Chapter 69: Live-in Lover - Part 33 (Violence)

"Aren’t you two taking the cosplay a little too seriously?" Jeff asked, making a light joke after seeing Kris come down the stairs from the second-floor mezzanine and Marc come out of the back room, both wearing full black combat gear used in tactical paintball games."If you say it would’ve been better if we came out a little sooner, then I’m gonna punch you in the face right now," Kris said, worried about Jeff’s condition as he unlocked the chain restraining Jeff’s hand after Marc had lowered it.

"No... You two came at the right time—"

Although he staggered just to stand, even with Kris’s support, dizzy from bleeding from his head, and his voice stammering as blood dripped from his mouth, Jeff replied with a smug grin to reassure his friends that he was fine—or at least would be.

"—like we planned."

"Plan my ass! You almost got shot to death, you reckless bastard," Marc grumbled, still annoyed at how reckless Jeff had been with his so-called plan.

Everything was proceeding according to Jeff’s plan. Whether thanks to his ingenuity and early preparation, pure luck or coincidence, or perhaps the influence of the Returner Fantasy System.

From the moment he contacted Kris and Marc—informing them of the beginning of the plan—right before Trud and his men abducted him.

While Jeff was being beaten inside the van, Kris and Marc were already following behind unnoticed, riding a rental car with fake license plates after picking up Jeff’s smartphone and bag that he had purposely dropped during the abduction.

When Trud, Henry, and Francis were beating up Jeff inside the warehouse, Kris and Marc were on their way to take down the three of Trud’s men who were outside at that time.

Wearing night vision gear they actually owned from a previous job Nubia had forced them to do, Kris and Marc maneuvered through the mountain in the darkness of the night, approaching their targets.

Marc stunned the bastard patrolling the warehouse perimeter with a taser gun, while Kris strangled the one who had parked the van behind the building the moment he stepped out, holding until he lost consciousness. After restraining them—tying their hands and feet and covering their mouths with duct tape—they moved to their next target.

When the bastard who went to get the dogs opened the back door, Marc dropped him with a stun gun, giving them access inside the warehouse.

Marc stayed in the back room where the main circuit breaker was located, watching Jeff get beaten, and cut the power when Trud commanded Jeff to be electrocuted.

Kris watched the same scene while hiding on the mezzanine, from where he could see everything. When Marc killed the lights, Kris used the hunting crossbow he’d brought—while wearing his night vision gear—to shoot the bastards in their legs.

The lights flickered back on, leaving only the electrical line connected to Jeff’s chain cut. Then Kris and Marc finally revealed themselves to the disgusting bastards, who had soiled their pants.

After freeing Jeff, Kris and Marc restrained Trud, Henry, and Francis—tying their hands and feet with duct tape and gathering them in a single spot.

"Please let me go... I didn’t do anything wrong..." Henry cried, desperate in his belief in his innocence.

"It was all this stick dick’s fault... So beat him up all you want..." Francis betrayed Trud without a second thought.

"Shut up already, poop pants!"

Annoyed by their bickering, Kris slapped duct tape over their mouths.

"My father will—"

"So how are we going to beat them?" Marc asked after silencing Trud with a kick to the face.

"For now, leave them to me and get those other three outside. Then search the warehouse for anything else," Jeff said, keeping up his act as if his injuries weren’t slowly killing him.

Though worried—knowing Jeff was only pretending to be tough—the two followed his orders. Marc went outside to fetch the restrained men they had left unconscious, while Kris searched the back room and mezzanine for anything useful—or at least not disturbing.

As soon as Kris and Marc were out of sight, Jeff proceeded to the part of the plan he hadn’t told them about.

He approached Trud, dragging a chair behind him, and—leisurely but painfully—sat down, mocking him with a smug grin.

"You fucker! I should’ve just killed you and tossed you into the street like a sorry piece of trash."

You and your men are the trash, shit bastard, Jeff thought. He knew Trud could’ve done worse, just as he’d said.

He could’ve just shot him, run him over, ransacked his house, gone after Jeff’s family, or forcefully taken Jess and her mother like he had threatened. But with the Returner’s luck, Jeff was confident he’d somehow survive. And besides, he had already asked the Iron Rod Legion to secretly keep watch over his house.

"You can mock me all you want, but with injuries like that, you’ll be dead sooner or later."

The pain was indeed killing him—internal bleeding, broken bones, maybe even some brain damage. But Jeff doubted he would really die from it.

He didn’t choose to be beaten because he was a masochist—that only applied when Jess was the one hitting him. He needed to be beaten so he could force Trud to surrender and admit defeat, completing the Quest 13 of the Returner Fantasy System. At the same time, he wanted to teach Trud a lesson: never mess with him or Jess again.

"Do you think it ends with this—"

"Of course not, shit bastard."

It wasn’t Jeff’s cheerful yet terrifying response that cut Trud short.

It was Henry’s sudden convulsions beside him—the warm liquid soaking the floor, the foul odor filling the room—until Henry passed out.

"What did you do to him, you fucker?!" Trud screamed in fear.

"Whatever it is, it’ll happen to you too. So just surrender and admit defeat," Jeff said in a deep, cold voice. So deep Trud felt like he couldn’t breathe. So cold it made his entire body tremble instinctively.

"As if I’d grovel to a fucking—"

Again Trud’s voice was cut short, as Francis suffered the same fate as Henry on his other side.

Terrified enough to wet his pants again—

"Shit, your pee got on my shoes."

—Trud, unable to comprehend what had happened to his henchmen, complied with Jeff’s demand, even though he didn’t fully understand why Jeff wanted him to surrender and admit defeat.

"Alright, fucker. You won."

---

[RETURNER FANTASY SYSTEM]

[Quest 13 – A Fool’s Errand (Complete)]

[Reward – Returner Eternal Curse]

---

"Now let me go—"

"Ehh?... Who said anything about letting you go?"

"Huh?..."

With the notification flashing in the corner of his vision, confirming Quest 13’s completion, Jeff cheerfully stood up as if uninjured.

Disgusted, he walked through the pool of piss on the floor, crouched in front of Trud, and slapped duct tape over his mouth. Then he said:

"This is gonna hurt, so brace yourself. Try not to soil your pants again, shit bastard."

---

[RETURNER FANTASY SYSTEM]

[Returner Curse – Damage Transfer]