CH 70

Chapter 70 – A Brutal Past

Most of the subordinates who had gone into the buildings had become zombified, and under Ryudou’s orders, they began to proceed listlessly with exploring the dungeon. At the strange sight, Ryudou just watched on with a cold sneer.

“….Was this for the best? Now, they…”

Standing alone by Ryudou’s side was the bald man, Kuroki. That man had a complicated expression on his face as he watched their transformed subordinates.

“Kuku, in the first place, I gathered these people for this purpose. They’re a bunch of powerless fools who wouldn’t have been able to stand a chance against those monsters anyway.” (Ryudou)

In other words, he had planned for them to die here since the very beginning. Hearing his plan, Kuroki’s face stiffened for a moment. After all, who knew when it would be his turn.

“…But once they become like this… will they still have any utility to you?” (Kuroki)

“Utility… These guys only gathered for a sip of the sweet nectar though. This was the only way to use these guys, y’know?” (Ryudou)

“R-Right…” (Kuroki)

“And Kuroki, we still have some guys worth using, don’t we?” (Ryudou)

“…..” (Kuroki)

“Oi, answer me, you two.” (Ryudou)

“”Y-Yes!””

Standing even further behind Kuroki were Takasu and Tengawa, who had fallen on their rear ends as they stared in terror at their zombified comrades. The two of them immediately got to their feet and stood at attention. But their faces were pale, and they were clearly trembling with fear.

“These guys had properly carried out my instructions after all. I didn’t kill them as their reward, right?” (Ryudou)

“Certainly, these two had followed your orders to infiltrate Kuzuhara’s forces and were partly responsible for the collapse of his forces, but… in that case, what about the others who also broke away from Kuzuhara’s forces?” (Kuroki)

It wasn’t just Takasu and Tengawa. There were still many other people who had been spying on Kuzuhara. However, those people had all been turned into zombies by now. Kuroki was asking for the reason why Takasu and Tengawa were the only ones being kept alive.

“Ah, because those guys hated me.” (Ryudou)

“…Huh?” (Kuroki)

“Didn’t I tell you? This ability of mine only works on those who hold hatred or resentment towards me.” (Ryudou)

Then, Ryudou raised his right arm as if he were holding a wine glass. There was nothing in his hand, but all of a sudden, a bluish-purple seed-like object was created.

“If I implant this seed―<The Seed of Rotten Evil> into a human, they’ll turn into a zombie and become my pawn when they die. However… the seed won’t grow unless they bear strong negative feelings toward me.” (Ryudou)

The seed would grow using the negative feelings harbored by the person while they were still alive, turning them into a zombie.

“That is the power of my skill―<Rotten Path>.” (Ryudou)

“Sorry, Ryudou-san. Does that mean that everyone who was eliminated all resented you?” (Kuroki)

“Yeah, I’ve always been sensitive towards negative emotions, you see. I can tell how people feel about me just from the look in their eyes. Those guys were all threatened into joining me, so sure enough, they resented me. Well, of course they did.” (Ryudou)

Most of the people who were with Kuzuhara were those who truly admired him. But the cunning Ryudou took advantage of those feelings instead.

He took hostages and forced them to betray Kuzuhara. Because of that, all of the people who had no choice but to betray Kuzuhara had developed a strong hatred towards Ryudou. It had been Ryudou’s plan from the beginning to induce these feelings and use them towards his plan.

“Negative emotions… just at a glance…?” (Kuroki)

“Kukuku. Well, I guess this is a kind of talent, too. No, it’s more like an acquired talent, nurtured by my environment.” (Ryudou)

“Nurtured by the environment?” (Kuroki)

“What, you want to hear about it? Well, I’ll tell you to kill some time. You know how I grew up in an orphanage, right?” (Ryudou)

“Yes. That’s where you met Kuzuhara Saito too.” (Kuroki)

“”Eh…?!””

Takasu and Tengawa were surprised to hear for the first time about his connection with the enemy’s leader.

“Do you know why I was sent to the orphanage?” (Ryudou)

“N-No, I don’t know.” (Kuroki)

“To put it simply, it was because my parents died. I had no relatives to take me in. So when I was eight years old, they sent me to the orphanage.” (Ryudou)

“….Then in the orphanage, that’s where you honed your ability to perceive negative emotions?” (Kuroki)

However, Ryudou shook his head. All three of the people who were listening to his story tilted their heads and looked at each other.

“Ah, my bad. I misspoke earlier.” (Ryudou)

“””….?”””

“I said my parents died, but that wasn’t true. My parents…I killed them.” (Ryudou)

“””…?!”””

All three of them gasped at the bombshell of a statement.

“K-Killed them… Er, is that a figurative statement?” (Kuroki)

“You don’t think that a brat who was only 8 years old would be able to kill his parents? Is that what you’re tryna say?” (Ryudou)

“…Yes.” (Kuroki)

Normally, that would probably be the typical line of thinking to arrive at. It would be difficult to imagine that a kid who was still underdeveloped physically and mentally would be able to kill a mature adult male.

“Kuhahah, well, that’s hilarious. I mixed some poison into my shitty father’s food. And then he easily fell over and died.” (Ryudou)

As Ryudou happily narrated his story, the three of them stared at him as if they were looking at something terrifying.

“Poison…?” (Kuroki)

“Yeah, my father was a womanizer. He always brought home all kinds of trouble for the advances he made on women. So there were any number of motives that I could frame for his death. I figured that even if I killed him, no one would ever think that I had anything to do with it.” (Ryudou)

After that, Ryudou began explaining how he killed his father. He began by researching the poisons that could be available to a kid. After various searches in the school library and public library, he picked out some poisonous mushrooms and plants.

“….Have you ever heard of the oleander plant?” (Ryudou)

“No, this is my first time hearing of it.” (Kuroki)

“It’s a beautiful wildflower plant with pink flowers. But it’s unbelievably poisonous. There was even a story like this.” (Ryudou)

He narrated that some people had once used oleander branches for barbequing, which ended up causing numerous casualties. And once, there were oleander leaves mixed into animal feed, and 10 cows died after eating it.

The soil surrounding the oleander plant was also poisonous. Oleandrin, the chemical compound in the oleander plant, was even more lethal than potassium cyanide, the poison often seen in TV dramas.

“I ground it into a paste and secretly mixed it into the curry that my father’s woman had made for him.” (Ryudou)

If it was curry, the strong fragrance from the spices would mask any smells or tastes that would seem out of place.

“My father ate it without any doubts and collapsed in front of me. Naturally, he immediately tried to call the hospital, but I had blocked the home phone, his cellphone, and any other means of communication with the outside world, so my father looked at me like he had no idea what was going on. His face at that time, man. It was so damn refreshing.” (Ryudou)

While Ryudou was talking in a wholeheartedly amused tone, the other three were staring at him with expressions that looked as if they had chewed on a bug.

“He didn’t have any energy left to go out by himself, so my father asked me for help. But I kind of knew. Yeah, he won’t live for much longer. So in his last moments, I said to him―’serves you right’.” (Ryudou)

Immediately after hearing those words, his father’s eyes widened in shock as he fell forward and collapsed. After that, Ryudou had restored the disconnected phone line and put back his father’s cellphone. Then, he hung around town for a bit before returning home.

By the time he came back again, his father’s woman had already arrived at their house and, upon seeing what had happened, contacted the police immediately. As such, there were already police cars and ambulances outside his house.

His father was brought to the hospital, but they said his breathing had stopped and that he was already dead.

“T-Thats…!” (Kuroki)

Kuroki choked out in a strained voice. Takasu and Tengawa were similarly speechless. They were looking at Ryudou as if he was a freak.

Well, it made sense. It wasn’t a plan that an eight-year-old child would be able to think up and execute on his own.

“C-Can I ask you a question, Ryudou-san?” (Kuroki)

“Haah? What is it, Kuroki?” (Ryudou)

“Why your father? And what about your mother…” (Kuroki)

“….My mother was being sold by my father.” (Ryudou)

“W-What…? Sold?” (Kuroki)

“My father was a real piece of shit. To make money, he’d sell my mom to people that he knew. Sometimes, some of his acquaintances would come over and fuck around with my mom with him. Messed up, isn’t it?” (Ryudou)

Kuroki was already at a complete loss for words. Ryudou’s environment had been so screwed up. His household situation hadn’t been normal in the slightest.

“And… he also made me take customers, too.” (Ryudou)

“…!? Ryudou-san too? No, at that time you were still…” (Kuroki)

“Yeah, I was only five years old at the time.” (Ryudou)

Like a jack-in-the-box, one unbelievable fact after another kept popping out of Ryudou’s mouth.

“I was forced to deal with dirty old men and grannies who had a fetish for little prepubescent boys. That was seriously the worst. If I refused, my father would beat me up. And my mother would turn a blind eye to it.” (Ryudou)

Therefore, in order to protect himself, he had no choice but to do as his father said.

“So one day, my mother… committed suicide. No, she tried to commit double suicide with me.” (Ryudou)

“”D-Double suicide?!””

Takasu and Tengawa, who had been silent, suddenly blurted out at the same time.

“Yeah, she tried to perform a charcoal-burning suicide. But I didn’t have the slightest intention of leaving this world behind with her. That’s why I escaped in the middle of it. Who would want to die alongside someone who had only ever turned a blind eye to their suffering?” (Ryudou)

(TL: Charcoal-burning suicide – suicide by burning charcoal in a closed room, causing death by carbon monoxide poisoning and/or suffocation.)

The fact that even her son had abandoned her led his mother to commit suicide alone.

“My father, naturally knowing that it would be a problem if the body was found as it was, enlisted the help of the yakuza and disposed of her body in private. And from then on, my hell only got worse.” (Ryudou)

Abuse, followed by more abuse. He wasn’t even given enough to eat, and he lived each day under his tyrant father’s reign of terror.

Whenever he displeased a customer that his father had prepared for him, a harsh punishment would always await him. As a result, Ryudou learned how to read other people’s emotions and make them feel good at all times. Ryudou believed that it was because of this experience that he gained the ability to sense negative emotions.

“And then, as I told you before, I couldn’t take it anymore and killed him when I was eight years old. Then I was sent to an orphanage home. Hah? What’s the matter? Your faces all look so complicated.” (Ryudou)

“N-No… It’s just quite the tragic past…”

The first person to open his mouth was Takasu. But Ryudou just laughed.

“Hey, hey, you’re making it sound like I’m a tragic hero or something!” (Ryudou)

“Eh? B-But…” (Takasu)

“I’m grateful to my parents for this!” (Ryudou)

The three of them all froze in shock when they heard what Ryudou said.

It was a natural reaction. He had just declared that he was grateful to his parents, who by all accounts had been nothing but scum to him.

“Because I had those experiences, I’ve come to understand what human nature is. I’ve seen all kinds of people. In the end, humans are just the incarnation of selfishness and greed. I’ve learned how to control that greed and make people move. At the mere age of five, I was able to experience things that no one else could. So that’s why I’m grateful to my parents for creating that kind of environment for me.” (Ryudou)

Ryudou smiled pleasantly, as if he really thought that way. However, there wasn’t any hint of life in his eyes. Only a dark emptiness like the abyss dwelled within his gaze.

“And… because of that experience, I met that guy at the orphanage. That bastard…” (Ryudou)

Ryudou rose from his chair and smiled deeply.

“Kuzuhara Saito… That guy is the exact opposite of me.” (Ryudou)

“Eh? B-But you came from the same orphanage, didn’t you?”

This time, the question came from Tengawa.

“Yeah, but his nature is different from mine. The environment he was brought up in, the talents he was born with, the way he thinks, everything is the opposite… But the only thing that was the same between us was the woman we fell in love with.” (Ryudou)

At that moment, droplets of rain began to fall from the sky. Ryudou spread his arms, making a gesture as if he was welcoming the rain.

“That’s why I’m going to crush him once and for all. I will reject everything about him. And in doing so, I will prove that my existence is right in every way. Kukuku, today is the day that everything will be settled. And I will prove that it was wrong for her to choose Kuzuhara. I’ll show him which one of us is truly the stronger male and which one of us truly deserved to be with her.” (Ryudou)

Ryudou’s creepy laughter was the only sound that rang out amidst the pattering of the gradually intensifying rain.