Episode 104

“Teddy-teddy bear! Activate rage mode—NOW!”

Whoosh!

At my shout, the teddy bear in my arms shot into the air.

As always, Teddy bear executed a perfect mid-air somersault before landing with a dramatic thud!

“Hello, friends! My name is Teddy-teddy bear! Belze’s assassin at your service!”

The three boys tormenting Ismail froze, their jaws hanging open.

“What… What is that?”

“A teddy bear…?”

“Am I dreaming right now?”

Unable to believe their eyes, they rubbed them repeatedly, staring at the living teddy bear.

Meanwhile, Teddy bear straightened from his landing pose and turned to face me.

“Unfortunately, rage mode isn’t a pre-programmed command!”

I had shouted it out in desperation without thinking.

“Uh… Then what should I do?”

I paused, considering what command to give.

So far, the modes I’d used for Teddy bear were assassination, bodyguard, and giant mode.

I couldn’t very well use the assassination mode on children. As I deliberated over a fitting form of revenge, Teddy bear suddenly chirped,

“But there is a mode for beating them up until they say it’s fun!”

‘What?! There’s a mode like that?’

Startled by his ominous words, I froze momentarily. But Teddy bear didn’t hesitate—he spun around and turned his back to me.

“Well then, shall we all play together now?”

With that, he began taking deliberate steps toward the boys.

“What… What’s going on? It’s coming closer!”

“H-How is it talking? It’s just a teddy bear!”

The boys, pale as ghosts, stumbled backward in fear.

“It’s just a dumb teddy bear! What can it even do?”

Trying to act tough, the biggest of the boys suddenly stopped retreating and stood his ground, shouting boldly.

He was the one who had hit Ismail the most the last time and had just dropped the tart onto him earlier.

Unlike the other two, who mostly shouted insults, this one was the ringleader—the one who always took things the furthest.

‘So, this is the kid who needs to be scared out of his wits.’

I clenched my fists, glaring at him.

“Let’s see if this one wets his pants in front of everyone like the last guy did,” I muttered under my breath, a smirk forming on my lips.

Ismail would never have taken such a subtle form of revenge without reason.

Even if he had, it wouldn’t have changed the situation he was in or earned anyone’s recognition.

He was pretending to be powerless, hiding his abilities, and acting mute.

‘The fact that he still went that far is proof that the bullying he endured was so malicious it was unbearable.’

It reminded me of how, after returning to the past, I refused to tell the priestess who had abused me about her incurable disease.

‘This time, I won’t let it slide like I did last time.’

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

As I observed the boastful bully with cold eyes, he scoffed,

“What? A fluffy little teddy bear? That thing couldn’t hurt me even if it tried!”

The slow, deliberate approach of the teddy bear seemed ridiculous to him, giving him the courage to step forward.

“Tommy, don’t! Stay back!”

“What if it’s possessed by an evil spirit?”

The other two boys, retreating in fear, tried to stop him, but Tommy stood his ground.

Instead, he sneered, raising his voice to reassure them.

“There’s no such thing as evil spirits, you cowards! It’s just some magic trick, that’s all!”

Tap.

Before he knew it, Teddy bear was standing directly in front of him.

With an overconfident smirk, Tommy reached out to grab the moving teddy bear.

“Watch this, you scaredy-cats. I’ll rip its arm off, and that girl will start bawling right awa—”

And then it happened.

Whoosh!

The moment Tommy’s hand touched the teddy bear’s soft arm, Teddy bear moved like lightning, swinging one fuzzy paw.

SMACK!

The brown, furry projectile slammed into Tommy’s face in an instant.

“Uh…”

A moment of silence fell.

Tommy blinked in confusion, unable to make a sound, before collapsing backward.

Thud!

The heavy noise of his fall echoed through the incinerator area, plunging it into an eerie stillness.

“What should we do, Belze? The game’s already over,” Teddy bear said, tilting his head as he turned to me. His tone carried a hint of regret, as if disappointed the fun had ended so quickly.

‘No way… He didn’t kill him with one hit, did he?!’

Panicking, I hurried over to Tommy.

Thankfully, he was merely unconscious. His chest rose and fell steadily, a sign he was still breathing.

But then—

Drip, drip.

Twin streams of blood began trickling from his nostrils, running down his cheeks in thin lines.

“A nosebleed…?”

“H-Heeeek…!”

A sharp intake of breath came from behind me.

I turned to see the other two bullies, frozen in place, their faces pale as sheets.

Even Ismail, sitting dazed next to the fallen Tommy, looked genuinely shocked.

‘As satisfying as this is… It’s too obvious he got beaten up.’

I wanted to punish the bad kids, not commit a crime.

“Teddy-teddy bear! Handle it discreetly!” I shouted hurriedly.

Teddy bear replied without hesitation.

“Commencing suffocation-based torture mode.”

“Wha—!”

The remaining bullies turned from pale to outright blue at the chilling announcement.

And then—

“Aaaaaah!”

One of them, overcome with fear, attempted to flee past Teddy bear.

Whoosh!

Teddy bear rolled across the ground with surprising speed, blocking his escape effortlessly.

As Teddy bear reached the fleeing boy first, it extended one fuzzy leg toward the ground.

Thunk!

“Urk!”

Predictably, the boy tripped over the outstretched leg, sprawling unceremoniously onto the dirt.

“Run. A. Way. No. More,” Teddy bear said in a robotic yet menacing tone.

“P-Please! Spare me! Spare me!”

Cowering under the shadow of the teddy bear looming over him, the boy burst into tears.

Drip… drip…

A yellow puddle spread around his lower half, accompanied by the unmistakable stench of urine. I wrinkled my nose at the smell.

But Teddy bear didn’t care about such things. As the boy sobbed and begged, the bear reached out a paw, seemingly about to initiate some terrifying “mode.”

“Headmaster! Help! There’s a haunted doll here! Headmaster! Teacher—!”

The last remaining bully, panicking, made a desperate attempt to escape. Screaming for help, he bolted in the opposite direction, heading for a gap in the area.

But Teddy bear wasn’t about to let him go.

Whoosh!

Leaping into the air, the bear executed its signature somersault, practically flying toward the fleeing boy.

Thwack!

A roundhouse kick landed squarely on the boy’s back, sending him crashing to the ground.

“Ugh…”

Fortunately, Teddy bear seemed to have taken my instructions to heart—not to leave any visible marks. The boy didn’t pass out, nor did he start bleeding, though he would likely end up with some bruises.

‘Well, he’s going to be sore for a while.’

I glanced at the boy, squirming under Teddy bear, with a mix of pity and satisfaction.

“Are we all having fun now, friends? Tee-hee, tee-hee, tee-hee,” Teddy bear giggled, the sound disturbingly high-pitched and mechanical.

‘What… the… hell…?’

Even I, its owner, felt a chill run down my spine at the eerie display.

Moments later, the bear abruptly stopped laughing and, in an almost solemn tone, declared, “Now commencing suffocation-based torture mode.”

“P-Please! Spare me!”

The boy beneath Teddy bear cried out, his face pale with terror.

Drip… drip…

Another yellow puddle began forming around him, the smell intensifying.

Thud, thud, thud!

Suddenly, someone ran up and stood in front of me.

It was none other than Ismail.

His frightened eyes darted between me and Teddy bear before he finally mouthed the words:

‘Stop this.’

“…Why?”

Tilting my head in confusion, I noticed his eyes waver.

After hesitating for a moment, he grabbed my hand, his expression serious.

― This is too much.

The sensation of his fingers quickly spelling words on my palm caught me off guard.

― What if he’d died? That kid is the illegitimate son of Baron Grasse.

Ismail gestured toward the boy lying nearby, his face grim.

‘That explains it.’

Even in an orphanage, repeated troublemakers were usually expelled.

I had assumed the bullies would lay low after I tattled last time. But this boy had clearly continued causing trouble, likely because he had someone backing him.

I sighed and pulled a pink handkerchief from my pocket.

“Here… wipe your head with this.”

It was the handkerchief Edwin had once used to clean my nose. I had kept it, washed it carefully, and carried it with me as a small token of comfort.

But looking at Ismail’s messy face, smeared with whipped cream, I couldn’t ignore it.

“…”

Ismail hesitated at my unexpected offer, his cheeks turning a faint shade of red before he accepted the handkerchief.

Honestly, the scare had gone far enough.

As Ismail used the handkerchief to clean his face, I turned to Teddy bear and gave a command.

“Teddy-teddy bear, switch to doll mode!”

“Oh, just when things were getting interesting… tch.”

I heard it clearly this time—Teddy bear grumbled under its breath!

‘That crazy bear… is it developing a personality?’

With a final click of its tongue, the light in Teddy bear’s black eyes flickered out, and it flopped to the ground like an ordinary teddy bear.

“Eek! Ew, gross!”

I rushed forward to grab it before it fell into the growing puddle of urine.

“Hoo…”

Breathing a sigh of relief, I heard a soft sob from below.

Looking down, I saw the boy who had been kicked earlier staring up at me, his face a mess of tears and snot.

“Why are you crying? What have you done to deserve sympathy?”

Unlike with Ismail, I felt no pity for him.

Glaring sharply, I barked, “Go over there, kneel, and raise your hands in the air!”

 

 

 

 

⋆｡ ﾟ ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ ☾ ﾟ ｡ ⋆

☕ Hi, friends! Your support means the world to me. If you’d like, you can buy me a coffee here: Click the link on the image! 💖

Thank you for keeping me inspired! 🌸

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆