"And besides, I'm never becoming your subordinate."
"As for why?"
Bakugo Katsuki glanced at the fodder villains beside Shigaraki, his eyes full of contempt.
"Because staying around trash like these idiots would make me sick."
Even while furious, Bakugo had not forgotten to drive a wedge between Shigaraki Tomura and his subordinates.
And this time, his provocation clearly worked.
The moment those words fell, the group of fodder villains almost exploded with rage.
From the very beginning, they had already felt deeply unbalanced.
After all, Shigaraki had spent all his time talking to Bakugo while completely ignoring them.
In their minds, they should have held at least some importance.
Instead, reality slapped them brutally across the face.
In their boss's eyes, they were not even worth as much as a captured prisoner.
That difference in treatment had already filled them with resentment.
And now, the prisoner they despised was acting so arrogantly.
Not only provoking them with his gaze, but openly insulting them as well.
How could they tolerate that?
Immediately, one of the villain grunts lost control.
He rushed forward and kicked Bakugo hard in the face, sending him crashing to the ground.
As he kicked him, he cursed furiously.
"You little brat!"
"You're just a prisoner now! What the hell are you acting so arrogant for?!"
Bakugo offered no resistance.
He simply endured the beating in silence.
Because he knew now was not the time to act.
Shigaraki's gun was still aimed at him.
Besides, Shigaraki, the boss, had not even spoken yet.
This grunt was acting on his own and attacking someone Shigaraki had personally tried to recruit.
Bakugo did not believe the idiot's ending would be much better than his own.
And just as he expected, the moment Shigaraki saw the grunt attack without permission, his expression instantly darkened.
Honestly, Shigaraki had originally thought these people were merely useless trash.
Who would have thought they were not only useless and stupid, but also completely incapable of reading the room?
Interrupting while their boss was speaking.
Making decisions on their own.
Thinking this, Shigaraki's face turned ugly.
Then he slapped the grunt hard across the face.
SMACK!
The man was knocked straight to the ground.
"I said…"
"You trying to die?"
"When exactly did I allow useless trash like you to interrupt while I'm talking?"
The villain grunt was completely stunned.
Then fury surged through him.
Someone actually dared to hit him?
He instantly wanted revenge.
Unfortunately, the moment he realized the person who hit him was Shigaraki Tomura himself, all those thoughts vanished.
Fight his own boss?
Was he tired of living?
Thinking this, the grunt immediately folded.
Without hesitation, he hugged his head and began begging for mercy.
No matter why his boss hit him, begging first was definitely the correct choice.
Seeing him act so spinelessly, Shigaraki became even more irritated.
He kicked the grunt away violently.
"Get lost!"
And at that exact moment, Bakugo finally found the opening he had been waiting for.
The instant the gun moved away from him, Bakugo exploded upward from the ground.
Then he grabbed the nearest villain by the throat.
At the same time, his right hand burst with ignition, using the recoil to propel himself rapidly away from Shigaraki.
After creating enough distance, Bakugo hid behind the captured villain, using the man's body as a shield while gripping his throat tightly.
Then he shouted toward Shigaraki and the others.
"Don't move!"
"Or I'll kill him!"
That's right.
Bakugo Katsuki had taken one of the villains hostage.
For a moment, everyone present froze.
Including the hostage himself.
Because absolutely nobody had expected Bakugo to do something like this.
This guy had just been talking about becoming a hero moments ago.
And now this "future hero" was taking hostages?
Not only that, he looked ridiculously experienced doing it.
Even the villains themselves felt ashamed in comparison.
So who exactly was the villain here?
Them?
Or him?
More importantly, why was he so naturally skilled at this?
Could this brat secretly be one of their同行?
Thinking this, everyone unconsciously turned to look at Bakugo.
Then, seeing the way he viciously gripped the hostage's throat, along with that fierce expression on his face, they could not help thinking the same thing.
Yeah.
He really did look more like a villain than them.
Watching this absurd farce unfold before him, Shigaraki could only smile bitterly.
What the hell even was this situation?
He had seriously tried recruiting Bakugo.
He had tested him with words countless times.
He had deliberately exposed multiple openings.
And the result?
Not only had he failed to recruit him, he had also failed to lure out the hidden hero.
And now things had somehow devolved into this ridiculous scene where one of his own "villains" had been kidnapped and used as a hostage by a "prisoner" who also happened to be a "future hero."
What kind of nonsense was this?
Letting out a deep sigh, Shigaraki suddenly felt tired.
Very tired.
He no longer even wanted to keep playing this game.
However, at that exact moment, Bakugo suddenly said something that instantly reignited his interest.
"Shigaraki Tomura!"
"I know your plan!"
Holding the hostage tightly, Bakugo shouted loudly.
"Your plan is to split everyone into groups, gather the civilians scattered throughout this place, and then keep opening portals at random intervals to throw them down one after another so All Might has to keep saving them!"
"You're trying to exhaust him to death!"
"Or force him to watch civilians die right in front of him!"
"After that, you'll release the recorded footage of everything to society and use it to declare your victory!"
"I'm right, aren't I?!"
"…Yeah."
"You're right."
Shigaraki's expression did not change.
Bakugo figuring out this part of the plan did not surprise him.
After all, he already knew the grunts had spilled most of the information they had earlier.
It was not strange for Bakugo to piece together this much from it.
More importantly, even if Bakugo knew this portion of the plan, so what?
This was only one fragment of the overall operation.
Bakugo still knew almost nothing about the true plan.
"Heh. So!"
Seeing Shigaraki remain expressionless, Bakugo assumed he was bluffing and forcing himself to stay calm.
Immediately, Bakugo laughed loudly and shouted.
"So that means you need these people, right?!"
"These guys are important tools for carrying out your plan!"
"You still need them working for you!"
"So there's no way you'll let the guy in my hands die, right?!"
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