Chapter 2
Chapter 2
A Whale Looks Like a Sardine in the Ocean
That’s what the sea does when you swim in it.
Choi Do-hoon exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke and tapped the ash left on the cigarette straight into the drum barrel.
“Looks like you two have things to talk about. Go on then. You know my personality. I hate making people wait. I’ve given you ace-level treatment, so say your goodbyes properly.”
He tapped her lightly on the waist and walked off into the darkness.
I looked at her.
Normally in situations like this, people deny reality and start whining things like “How could you do this to me?” or “Were you being threatened?”
I didn’t want to do that pathetic shit.
Sure, I fell for a woman, but with that face and body, it wasn’t exactly unreasonable.
What annoyed me was that her eyes didn’t waver at all.
She kept glancing sideways a few times, as if checking whether he was really gone. Then she pulled out neatly folded tissue from her pocket.
Her hand was as gentle as always as she wiped the spit off my cheek.
“Oppa… I’m sorry. I really had no choice. What power do I have against Choi Do-hoon? You understand my feelings best, right?”
Her whisper was soft, almost affectionate.
Completely out of place for someone who had just pushed me into hell.
I stared at her face.
Worried eyes, trembling lips.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“Ha…”
“Oppa, are you okay? Does it hurt? Let’s get you out of here.”
She looked like she genuinely cared as she tried to loosen the ropes binding me.
Watching that pitiful expression made something hot surge up from deep inside my throat.
I gathered the blood and saliva in my mouth and spat it right onto her face as she leaned in.
“Ptooey!”
“…!”
Her head snapped to the side. Her tearful face was now smeared with red spit.
She froze in disbelief.
She probably never imagined I’d return the humiliation she just cleaned up.
Seeing her beautiful face twist from confusion into shock, I smiled.
“So you weren’t a flower. You were a snake.”
“…Oppa, what’s wrong with you?”
“Ptooey!”
I spat again, like a camel in the desert.
Another direct hit.
Her expression warped violently, but she was still within range.
“Ptooey!”
Third hit.
Not bad. Ace-level accuracy confirmed.
She stepped back in disgust and wiped her face harshly with tissue.
Then she puckered her lips.
“Ptooey!”
And continued speaking.
“You little trash bastard, flower snake? Don’t misunderstand. Flower snakes are the ones who cling to men for money. I was assigned to clean up after a butcher like you. For the past year.”
“Assigned? So your job under Choi Do-hoon included crawling into my bed? What are you now, his office work?”
“Shut up. We took in a pathetic orphan like you and—ptooey.”
I spat three times, she spat three times.
Fair trade, I guess.
I swallowed the taste of blood and frowned like I didn’t understand.
“Flower… no, what was it? Flower snake? Or was it Suji?”
I deliberately fumbled the name.
Her eyes filled with disgust.
“Su-jeong, you idiot.”
“Oh right. Su-jeong.”
I nodded slowly, twisting my lips.
“So you changed your name from Suji to Su-jeong, huh?”
“Ptooey!”
Another spit flew instantly.
Damn.
I was losing the spit war.
I lowered my gaze and slowly looked over her body.
Her slim waist, her lower abdomen.
“You look a bit bloated. Did you get pregnant with Choi Do-hoon’s kid or something?”
“Ptooey! Ptooey!”
She went wild, spitting repeatedly.
Her pretty face now twisted with murderous rage.
“You really talk big for someone about to die. Don’t even dream of a clean death. You’ll suffer slowly.”
She grabbed my hair and growled.
Fury trembled in her fingers.
Finally, her real face was showing.
A poisonous snake without its disguise.
But she still hadn’t learned.
This was exactly my range.
“Ptooey!”
She leaned back again.
“Damn pervert bastard.”
I couldn’t hold back my laughter.
My face was covered in spit, but I didn’t care.
Her trembling expression was far more entertaining.
I stared at her ponytail.
“You still wear your hair like that? I used to grab it and pull it in bed. You must’ve liked it. Still thinking about it?”
“Ptooey!”
This time it hit my nose perfectly.
She wiped her mouth in disgust and smirked.
“Small-dick bastard talking big. I felt nothing, idiot. Do you know how hard it was acting like I was moaning for a year so you wouldn’t notice?”
She formed a pinching gesture with her fingers in front of my face.
“So tiny I couldn’t even feel it. And this is the ‘ace’? How pathetic can you be?”
Insults and gestures.
I just tilted my head calmly.
“Oh, Su-jeong. You think so? You’re misunderstanding something.”
“What nonsense now?”
“If it looked small to you, that’s not my problem. It just means the container was too big.”
She frowned, ready to spit again.
“What bullshit are you saying?”
“Let me explain. A whale looks small when it swims in an endless ocean.”
She paused, then her expression sharpened as she understood.
“…!”
“Your space was just too vast. Even a whale would look like a sardine in an ocean that big. Don’t blame me. Blame your massive territory.”
“Shut up, you perverted freak!”
Her face twisted in humiliation and rage.
I laughed again.
Footsteps echoed.
Choi Do-hoon returned, smiling as if he was enjoying a show.
“Hey, Sword Saint. You’re alive right now thanks to Su-jeong’s request, so you should be nicer.”
He put his arm around her shoulder.
“She’s your ex, right? She even begged me not to kill you right away. You really don’t have any sentimentality, do you?”
I looked up at him.
“Sentimentality? I learned that from your mother. Feeling offended?”
His smile twitched for a moment.
He stared at me blankly, then clicked his tongue.
“Enough. Su-jeong, let’s go. No point wasting time with a guy who only knows how to run his mouth.”
He turned and signaled.
“Finish him.”
“Yes, sir!”
Men hiding in the dark appeared, carrying bags of cement.
Thuds echoed as they dropped them.
Hoses started running water.
Splash. Splash.
The sound of waves became louder, more violent.
The salty sea air mixed with cement dust.
A funeral fit for an ace who had lived on the edge for ten years.
Fear crawled up from my feet.
I looked up at the sky and started praying like a madman.
“Oh God! Please, you useless bastard God! You know I’ve never believed in you, but just this once, just this once listen to me!”
I screamed.
“If you let me stab even one of these bastards myself, I’ll dedicate my life to you! All saints, whoever the hell you are, give me revenge! Please!”
“Shut him up. Break his head with a shovel.”
One of them came closer with a shovel.
Just as my prayer was about to be buried in mockery—
BOOOOM!
A deep vibration shook the ground.
The waves that had been loud turned into something monstrous.
A massive wave slammed directly into the ship.
“What the—?!”
CRASH!
The vessel tilted violently.
Cement bags and barrels slid across the deck.
“Argh!”
Choi Do-hoon lost his balance and fell.
The men stumbled and crashed into the cement mix.
The ship tilted further, almost flipping.
In the chaos, something caught my eye.
A blade.
Dropped during the chaos.
The ropes around my body had loosened.
Maybe Su-jeong trying to untie them earlier had actually helped me.
Was this God answering me?
Or just unbelievably good luck?
“I don’t care!”
I twisted my body toward the blade and threw myself forward.