Chapter 38 : Interrogation (1/2)

My dream was to be a soccer player.

The reason was simple. When I was a child, I would always sit in front of the TV and watch soccer matches.

Whenever I watched those games, the vast green field, the brilliant strategies and tactics of the coaches, and the intense back-and-forth between the 22 players would captivate me.

But more than anything, it was the striker’s shot, which could be considered the highlight of soccer, that made my heart race.

The emotions that surged within me were more than enough to make an elementary school student like me dream of becoming a soccer player. From that day on, I practiced shooting every day.

Dribbling? Defense? That stuff didn’t matter.

As an elementary school student, if I could just make the coolest shot, that was enough.

So, I kept kicking… and kicking.

Even when my ankles swelled up, or when muscle cramps made me collapse, rain or snow couldn’t stop me.

I kept kicking the ball.

And as I kicked and kicked, one day, I had an epiphany about my kicking technique.

Like a pansori singer who reaches enlightenment after years of bleeding practice, I, too, reached the ultimate understanding of kicking after years of training.

From that day on, there was no ball I couldn’t kick.

Whether it was a small ball or a large one, I could adjust the power perfectly and make a strong shot.

And this ability didn’t change, even after I came to this world and this new body.

Unfortunately, this place wasn’t peaceful, so I couldn’t leisurely kick a ball, but instead, I could kick other things.

For example, things like heads.

My honed kicking technique became invaluable in combat.

It was especially effective when my opponent was male.

The reason for this can be deduced by considering what is most important in combat.

What’s the most important thing in a fight? Right, it’s targeting vital spots.

Now, let’s think about this again.

Where are the vital spots on a person?

The head?

The solar plexus?

The stomach?

All of them are correct. But men have one more crucial weak spot.

Anyone who’s experienced the pain of being hit there can certainly relate to just how excruciating it is.

At this point, I’m sure you can guess what I’m trying to say.

So, in short…

I’m a master at kicking testicles.

The sky is really blue today. It’s so blue, it’s like the blue sea.

“Really, you don’t know anything?”

“Yes! I truly don’t know anything!”

As I looked up at the clear blue sky and asked my question, I heard a response from below.

I lowered my gaze and saw the back of a man lying on the ground. His back trembled slightly, as if he was in pain.

I looked at him and said,

“Hmm… That can’t be right. Are you pretending not to know?”

“”

I asked a question, but received no answer.

How awkward.

Since he didn’t respond to my question, I tried to hide my embarrassment by crossing my legs and resting my chin on my hand.

Then, I applied pressure to his back with my arms.

“CHE.”

“Oh, no! Please!”

Perhaps I was pressing too hard, because his back started to shake.

Because of this, my body, which was sitting on his back, also began to sway.

Having trouble keeping my balance, I patted his back and said,

“Huh? Are you about to fall over? You were holding on fine earlier, so why suddenly like this? Is it because I’m too heavy?

Answer me. Am I heavy?”

If that’s the case, I might be hurt.

My heart is delicate, you see.

“No! You’re as light as a feather!”

Oh my, such a compliment! How embarrassing!

To hide my bashfulness, I deliberately spoke in a cold tone.

“Then why are you shaking like you’re about to fall? If it’s not because I’m heavy, then is it because you’re trembling with rage, unable to hold it in anymore? Well then, go ahead and fall. The moment you dirty my clothes, I’ll make you just like them.”

I pointed ahead.

In the direction my finger pointed, many people were lying down.

Their conditions varied.

Some were bleeding from their heads, others were foaming at the mouth, and some were clutching their groins.

Those were the people who had attacked us.

The explanation for why they were in that state would be too cruel to describe in detail, so I’ll just summarize it: That’s the result of me and Bliss’s justifiable self-defense.

Yes, it’s self-defense. It’s definitely not one-sided violence.

Really.

“Do you want to end up like them?”

“I… I’m sorry!”

The man’s voice trembled as he answered.

Hmm… Did I scare him too much? He sounds terrified… I should cheer him up.

I spoke in the brightest tone I could manage.

“If you’re useless, at least do your job as a chair. Now, press harder with your arms.”

“Understood!”

His shaking stopped, perhaps because my encouragement gave him strength.

Well, good. This is what a chair should be like.

By the way, I hate rocking chairs.

They make me dizzy.

“Now, let’s give you another chance to be useful. Who sent you?”

“”

“Why are you not answering? Don’t tell me you’re going to say you don’t know again?”

“I’m sorry… I…”

I had cheered him up, and yet, this was his response? A sigh escaped me.

“Ugh, this is so frustrating… Then, what do you remember?”

“I heard there was a high-paying job while I was out looking for work, so I went to that place…”

“So you don’t remember anything from that point on?”

“That’s right…”

“Then why the guilty expression? Are you saying you don’t remember?”

At my words, the man’s body flinched.

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

“Nun! I swear to God, I really didn’t do anything!”

The man shouted as he looked at me.

“Ha, this is ridiculous. How could you forget what you just did? You attacked us, along with the people lying in front of us.”

“I… I truly don’t remember anything! You must be mistaken…”

“Ha… Now you’re suspecting me?”

There was no answer.

According to the wisdom of our ancestors, silence is implicit consent.

Therefore, this man is now doubting me. Arrogantly.

He needs to be punished.

“Ha… I understand your intentions now.”

I stood up and spoke.

“Let’s stop. There’s no point in talking to you anymore. It seems like a waste of time.”

“Thank you!”

“No need for thanks. You swore to God earlier, right? What religion do you follow?”

The man struggled to get up and answered,

“I follow the Church of the Origin…”

“How fortunate.”

I clasped my hands in front of my chest and loudly declared.

“Aha! Now Nyas has commanded me to knock you out! So don’t blame me.”

“What? What do you mean by that…”

“Exactly this.”

As the confused man looked at me, I turned and delivered a roundhouse kick to his head.

As the essence of Taekwondo, the spirit of Koreans, hit the man’s head with a loud crack, he was sent flying sideways.

His flight didn’t last long. He soon crashed into a wall and fell to the ground.

As the unconscious man dropped to the floor, Reina eagerly rushed over.

She crouched down and began poking at his cheeks.

With a serious expression on her face, Reina poked him a few times, then looked at me with a grave face.

“Ruina, Ruina! This person is dead!”

“Reina, don’t worry, there’s no way that’s possible.”

“But… isn’t he not moving?”

“Hmm, he’s just unconscious.”

“He looks like he’s dead…”

Reina continued poking the man’s cheek.

Watching her, a wave of unease began to slowly rise inside me.

Could it be that I misjudged the force?

Nervously, I rushed over to the man and started checking for his pulse.

Thankfully, I could feel a strong pulse at the tip of my fingers.

He’s alive.

Of course. There’s no way I’d mess up controlling my strength.

I shook my hands off and stood up, looking at Reina.

“He’s not dead.”

Despite me saying that, Reina didn’t stop what she was doing.

At this rate, it seemed like she was determined to stay like that until the man woke up.

I needed to distract her.

I gently patted Reina’s head and pointed to the end of the alley.

“Reina, can you go and keep an eye out over there? If Bliss or anyone else comes, just shout at me.”

Reina glanced between the fallen man and my fingers a few times, then nodded.

“Okay~”

She nodded eagerly and ran in the direction I pointed.

Once I confirmed Reina was scanning the area from a distance, I leaned against the wall and took in the scene in front of me.

We had just been ambushed.

Wait, I lured them here, so I guess it wasn’t really an ambush?

Hmm… whatever.

In front of me lay several men, all knocked out.

There were 23 of them in total, and all were men.

These people attacked us.

We fought back.

And, as you can tell from the fact that they’re lying down while I’m standing, the outcome was obvious.

We managed to overpower them without even a scratch on our bodies.

The gap between us was overwhelming. They had no weapons, no fighting skills, while we had weapons and skills to match the numbers we faced.

After we successfully subdued them, we immediately began the interrogation.

At that point, we were still hopeful—thinking that even if we hadn’t gotten anywhere with the investigation, we might finally uncover something useful.

But, with each person we interrogated, the smiles that once adorned our faces began to fade, as if all the energy was drained away.

The results were disastrous.

The last person I interrogated was the final one, and during that time, not a single useful piece of information surfaced.

The worst part was that their answers had a huge issue.

They all claimed that they were looking for work to earn money, and after hearing about a well-paying job from someone they knew, they came here—but they couldn’t remember anything from then on.

The problem was, all 23 of them said the exact same thing.

The only difference in their answers was the time they started looking for work or the person they met.

Their situations were identical, and so they all gave the exact same response.

It felt like I had read the same book 23 times, but with the characters changed.

Imagine buying a new book from a bookstore, going home, setting up to read it, eagerly wondering what the story would be like, then opening it, only to realize it’s exactly the same as the one you read before?

And the characters are the only thing different?

Now imagine that happening 23 times in a row.

You’d probably lose it, right?

That’s how I felt right now.

We fought 23 people, had all sorts of chaos, and came out with nothing.

No rewards. Nothing.