That Day When Suzuki-kun Wasn't the Mob-B! Chapter 479: The Lion and the Cat (Patreon)

"Why do you think a human and a sorcerer are two different creatures?" Suzuki asked, his voice calm and steady over the rhythmic, hollow clack of the bamboo deer chaser in the garden. "Is it just because they can't control their cursed energy, and we can?"

He scooped another piece of the brandy-soaked melon, the sharp, woody aroma of the liquor mingling with the sweet, floral scent of Yuki's perfume in the cool night breeze.

"So, if we suddenly lose our ability to control our power, are we no longer sorcerers? And if a normal human suddenly learns to control their flow, do they instantly become one of us?"

"..."

Yuki parted her lips, the faint sheen of sweet melon juice glistening on them in the dim, warm light of the living room. She shifted on the plush leather sofa, the material creaking softly beneath her weight. The movement hiked her shorts up another scandalous inch, exposing the smooth, pale expanse of her thighs to the chilled air, while her chest rose and fell with a hesitant breath.

"Do you..." she started, her intoxicating confidence faltering for the first time. "Do you think we, the sorcerers, are the same as normal humans?"

"You don't?"

"..." Yuki hesitated, her brow furrowing slightly as she looked deeply into his eyes. "But you know it yourself. We aren't the same as them."

Why were they different?

To Suzuki, the answer was brutally simple: because normal humans looked at sorcerers as entirely different beings. They didn't see them as human at all. Frankly, as much as he despised the corrupt jujutsu Elders, Suzuki found the secular government to be even worse. To the politicians and bureaucrats, a sorcerer was nothing more than a convenient, disposable tool—a weapon to be pointed at curses or foreign enemies. It was hardly surprising that, in return, many sorcerers viewed ordinary humans as a flock of ignorant monkeys. You reap what you sow. Treat people like monsters, and they will act like monsters.

Suzuki didn't care for absolute morality—good or bad, right or wrong. He had beaten people half to death to secure his position as patriarch. But he understood how the world worked. The supernatural society operated on an entirely different axis than the normal world, and the two could never truly mix peacefully.

But before he could address the problem's grand scale, he needed to dismantle her foundational logic.

"Hmm..." Suzuki leaned back, swirling the remaining amber liquid in his bowl. "Do you think a cat and a lion are the same?"

Yuki blinked, her long lashes fluttering. "Er... no?"

"No. But they are both felines, aren't they?"

"Just what are you trying to say?" she asked, leaning forward. The motion offered a tantalizing view of her cleavage, her skin flushed warm and pink from the alcohol, but Suzuki's gaze remained sharply focused on her eyes.

"What I mean is that jujutsu is nothing more than a genetic talent," Suzuki explained, his tone cool and pragmatic. "It isn't functionally different from being born with fast legs, a genius-level intellect, or a beautiful face. It's just a biological variance. A gift. And for some—who are ostracized, hunted, or exploited because of it—it's a misfortune, much like being born blind or deaf."

Whether the ability to manipulate cursed energy was a blessing or a curse depended entirely on the individual's circumstances. If it brought you wealth, power, and a comfortable life, it was a gift. If it trapped you in a miserable, isolated existence of endless bloodshed, it was a tragedy. Even in normal society, people born with exceptional beauty or extreme intelligence were often isolated, fetishized, or hated by the deeply envious masses.

"When you break it down like that, aren't we all just human?" Suzuki continued. "Just like a cat and a lion belong to the same overarching family, we belong to the same species as non-sorcerers. Humans already have massive genetic variations—height, facial structure, skin color. Cursed energy is just another variable."

He set his empty bowl down, the glass clinking sharply against the table. "Which leads me to my next question."

"Hmm?" Yuki hummed softly, her mind scrambling to process his deconstruction of her worldview. As a Special Grade, she naturally harbored a deeply ingrained narcissism; she viewed herself as a superhero, an anomaly. Hearing her god-like powers reduced to a mere biological quirk was jarring.

"For whom do you actually want to cure this symptom?"

"...For whom?" Yuki frowned, the sultry, relaxed curve of her body going entirely rigid. For a moment, she was at a loss. Her immediate thought was that it was for everyone. Jujutsu sorcerers were chained to the endless, bloody cycle of hunting curses, robbed of their freedom.

"For the sorcerers," she finally answered, her voice regaining a bit of its firm resolve. "Because if there are no cursed spirits, then we don't have to fight. We can finally be free to chase whatever lives we want."

"Hmm."

"You think that's wrong?" she asked, her frown deepening.

"No, it isn't wrong. Your logic is sound."

"Then what is it?"

"It's just a matter of perspective," Suzuki said, looking at her with a helpless, almost pitying expression. "Do you really think working a mundane human job and 'chasing freedom' is actually fun? Gaining freedom means absolutely nothing when you are weak and poor."

For an ignorant fool, a normal life was paradise; they didn't compare themselves to others and lived happily in their own small bubbles. But for the awakened?

"For you, a wealthy, impossibly strong Special Grade, gaining your freedom is a beautiful dream because you've spent your whole life being burdened by expectations. You want to travel, experience the world, and do as you please." Suzuki paused, letting the cold reality sink in. "But for the vast majority of sorcerers? Cursed spirits are their sole source of income. It's a dangerous job, yes. But do you honestly think the life of a corporate salaryman in this country is any happier?"

"..."

Yuki's breath hitched. She couldn't deny it. The life of an average Japanese salaryman was little more than a living death—waking up in the dark, slaving away in a cubicle until midnight, and repeating the cycle until their bodies gave out. Did normal sorcerers have any other skills? What could a Grade 2 sorcerer offer the mundane world besides unskilled manual labor? Working anywhere was miserable. For a sorcerer, fighting curses was a monopoly on a highly lucrative, supernatural market. It was far less shitty than grinding away at a desk for pennies.

"Just what are you getting at?" Yuki asked, her voice dropping to a whisper, the alcohol buzz completely evaporating from her system.

"From my perspective, the ones benefiting the most from your grand plan wouldn't be the sorcerers. Why would we want to permanently erase our only monopoly and source of extreme wealth?"

"...Then who benefits the most?"

"The humans."

"Eh?"

Suzuki met her naive, wide-eyed stare without an ounce of sympathy, delivering the brutal truth without caring how much it shattered her ideals.

"Think about it, Yuki. If there are no cursed spirits left in the world, ordinary humans no longer have to live in fear of the dark. The monsters are gone. But that also means we, the jujutsu sorcerers, lose our entire purpose. We are no longer their protectors."

He leaned in closer, his dark eyes piercing right through her. "So, when humans no longer need us to fight the monsters... what do you think they are going to do to a minority group of people who possess terrifying, world-ending supernatural powers? Do you really think humanity will just let us live in peace?"

"..."

At that moment, the cool night breeze sweeping over Yuki's bare skin suddenly felt freezing. For the first time in her life, she had absolutely nothing to say.