FC Chapter 1.1

His legs flailed uselessly in the air.

 

Rei stared with unfocused eyes at the twitching instep of someone’s foot. He was so addled by the drugs that he couldn’t tell whose foot it was, bobbing up and down in the air at a steady pace.

 

Whoever it belonged to, the foot and ankle were a mess. A bruised big toenail was broken, with only half of it remaining, and the bones of the instep were gauntly exposed.

 

“Huh, huh. Hooo! Hoo!”

 

He wondered if it was a boxer’s foot, but then someone’s breathing invaded his ears. Short, sharp exhalations, as if practicing diaphragmatic breathing, grated on him.

 

‘Is he with someone else?’

 

Lying listlessly on the bed, Rei twitched his fingertips. As if a hole had opened in a dam holding back a stream, his blurry, hazy vision cleared slightly.

 

Rei curled his toes, trying to widen the newly formed hole. This time, the violent creaking of the cheap bed flooded his ears.

 

“No reaction, how boring. It’s no different than being with a Dutch wife. Hoo, hoo. And I paid Dell so much, just based on rumors! Damn it, the ass squeeze isn’t even decent. How much has Dell used this product, anyway?”

 

A face he’d seen on a congressional election poster was rambling incessantly to himself.

 

“Just wasted my money. Should have ordered the usual girl, even if she’s boring. Hoo, hoo. Heh! But, even though this guy’s squeeze isn’t great, his hole is surprisingly deep, heh heh. Not bad, in its own way.”

 

‘Heavy and noisy.’

 

Still deeply immersed in the world of unconsciousness, Rei scowled, glaring at the man straddling him.

 

“…Hey, you.”

 

He was about to tell him to shut up, but then he became aware of an unpleasant sensation in his lower body that he hadn’t noticed until now.

 

“…What.”

 

Puzzled, Rei lowered his gaze toward his groin. The first thing he saw was the dense cluster of dark red needle marks on his left arm.

 

Then, the image of the Republican congressman’s paunch repeatedly touching and pulling away from his crotch seared into his eyes.

 

“Son of a… bitch!”

 

Rei’s eyes widened as he belatedly realized the situation he was in. And as if waiting for this very moment, he clearly felt a thin dick sliding in and out between his legs.

 

“Get off, heuh! Keuh, you bastard!”

 

Rei shuddered and raised his arm. But the drug coursing through every corner of his body caused his fist to fall weakly onto the bed, failing to reach its target.

 

“Oh-ho! Trying to hit a customer? You’re quite the feisty one, aren’t you? But that rebellious look in your eyes… I like it.”

 

The congressman, who had been complaining about wasting money and being bored just moments ago, now had a gleam in his eyes.

 

“Are you… deaf? I said get the hell off me, heuh!”

 

“No way. I’m just starting to have some real fun.”

 

The congressman, with the arrogant face of a conqueror, pressed down on Rei’s face.

 

“Just like in last night’s match, try desperately flailing around.”

 

“…..”

 

“Hey, don’t just lie there. Earn your keep…”

 

Thud! The congressman’s heavy body fell backward. Rei, who they thought would be unable to move due to the drugs, had lunged at him.

 

“Y-you little shit! How dare a lowly rent boy hit me? Do you know who I am, keuh!”

 

The former professional boxer’s fist repeatedly slammed down on the congressman’s still-arrogant face.

 

“W-wait a minute!”

 

“Die. Die! Just die!”

 

The muscles in Rei’s back twitched incessantly, his eyes filled with madness. He had no intention of giving the congressman a chance to scream for help to the guards outside the door.

 

“Huh, huh. Huh…”

 

The only sound echoing in the perfectly sealed, windowless room was Rei’s ragged breathing.

 

Rei, after landing one last punch on the congressman’s unmoving face, collapsed back into a sitting position. The congressman who had raped him had his face so mangled that it would be difficult to identify him if he were found dead the next day.

 

Knock, knock.

 

“Congressman?”

 

Dell’s henchman knocked on the door from the hallway outside.

 

“I think I heard a loud noise inside. Are you alright?”

 

Rei, leaning his weary head against the wall, thought about the terrible timing and forced himself to his feet.

 

“Congressman?”

 

The man’s voice knocking on the door was tinged with anxiety.

 

Rei, who was holding his breath next to the slumped-over congressman, was just as tense and uneasy. If there was no response, Dell’s men would forcibly open the door and come in, and if Rei was caught by them, he would be as good as dead.

 

“Congressman, I’m sorry, but I’m coming in.”

 

Beep beep.

 

Rei tensed his entire body, and as soon as the door opened, he threw a punch through the gap. If he didn’t want to be caught, he had no choice but to strike first.

 

“…What, keuh!”

 

One of the two men, having taken Rei’s punch head-on, clutched his nose and collapsed onto the carpet.

 

“Hey, what’s going on!”

 

While the other, bearded man was still trying to figure out what was happening, Rei slammed his head against the wall, knocking him unconscious.

 

“Damn it, sound the alarm! Sound the alarm right now! The merchandise has escaped! Hey, catch that guy!”

 

The large man who had fallen to the floor had already regained consciousness and was shouting into his radio.

 

‘Damn it, I thought that punch landed squarely.’

 

Had his senses become dulled because of the drugs? Rei thought that things had become even more troublesome and turned around, gritting his teeth, and ran down the hallway.

 

“There he is!”

 

The men in suits poured out from the end of the hallway, pointing at Rei.

 

Rei, who had been planning to escape by elevator, turned toward the emergency exit stairs. The full-scale chase began in the narrow emergency exit stairs.

 

Rei pushed away the employees of the members-only brothel who were grabbing at his clothes, knocking them down as he went, and barely made it to the first floor.

 

Honk honk!

 

“Are you crazy?”

 

Rei ran out of the building and into the road where cars were speeding by. He almost got hit by a truck and sent flying. But he didn’t have time to feel relieved that he had narrowly escaped death.

 

“Damn it, don’t let him get away!”

 

The men in black suits also recklessly plunged into the traffic, chasing after Rei. As a result, the sound of cars screeching to a halt echoed one after another in the middle of the city, where the roads crisscrossed like a spiderweb.

 

“Hey, you crazy bastard. Running into the road, are you desperate to die!”

 

“You shut up if you don’t want to die!”

 

Dell’s men were really persistent in chasing Rei. He thought he could shake them off on the road, but in reality, he was only able to create a little distance.

 

Rei took ragged breaths and anxiously looked around. His heart felt like it was about to explode from sprinting while drugged. His legs were also heavy, and he didn’t think he could run much further.

 

“I see him over there!”

 

Just as Dell’s men, who had rounded the corner of the building, pointed at Rei, the back door of a nightclub came into view. Rei, without time to think, threw open the club’s back door, which was plastered with flyers.

 

Explosive music blasted his ears. Rei grabbed his head, which was ringing, and plunged into the crowd. It was Friday night, and the club was so packed that it was hard to breathe properly.

 

“Stop right there!”

 

Dell’s men, who had followed Rei into the club, pushed aside the customers blocking their way, as if tearing them away.

 

“Damn it, get out of the way! I said get out of the way!”

 

“Eek!”

 

Even though the music was so loud that it was a wonder his eardrums hadn’t burst, he could clearly hear the shouts as if the pursuers were right behind him. Or maybe the shouts he had just heard were hallucinations in his head. This was exactly the time when the drug’s effects were wearing off and withdrawal symptoms were appearing.

 

“Damn it.”

 

Rei gripped his convulsing arm tightly and plunged deeper into the crowd. It was a precarious situation. He needed to come up with a plan. Considering that the withdrawal symptoms would only get worse from now on, it was only a matter of time before he was caught by Dell’s men.

 

The club’s dazzling lights slashed across Rei’s face, making him look as pale as a ghost.

 

The club’s exit was faintly visible opposite the DJ booth. Just as he thought he only needed to move a few more meters, someone roughly grabbed Rei’s shoulder from behind.

 

“Hey, you bastard, where do you think you’re going! You touched my girl’s ass, you need to apologize.”

 

Had they already caught up to him?