The Approaching Threat
The office of Money Monster was thick with cigarette smoke. The ashtray overflowed with countless stubs piled into a small mountain. Geumnara the psycho. He was currently suffering a massive headache thanks to orders from Choon-sik, the man he followed.
“Haa… Fuck. Because of my pride, I can’t even buy information from those beggar bastards.”
Although Geumnara led a fourth-rate syndicate that Carpediem didn’t even acknowledge, it was precisely because of that fact that he had been desperately clawing his way toward official recognition.
“Still, I managed to gather the information somehow. There are no holes in the plan.”
Geumnara stubbed out the cigarette clenched between his lips into the ashtray, then immediately lit a fresh one. Through the thick haze of smoke, what he stared at was a map and photographs of Fantasia organization members.
“The loan sharks under me didn’t do anything wrong. If I were in their position, I would’ve done the same.”
Money Monster had many loan sharks operating beneath it. Those loan sharks were currently avoiding openly claiming affiliation with Carpediem to protect themselves, but once Geumnara was promoted to Psychor, they were scheduled to become official family members.
That was why the subordinate loan sharks funneled a portion of their earnings to Money Monster, and Money Monster gathered that money to offer up to Choon-sik. Because Choon-sik had promised that once he became Psychorman, he would recognize Geumnara as a Psychor.
In exchange, Geumnara never offered up his own personal funds. After becoming a Psychor, he would need his own money to operate.
‘If I can just get recognized as a Psychor… from then on, my life will be smooth sailing.’
Geumnara had ambition. In Carpediem, where even those without special abilities could become gangsters, he harbored the ambition to seize a high position.
‘Even if they won’t acknowledge me, I still declared myself Carpediem. I can’t lose to some ruined organization.’
That was why he had the pride of Carpediem. He refused to buy information from the beggar bastards of the Beggars’ Sect. He ran around himself to gather it.
‘And when I did, the solution became obvious.’
The subordinate loan sharks had all lent massive sums to Fantasia. That meant Fantasia would come to collect from the loan sharks, and the loan sharks, unwilling to hand over the money, would fight. And then the loan sharks would die.
They all relied solely on guns, but it seemed Fantasia’s Fighting Dog knew how to deal with firearms.
‘Not fighting would be the best option, but if we return all the money, Fantasia will grow too powerful.’
Fantasia had once been the strongest syndicate. Even if Geumnara was just a low-ranking member, the thought of that organization reviving made his skin crawl. It was correct not to return the money.
‘And it’s right to kill them before they grow any larger.’
Right now, Fantasia had no combat-capable personnel besides the Fighting Dog. The boss Eris, the secretary Siz, the researcher Yu Jin-ri. All of them lacked combat ability and were frail women.
‘Especially if the boss dies, what meaning would Fantasia even have? Guns are expensive, but if we invest and send in about ten people to take hostages, the game is over.’
Considering the available funds, they could purchase around ten guns. Buying more would be awkward.
‘Besides, if we’re going to pull a hostage situation, sending more people would kill our swagger. In this world, swagger is life. Honestly, even ten is already pushing it if we want to preserve our image.’
To deal with the Fighting Dog, ten people was about right. After all, the Fighting Dog was strong enough to single-handedly annihilate the Banana Men.
‘So, while preserving as much swagger as possible, if we kill the Fighting Dog as well—’
Geumnara was, as mentioned before, a man with great ambition.
‘Eris, Siz, and Yu Jin-ri are all beautiful girls, so they all have value. We’ll definitely be able to make a lot of money.’
If they took them hostage, removing Fantasia would be simple. Geumnara imagined eliminating Fantasia and pondered what he would do with the three beautiful girls.
‘If I use those bitches as a foundation to earn and accumulate money, I’ll amass enough funds that mere loan sharks won’t even be worth looking at.’
Geumnara wrote down the plan. To rise to a high position in Carpediem, and to prove his worth by following Choon-sik’s orders. He wrote the optimal plan for survival and continued living.
When to launch a surprise attack on Fantasia, kill the Fighting Dog, and what to do with the three beautiful girls.
“Tomorrow night at eleven… We lure the Fighting Dog out to create an opening, then break into the house and take the hostages. We won’t give the Fighting Dog any chance to fight at all.”
Having completed his plan, Geumnara stubbed out the cigarette he was smoking into the ashtray, leaned his head back comfortably on the sofa, and let out a long sigh.
“…Guess I’ll get some sleep.”
He sent instructions to his subordinates via his phone and fell asleep.
The plan will be executed at 11 PM on Sunday night.
In order to maintain peak condition when carrying out the plan.
***
“You’re feeling uneasy? What’s making you uneasy?”
Yu Jin-ri asked while holding a dryad branch, her face flushed red. Her breathing was rough and her voice carried a nasal tone that was suspicious as hell. This perverted bitch—while someone else was worried sick, she was doing weird things with a dryad branch?
“Stop messing around and make the staff. It’s something the boss lady has to use, so if you use it for dirty stuff, I’ll kill you.”
“Dirty stuff? What do you mean by that?”
“Don’t play innocent, you pervert.”
Yu Jin-ri clicked her tongue in disappointment and placed the dryad branch on the table. On the table lay the skull of a goblin shaman and the dryad branch.
But if the dryad branch had an effect that drove people crazy like this, wouldn’t it be dangerous for Eris once it was made into a staff?
“Hey, is that thing really okay? If we make a staff out of it, won’t the boss lady start acting weird?”
“Mmm, you don’t have to worry about that. It seems the boss is so pure that she doesn’t get affected much?”
“Really?”
“Yes. Remember the day Hyun-woo gave the boss the branch? She wasn’t affected at all.”
“Meanwhile, Yu Jin-ri turned red in the face, grabbed the branch, and ran straight into the bathroom.”
“Kyaaak! Siz, how could you say that!”
Sorry, Eris. It looks like the branch is already dirty.
“B-but I washed it thoroughly, okay?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Ah…”
Yu Jin-ri awkwardly changed the subject.
“And if I process it well, I can make it so it has no effect at all. Though the staff size will become really small.”
“Is there a problem if the size gets smaller?”
“No? No problem at all. It just won’t look as cool.”
“Who cares about looking cool? Practicality is what matters.”
What if a pistol could output the firepower of a machine gun? If that were possible, a pistol with machine-gun level firepower would be better. It would be easier to carry and quicker to use in sudden situations.
“For practicality, wouldn’t a longer length be better? Pretend to be blind, tap around with the staff, then suddenly fire magic.”
“That would certainly be good for catching the enemy off guard, but no matter how I think about it, portability is poor. Just think about why nunchucks are difficult to handle yet still widely used.”
Nunchucks are difficult to use without mastery because swinging them wrong means hitting yourself. Yet many people choose them for self-defense because they’re easy to carry and offer decent efficiency.
“Even if you say that, I don’t understand at all? I’ve never studied normal weapons. I’ve never even seen nunchucks in real life.”
“Whatever. Just make it well.”
Whether she’d seen nunchucks or not didn’t matter. As long as she understood that smaller size was better—
“Me me me! I want a big staff! A super big staff! Like Gandalf!”
“Ignore what the boss lady says and get on with it.”
“Wae?! I want a big staff! It’d be so cool!”
“Ha… I really didn’t want to have to say this.”
In this case, the only option was to scare her with a frightening story.
“Boss lady, shall I tell you why the staff can’t be big?”
“What is it? If you can’t convince me, the staff has to be big no matter what!”
“Have you ever been to a music concert? Where the conductor waves a baton and the orchestra plays?”
“Of course.”
“Do you know why the conductor’s baton is short?”
“I don’t knyow?”
“Originally, the baton was incredibly long, just like you wanted. And instead of waving it in the air, the conductor would majestically stomp it against the floor while conducting.”
“Ooh! That sounds super cool! I want an even bigger staff now!”
“Then why do you think it was changed to be smaller? It would’ve been cooler that way.”
“I dunno? Why was it changed?”
“Because the conductor kept stomping his own foot with the baton. You’ve stubbed your toe on the desk before, right?”
At those words, Eris’s face turned pale.
“Ah, it hurts. Just imagining it hurts…”
Perfect. She took the bait.
“What happens if you stub your toe during an important fight?”
“U-um?”
“You stub your toe and it hurts, and then you die! How sad would I be?”
“Die from stubbing your toe? That’s already unfair, and you’d be sad too, Hyun-woo?”
“Yeah, I think I’d be really sad.”
“Then I’ll take the small staff! I don’t want to feel unfair and I don’t want you to be sad either.”
“Thank you, boss lady.”
“Hehe…”
When I patted her head and thanked her, Eris giggled happily. As expected, even though she was twenty, she was still basically a little kid.
“Great! Then please take off your coat, boss. I’ll reinforce it more and give it to you along with the staff.”
“Okay! I’m counting on you, Jin-ri!”
With that, Yu Jin-ri took Eris’s coat and the staff materials and entered the laboratory.
In that case, since I was feeling uneasy, I might as well go outside and stand guard.
“Siz, stay with the boss lady and sleep. I’ll keep watch outside in case any suspicious bastards show up.”
“Understood. I also found it suspicious that two cards named ‘Red-Eyed Mad Dog’ were discovered. I’ll leave it to you, Hyun-woo.”
The nickname earned after annihilating the Banana Men—Red-Eyed Mad Dog. Cards with that exact name had been discovered twice. They were supposed to be rare cards, yet they appeared everywhere we went. If it had only been at the semi-basement house, maybe, but finding them at both Geumtaeyang Textiles and Yu Jin-ri’s workshop was enough to make anyone uneasy. It was normal to become sensitive.
“Boss lady, have sweet dreams.”
“…You too, Hyun-woo. Don’t get hurt.”
For a moment, Eris’s expression turned serious. That just showed how much she was worrying. Just as I worried about Eris, perhaps Eris worried about me just as much.
“Why would I get hurt? I’m Fantasia’s greatest fantasy.”
I said that to reassure her as I left, but honestly, I was worried. Not about myself getting hurt, but about the other organization members getting hurt. I tried to endure by telling myself it was all fantasy or whatever, but the Leni Siss incident still remained a trauma deep in my heart. The reality that the organization members were weak and we had no combat personnel still hadn’t changed. The only thing that had changed was my combat power, which had skyrocketed in an instant. Even if I alone became strangely strong, it was meaningless.
“…It’s night but it’s still hot because it’s summer.”
When I glanced at my watch, it was already approaching eleven at night. It didn’t feel like I’d spent that much time at Geumtaeyang Textiles, but it seemed I’d used up quite a bit.
“But why do I feel so uneasy?”
Was it because my combat ability had increased? My intuition had become sharper. I had this feeling that something would happen at eleven, and it sent chills down my spine. I might need to prepare for battle in advance.
I moved my tense body and pulled the cleaver from my inner pocket. I had also finished mentally preparing to use Chegi.
In that tense state, I sensed a presence. As expected, my intuition wasn’t wrong.
I quickly turned my head toward where I felt the presence. I raised my Chegi, ready to respond at any moment—
“Nyaaang~”
—What the fuck is this.
“On Saaaturday night~♪ The daeng-daeng who left~! Mohanya came because she wants to spend a fiery Saturday night together-nyang!”