Ugh...
A dull pain throbbed at the back of his head, and his stomach growled in hunger.
Ken was slowly regaining consciousness, but an overwhelming weight seemed to press down on his body. He tried to open his eyes, but...
What's going on?
An odd sensation swept through him. This slight rocking, the constant vibration beneath him... He knew this feeling too well. He was in motion.
A car?
Still unable to open his eyes, he could only guess at his situation. But one thing was certain: he wasn't on a bench anymore. No, he was sitting... on a seat.
And he was right.
Ken found himself currently in the back of a black van, the very one that had stopped in front of him just before he lost consciousness. In other words...
He'd been kidnapped.
A chill ran down his spine.
He tried again to open his eyes, without success. It wasn't the pain that kept him from doing so. No...
My eyes... Why...?
A brutal realization hit him.
They're taped shut. Damn!
His breathing quickened. He tried to speak, but only muffled groans escaped.
Ugh! Ugh!
His mouth was taped shut.
Panic surged as he attempted to move his hands... Impossible. They were tightly bound together. His legs too.
What the hell is going on?! Can someone explain what's happening?!
He struggled, thrashing in his seat. His tense muscles screamed in protest, but his restraints didn't budge an inch.
Then suddenly—
"Easy, big guy... Calm down."
A mocking male voice rang out right next to him.
Ken froze.
An unpleasant shiver coursed through his body. A cold, metallic pressure pressed against his forehead.
A gun...?
His heart skipped a beat. The object on his skin... There was no mistaking it. It was a pistol. A Desert Eagle.
The man facing him increased the pressure of the barrel, as if savoring his helplessness.
"... Before you get a nice little hole in your brain ahead of schedule."
The threat was clear. Yet something felt off.
Ken should have been terrified. He should have been trembling, his survival instincts screaming at him to act.
But none of that happened.
Huh?
His mind was boiling, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Why... Why am I so calm?
His heart was beating normally. His breathing steady. Not a drop of sweat, not a single tremor.
It was... strange.
Is this a joke?
He tried to assess the situation.
Okay, let's clarify things. I've just been kidnapped. I'm tied up, gagged, and blindfolded, and there's a gun pressed to my forehead. So, can someone explain...
Why am I so calm?!
He forced his mind to analyze his own body, searching for a rational explanation. His heart wasn't beating faster than usual. His breathing was controlled, effortless. He felt no fear.
Have I become numb to fear?
No. That wasn't it. He still remembered what it felt like to be afraid. His past was full of it. Fear, he knew all too well.
But right now...
It was like his entire body was whispering to him:
A gun? So what?
The man next to him hummed a cheerful tune, tapping his forehead with the gun every now and then.
But Ken... still felt nothing.
No dread, no anger, not even curiosity.
Just... cold indifference.
An absurd thought crossed his mind.
So this is what it's like to lose your mind?
Yeah... That would make more sense than going crazy.
After everything I've been through... it wouldn't be surprising.
The car kept moving, the atmosphere inside still heavy, with no real change. But in reality, Ken was experiencing something completely unprecedented.
I'm not dreaming, am I?
Until just a few hours ago, his instincts had been those of an ordinary human. But at this very moment... something had changed.
His body, or rather his intuition, was whispering something absurd.
If I wanted to... I could neutralize the man next to me.
Not just him.
I could also take down the driver—probably his accomplice—and get out of this car without a hitch.
And all this, despite the restraints holding me down.
Such a thought should have made him laugh. How could he fight, tied up as he was?
No... This isn't just a thought.
This isn't some desperate fantasy of escape.
It's a certainty.
It's insane...
His mind was already drawing up a precise attack plan. Every movement, every strike, every reaction from his opponents. Everything was clear.
It was like... a pre-installed program in his brain.
An almost imperceptible smirk, barely visible beneath the tape sealing his mouth, curled his lips.
Since when... do I think like this?
Then, suddenly, a memory flashed in his mind.
CQC.
His heart skipped a beat.
No matter how I think about it... this pattern looks like the CQC I saw in that movie!
Images of close combat scenes, neutralization techniques... But why?
Then, like a distant echo, another memory resurfaced.
[ Permanent Privilege 'CQC Expert' granted.
End of free trial. ]
... Huh?
He remembered.
Or rather, he had seen something. A blue screen. A robotic voice before he passed out.
I wasn't hallucinating...
He didn't know why, but he felt that this voice was intimately linked to the unnaturally calm state he was experiencing right now. This absurd confidence, almost supernatural.
He still doubted it. But one thing was certain:
I can take them down.
He was sure of it.
Not some vague feeling. Not a hypothesis.
An absolute certainty.
His instincts weren't lying. He knew that, one way or another, he could win.
Imagining a plan was one thing. Putting it into practice, another...
He took a deep breath, deliberately slowing his heartbeat.
I'll wait a little longer.
Everything that was happening to him today was insane. A series of events that no logic could explain.
He didn't understand anything anymore.
His bearings, his beliefs... everything was collapsing.
No... This isn't reality. It's a nightmare.
A simple, delirious dream he hoped to wake up from as soon as possible.
... Sigh.
He exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself.
But just as the universe seemed to conspire against him, a new event shattered his fragile equilibrium.
A blue interface suddenly appeared in front of his blindfolded eyes.
Huh...?!
He couldn't see anything naturally, but strangely, he could still see this blue interface despite his blindfold.
Inscriptions appeared before his eyes, followed by the same relentless mechanical voice.
[ Mandatory Quarterly Quest - Level 1: Bartender
Duration: 2 weeks
Paid Skills:
Expert Server: 10,000 ¥ (1 week)
Gossip Expert: 1,000 ¥ (1 week)
Expert Cleaner: 100 ¥ (1 week)
Penalty for failure: -100,000 ¥
Penalty for inability to pay: Death. ]
Ken stopped breathing.
OH. MY. GOD.