the alley Damian had fled, the timing for those guys to capture him didn’t make sense.

‘They... sold me out?’

It wasn’t enough that they had taken his parents’ insurance money, they had sold him out too.

Parker, that bastard.

Swoosh, thud!

“......!”

A cold, emotionless sword strike.

Damian decapitated and stabbed the two fallen thugs before slowly rising to his feet.

Yes, it was time to straighten out the mess.

He had just thought of what needed to be done first.

* * *

Unlike others, Damian had a slightly special ability.

He had exceptionally good eyesight.

It might not seem like a special ability, but after surviving thousands of beatings and hundreds of life-threatening situations, at some point, he started to see his opponent’s movements.

At the exact moment they intended to strike, from their gaze, the way they planted their feet, the degree to which their waist twisted, and the movement of their shoulders, Damian could clearly see where they aimed to attack.

At first, it took considerable concentration to catch these signs, but after about ten years, his body began to react without needing to consciously register them.

Whoosh!

“You sneaky little rat!”

How many times has it been?

His knife had already slashed through empty air several times.

He had always been confident in knife fights, but no matter what, he couldn’t even graze this kid’s clothes.

Whirr!

—

Once again, Mukman’s sword slashed through the air.

While Mukman’s expression twisted in frustration, Damian’s gaze remained cold and calm as he watched him.

‘Was Mukman always this weak...?’

This was too obvious, even without having to predict his movements.

Swoosh!

Damian tilted his head slightly to the side, dodging Mukman’s sword, then quickly switched his grip on the dagger, raising it upwards.

Slish!

“Ugh!”

Damian’s dagger slashed Mukman’s right wrist, causing him to groan in pain as he dropped his sword.

‘Tsk.’

This alone showed how insignificant these back-alley thugs were compared to seasoned warriors on the battlefield.

Losing your weapon in a fight was the same as throwing away your life.

Clang! Clatter!

Before Mukman could even think about retrieving his sword, Damian swiftly kicked it away with the inside of his foot.

It all happened so quickly that Mukman didn’t even have time to pick up the sword.

“Y-You little...”

Mukman, startled, tried to curse at Damian, but...

Thud, thud!

In an instant, Damian’s dagger softly pierced and exited both sides of Mukman’s torso.

Thud.

Mukman’s body trembled as he dropped to his knees.

His face showed a mix of confusion, shock, and, eventually, fear.

This didn’t make any sense.

‘They said he was only thirteen...’

No, even without that information, it was obvious at a glance that this was a young boy.

He was a bit tall, but still had chubby cheeks typical of a child. But then...

‘What’s with those eyes...?’

And how could anyone explain his movements?

As if he already knew where the attack was coming from, Damian’s movements dodged his blows with precision.

And all without even changing his expression.

“Curious?”

“...What?”

At Damian’s sudden words, Mukman flinched and looked at him.

That razor-sharp gaze seemed out of place on such a youthful face.

But Damian had encountered people like Mukman many times before.

‘Yeah, it’s always like this.’

At some point, the people who fought Damian always had that look of disbelief.

As if they were witnessing a magic trick.

“It’s nothing special. I can just see it. Where you’re going to attack. Your gaze, the way you raise your arm—I can predict it all.”

“How does that make any sense? That’s just... nonsense...”

Swoosh.

“Ugh!”

As Mukman frowned, trying to argue, Damian’s dagger pressed against his throat, making him freeze.

Damian then spoke.

“Believe it or not, it’s the truth.”

“...Are you sure you should be telling me this? Just so you know, this isn’t over.”

“Heh. So what? If I kill you here, how will anyone else find out?”

“Grr...”

“You’re smart enough to understand what you need to do from here on out.”

Damian’s eyes gleamed sharply.

“Did Parker send you?”

“Even if I’m just a back-alley thug...”

Swoosh.

Damian pointed the dagger toward Mukman’s knee.

“If I stab you here, you’ll be crippled. You’ll be limping for the rest of your life, so answer carefully.”

Mukman, terrified by Damian’s icy voice, stammered out his reply.

“Y-Yes, it was Parker... Ugh... He’s the one who hired us... Arrgh...”

As expected, the thug quickly confessed.

He might have been lying, but given his current state, that didn’t seem likely.

Had he lied, Damian was fully prepared to cripple him.

‘He must have sensed that too.’

Damian looked down at Mukman indifferently.

“Alright, that’s all I needed.”

“What?”

Before Mukman could say anything else, Damian’s dagger moved first.

Slish!

“......!”

A thin red line appeared across Mukman’s neck.

“Grr...”

Mukman collapsed to the ground, clutching his throat, dead.

As he watched the blood pool on the floor, Damian turned away.

“Right, even if I’m leaving, I should clean up first.”

One thing Damian had learned in his thirty years of life was this:

In this world, it’s best not to make enemies.

It’s important to go through life as smoothly as possible. But if an enemy does appear...

‘Crush them completely.’

So they can never challenge you again.

Having made up his mind, Damian left the inn, slowly blending into the darkness.

* * *

“It should be over by now.”

The man, glancing at the watch on his wrist, turned his gaze to the man sitting in front of him.

He had been beaten so badly that his face was swollen beyond recognition.

Especially the left cheek, which was so swollen that it had grown to nearly the size of his head.

“That bastard... he’s coming...”

“Ah, it must be hard to talk. Don’t worry about it. They’ll finish up and bring him here.”

Montaul, the leader of the gang hired by Parker to attack Damian, smirked as he looked at Parker, who could barely speak.

“You must be really pissed off to call me in just to catch a kid like that.”

“That damn brat... because of him I...”

Though his words were slurred due to the swelling, Parker glared with rage, his body trembling.

But even that seemed painful as he soon let out a groan of agony.

‘Damn it...!’

He had been beaten so badly that he could barely move.

As much as he wanted to tear Damian apart on the spot, he had called Montaul, hoping to at least change the insurance policy.

There was no one better suited for such a troublesome task than Montaul and his gang, though they did come at a high price.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Time passed in silence.

As the sound of the ticking watch filled the room, Montaul’s expression grew more frustrated.

“What’s taking so long to catch one little brat?”

They were well past the expected time.

The fact that they hadn’t returned yet meant something must have gone wrong.

Creak.

Montaul stood up, sensing the unexpected delay.

Parker glanced at him with a mixture of annoyance and impatience.

This was just about catching a single kid. What could possibly be taking so long?

“Hey, Montaul... what’s going on?”

“It’ll be resolved soon, so just wait a bit longer. And don’t think of haggling over the fee because of a slight delay.”

Montaul, anticipating Parker’s complaints, cut him off before turning away. But then...

Knock, knock.

“...They’re here.”