[EN] Episode 2 - Bloody dinner show 2

The mercenary was certain the murderer's body would be torn apart and scattered.
Until that murderer grabbed the chair leg lodged in the fallen mercenary's mouth and lifted it toward the greatsword like raising a shield.


“You... you bastard?!”
“...Here you go. Fresh meat!”
“What?!”


Unable to turn away, the greatsword swung down with force, slicing the corpse of a comrade he'd once shared drinks with cleanly in half like tofu.
Meanwhile, the murderer forcibly wrenched the chair leg from the victim's mouth and charged forward.


“Guh!”
“Your turn...!”
“Who do you think you are...!”


The other mercenaries' mistake was stepping back to avoid the greatsword's trajectory.


As if knowing this, the cunning murderer instead closed in on the greatsword-wielding mercenary.
He relentlessly swung the ghastly, blood-and-brain-splattered chair leg, aiming to kill even the greatsword-wielding mercenary.


“Get out of the way!”
“……?!”


Seizing the opening, he kicked the monster's side hard with his sturdy leg.


Normally, this kick would have broken at least two ribs, sending the victim spitting blood and rolling on the floor.
It was the greatsword mercenary's hidden trump card—the same move that had made even that tough orc chieftain vomit and roll on the floor.


But….


‘Heavy…?! What the hell did I just kick?! This…this is a human body, right?!’


His leg was screaming in agony.
It wasn't the soft feel of a human body, nor the hard yet smooth feel of armor...


It was the sensation of kicking a dense mass of steel packed inside a layer of smooth leather.


Could it be a dragon in polymorph form?
No, that couldn't be.
Would a dragon really commit such senseless slaughter?


And without even breaking its polymorph?


That was impossible.
Then... what the hell was this monster standing perfectly fine before him, baring its teeth and laughing?


“Y-You! Who the hell are you?! State your name!”
“…….”
“Who the hell are you?! If you're capable of pulling off something like this, you'd at least have some kind of notoriety, wouldn't you?!”


The mercenary with the greatsword limped slightly and took a step back.


He instantly realized he couldn't defeat this guy alone, so he scanned the area, signaling to the other mercenaries.


The monster silently shook his head at the mercenary's question.
Strictly speaking, he had only just arrived on this street.
He was a newbie, unlikely to have any notoriety worth mentioning.


But to give a name...


“...I'm not lonely enough to give my name to ‘Meat’.”
“What?!”
“If I must make a demand of you... well...”


The instant their eyes met, the greatsword mercenary knew.
He knew he was going to die here.
And he knew he'd just shit his pants.


Somewhere, a sticky, decadent smile.


But his mouth was wide open, revealing fangs that stood out prominently, yet he wasn't smiling at all.
It was a grotesque, unmistakable smile that wasn't a smile at all. In the murderer's eyes, a sickening sense of anticipation was rising.


“You... Why the hell are you doing this!? What's the problem?!”
“...Even stray dogs don't get kicked during mealtime.”
“......!!”
“You ruined my meal... And now I'm hungry. So....”


The smile faded, revealing black pupils utterly devoid of any glimmer of light.
Only pitch-black venom and a sickening aura boiled within.


“...I'm considering whether to carve off your flesh and ask the chef to make a new steak...!”
“You insane...! Your jokes are always so disgusting...!”
“...Does it sound like a joke? Who cares. You won't know the difference once you're dead.”


He vigorously shook the blood off the chair leg, roughly wiping it away.
Then, tossing aside the already blunted end of the chair leg, he began approaching barehanded.


“Hmph! You've even discarded that pathetic wooden stick... I'll give you credit for trying to take me on. You insane murderer! But you can't block this greatsword with your bare hands!”


Feeling he had the upper hand, the greatsword mercenary now raised his weapon as if to strike down, making evasion impossible.
Then, in a surprise move, he twisted it sideways and swung a massive horizontal slash.


Mercenaries rushing to aid him recoiled in terror, leaping out of the sword's path.
The murderer, who had been closing in on him, was caught squarely in the blade's trajectory.


‘I've won...!’


This time, determined to cleave the creature completely in two, he gripped the hilt with all his strength and used the snap of his wrist to deliver an instantaneous, decisive slash.


The corpses nearby had already been dragged far away by the mercenaries.
He could no longer use the desecrated bodies as meat shields.


“Die! Murderous fiend!”
“……Hmph.”


Standing perfectly still, he merely pivoted his feet, instantly twisting his body 90 degrees sideways to meet the oncoming greatsword. He...


With a deafening roar, the mercenary wielding the greatsword collapsed, spewing blood.


The greatsword, renowned among local mercenaries as a legendary blade that could shatter even the most solid full plate armor without a single nick on its edge, was now shattered clean in two like an old cracker.
And the murderer who had done this...

그는 마치 짐승처럼 두 팔을 들어 올리고 온 힘을 다해 주먹을 휘둘러 검을 내리쳤다. 


"크윽...!" 


검이 부서지면서 발생한 충격파에 내상을 입은 대검 용병은 비틀거리다 무릎을 꿇고 쓰러졌다. 


산산조각 난 대검의 칼날이 쨍한 소리를 내며 사방으로 흩어졌다. 
그는 필사적으로 검자루를 붙잡았지만, 살인자를 막을 힘이 남아 있지 않은 듯했다. 


"크윽...! 너... 너 설마...!" 
"좀 조용히 해! 피는 상관없지만 네 침이 사방에 튀잖아. 역겨워." 


용병들은 표정 변화 없이 떠들어대는 살인자에게 다시 한번 달려들었다. 
이대로 놔두면 이 지역에서 유명한 용병인 대검 용병마저 죽일지도 모른다. 
동료 용병으로서 그들은 반드시 막아야 했다. 


"그만!" 
"여기 다른 상대가 있다!" 
"……!" 


살인자는 재빨리 한 발짝 뒤로 물러섰다가 갑자기 짧은 검을 휘두르는 용병의 팔뚝을 움켜잡았다. 
그는 팔을 비틀어 반대 방향에서 사생검을 휘두르던 다른 용병의 복부를 향해 휘둘렀다. 


섬뜩한 소리와 함께 용병은 자신이 동료를 찔렀다는 사실을 깨달았다. 
공포에 질린 그는 검을 떨어뜨리고 물러섰다. 
마치 이 순간을 기다렸다는 듯, 살인자는 물러서는 용병의 목덜미를 움켜잡고 비인간적인 힘으로 밀쳐냈다. 
그는 용병의 머리를 앞으로 꺾어 사생검을 휘두르는 용병의 얼굴에 쇠망치로 내리쳤다. 천둥 같은 굉음과 함께 


사생검을 든 용병의 입에서 피가 솟구치고, 부러진 이빨 조각들이 사방으로 흩날리며 그는 쓰러져 나락으로 떨어졌다. 
머리에 강타를 맞고 휘청거리는 남은 용병의 멱살을 움켜잡은 살인마는 특유의 미소를 지으며 그를 앞으로 밀쳐내 인간 방패로 삼아 다른 용병들의 검격을 막았다. 


"갸아아! 이... 이 자식아?!" 
"겁쟁이 자식!" 
"겁쟁이? 무장한 놈들이 열두 명쯤 달려들어 죽이려 하는데 무장하지 않은 한 명을 공격하는 게 정당한 거냐? 참 훌륭한 규칙이군. 박수라도 쳐주고 싶군." 


아니, 살인마는 용병들을 비웃으며 자리에서 일어나 박수를 쳤다. 이 모습을 본 용병들은 다시 무기를 집어 들고 돌격했다. 


그 후 한 시간 동안 식당 안에서는 싸움 소리가 끊이지 않았다. 


부엌에서 떨고 있던 주방장과 웨이터는 마침내 소리가 잦아들자 살인마가 용병들의 공격에 쓰러졌다고 생각했다.


And why wouldn't they? Mercenaries, armed and living by the sword, would absolutely hold the advantage in skill and experience over some vagrant-looking murderer whose origins were unknown.


But what emerged through the kitchen door was...


“Hey.”
“H-Heeeeek?!”
“......?!”


The murderer, literally bathed in blood and flesh from who knows where, calmly extended a hand.


“When's my order coming? I'm hungry.”


He calmly reminded the chef that his order hadn't arrived yet, pointing a finger at him.


“Please hurry it up. I have to leave after cleaning up.”
“Um, well... that...”


Unable to bring himself to ask what had happened to the other mercenaries, the chef stood there, his jaw trembling. Seeing this, the figure chuckled like a child caught in a mischievous prank and spoke.


“Oh, them? They’ve all been turned into mincemeat. Don’t give it a second thought.”
“Eek!?”
“And...”


Suddenly rummaging in a side pocket, he tossed five jingling gold coins onto the floor.


“I apologize for... messing up the floor so badly. Consider this compensation.”


Finishing his calm explanation while covered in blood, he vanished toward the restaurant, leaving behind his distinctive, sloshing footsteps once more.


The waiter, swallowing dryly, cautiously followed the sticky blood trail he left behind to check the situation.
When he emerged into the dining area, he found the mercenaries' bodies already torn and punctured, stripped naked, their equipment tossed into a corner of the restaurant.
The man was busy with the ‘cleanup’.


“Um, excuse me...”
“Huh? You have something else to say?”
“Those guys... why the equipment...”
“Oh. I don't need it.”
“Ah...”


Could it be that even after killing them so brutally, he still planned to strip them naked and sell their gear?
Out of his sight, he shook his head, lamenting anew the corruption of this street.


Pink Rose Street.
Even within the capital of the Maritime Kingdom, this place was the most thriving red-light district and slum.
It was a jungle where mad demons like that appeared without a second thought, and people were murdered and vanished without a trace.


“...Right. If it's okay, could I ask the chef if there's a spare kitchen knife I could borrow for a moment?”
“Huh?”
“I need it for a bit. I could do it by hand, but the finishing touches on the preparation really affect the quality of the final product.”


Leaving another cryptic remark, he roughly piled the corpses haphazardly beside the equipment.
Then, he dragged the table and chairs that had miraculously survived intact to the center of the restaurant and sat down.


Naturally, both the table and chairs were drenched in blood and flesh, but he plopped down without a care and tapped the tabletop lightly.
It was a sign of hunger, something mercenaries often did.


It would have been an ordinary scene, were it not for the corpses and equipment piled like mountains near the entrance, the floor and walls... even the ceiling splattered and plastered with blood and flesh.


The waiter hurriedly bowed and then dashed back toward the kitchen.
To urge the chef.


-To be continued-