Chapter 116 – Post-Kidnapping Aftermath
How long had I been lying down?
– *Beep beep beep!*
I woke up from a deep sleep to the sound of my phone ringing in my pocket.
“Ugh.”
As I carefully sat up, a pain like someone was pounding my entire body washed over me.
A faint groan escaped my lips, but it was only for a moment.
“Hoo…”
Once I had adjusted a bit, I looked around.
Tsutomu, still unconscious, Chunsik, and even Detective Miwako.
They were all in the same state as before.
‘Good, looks like I won’t have to deal with any more annoying stuff.’
Takuya thought to himself as he pulled out his flip phone from his pocket and answered the call.
“Yeah, hello?”
When I spoke, my voice came out all raspy and cracked.
[Master?! Are you okay?!]
Miyuki, the one who called, spoke in a worried voice at my condition, but I replied as if it was nothing.
“I’m fine. More importantly, can you run a quick errand for me?”
[Yes, please tell me what you need.]
“First, I need some thick rope to tie people up and…”
After ordering what I needed from Miyuki, I hung up.
– *Click.*
“Haa… How am I supposed to clean all this up by myself?”
To start, I began to move to restore the chaotic surroundings to normal.
***
First, I threw Tsutomu into the basement.
He probably won’t be able to come out for a while, so I left him with some food.
Is it okay to just leave him like that?
If I remember correctly, the room where Momiji was locked up was said to be impossible to move even with several adult men pushing, so I guess it’ll be fine.
After throwing Tsutomu into the room, the next thing I decided to fix was…
“Chunsik, wake up and try eating this.”
“Kuhung-”
Chunsik had been a great help in the physical fight with Tsutomu.
Whether it was from the pain of being hit, Chunsik nodded with difficulty and opened his mouth.
I poured a stamina recovery potion into Chunsik’s open mouth.
I was going to give him two or three, but the sticker on the bottle recommended only one bottle regardless of body size, so I just gave him one for now.
After giving him one bottle, Chunsik’s complexion noticeably improved.
You might say, ‘What kind of bear has a complexion?’ but that’s just how it looked to me.
Anyway, I gave Chunsik a stamina recovery potion and some food, so now the only thing left to deal with is…
‘This detective.’
What should I do?
I erased her memory because she seemed like she’d be a pain, but what should I do?
Takuya pondered for a moment before coming up with a good answer.
‘Should I make it so Tsutomu can’t use his Japanese identity?’
I decided to use it as a ‘punishment’ for Tsutomu.
After all, Tsutomu’s punishment was already decided.
‘I should send him on a trip to America.’
I was planning to send Tsutomu to America. To be exact…
‘The charges should be child molestation, rape, attempted rape, assault, and kidnapping. That should be good, right?’
To an American prison, that is.
There was no particular reason why I was sending Tsutomu to America.
‘American prisons are hell on earth.’
Sometimes you see news about nice American prisons, but those are extremely rare.
Most other prisons have terrible conditions as a basic option.
Of course, this alone doesn’t mean that American prisons are hell on earth.
The reason why American prisons are hell on earth is… simple.
In America, where human rights are considered so important, prisons are almost an exception.
Homosexual rape, assault and murder, vigilante justice, riots, etc., are the basic options in American prisons.
Even just this is hopeless, and since gang fights divided by race are commonplace in prisons, what would it be like for Asians, who are a minority among minorities in America?
Not only that, but criminals who are caught for murder, robbery, armed robbery, assault, etc., don’t treat child sex offenders as human beings.
What kind of treatment would Tsutomu, an Asian who raped a child, receive in a place swarming with these kinds of bastards?
‘He’ll probably get a taste of real hell.’
In that sense, Tsutomu is scheduled to be sent to America.
After sending him to the most notoriously bad prison, he’ll probably get his ass torn up by some big black guy.
Well, that’s about the extent of the punishment. He’ll probably suffer for about a year.
Why a year?
‘Well, he’ll probably die after a year.’
American prisons are full of gangs.
I didn’t expect him to live there for decades.
I could just put him under a suicide prevention hypnosis.
So, how does this relate to using Detective Miwako?
I’ll use this detective to show Tsutomu, who might be running a happiness circuit, his appearance on the news and give him even greater despair.
‘Ah, I can’t wait.’
I should bribe a prison guard later to record it.
But how am I going to send Tsutomu to America?
It’s not difficult. I can ask the Yakuza, who are connected with foreign criminal organizations.
You might say that’s impossible, but don’t forget that I have the power to make it happen.
‘While I’m meeting with the Yakuza, I should also deal with Momiji’s parents.’
They’ll have their own interesting punishments.
Takuya thought to himself, then put Detective Miwako on Chunsik’s back and headed to where Miyuki was.
“Master!”
When she saw me, Miyuki burst into tears and hugged me.
Seeing Miyuki worry about me like a real family member, I smiled slightly and felt good.
Except for the fact that she buried my face in her chest, making it hard to breathe.
Honestly, I can’t ever seem to get used to that.
After Miyuki’s hug ended, another person got out of the car.
“Momiji.”
“Takuya…”
It was Momiji, waiting for me.
Momiji approached me, sniffling.
She seemed to be having a hard time.
I slowly hugged Momiji and patted her back.
“It’s okay. It’s okay now.”
“What do I do now? My mom and dad abandoned me…”
At those words, I couldn’t help but stop my hand.
‘I was going to tell her after she calmed down a bit?’
Thinking that, I glanced at Miyuki.
“Earlier, when I went to drop off Momiji-chan, I forgot to tell you…”
She forgot to tell me because she was in a hurry.
In the end, seeing Momiji speaking with a tearful voice, I was about to sigh, but I realized that sighing in this situation would be a disaster, so I told her the plan I had in mind.
“Stay at our house for the time being.”
“Y-Your house?!”
“Huh?!”
Why, what’s wrong?
I felt confused at Miyuki’s reaction, who was much more surprised than Momiji, and explained.
“If you have nowhere else to go, stay at our house. I’ll help you.”
“R-Really?!”
“Of course, would I lie?”
At my words, Momiji’s eyes widened as if she was moved.
Then, unable to hold back her tears, she sniffled and said to me in a worried voice.
“But, is it okay for me to just keep receiving like this? *Sniff.* I haven’t done anything for Takuya…”
“Well, that’s…”
Well, if you had to be specific, it was true.
I was doing this because she was my friend and because of the mission on the screen, but to Momiji, it would seem like I was acting without any compensation.
In fact, that wasn’t entirely wrong.
While I was thinking this, Momiji’s self-blaming words began to pour out one after another.
“Besides, I’m useless. I’m not pretty, I’m not good at sports, and I’m not good at studying…”
At those self-blaming words, I realized that Momiji was very psychologically withdrawn.
No. In fact, it was natural for her to be withdrawn.
She had been brainwashed into thinking she was a useless child at home, and then she was kidnapped. Not only that, but her friend, who was helping her, saved her again when she couldn’t do anything.
Honestly, even I would have low self-esteem.
‘If she’s in this state, comforting her would be counterproductive, right?’
I had seen a similar guy before, so I knew that comforting her in this situation was a bad idea.
Then what should I do?
The answer was surprisingly simple.
I looked at Momiji, who was blaming herself, grabbed her shoulders, and said.
“Momiji, I’ll say this first, this isn’t just about helping you. This is… like an investment.”
“An investment?”
“Yeah. An investment in Momiji’s future.”
I just had to make her realize that she was a person with potential.
“W-What do you see in me?”
For the record, what I said wasn’t exactly a lie.
That’s because…
“Well, if I had to say, it’s your face and your diligence.”
“…My face and my diligence?”
Momiji’s appearance was due to her shaggy hair and thick-rimmed glasses, not her actual face.
Rather, her actual face was surprisingly good. Her skin was clear, and even though she didn’t seem to have a balanced diet, she didn’t have any blemishes, which was certain.
And as for diligence, well…
“You take notes of what the teacher says, and sometimes you stay behind to give the rabbits and fish food and water when the other kids don’t, and you’re polite to the teachers and other adults.”
“B-But that’s normal!”
Momiji said that wasn’t anything to be diligent about, but I stroked her head and said.
“There are a lot of people who can’t even do those small things and ruin big things.”
This was the truth.
Politicians always seem to cause controversy by dropping something out of their pockets when they’re about to do something big.
At my words, Momiji nodded as if she understood and said.
“Okay. Then I’ll definitely become a useful person to Takuya later.”
“I’ll fully support you until then. Don’t worry.”
“Okay! And lastly, Takuya.”
“What?”
At my answer, Momiji buried her face in my chest and said.
“Thank you so, so much today…”
“I’ll make you pay back this debt later. Be prepared.”
“Okay… I’ll definitely pay you back…”
And with Momiji’s answer…
[The third scenario has been cleared!]
[As a reward….]
.
.
.
.
.
Along with the text on the screen that the scenario was successful, the rewards were listed.
Looking at that screen, I unconsciously thought.
It’s really over now.
And so, Takuya, relieved, finished his long day…
“Takuya?!”
“Q-Quickly, call the hospital…”
…it didn’t.
It seemed like there was still work to be done.
