Chapter 17: An Unexpected Connection (3)
“……What?”
“Is this real?”
Two mbers of the Ralph Gang, seeing their comrade collapse, muttered in dumbfounded voices.
It couldn't be helped.
A re beggar… and not just any beggar, but one who seed remarkably dull-witted, had knocked out a physically robust man with a single punch.
In the gang mbers' eyes, it looked as if a one-month-old kitten had swatted down a large dog with its front paw.
However, Harang, the person involved, was utterly nonchalant.
Walking step by step, he asked.
“What’s real?”
“No…”
“…Ha.”
The two beggars, no, thugs disguised as beggars, let out hollow laughs.
They could have answered.
What was real? Was it really him? Did that bastard really take down their comrade? That was the aning.
However, they weren't in the mood. They considered even exchanging words with such a bum to be humiliating.
It was strange.
Even though they had clearly seen their comrade taken down right before their eyes, the two thugs still didn't feel any tension.
They firmly believed they could crush the beggar before them anyti they wanted, that they could make him whimper with just a finger flick.
It was the power of 'acting lowly'.
Harang was the opposite.
‘They’re just furious, not wary.’
He knew the two Ralph gang mbers were insignificant fellows.
It was the result of diligently assessing the surrounding people for a week, partly to reflect on his loosened vigilance after coming to the outside world.
Their skills were far inferior even to the thugs he had encountered in Kuchen Village.
However, he didn't let his guard down.
He observed the two with the eyes he had honed through the beggars. More precisely, their psychology and emotional states. Then, their next actions beca sowhat predictable.
For instance, that guy walking over unguardedly with an incredulous laugh would swing his palm to slap his left cheek.
“First, take a beating, you bastard…”
Whooosh!
Swish-
“…Huh?”
If he quickly lowered his stance right before the hit, the opponent would feel the illusion that he had suddenly disappeared.
The next part was easy. Harang, putting strength into his lower body, sprang up elastically and headbutted the opponent's nose.
Crack
“Uwaaaack!”
A fountain of blood sprayed into the sky mixed with the sound of breaking bone and screams. All the beggars who had followed Harang watched this with blank expressions.
It wasn't just them. Another gang mber behind the thug was the sa.
Even though two of his comrades had been taken down, he still hadn't grasped the situation, but Harang didn't let his guard down this ti either.
Having anticipated all possible counterattack routes, he delivered the best possible strike.
Thwack!
“Kk…euk! Guweeeeeeck-!”
The man, punched in the solar plexus, bent over and vomited.
Passing by him, Harang shouted loudly.
“mbers of the Boss' gang! As of today, I quit being a beggar!”
“So don't think about collecting protection fees from now on!”
“If anyone disagrees, you can speak up now!”
“Hiiiiik…!”
“……!”
The beggars who heard Harang's shout flinched violently.
Even up until he took down the first man, no, even after he felled two more gang mbers, they still thought, ‘No way’.
The thought, ‘Even so, would he really fight the entire Ralph Gang?’, filled their minds.
But it was real.
This guy had actually declared war on the entire Ralph Gang.
Of course, all Harang wanted was just to quit being a beggar, but that itself was no different from a declaration of war to the Ralph Gang.
Sure enough, shortly after his voice echoed, ten thugs poured out from the Ralph Gang's den.
“What’s this bastard?”
“Isn’t this bastard that guy? The one who showed up a week ago…”
“Ha, what? Isn’t this a funny bastard? We didn't even collect from him on the first day because he looked pitiful…”
“Isn't this better, actually? Let's make an example of him and kill him properly. To discipline the other bastards too.”
The thugs voicing their thoughts one by one.
They were ridiculous fellows. Even with the enemy right in front of them, no one was looking ahead.
At the sa ti, he could once again feel how useful ‘acting lowly’ was.
Feeling as if he were launching a surprise attack from the front, Harang moved quickly.
Shwook
Thwaaack-!
“Keuk!”
“…?”
“What!”
Harang, instantly charging forward, attacked the person furthest to the right. A hook landed on the jaw.
The thug, whose brain was rattled by the razor-sharp attack, imdiately lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.
Even then, the people around hadn't grasped the situation.
It was a good flow. Harang, nodding, stepped and threw two more punches. Jab, straight, straight. It was the jaw again, and unconsciousness again.
Seeing Harang fell two n in succession, the thugs belatedly showed alertness.
“This crazy… Everyone, pull out your tools!”
“Yes, Boss!”
“Yes, Boss!”
Everyone answered Ralph's shout in unison.
However, the weapons lacked uniformity; soone pulled out a dagger, soone a crude blunt weapon, and another pulled out a heinous weapon like a blackjack (a weapon with a blunt object like a stone in a sack).
It seed they hadn't used them often, as their awkward stances made them look like a disorderly mob.
Of course, Harang didn't let his guard down.
Circling to the right to avoid being surrounded, he approached quickly again.
Thwack!
“Keok!”
He struck the jaw upwards with a palm strike.
Hwiik
Thump!
Snatching the blunt weapon dropped by the opponent as they fell backward, he quickly swung it twice. Two n hit on the head fainted again, but to the onlookers, it looked like they had dropped dead.
“U-uwaaaack!”
A man stricken with fear swung the blackjack. Harang wasn't flustered. Retreating just enough for it to stop right in front of his eyes, he snatched the blackjack—thump—and pulled it back. Uh oh, he delivered a kick to the jaw of the guy stumbling forward in confusion.
Thwack!
Clatter clatter clatter!
“……”
“……”
“……”
Thus, three remained.
There was no need for further scuffling.
Harang, having completely seized victory, posed a question to the group's leader, Ralph.
“I want to quit being a beggar.”
“……”
“I don’t have to pay the protection fee, right?”
“…Just you wait!”
The three n fleeing while uttering the typical lines of villains.
Of course, Harang didn't just watch this.
Ppeok!
Ppeoeok!
Ppeoeoeok-!
He quickly pursued them and swung the blackjack.
“Kkeok!”
“Kkeuk!”
“Kkeueok…!”
Matching that, thud thud thud, the thugs collapsed to the ground.
“I suppose a little torture might be needed to make them listen?”
“……”
“……”
“……”
All the beggars, including Glen, couldn't accept this situation and swallowed their words.
* * *
A middle-aged bald man, now in his 7th year of beggar life.
It goes without saying, but he too wasn't born a beggar.
Quite the opposite. There was a ti when he was born into a wealthy family and lived without worrying about als, but due to spending habits worse than a noble family's scoundrel, he instantly ended up on the streets.
On top of that, being lazy, he beca a pathetic existence pointed at even among the beggars who diligently begged.
However, even such a middle-aged beggar had soone he looked down upon: the black-haired beggar fellow who had recently joined.
A fellow who looked sowhat weak, lacked spirit, and seed to have even less in his head.
Compared to such an insignificant guy, he considered himself relatively better off, and was spending another day with aningless self-consolation when…
‘…What is happening.’
He was bewildered.
Beyond bewildernt, it was absurd, and for so reason, feelings of anger and hatred surged. Feeling a strange twisting in his gut, the middle-aged beggar distorted his expression.
‘Damn it, what is this?’
‘Unbelievable… What trick did he pull?’
‘This… I can’t accept this! This isn’t right!’
The hearts of the other beggars were no different from his.
It was unavoidable.
To them, Harang was close to being their only source of solace. The only person their bottom-feeder selves could look down on. Soone they could ignore and belittle.
But seeing the existence they had thought of that way rising up, they couldn't help but feel intensely jealous and resentful.
“Hmm.”
Watching them, Harang nodded.
He thought he understood a little now.
There were people like that in the village too. Mainly those whose lives hung by a thread. The lower-ranked ones were like that; it seed the less peace of mind one had, the more they showed such tendencies.
On the other hand…
‘Glen is consistent.’
That's right.
Only Glen wasn't like that. Although he looked utterly astonished like the others, he was still concerned and worried about him. Regardless of whether he revealed his strength or not. Regardless of whether he himself had peace of mind or not.
So he asked.
“Why are you like that?”
“Yes? What…”
“You helped without expecting anything in return from the mont we first t.”
“Ah…”
“It's not just , either. I saw you look after the other beggars in various ways too. Did you perhaps receive sothing?”
“Uh… No. Not really…”
“Right. It didn't seem like that to either, so I'm asking. Why do you keep helping those around you when there’s no particular benefit?”
“Th-that’s…”
Glen was flustered.
Although he hadn't looked down on or ignored Harang like the other beggars, he too had thought of Harang as soone slightly lacking.
Since that person had single-handedly wiped out the terrifying Ralph Gang, there was no way he could answer the question calmly.
‘How should I answer?’
‘This, if I don't answer properly, won't sothing bad happen?’
‘What should I say? What should I say?’
Fortunately, Harang didn't force him to answer.
Harang, looking at Glen for a mont, smacked his lips and said.
“It’s okay. If you don’t want to say it, you don’t have to.”
“Uh, hey! Th-that’s not it… It’s not that I don’t want to say it, I just can’t quite recall…”
“Ah, really? Then can you tell later if you rember? Of course, if you don't feel like it, you don't have to say anything. Forcing soone isn't good.”
“Uh…”
“I’m serious. The second thing I hate most in the world is forcing others.”
“I-is that so…”
“…Keuheuk.”
It was when Glen's wariness was actually soaring due to Harang's strange answer.
Still the leader, perhaps? Ralph, regaining consciousness first, looked around.
And he was startled.
Harang, who had appeared before him at so point, spoke thusly.
“I will quit being a beggar.”
“……”
“I don’t have to pay the protection fee, right?”
“Th-th-this crazy bastard… Do you think you’ll get away with this? Do you even know who the Boss I serve is?”
“Who is it?”
Harang asked out of genuine curiosity, and Ralph answered, spitting out the words with the desperate hope that it would work.
“It’s Kennedy! The esteed Rank 38 of the Eddy Family, Iron Fist Kennedy!”
“……Ah.”
Harang let out an exclamation.
It wasn't because of the extrely ambiguous rank of 38. What he focused on was the na ‘Eddy’, which seed to indicate the leader of the family.
The black-haired young man, recalling a forgotten request, looked at Ralph and said.
“Instead of that person called Iron Fist Kennedy, could you call over the person nad Eddy?”
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