A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 51: Fun Little Moment

Jin stared up at the figure on the rooftop, his swollen eyes struggling to focus through the blood and tears.

’Wait... that face,’ he thought, his foggy mind slowly connecting the dots. ’I know him. That’s the guy from the hunter hall, the one who saved me from those bastards.’

The memory hit him all at once, that day in the registration hall when three hunters had him pinned to the ground, laughing at him, calling him dead weight. This same man had stepped in without being asked, blocked a punch with his bat, and scared them off with nothing but his presence.

Jin had wanted to approach him after that, to ask if they could party up, hunt together, anything. But every time he worked up the courage, something held him back. The man looked dangerous, untouchable, like he existed in a completely different world from the weak and desperate.

’Maybe if I had just asked,’ he thought, still looking up at Shu, ’maybe he would have helped me out, given me a chance...’

He shut that thought down fast.

’No,’ he told himself, his jaw tightening despite the pain. ’In this world, no one is like that. People don’t help for free, they help because they want something and someone that strong? He’s probably no different from the rest.’

Down below, the three hunters had recovered from the shock and were staring up at the rooftop with mixed expressions. The big one with the scar was the first to speak, his earlier confidence cracking just slightly.

"The hell do you want?" he called up, trying to sound tough while taking a half-step back. "This doesn’t concern you, so beat it."

Shu didn’t answer, he just continued looking down at them, ’hmm, where have I see that boy from?’ He thought, his eyes moving from Jin to the hunters surrounding him.

The silence stretched long enough to make all three of them uncomfortable.

Then he spoke, "you know," he said, his voice carrying down with zero effort, "I was having a pretty good morning."

He pushed off the rooftop edge and dropped.

The fall was at least two stories, but he landed like it was nothing, knees bending once before straightening up. The pavement cracked under his feet, and a small cloud of dust rolled outward from the impact.

The hunters stumbled back another step, their earlier amusement completely gone now.

Shu walked toward his bat without looking at any of them, grabbed the handle, and pulled it free from the ground with one clean motion, the glow fading the second it left the asphalt.

He rolled his shoulder once, then finally turned his attention to the three hunters.

"So," he said, tilting his head. "Which one of you wants to go first?"

The big hunter’s eye twitched, looking at his two buddies, then back at Shu, and something ugly crossed his face.

"You think you’re tough because you dropped in from a roof?" he said, forcing a grin. "There’s three of us and one of you, smart guy. Those odds don’t work in your favor."

Shu stared at him for a long second, then let out an amused laugh, "odds huh," he repeated, looking at his bat. "Yeah, sure. Let’s go with that."

He activated Massacre Engine.

The furnace kicked on inside his chest, feeding heat into his limbs one beat at a time. His vision sharpened, his muscles coiled tighter, and the world around him suddenly felt a little too slow.

The purple aura crawled up his arms and settled around his shoulders like a second skin, and the air pressure in the street dropped hard enough to make all three hunters flinch.

Jin watched from the ground, his mouth hanging open slightly.

’What... what is that?’ he thought, staring at the aura. ’That pressure, it’s suffocating. Is this really the same guy from the hall?’

Shu took one step forward, and the big hunter’s grin finally broke.

"Wait," the hunter said, raising both hands. "Wait, hold on, we were just messing around-"

"You were beating a kid over some herbs," he said with in a flat tone. "I want you to experience how that feels you know, then I can also say I am just ’messing’ around.’

The hunter’s face went pale.

His two buddies looked at each other for one second, then both moved at once, clearly deciding that rushing him together was their best shot. One came in from the left with a knife, while the other raised a club overhead and charged from the right.

Shu looked at them, then tilted his head.

’Oh, nice,’ he thought, the heat in his chest rising a little more. ’Two volunteers at once.’

The knife guy got there first, stabbing for Shu’s ribs with the kind of confidence only a complete idiot could have. Shu did not even bother using the bat, he just raised one hand and slapped the side of the man’s face, the sound cracking through the street.

For a second, nobody moved, then the hunter’s whole body lifted off the ground and flew sideways into a parked car hard enough to dent the door.

Jin’s mouth fell open.

The third hunter froze mid-charge, still holding his club over his head while staring at his friend folded halfway into the car. His expression looked so stupid that Shu almost laughed.

"...Huh," Shu said, looking at his own hand. "That worked way better than I expected."

The big hunter with the scar took two fast steps back.

"W-what the hell was that?"

Shu flexed his fingers, still feeling the aftershock run up his arm.

’Aright,’ he thought, grinning now. ’That was fun, maybe a little too fun.’

The club guy finally snapped out of it and screamed, trying to save face as he brought the weapon down with both hands. Shu stepped in before the swing finished, caught the guy by the wrist, then backhanded him across the face with the same casual motion.

The man spun so hard his feet left the ground, crashed across the pavement, rolled twice, and slammed into a wall headfirst before dropping in a limp heap.

Jin stared between both bodies with his brain clearly failing to keep up.

’No way,’ he thought, his eyes shaking. ’He defeated both of them with slaps? Just how strong is he now?.’

Shu looked down at his hand again, then at the second guy pasted against the wall.

"Hehe," he said, shoulders shaking a little. "That’s actually so hilarious."

The big hunter’s breathing turned ugly.

"You monster," he said, trying to sound angry, but the fear in his voice ruined it. "What kind of freak are you?"

Shu slowly turned his head toward him, the grin still sitting on his face.

"You were talking real crazy a minute ago," he said. "Now suddenly I’m a freak? Damn, that’s tough."

The hunter looked left, then right, clearly checking if his friends were getting up.

They were not.

One was twitching beside the car with half his face swollen already, while the other had slid down the wall and wasn’t moving at all except for the occasional groan. Seeing that made the big man’s throat bob.

Shu noticed the look and chuckled.

"Don’t worry," he said, resting the bat on his shoulder. "I held back."

That somehow made it worse.

The hunter’s eyes widened in pure disbelief, and Jin, still on the ground, felt a chill run down his back.

’Held back?’ Jin thought. ’If that was holding back, then what happens when he is serious?’

The big hunter suddenly exploded with aura and rushed forward with a desperate roar, probably realizing that running now would only get him hit in the back. His fist came in fast, wrapped in rough energy, aiming straight for Shu’s jaw.

He did not dodge, letting the fist come all the way in, then raised his free hand and caught it by the face instead, stopping the charge with ease.

"...Seriously?" He asked, sounding disappointed, "this was your big finish?"

The hunter grabbed at Shu’s wrist with both hands and tried to pull free, but it did absolutely nothing.

Shu clicked his tongue, "no no, let me try something."

He tightened his grip a little, lifted the man clean off the ground, then turned and bounced him face-first off the wall.

The sound was disgusting.

Jin flinched hard while the hunter sagged like all the bones in his body forgot how to work. Shu kept holding him by the face for one more second, tilted his head, then bounced him off the wall again.

"Oh," he said, sounding genuinely interested. "It works better on the second hit."

The hunter made a broken noise.

Shu finally let go, and the man dropped in a heap, twitching once before going still.

Silence fell over the street after that.

He looked at the three bodies, then down at his hand, before looking at the bat he had not even needed yet.

’Massacre Engine is so stupid,’ he thought, that grin coming back. ’I love it.’

He turned toward Jin, and the poor kid flinched on instinct before catching himself. Shu looked at him for a second, then crouched and picked up the dropped pouch from the ground.

"Here," he said, tossing it lightly onto Jin’s lap. "Your medicine."

He stared at the pouch with wide eyes, then looked up at him with his split lip shaking a little.

"T-thank you," he said. "I... thank you so much."

Shu waved it off and glanced back at the three hunters, "yeah, yeah," he said. "Just take your stuff and breathe for a second."

He paused, then looked at his own palm again and smirked.

"Though, not gonna lie," he said, half to himself, "that faceslap thing was kind of peak."