Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: It Suits You Well (1)
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Kanghyeok surveyed the room without moving a muscle.
He knew he had to stay calm, especially at a time like this.
Panic and agitation would only narrow his vision and his thinking.
So, suppressing his anger more than ever, Kanghyeok meticulously scanned the room, down to the last speck of dust.
He checked the area around the desk first, then the doorknob.
*It was open.*
The door bore traces of a forced entry.
The room had been rummaged through, especially around the desk.
*Amateur work.*
The intruder had frantically searched everywhere for anything valuable, but of course, there was nothing to be found.
He hadn't kept any spare cash, having invested it all in cryptocurrency; there was no way there would be anything of value.
Kanghyeok brought a hand to his forehead, feeling something foreign there.
He touched a patch of dried, blackened blood. This must have been why he hadn't noticed the intruder's entry.
*I was attacked.*
The weapon was probably a baseball bat.
Kanghyeok used his Zippo lighter to examine the wound.
The blood had dried, but there was no visible gash.
*Flick!*
Just as Kanghyeok lit the lighter, put a cigarette to his lips, and began to ponder who might have done this...
*Bzzzzt!*
The cell phone in his pocket vibrated.
It was a cheap feature phone, so the thief must have left it behind.
Kanghyeok lit his cigarette and checked the phone.
An unknown number.
But he had a good idea who was calling, so he willingly pressed the call button.
"Have you woken up?"
It was Leila, just as he'd expected.
Kanghyeok sat on the bed and spoke through a cloud of cigarette smoke.
"Who did it?"
"What are you referring to?"
"I know that you know. You must have planted a bug. That's why you called the moment I woke up."
"..."
Who did it?
Silence is consent.
Kanghyeok took another drag from his cigarette.
"Who did it?"
"The intruder's noise was picked up at 3:20 AM. But are you all right? There was a dull thud."
Kanghyeok unconsciously touched his forehead and answered.
"I'm fine."
"It seems you avoided a fatal wound. In any case, all I heard was the sound, so I don't know who it was."
"What do you know?"
"That a laptop is missing, and the intruder's voice."
"Play it for me."
A moment later, with a click, the intruder's voice came through.
"Damn it! This fucking bum... I thought he might have something stashed away, but he's completely broke."
A still-youthful voice.
And a familiar one at that.
Kanghyeok furrowed his brow, searching his memory, and soon, one corner of his mouth twisted up in a sneer that revealed a canine tooth.
"Do you know who it is?"
"A kid who lives in this apartment. The one who threatened to kill me."
He was even the one who had thrown a soda bottle at his back.
"The work of a child, then. If you want to retrieve your belongings, you should hurry."
"I'll have to."
Even though the culprit had been identified, this was no time to be complacent.
Kanghyeok had lived here for a year, and Leila had been doing background checks on him for quite some time.
They knew just how screwed up the security was in this place.
And they knew what happened to stolen goods.
There were two main possibilities.
They were offered up to a gang the thief wanted to join.
Or they were fenced.
Or, they were fenced, and the money was offered to a gang.
He likely took the laptop thinking it would be worth some money, which wasn't a wrong assumption.
Hand it over to a fence, and depending on the model, you could get anywhere from twenty to sixty dollars.
It was chump change, but for the kids around here, it was a significant amount of money.
Enough to make them think it was okay to kill someone for it.
But sixty dollars was the most he could hope for.
The amount and value of the cryptocurrency on it were incomparable to sixty dollars, even at the current market rate.
"I'm on my way. It should take about twenty minutes to arrive."
*Was she waiting nearby?*
Kanghyeok shook with silent laughter, then spat out his words.
"I don't need any more of your help."
"Two is better than one. And wasn't it something you absolutely needed? I don't think you're in a position to refuse help."
"..."
"I'll be there soon, so wash up and get ready."
Kanghyeok ended the call.
"Hooo."
Kanghyeok ran his tongue over his teeth and rubbed his face roughly.
Leila was certainly right.
He had to get the laptop back now. No matter what.
This was no time to be a picky eater.
And frankly, Leila's offer was a feast.
However, the one thing that bothered him was Leila's dark intentions.
The company Kanghyeok had been a part of was no charity.
It was a place that thoroughly ignored anything that didn't turn a profit, so the fact that Leila wasn't helping out of pure goodwill was as certain as the sun rising in the east.
*I have no choice.*
I'll take her help.
But only up to a point, where I can draw a clear line.
His resolve firm, Kanghyeok walked to the sink and quickly washed himself.
He wiped the dried blood from his face, re-examined the spot where the baseball bat had hit him, and washed his body as if to scrub off the grim aura that had seeped into him from living here.
Then he went straight back to the bed.
*Whip.*
He tossed aside the pillow, crusted with blackened blood, revealing a jet-black automatic pistol.
Kanghyeok stood for a moment, the pistol before him.
He had held it every night to clean it, but this time was different.
He was picking it up to use it.
Just by picking up this pistol, he would be destroying the everyday life he had strived to maintain, taking a large step back toward his former life.
Kanghyeok chewed on his dry lip once, then decisively reached for the gun.
*Click.*
Kanghyeok checked that the pistol was functioning correctly and adjusted his grip on it several times.
Damn it all.
The automatic pistol fit in his hand as if he were holding the hand of a long-lost lover.
*Thump!*
Kanghyeok flipped the mattress over as well.
A double-barreled shotgun with a sawed-off barrel, and shells.
*Clack!*
Breaking open the gun, Kanghyeok slammed the shells in, then shouldered the stock and aimed in sequence at the door, the bed, and the window.
It was a crude thing he'd prepared for self-defense, but it would do...
Kanghyeok placed the pistol and shotgun on the bed and headed back to the sink.
*Fling!*
He also grabbed the knife he'd taped under the shelf of the towel cabinet. Using holsters, he strapped the shotgun, the pistol, and the knife to his body.
Then he put on his overcoat.
With eyes deeper than usual, Kanghyeok checked the time.
"Ten minutes left."
The time remaining until Leila arrived.
And it was more than enough time to get the information he wanted from the mouth of that little shit who lived in this building and stole his laptop.
Kanghyeok walked toward the apartment door.
*Creek!*
It was a little before noon.
In a normal country, it would be hard to see people out at this time. But this wasn't that kind of place; there were junkies drinking in the hallway or slumped over with needles in their arms.
Their gazes all turned to Kanghyeok.
But no one spoke to him or tried to pick a fight like they did yesterday.
It was probably because his face and eyes no longer held their usual indifference to the world.
Or perhaps, characteristic of this place ruled by strength, they knew instinctively.
That the Kanghyeok of today was a different man from the Kanghyeok of yesterday.
*That bastard lived on the fourth floor.*
Kanghyeok headed for the floor where the kid who stole his laptop lived.
"Where'd you get that money?"
"I've got my ways. More importantly, you know any jobs that'll make some cash?"
"Even if you ask me..."
As soon as he started down the stairs, he heard two young voices.
One of them belonged to the kid who'd stolen the laptop.
*Thud, thud.*
At the sound of Kanghyeok's footsteps, one of them turned his head, followed by the kid with a cigarette in his mouth.
The thief.
The moment he saw Kanghyeok, his eyes widened.
"Huh?"
It wasn't the face of someone surprised to see the laptop's owner.
It was the face of someone shocked that the person whose head he'd bashed in with a baseball bat was walking around perfectly fine.
But that expression didn't last long.
As Kanghyeok approached with a cold expression, the kid's brow furrowed, and his eyes filled with a contempt you'd reserve for a man-sized cockroach.
"This fucking asshole, where do you get off staring at me like..."
The kid pulled a pistol from his pocket.
A crude, cheap revolver.
"You, I told you I'd kill you, didn't I? Huh!"
At that, his friend went pale and pulled on the thief's arm.
"Hey, hey! Fuck, what the hell! Where'd you get that gun?"
"Shut up!"
The kid roughly shook off his pale friend's hand and aimed the gun at Kanghyeok.
No matter how cheap the revolver, a shot to the head from this distance would kill a man.
So he naturally assumed Kanghyeok would stop, terrified.
But Kanghyeok didn't stop.
"This dumbass..."
Flustered, but also excited by the thought that he could finally kill the irritating Kanghyeok, the kid gave a chilling smile and pulled back the hammer with his thumb.
*Click.*
The instant the bullet was chambered, Kanghyeok reached out.
*Thwack!*
The kid pulled the trigger, but the gun didn't fire. Kanghyeok had grabbed the hammer, preventing it from striking the bullet.
"Huh? Huh?"
The kid let out a dazed sound, and Kanghyeok twisted his hand, gun and all.
*CRACK!*
As his index finger, still on the trigger, broke, the kid's mouth flew open.
"Aaaaaargh!"
"I'll ask you once."
"Aaargh! You asshole! Let go! Let go of me! Aaaah!"
Even in that state, the kid was still cursing at Kanghyeok.
He'd sensed that this was a completely different person from the usual Kanghyeok, but because of his teenage bravado, he couldn't stop disrespecting him.
*CRUUNCH!*
"Aaaaaaaaargh!"
Twisting his arm again, Kanghyeok snatched the revolver from the kid's hand.
Then he pressed the muzzle to the kid's temple.
The cold steel on his skin shocked the kid so much he couldn't breathe, his eyes darting up to look at Kanghyeok.
"Ch-Chino, don't..."
The kid's friend started to speak in alarm, but...
*BANG!*
The gunshot Kanghyeok fired right next to the kid's ear terrified him into silence.
Although the bullet hit the wall, the sound had exploded right by his ear, and knowing the revolver still held more bullets, the kid felt his pants grow wet.
The urine he'd released without realizing it ran down his pants and soaked his shoes.
Kanghyeok pressed the gun to the kid's temple again.
"Gyaaaah!"
The acrid smell of gunpowder.
And when the muzzle, hot from being fired, touched his temple, the kid screamed his head off.
"Where is my laptop?"
"H-How should I know?"
A muscle twitched under Kanghyeok's eye.
"What?"
"I said how should I know! Asshole! You think I'm gonna tell you?"
Kanghyeok looked at the kid, who was trembling in fear yet still trying to protect his pride by imitating a gangster, with an expression of disbelief.
Then he threw the revolver to the floor, and a flicker of hope spread across the kid's face.
*Grab!*
But when Kanghyeok grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pushed him until his upper body was hanging over the railing, he realized something was very wrong.
If Kanghyeok let go, the kid would fall to the ground.
"Three."
"Y-You can't let go."
The kid stammered, his voice trembling as he gripped Kanghyeok's wrist like a lifeline.
"Two."
Feeling Kanghyeok's grip loosen, the kid's face went white, and he instinctively looked down.
The ground, which seemed much farther away than it really was.
The old car that looked like an alligator with its jaws wide open.
The fear that he might die.
And the dread that Kanghyeok might actually let go made his mind go blank.
"One."
"W-Wait!"
His pride and everything else stripped away, the kid, now showing raw terror, continued.
"H-Hancock! I gave it to Mr. Hancock!"
"Hancock?"
Kanghyeok asked, narrowing his eyes.
He had wanted to live quietly, so he didn't know much about those who engaged in illegal activities, like fences.
"3rd Street! The red brick house on 3rd Street. Basement floor! Mr. Hancock is there if you go! It's true!"
Kanghyeok stared down at the kid.
The kid looked back at Kanghyeok, trembling in terror as if he would go mad from the murderous intent and rage in his eyes.
"Please."
"How old are you?"
"E-Eighteen."
He didn't know why he was being asked his age, but the kid felt he had to answer honestly.
"Good."
*What is?*
The thought had barely crossed the kid's mind before Kanghyeok spoke again.
"You're not a juvenile offender," he said in Korean.
The kid couldn't understand Kanghyeok's words, and a look of confusion spread across his face, but he would soon grasp their meaning.
By the way Kanghyeok's hand was gradually loosening.
"W-Wait!"
Without hesitation, Kanghyeok let go of his grip on the kid's collar.
"Ah!"
Released from Kanghyeok's grasp, the kid's body fell over the railing.