A Hero Is Born (4)
Originally, the gang that had seized the Ilsan Hunter Industrial Complex was a small-time outfit.
They only began to expand, to swell in size and influence, after they got into distribution.
As I dug through old memories, the article came back to me.
That was roughly how it went.
It had been so long that I couldn’t remember the details exactly, but the object found in the gang boss’s room caused a sensation that would be talked about for generations.
I tightened my grip on the safe handle.
Kreeeak.
Just as expected, the special locking mechanism didn’t budge easily. If I forced Judgment of the Superhuman with a burst of mana and ripped at it with all my strength, I could probably tear the whole door off in one go.
But.
That would be ridiculously loud.
Judging by the model, the more you tried to force it open, the tighter the lock clamped down. And there were still two gangsters on guard outside.
If I made a scene for no reason, they’d swarm me in seconds.
I pressed the button on my helmet and activated the suit manual.
Letters floated in the air through my VR display.
P1 MODE!
Night vision in the dark.
Suction pads for climbing walls.
Wire-launch function.
...
Did Karki build the software himself? The interface was an absolute mess.
This was no time to complain.
I scrolled down and found the part I needed as fast as I could.
17. Hacking door locks.
The function was meant for opening locked doors, but I figured it would work on a safe too.
I pulled out the round hacking device mounted near my chest and stuck it to the safe dial.
Bzzt.
The magnetized device clung to the metal and its numbers began changing at a frantic pace, neutralizing the safe’s secret locking system.
Clack.
Then came a heavy metallic sound, like a pistol being cocked.
I grabbed the handle and pulled.
The door swung open without resistance.
Inside, there were dozens of glass cases about the size of a palm.
Each transparent case was filled with preservation fluid, and inside each one lay a pair of long, narrow ears.
This was...
Elf ears.
I’d prepared myself, but nausea still surged up my throat.
Cha Chi-do, the gang boss, was a collector of other races’ body parts.
He was also the kind of man who got a thrill out of kidnapping elves and slicing them open himself with a sashimi knife.
I reached in and took out every glass case, stacking them on top of my cloak.
“Confiscated, you psycho bastard.”
The cases didn’t just contain elf ears.
There were also 1-kilo gold bars, bundles of 50,000-won bills, stacks of dollars, and more.
There was a considerable amount of liquid wealth I could use right away.
At a glance, it came to several tens of billions.
How had a lowly gang boss managed to make so much money?
The answer was the Ilsan Hunter Industrial Complex system.
Under the pretense of “management fees,” the gang bled foreign laborers dry every month, taking a cut of their wages. The massive sums they stole this way were then used to fatten the gang boss’s belly.
“Those motherfuckers.”
I scooped everything I could reach and tossed it onto the cloak.
Yes, this was robbery.
But I didn’t think it was wrong.
The factory owner had a favorite line he’d repeat to the workers over and over.
“If not you, there are plenty of others who’ll do the job!”
I had no intention of calling myself a righteous thief.
I didn’t want to justify my theft, either.
It was just...
Karki worked for half my wage and still had trouble getting by. He tried to save money so hard he couldn’t even afford a proper padded winter coat, and in the cold months he wore several layers of socks just to keep working.
Even so, he still got frostbite more often than not.
His friend Khan, who worked at Factory 1, had once worn a cheap mask on the job, inhaled dust, and ended up being hauled away in an ambulance.
That was what made me angry.
The boss’s tyranny and the gang’s exploitation.
If any of this was ever going to change, someone had to stand up and do something.
That was what a hero was for.
That was my job.
I gathered the wide edges of the cloak and cinched them together in the middle. As the Dvergr Cloth took effect, the things inside shrank down in size. I turned the cloak into a bundle, slung it over my back, and tied it diagonally across my front.
That finished the job.
I left the room, abandoning the broken door behind me.
Two gangsters were still sprawled in the hallway, exactly where I’d dropped them.
If I simply slipped out through the window now, it would be the perfect crime.
I planted a foot on the sill and crouched to escape.
Then—
The first-floor door opened, and I heard footsteps.
“Ah. What a beautifully moonlit night.”
From the second floor, where I stood, I could see everything below clearly.
A pale man stepped inside, his under-eyes reddish, his skin almost ashen.
A knife scar was carved into the corner of one eye, and the light in his gaze was vicious enough to make my skin crawl even from a distance.
The moment I saw him, I froze.
The gang boss.
Cha Chi-do.
His subordinates followed behind him.
“Isn’t that right, Yeong-cheol?”
Beside Cha Chi-do stood a familiar face.
It was the gang’s number two, Gi Yeong-cheol.
Gi Yeong-cheol lowered his head.
“...I’m sorry. I was trying to stay to the end, but I guess this is as far as I can go.”
“Hey, now. No need to apologize. You can get sick of gang life, sure, and sometimes you want to quit. That’s only natural, right?”
Gi Yeong-cheol said nothing.
It was easy enough to understand what was happening.
Gi Yeong-cheol had told me he was quitting the gang.
He told me to run.
What he meant was that getting tangled up with Cha Chi-do would only spell trouble, because the bastard was completely insane.
It was his last bit of advice, from one man leaving the gang to another.
Either way.
This was the best possible opening.
All I had to do was slip away while they were busy chatting like this.
...
And yet, for some reason, my feet wouldn’t move.
Gi Yeong-cheol opened his mouth, fear written all over his face.
“I won’t breathe a word about what happened here. I’ll go out to some village and live like I’m dead.”
“What happened here?”
Cha Chi-do reached into his coat and pulled something out.
The blade of a sashimi knife flashed, cold and blue-white in the light.
“What do you mean, what happened?”
He moved over to where cement bags were stacked.
“Like this?”
The sashimi knife plunged deep into a cement bag.
When he pulled the blade free, black dust spilled out in a rush.
That was what was called Black Pearl.
Its hallucinogenic effect was dozens of times stronger than ordinary drugs, and the addiction symptoms were horrific.
Years later, workers at the factory would die by the dozens after carelessly taking Black Pearl.
Cha Chi-do used the sashimi knife to scoop up the black powder that had fallen to the ground.
“Hah.”
The black dust caught the wind and scattered through the air.
The gangsters watching held their breath and stared.
“Hah... It’s shining especially black today, isn’t it? Must be because the moonlight is so nice.”
With bloodshot eyes, Cha Chi-do stepped in front of Gi Yeong-cheol.
Now that I looked, the gangsters seemed to be split into two groups.
One group stood behind Cha Chi-do.
A smaller group stood behind Gi Yeong-cheol.
The two factions faced each other in silence.
Gi Yeong-cheol took a single step forward.
“I’m prepared for this to some degree. Beat me however you want. I’ll take my punishment, then leave after the official breakup ceremony. But...”
He glanced back over his shoulder at the men behind him.
“Leave my little brothers alone. That’s my last request, big brother.”
Cha Chi-do patted Gi Yeong-cheol’s shoulder.
“Hey, come on. What century do you think this is? Who does a breakup ceremony anymore? Just walk out.”
“Y-you really mean it?”
“Of course. But shouldn’t you pay the price? I mean, I am the boss, after all. Gotta keep some face.”
Gi Yeong-cheol nodded so hard it looked like his head might fall off.
“If you want money, I’ll give you everything I’ve saved.”
At his words, the subordinates behind him chimed in one by one.
“I’ll chip in too. But if Hyung-nim Yeong-cheol leaves, I’m quitting the gang as well.”
“Me too! Please let us go, big brother!”
Gi Yeong-cheol was clearly the oldest one there, but they all seemed far more afraid of Cha Chi-do.
Cha Chi-do let out a hearty laugh.
“Ha! Now that I look at it, you boys really are close, aren’t you? What’s the secret, Yeong-cheol?”
The smile on Cha Chi-do’s face vanished in an instant.
“Fine. Then let’s do this.”
He lifted the sashimi knife and walked toward the subordinates standing behind Gi Yeong-cheol.
“Yeong-cheol can just leave. His little brothers can take responsibility instead.”
Slash.
In the blink of an eye, the sashimi knife cut through the air.
Thud.
One of Gi Yeong-cheol’s subordinates lost an ear, and it dropped to the floor.
“Aaaagh!!!”
The man was late to realize what had happened. He screamed, clutching the side of his head as he rolled across the floor.
“Everyone here. Only one ear each. Then I’ll let you go.”
Desperate cries and oppressive silence coexisted in that instant.
Cha Chi-do nodded toward his own men.
“What are you waiting for? Hold them down.”
Outnumbered as they were, Cha Chi-do’s side subdued Gi Yeong-cheol’s men with ease.
Cha Chi-do covered the grin that kept threatening to burst from his face.
“Just to be clear, I’m a very merciful man. I’m only taking one ear, not both. Come on, hold still.”
The sashimi blade touched a subordinate’s ear.
This time, he didn’t cut quickly like before.
Instead, he sawed through it little by little, like a hacksaw.
“Aaaagh!!!”
“P-please, stop!”
“Big brother! Please!! Ahh!!!”
...By the time two, three, then four ears had been sliced away, Gi Yeong-cheol dropped to his knees in front of Cha Chi-do.
“I-I was wrong! Big brother!”
The gang’s number two shook violently as he grabbed at Cha Chi-do’s pant leg and clung on.
“What was that?”
“I made a mistake. Please forgive me! I’ll stay in the gang.”
“Hmm.”
Cha Chi-do tilted his head.
“No, that’s not it. It’s not that simple. If I stop here, what does that make me? You’ve humiliated me several times tonight, Yeong-cheol.”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant... Ghk!”
Cha Chi-do kicked Gi Yeong-cheol hard.
“Let’s set an example. First one!”
He drove the sashimi knife upward from beneath the subordinate’s jaw.
“Hhk.”
The blade pierced through the jaw, then burst out through the top of the skull.
When Cha Chi-do yanked the knife free, blood poured down like a waterfall and the man collapsed without a sound.
“A-ah...”
Witnessing his subordinate’s death, Gi Yeong-cheol lost what was left of his reason and charged forward.
“You bastard!!!”
He activated his signature skill, Twist, and lunged at Cha Chi-do, but stopped dead not long after.
Cha Chi-do had stabbed him in the thigh with the knife.
“Tsk. You’ve been using the same technique for years now. Honestly, Yeong-cheol, you’re just not improving at all.”
With a sharp thwack, he smashed Gi Yeong-cheol’s jaw with the knife’s hilt.
Gi Yeong-cheol dropped to his knees again.
Even then, he glared at Cha Chi-do, panting hard.
“...I said I’d take responsibility, so stop it. Stop it, you mad bastard!!!”
He broke down crying as he screamed.
Looking down at him, Cha Chi-do turned the knife so the reverse edge faced down.
“Fine. Then you take responsibility, Yeong-cheol. How? Simple. You die. See? Fair, isn’t it?”
Why had I stood there watching all this?
The objective was already complete.
The fact that infighting had erupted inside the gang was no concern of mine.
But then.
Gi Yeong-cheol, his eyes shot through with blood, tears spilling down from bloodshot pupils, left behind his final words.
“Yeah. Kill me. You bastard. Someday, you’ll pay for it too.”
Cha Chi-do smiled thinly and spoke.
“Pay for it? When? Now that sounds exciting.”
Before the sashimi knife could sink into Gi Yeong-cheol’s skull, I had already finished purchasing the second hero’s ability.
Infinite Acceleration has been purchased from Hero Speeder.
With a thunderous impact, I kicked off the floor and shot downward.
From the second floor to the first.
It took less than 0.2 seconds.
Cha Chi-do had no idea what had happened.
He could only stare at me blankly.
“Who are you?”
“The one who came to punish you...”
I slowly raised my head, still gripping the sashimi blade.
“...is the agent of justice.”