Same as Always

Shinichi Tanaka was thirty-five years old, a corporate drone at some obscure little company in Tokyo. Every day, he endured his boss's endless exploitation, shuttling between the office and his rented apartment in a repetitive, joyless routine.

His life was just like Sasaki's in Smoking Behind the Supermarket, but unlike her, Shinichi Tanaka had no Miss Yamada to soothe his weary soul.

But that day, everything changed.

No Miss Yamada? No problem. Shinichi Tanaka still had Miss Kenjaku.

On October 31, Kenjaku activated Idle Transfiguration. Everyone Kenjaku had marked would become a player in the Culling Game, and Tanaka was one of them.

That night, Tanaka awakened his Cursed Technique amid agonizing pain. Once he understood the special talent he possessed, all the negative emotions bottled up inside him erupted.

The next morning, Tanaka got up early and went to work, just as always. Just as always, his manager berated him in front of all his coworkers-even though all that unfinished work had been forced on him by the manager himself.

The manager always did this. He liked dumping his own assignments on employees who didn't dare stand up to him, then heading home early.

That day, just as always, Tanaka kept his head down and silently endured the manager's scolding.

Perhaps all that talking had left the manager's throat dry. He looked at Tanaka, standing silently before him with his head bowed, and smiled smugly.

"Oh, right, Tanaka. Take these documents on my desk and turn them into a report by the end of today."

The manager picked up the thick stack of documents and casually tossed it at Tanaka.

With a slap, the documents fell to the floor, uncaught, scattering everywhere.

"Huh? You think you're better than me?"

Seeing that Tanaka had dared not to catch the documents properly, the manager stood up and raised his hand to slap him across the face.

Ah, the manager was the same as always. So quick to anger.

The manager's reaction was exactly what Tanaka had expected. This wasn't the first time he had faced this situation, but he was no longer the Shinichi Tanaka who could do nothing but let the manager bully him.

The corners of Tanaka's mouth curled upward. For the first time, he lifted his head before the manager who had always made his life miserable.

Smack!

Tanaka's head snapped to the left. A bright red handprint stood out clearly on his right cheek.

"This counts as self-defense, right?"

Tanaka murmured.

"You still have the nerve to smile?!"

The manager hadn't caught Tanaka's muttering. Seeing him still smiling after being slapped, he flew into a humiliated rage. Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, he raised his hand again.

This time, however, Tanaka didn't give the manager a chance to hit him.

Tanaka raised a finger. A sharp stone projectile formed at his fingertip and shot out in an instant, punching through the manager's chest in the blink of an eye.

Blood gushed out. The manager's eyes widened, and his body collapsed limply to the floor.

An eerie silence fell over the entire office. A moment later, terrified screams shattered it.

The coworkers who had witnessed everything screamed and scrambled to flee the office. Only Shinichi Tanaka remained where he was.

Who knew how much time passed before the office fell silent again? Only when the manager's blood reached his leather shoes did Shinichi Tanaka come back to his senses. As though nothing had happened, he bent down and picked up the documents he hadn't caught.

"Oh dear, boss. You've made a mess of things again."

Pointing at the sections of the documents blurred by soaking blood, Tanaka addressed the manager's corpse with a helpless sigh.

"Well, nothing for it. Leave it to me."

After putting the documents in order, Tanaka returned to his desk and quietly worked through the day's assignments.

Today was the same as always...

"Kogane, I, Lu Yun, swear once again this day: someday, I shall surely slay thee!"

So hungry he barely had any strength left, Lu Yun finally stopped chasing Kogane. Kogane, however, had no intention of leaving him alone.

With a pop, the embodiment of the Culling Game's rules appeared once again.

"Player, did you call me?"

Knowing he could do nothing to Kogane, Lu Yun remained unmoved. He could now easily keep his composure in the face of Kogane's taunts, letting neither joy nor anger show. Kogane could no longer get under his skin.

After waiting without receiving any instructions, Kogane vanished on its own, while Lu Yun continued searching for a convenience store.

"This guy actually picked a fight with Kogane? Did he just sneak out of some mental hospital?"

Once he was sure Lu Yun hadn't noticed him, Tanaka kept watching from the shadows. But when he saw Lu Yun get into it with Kogane, even Shinichi Tanaka-who considered himself a veteran of keeping a straight face after years of weathering society's hardships-lost his composure. This was the first time he had ever seen someone as extraordinary as Lu Yun.

At that moment, Shinichi Tanaka also felt completely reassured. There was no way the lunatic before him was some powerful fighter hiding his strength. Without further hesitation, he channeled his Cursed Energy and activated his Cursed Technique. A stone projectile formed in midair, spinning.

"Aim. Fire."

The stone projectile, charged for some time, instantly sliced through the air, shooting straight toward Lu Yun.

Whoosh!

"Huh? What was that sound?"

Lu Yun faintly heard something slicing through the air.

"Watch out, kid."

Hajime Kashimo's voice rang out at that same moment.

But it was already too late. Before Lu Yun could react at all, the speeding stone projectile struck his body.

"Tch. Useless."

The impact's tremendous force sent Lu Yun flying in an instant. He smashed through a window and crashed straight into a shop beside the street.

"Great, got him!"

Tanaka was excited that his attack had hit Lu Yun dead-on. Although he hadn't received a notification that he had gained any points, he didn't believe an ordinary person like Lu Yun could survive his charged attack. The man simply had a breath left in him and hadn't died outright yet.

Tanaka eagerly emerged from his hiding place, wanting to finish Lu Yun off and savor the look on his face as he struggled on the brink of death.

"What kind of expression will he make? I can hardly wait."

Tanaka's face flushed, and his hands involuntarily pressed against his head.

"My brain won't stop trembling~"

"Is this all modern sorcerers amount to?"

The voice came from the wreckage inside the shop, its disappointment completely undisguised. Whether "modern sorcerers" referred to Lu Yun or Shinichi Tanaka was unclear.

Hearing the voice, Tanaka stopped his crazed antics and widened his eyes.

Before him, a figure rolled his neck as he emerged at an unhurried pace from the shop Lu Yun had crashed into, holding a stick he had picked up somewhere.

"No! That's impossible!"