Chingetsu watched expressionlessly as the men in black slowly spread out to surround him. "Is this how you make friends? A little unusual."
What was this guy acting so calm for?
An inexplicable flicker of jealousy rose in the mohawked man as he looked at Chingetsu's handsome face and unruffled demeanor. "Kid, I won't waste my breath. Thirty million, and you've made a friend. We'll be brothers from now on." "You'd better know what's good for you. If you don't cooperate, heh..."
The mohawked man pulled a folding knife from his waist and licked it. The threat spoke for itself.
"Hmm? What will you do if I don't cooperate?"
Chingetsu tilted his head, looking at the mohawked man as though watching a clown give a clumsy performance. What do you mean, 'hmm'? What's with that attitude?!
"That face of yours must be popular with the girls. I wonder if they'll still like you once it's slashed up. Just sign, and we can all be friends."
The mohawked man raised his folding knife and waved it menacingly in front of Chingetsu. The lackeys surrounding Chingetsu all took a step closer. The entire routine flowed seamlessly.
Kusumoto Hajime leisurely watched his lackeys work from outside the circle, even lighting a cigarette. Outnumbering their victims and bullying the weak were their specialties.
In the past, a little intimidation had always been enough to make those rich people obediently hand over their wallets. It worked every time.
"If I sign, I can become your friend?"
"That depends on how you behave. Those clothes of yours look pretty high-end. Buy each of us a set, and we'll take you in as our little brother."
The mohawked man missed the mockery in Chingetsu's voice. Instinctively assuming that Chingetsu had given in, he began to get carried away.
"So that's how it is. You think you deserve to wear the same clothes as me?" Has this kid been scared stupid? What's he talking about?
The mohawked man froze, clearly not expecting Chingetsu to speak so arrogantly while surrounded by so many people.
His face turned purple. This bastard actually dared to humiliate him in public. If he didn't teach the kid a lesson, he might as well hand his position as second-in-command to someone else.
His anger surged, and the folding knife in his hand slashed straight at Chingetsu. "I'll slice that mouth of yours open!"
A vicious glint flashed in the mohawked man's eyes, only to turn into sheer horror a second later.
Before his disbelieving eyes, Chingetsu stopped the knife's point with a single finger. The sharp tip seemed to have struck hard diamond, unable to advance an inch.
How was that possible?! He actually stopped a sharp knife point with his finger! Was this guy really an ordinary person?
Shaken to his core, the mohawked man instinctively looked toward his boss, Kusumoto Hajime, for help. Suddenly, he felt a chill at the wrist of his knife hand.
A moment later, a hand dropped heavily to the ground. My hand... my hand...
The mohawked man clutched his freely bleeding wrist and let out an agonized scream. "That was the hand you pointed at me with just now."
"And I hate being pointed at."
Chingetsu toyed with the folding knife he had taken from the mohawked man, his eyes as cold as ice that had remained frozen for ages. Crack, crack.
Under the mohawked man's terrified gaze.
Chingetsu actually crushed the alloy folding knife into a lump of scrap metal. "Well? Am I qualified to be your friend now?"
Of a smile.
Chingetsu crouched halfway down and looked at the mohawked man, who sat collapsed on the ground, so terrified that he had lost control of his bowels and bladder, a strange trace appearing on Chingetsu's face. A demon! You're a demon!
Unable to contain his terror any longer, the mohawked man passed out. (Sorry, the system crashed, so this was uploaded late.)
Chapter 23: Are You Qualified to Be My Friend?
Everything happened so quickly that the lackeys beside him had no time to react. "Passed out already? I thought you could keep me entertained a little longer."
Chingetsu casually tossed the folding knife, now a lump of scrap metal, onto the ground and slowly walked toward Kusumoto Hajime. Kusumoto Hajime's expression shifted uncertainly, and he failed to notice even the hot cigarette ash falling onto his expensive suit.
For every step Chingetsu took forward, Kusumoto Hajime's lackeys took a step back. The pressure emanating from Chingetsu was overwhelming.
The warning lay right before their eyes. If their boss, Kusumoto Hajime, hadn't still been there, they would have scattered and fled in panic long ago.
"Th-this... my friend."
Kusumoto Hajime forced a smile uglier than a grimace.
He was only a Grade 3 Jujutsu Sorcerer, and one who barely practiced hand-to-hand combat at that.
Judging by what Chingetsu had just demonstrated, even without cursed energy, killing a Grade 3 Jujutsu Sorcerer like him would be as easy as crushing a chick.
So he backed down.
It wasn't that Kusumoto Hajime hadn't considered running. But he understood the look of amusement in Chingetsu's eyes. If he dared to run, he would die!
Kusumoto Hajime knew the young man before him was capable of it.
He only had one life. An independently trained jujutsu sorcerer attached to worldly pleasures like him treasured his life all the more. "Friend? Who's your friend? Thirty million?"
Chingetsu's tone was gentle, yet everyone present, especially Kusumoto Hajime, felt a chill rise from deep within.
Damn it, how did we end up provoking a monster like this?
Without realizing it, the lackeys began looking at the mohawked man with resentment. It was all his fault!
If that arrogant fool hadn't provoked this young man, they wouldn't be so helpless now, like lambs offering their necks for slaughter.
The men in black had lost all will to fight and stood rooted in place without daring to speak. It felt as though the slightest movement would draw this demonic young man's attention. They certainly didn't think their bones were much harder than alloy.
Hadn't even their boss, the most mysterious and strongest fighter among them, backed down? Chingetsu drew closer, step by step.
Cold sweat poured ever faster from Kusumoto Hajime's forehead. If you kept taking risks, trouble was bound to catch up with you.
But this time, he had fallen squarely into a ditch-and a savage, brutal sawtoothed crocodile was waiting inside it.
"S-sir, this is your payment for the mission."
Kusumoto Hajime shakily took a check from his clothes and respectfully offered it to Chingetsu. At this moment, he had no other thoughts. He only wanted to send this walking calamity away as quickly as possible.
"Hmm?"
Chingetsu looked at Kusumoto Hajime with the ghost of a smile.
"Trying to fob me off with something that already belongs to me? You've got some nerve." Chingetsu's voice wasn't loud, but it struck Kusumoto Hajime's ears like thunder. "I... I remembered wrong!"
"This-this is a small personal gift. Please accept it!"
Gritting his teeth, Kusumoto Hajime took out a bank card and presented it to Chingetsu with both hands. It held all his savings, yet now he had no choice but to hand them over.
Kusumoto Hajime's heart bled.
For someone who loved money as much as Kusumoto Hajime did, this practically cost him half his life. "Oh, really?"
Rather than taking it, Chingetsu asked a question.
"If you'd run into an ordinary person today, what would you have done?" "I..."
Kusumoto Hajime instinctively tried to defend himself, but under the gaze of Chingetsu's dark eyes, he couldn't get the words out. "Forget it. I'm not interested in learning what you've done."
"But since you've fallen into my hands today, you wouldn't have any complaints even if you died, would you?" Chingetsu's words were like a biting winter wind.
Thud!
Kusumoto Hajime dropped straight to his knees and waited for Chingetsu to continue. He was a smart man who knew when to submit.
The fact that Chingetsu hadn't killed him meant he still had some use. "You look like a jujutsu sorcerer."
"I need information on cursed spirits and cursed objects. Use that information to buy your life." Chingetsu stated his intention.
When it came to intelligence networks, aside from the Three Great Families, these local operators were the best informed. Working alone certainly wouldn't be as efficient.
Chingetsu could sense that some sort of conspiracy seemed to be enveloping Jujutsu Society. So preparing ahead and improving his strength as quickly as possible were what mattered most. Chingetsu bent down and patted Kusumoto Hajime's face.
"Don't think about running away or pretending to obey while acting against me. You should be able to feel something unusual in your face, right?" The cold sweat on Kusumoto Hajime's forehead kept dripping to the ground.
He didn't know what Chingetsu had done to his face, but there was indeed a faint burning sensation there. It wasn't obvious, but it was real.
"Wh... what is that...?"
Trembling all over, Kusumoto Hajime looked pleadingly at Chingetsu. "What is it?"
A demonic smile curled Chingetsu's lips as he reached out and pressed a hand against the wall beside him. "That's my art!"
Chapter 24: Chingetsu? He's a Devil!
Kusumoto Hajime walked out of the alley in a daze. Every lackey behind him wore an expression of relief at having survived.
A devil. He was a devil.
Still shaken, Kusumoto Hajime glanced back over his shoulder.
Just moments earlier, that young man had casually touched the alley wall in front of him, and it had crumbled into a cloud of dust right before his eyes.
It was like a blast from high explosives. No, even detonating a pile of high explosives together couldn't have achieved that effect.
The only explanation was the young man's cursed technique.
Only a jujutsu sorcerer's cursed technique could produce such a bizarre effect and such power.
Kusumoto Hajime instinctively touched his face, a bitter smile tugging at his lips.
He could feel a strange power lying dormant there, like a time bomb. No, it was a time bomb.
"If you fail to gather good information, or if it's wrong, you'll go boom!" Remembering Chingetsu's slightly exaggerated description and meaningful smile before he left, Kusumoto Hajime began trembling uncontrollably again.
"A devil. He's a devil!"
Kusumoto Hajime's eyes were vacant as a despairing murmur escaped his lips. Meanwhile, at the bombed-out Q Organization branch.
Clad in a black robe and wearing a one-horned demon mask, Chi held the Cursed Tool "Trace," reconstructing the scene before the Q Organization branch's destruction.
Before you continue