Chapter 14
"I never touched them."
When I looked at the male students behind me, they flinched and avoided my gaze.
It was true that we had crossed paths once at the convenience store, but I hadn't even chased after them, let alone laid a finger on them.
It seemed these guys had framed me for something.
*Thwack!*
"?! "
I collapsed after taking a hit to the stomach.
The guy at the very front had suddenly kicked me in the gut.
"Trying to play dumb? They say there's even footage on the CCTV of you chasing us with a steel pipe."
"Stomp him."
The sun was setting in the back alley.
The dark shadow cast by the streetlamp stretched over my body.
Out of the six of them, two were holding blunt weapons.
My fat body was too slow, and there were too many enemies, but my instincts wouldn't allow me to just stand there and get beaten.
Before the guy with the wooden club could swing it, I didn't miss the opening and struck his chin.
*Thwack!*
"Gah?!"
"Wh-what the?"
The remaining two guys and the high school brats stared at me with wide eyes.
I had the instincts from playing the game.
The problem was that the physical specs in reality were vastly different from the game.
'Too slow.'
Even though I could see their movements clearly and my mind was mapping out exactly how to fight, I couldn't dodge properly.
*Bam!*
I barely managed to raise my arm to block the club coming down from another guy, and a massive wave of pain shot through my arm.
"Ugh!"
Unlike in the game, where you only get a taste of the pain before it disappears, in reality, the pain lingers and hinders the fight.
For the first time, I felt the bitter reality of how weak my body had become.
*Thwack!*
As soon as I blocked the club, I kicked the guy in front of me in the stomach.
I had succeeded in landing one hit on each of the two guys with this sluggish body, but it still wasn't enough to subdue them.
The two guys stumbled back.
"This bastard..."
"Looks like he's learned how to fight somewhere."
They looked at my legs.
They must be wondering how a cripple can fight so well.
But this was as far as it went.
"Huff, huff."
I was already exhausted, my breath coming in gasps and my limbs trembling.
The only one among the three who wasn't holding a club cracked his knuckles and whipped off the jacket he was wearing.
Yeah, this guy.
He was clearly someone who worked out.
"I was wondering where my brother got beaten up by some pathetic cripple, but I guess it makes sense."
I didn't hit him.
But at this point, the truth no longer mattered.
The guy who called himself the older brother had a crazed look in his eyes.
Judging by the vibe, he probably beat his own brother often, too.
*Pow!*
He feinted a blow to my stomach to bait my defense, then struck my face.
My glasses flew off.
One guy stomped my glasses into pieces and swung his club at me.
*Thwack!*
From then on, I was helpless.
'If only I had some muscle. This is all because of my legs, damn it. If only my body were lighter, at least. I should've worked out.'
I had undergone rehabilitation.
But it was of little use, and I didn't have the money to keep it up for long.
I hated the sight of my crippled legs, so at some point, I stopped exercising.
Still, until now, working diligently at the convenience store, moving boxes, and staying active had been enough.
*Thwack! Thwack-thwack! Thwack!*
As I was beaten senselessly, all I could do was curl my body into a ball to protect myself.
"What, he's nothing special."
"And here I thought a cripple was holding out strangely long."
"Hey! We got revenge for you, big brother!"
"Thank you!"
The voices of the male students echoed loudly through the alley.
My whole body shook.
*Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!*
It hurt, but it was bearable.
"Look at that heft. This guy's durability must be no joke. What's his weight class, anyway?"
"It's all just fat."
"Hey pig, try working out."
My insides boiled.
Misery, shame, humiliation, defeat, regret, and anger at my own weakness.
'These guys wouldn't even be a warm-up for me if...'
As they said, fat provides durability and weight class; if I had just a bit of muscle, these back-alley thugs would be nothing.
"!"
At that moment, the Coin Market popped into my head.
Besides, I had the coins I earned yesterday.
"...Coin Market?"
As I muttered while curled up, a familiar message window appeared before my eyes.
Would you like to access the Coin Market?
I pressed 'Yes,' and as always, the main page of the Coin Market featured a long list of recommended items.
I checked the prices of the items I wanted and glanced at the top of the market.
Coins Held: 450C
Seeing as it was 450 and not 350, it seemed Ggol-Ggap had forgotten to collect the 100-coin commission.
I quickly selected the items.
Muscle Enhancement Level 1 (300C)
Fatigue Gone (50C)
Weight Loss 1kg (100C)
Exactly 450 coins.
By then, the guys who were out of breath from beating me stopped moving.
"Huff, this guy is, huff, so heavy."
"Didn't he mumble something earlier? Phew. Is he out of his mind?"
*Spit.*
Someone spat on my pants, and they giggled.
"Ugh, he's too gross to touch."
"Let's go."
"Don't ever touch my brother again. Next time, I'm going to the convenience store."
Kicking me a couple of times with their toes as if I were filth, they walked away, their footsteps fading into the distance.
Would you like to purchase the selected items?
Yes.
*Step, step.*
"..."
I slowly pulled myself up.
I guess the fatigue recovery item was something like an HP potion.
Suddenly, my mind felt so clear and sharp that I felt like I could chew up all six of them.
I didn't know how strong the muscle enhancement was, but I couldn't let them leave like this.
With my limping leg, I moved as silently and quickly as I could, grabbing one guy by the shoulder and spinning him around.
"What—, ?!"
His eyes widened like saucers.
*Pow!*
A thrilling sensation surged through me at the vastly improved movement and impact.
'Yeah, this is it.'
I knew that no matter how strong I was, 1v6 was reckless.
It didn't matter if I couldn't win.
The instincts from playing the game had returned.
As one guy went flying and collapsed, the other two and the high school brats stared at me with wide eyes.
"This bastard, wha—?!"
*Pow!*
I put my weight into the punch, and a satisfying thud that cleared my chest echoed through the alley.
Unlike before, the guys I hit groaned and couldn't easily get back up.
Only the guy who worked out remained.
The same setup as before, but different.
I had already gauged his strength, I knew his fighting style, and now my body felt relatively light.
He muttered something.
"You think you can—?!"
*Slap—!*
The guy who worked out took a powerful slap to the face and staggered back, falling over.
I knew my own strength.
When muscle enhancement is applied, the power coming from a weight class of over 100kg is immense.
One hit would make his head ring, his eyes pop, and his ears scream with pain.
I hammered home my dominance.
"These guys didn't even know I was going easy on them."
*Spit.*
As I muttered and spat out blood-tinged saliva, the three guys flinched and looked up at me with terrified faces.
Their eyes wavered.
Their internal skill calculators must have broken.
The guy who had been getting beaten to a pulp just moments ago stood up easily, attacked, and now threw punches incomparable to before.
I must look like a monster who was playing with them the whole time.
"A-are you... a, a Hunter?"
That was clearly the best conclusion they could come up with.
I grabbed the collar of the guy who worked out, who had been reduced to a cowering mess after just one slap.
He was dragged along.
The two thugs and the high school students watched with their mouths agape.
I could see with my own eyes the level of output a mere Level 1 muscle enhancement item could produce.
"What's it to you?"
At my question, he gulped down a dry swallow and answered.
"W-we attacked first, so w-we definitely won't report this! If you just let us go..."
"..."
The fact that they were groveling after just one hit each dampened my fighting spirit a bit.
'They're incomparably weaker than me.'
The self-loathing that had been surging until moments ago vanished.
Compared to these spineless cowards, my mentality was absolute steel.
Besides, since they mistook me for a Hunter, they wouldn't dare come to my workplace, the convenience store.
'But are there even Hunters working at convenience stores these days?'
I glanced at the high schoolers.
Startled by my gaze, they dropped to their knees in a row.
*Thud! Thud! Thud!*
They were going to break their kneecaps at this rate.
"We're sorry!"
"We'll never go to the convenience store where you're working undercover again!"
"Never! Absolutely never!"
They were writing their own fiction.
I wanted to beat the three high school brats who dragged me into this to a pulp.
But even if they were past the age of legal protection, messing with minors could cause me all sorts of trouble.
I had barely managed to secure my position at the convenience store, after all.
But the grown-ups were different.
"I'll let the kids go."
"…Yes?"
The guy who worked out's voice trembled with anxiety at the conditional forgiveness.
"Instead, you guys are going to take a beating."
The faces of the guy in my grip and the thugs turned deathly pale.
It didn't matter if they reported it or not.
Because I wasn't a Hunter.
After using my strength to haul the guy I was holding to his feet, I cracked my knuckles.
*Crackle—*
It was time to see the true performance of the item I had purchased.
0 Comments