Episode 40 - The Beast Fist 2

"Then why did you do it!"
"There are two reasons."
"Two?!"

Maengseol clicked his tongue in disbelief. Kaftin held up two fingers.

"The first — as his student, even if late, I intend to sever the root of the karma that drove my irreplaceable master to his death."
"......"

A reason he could not entirely dismiss. Maengseol's mouth closed.
But —

"The second — to wash my hands, dirtied by that death, in the blood of the ones who brought him to it."
"......!"

For a moment, the image of Kaftin's face from their very first meeting overlaid itself in Maengseol's mind.
He seized Kaftin by the collar and hauled him up, grinding his teeth.

"Listen to me — drop all of this right now and come with me on a training journey. It's not too late—! Do you understand?!"
"That's..."

Kaftin thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"It's already too late. As you can see — I've already killed one of them. The rest will come after my blood no matter what. I can't stop now."
"You damned fool! I'll handle all of them — you don't need to go after any more blood or any more violence—!"

Maengseol had known it by instinct, long ago.
This man's heart had been completely shattered once, some time before they met — reduced to something like a walking corpse with no feeling left.
For some reason he still didn't fully understand.
Whatever had happened, the fact that he had somehow recovered to his current state — however imperfect, however barely human — had almost certainly been aided by the calm life with Vesren.

If he was allowed to be pulled further into a world of violence and blood —
Kaftin would become something the world had never seen before, and would never see again.

"Understood?! You're coming with me. I won't hear objections."
"...I'll come with you — but..."
"......?"
"You'll be following me."
"......!"

He immediately drove his fist into Kaftin's face and sent him flying, then shook his head.

"Did you honestly think I'd go along with your madness?!"
"...Honestly, I couldn't be certain."
"And you came here to recruit me anyway... absolutely not. Give it up."
"......!"
"My fist was not trained for this kind of filthy violence. It was forged to pass judgment on the ugly evil in this world — evil like you."
"...That's troubling. Anyone else I might manage — but your fists are something even I would have difficulty enduring."

The genuine discomfort on Kaftin's face drew nothing but a snort from Maengseol.

"Fine. Now go home. And... try not to come back. I don't want to see you."
"That I can't do."
"What?"
"...I'm going to place the remaining three heads of the Four Gang Lords beside that one, as decorations for my master's grave."
"......!!"

He considered hitting him again — and stopped.
There was no madness on Kaftin's face right now. No smirking.

Only obsession. Only conviction.
The method was the worst imaginable — but Maengseol could feel it. Kaftin was doing this in complete sincerity, for his master's sake.

"You really have no sense, do you."
"I suppose not. Master used to tease me about it constantly — said I learn things absurdly fast but can't do anything by half measures. Told me to pick one, genius or idiot."
"......"

Kaftin brushed himself off and stood.
Maengseol's position seemed firm. Unfortunate — but there was nothing to be done.
He would have to build the organization without him.

Which meant he had to find someone with comparable strength somewhere else.

"...Kaftin."
"......?"
"If — if you actually finish this revenge on the Gang Lords or whatever they are... what then?"

Maengseol had his back turned as he asked it.
He was wrestling with something.
He had no desire to endorse what Kaftin was doing. But he also understood that Kaftin was doing it with a purpose behind it, however twisted.

In that case — staying close enough to stop him from completely losing control — might that not serve the rest of his friend Vesren, who was already gone?
The thought was quietly growing in one corner of Maengseol's mind.

"I haven't decided the specifics yet — I'll figure those out when the time comes. But what I know for certain is — Pink Rose Street. And then... the Maritime Kingdom."
"......?"
"All of it has rotted to the core. I'm going to grab it by the throat and grind every bit of the filth to nothing — and after that, build a world that no longer bends to absurd reality."
"...What?"

He turned to look at him — and the face he found was not the face of someone speaking earnestly about lofty ideals.
It was the unmistakable expression of someone who would find all of it entertaining and couldn't care less about the rest.

"I've been thinking about it for a long time... how to go about killing people at will without unnecessarily putting the majority of humans on guard..."
"......!"
"And lately I've figured it out. The ones everyone calls human garbage... corrupt officials... those who've broken free from what people have arbitrarily decided to call order — so-called criminals."
"You—!"

He was slowly reaching toward the sky and closing his fist around it — drooling now, laughing at the mere thought of it as though he couldn't contain himself.

"The apex predator — the villain who devours villains. That is my ultimate goal."
"...Ngh!"

So this was the man's true nature.
The face he had shown just moments ago, thinking of his master — gone.
In its place, the face of the lunatic Maengseol had always been most wary of, on full display without a trace of shame.

"Why that face? Everyone will love it, won't they? Hung out along the streets like laundry on a line! Pickpockets, assassins! Small-time thieves all the way up to the so-called organization types — every last one of them, caught and stripped, skin flayed, hung upside down—!"

The escalating madness finally made Maengseol raise a hand to stop him.

"Enough! What possible reason is there to go that far! Besides — the City Guard and the knights are already doing that kind of work! Why do you need to—!"
"...Because life is war."
"......?!"

Still dangling from the fist holding his collar, the red light in Kaftin's eyes flickered — just slightly.

"War is violence, and life is war... so what, in the end, is a human life? I've been asking that question for a long time — even before my soul was shattered. Why was I born, where am I going, what is life..."
"Your memories—?!"
"Ah — not all of them. Only fragments. But what those fragments are screaming at me has always been one thing."
"......!!"

He grabbed the fist holding him by the collar and pulled himself forward until his face was directly in front of Maengseol's.

"Maengseol. Life is VIOLENCE. And life is also the WORLD — which means, in the end, the world is FUXXING VIOLENCE. What people call good or evil is nothing more than a distinction based on whether something has been rationalized or not."
"That can't—!"
"Then — the City Guard subduing a criminal, and me stripping someone bare and hanging them upside down by their skin — the essence is the same VIOLENCE!"

"......!!"
"What I intend to do is conquer that VIOLNECE—!"
"You really—!"
"That's why justice cannot cut down true evil. Which means I will not die. And as long as I don't die, the violence continues..."

"Is that what you're calling the truth of this world?!"
"...Exactly! That is the truth of this world! The reality that passes for truth!"
"Disgustingly absurd, and disgustingly ugly... and it's sophistry!"
"It may well be sophistry — but it's meaningless to call it that if you can't resist it—!"

"If you want to stop me, Maengseol..."
"...Ngh—!"
"You'll have to drive that fist through my heart right now."
"......!!"
"Justice cannot kill me. Which means — at this moment — you are the only one who can."

He closed his eyes and clasped his hands behind his back again — as if to say, go ahead.
Suddenly holding Kaftin's life in his hands once more, Maengseol wavered for a moment under the weight of it all — then his eyes sharpened and he clenched his fist hard.

If he killed this mad young man — his friend's student — here and now, he could stop this dangerous seed of evil from spreading through the world.

But — was he truly just evil?
Would Vesren, watching from the other side, accept an ending like this?
Many thoughts crossed each other — but Maengseol had to reach a conclusion.

"Fine — let's say you're right! Then what is the point of flaying a criminal's skin and hanging them upside down on display?! You could just cut off their head and be done with it!"
"...Ah. That's because—"

The moment he heard the answer, Maengseol didn't hesitate — he drove his fist into Kaftin's face.

"...It's more enjoyable that way."
"You blood-mad demon—!"

Kaftin hit the ground again, nose bleeding again, and he was laughing.
Blood-mad demon. He had heard it so many times it barely registered anymore.

"It's a terrible shame — but that's what I am. Maengseol."
"You damned wretch... if you weren't Vesren's student I'd have beaten you to death long ago!"
"...I know."
"Ngh—!!"

Still grinding his teeth, Maengseol seized him by the collar and hauled him up again.

"Do you actually intend to slaughter every human being like that—?!"
"......?"
"I'm asking whether you intend to give up on being human!"
"...If being human means living in suffering, bending to that kind of absurd reality — then yes. Without hesitation."
"You—!"
"Let me ask you something in return. How are demi-humans like yourself treated in the world right now?"
"Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden—!"
"...That too is reality. Isn't it?"

Kaftin smiled.
And in that smile, Maengseol saw madness — and alongside it, a ferocious hatred.

"The absurd ones who created those garbage rules — I'm going to strip them bare, flay their skin while they're still alive, and hang them upside down."
"......!"
"Because those are the worst vermin of all — ones who don't just suffer under reality themselves, but push that suffering onto everyone around them! I'll catch every last one and make examples of THEM!"
"You—!"

The worst.
This damned wretch — he was going to use the discrimination against demi-humans as his justification.
As the excuse to rationalize his craving for slaughter and screaming.
He was exactly what Maengseol had sensed from the very beginning. The worst kind of person, bottom to top.

"You coward—!"
"Everyone does it, don't they? What makes me any different? In the end, I'm only human too..."
"You have that much power and you're going to speak that kind of weakness?!"
"...I'm not strong. Not at all."
"......!"

The expression went cold — suddenly, completely.
What Kaftin said next froze Maengseol where he stood.

"I can't overthrow a government on my own. I can't fight the world on my own. So I am absolutely not strong. Which means—"
"What are you even saying—?!"
"...Which means — starting now — I am going to fight the world."
"......!!"
"Against something that enormous, what can one slightly unusual human actually do on his own by conventional means? I'm perfectly rational about that."

—To be continued—