Luckily, nothing was in the process of being butchered in the butchering room when Asher stepped in. Instead, black trash bags, all filled to their bursting points, lay in organized piles on the floor. The piles were labelled neatly as well.
'Hands, feet, belly, loin... Don't tell me-' Asher opened a bag labelled 'heart' that was laid beside him.
Sure enough, it was filled with human hearts. He took a step back, his face turning pale. So many victims have already fallen to this restaurant.
*Thump Thump*
Suddenly, he heard a muffled noise from the refrigerator, like something was banging on the door from the inside.
'Someone's in there!' He rushed forward and flung the wide door open. Cold air permeated into the room.
Three people were stuffed in the refrigerator, their eyes glazed and their limbs bound together with rope. The man in the middle still held onto his consciousness as he tried to scream through his gag, struggling against his bonds.
Asher knew who these people were. They were Pete and his two companions, the first people to kill him and the trio that he saw with the Sweeper that night.
Pete's skin crawled with goosebumps as the door was opened wide, with seemingly no one behind it. Then a petite, invisible hand tore off his gag, and he could finally speak.
"Who-"
"Grade 7 Fixer, Sophie." Asher turned off his skill, allowing the man to see his true form.
Pete's mouth curled into a wan smile.
"I knew this would happen eventually... Whatever you're gonna do, don't kill my friends. Please, anything but them..." The man hung his head low. His body was still bound, but he positioned himself between Asher and the pair behind him.
Asher nearly laughed aloud.
"You think I'm here for you? Think about where you are right now. Would I really track you down to here of all places? I'll decide what to do with you later."
Pete nodded his head gratefully as Asher closed the door to the refrigerator. The man burrowed his body between his friends, trying to conserve his body heat.
Asher stepped out of the butchering room as he approached the two people in the corner.
He didn't bother to reactivate his skill; the couple slowly stopped talking as he approached them.
"Hello little girl. Is anything wrong?" The boyfriend looked at Asher with concern, seeing as there were no adult supervisors near him.
Asher felt bad for interrupting them, but it would've been worse if he didn't tell them the truth. He had to clear out the restaurant before the eventual fight. Taking out his phone, he showed the couple the Hana Association logo imprinted on top of its cover.
"This restaurant has been processing human meat. You should leave now to avoid the crossfire. Though, it seems that you are quite lucky." Asher looked down at their plates. A salad and some onion rings, none of which could possibly have human ingredients in them. Well, unless they fried the onions in human oil... Asher quickly shook off the disgusting mental image.
The girl sighed dramatically, tugging her partner's sleeve.
"Wow~ How many restaurants are they going to bust?? Our dates are always being interrupted by these dang Fixers!" She pouted cutely as the man patted her head.
"Uh- Erm, did you not hear what I said? Human meat?" The girl ignored Asher's confusion, dragging away her boyfriend in a huff.
Asher blinked, his mind blown to pieces by the couple's nonchalant attitude.
But he couldn't idle for too long, as the sound of footsteps approached him. It must've been Yun and the chefs. He reactivated his ability and stood stock still. Surely the chefs wouldn't have enough Insight to see him, right?
Yun's voice resounded near the front entrance. He tried to alert Asher that he was approaching by raising his voice.
"It's incredible that you guys love to make-" Yun paused for a second to push down his disgust, "baby hand pastries, since I've always loved them when I was young. I simply must try one of yours."
He saw Yun walking slowly toward the kitchen, with Pierre and Jack surrounding him on either side. The Fixer tapped impatiently on his leg; he hadn't noticed Asher's presence so far.
To Asher's quiet relief, neither did the chefs.
Asher strolled up to Yun and gently rapped on his shoulder. Because of his experience as a Fixer, Yun nodded imperceptibly instead of flinching at Asher's unexpected touch.
The two chefs led them to the kitchen, where Pierre immediately began to work with rolling dough. It was exactly as Yun said; these chefs wanted validation for all their twisted efforts.
Jack didn't stay to witness Pierre's work and walked through the butchering room doors.
'Now's our chance!' Yun and Asher shared a look with each other. Although Asher only looked like a faint mirage in Yun's eyes, they seemed to understand their improvised plan perfectly.
Asher snuck to the butchering room while Yun reached into his coat for his flashbang and shock gloves.
Both of them would have to trust that their partner could handle their respective targets.
In the butchering room, Jack opened the refrigerator containing Pete, Aiko, and Mangchi's bodies. Just as the man was taking out Aiko's body from the cold air-
"Ah, my eyes!! Jack!" Pierre screamed from the other room, instantly drawing Jack's attention.
But before he could run out the doors, a little girl materialized in front of him, her hand carrying a sword nearly as long as she was tall.
"Get outta my way!" Jack charged toward Asher, his hands grabbing a nearby kitchen knife.
However, he suddenly stopped as the girl did something both mesmerizing and disgusting.
Asher activated his [Puppet Movements]; his spine creaking like a rusty machine as he wound up his body. His spine made a 360 degree revolution as his face turned toward Jack once again, whose jaw nearly dropped from shock.
"Oh... shit."
Spinning around faster than the man could react, Asher unwound the tension in his body, instantly slicing Jack in half.
He let out a small breath. It turned out easier than he expected, at least for him. In the other room, it seemed like Yun and Pierre were still fighting it out.
Since he killed Jack so quickly, he immediately busted down the door to the kitchen, shocking Pierre, who thought the person coming out would be Jack, and also Yun, who was surprised by Asher's swift dispatching of the giant man.
Unfortunately, Pierre shook out of her shock faster than Yun, taking advantage of Yun's momentary indecision to club him with her rolling pin, knocking him down.
Just as she grabbed for a knife beside her to deal the finishing blow, Asher rushed up to her, severing her head in a single clean strike.
Thus, the headless body of Pierre plopped to the ground, dead before she could even realize what happened.
Asher looked at the gore on the floor and frowned.
'Since when did killing become so easy?' He didn't feel a single thing after killing two people in a row, perhaps due to what they had done to their innocent victims.
Yun's body leaned on a cabinet, still out cold.
After Asher confirmed that the man was breathing, he went into the butchering room for the three people stuck in the refrigerator.
Pete, Aiko, and Mangchi shivered on the ground, still bound together, acclimating to the warmer environment. Seeing the little girl who chopped the giant man in half entering the room, they all fell silent.
Asher ripped off their gags and cut through their bonds.
"So... what should I do with you three?" To be honest, Asher didn't really know what to do with them. Finding them here was too unexpected.
He felt conflicting emotions toward them; on one hand they killed him that one time, but on the other hand their drama with the Sweeper that night showed that they cared for each other.
Pete lowered his head.
"The other two are innocent, don't lump them with me. I'll take all the blame, just don't hurt them. Please."
Aiko and Mangchi stepped up, cutting Pete off.
"No, we're the one's at fault. Kill us instead! Pete... It's the least we could do for you after all these years..." The three of them welled up in tears as Asher soaked in the drama.
"Damn, I never said I was going to kill anyone. Do any of you have a phone?" Asher made up his mind. The interactions between Pete and his friends were so innocent, in a way. If he executed any of them now, it would only leave him with an unpleasant taste in his mouth.
Their faces lit up. Aiko wept in joy while Mangchi bowed deeply toward him. Pete pulled out a shabby looking flip phone.
"The three of us share this old phone. Do you want it or something?" Pete handed the phone to Asher, who promptly gave it back, along with his own phone.
"Put me in your contacts."
The man was confused, but did as Asher told nonetheless.
...
"Why did you decide to spare us? Fixers usually eliminate people like us on sight. We don't have any rights as homeless, jobless criminals, they use us as stress relievers."
"...Then why don't you just stop doing crimes?" He understood that what the Fixers did to them was depraved, but still... 'if you can't do the time, don't do the crime', as the old saying went. Well, they were being murdered in cold blood, not doing time, but the sentiment still held.
Pete made a shrugging motion.
"A single body sells for a good buck in the City. We tried to sell one to this restaurant, but they turned on us right when we closed the deal. No businesses will hire us as employees, either."
Asher sighed. These people were still criminals, after all, having already killed someone again in such a brief span of time since he last saw them. Still, he had already decided to not kill them. He wasn't the type to break his promises.
"Alright, if any of you do a crime ever again, I will be the first to track you down and kill you all, understand? I'm not bluffing, you already have a tracker on you." He was, in fact, bluffing. But he didn't want them to kill more people. If they did, then he would not hesitate to eliminate them.
Pete tried to argue, but was interrupted by Asher again.
"No buts. Find something else to do with your life. Now shoo before I change my mind." Asher lifted his sword slightly, and the three needed no further hints. They filed out of the room quickly, but not before Aiko quietly thanked him as she left.
Asher walked back to the kitchen, where Yun was still resting his injured head. He blearily looked up at Asher and pointed at the door.
"Who were those people... that walked out just now?"
"A few random people. No need to worry about them."
Yun made an unconcerned grunt as he wobbled to his feet. Asher supported his body as he tried to stand upright.
"After I call the cleanup crew, let's go back to the Office." Yun pulled out his phone, calling a number in his contacts. The number picked up, then promptly disconnected.
"They'll be here in a few minutes. Ugh, my head's still a bit hazy... Sorry that I got so distracted that time."
Yun leaned on Asher's shoulder as they made their way back to Yun's Office, leaving behind the bloody aftermath they created.