ALL NOVEL Chapter 36
Chapter 36: Shouting Skill
“….”
The meaning was clear.
It was a warning.
But it rubbed me the wrong way. It was a correctional officer I had always looked down upon. The thought of such an officer threatening me really didn’t sit well.
Choi Kwang-ho clenched his fists so tightly that they made cracking sounds. He leaned toward the option of just going for it. Sure, he was an Awakened Being, but he was still just a correctional officer. There were limits to what a correctional officer could do to an inmate. He wouldn’t be able to hit me, let alone do anything worse.
Seeing Kwang-ho’s fists clenching tightly, Lee Si-hyun said with a pitying expression.
“I warned you, clearly.”
“I’m Choi Kwang-ho! You bastard!”
Kwang-ho scowled and swung his fist.
Si-hyun didn’t dodge. His eyes didn’t even blink. Just as Kwang-ho’s fist was about to hit his face, Si-hyun reached out and grabbed his wrist.
“Uh…?”
Having fully expected to hit, Kwang-ho made a panicked sound when his wrist was seized.
Si-hyun glared at the bewildered Kwang-ho with a smirk and then shouted, controlling his volume so it wouldn’t be heard outside.
“Instead of pointless stuff, why don’t you clean my shoes with your tongue-!!”
“Uh… uh…?”
As Si-hyun released Kwang-ho’s wrist, his body moved uncontrollably. It fell to its knees as if losing strength, and his head dropped down.
“Ugh, shit…? Uh… What is this? No! Stop!”
Kwang-ho shouted with a completely flabbergasted face. An unexpected turn of events had occurred—something he couldn’t have even imagined in his wildest dreams, even in a nightmare.
His tongue shot out entirely on its own.
“Uh…? Ugh….”
Slurp.
Kwang-ho’s tongue began to uncontrollably lick and clean Si-hyun’s shoes. It went around, leaving no part of the filthy soles, piled with dirt and other nastiness, untouched. He wore an expression that screamed of humiliation he had never felt before, as if he might just collapse from it.
…Ugh.
His stomach churned, and he felt nausea rising.
“If you throw up, you’ll be cleaning the bathroom floor too.”
The calm voice was the most terrifying threat of all. Kwang-ho’s face was horrified as he fought back the urge to vomit.
“Get in that position.”
Si-hyun said.
Chop-chop.
Even at that moment, Kwang-ho’s tongue was savoring the delicious delight of licking every corner of the shoes. He was close to losing his mind, driven to the edge by the absurdity of it all.
“I can understand roughly how you, Choi Kwang-ho, have been living up till now. The cell must have been very comfortable, like a home to you. But I can’t allow that. I absolutely can’t tolerate inmates who don’t adhere to discipline and act up on their own. Not even for the sake of the victims.”
Si-hyun patted Kwang-ho’s head, who was licking his shoes, as if he were praising a well-behaved child.
It was a clear action meant to add to Kwang-ho’s humiliation. His face had turned pale, overwhelmed with the anger and humiliation bursting inside him.
“Now, behave properly during your time as an inmate. I clearly stated it. You better keep your word. If you don’t want to be licking the bathroom toilet, then you’d better be careful.”
Si-hyun said firmly.
“Are you not going to answer?”
“Eh…?”
It seemed Kwang-ho was unable to respond correctly with his tongue out. He was boiling inside, nearly ready to explode, but it seemed he absolutely dreaded the idea of cleaning the toilet with his tongue.
“Are you saying you will behave properly as an inmate?”
“Eh.”
“Good. You can stop now. But if you spit on the floor or curse, it’s straight to toilet cleaning. Got it?”
“…Eh.”
“Stop cleaning my shoes-!!”
“Ugh, huh… Ugh….”
Finally, the humiliating shoe cleaning ceased. Kwang-ho wanted to spit immediately and wash his dirty tongue, but the cruel figure wouldn’t allow that.
“Okay, put your tongue back in your mouth and swallow your spit. If you don’t, it’s right back to cleaning the toilet floor, you know?”
“Ugh….”
Kwang-ho hesitated, his eyes flickering nervously, but he eventually stuffed his tongue back in and swallowed.
“Ughhh.”
He covered his mouth with his hands, forcing back the urge to vomit.
Si-hyun looked pleased at the sight and spoke.
“I know people like you, Choi Kwang-ho. Right now, you’re forced to bow down, but you’re the kind of person who’ll stab me in the back any time. But!”
Si-hyun shot him a provoking glare.
“Go ahead. Try and stab me in the back or whatever. It won’t end like this next time. I’ll show you hell.”
He continued.
“Oh, and I need to set a safety precaution. You can’t tell anyone about anything related to me—!!”
◈ ◈ ◈
“Brother?”
The bald-headed gangster in Cell 10 stared wide-eyed at Choi Kwang-ho, who entered with a face like he had just eaten something sour. He expected some kind of outburst along with curses directed at the officer. It even crossed his mind that the officer might get hit.
But instead, Kwang-ho entered looking exceptionally out of sorts.
“Don’t tell me… did you get hit by the officer?”
“Ugh ugh.”
“What?”
Shit. That bastard’s an Awakened Being.
Trying to utter that only got his voice tangled. After a moment, he managed to speak again.
“…It’s not like that, you bastard.”
Finally, his voice came through. It seemed like he could cut out any remarks that were disadvantageous to that guy with razor precision.
Shit… this is so annoying.
“Ugh.”
With a groan, Kwang-ho leaned against the wall.
For now, he’d hold it in. But he wouldn’t deal with this humiliation forever. If he didn’t repay it, he wasn’t a man.
Kwang-ho bit his lip hard.
“Brother?”
The bald-headed gangster could only watch in confusion at Kwang-ho’s inexplicable demeanor.
◈ ◈ ◈
The Inmate Order on the 4th Floor, Unit 1, improved rapidly.
After Kwang-ho and a couple of other problematic inmates were brought down a notch, word spread, and even the regular inmates who usually listened well became even more obedient. Of course, Kwang-ho, on the surface, pretended to comply, but deep down he was probably sharpening his knife for revenge.
If he caused trouble again, I planned to show him the hell I had warned him about—using my Shouting Skill. While I could use the Iron-Blooded Guard, I wanted to find out if a mere Shouting Skill could completely break someone’s spirit, especially after making Kwang-ho the test subject.
‘We’ll do that. Now, it’s just Jang Hak-ki left.’
What kind of method could I come up with to deal with him? After work, I started brainstorming. I was almost at the conclusion of my ideas. I just needed to refine them a bit more and seize the opportunity to carry them out.
While thinking, Si-hyun closed the notebook he had been doodling in.
By the way, he realized one thing he hadn’t noticed until recently. He had been so sure there wasn’t a magic consumption listed in his skill window, but he finally came to the conclusion that active skills naturally consumed magic when used.
It was obvious. Skills weren’t something you could fire endlessly. The more powerful the skill, the greater the magic consumption and the longer the cooltime.
However, until now, there hadn’t been any indication of magic consumption or cooltime listed with Po-ahim’s active skills. Not a number, not even a zero. Neither the Restraint Technique nor the booming shout of the scary guard. So my magic stat of 99 hadn’t budged an inch.
‘Could it be that’s why my magic stat isn’t increasing?’
Si-hyun quickly shook his head.
No, no. I shouldn’t think like that…
Anyway, what a ridiculous situation. What kind of absurd awakening is this?
Oh, and there was one more ridiculous thing.
An odd quest had popped up, which wasn’t a prison quest.
[The other value of the scary guard’s booming shout is unleashed in hunting or combat. Po-ahim once knocked out a ferocious Giant Monkey with just his shout and presented it to the Emperor. Po-ahim wants to see you use a shout to knock out living creatures.]
[Quest: Knock out living creatures using a shout. 0/100]
I had assumed the skill description only indicated how startled other living creatures would be, but it seemed that if they were startled enough, they could faint.
‘But is this really going to work?’
Si-hyun raised an eyebrow in skepticism.
Humans didn’t show signs of fainting, not at all.
If it came to combat, I’d have to give up right away.
…If humans don’t faint, what about monsters?
Then, Si-hyun’s eyes caught the word “monkey.”
It was a ferocious Giant Monkey, but a monkey is still a monkey, right?
Thinking that way, Si-hyun pondered whether to aim for smaller animal types. If Po-ahim knew what Si-hyun was thinking, he would probably chuckle in disbelief.
The Giant Monkey he caught and presented was a monster over three meters tall, capable of easily tearing a human apart with just its hands.
‘Nah.’
Si-hyun shook his head.
Catching a hundred such animals would be impossible.
Even if I managed to do that, it would take ages to fill the quota.
Hmm.
As Si-hyun squinted and pondered, it seemed a good idea struck him, and he snapped his fingers.
“Okay, fish.”
Fish had plenty of numbers, so I could soon reach the required count. Plus, I’d heard somewhere that fish would faint easily when startled.
It seemed this weekend, I would have to go fish at the riverside.
◈ ◈ ◈
“Senior, isn’t this too cliché?”
Han I-seol said to the main PD, Jung PD.
“That’s how daily programs work; you recycle the same material. That way, we actually have something to air. If you run out of ideas, you can’t put anything out there.”
Jung PD replied with an expression that said this is how the industry works.
“Yes, yes, I understand what you mean, but isn’t it just a bit disappointing? I’ll come up with fresh material next time, I promise.”
Since it was Jung PD’s program, it was tough for I-seol to have much involvement. But if she could bring a good idea, it would be reflected according to her thoughts.
“Right, if you have something good, bring it.”
After Jung PD replied, he clapped his hands loudly.
“Okay, let’s get moving. Daylight’s short these days; if we dilly-dally, it gets dark fast. Camera team, quickly move towards the participants.”
The recording for the ‘6 PM News’ program began.
Today’s theme was about masters catching fish with their bare hands. Thankfully, the weather was clear, and the water hadn’t frozen, so there were no problems with filming.
The camera focused on a middle-aged man with a muscular upper body, shirtless. It was a little chilly, but he exuded tremendous vitality.
Next to the man was a large container for the fish and a filming assistant. The assistant was there to help carry the container whenever the man caught a fish.
“Shall we begin?”
The man asked.
“Yes, please.”
“Understood.”
With that, the man entered the water and began to catch fish with his bare hands, without any tools.
It had been introduced on TV a few times, but witnessing the technique in person was fascinating. He skillfully captured the fish’s movements, stretching out his hands at just the right moment when they couldn’t escape.
With a decent speed, the caught fish began to pile inside the container. At this rate, the filming seemed to be going smoothly. There were moments when the fishermen failed, causing the filming to stretch out for a while, but overall, things were looking good.
Suddenly, a shout echoed from the distant riverside.
“UAAAAAAAHHHHH-!!”
“….”
The filming crew all turned their heads, dumbfounded.
It was truly an incomprehensible shout. And it was an unexpected interruption to the filming.
“UAAAAAAAHHHHH-!!”
The shout resonated again.
“Damn it, what the hell. Someone go over there and make that noise stop already.”
Jung PD said, clearly annoyed.
As the assistant director was about to rush over, I-seol dashed ahead of him. She had a feeling. Something curious might be unfolding.