Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The Price of Loyalty Was a Drum Barrel
Today it rained.
Inside my heart as well.
Blood seeped into my eyes.
I wiped it away with the back of my hand, and my vision returned.
From blur to clarity, I raised my blade.
“Why did you do this to me?”
Say it was a mistake. Even now.
“Talk.”
The man standing behind the group didn’t move.
Choi Do-hoon.
Not a single wrinkle in his suit.
His eyes as he looked at me were far too calm.
As if I was nothing more than an annoying task to handle.
That was what pissed me off the most.
How could he look at me like that?
Choi Do-hoon clicked his tongue.
“You became useless. Do I need another reason?”
A dry laugh escaped me.
“Ten years.”
I tightened my grip on the blade.
“Ten years of working like a dog for you… and I became useless enough to throw away like this? Do you even hear yourself?”
Choi Do-hoon looked at me.
“Just create a justification.”
My mind went blank.
“What the hell did I do wrong? Is loyalty a crime now?”
My voice cracked.
“So what, you only feel satisfied if you kill everyone with your own hands?”
Choi Do-hoon raised a hand.
“Try surviving first. I’ll listen to your last words then.”
He spoke to the group.
“Dispose of him.”
Six of them rushed in.
So it ends like this.
My body moved before thought.
Ten years of working like a dog for the organization had carved itself into my muscles.
First.
The fastest one coming straight at me.
Too wide a swing.
Amateur.
I twisted my wrist and deflected the blade off its path. The momentum carried through and I slit his carotid artery.
The sound of severing flesh rang out, and the second was already closing in.
I shoved the first body into him like a shield.
As they stumbled, I drove my blade into the abdominal artery below the rib line.
I twisted.
I could feel the organs give.
Two down.
The third and fourth came in from both sides at once.
Amateurs were being used as meat shields, and the real fighters would come after.
They were following the exact doctrine I had once taught.
If you only watch one, you die to the others.
I knew how to break it.
I stepped into the center.
In the blind spot where neither could strike cleanly, I grabbed the third man’s elbow, turned my body, and slammed him into the fourth.
As they tangled, the fifth rushed in and thrust his blade.
It skimmed past my face, and I answered by cutting into his neck artery.
Four.
Ignoring the cuts on my body, I sprinted forward, leapt, and kicked the sixth man.
My breath was already short.
The third and fourth were behind me.
I sensed the blade coming and pretended to turn, then shifted the opposite direction.
As expected, the strike cut only air.
Silence fell for a moment.
The smell of blood from more than ten corpses filled the underground parking lot.
I couldn’t even tell which blood was mine anymore.
Probably all mixed together.
Choi Do-hoon stood still, watching the scene.
As if the bodies scattered at his feet were no longer even his men.
Had he always been this cold?
Slowly, he clapped.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The sound echoed through the parking structure.
“Impressive. The cost of feeding you for ten years wasn’t wasted.”
I spat blood onto the floor.
My right hand trembled on the blade.
Whether from muscle fatigue or boiling rage, I was already at my limit.
I took a step forward.
My shoe splashed through pooled blood.
“Your turn now.”
At my words, Choi Do-hoon chuckled.
“You really think I’d handle you myself? You’re still naive.”
New sounds filled the silence.
Step. Step. Step.
Not chaotic like before.
Even, heavy, disciplined footsteps.
Ten shadows emerged from the darkness.
They stepped over the bodies without hesitation and surrounded me.
Choi Do-hoon smiled faintly.
“This is your ace treatment. Be grateful. Dying immediately is boring, isn’t it? It’s more entertaining to struggle, cling to hope, and then fall into despair. That makes a better ending.”
My legs shook as I barely held myself up.
My lungs felt like they were burning.
“You’re draining my stamina… you sick bastard. You call this treatment?”
He laughed loudly.
The sound bounced off the concrete walls.
“Hey, Sword Saint. Did you really think you’d break through everyone and survive? That you’d get revenge and America would tremble in fear?”
He tilted his head.
“So naive. I can’t believe someone like you was my subordinate. You really did become useless.”
“Shut up… What the hell are you talking about? These guys aimed for my vital points perfectly.”
He smiled.
“So? Are you dead yet?”
“…!”
I had no answer.
If they truly wanted me dead, they would have sent the real ones from the start.
There was no need to use amateurs as shields just to drain my stamina and make me kill them.
They knew I wouldn’t die to this level.
They just needed to push me to my limit.
To break my body little by little.
Choi Do-hoon turned to the lead man.
“Put him in a drum barrel. Pour concrete over it. Let him die slowly and painfully. Keep him alive for now.”
At his words, the professionals closed in.
I tightened my grip on the blade again.
Choi Do-hoon turned away and disappeared into the darkness.
And I was left to face the longest night of my life.
Splash. Splash.
Irregular waves echoed in my ears.
The salty wind hit my nose.
When I opened my eyes, everything was dark.
My body wouldn’t move properly.
A narrow cylindrical space.
A drum barrel.
My body was tightly bound with rope, and thick tape sealed my mouth.
I twisted my muscles, trying to break free, but the ropes only tightened as pain surged through me.
Then light poured in from above.
The lid of the barrel opened.
A familiar silhouette appeared.
Choi Do-hoon.
He casually brushed off cigarette ash, looking down at me like I was some spectacle.
“You pathetic bastard. You really shouldn’t have touched another man’s woman.”
“…What are you talking about?”
I didn’t answer properly, only stared in confusion.
He ripped the tape off my mouth.
Riiip.
“Gah—! What the hell are you talking about! Another man’s woman? What do you mean!”
I gasped for air, shouting.
Choi Do-hoon turned and gestured into the darkness.
“Come here, Flower.”
Flower?
That was the nickname I used only for my girlfriend.
My heart tightened.
From the darkness, a woman stepped forward.
“…Flower? Why are you here?”
It was her.
But her eyes held no fear. No sadness.
Choi Do-hoon casually placed a hand on her shoulder and smirked at me.
“I told you. Don’t touch another man’s woman.”
“What the hell….”
My mind went completely blank.
Ten years.
Ten years of working like a dog for the organization.
And this woman, whom I had briefly met like fate during that time.
Was this really the same woman I had known?
My mind snapped.
So she was taken hostage because of me.
“Hah… So I die after watching some trash drama like this? You bastard, Choi Do-hoon! She did nothing wrong!”
At my scream, he laughed.
I turned to her.
Her lips moved slightly.
Maybe she was about to say she was sorry.
Or cry about how tragic this was.
I shouted at Choi Do-hoon.
“You bastard, I swear your mo—”
Spit.
She spat directly into my face.
Hot, sticky saliva ran down my cheek.
Huh?
“Flower? What flower, you idiot? I don’t want to hear that outdated cringe nickname till the end.”