Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Nobody
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The Boss's voice was filled with confidence.
But the suffocating air in the room did not dissipate so easily.
His words were hard to believe.
"You couldn't even kill Johannes."
The Russian boss scoffed, and the other bosses' faces hardened.
A heavy silence and tension filled the air.
This was perhaps the Boss’s most sensitive spot.
The fact that an outsider, an Asian, had killed Johannes to claim the title of Boss.
*He was small fry. Not even worth the effort of killing.*
The Russian boss’s sneer deepened.
He thought the Boss was bluffing.
But the sneer vanished without a trace at the Boss’s next words.
*Apartment 406, the four-story house on 5th Avenue.*
As Matias and the black boss stared in confusion at the frozen Russian boss, the voice continued.
*Your girlfriend is quite beautiful. I can see why you kept her so hidden.*
"You…!"
*Do you know what happened to the first gang boss I dealt with?*
No one dared to speak, let alone answer.
They knew nothing about the Boss, but they certainly remembered the first murder he had committed in this city.
How could they forget?
That gruesome scene.
The gang boss who had fought the Boss was found dead, shoved upside down into a barrel of acid.
Inside his own home, the place he must have believed was the safest.
*No answer. Well, it doesn't matter. It's not important.*
The bosses stared at the phone in silence.
It was just a phone.
Yet it felt as if a madman with a weapon was standing right before them.
Gulp.
Matias swallowed dryly as he scanned the room, while the Russian boss who had provoked the Boss glared at the phone, his lips sealed.
He couldn't provoke the Boss any further.
The thought that his girlfriend might die if the Boss so decided had taken root.
"Damn it."
"Is it possible?"
At that moment, Matias directed a question to the phone.
His tone was cautious, as if trying not to get on the Boss’s bad side.
"We agree to eliminating him so we can continue our business safely, but it seems difficult even with all our forces combined."
*No, you won't be the ones dealing with him. I will.*
"What?"
*You just have to pay up.*
The atmosphere flipped in an instant.
The Boss, a man they had never even seen, was demanding money—the most sensitive subject for gangsters.
"We'd gladly provide men or weapons, but…"
*Your men? Useless. They’d make perfect dog food.*
Thump!
The Russian boss slammed his fist on the table.
Just then, Matias reached out and covered the bottom of the phone, shifting his gaze to the Russian boss.
"Calm down."
"Fucking hell! How can I!"
Matias tapped his own temple.
"Be rational. Think about it. It's not a bad deal."
"What did you say?"
"He's saying he'll take care of it himself. If we just pay, we might not even have to get our hands dirty."
"..."
The Russian boss glared at Matias, his lips pressed into a firm line, before exhaling a hot breath through his nose.
The Boss was certainly not someone to be underestimated.
"And you?"
Matias checked the black boss's expression. When he nodded, Matias also nodded with a faint smile.
Then he removed his hand from the phone and spoke.
"We're in agreement. We'll follow your lead."
Matias continued quickly, lest the Boss cut him off.
"But let me ask one thing."
*Speak.*
"We don't know your face, let alone your name. You should at least tell us who you are."
The Russian boss looked at the phone, his dissatisfaction still lingering.
A strong curiosity that even anger couldn't erase had begun to form.
None of them knew anything about the Boss.
*Khuhuhuhu.*
A deep, chilling laugh, like a thick iron bar being scraped from the inside, flowed from the phone.
And the Boss's words followed.
*Nobody.*
The expectant bosses' faces contorted.
It means nothing.
That was the meaning of the Boss's words.
It was also a message that he would not reveal any information about himself.
"Thanks for telling us your name. Mister Nobody."
The black boss showed his discomfort, and the Russian boss leaned back, rubbing his face.
"Hah! So, how much money?"
*More than half.*
"More than half?"
*I'll return what's left over.*
Grind!
The Russian boss ground his teeth hard enough to shatter them, while Matias bowed his head and let out a hot breath.
The demand was higher than expected.
But it was too late to back out now, and no amount of money was worth more than their lives.
"Just promise us this. That you'll handle it for sure."
*I swear. I'll eliminate him, even if the sky falls.*
Matias looked at the phone and spoke.
"Should we wire it? Or cash?"
*Bank transfer.*
Rustle.
As soon as the Boss finished speaking, the proxy, who had been watching silently, pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket.
Matias took it and unfolded it; it was an account number.
"Hoo!"
Matias looked at the proxy with a complicated expression. The proxy’s body trembled as if this situation was excruciatingly painful and terrifying.
"Tsk."
Matias took out his phone and called one of his men.
"How much money can we move right now?"
Matias was the first to send the money.
As if to make a point, he sent half of his available funds, then licked his lips and passed the paper to his side. The black boss who received it sent his money in the same way.
Finally, after the Russian boss had also sent his payment.
"I trust you'll handle the job properly."
The Russian man, who had just spent a large, unexpected sum, expressed his displeasure and rose from his seat.
*It's already started.*
"What?"
*I said, it's already started. So sit back down for a moment. It won't take long.*
But the Boss made him, and the other two who were about to rise, sit back down.
*Now that I've received what I'm owed, let's talk about something important.*
The three bosses exchanged glances.
They had already discussed everything that needed to be said.
What else was there to talk about?
Matias took out a cigarette and lit it, while the Russian boss crossed his arms and sat back deeply in his chair.
"What's this about?"
*What do you think moves people?*
"What's with the sudden…?"
*Hope. With hope, people can do anything.*
The black boss glanced at his watch and prepared to get up.
"If this isn't about business, I'm busy."
At that moment, the Boss's proxy took a step forward, blocking the door.
"What? Move!"
*That won't be possible. He has a job to do.*
The black boss’s gaze shifted to the phone on the table.
*I gave him hope. That's why he can do anything.*
Just then, the eyes of Matias, who was smoking his cigarette, widened.
In the strangely intensifying atmosphere, he had seen the proxy put a trembling hand into his pocket.
"Wait! That, that bastard!"
Crash!
Matias shot up so fast his chair toppled over as he pointed at the proxy, who was pulling a small plastic block from his pocket.
Some kind of detonator.
That was the only thing it could be.
"You…!"
The black boss's face changed. He frantically ripped open the man's coat, revealing a plastic block the size of two palms wrapped tightly around his body with tape.
On the plastic, these words were written:
‘FRONT TOWARD ENEMY’.
"Damn it."
Recognizing what it was, Matias muttered, his face pale.
A Claymore mine.
An anti-personnel directional fragmentation mine. Though called a mine, it wasn't the type that turned an enemy who stepped on it into pulp.
It was a mine placed in the enemy's expected path, detonated with a trigger.
When the trigger is pressed, something terrible happens.
The roughly 700 steel balls packed inside explode in an instant. Anyone caught in the blast wouldn't even have a body left.
A weapon so powerful its backblast alone could turn someone standing behind it into a hamburger patty.
And the Boss's proxy had one strapped to his stomach.
"Boss."
For the first time, the proxy spoke.
For his large frame, his voice was sharp. He continued, tears streaming down his face.
"Please, keep… your promise."
*Of course. Your daughter will be safe.*
The proxy squeezed his eyes shut, and tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Fuck!"
Matias tried to dive toward the window, the black boss spun around desperately, and the Russian boss pulled a pistol from his pocket, aiming it at the proxy.
*I'll put your money to good use. I'm going to set this city ablaze in style.*
As if mocking them, the Boss's voice flowed from the phone.
Click.
The proxy pressed the detonator.
KABOOOOOM!
An explosion erupted with flesh, blood, chunks of concrete, and a thick cloud of dust.
After a long time, when the dust settled, there was nothing left. Nothing, except for a few scorched scraps of cloth and bits of flesh the size of a fingernail.
***
Returning to his apartment after finishing the job, Kanghyeok walked slower than usual.
Something felt strange.
Had the world always looked like this?
His vision seemed wide open, as if the fog that had clouded it for the past year had completely lifted.
The world itself probably hadn't changed.
The real change would come 12 years from now.
So, it wasn't time yet.
Then why did it look different?
Kanghyeok quickly realized the reason lay within himself.
Since the observer had changed, the scenery felt different even if it was the same.
Kanghyeok put a cigarette to his lips, lit it, and walked at a leisurely pace. Smoking on the street was usually bad manners, but in this city, even ten-year-olds enjoyed cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs in public.
Compared to that, well.
"Hoo!"
Kanghyeok walked leisurely, and no one bothered him.
Partly due to the rumors, but also because the aura he exuded had completely changed.
A person not to be trifled with.
A dangerous person.
The residents here were feeling an aura from Kanghyeok similar to what they felt from gangsters.
To be precise, something far more intimidating than anything they had ever felt from a gangster.
Back at his apartment, Kanghyeok placed his hand on the doorknob.
Beep! Whir.
The lock opened automatically with his fingerprint.
But Kanghyeok took his hand off the door, leaned his back against the railing, and took out a new cigarette.
Click!
"Hoo!"
The cigarette smoke, dyed orange by the dim twilight, scattered in the wind. Kanghyeok gazed at the door and took a deep drag.
"Hoooo."
Had cigarettes always seeped into the body like this?
It wasn't a pleasant feeling, but it wasn't unpleasant either.
Pfft.
Today had felt so ordinary.
An uneventful day was the norm for most people, so why did it feel so precious to him?
Kanghyeok rubbed his face and silently smoked with a subdued expression.
He didn't know how long this peace would last.
Feeling the wind in his hair and the romantic glow of the sunset, he wished this moment could last forever, but he knew all too well that it couldn't.
Damn it! As calmness washed over him, distracting thoughts kept creeping in.
Cryptocurrency, the company demanding his return.
The future, 12 years from now.
The man who was considered a god.
And the incomprehensible words he had left behind.
There were too many things complicating his mind. Kanghyeok’s lips, holding the cigarette, twisted.
But he soon cleared his thoughts with a single sigh, carried away by the gentle, refreshing breeze.
"Ptooey."
Kanghyeok spat the bitter, cigarette-tinged saliva over the railing and placed his hand on the doorknob again.
Beep! Whir!
The door opened once more.
"Hey, Chino!"
That kid who lived in the apartment.
The one who had always been strangely friendly was now staring at Kanghyeok from the end of the hall, his face filled with determination, his gaze intense.
And next to him?
"Tch."
The brat Kanghyeok had thrown over the railing was standing on crutches.