Chapter 85: The Origin Of Genki’s

Morning.

….

“I freaking hate this.”

Kasa whined, speaking to the others through the small earpiece in his ear. He was completely changed, now looking like an eleven-year-old version of himself. He wore red shorts and a red jacket, clothes chosen to match what most of the victims had been wearing when they disappeared.

Yet even though he looked like a child, he wasn’t completely unrecognizable. His precise, calculating eyes remained the same—eyes that had always served him well as a doctor.

“Well, it’s kinda the only way we can do this,” Jamie replied.

He stood on a tree branch with Sandra off to the left side of the road—not too far from where Kasa was walking, but close enough to react instantly if anything happened.

They had just set their plan into motion.

Kasa was walking along the infamous road that the kidnapped children used every morning on their way to school. But today it was completely abandoned, silent like a forgotten house somewhere deep in the mountains.

The tar road stretched forward with long grass growing along its edges. Beyond that, thick forest began.

To anyone else, it would have been the worst possible condition for a road—because you would never know what dangers might be lurking inside those woods.

But for the trio, it was perfect.

No witnesses. No interruptions.

“I seriously don’t understand why it couldn’t be anybody else.”

“Sandra’s an elf. My facial manipulation might not work on her the way it works on you. And I’m the only one here with enough combat experience to get us out if we get cornered by the genki.”

Jamie spoke calmly, dismantling every argument before Kasa could even finish forming it.

“You’re a doctor. If you get injured, you’ll heal yourself.”

He paused.

“Now that we’ve covered that, can we proceed?”

“Shit.”

Kasa kept walking forward along the empty road. The air was completely still, broken only by the distant sounds of frogs and birds drifting across the sky.

As he moved farther out of Jamie and Sandra’s view, the two followed him by leaping onto another branch. They moved with such careful precision that not even the squirrels or birds around them seemed to notice.

Their movements were silent, controlled—exact.

The kind of movement that would have made them terrifying hunters… or perfect assassins, if they had ever chosen those paths.

Crack!!

A branch snapped somewhere inside the forest to Kasa’s right.

“What was that?!”

Kasa froze immediately, his eyes darting across the trees as he searched the shadows for anything that might leap out at him.

“It’s nothing. Just keep going,” Sandra replied, watching his surroundings through a pair of military-grade goggles that could zoom in on anything—even the tiny butterflies drifting through the air around him.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I can see everything happening around you. Probably squirrels.”

” if you say so. But if I get jumped, i swear you’re going to be in deep trouble.”

He continued walking. At first his steps were hesitant, but after a few more strides he forced himself to keep moving.

Sandra lowered the goggles from her eyes and turned her gaze toward Jamie, who was still watching Kasa from a distance even without them.

“Did you shrink his confidence when you were reducing his age?”

“I heard that!” Kasa shouted through the earpiece.

Sandra winced slightly. The sudden spike in volume didn’t do her ears any favors.

“Nah,” Jamie replied casually. “He’s just afraid because I lowered his magic level so the genki won’t see him as a threat. At the level he’s at right now, he’d be lucky to kill a genki.”

Jamie spoke as if the statement weren’t alarming at all.

If Kasa got attacked now and the two of them were even a little late…

It would be very easy for him to get torn apart.

For a brief moment, Sandra actually felt a little sympathy for him. Anyone in his position would probably act the same way.

But that was the least of their worries.

In the distance, the rooftop of the school was slowly coming into view.

The attacks had always happened somewhere along the road Kasa was walking—not at the school itself. If he managed to reach the building without being attacked, it meant they would have to try again tomorrow.

And that possibility was the last thing they needed with how little time they had.

“Shit,” Sandra muttered. “He doesn’t look attractive enough… Try looking attractive for the genki.”

She spoke loudly into the earpiece. Whether she was mocking him or genuinely trying to give advice, the comment didn’t help the situation.

“I don’t know what genkis like, so how the hell would I know how to seduce one?!” Kasa snapped, wrinkles forming across his forehead. He hated every second of what was happening.

Then suddenly—

“Shhh.”

Jamie’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“Quiet. Something’s in the bushes.”

Instantly, the others fell silent.

A large surge of magic was moving through the forest, heading straight toward Kasa. When Jamie focused on its frequency, it matched exactly what the locals had described.

The creature had the face of a wolf but the body structure of a frog—an absolute atrocity of creation.

Kasa kept walking forward, his expression turning serious now.

Everything depended on this moment.

Then—

Glab!!

In a single instant the genki released its long frog-like tongue. It shot out from the forest and wrapped around Kasa as he stood on the road, coiling tightly around his body to keep him from moving.

Just like a frog catching a fly.

That was why none of its victims had ever managed to escape.

“Help! Jamie, help!”

Kasa screamed loudly, letting his teammates know the hunter had taken the bait.

And the message reached them clearly.

“Let’s go,” Sandra said, preparing to leap from the tree.

“Don’t!!”

Jamie stopped her immediately, standing there completely unbothered—like someone calmly watching a hunt unfold.

“But we have to save him!”

“If we save him now, we won’t know where it took the other kids.”

Jamie had a point.

They needed the creature to lead them to its hideout.

The second part of the plan—something Jamie hadn’t told either of them earlier.

“Why the hell aren’t you coming?!” Kasa shouted as the genki leapt into the trees, rushing forward with him still trapped in its tongue, his body shaking violently with every powerful jump.

“We want it to lead us to its hideout!” Sandra shouted back, raising her voice so he could hear her over the wind and motion. “We’ll follow once it creates some distance between us!”

The frog creature was already a mile ahead now, moving with terrifying speed and no intention of stopping.

“I hate you, Jamie! I hate you!”

“Now.”

Jamie jumped.

The two of them leapt from tree to tree with incredible ease, moving through the canopy like birds gliding across the sky.

When they reached the gap where the road opened beneath them, they didn’t land.

Instead, they ran.

Across the air itself.

Sandra blinked in shock as her feet touched nothing, yet something invisible held her weight.

How did I just do that? she wondered. I don’t have the power to fly…

Her eyes shifted briefly toward Jamie.

Does it have something to do with him?

But there were more urgent things to focus on, so she forced her attention forward again.

The genki was still ahead of them, bounding through the forest. And judging by the way it moved, it had no idea they were following it.

Everything was going exactly as planned.

Until—

Splash!!

The frog suddenly leapt straight into a patch of quicksand ahead of it.

Kasa disappeared with it instantly, swallowed beneath the surface without leaving even the smallest trace.

Maybe that was why no one had ever been able to track it.

Jamie and Sandra arrived moments later. The quicksand was still shifting, which meant they still had time.

Without hesitation, they jumped in after it.

The ground swallowed them whole as they followed the creature into its den—without any idea what might be waiting for them below.

But Kasa had done his part of the plan.

Now it was their turn.

To their surprise, they emerged inside a massive underground cave, with alarge corridor that could be seen from afar.

Bright light filled the entire place—far brighter than anything you would expect from a child kidnapper’s hideout.

Boxes were stacked across the room. Beds lined the walls, each one neatly arranged with toys scattered across the blankets.

The place felt strangely warm.

Almost welcoming.

Like the children had just stepped away for a moment.

On the other side of the cave stood a large pot, the kind witches used in old stories when brewing potions.

A wooden fire burned beneath it, making the liquid inside bubble and steam. The aroma rising from it smelled surprisingly pleasant, yet the sight of it didn’t inspire much appetite.

Then suddenly—

Thud!!

The genki appeared directly in front of them.

Up close, the creature looked even stranger.

Its head resembled that of a wolf, but its legs were unmistakably frog-like. Yet something about it was different from what they expected.

It stood upright on two legs like a human.

It wasnt naked—like most genki were— it wore a jacket over its shoulders. On its face rested a pair of glasses.

The creature had an almost human presence.

Jamie stared at it in disbelief.

“What the heck am I looking at?”

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