This Noir World

The world is a noir story, and you were going to let me go if this one job succeeded? Don't make me laugh, you bastard. That's the classic gaslighting tactic every kidnapper uses.

“Unfortunately, it looks like punishment will be necessary. See you later, Leni.”

I wanted to see what kind of face Leni would make. But right now, I needed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to focus on the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠man in front of me. I couldn't afford to look.

I calmly analyzed the man. He was a little shorter than me, around five foot seven. His arms weren't particularly long and he didn't look very muscular, so he probably wasn't much good in a fistfight.

Just as the numbers suggested, his combat power was pitiful compared to my 420. But you can't judge a fight by combat power alone. Even though Eris only had a combat power of 2, if I got hit by one of her bullets, I'd die just the same.

Very few people can survive being shot. Even the weakest monsters die when they're shot. After all, guns are the pinnacle of technology created by Carpediem. If someone can't be killed by a gun, that's when you enter the realm of superhumans. So I had to be careful. I absolutely could not give him a chance to fire.

I had to disarm him somehow, prevent him from shooting, and take it to hand-to-hand combat. Once it became a fistfight, the victory would be mine.

“You're pretty unlucky too, huh? It would've been so much better if you'd just gotten seduced. For a little cash, you could've slept with the famous Leni Siss. You wouldn't have had to die either.”

“Die? Me? Why would I die?”

“Why? Because I'm going to kill you, that's why. If someone gets in the way, you remove them. That's the rule in this world.”

He was wearing a short-sleeved floral shirt. The kind of tacky thing gangsters loved to wear. The Murim Alliance would rather die than give up their uniforms even in this heat, so he wasn't one of them. He wasn't wearing a Carpediem snake badge or an Esper Hunter S-shaped earring either. Yet here he was, talking about “this world” like he owned the place.

“Some bastard who doesn't even know what this world really is, running his mouth like he's hot shit.”

“That's an interesting way to talk. Are you relying on your size? Do you even know how many guys your size I've killed?”

“And how many guys who talked shit about my size ended up dead before they knew what hit them?”

This punk who couldn't do anything without a gun was really talking big. I calmly gathered my chegi and concentrated it in my hand. The veins bulged like they were about to burst, and because this wasn't Mohanya's space, it hurt like hell.

What the fuck? This technique was insanely painful. But I had to endure it. Part of me wanted to throw a knife straight into his throat right now, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠since it wasn't guaranteed to be an instant kill, I had to hold back. If I screwed up because I couldn't handle the pain, my head would end up full of holes.

I was doing all this to resurrect Fantasia. If I died here, it would all be meaningless. So I had to survive. I would kill this bastard and obtain the dryad's branch. That was the only thing I had to do.

What kind of name is Seung-chang? Fucking ridiculous. I almost lost focus from how stupid it sounded, but I couldn't let that happen.

The moment Seung-chang pulled his gun completely free, I threw my cleaver at his forearm.

Shhhhrack!

The cleaver tore through the air. “Aaaargh!”

There was no way it would miss. It pierced straight through Seung-chang's forearm. He screamed and dropped the gun.

Now.

My hand felt like it was going to explode from using chegi, but I endured the pain and charged. Circulating ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chegi throughout my entire body let me move much faster than usual. I wondered what my combat power was now that I'd strengthened my whole body with chegi, but I didn't have time to check. I was going to end Seung-chang with one blow.

Crack!

I crushed the dropped gun under my foot, shifted my weight forward, and threw a straight punch. My right fist connected perfectly with his philtrum. There was a sickening crunch as teeth shattered, and Seung-chang flew backward.

Thud!

He slammed the back of his head against the asphalt. There was no way he could survive that. I'd also destroyed his gun, so he had nothing left. He was obviously dead, but I looked down at Seung-chang with contempt and said,

“If you wanted to work in this world, you should've been stronger. Go regret it in hell.”

Honestly, it pissed me off. Even a pathetic weakling like this was a source of terror to someone. And it was Carpediem who gave these pathetic bastards absolute power in the form of guns.

Thanks to Carpediem, this world could enjoy cutting-edge technology, but because of Carpediem, so many people shed tears of blood. How many small organizations had sprung up because of the guns Carpediem produced? How many innocent citizens had their spines ripped out?

Until now, I'd thought of this world as nothing more than a work of fiction and its people as mere creations, so I hadn't felt much. But now that it was starting to feel like a real world, I couldn't forgive these things anymore.

But what could I do even if I couldn't forgive them? I had no power right now. And even if I did, if I suddenly tore everything down, I wouldn't be able to avoid criticism. Maybe that was why the God of War, who had destroyed Fantasia, had chosen to disappear on her own.

I couldn't do that. I didn't want Yu Jin-ri, Siz, or Eris to experience the same sorrow that the Murim Alliance felt as they waited for the God of War's return. So I would tear it down properly, from a reasonable position.

That was why I'd risked danger to save Leni, even though there wasn't much to gain. At first I'd thought it might be a scam and refused to believe it, but now I knew it wasn't. I wasn't cold enough to turn my back on someone truly weak.

“Leni Siss, it's all over now. Live in peace from now on.”

“Ah…”

Only then did I turn around. Leni Siss was blinking blankly, as if she couldn't believe she was finally free.

“What if this is a dream?”

She pinched her own cheek and even slapped her face with both hands, as if testing whether it was real. What kind of nonsense was that? I'd risked my life fighting for her, and here she was casually talking about dreams.

“I-is this really reality? Am I really free now?”

“Yeah. I'm basically a thug myself, so killing one loan shark isn't going to cause any problems.”

I might be in the position of carrying around IOUs and beating people up, but I had no intention of tormenting someone who truly had no money like Leni. That was why I'd offered Geum Tae-yang an installment plan too.

“Ah… aah… So I can really run without worrying now? I've been so scared of running lately. The act of running itself felt so painful…”

Leni had once said that running was her entire life. But ever since she'd been caught by Seung-chang, she'd only been able to run when doing bad things. How painful that must have been. I didn't have anything that symbolized my own life, but I could understand the feeling well enough.

“Yeah. From now on, run as much as you want. Do whatever you want.”

“Thank you… thank you so much…”

But at that moment—

Bang!

“Ah…?”

A gunshot rang out. The face of Leni, who had been rejoicing beside me, turned deathly pale.

Stay calm.

I barely held back the urge to let my mind go completely white and assessed the situation. Leni's waist was bleeding from where the bullet had struck her. Who had fired? I looked around hurriedly and saw Seung-chang holding a gun. So the bastard had two guns.

“F-fuck… I'm not… dying alone…”

Then Seung-chang dropped the gun. Once again, Mohanya's words echoed in my head. There was no guarantee that a pierced throat would result in instant death. Until now, everyone I'd punched had died, so I'd assumed it would be the same this time. I never imagined the bastard would fire one more shot because he didn't want to die alone. And I certainly never imagined that bullet would hit Leni.

“Leni! Snap out of it, Leni!”

The sudden shock of being shot seemed too much for her. She was in shock and couldn't breathe properly. Thinking she would die if I left her like this, I quickly picked her up and rushed her to the hospital.

The moment the hospital staff saw Leni, they declared her an emergency patient, laid her on a bed, and took her straight into the operating room.

“Haa…”

I collapsed weakly to the floor. Beside me lay the dryad's branch. A dryad that seduces people, draws them in, and devours them. How many people had this branch consumed? How many had it made shed tears of blood?

Thinking about it gave me chills. The impulse to burn it to ash overwhelmed me. But Fantasia could only be resurrected if I had this. Even though it was such a piece of trash, the fact that I couldn't burn it made me feel utterly pathetic.

“What a fucking idiot.”

Had I become too arrogant after beating up a few weaklings? The person I'd just saved had been shot, and it was hard to keep my sanity. I'd killed so many people with my own hands, but the thought of someone I was trying to protect dying was unbearable.

Maybe it was because I'd succeeded in saving Yu Jin-ri just last night. The sense of disparity made my head spin.

“The surgery was completed successfully. The patient's life is not in immediate danger.”

After some time passed, the doctor who came out of the operating room explained the situation to me. It was a relief that Leni hadn't died. But—

“The problem is that we could not save her lower body. The bullet damaged her nerves, so the patient will never be able to use her legs again.”

Leni might as well have died. Because for her, running was what made her feel truly alive.

“…Leni.”

Time passed. When Leni finally regained consciousness and was lying in bed, I quietly called her name. She gave me a weak smile and said,

“You're not calling me ‘Ray Siss’ anymore?”

“I'm sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“I should have finished that bastard off more thoroughly… Because I let my guard down, you…”

“Hey, what is there to be sorry about? Don't apologize.”

Leni waved her hand as if to say it was fine.

“In the first place, it's better that I can't use these legs anymore. How many men do you think I hurt by running? When I think about that, it's better that I can't run at all.”

She definitely didn't mean it. Her sad smile proved that those words were a lie. But to her, who was lying for my sake and saying she was okay, I had nothing to say.

“Without you, I would have been as good as dead. So please don't feel bad, kind sir. I believe that someone like you can use this devilish branch for something good.”

Kind? Me?

“If I were really kind, I wouldn't have teased you by calling you Ray Siss.”

“Haha, that has nothing to do with it.”

…But I'd like to be alone now. Could you leave?

Her face was twisted with grief. It would be rude to stay any longer, and there was nothing I could do even if I did. I opened the door and left.

I was an idiot. A pathetic idiot who couldn't protect even one person. The only thing I could do was beat people up. I didn't have the ability to give hope and salvation to someone who had lost their entire life.

If that was the case, I should have at least made sure to thoroughly beat up the bad guys. Because I couldn't do that, one person's life had been completely destroyed.

So suddenly, I was afraid. What if the person who had let their guard down and gotten shot today hadn't been Leni, whom I'd just met, but Yu Jin-ri, Siz, or Eris?

“Ugh!”

My stomach churned and I almost threw up. It hurt. It was hard to breathe. I knew I shouldn't imagine it, but I kept picturing the organization members getting shot. I felt so pathetic I couldn't stand it.

“Haa… haa…”

A guy as big as a mountain getting shortness of breath. How pathetic. I sat down on the floor with a self-mocking smile.

A contradictory feeling washed over me—unreal yet intensely real at the same time.

At that moment, a message arrived from Carrot Market. Had Leni sent me something? I barely calmed my breathing and checked the contents.

After failing to protect even one person, they wanted me to go hunt monsters myself? What nonsense. There was no way someone like me could pull that off. I was about to refuse when someone approached and offered me a cigarette.

I turned off my phone and looked up. It was Eris.

“Want one?”

Eris had a freshly lit cigar in her mouth and was smiling. It wasn't her usual smile. This one was serious and heavy.