Purge Operation: The Starving Dogs Don't Listen
The purge operation. Starving dogs don't listen. Criminal organizations were exactly like beasts. Loyalty, justification, allegiance? All things they only bothered to seek after their own bellies were full. If no scraps fell their way, there was no reason to risk their lives.
Two warehouses had already gone up in flames, which increased the guard presence, but the bombs had been planted ages ago anyway. Blowing up three might tip them off, but by then the money would clearly be drying up. Besides, what I was about to detonate this time was tied directly to the organization's business. The moment it exploded, pressure would come from both inside and outside. Then the real question arose: would the starving dogs still cover each other's backs? Or would they plant knives in them and greedily devour whatever scraps remained?
“Brought drinks and a towel.”
The moment I opened the door, a blast of heat and body odor hit me. She was hanging from the pull-up bar that had arrived a few days ago… The sight was impressive.
“Haa.”
As soon as she noticed me, she dropped lightly to the floor. She snatched the drink and towel, turning them into dirty dishes and laundry in a single motion.
“How’s your body?”
“Good. I could head out right now.”
Made sense. After I’d fed and rested her like that. The wound on her abdomen… had left a small scar, but the fact that it was only “small” said everything about her monstrous recovery rate.
“The third target is the logistics warehouse. You okay with that?”
“We’re pinning everything on the traitors anyway. Doesn’t matter.”
“The problem with the scheduled deliveries still remains.”
“Weapons only come through our route. We’ve got dozens of people connected on this side alone.”
The more we talked, the more I realized she wasn’t the “dumb but brave” type I’d assumed. She had a rough grasp of the organization’s structure and exactly where the profits came from.
“The district might freeze up for a bit… but in this underworld, there’s no bitch or bastard stronger than me.”
The sound of ice crunching between her teeth. A confident grin. Maybe leaving the debt with Bulph’s former Beta—who had vanished early on—had been a good move after all.
“So. Is it my turn to run wild now?”
“After we blow the logistics warehouse, we’ll watch how things develop.”
The split was inevitable, but if the main culprit behind the bombings showed up too soon, it would only force them to unite. The bastards who had been waiting for Bianca’s return would lose their minds from stress if she never appeared while their losses kept piling up. That was the moment I planned to strike them from behind.
“…Fair warning. Try any funny business and I’ll kill you first, debt or no debt.”
Rough words, but judging from the reactions I’d seen while living with her, it roughly translated to you’d better do it right because I trust you.
“Yeah. Then I’ll—”
“…Wait.”
I was about to leave the room when she called me back. Wondering what it was, I turned around. She scratched her head.
“When are you coming back today?”
“Just blowing the logistics warehouse, so it won’t take long?”
“…Don’t come back as late as last time. Don’t make me worry about you.”
I hadn’t expected those words. The girl who had done nothing but grumble until now was acting strange.
“Food, you bastard. Food. I starved for thirty minutes last time.”
“There’s a ton of chicken breast in the fridge, isn’t there?”
“You call that food? That’s a snack.”
Considering she had eaten five while working out, it made sense. …Damn it. Maybe I should have asked for a share when dividing the portions. Giving her everything just to earn a bit more favor might have been a mistake. The food expenses were starting to exceed the money I spent on explosives.
“What are you staring at?”
She couldn’t even say thank you. It was my fault for expecting some affection after living together.
“Sigh.”
“Hey, hey, hey!”
As I grumbled and tried to leave again, she called me back once more.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll buy something to eat on the way. Should I get a ton of meat?”
“…Don’t get hurt.”
“Hm?”
I was waving my hand roughly to leave when she spoke again, face bright red, mumbling.
Eventually she gave up on making eye contact.
“Don’t get hurt. Because I’m hungry.”
There was Bianca, spitting out that bizarre sentence while shrinking her shoulders.
“Ugh, forget it. Get lost. If you’re going, hurry up and get the hell out!”
“Whoa?!”
Then she shoved me hard. After rolling across the floor once, the door slammed shut with a bang. What the hell was that about?
“I’m seeing all sorts of weird shit these days.”
As I muttered that, Bianca appeared again with a face as red as a tomato. The fist she was clenching showed veins popping so hard I wondered if that was even possible.
“What did you just say?”
I was about to say you’re going to hit me when her rough breath hit my face. She really was going to hit me.
“N-nothing.”
“Aren’t you leaving?”
“I’m leaving.”
In the end I was practically kicked out of the house, grabbing my bag and clothes on the way. …Was changing the plot really worth suffering like this?
“Just my luck.”
With a sigh, I headed down the stairs. Time to get to work. Work.
Deep in the back alleys. A shuttered warehouse located there. Inside the building, situated in an alley too narrow for cars, the usual loud noise leaked out today as well.
“I remember we agreed to split eight Deltas equally, so where the hell did you sell my share and give these brats nothing but snot?”
The problem of fulfilling contracts that arose after the logistics warehouse was destroyed. With both Alpha and Beta absent, the pressure on the organization was crushing down on every Delta.
“My warehouse? When did we ever distinguish between my warehouse and your warehouse? And let’s be real—if I hadn’t been there, you couldn’t have brought in that money or those goods in the first place!”
With the boss gone, problems of distribution and coordination emerged. Everyone tried to push the hard work onto others while keeping the money for themselves, so cooperation was impossible. The anxiety that the remaining safe might explode too was beginning to tear Bulph’s insides apart.
“If you don’t hand over my share, I swear I won’t let you bastards—Hello? Hey, hey!”
The phone was slammed down violently. The injured gang members flinched. They had fought desperately to secure their own “shares,” but because they had stood at the forefront of the rebellion, they were outnumbered and overpowered.
“Useless pieces of shit. Too weak to send on any real jobs, damn it!”
An ashtray was hurled. The man it struck quietly bled.
“If it weren’t for you lot, I would’ve gotten the money. Because you bastards couldn’t even protect your own bodies, my pay is getting cut. You get that?!”
Their expressions grew vicious, but at the flying slaps, their faces collapsed. Bodies trampled indiscriminately let out groans.
“What are you glaring at? It’s because of you bastards. You couldn’t bring in your own money, so how is this my fault? Is it my fault?!”
The continuous unreasonable violence only darkened the atmosphere further. The gang members clenched their fists, glancing at one another—
—BANG.
A loud noise came from the closed shutter. Everyone’s eyes turned to the dented metal, as if a car had rammed it.
“…What the hell?”
—BANG.
A faint groan leaked through the gap. Then steel claws pried it open. With a sound like a can being crushed, a woman revealed herself. A white mask splattered with blood, edged in black. She slowly removed it and smiled. Bianca. More than a week after vanishing, she stood before the men who should have been her subordinates, looking perfectly fine.
“What the hell happened to you all, Pocket?”
The rebels were all covered in wounds, unable to even put strength in their gazes as they groaned. Yet the Bianca who had lost her throne looked far more energetic than before as she looked down at them.
“…What are you doing, you bitch! Catch her!”
“I didn’t give them any money, so why the hell would they listen to you? And with this, what—can they even put food on the table?”
She kicked the nearly empty bag she had thrown on the floor. No one dared answer her sneering words. Except for one person.
“What the hell are you doing, you bastards!”
“What else? Everyone’s watching the situation.”
The action leader rose quietly, clutching his reopened wounds. The gang members supporting him.
“You can’t even secure your own share and you’re starving the kids. As far as I remember, your ability wasn’t anything special, was it?”
“What did you say?!”
“It’s true. All you can do is store items in subspace. We left you alone because you were useful for logistics… but now that the goods to transport are gone, what use are you?”
“T-that’s—”
Pocket looked around frantically, at a loss for words. Hostile gazes gathered around him.
“That is…”
He stepped back hesitantly, slowly hiding his hand behind him. A black gap formed on the desk.
“This is for—”
The arm that grabbed the pistol. But before he could aim, Pocket’s arm was kicked hard. A sickening crunch.
“—Aaaaaaaaagh!!!”
“You’re the one who shot me in the stomach.”
A swift kick whose trajectory couldn’t even be seen. Both his knees bent at a grotesque angle.
“A-agh, aaagh! S-sorry, sorry, hyung—no, ma’am! I—”
The man who had fallen immediately got up, clasped both hands, and began rubbing them together. Bianca burst out laughing as if she found it ridiculous. Then—
“Pathetic.”
With one ice-cold glance, she turned her back on the prey surrounded by starving wolves.
“Secret safe! S-secret safe!”
The terrified man screamed at the top of his lungs right before the sharp blades and blunt weapons could crush him.
“The money I’ve saved until now—I’ll give it to you. I’ll give it to all of you. So just spare my life—”
The wolves hesitated. The tips of the blunt weapons raised high trembled. But their eyes weren’t on the meat they were about to tear apart. They were on the one who would give the order.
“…What are you all doing?”
At those words, the weapons swung. The man’s body was beaten and blood began to splatter.
“Ack! Aagh! P-please! Ack!”
Bianca watched the scene with satisfaction before turning away. However, the leg she had stretched toward the crumpled garage door suddenly stopped.
“…Hm?”
A blue light flashing in her ear. A few words flowed from it. Her expression crumpled in displeasure, then curved into an interested smile.
“Stop.”
It wasn’t a loud shout. It was as light as a kindergarten teacher calling children. Yet the group stopped moving at a single call, unlike children.
“S-s-spare me, spare me, ma’am, I was wrong, I was wro—Gack!?”
“Who told you to expect mercy?”
The blood-soaked body tried to cling to her leg but was lightly kicked and rolled across the floor. The gazes pouring in from all sides made him even more miserable.
“Lift him.”
The flinching Pocket was hoisted into the air by outstretched hands. The men who had once been his subordinates had become a group that faithfully obeyed one woman’s commands.
“Now that I think about it, you beat these kids, stole their money, and even cursed at them, right? You need to pay that back.”
And the group stirred at Bianca’s words. The ones who hadn’t budged at Pocket’s pleas perked up their ears.
“T-then you’ll spare me—”
“That depends on how hard you try. It depends on how much these kids accept your apology and sincerity, doesn’t it?”
The men who had been staring at the floor with expressions like they had chewed on shit lifted their heads to look at Bianca. Despair and rage turned into hope and anticipation.
“You’ll have to give even more to the kids outside. It’s impressive that they even treated trash like you as a Delta.”
A cargo cart dragged out from the corner. Pocket was loaded onto it like baggage.
“Now then. Let’s open that secret pocket of yours.”
The new boss pulling a bag of gold. The starving pack followed behind her.
“Th-thank you, ma’am.”
“Rest well. Recover your body and don’t even think about contacting the other Deltas.”
“Understood. Thank you, really thank you, ma’am!”
“Call me Alpha, you bastards. What’s with ‘ma’am’?”
Why hadn’t she had any faction beneath her? Why hadn’t the Deltas who fought alongside her been there? Looking at her now, she could have easily risen as the next successor. There had been a few executives who didn’t participate in the rebellion—but they had all turned their backs at the critical moment, apparently.
“Hey. I’m done on this side.”
In the end, Pocket, who had opened the safe until the very last second, was beaten to death in a lynching. A name I had never heard in the original story. Even without Bianca, he probably would have been killed by his own subordinates anyway.
“Hey!”
“I’m listening. Good work.”
“You call that listening? Damn. You’re not even paying attention.”
“I was thinking about the next move. Along with tonight’s menu.”
“Oh.”
She really couldn’t resist food. Was it that good?
“The money we got from that bastard is pretty thick. How about a meat party with it?”
“Not at home. You want to turn the whole place into a grease pit?”
“I didn’t tell you to do it? I know how to grill meat too, you know?”
“We don’t call something burnt black ‘cooked,’ Bianca.”
“Hey!!!”
In the end, unable to overcome her hunger, she had done something that forced me to scrape the pan with a sigh and throw it away. In exchange for making her swear never to touch cooking utensils again, I ended up practically tied to the house. It was an unfair trade. Damn it.
“Stop calling me ma’am. Call me Alpha too. Got it?”
“Unfortunately I’m not part of Bulph.”
“…Huh?”
What do you mean, huh? Yeah. I’m strictly an ally.
“You went through all that hardship because you wanted to join our organization, didn’t you?”
“What are you talking about? I told you I’m just making you owe me.”
“…What the hell. I’ve seen all kinds of crazy bastards, but this is the first time I’ve seen one this crazy.”
“I can hear you, you know.”
Anyway, I needed to move quickly to prepare for Bianca’s return. Should I lay newspaper on the floor first?
“Then what should I do? Come back like this?”
“If you’re going to eat meat, buy a ton. I’ll get everything ready.”
After the humming ended, I hung up and pulled out a burner phone. It had been a while since I used a flip phone like this. The call rang—dring, dring. Someone picked up.
“I called for Horn.”
Horn. The villain who could sprout horns from his body and the earth, a name that was a slightly relaxed pronunciation of the English word for horn.
“You have the wrong number.”
“This is a call from Bianca’s side.”
In the original story, Horn had pushed Justice hard and gained fame. However, he had retired absurdly due to injury during the final transformation process. An executive with that much potential had to be recruited.
“Six betrayer executives. Two executives who only wanted to take the profits. One of them is Horn. Am I wrong?”
Especially since he had stayed neutral, all the more reason.
“….”
“You know who I am, don’t you?”
The other side remained silent. Whatever.
“If not, then forget it.”
I immediately snapped the flip phone in half and tossed it into the trash. Then I picked up a new phone and dialed the second executive. By tomorrow, news of Pocket’s death would spread everywhere. Let’s see if they can stay quiet.