"Huh?" The 15 gangsters all said in unison as they looked at me.
"I'm here to stop you all!" I declared with conviction.
"..."
Eventually, after a few seconds of silence, the gang leader pointed at me and asked, "Who is this crazy-lost child? Why is he wearing hospital clothing? Did he escape from an asylum?"
"What should we do with him, boss? We can't let him go since he's seen our hideout, but he's just a kid..." One of the gangsters near the Gang Leader said anxiously.
'This is kinda awkward. Should I start attacking now or let them finish talking?' I idly wondered as I watched them arguing.
After a second of doubt, the Gang Leader shouted, "We the Mighty Tiger Gang can't just ignore this kid, since he himself came here and challenged us let's just teach him a lesson and then throw him out. He won't dare report us then!"
Looking me in the eyes, he shouted intimidatingly, "If you dare walk into the tiger's den, then prepare to meet its claws! Men go give this little guy a lesson!"
"Yes Boss!" The 14 gangsters shouted as they started approaching me casually.
'It's finally starting now,' I thought and started walking towards them with the same arrogance they displayed.
"Huh? Why aren't you running kid? You think you can take on all of us? Bwuhahaha!" One of the gangsters joked.
"Look, I think he's trying to imitate us, isn't that cute? Ahahahaha!" Another added.
"Well, it's too late for regrets now, kid, prepare yourself for a rough lesson," a blonde gangster said with pity in his tone.
"Would you all shut it? Even a 5-year-old is not as basic as you all. Is that the best trash talk you can come up with?" I told them with a scoff.
That seemed to strike a nerve as the gangsters immediately lost all the pity they had previously. "Now you've done it, kid, don't expect us to be gentle!"
The gang leader, meanwhile, couldn't hold back his laugh as he shouted, "kuhuhahaha! This kid's got more guts than all of you put together and a good sense of humor to boot! Once you're done beating him up, let's make him part of our gang!"
"Join your gang? Who decided that? I won't be some underling to a third-rate villain like you!" I shouted before the mob of gangsters could respond.
"Courting death! Men, stop dragging your legs and beat him up already!" The Gang Leader shouted in anger.
"Yes, boss!" they shouted as they ran towards me surrounding me.
I, too, started running right at the one in front of me before suddenly stopping and pointing to my left with a horrified expression: "Is that a Monster!?"
"A monster!? Where?" The idiots asked as they looked to my left except for the gang leader, who shouted at them, "What are you morons doing? There's no monster!"
But it was too late. Clenching my fist, I punched the gangster in front of me in the stomach with all of my strength, sending him back a few steps.
"Kwh!... That... That actually hurt! Just what have you been eating, kid!?" the gangster said as he touched his stomach where he had been punched.
I didn't have time to reply as I got kicked in my right side by another gangster. "This is for fooling me, you brat I was scared for nothing because of you!"
Being pushed a few steps towards a few more gangsters, I could only try to dodge as they hit me from multiple sides.
Eventually, two of them each held one of my arms as the gangster who I punched walked up to me.
"I will pay you back for bruising my stomach brat. You think being a little strong means you can get away with disrespecting me like that? Huh!?" he said with a menacing expression full of malice.
"Who are you again?" I asked, raising one of my eyebrows, thinking 'These guys are just too numerous. The only way to beat them is to make them fight one on one'
"Brat. You're dead," the gangster said with fury as he punched me in the stomach.
"Kwh!... Is that all you've got? No wonder you complained about a single hit with such pitiful strength, heh, you can't even beat me without your friends here, can you?" I mocked the gangster.
"You brat, you think you can get your way with us again!? You came here and provoked us all, so why would I fight you one on one?" the gangster mocked back.
"What are you scared of going up against the kid on your own? Don't show such a sorry face! You're a member of the Mighty Tiger gang, so go and beat him on your own!" The gang leader shouted from the back, enjoying the show.
"Yes boss!" The gangster immediately shouted as he glared at me.
The other two let go of my arms and backed away, muttering to themselves, "Should we place some bets? You heard Jeff he got his stomach bruised from the kid's punch so that kid isn't weak."
"We have already messed the kid up quite a bit. Jerry, you think the kid still has that much left in him? Jeff was probably being a drama queen like usual, but if you want to lose some money, go ahead and bet on the kid!" The other gangster whispered back.
While they started making bets, I already ran towards the NPC apparently named Jeff, throwing a punch at his stomach again.
Jeff didn't even try to dodge kicking down at me, instead, but I caught his leg and kicked at his other one, making him fall down.
"Bwuhahaha! Boss look Jeff is getting his ass kicked by this brat! Why don't you join in and make a bet?" Jerry, who had bet on me, joked.
I didn't listen to them much, focusing on my downed opponent instead, as he was trying to get back up, I immediately kicked him back down.
The gang leader wasn't laughing though. Instead, he shouted at Jeff, "Just what do you think you're doing you dunder head? Losing to a kid, is that what you're doing? Huh!? The Mighty Tiger Gang has no need for weaklings. If you don't get up and beat him, you're kicked out!"
"Yes Boss!" Jeff responded hurriedly from the ground, but seeing his guard lowering, I immediately went in and threw a punch at his face. I didn't stop there and got on top of him, pummeling him.
"..."
The warehouse was silent except for Jeff's cries for help until the Gang Leader sighed.
He slowly walked my way and I seeing that Jeff was already thoroughly beaten, got up and took a few steps back, leaving him lying there.
The gang leader didn't even look at me, staring at the downed Jeff instead as he ordered, "Get up Jeff, if you don't walk out the door right now you're going to be thrown out."
"... B-boss Tiger g-give me another chance! J—just one!" Jeff barely managed to mutter as he tried and failed to stand up.
The Gang Leader grabbed him by the hair and stood him up as he shouted loudly, "MEN, LOOK HERE, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DISOBEY!"
The gang leader then took his hand out of Jeff's hair and threw a haymaker at his face, sending him flying a dozen meters, landing just outside the warehouse as some blood and teeth scattered on the pavement.
Seeing this, I narrowed my eyes in thought, 'There's no way I can defeat this guy now when I was struggling with those guys... his threat level is about Tiger level from the looks of it, but unlike Crablante, he has no obvious weakness.'
Glancing at the other gangsters, it seemed none of them paid attention to me.
Then I noticed another door behind me in the opposite direction to the one Jeff got thrown out of.
The Gang Leader still looked at Jeff, seemingly conflicted about having kicked him out.
Perhaps they were a tightly-knit group.
I silently walked towards the other door while no one was looking, occasionally glancing back at the gang leader.
Soon he continued talking, "... listen here, Brat, if you don't want to have your teeth on the floor like Jeff, you're going to have to swear your loyalty to the Mighty Tiger Gang and if you're not convinced just yet, I'm going to teach you a lesson myself!"
"...what does this Tiger gang even do?" I asked and held back a sigh of relief, seeing him not turning towards me but walking towards Jeff's body instead.
As I walked past the door and closed it behind me, I faintly heard the Gang Leader's words: "... Good it seems you're smart. The Mighty Tiger Gang operates by protecting the nearby locals from weaker monsters since Z city is infested with them and..."
I didn't listen to the rest as I was already running.
After about 10 seconds, I could hear the loud shouting of the gang leader that made some crows fly away: "YOU BRAAAAAT!!! COME BACK HERE!"
Naturally, I didn't stop and kept running.
Then I remembered something: "Right, I didn't do my running training today. I almost forgot!"
'With me offending this gang and the spaghetti cult, I might as well run to another city, but that would make finding an empty building to sleep in harder'
'I suppose staying in Z city is for the best, since running to another city would increase the chances of me being locked in a mental hospital or targeted by the spaghetti cult for exposing their crimes to that police officer and the medic'
I planned while doing my running. By the time I finished my 10,1-kilometer run, it was nearly dawn and my legs were so exhausted that they couldn't hold my weight and I collapsed on the pavement.
Looking at the empty street, I thought to myself as I fell into slumber: 'This city is always empty anyway, as long as a monster doesn't show up I should be fine.'