The Legal Team Leader's Past
Euclid, leader of the Gold Dragons, felt a headache coming on at the untimely news.
"Something is happening in the Forest of Demonic Beasts!"
"This just came in from the sentries! Seven dragons have broken out of the Forest of Demonic Beasts!"
No matter how hard Hermes had tried to lock down every scrap of information about Sunghyun, this crossed the line—and then some.
Just what on earth was going on inside that forest?
Euclid summoned his team leader at once.
At the urgent call, the team leader dropped everything and came running.
Could it be?
Could it be him? Have they found him?
His heart felt ready to burst from the sprint, but that hardly mattered.
Only a few days. That was how others might put it.
But not Nakamoto Satoshi, head of Sunghyun's legal team.
Nakamoto's mind drifted back to the past.
Once, he had been as far from the law as a man could get.
No—he had been a criminal who trampled over it.
Yakuza. That was what they called his kind. And he had been their boss.
A man who had lived his whole life on a diet of steel. That was the Nakamoto of old.
That he had become head of the legal team—Sunghyun's direct subordinate, no less—was entirely thanks to Sunghyun himself.
That day. Everything about me changed.
His first meeting with Sunghyun could not, even by the most generous stretch, be called a good one.
It was the day Nakamoto's group clashed with a rival yakuza outfit.
The man had simply appeared out of nowhere, sucking on a banana milk carton while he watched them fight.
The yakuza closed in on him with bare sashimi knives drawn.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing here?"
Even with the blades thrust toward him, the man did not so much as blink.
"What? Why the attitude? I'm just drinking banana milk."
Korean?
Figuring he was a tourist, Nakamoto stepped forward himself. The other yakuza were hot-tempered enough that they might actually put hands on the man.
"Listen. If you're a tourist, go on your way. I'll let it slide this once."
Nakamoto spoke in a savage tone, but underneath it was a genuine wish that this traveler would simply leave.
But—
"What'd you say?"
The man in front of him did not even pretend to listen.
Nakamoto thought, It's over. There was nothing more he could do.
So, as a final threat meant to scare the man into running, he drew the sword at his waist.
"I'll kill you. When you're dead, blame your own attitude."
Please just run.
But Nakamoto's hope was crushed.
Far from fleeing, the man casually tapped the blade with his straw.
"What? You don't actually look like you want to kill me. Weird guy. Are you even really a yakuza?"
Then, abruptly, he spoke into empty air.
"All right, officers—move in."
The moment the man spoke those few words of Japanese, a massive wave of police flooded the scene.
What?
They had already settled things with the police. The agreement had been clear: stay out of this turf war.
So how were they here?
"Looks like you don't get it."
Japanese, this time.
"It's simple. You people always say it, don't you? The fist is closer than the law."
I really hate that saying.
The first part had been Japanese, but the rest was Korean, so Nakamoto could not understand it.
What the hell did you do?
He wanted to ask—but the surging police forced him to fall back first.
"You! We'll meet again!"
Still, maybe this was for the better.
That was what Nakamoto told himself. No matter how things had turned out, the fist was closer than people thought. That man was going to have a hard time in Japan from now on.
He was wrong.
The law was closer than he had imagined. Nakamoto and every yakuza under him ended up in prison.
Everything happened in an instant.
But day after day, new yakuza kept pouring in.
It was strange.
Was this even possible?
It was something alien—something that should not happen, something that could not happen.
A yakuza purge?
That did not even appear in novels. It was too unrealistic.
And yet—if that was so—then what was the situation unfolding right before his eyes?
The Japanese government announced that, under pressure from the United States, it would sweep the yakuza from the entire nation.
What followed was even more spectacular. Conglomerates that normally stayed in the shadows began to move. Anyone connected was demoted or forced to resign.
All of Japan wondered the same thing. How could this be happening? What was going on?
Nakamoto, sitting in his cell, wondered the same.
When the prison filled with so many yakuza that it could take no more, fear settled over him.
No. It can't be. There's no way…
One face rose in his mind.
The man who had been drinking banana milk that day.
The rational part of him—the part that had once studied law—spoke clearly.
It was him.
But how?
Nakamoto needed to know. He needed to understand what had happened.
Just then, someone called his name.
"Hey, Nakamoto—you know any Koreans? Someone's here to visit you."
"A Korean? There's no one like—"
He had been about to say there was no one.
But there was.
The one person he most wanted to see right now.
But why would that man come? Their only encounter had been that single incident—and it had not been a pleasant memory for either of them. Least of all for the man himself.
As expected, the visitor waiting in the meeting room was that same man, still drinking banana milk just as before.
"Yo~ How's life treating you in here?"
The word how rose to Nakamoto's throat and sank back down.
I have no right to ask this man anything.
Sunghyun read the thought on his face.
"Oh? You're sharper than you look. Correct. You don't have the right. Some yakuza boss asking me questions? That doesn't fly. Unless, of course, you turn out to be useful to me."
Useful?
What did that mean?
"See, I believe people should always get a chance. I looked into you. Turns out you were pretty good at school. Top of the University of Tokyo's law department? Whew~ Why was talent like that wasting itself as a yakuza?"
He already knew. He knew exactly why Nakamoto had been forced into this life.
"You… already know, don't you…"
His fists clenched of their own accord. He wanted to drive one of them into that grinning face.
"Ah, please don't give me the whole 'my father made me do it' routine."
Bull's-eye.
Nakamoto shot up from his seat and threw a punch at Sunghyun's face.
But the fist stopped dead in Sunghyun's palm.
"Obvious."
Through the gaps between those fingers, Sunghyun's eyes had gone cold and still.
"I'll give you a chance. Walk away from all of this and start studying law again."
But—
"Yakuza loyalty? If you quit, not just you but everyone around you gets hurt? That doesn't matter anymore, does it?"
He was right.
Every last yakuza had already been cleaned up by the man sitting across from him.
And yet—
"That 'why me?' look on your face. Plenty of reasons. I've always hated guys who swagger around relying on nothing but their fists. And talent is always welcome. Mister Top of Tokyo U."
Just for that?
Nakamoto found himself curious about this man.
Life returned to his eyes.
Can I really do it again? Study…
Am I allowed to start over…?
A face surfaced in Nakamoto's mind.
Hajime.
His university friend. The tragic one who had been brutally murdered by the yakuza simply because Nakamoto had tried to choose a life of study.
Nakamoto wrestled with himself.
"Do I… still have the right to study again?"
"Who hands out that 'right' of yours? If you want to do it, you do it."
At those words, Nakamoto felt as though the filth coating him was being washed clean.
The man held out a business card.
Kim Sunghyun, CEO of SH Group.
"When you feel like studying, give me a call. All right—take care."
Nakamoto watched the man's back as he left.
In that moment, he knew.
Ah.
This is the one.
If it's this man, I can trust him.
That was when it began.
The moment Nakamoto changed.
The moment the iron-blooded team leader Satoshi Nakamoto began to take shape.
And that was why, to Legal Team Leader Nakamoto, Sunghyun's existence meant everything.
Huff. Huff.
Just open this door—
The knight with golden eyes who guarded the king's office opened it, and the king came into view. He still wore those golden eyes and golden hair, still wore that arrogant expression—but something about him looked rushed.
What is it? What happened?
The king spoke.
"Do you know what happens when Lord Sunghyun gets angry?"
Lord Sunghyun?
No. That was not the important part.
"Have you found him?"
"We found him some time ago."
Some time ago? Then why only now—!
Nakamoto was about to press him when Euclid raised a hand.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. The way we found him was… awkward to explain."
What had happened?
Nakamoto exhaled. He needed to cool his head first. Nothing got done with a boiling mind.
Hooo—
Once Nakamoto had recovered his composure, Euclid smiled.
"Good. Now you're ready to talk."
"What has happened to Lord Sunghyun?"
"Ah… something has happened, yes. Something rather troublesome…"
Euclid thought to himself that he would have preferred to reach Hermes by communication, but of course the line was down at the worst possible moment. He had no choice but to decide on his own.
The result:
"We need to head for the Forest of Death—the heart of the Forest of Demonic Beasts—immediately. Prepare yourself. Lord Sunghyun is there."
He had to go.
As fast as possible.
And he had to find out what had happened.
Seeing the cold sweat on Euclid's brow, Nakamoto answered at once.
"Let's go immediately. All I need is myself. When can we depart?"
At that, Euclid called to a knight waiting outside.
"Aran! Prepare! We leave at once!"
The blond knight outside bolted away.
The team leader wondered how they intended to travel. Did they have teleportation magic? But according to what he had heard, the barrier made spatial transfer impossible…
The thought did not last long.
Because Euclid suddenly threw open a window and leapt out.
"What—!"
Nakamoto rushed to the window and looked down.
Below, a golden dragon waited with Euclid already astride its back.
"Hurry down! I'll catch you! Every second counts!"
As if entranced, Nakamoto jumped straight through the window and landed on the golden dragon's back.
"We're leaving now. Hold on tight."
The words had barely left Euclid's mouth before the dragon surged into the sky.
"Hold on to wha— AAAAAAH!"
Euclid, the legal team leader, and one Gold Dragon streaked toward the Forest of Demonic Beasts.