Chapter 76
After snapping his fingers, he suddenly came back to himself.
(I shot him... but that big guy might've actually been insanely strong, and if I overpowered him, that means I might be insanely strong too. Even if someone's S-rank or looks dangerous, I might still have a shot... right?)
It's almost a shame to oppose an enemy who's overcome such a heavy past—this man's inner self is just that disappointing. His one saving grace is that, outwardly at least, Finger Man is ridiculously handsome, cool, a fine young man, and even looks intelligent.
Thanks to the now-memefied "image of Finger Man," viewers' eyes and minds are biased, so no matter how weird he acts, his inner self never gets exposed. Even the nuance of what he says gets auto-translated.
"Doctor, are you an explorer too?"
While Shirokko was still soaring through the air, Finger Man turned to speak to Dr. Shita Chichigasky.
Dr. Shita Chichigasky opened and closed his mouth wordlessly, eyes wide in shock, sweating buckets as he muttered, "S-Shirokko... taken out in one hit?!"
Dr. Shita Chichigasky's ear exploded.
With a shriek, "Uwaaaah!", Dr. Shita Chichigasky clutched his ears in agony at the eardrum-shattering noise.
"Please answer. Otherwise, I'll have to put you away... okay?"
"P-Put me away...?! W-Where exactly are you planning to put me...?!"
Finger Man pulled out a syringe and began to approach slowly.
"S-Stop...! (That's a sedative...!! Finger Man, are you planning to kidnap and interrogate me?! 'Put me away'... d-does he mean inside the 'Mugen High-Load'?!)"
Dr. Shita Chichigasky was overcome with terror.
His rich imagination as a scientist had become his own worst enemy.
Finger Man stabbed the syringe (*'Blue Blood Lv3'*) into his own neck.
From an outside perspective, it made no sense at all.
(Why would he give himself a sedative...?!)
"Mmm♪ ...this is irresistible."
"?!!"
Injecting himself with the sedative, his body convulsed as he shuddered in pleasure.
At that moment, Dr. Shita Chichigasky became absolutely convinced that Finger Man was an extreme pervert and an aberrant no ordinary person could ever understand.
"S-So that's it... I get why that nobody was researching pocket dimensions... (It was all part of a massive criminal conspiracy with Finger Man as the mastermind... and I, unaware of this, tried to recruit Finger Man's ally...)"
Dr. Shita Chichigasky regretted the fatal mistake he had made.
"P-Please! Let's talk! I'm sure we can come to an understanding!"
"I'm not so sure. It seems to me you're due for some punishment."
"I was wrong! It was my mistake! I've got money! Euros, yuan, yen, dollars—I've got over 100 billion! I can pay any amount in damages!"
"I don't need money. It wouldn't do me any good anyway. (Money's only useful if you measure it in beef bowl regular portions, right?)"
"W-What?! (He doesn't want money...? If he's the head of an organization, he should want as much as he can get... Is he saying we're not even on the same spiritual stage anymore?)"
"What I want... is experience."
Finger Man said this and reached out to the collapsed Dr. Shita Chichigasky.
That's when it happened.
Finger Man's temple was pierced by a bullet.
With a sharp pong, his head jerked slightly.
The skin on his temple sizzled from the heat, slightly scorched. No bleeding. No change in expression.
Adjusting his sunglasses, he turned calmly toward the shooter, showing no sign of panic.
————
——From Shirokko's perspective
Shirokko knew that life never went the way you wanted.
The ones who should live die, and the ones who should die live on.
The good suffer misfortune, while those who commit evil reap the rewards.
Injustice runs rampant without shame.
Everything is entangled in complex ways, with no simple relationships.
Even if you want to save the impoverished, if you ask whether giving them money would solve their problems—the answer is no.
So in the end, the only choice is to protect yourself.
Shirokko had always disliked the phrase "personal responsibility," but if it was the final answer to the world's absurdities, inequalities, and intractable problems, then he had no choice but to accept it.
"Best to fight to the death under your own responsibility."
Crawling out from the rubble, Shirokko checked where he was.
Apparently, the first hit had slammed him into the building across from the civic hall.
He'd drawn the attention of ordinary citizens.
Feeling sluggish, Shirokko pulled 'Butter of Aversion' from his 'Shita Chi Storage ver2.1' and unsealed the vacuum-packed contents. The butter melted at room temperature, repelling nearby people.
Tossing the butter aside, Shirokko cracked his neck loudly.
"So the civic hall's that way."
Shirokko fired a single shot in a completely different direction.
The hammer rang out, and the bullet struck its target dead-on.
Walking back toward the civic hall, Shirokko pulled out a 'Recovery Potion 4000' from his jacket's inner pocket and drank it.
Once he returned to Finger Man, he silently raised his gun.
But Finger Man was fast too. The moment their eyes met, both launched a quick attack. Words were no longer needed.
(Skill activation——'Bullet Rain Lv6')
The Thompson submachine gun roared to life.
One shot, two shots, three shots, four shots fired.
Astonishingly, each of those bullets doubled into two.
And then each of those doubled bullets doubled again.
Though only four bullets were initially fired, they became eight in a breath, then sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, one twenty-eight, two fifty-six, five twelve, one thousand twenty-four——multiplying into a true "Bullet Rain" that poured down upon Finger Man.
As the wave of lead that would turn him into a beehive approached, Finger Man calmly raised his right arm and snapped his fingers.
(Why raise your arm? ——Ah, it's the cue for skill activation.)
——Snap!
A crisp sound rang out.
(He plans to blow up the bullets to shoot them down? Not gonna let that——wait, no, that's not it?!)
Shirokko's eyes widened.
Finger Man wasn't defending himself from the Bullet Rain—he was counterattacking Shirokko.
A counterstrike with 2 million ATK.
Engulfed in a blast, Shirokko was blown away.
Meanwhile, Finger Man, choosing not to dodge or defend, stood still and took the barrage of .45 ACP bullets head-on.
The bullets sparked and bounced off with metallic clangs—gan, gon, giin.
The damage... was zero.
Right at Finger Man's feet, Dr. Shita Chichigasky cowered from the deafening gunfire and chainsaw-like roar, clutching his ears and screaming, "Don't forget I'm right here, you fool! You absolute moron!" as he shouted a warning to Shirokko, who was firing a machine gun recklessly near a hostage.
Blown into the air, Shirokko twisted his body midair, landed, and scraped the floor with his toes to counter the blast's momentum. He slid about 20 meters across the linoleum, leaving two scorched lines, and came to a complete stop.
"That's some attack. The finger-snapping motion, and though it's a ranged attack, nothing's actually launched—just an explosion hits me. Which means...——"
Shirokko searched his knowledge for a skill with those traits.
"Could it be 'Finger Snap'? If so, you're one hell of an interesting guy."
Wiping his nosebleed with the back of his hand, Shirokko glanced at his status and calculated the damage.
Finger Man brushed away the steam clinging to his body with his hand.
The countless bullets had heated his skin through friction, causing the steam.
It was a sight no ordinary human could comprehend.
(He's hard... Finger Man...)
Shirokko narrowed his eyes sharply.
Meanwhile, Finger Man looked away from Shirokko and turned his eyes to the 'Mugen High-Load ver5.0' in his left hand. It was full of holes, completely wrecked.
Finger Man's expression didn't change, but he seemed deeply dejected.
He handed the broken 'Mugen High-Load ver5.0' to Dr. Shita Chichigasky, saying, "Please hold onto this."
Adjusting the sunglasses that somehow hadn't broken despite the Bullet Rain, Finger Man turned back to Shirokko. His expression couldn't be read through the black lenses, but the sheer force of his presence had grown—enough to pressure even Shirokko slightly.
"What a monster. Getting shot to hell and still fighting back... now that's fearlessness."
"Shirokko, I'm not a patient man. This is your final warning—quietly become my experience points."
Shirokko pointed his gun and said, "That's not a deal I can accept."
(Skill activation——'Bullet Rain Lv6' 'Weak Constitution Lv4' 'Precision Shot Lv4' 'Urban Combat Lv2' 'Sure Hit')
"How about this, Finger Man?"
Shirokko sneered coldly as he pulled the trigger.