I Was Blackmailed Into Accepting Bullying Using My Childhood Friend as Leverage, But When I Found Out My Friend and Bully Were Together, I Abandoned All Compassion and Swore to Take Revenge with Everything I Had - Chapter 45: Kenichi Fudo - Final Act: The Final Showdown

Chapter 45: Kenichi Fudo – Final Act: The Final Showdown

Minagawa offered to buy one of my stockpiled novels for 100 million yen.

“I must say, I genuinely admire your success. I have a keen eye for quality, and your works are true treasures. I wouldn’t hesitate to pay 100 million. Now, let me hear your answer.”

I looked at the glass Minagawa had placed on the table and responded.

“Minagawa-sensei… what if I refuse your offer?”

His expression remained unchanged, but he replied with a hint of disappointment.

“I’m disappointed that a young man as smart as you would ask such a trivial question…”

He returned to his original position and glared at me with sharp eyes.

“I am Fuyuki Minagawa. You may be a globally recognized genius, but in the realm of modern literature and paperback publishing, you’re still beneath me. My words are the words of the literary world itself, and I’m sure you understand what that means.”

In other words, he was saying that if I refused, he had the power to drive me out of the writing world. This old bastard certainly had that power, and no doubt he had used it to crush the talents of many others in the past…







“Heh… Haha… Ahahaha, hahahaha, this is great!”

“What’s so funny, Fudo-kun? Have you lost your mind under pressure?”

“Ahaha, sorry! No, I’m just amused by how pathetic you really are.”

Minagawa’s expression started to harden with anger, and his tone became rougher.

“That laugh of yours is irritating. Enough of it!”

I noticed his fists clenching tighter on his lap. It’s time to teach this scumbag a lesson.

“You see, I don’t have any particular attachment or love for being a novelist. If you want to take that away, be my guest, I couldn’t care less.”

“Hmph! You’re just bluffing. Then why did you step into this world? This isn’t a place for half-hearted intentions!”

“Oh, that’s simple—there was a purpose behind it.”

“A purpose?”

“Yes, a purpose. But now that I’ve achieved it, I wouldn’t care even if I lost everything.”

“And what purpose might that be?”

“Youka Komada. Does that name ring a bell?”

“Youka… Komada…?”

“You don’t remember? Of course, you wouldn’t. To you, she was just that insignificant. But for me, she was more than enough reason.”

I pulled out a file from the envelope on my back and spread it across the table. It contained the results of my exhaustive investigation, throwing all my resources and time into uncovering the truth my mother left behind.

“This is proof that my mother died from organ failure due to the drugs you and Kanamori forcibly administered after sexually assaulting her.”

Minagawa flipped through a few pages of the file, muttering with disinterest.

“Indeed, she had a face and body that would appeal to me. She might have been one of the pets Kanamori arranged for me.”

He’s trying to provoke me, to make me lose my cool.

But too bad for him, my hatred for them has long surpassed that level.

“So? You’re saying you got close to us with all this roundabout effort just to avenge your mother?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly right.”

“And now what? Are you going to kill me? And Kanamori too, while you’re at it?”

“You’ve got it. That’s the whole reason I became a novelist. I’ve got a massive stockpile of unpublished works, all of which are even better than the ones I’ve released. I knew you’d take the bait once you heard that from Kanamori. I’ve been waiting for this moment. By the way, I bought this cruiser because I knew Kanamori was an avid deep-sea fishing enthusiast with a boating license. Out here on the sea, we’re completely out of range, in a confined space. It’s the perfect place for your luxurious tomb.”

“Thank you for the grand setup…”

With that, Minagawa reached into his coat, pulled out a gun, and pointed it at me.

“Looks like the tables have turned, huh? Hahahaha!”

“Pfft… Hahahaha!”

“…Have you really lost your mind this time?”

“No, no, you two are already finished.”

“You should stop pretending to be tough… Many have said the same before they disappeared without a trace.”

“Well, take a good look at that bald pig next to you.”

Still pointing the gun at me, Minagawa shook Kanamori’s shoulder. “Kanamori… wake up, Kanamori…”

“Oh, it’s no use~”

I pulled a small bottle of pills from my pocket and showed it to Minagawa.

“Guess what this is~” The color drained from Minagawa’s face as soon as he saw the bottle.

“That’s right! Bingo!! It’s the same drug you forced my mother to take. When the gangsters abducted women, they used this drug to knock them out, and it matched the one I’d been searching for. I traced the purchase back through the phones I confiscated from those thugs. You guys used to get it easily from Iketsuki’s hospital, didn’t you? I had to go through the trouble of smuggling it from overseas. And wouldn’t you know it, you even left customer records—under a fake name, of course—but I found evidence that Kanamori bought it through Iketsuki.”

Panicking, Minagawa shoved his fingers into his mouth, trying to induce vomiting.

“Ahahahahahahaha, it’s useless, totally useless! I mixed an entire bottle of these pills into that white wine earlier—about the equivalent of four of these little bottles~. And it’s a special version, designed to delay the effects so it doesn’t kick in right away. But when it does, the impact is three times stronger~.”

“You… you bastard!!!”

“Oh! And the warning label says, ‘Excessive intake of these pills can cause severe brain damage or nerve injury, so please adhere to the recommended dosage.’ Oops! I might have missed that part since I’m not great at English~ One bottle equals 30 doses, so four bottles make 120 doses~ Wow, what a disaster~!”

“And now, for the grand finale~” I pressed the button on the remote in my hand, and with a small explosion, the ship shook.

“What have you done!?”

“Well, since I don’t have a license for the cruiser, I told that bald pig who’s keeled over there that he could use it however he wanted. I figured you all could enjoy yourselves at the bottom of the ocean~ So, have fun down there with him, Sensei~”

As I started to leave with the evidence in hand, Minagawa aimed the gun at me again.

“You’re coming with me, you little brat!”

“Oh, that gun? You bought it in an under-the-table deal from the Tojin-kai, didn’t you? I made a little adjustment—pulling the trigger will cause it to backfire on you.”

“What!? You’re bluffing!!!”

Ignoring my warning, Minagawa pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang, and…