OMH Chapter 55
by VolareI did my best to appease the Downtown resident.
“I’m sorry. They’re not used to places like this yet. The Association will compensate you as much as possible. This happened while catching a hiding hooligan, so please forgive us.”
“Does the Association really compensate properly? They take a ton of money under the guise of protecting us. I’m grateful that the Association saved me, but, hey? They act like I owe them for saving me and just exploit people. I worked cleaning buildings at the Association until just last year to pay off my debt. I finally started my own shop and am making a living, but is the Association allowed to do this? Huh?!”
“Ah, no… That’s why I’m saying I’m sorry, and that I’ll compensate you.”
“If everything’s okay just by saying sorry, then? Why would there have been police in the old days?”
The shop owner was more focused on getting angry at me, even though I said I’d compensate them.
Hey, I said I’d compensate you, so why are you treating me like I’m trying to get away with just words? This is really unfair.
I need to measure the specific amount of damage, but all they’re doing is getting angry, so I can’t do anything.
The crowd of onlookers gathering was even more annoying.
Stories about the hardships of being in debt to the Association were pouring out from the people.
The shop owner, emboldened by the crowd’s reaction, pushed me even harder.
“The Association needs to fix that. Why do they turn people into debtors? I never had any debt in the old world. They make all these good people into debtors. Doesn’t that make people feel wronged? What do you think, Association person?”
The words ‘Why are you telling me this?’ almost came out.
‘I need to go find Woojin as soon as possible, but I’m just wasting time.’
If you cause trouble for civilians in Downtown, you’re going to the refrigerator regardless of the reason. If I go to the refrigerator, who will find Woojin and who will take care of him?
I had no choice but to think of Woojin and hold back.
Then, Kwak Seungtae appeared like a savior.
“What’s all this commotion?”
“Oh my, Chief Kwak! What brings you here?”
What’s with this sudden change in attitude?
The Downtown residents were buzzing at Kwak Seungtae’s appearance.
But that atmosphere wasn’t exclusive. Rather, it felt strangely worshipful? They were definitely welcoming Kwak Seungtae.
“Oh dear, if I knew our Chief was coming, I would have brought some more of the leftover bread. You must be busy, what brings you here?”
“Well, aren’t we always patrolling this neighborhood for you all? Hehehe.”
“Oh, yes. Thanks to our Chief Kwak, the neighborhood is always peaceful~”
Seriously, what is this? Let’s finish the business instead of building friendships. I’m busy. I cut into the friendly atmosphere between the two.
“You can tell Chief Kwak here about the damage amount today. He’s from the same Association. Settle the compensation issue with him. Well, I’ll be going now.”
I tried to pass the work on to Kwak Seungtae and quickly get away.
“Hey, where are you going? An adult is talking. Listen to what the Chief has to say. I mean, this guy just crushed the stuff in our store.”
Hey, I didn’t crush the boxes?
The shop owner, who had been pouring out their complaints about the Association to me, had their head twisted and started spouting nonsense.
Ha, really. They’re a civilian, so I can’t just punch them and run.
I was enduring this situation with all my patience when Jang Hana interjected.
“Senior! I found them! It’s the hooligan!”
I turned my head in the direction Jang Hana pointed.
But there was no one in the place Jang Hana was pointing.
I stared at Jang Hana for a moment, dumbfounded.
“No, they’re over there! Look.”
Whether Jang Hana was using her ability or not, the Esper’s wave was felt strongly for a moment.
The space in the direction Jang Hana’s fingertip was pointing rippled like a heat haze, and then a man with a dirty appearance appeared.
“What, what’s this? Oh, how?”
The dirty hooligan was very flustered when his appearance was revealed.
“Y-You dirty things! Don’t come! I’ll kill you all!”
The dirtiest-looking guy shouted while pointing a gun.
They pointed a gun, so this is a clear act of threatening to kill. There are a lot of people around, so there are many witnesses, which is just right.
I grabbed Jang Hana’s shoulder and pulled her behind me, and ran towards the hooligan.
They threatened our lives first, so what I’m doing is self-defense.
I raised my hand and struck down towards that guy’s neck.
The power, speed, the strength of my hand that will never be broken, and the surface area of my hand, which is barely 1cm wide, cleanly severed the hooligan’s neck.
*
“Damn it, what’s wrong? Why aren’t they coming?”
I heard the remaining hooligan grumbling.
Cha Woojin carefully raised his head and watched what the hooligan was doing. He was hiding behind the warehouse door, guarding the outside.
The hooligans were on edge because the outside of the warehouse suddenly became noisy.
They were eating canned food next to Cha Woojin, and they put down what they were eating irritably because of the commotion outside.
The two-man team that kidnapped Cha Woojin have the abilities of Invisibility and Psychokinesis.
Perhaps that’s why they hid in the crowd of Downtown and sneaked into the warehouse so well.
However, it seemed that it became difficult to hide if there were too many people.
The hooligans, looking around with serious expressions, concluded that they had to check the outside.
So the hooligan with the invisibility ability went out to check the situation outside.
But after he left, the outside became even more chaotic.
Not long after he left, people started screaming.
It was impossible to figure out the situation outside from inside the warehouse.
The hooligan seemed to think something was wrong, and he was closely attached to the warehouse door, looking outside.
The hooligan stared outside, holding the knife he had been using to open the can tightly in both hands.
Cha Woojin looked at the knife he was holding.
Both hooligans had personal knives. They used those knives to open the cans and used the knives like spoons.
The hooligan who went outside earlier clearly put down the can and spoon he was eating and took Cha Woojin’s gun with him.
Cha Woojin lowered his gaze to the floor, recalling his memories.
The knife that the hooligan left behind as a spoon was on the floor.
The remaining hooligan was so focused on the outside that he didn’t pay attention to Cha Woojin.
Now was the chance.
Cha Woojin carefully twisted his shoulder. Still, when the hooligan wasn’t looking this way, he bent his waist more boldly.
He moved forward, bending and straightening his body like a caterpillar crawling.
It was a distance of only about three steps, but it felt quite far.
Cha Woojin, who had barely reached his destination, stretched out his fingers and groped for the target with difficulty.
The blade of the knife pierced Cha Woojin’s fingers.
He reached the target. Realizing that, Cha Woojin stretched out his fingers more boldly.
Food from the knife entered under his fingernails, and the blade of the knife made new wounds on Cha Woojin’s hand.
Nevertheless, Cha Woojin succeeded in grabbing the knife.
He carefully placed the blade of the knife in his hand near his wrist.
However, the blade that sharply cut Cha Woojin’s hand was not sharp enough to cut the rope that bound his wrist in one go.
Cha Woojin moved the knife to cut the bonds on his wrist.
He was afraid that the hooligan standing ten steps away would notice what he was doing.
Regardless of his wrist being cut, he boldly moved the knife as if sawing.
And he finally succeeded in cutting the bonds.
Clang-
“What, what?! You bastard, why are you there?”
Cha Woojin dropped the knife at the same time as cutting the rope.
The hooligan reacted immediately when he heard the sound of the thin piece of metal falling to the floor.
The hooligan approached Cha Woojin, panting.
“You goddamn bastard. It’s all because of you. If you hadn’t been unlucky enough to show up in front of us, things wouldn’t have gone wrong. You useless bastard, you’re just making things difficult for people.”
Cha Woojin was terrified as he watched the hooligan approaching him with a knife in his hand.
The look in the hooligan’s eyes was not the look of someone making a normal judgment.
He knew that look too well. He had seen that look in so many different people over the past 7 years.
People with that look always harmed him.
The hooligan gradually tilted the knife in his hand towards Cha Woojin.
Cha Woojin didn’t want to die yet, not yet.
The image of his young sibling, whom he had to take care of, flickered before his eyes.
A bustling downtown area that he thought he would never see again, a friend who he thought was dead, and someone who loved him,
Gang Hana’s face flashed by in order.
Cha Woojin grabbed the knife he had dropped. And he got up at a speed he didn’t even realize, and stretched out his arm forward.
“Ugh…!”
A man with a knife in his chest was standing in front of him.
The man in front of him looked at him with a bewildered expression, then lowered his gaze to look at his chest.
The man who checked his chest looked up at Cha Woojin again.
“You ba… Cough!”
Blood poured out of the man’s mouth, who was trying to say something.
Cha Woojin’s ears went numb, and he heard a ringing in his ears like a machine sound that warned him.
After the ringing passed with silence, he heard the faint sound of carols.
Cha Woojin realized belatedly.
‘Today was Christmas.’
With that thought, he lost consciousness.
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