Half an hour later:
"Watch your head, kid"
"Thanks, that's very kind of y- guahhhh"
My sarcastic remark was shut down by Jerome before it even fully formed. A direct punch to my solar plexus. Most likely to knock me out but it was painfully obvious that he never tried this before so we were left awkwardly staring at each other.
"I think it's a little higher"
"SHUT UP."
He shouted while drawing his hand back for another punch. The punch connected right on my solar plexus this time. With my breathing rhythm disrupted, I could feel my consciousness swiftly fading. There was no reason for me to resist so I simply let myself fall asleep.
***
"Mhmmm"
I woke up and subconsciously made a very suspicious sound.
"HUH...WHO'S THERE? Oh, it's the guy we kidnapped. How did you wake up so early?"
I drowsily looked around the room I was being kept in. The room was small with little to no furniture. Only a dim light bulb was keeping the room lit. There was a wooden door behind me which was the only possible escape from this room I could think of. I was tied to a pole at the center of the room. Basically, my wrist was tied and I was in a sitting position. My legs were tied together but thankfully they weren't tied to any object. Also there was a guy guarding the wooden door who seemed to be surprised that I woke up. Judging from his red bloodshot eyes, it seems like he was taking a nap just a moment ago.
"A-answer me...how did you wake up so early? Who are you?"
Guy seemed to be a little scared for some reason. He already took out his dagger as if expecting me to break out these ropes like hulk or something. I was 90% sure he would actually kill me out of fear if I didn't say anything.
"The guy who kidnapped me didn't hit my solar plexus very hard."
"Ah th-that must be it. Wait h-how am I supposed to believe you? Y-you might be lying just to hide you are a super powerful guy."
"Wh-what...why would I try to convince you to not kill me if I'm powerful enough to escape?"
"AHHH I WILL NOT HEAR ANY MORE OF YOUR SOPHISTRY."
The guy rushed at me with his knife. I cursed in my head, just realizing something that I should've realized ages ago. This guy was a druggie. From his nervous eye movement and constant sweating and fidgety movement, it should've been obvious to me. There is a certain method of convincing a druggie but I messed up already. I positioned my tied legs in way so I would at least get one chance at disarming him before he stabs me. But its like a 1/10 chance to work out properly and I never had good luck with anything in my life.
"CLINT, STOP"
Suddenly, the wooden door opened with a loud bang sound. It was the big guy who kidnapped me. I never imagined I would be this happy to see my kidnapper.
"I told you multiple times to stay off the cocaine stack. Do you even realize how much money we would have lost if this guy died?" Jerome spoke out in the same bone chilling voice.
'Come now...no need to be shy. Just admit you are here because you missed me' I sarcastically thought.
"B-Bro this guy is deceiving us. He-he's a trickster. I can see through his tri-tricks. W-we gotta finish him before he calls his friends."
"GET OUT ALREADY."
The big guy screamed and released a murderous pressure. Even though I've always been a laid-back guy who didn't care much about danger or death, this time I was genuinely startled. What the hell was that?
I looked up at Jerome cautiously. His overwhelming height and chubby build was felt dominating. But I couldn't figure out why he seemed…more ferocious and murderous than last time. However, as if to answer my question, a window popped up in front of me.
===
Status
Name: Jerome ???
Age: 37
Race: Human
Height: 6''7
Weight: 435 lbs
Current Rank:
Additional Information: Strength reliant. Extremely low mana capacity.
[Most of the target's information has been calculated with Practen's analysis module.
(Marginal Error: 0.5% - 1.5%)]
[If the host inquires new information about the target, then the system will automatically add the information on the status window. It is to be noted that the system will not be held accountable for the credibility of the information the host acquires about the target.]
===
'This is pretty helpful.'
"So Kez Jolkev, how are you doing?"
Jerome asked. I snapped out of my dazed expression and quickly collected myself. What attitude is good for this situation? Maybe an arrogant young master one? A scared one? Maybe a stoneface one? This was an ability I always possessed. I could literally change my personality. It wasn't just acting. It was as if I had that personality for all my life. Since he knows my name, does it mean he knows my family? Was this kidnapping planned? No this is definitely a random kidnapping. My wallet was missing and he definitely got my name from that. Also, they arrived right after I called Buber so maybe they were watching me. Buber is a multi-billion dollar company so there's no way some small fries like these could have an inside man in Buber and not get caught.
So the question is why did they kidnap me? Maybe they saw me dealing with the skill book shopkeeper. Damn, this is troublesome. I can't have people knowing I made an illegal skillbook trade. I'll act scared for now.
"Wh-what do you want? I-I don't have any money. I just spent it."
"No, we want the drugs."
"...Huh?"
"I know that shopkeeper sold you drugs. Where is it?"
'Is this guy really this dumb???'
"I-I don't have it anymore"
"Tough cookie, eh? You are a pretty famous guy around these parts you know. You want me to tell the police that you are doing drugs and send them evidence of you trading drugs? I also took a picture of what you were doing on the drugs."
'What is he talking about?'
He pulled out his phone and showed a picture of me in that alley. Immediately, my pupils dilated. Fuck Fuck Fuck. Out of everything, why did have to take a picture of me testing out my skill like that? Why is my luck this bad. But at the same time, this guy had no clue of what I was actually doing which was extremely good for me.
'Fuck I guess I'll just act scared for now.'
"..wha..why do you even want the drug? Isn't it enough to get the ransom money from my parents?"
"It's not my fault that your parents are so stubborn and refused to pay any ransom as soon as we called them. If I have the drug then I can use it as evidence to defame your family. I am willing to bet they would definitely pay then. So where is it?"
"..."
"Sigh. OI CLINTON, KEEP GUARDING HIM TILL HE TALKS."
"NO PLEASE...I'll talk. I will definitely talk. Please don't call him. The shopkeeper delivers them to a special place after his work. I only order and pay face to face. The delivery isn't in-person. He leaves them at our designated spot."
"Oh ho. Aren't you two a bunch of smartasses. So where is this designated spot?"
"..."
"Sigh..kid you are willing to risk your life just for a little drug? Oh right, forgot to tell you that I took a video of you two doing the deal. Although the drugs aren't in view, your conversation was enough to indicate you guys were trading drugs and not to mention the picture too hehe. That will be enough to convince the police. So you can either protect the actual evidence and risk dying at Clinton's hand or you can give me the evidence so I can bargain with your parents and all these evidence goes away. Here, take a look."
He pulls out his phone to show a video and prove his point. In the video, there were two characters and you could hear their voices perfectly and yup it was indeed lovely little me and the shopkeeper.
"Boss, you called?" Clinton's voice came from the hallway. Slowly approching closer.
"I-I'll tell you. It's in the trash can of the abandoned warehouse near 44th lane and Tarpov road."
He pulls out a map on his phone and after searching for a while I show him where the warehouse is. Now how do I know where this warehouse is? Because there was an important arc in the original book where our mc Jack stumbles across this abandoned warehouse and decides to explore. But it turns out that the warehouse is actually home to an E+ rank demon. Yup there are demons, and their ranking system is pretty much the same as humans. What else...uhh..they are bad or something and they are trying to take over this world and...well basically they are demons aka the bad guys and they kill people. So, If this guy goes to the warehouse then there's no way he is coming back alive. Hahaha genius. I was surprised to realize I actually remember the address because I never read the book seriously. But I'm glad that everything worked out perfectly.
"Oh...what if you are lying?"
"W-why would I do that? It's not like I'm going anywhere. You can come back if you can't find it."
"Hahaha of course. I do need the ransom money from your parents anyway. Well looks like you will get to spend some quality time with Clinton."
"Wait...NO YOU PROMISED. He's high af and he thinks I'm the spawn of the devil. He will surely kill me."
"First, I didn't promise and second, I don't have the funds to hire 5 spare employees, so you are stuck with him. Rest of my people are busy."
"Fuck, wouldn't it be troublesome for you if I die? Besides, you don't even know if I gave you the right address."
"If you die then we will simply hide your body. Also you don't look like the clever type. Rather the type that get scared shitless when they encounter a bit of danger. Don't worry, Clinton is a harmless person, he won't bite."
"What the hell do you mean? He already tried to stab me. Y-you will pay for this. I'll curse you from hell."
"CLINTON. HURRY UP AND GET YOUR ASS IN HERE."
'Fuck this guy is always so loud. My eardrums hurt.'
"AHHHHHH IT'S THE DEVIL AGAIN", Clinton screamed as soon as he saw me.
'This guy is more insane than me for fuck's sake'
"Shut up Clinton, guard him till I come back. If you do a good job then I'll let you have some more of that...powder."
*gulp*
"Y-yes boss, I understand. I-I'll do a good job."
"Well Kez Jolkev, try not to die..well it's not like anyone would care either way. Addios''
Jerome shut the door with a loud bang, dealing significant damage to my eardrums. I kept listening as his footsteps traveled farther and farther till I couldn't hear it any longer. I wanted a nap, even if it was a small one but I'm not dumb enough to sleep in a room with a psycho like Clinton who is hell bent on killing me. Besides I was not sure if I could sleep in the first place with Clinton making 200 incoherent noises every minute. Most of those were directed at me but I didn't feel like listening to his ramblings so I tried my best to not spare him any of my attention. I focused on my hand to summon my mana. The room wasn't well lit but the amount of light in the room was sufficient enough to cancel the light emitting from my mana manifested hand. I rubbed one finger against the rope slowly. Sound was also damped by Clinton's incomprehensible rambling.
'It's actually working. I can break the rope in a few more mins.'
"HUH WHAT WAS THAT SOUND"
'Ah shit'
Clinton suddenly grew quiet. I sped up my process of breaking my rope. If this guy gets even 1% suspicious then he will definitely attack me.
"HEY!!! What kind of sorcery are you doing? Oh no, I knew it, I knew you were the devil. Shit Shit Shit....I'M NOT DYING LIKE THIS..AHHHHHH."
After coming to his own mindless conclusion, Clinton charged at me with his knife. But right before he reached me, he stumbled on a rock and fell face first on the ground. I sighed in relief. I rubbed my finger furiously against the rope. I only need a few more seconds. But my luck ran out. Clinton got up immediately as if he was a robot and continued his charge.
'I'm not confident I can try in Kez's body but it's better than simply dying.'
As my legs were untied, I moved my left leg up in a way so that leg created a 45 degree angle. I kept my other leg straight. My eyes were focused on the knife in his hand. Clinton was aiming right for my face for some reason. As soon as he got in my reach, I instinctively raised my left in a 90 degree angle and wrapped it around his knife hand. Before he could react, I used my other leg to kick his fingers hard enough for his knife to fly off his hand. Then using my left leg, I hit his neck with all the force I could muster. But I couldn't knock him out. I was in an unfamiliar body after all.
"Argh...damn devil. YOU ARE NOT ESCAPING ALIVE.
Clinton stepped back and summoned a bow out of nowhere. As if he was trained, he instantly summoned an arrow and nocked the arrow in a swift motion.
"This...is...your...END, YOU DEVIL"
'He looks like a professional. I have to use it.'
Shing
Before Clinton could even react, something moved in an incredibly sharp speed from Kez's pants. Clinton assumed it was a sneak attack from Kez and got it a defensive position. But what he witnessed left him flabbergasted. It was out in the open and glowing dim red. Clinton stared at Kez's face, horrified and spotted a maddening grin on Kez's face.
[Insanity has been activated]
Snap
The ropes came apart. Suddenly boosted by insanity, the ropes couldn't handle any more pressure. Kez slowly stood up and walked towards Clinton. The object changed from dim red to bright red. Clinton's face distorted even more after the color shift. He opened his mouth, trying to say something but words didn't come out. He took a step back, then another but soon his back was against the wall. He did nothing but watched, terrified as Kez continued to slowly approach him. He desperately wanted to say something but at the end, all his struggles proved to be futile, and he could only scream in horror before he fainted.
***