On the fifth floor of an eight-storey building, a young female in a tattered shirt with bruises marked across her bone-thin body stood in front of a bedroom door.
She stood there feeling uneasy as she hesitantly listened to a male-voiced crying moan resounding from inside the bedroom.
Her legs are fidgety, knowing that she's the reason why that innocent boy is suffering this hellish torture.
She's done this many times and has put countless kids to this unspeakable fate, and you can't blame her for her misdeeds as she's just a kid obeying orders to save herself.
"Erica!!" a cranky voice of an old, perverted man calls out her name.
Erica shook her terrors away and wiped the tears of guilt out of her cheeks before responding, "I'm here! Coming in."
Erica is a 6-year-old girl, and she used to reside at an orphanage before she became involved in this human trafficking scheme.
A politician adopted Erica not because he wanted to take care of a child, but to improve his political image.
Now, Erica has become more like a slave in the shelter of that politician who has a crazy obsession with molesting underage kids.
After Erica heard his owner summoning her, she went into the room and her eyes gaped when she spotted droplets of blood painted on the bed sheet where a helpless young boy sprawled naked.
The poor kid was weeping to no avail.
"Bring me more kids!" the naked politician ordered as he stood with his meat still erected.
Erica is used to witnessing such circumstances.
Seeing kids bawling their eyes as they lose their virginity and get executed in the basement later—these events happen daily in Erica's life.
But even if she's used to this, Erica is still a human and she has a heart.
Erica remained still as she contemplated the baseball bat inclined against the dresser.
"Pig?"
Erica's teeth are clenching in resentment, and disgust is about to ripple across her face.
"Did you hear a goddamn thing, pig?!"
Furious, he blootered Erica knocking her down.
Erica wakes up from contemplation and gets back to her feet.
"I'm sorry, Boss. There's no kids left."
"What?! First, you brought me this defective kid and now you're telling me you didn't fetch any!"
"I'm so sorry, Boss."
"Goddamn useless!" He then glared at the fatigued boy on the bed and said, "Hey pig, wash yourself up. It turns out you're in luck because you'll be accompanying me the whole night."
The boy scurried out of the bedroom without uttering a word.
"And as for you," with a malicious grin, he returned his gaze back to Erica, "Hands On The Wall."
"But Boss, I found no kids on the streets."
"Hands. On. The wall…" he slowly repeated.
"But, boss-"
"I SAID HANDS ON THE GODDAMN WALL!!!"
He lashes out, grabs Erica by her hair and drags her towards the wall.
Erica was near tears as she felt her hair separating from her scalp.
He then banged Erica's head to the wall, making her palm pressed against it.
"Now bend," he commanded as he reached for the baseball bat.
With no more retort, she pulled her upper body down to puff out her butt.
Her ruthless owner then began her punishment.
He swung the steel bat with all his might and hit her buttocks.
Buttocks are mostly a soft part of the human body so a bat swing won't inflict much harm to a normal human.
However, the case isn't the same for Erica.
Erica was a scrawny little kid since she's not fed plenty. And her backside—is nothing but bone.
After spanking Erica once, the sadistic politician felt fulfilled, but not fulfilled enough to be satisfied. So, he raised his bat once more and struck again.
Then again.
And again.
Erica can do nothing but cry.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"I shelter you! Feed you! Love you! Then you go disappointing me?!"
Salty water rolls down Erica's eyes yet she's not making the slightest sound.
"I despise you more than the demons." Erica thought to herself.
Still not contented, he raised his bat once again.
But this time, he doesn't aim for her buttocks.
He smashed her spinal cord.
Erica let out an agonizing groan and she was brought to her knees.
Seeing her hurt makes the old man smirk.
"Fucking pig," he jeered.
Erica's entire body is sore due to her owner's continuous ramming. With a nearly broken pelvis and a cracked spine, she's unable to get up.
Feeling desperate, Erica closes her eyes and then murmurs.
"I don't care who. I don't care how… I don't care if it's a hero, or a criminal, or even a demon that rescues me—I just want to be saved."
*SLAM*
The door slammed open as a man in a black sweater calmly walked in with his hands in his pockets.
It alerted them and Erica was confused to see a man at the door with a head of a fabricated wolf's head.
His head has furs in a combination of grey, white, and black colours. It fit the man's head perfectly and he seemed like a human with a literal wolf's head.
"Huh…? How did you get in?!" The once menacing politician asked with a sense of fear in his voice.
"Wait… I know that mask. You're a headhunter," he added in a trembling tone.
Headhunter is a notorious association of secret people who is recognized as Humanity's Second Greatest Threat.
Members of this organization wear masks that completely resemble a certain animal—and those masks serve to conceal their identity.
Although the wolf-headed man doesn't say anything, it seems quite clear to the politician that he's there to end his campaign once and for all.
Just then, the man slowly began his way towards the fidgeting politician.
"Don't you dare come close! I'm a demon~" he threatened.
The wolf guy doesn't seem threatened as it's obvious that he's lying with that tone. Actually, Wolf thought that was rather hilarious.
"You? A demon? How ironic," he deadpanned. "If you were a demon, I bet you'd be named Child Predator. No. Child Connoisseur suits you better."
Wolf pulled out a knife.
"And can you please put some clothes on? Well, I guess that won't matter 'cause you're as good as dead."
Wolf pounced on the politician who couldn't even react due to his rapid movement.
Wolf tackled him down and firmly pressed his knees to his midriff, making him struggle to breathe.
He tried to push Wolf's knee, but it was as if a full-grown elephant was pressing him down.
The politician reached for the baseball bat that he dropped when Wolf jumped on him, but Wolf grabbed his hand and nailed it to the wooden floor using his knife.
The knife went right through the middle of his palm and deeply down the floor.
Wolf then continued by bashing his head using his fist.
Wolf never stopped ramming his head until his nose was flipped, jaw not aligned, and face completely unrecognizable.
After making him look like a smashed tomato, he left the dead politician and went over to the speechless Erica.
Wolf kneeled down and chatted with her in a kind voice.
"Why did you work for him?"
Erica burst out in tears, thinking it was over.
"I'm sorry. I was forced."
Weeping, Erica embraced Wolf.
"I understand." Wolf pulled Erica away and their eyes met. "Sorry that you have to go through that." "However, many parents lost their children because of that selfishness."
"Huh?" Erica mumbled rather confused.
"We're not so different after all." Wolf gently covered Erica's eyes with his hand. "Losing one is better than losing many."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't have to worry about it…"
Wolf points a gun right under Erica's chin.
*BANG*
"You seem kind, hence you at least deserve a painless death."