Genius Wizard who sees Rainbows- Chapter 89

#089. The Vanished Children (3)

 

 

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Ray’s red mana touched the vessels of the two leaders.

Unlike before, he used the mana from his circle instead of drawing it from the ambient mana in the air.

This was because he considered the possibility that using raw mana when instilling emotions could expose the target to mana intoxication.

‘Though that hasn’t happened yet.’

Regardless, there was no benefit in exposing them to ambient mana.

*Wooong—!*

The red mana burrowed into their vessels and latched onto their anger.

Fueled by it, their rage swelled, quickly overwhelming their hesitation.

“This is your last warning. Stay put. Unless you want to get beaten like before.”

“Don’t just talk, fight me. You loud-mouthed bastard.”

In the midst of the tense standoff, Melom and Dranine suddenly felt something strange.

‘That piece of shit…! Wait… Have I always hated him this much?’

‘This bastard keeps bringing up the past…! But why? Why does he seem even more disgusting and unbearable today?’

They had always been rivals.

Both were always prepared to exploit any weakness to take over the other’s territory.

But since they had too much to lose and neither ever showed a vulnerability, they had avoided outright conflict as much as possible.

Even now, they planned to maintain appearances and walk away after securing their real objective—extorting money from that arrogant white-haired kid.

But why?

‘Bastard I want to tear apart.’

‘Son of a bitch I want to kill.’

Their rage refused to subside.

A relentless voice echoed in their heads.

It urged them to punch that damn face right in front of them.

“Kill them all! Kill them aaaaall!”

Dranine was the first to explode.

“What are you all waiting for?! Crush them all!” Melom shouted, unwilling to be outdone.

A brief silence fell over the open lot.

Then, like ripples in water, murmurs spread.

“L-Leader? Are you serious? Do we really fight?”

“W-Why all of a sudden? You always said we’d be the ones to lose if we fought.”

The subordinates were shocked. They had always followed the rule of avoiding unnecessary clashes, but now their leaders were suddenly declaring war.

“Are your ears blocked? I said kill them all! Right now! Every last one of them!”

“Shit! You deaf or what?! Move! Beat them all down! If you don’t move, I’ll deal with you myself!”

Flinching at their leaders’ furious orders, the underlings roared and charged at each other.

“Uraaaaagh!”

“Die, you bastards!”

At first, it was an awkward exchange of blows, as if they had been pushed into fighting.

But as injuries piled up and emotions flared, the fight quickly escalated into a full-blown brawl.

“Aaargh! My arm! My—my arm!”

“You bastards! How dare you?!”

Screams and shouts rang incessantly.

The air reeked of blood and sweat.

*Whoosh—! Crack!*

Wooden clubs broke or shattered.

Arms and legs tangled and struck each other.

What unfolded was pure chaos—a complete hellscape.

The deafening noise drowned out everything else.

And just a step outside that turmoil—

“……”

Ray was watching.

His gaze was fixed on the heart of the battlefield.

The most intense fighting was happening there.

—“Die…! You son of a…!”

—“I know… what you did…!”

Melom and Dranine.

The two boys fought like wild dogs.

They didn’t hesitate to target each other’s eyes, ears, or any vital spots.

Even when they fell, they clawed at their opponent’s legs, turning their collapse into another chance to strike.

There was no refined technique—only raw street brawling.

But the ferocity of their movements rivaled that of trained fighters.

However, what Ray was paying the most attention to was something else.

‘Their anger is being released.’

The red mana contained in their vessels was rapidly depleting.

Like a balloon losing air after bursting past its limit.

It was the backlash from the explosion of their emotions.

Seeing Melom and Dranine’s mental states gradually stabilizing, Ray nodded in satisfaction.

—“You bastard…! Just you wait…!”

—“Bring it…! You…!”

Though it was hard to make out from a distance, the outward display of their rage was visibly fading.

Their once furious eyes were regaining clarity, and hesitation began creeping into their punches.

‘I… I don’t want to fight anymore.’

‘Why… why am I even fighting?’

As their fury dwindled to nearly nothing, Ray sensed that it was time for him to step in.

He slowly walked into the battlefield.

“You bastard! What the—?!”

The boys who tried to attack Ray were left dumbfounded, staring at their clubs slicing through empty air.

Ray was simply walking through the battlefield at a normal pace.

Yet, somehow, their attacks kept missing.

*Tap.*

Leaving their confusion behind, Ray reached Melom and Dranine.

“You kidnapped our boys, thinking we wouldn’t find out?!”

“Bullshit! It was you! You kidnapped *our* guys and sold them to Polter’s gang! You bastard! You broke the street’s code!”

From this close, their conversation became much clearer.

Kidnapping?

That piqued Ray’s interest.

*Tap.*

He stepped between them.

As if he had always been there.

*Whoosh—! Smack!*

*Whoosh—! Smack!*

The fists flying toward him were caught midair.

“…What the…?”

“You…?!”

Though startled at first, Melom and Dranine quickly snapped back and tried to yank their fists free.

But no matter how hard they struggled, their hands wouldn’t budge.

Their fists trembled.

Their faces turned red from exertion.

“You bastard! Let go!”

“Damn it! Do you even know where you are?!”

They roared, trying to save face.

But then—

“Aaagh! My hand!”

“My bones! My bones! They’re breaking!”

They crumpled instantly.

Still trapped in Ray’s grip, both leaders dropped to their knees.

‘W-What kind of strength is this…?!’

‘I… I was trying to take down a guy like this…?’

Cold sweat poured down their backs.

In the streets, strength was everything.

And their instincts screamed that this white-haired outsider was far above them.

As they trembled, a voice spoke.

“You’ve calmed down, right?”

“…What?”

“Huh?”

“The anger between you two—it’s gone, isn’t it?”

Melom and Dranine had no idea what Ray was getting at.

‘Gone?’

‘What kind of question is that…?’

If they answered honestly, then yes—their rage had subsided.

Looking at each other no longer filled them with overwhelming fury.

Instead, their minds were occupied with the regret and terror of having started this fight in the first place.

But now that war had begun, backing down was not an option.

‘A man’s pride is at stake.’

‘Once you’re seen as weak, it’s over.’

And beyond personal grudges, there were unresolved conflicts between their gangs.

So the answer was obvious.

They had to claim their anger remained.

“……”

“……”

But why?

Why couldn’t they bring themselves to say it?

Because their fists were still being crushed in Ray’s grip.

“Answer me.”

Ray’s calm demand made them glance at each other.

‘You say it first. That your anger is gone.’

‘No, *you* do it, asshole.’

If the other person spoke first, they would at least pretend to follow along.

But neither wanted to show weakness first, even if it killed them.

And so, Ray helped them reach a compromise.

He tightened his grip.

“Aaagh! Agh! Agh! Ow! Yes, yes! It’s all resolved! I’m not mad anymore!”

“Kuaaagh! Ugh! Agh! N-No, I’m not angry! I-I was never angry! And I never will be! We—we’ve always been close!”

The answers burst out at the same time.

The two gang leaders now looked as if they were dangling helplessly from Ray’s hands.

The entire battlefield froze in shock at the absurd and unbelievable sight.

In the heavy silence, Ray spoke.

“If you’re no longer angry, then make peace.”

“Make peace…?”

“You want me to make peace with *him*?”

Ray nodded.

It was a memory from his time with the kids under the overpass.

Whenever there was a fight among the younger ones, Pale, the eldest, would always make them reconcile.

*”Even if they look fine on the surface, lingering resentment might remain. If a fight happens, you have to make sure they properly make up.”*

This was the same.

A fight had taken place.

Coming out of his thoughts, Ray repeated himself.

“Make peace.”

“M-my bad. It—it was my fault.”

“M-me too. Sorry. I—I apologize.”

The two leaders looked at each other, their voices awkward and hesitant.

If it meant escaping this monster’s grip, they had no choice.

They weren’t even sure what they were apologizing for.

“Good.”

“S-so, could you maybe let go of our fists now…?”

“Y-yeah, please. It hurts so much I think I might go insane.”

Ray nodded and was about to release them.

But then—

‘Ah.’

A memory flashed through his mind.

He had forgotten something.

There was one last step Pale always made them do after making up.

*”We’re family. Don’t forget that.”*

It was to hug each other and say, “I love you.”

***

Some of the gang members rushed in to save their leaders, but charging at Ray was no different from running into a typhoon.

The moment they attacked, Ray’s counterstrike sent them sprawling to the ground.

The chaos was quickly brought under control.

A few minutes later—

Melom, Dranine, and dozens of boys knelt before Ray and his companions, who were seated on a stack of concrete cylinders.

“…So, search the sector using these keywords. If you bring back useful information, you’ll be rewarded accordingly.”

Philip relayed the next instructions.

The two leaders, still dazed, nodded absentmindedly.

They were listening, but their minds hadn’t fully recovered from what had just happened.

Who would’ve thought they’d end up saying *those* words—words they hadn’t even said to a girlfriend yet—to *him*, of all people?

‘That wasn’t how I planned to use those words…’

‘Mom, I’m sorry. The first time I said “I love you”… it was to a guy.’

As they silently wept inside—

“The total headcount for both groups is a little over a hundred each, so it shouldn’t take too long to search the entire sector.”

Ray’s words snapped them back to reality.

“Uh… But we can’t send *all* our guys to search for the information you want.”

“Same for us. We already have a lot of people assigned to another job…”

Summarizing their explanation—

Lately, members from both gangs had been disappearing.

They had been conducting search efforts, each believing the other gang was responsible.

“You heartless bastard. Selling out orphans like us? You think we wouldn’t find out you met with Polter’s crew?”

“Bullshit. That was just a meeting to plan how to divide up street jobs. And it’s *our* people who are disappearing.”

“Yeah right, classic misdirection. Pretending to be a victim so you don’t get suspected.”

Melom and Dranine growled at each other.

Ray, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.

“Did you find any clues during your search? Like a pattern in the disappearances? Any details about the missing kids?”

Melom and Dranine thought for a moment before providing more details.

“At first, we thought they just got drunk or passed out somewhere and didn’t return. But even after weeks, they never came back.”

“They weren’t the type to just leave. They had nowhere else to go.”

Seventeen kids had vanished in total from both gangs combined.

Afterward, they implemented a buddy system, making sure everyone moved in pairs.

But even then—somehow—one would disappear when the other wasn’t paying attention.

“Portree! Your partner went missing recently, right?”

At Melom’s call, a boy stood up from the back.

“Yeah, he did. We were heading back to the hideout after work.”

They had been talking normally, but then—suddenly—his partner, Tommy, stopped responding.

When he turned to look, Tommy was gone.

Then, when he looked behind him—

“I saw Tommy turning into an alley.”

Portree had sprinted after him in a panic.

But when he reached the alley—Tommy was completely gone.

And it was a dead end.

At that, Veronica muttered under her breath.

“It might be magic.”

Ray agreed and pressed further.

“Do you remember anything else about that moment?”

Portree furrowed his brow in thought.

Then, as if recalling something, he spoke.

“A red light. I think I saw a red glow in front of Tommy.”

 

 

 

 

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