At Least I Left Something Behind
At least I'd left something behind. ……………
The night refused to end. I'd long since lost all sense of time. The chill seeping up from the cold concrete floor of the abandoned factory clawed into every inch of my body. Tied to a metal chair, I had no idea how many hours had passed. The cable ties had either dug so deep into my wrists that I'd lost sensation, or it had just been too damn long. My left eye was swollen shut. Every breath sent sharp agony lancing through my ribs. My mouth was thick with the taste of blood. A shard of broken tooth snagged on the tip of my tongue.
They'd seared my arms and legs with cigarette butts, yanked out my fingernails with pliers, carved chunks of flesh from my body with a knife. The only mercy was that they hadn't sliced off my limbs, eyes, nose, tongue, or dick. After hours of torture, I'd stopped reacting altogether. That's when the Los Hermanos bastards got bored—they shuffled off to drink or sleep. Now, only one guard remained.
"Come morning, we'll string you up on a lamppost, chino," he said from his chair, feet propped on the desk. "Your chest'll have 'rat' carved into it. Something to look forward to."
"……."
Better than nothing. At least I wouldn't endure more torture—I could die quick.
Finishing his gloat, the guard closed his eyes again. Soon, snores rumbled out.
In the end, this is how it finishes.
Accepting death hadn't taken long. The moment Catalina and I parted, this outcome was sealed. She hadn't been wrong. In Santa Esperanza, this shithole garbage heap, an outsider couldn't last a day. Third failure. Han Minseo, Yeoreum, Ma Hyuksu—all wiped out. None passed the goddesses' trials, none dreamed of normal love.
Then—
BOOM!!
A deafening explosion shredded the air. The factory's steel door crumpled inward and flew off its hinges. The guard tumbled from his chair.
"¡Qué mierda—!?"
His head exploded before he finished. Rat-tat-tat-tat!! Bang!! Bang!! The factory turned into a warzone in seconds. Assault rifles chattered, grenades erupted, screams and curses tangled in the chaos.
"¡Ataque! ¡Es La Luna Negra!"
Assault! It's La Luna Negra!
The all-out war's begun.
La Luna Negra's revenge. Payback for their raid on Los Hermanos' warehouse earlier.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!! Bullets whistled over my head. The ones that missed my life thudded into the concrete wall, spitting fragments. I had to move. But my wrists were still bound to the metal chair, ankles too. I twisted, but the cable ties didn't budge.
The battle intensified. Los Hermanos fought desperately, but La Luna Negra attacked with ruthless, premeditated savagery.
Then a familiar voice cut through.
"Ma Hyuksu! Where are you!"
A hallucination? No.
"Ma Hyuksu! Chino—!!"
Catalina. Desperately searching for me.
"He……here!"
I mustered my remaining strength and yelled. My throat felt torn, but I kept shouting.
"Catalina! I'm here!! Inside the warehouse!"
Footsteps approached through the gunfire. Then she appeared—tank top stained with blood, pistol in hand, face freezing as she took in my state.
Wordless, she drew a knife and sliced the cable ties. Pain surged as blood returned to my wrists.
"Can you walk?"
She cut my ankles free, but my legs buckled. No strength left—I collapsed. Catalina hauled me up by the arm.
"Catalina……you were right."
I forced the words out.
"Couldn't last a day without you."
She didn't reply. Instead, she slung my arm over her shoulder.
"Let's get out first."
She half-carried me along. Each step screamed through my body, but stopping wasn't an option. Bullets zipped through the factory. A scream cut short somewhere. Gunpowder and blood choked the air.
We slipped out the back door. Dawn's gloom hung outside—the darkest hour before sunrise.
……………
Leaning on Catalina's shoulder, I staggered on. Every step felt like protest from my entire body. But halting meant never moving again. We barely escaped the narrow alley behind the factory, strewn with trash cans and shattered bottles.
Footsteps echoed.
"Hurry! Through the back door!"
"La Luna Negra! You fucking dogs!"
Spanish bellows, then five or six Los Hermanos thugs rounded the corner, charging. Latecomers joining the fight. They spotted us.
"What!?"
"Fuck! It's La Luna Negra!"
Catalina reacted instantly. One arm holding me, the other drew her pistol. Supporting my weight slowed her slightly.
Bang! Bang! Two dropped.
Three or four left. She shoved me toward the wall and pivoted. In that split second—less than one.
Bang-bang-bang! Their shots and hers rang out together.
Then.
Something hot burst in my gut.
Ah.
Like a red-hot rod piercing my abdomen. Breath caught. I clutched my stomach. Hot, sticky fluid oozed between my fingers.
Catalina dropped the rest. Incredible skill. But just a hair too late.
My knees buckled. I grabbed for the wall—too weak. I slid to the ground.
"Hyuksu!"
She spun back. Her face drained of color at my wound.
"No, no, no."
She froze, helpless. I'd be the same in her shoes. Assault rifle round shredded my gut. Through-and-through abdominal wound. Here, in this hellhole without real medical care—what treatment could there be?
This time too, in the end……
The third death approached.
"Hospital……we need a hospital. Get up!"
She tried lifting me, but my legs wouldn't hold.
I barely raised my head to meet her eyes.
"Impossible."
"What are you saying! Get up!"
"Cata……help me over there, sit me down."
I pointed across the street to the wall. At least I didn't want to die sprawled in the gutter.
Choking back sobs, she supported me to the wall, propping me up. Blood poured with every breath. My shirt was soaked solid red. Vision blurred. Time was short.
"Phone……my phone."
"Why? Call an ambulance? Here—"
"My phone……they didn't take it. Never gave up the passcode. In my pocket."
Her trembling hands dug into my pocket. Out came the cracked-screen phone.
"Passcode……ma1996. Open the notes app."
She did—a long string of letters and numbers.
"What's this?"
"Bitcoin wallet private key. Right after we split……converted all my cash to coin, moved it. For cashing out."
She stared, phone in hand, face saying she couldn't grasp why now.
"Convert to dollars……at least thirty grand."
I coughed. Iron taste flooded my mouth.
"Use it to leave this city. Get out of Santa Esperanza……live somewhere else."
"What? We'll go together. You too—"
"Cata."
No time for arguments. Ma Hyuksu's life had minutes left. I knew it instinctively.
"What you did……selling info to those thugs."
Her body jerked.
"I was pissed then……but it's fine. You saved my life, right? From the start till now. So……we're even."
Breathing in grew harder. Lungs felt waterlogged, suffocating.
"Don't feel sorry or grateful……just live normal. No guns, no killing."
She gripped my hand. Warmth spread.
"Cata, I want you happy. Not dying in the street from a bullet……."
Words came too hard. Eyelids too heavy.
"Please go. Escape this place."
My last words as Ma Hyuksu. No strength to open my mouth again.
"—!!"
Far off, Catalina's cries—don't die, my name? But it all felt distant now.
Live well.
Truth was, a bit of regret lingered. If luck had favored me just a little, maybe Catalina and I could've been happy. But I'd done all I could. At least Ma Hyuksu died leaving something human behind.
Now, all I could do was pray for Catalina's happiness.
Consciousness sank into darkness. Her sobs faded.
The third life ended.