Chapter 59. To Catch a Raccoon, Smoke It Out of Its Den
Chapter 59. To Catch a Raccoon, Smoke It Out of Its Den
The call had ended.
[Good luck, you fucker lololololololol]
[Ah, this is so fucking funny, goddamn lololololol]
[I'll kill you lolololololol]
[Even the guy on the phone knows how to create a streaming moment lololol]
The call had ended, but I stood there holding the receiver in a daze.
The bastard not only stole from me—he rubbed it in. My blood boiled.
"Hero..."
Sensing my distress, Laila gently called my name from beside me.
As she did, she slowly stroked my forearm, as if urging me to calm down.
"Haah... Laila, you came all this way to have fun... I'm sorry."
"No, it's not your fault, Hero. It was just bad luck."
I didn't have a clear way to find them.
But there was a way to make them come to me.
"I'll mute for a moment, everyone."
I muted the stream and, out of view of the camera, used Laila's phone to make a call.
- Yes, hello?
"Ambassador, this is Song Hoon."
- Ah, yes!
"Could you tell me where the businesses those bastards run are located?"
- Ah, well... they're fairly well-known scumbags... I'll send you the information right away.
After the short conversation, I hung up.
"Let's see if they'll come out once we smoke out their den."
The way to make them come to me.
I just had to destroy every business and warehouse they ran.
"Wow, it's been a while since I've lost my temper like this."
'They said Del Norte, right?'
I searched the name on my phone.
They were so notorious that even a wiki page existed for them.
I slowly read the wiki from top to bottom.
'Nothing but absolute scumbags...'
Drugs were the baseline—they considered human trafficking, kidnapping, robbery, and murder child's play.
In extreme cases, they had kidnapped politicians who didn't obey them, brutally murdered them, and hanged their bodies from street lamps.
They also took politicians' families hostage, and in the process killed everyone without mercy, even children.
'First, calm down...'
I slowly assessed the current situation.
Anger would only ruin things.
I made another call, this time to a different place.
- Hello?
"Yes, I apologize for calling so suddenly."
- Not at all.
"Would it cause problems if I were to go on a rampage in Mexico?"
- ...
The place I had called was none other than the Blue House.
The person on the other end of the line paused, deep in thought at my words.
- Is... this about the item that was stolen from you?
"Yes, I'm worried it might cause friction between our countries."
- Hmm... Even if we request investigative cooperation from Mexico, a politician bribed by the cartel would likely tip them off immediately.
"Haah..."
- We'll try to find a way. Mexico is a fairly important trading partner for the Republic of Korea.
The president added a rather detailed explanation.
Surprisingly, Mexico was the world's number one silver producer, and I'd heard that even some of our country's automotive companies have factories there.
And apparently it's a country with oil, too...
"Yes, anyway, thank you."
"Hero, are you done with your call?"
"Yeah."
[What? Did you report them to the police?]
[As if that'd work lolol]
[Cartels aren't afraid of the police]
"I'll go find them myself."
[Huh?]
[Do you know their location?]
To catch a raccoon, you smoke out its den.
The raccoons would come running out.
"Alright, let's go catch some raccoons."
---
─ Creeeak...
I opened the door and entered a bar in a remote location.
The patrons there stared with curiosity at an Asian man and a blue-haired woman who had turned up in a place like this.
'Tattoos... definitely.'
I quietly took a seat.
There was no need for innocent people to get hurt.
"Hmm... This isn't really a place for a lady, is it?"
As expected from a trash can full of garbage, some guy started getting handsy.
'This guy's got tattoos too.'
He casually put a hand on Laila's shoulder.
Before I could step in, Laila swiftly grabbed his wrist.
And then...
─ Crack...!
"Gyaaah...!!!"
Laila twisted his wrist and shoved him away.
I also rose from my seat, picked up a chair, and slammed it onto the floor.
"Alright, everyone who isn't involved should leave."
Perhaps because cartel fights were common in Mexico, people began hurriedly leaving.
Those who remained were exactly the ones with neck tattoos.
"If you're Del Norte Cartel, raise your hand."
"What the hell are you saying, you Asian bastard!!!"
─ Ratatatatata!!!
They pulled pistols from their pockets and fired indiscriminately.
As soon as they drew their guns, Laila ducked behind my back.
─ Ting-ting-ting-ting! Clack... clack...!
I picked up a chair leg that had broken off when it hit the floor.
"Wh-what the... this son of a bitch...!"
─ Crunch! Crack!
One by one, I precisely struck between their thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, shattering bone.
"Hoo... From now on, you'll crawl."
After thoroughly wrecking them all, we walked out feeling refreshed.
Interrogation?
There was no need for that.
Just destroy everything, and they'd show themselves sooner or later.
"Next is a club, right?"
"Seems so."
[The cleanup crew has arrived lol]
[Let's gooo~]
[This is so cathartic, goddamn lololol]
There were quite a few people in the club.
I boldly walked in and climbed onto the stage where the DJ was.
The guards tried to block me, but I easily pushed through.
─ Kwanga!!!
"..."
"What the...?"
"..."
The club, which had been filled with loud noise, fell silent when I smashed the DJ table.
At the sudden commotion, they drew their guns and approached me.
'Hmm... looked like this kind of thing happens often—the civilians moved quickly, which made things easy.'
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, the civilians had already hurriedly fled the club.
"Hey... who the hell are you?"
"None of your business."
─ Crunch! Crack! Snap!
Since I didn't have any decent weapon, this time I used my bare fists to break them.
Leaving them foaming at the mouth and unconscious, I walked back out.
I smashed every bar, club, yacht, office, warehouse, casino—everything they owned.
As the number of destroyed establishments grew, they must have contacted each other—heavily armed men were now guarding the entrances.
'But so what?'
Occasionally, there were some who took civilians hostage.
However, after I subdued one, broke his spine, and crushed his limbs to pieces, that stopped happening.
"Something's odd."
"In what way?"
"Their whole livelihood is being destroyed... and yet there are only low-ranking thugs."
No matter how I thought about it, it was strange.
Aside from the members already there, no reinforcements were arriving.
'Maybe they've hidden the important stuff somewhere else?'
I let out a sigh at the increasingly complicated situation.
It made sense—they would have hidden the really important things very carefully.
'Only the organization's head or his right-hand man would know.'
Just then, the phone in my pocket started ringing.
"Yes, hello?"
- ...
But no words came through.
- Are you in the middle of your broadcast?
"Don't worry, your voice won't leak out to the stream."
Then, I heard the president's voice.
It seemed he had used someone else to place the call for security.
- *Sigh*... Hunter, there's a very important person at the U.S. Embassy who can provide information.
"The U.S. Embassy?"
- Yes... There's a politician who suffered greatly at their hands. He will likely provide crucial information.
A green light came on for finding the drone.
---
"It's the first time we've actually met."
"I only intended to catch the thief who stole my item, but the situation has grown this big."
"It's fine."
He waved his hand dismissively and chuckled.
"But I didn't realize the U.S. was so interested in those bastards."
"Do you happen to know where most of the drugs flowing into the U.S. come from?"
I could guess why he was bringing this up.
From the news and such, I'd heard they were smuggled across the Mexican border.
"According to investigations by the Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration, 94% of heroin and 93% of cocaine come in from Mexico."
I'd thought drugs were the cartels' main source of income, but I hadn't realized it was this much.
"The U.S. has been waging a war on drugs for a long time. And this time, an opportunity to finish off the Del Norte bastards has presented itself."
He looked at me, his eyes gleaming.
"They lord over Mexico like kings."
"...?"
"In fact, the boss of the organization is estimated to be an S-rank."
"Don't they know who I am?"
"I doubt they don't."
Even if you couldn't know the taste of shit until you've tried it, if they had eyes and ears, they must have seen and heard something...
"They are, in effect, the kings of Mexico."
"I can't tell if they're ignorant or just brazen."
"Heh heh... Isn't there a Korean saying? 'Even a stray dog will eat half its fill in its own backyard.'"
"They'll only understand when the whole house comes crashing down."
"They probably didn't target you specifically, Hunter."
I wasn't the target.
It was simply that while they were robbing rooms in that hotel, my belongings caught their eye.
'After they stole it, they looked into it and found out it was mine...'
─ Knock, knock.
"Ah... I wanted to chat a bit longer, but he's already here."
He tapped the papers on the table, straightened them, and rose from his seat.
And with one last remark, he walked out.
"We're grateful to you."
---
The door opened, and a man in a wheelchair came in.
A man covered head to toe in tattoos.
It was the man I'd seen at that bar not long ago when I went with Laila.
"You..."
The man who had shown various kindnesses to a strange Asian man.
I met that same man again at the U.S. Embassy.
"Bro, we meet again like this."