Lunatic Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

He was right. The man was big, armed, and clearly strong. I wouldn’t be able to fight him. If he decided to kill me and take everything my family had built, there would be nothing I could do.

Every instinct in me screamed to run—to turn and flee for my life from this man who looked like he could kill me with one hand. But I forced myself to ignore the fear telling me I might die.

There was a gun at the cabin I mentioned, the one my uncle used for hunting—but the bullets were inside the house that had burned down. Throughout the night, I’d heard popping noises from the house—bullets exploding in the flames.

If I were to go down the mountain alone, I’d have to do it completely unarmed. And I knew that would be a suicide mission.

Hands trembling helplessly, I slowly reached out and grabbed the man’s collar. Then, even more slowly, I knelt before him.

Lowering myself made me feel emotionally weaker too. Looking up at him, I pleaded with everything I had.

“Then… just help me find him. The one who killed my fathers. That’s all. Just find him for me, and I’ll kill him myself. Okay? I’ll do whatever you ask, anything. Just find him. Please?”

“…But you—”

The man had been quietly listening, but now he trailed off. Then suddenly, he smacked away the hand that was gripping his collar.

“Ah!”

Before I could collapse to the ground from the blow, he grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head upward. It felt like he would rip it out. I clawed at the arm holding my hair.

“Let go! Let go!”

“You’ve been talking too casually this whole time, haven’t you? Is that what your dead fathers taught you? To bark out demands in informal speech when you’re begging someone?”

“You bastard! Let me go! I’m not asking you anymore—just let me go!”

Fighting with all my strength in his iron grip, I thrashed and kicked. My tears, which I thought had dried up, began streaming again from the pain and fear of this first violent encounter.

“How stupid do you have to be to show a stranger everything you have and ask for a deal…? You must’ve lived your whole life sheltered in these mountains. Pathetic. Upset your daddy got murdered? The way I see it, any man who raises a kid like you deserved it.”

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you myself!”

“I think you’ll die by my hand first.”

Still holding my hair in one hand, the man reached to his waist with the other and drew a massive steel hammer. He raised it high, as if to crush my skull. I screamed and shut my eyes tightly.

I gasped for breath, bracing for the pain to come. Tears streamed through my clenched eyelids as the fear of imminent death swallowed me whole. But the terrible wait dragged on longer than expected.

“…You’re a girl?”

After a long silence, the man’s low voice finally spoke again.

With my heart shriveled in terror, I muttered a curse in a shaking voice and forced my trembling eyelids open.

“Fuck..…. If you’re going to kill me, kill me quickly, you bastard.”

Instead of swinging the hammer at me, the man let go of my hair as if tossing it aside. My strength drained completely, and I collapsed limply to the ground.

Through my flickering vision, I saw Berry. When Berry stood on his hind legs, she was as tall as me. He was brave enough to take down a wild boar by himself. For a fleeting moment, I wished I were a beast like Berry, with sharp teeth—one that could savagely tear out this man’s throat…

“You should’ve said so earlier. Things are different if you’re a woman.”

“W-what do you mean…?”

The man who had tried to kill me just moments ago now addressed me again as if nothing had happened. It made my skin crawl.

Clinging desperately to consciousness, I lifted my head to look up at him. He twirled the hammer lightly in the air for fun before tucking it back into his belt. Then, crouching down in front of me, he met my eyes.

“I came up the mountain alone because I couldn’t find a woman to my liking. I don’t know if you’re aware, but it’s hard to find a decent woman down below these days. Most of them are dragged off to brothels or factories, and once they’ve been through that, they’re usually diseased and ruined.”

The man reached out to me. I flinched instinctively. He touched my hair, gently straightening it as he continued.

“The few women who look somewhat okay are the tough bitches who managed to survive hell—they’re hard to handle. And I hate it when women talk back. These weak little things start acting like they’re on top of the world just because you treat them a little nice.”

“.…”

“Anyway, my name’s Barkley. What’s yours?”

“…You sick bastard.”

“That’s a unique name. Miss Sick Bastard. Right now, you have two options. One: get your head bashed in right here. Two: come with me to that cabin you mentioned.”

The man who introduced himself as Barkley uttered his nonsense with a straight face. He genuinely believed I would pick one of those two options. Of course, I had no intention of doing either.

I subtly looked behind him. A mountain village with scattered, low-walled ruins came into view. Even without turning, I could clearly picture the forest behind me in my mind.

This was the place I had lived my whole life. And it was a vast mountain I had never once managed to cross completely. But if I could just get away from him here and now, I was confident I could lose him in the woods.

“Oh? Rolling your eyes, are you?”

“..…”

“You should be grateful you’re getting another chance just because you’re a woman. You don’t want to die, right?”

Again, I glanced beyond the man—ready to make a run for it.

I braced my hands against the ground and slowly pushed myself up. My legs trembled, making me stagger, but I managed to steady myself on my feet. The man rose with me and blocked my path. He was so big that he not only filled my entire view but cast a shadow over my whole body.

“…I don’t want to die.”

“Smart choice.”

When I said I didn’t want to die, the man smiled. As I glared daggers at the beard on his face that twitched from the smirk, I suddenly spun around and bolted.

I leapt over Berry’s lifeless body in a single bound and sprinted past the still-smoldering ruins of the collapsed house, plunging straight into the forest.

Confident in my speed thanks to my light frame, I ran for my life, eyes fixed forward. I raced through the familiar terrain without hesitation. But no matter how fast I ran, I could feel the man’s presence closely trailing behind me. At any moment, it felt like he’d grab my hair.

And sure enough, not long after, he did.

My scream, filled with rage and fear, echoed through the forest, where the night air still lingered cold and damp.

“Argh! Let go! You bastard, I said let go!”

“Knew it. Words don’t work on bitches like you. Why are you ignoring my generosity?”

“You crazy bastard! You son of a bitch!”

“I haven’t even decided whether or not to take you with me yet. You want to die right now? Should I grant that wish?”

“You psycho! Let go! Argh!”

The man banged my head against the tree next to me, perhaps because I was being too rebellious. My body collapsed in a dizzying pain.

“Haa, haa…….”

I failed. I no longer had the will to run away. As despair consumed me, I lost my will to live. The faces of my dead fathers flashed before my eyes. The revenge I had vowed all night was futile. Revenge or whatever, I guess I was just destined to die like this.

As I gave up and lowered my gaze, I saw my clothes disheveled from struggling. Through the gap in my clothes where the buttons had fallen off, I could see the underwear my uncle had made for me. It was underwear that tightly covered my breasts that had started to grow rapidly after my puberty.

I was at a loss and didn’t even think about choosing my clothes. Let it be. Blood trickled down my forehead, where it had been scratched by the tree bark. The blood dripping down my chin onto the grass felt like it belonged to someone else, far away. 

“Are you calming down now? Can we talk?”

“……Kill me.”

“That’s my choice, so don’t worry about it, sick bastard.”

I don’t know if he’s trying to tease me or if he really believes my name is sick bastard. Whatever it was, I didn’t want to deal with this man anymore. I just wanted to die and be comfortable.

Who knows? I might wake up when this man’s hammer smashes my head. Maybe it was all a dream that my fathers and Berry died and I met this crazy man….