Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Taking It Back
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“D-Don't move!”
“I'm going to take a shit.”
Bae Wang-sik dropped the hammer he was holding.
Clang!
The crisp sound made the men surrounding him flinch.
The blood from the fallen men pooled on the floor, but no one dared to even think about cleaning it up.
“I-I said don't move!”
“Then try and stop me. I came here to have a good time, and this is what I get? Tsk!”
Bae Wang-sik ignored the circle of men and started walking.
He actually went to the restroom.
The smell was awful since so many people used it, and a man who looked to be in his early twenties followed him in.
He had been pushed in to act as a guard.
Seeing the terrified man, Bae Wang-sik let out a small laugh.
“How do you do this kind of work when you're such a coward?”
“D-Do you know who you killed?”
“Should I? He was the one who drew his weapon first. I just killed him because I didn't want to die.”
“Th-They're Drepia's men!”
“And what about it?”
Bae Wang-sik casually wiped his hands on a rag lying to the side and then looked at the young man.
“It stinks too much. I can't take a shit in here.”
Having only wiped his hands, Bae Wang-sik went back out into the casino hall.
Many people were still there, but not a single one dared to rush him.
They had seen him fight the three men.
He had endured every attack with his body, snatched his opponent's hammer, and brutally killed him.
To prove they weren't at fault, they needed to detain Bae Wang-sik, but having clearly seen the difference in skill, they were powerless.
Even Carlson, the Drepia monitor, was a chillingly strong man, yet this person had killed him in an instant. They didn't dare block his path.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before someone from headquarters arrived.
A haggard-looking Dusk stared blankly at the scene.
“He's the one who killed them.”
When pointed out, Bae Wang-sik looked at Dusk and asked.
“You the boss?”
“Who the hell are you?”
“You don't need to know who I am. I've come to collect some compensation for damages.”
“What kind of bullshit are you…”
“I almost died in your casino. Armed men tried to kill me. Naturally, I should be compensated for that.”
In fact, protecting their customers' safety was part of their duty.
Of course, it wasn't written in any law book; it was just an unspoken rule.
“Look here. I'm pretty badly hurt.”
Bae Wang-sik held out his forearm for all to see. But no matter how hard they looked, there wasn't a single wound.
“Look closely. It's swollen right here.”
Bae Wang-sik slapped his own forearm, telling them to look. The skin turned red.
“That's because you just…”
“What? So you're saying you won't compensate me?”
The moment Bae Wang-sik put on a menacing expression, the atmosphere in the room shifted.
Whatever the reason, as he created a tense situation with their leader, the subordinates drew their weapons, ready to attack.
“Stop!”
Dusk shouted before a fight could break out.
‘This is too coincidental to be just a random rampage.’
No matter how chaotic it was, he was a veteran mercenary who had been through it all. Of course, he'd spent half his life as an underworld gang leader, but in any case, he was experienced.
“Let's talk somewhere quiet first.”
“Fine.”
Bae Wang-sik followed Dusk into an empty office.
Click.
As Bae Wang-sik followed him in and closed the door, Dusk asked.
“Recently, around me…”
“You're not very quick on the uptake, are you? You should have suggested we talk alone right away.”
“That's…”
“You made a mistake, so let's start with your punishment.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Sa Seon-gi appeared behind him.
“But since this is our first meeting, I'll give you a choice.”
Bae Wang-sik asked with a benevolent expression.
“Do you want to be punished by me? Or by him?”
The one who had smashed three men's heads with a hammer.
The one who could take his head at any moment.
“Choose.”
“How can I choose…”
“Then I'll assume you chose both.”
“P-Please spare me!”
In the end, Dusk broke.
“I'm not that bad of a guy.”
Dusk swore to himself that this man was far worse than he was. But he couldn't say it out loud.
“I'll let you live. And I'll make sure of it.”
“What do you mean by that…?”
“Drepia. Those bastards won't be able to kill you.”
Dusk's mind raced.
“Are you telling me to hand over my mercenary group?”
“What would I do with a gang of weaklings? Just do as I say. Then you won't just keep your life; you'll get to act like the boss again, just like before.”
Bae Wang-sik approached him and patted his terrified head.
“You're going to be the boss of the underworld. I'll make you that.”
Bae Wang-sik tapped the cheek of the man who still didn't understand.
The members of Dusk's mercenary group thought their leader had finally lost his mind.
He had appointed the man who caused a scene at the casino as his personal guard.
The man who had killed a Drepia monitor, no less.
The war had become clear. No, it couldn't even be called a war.
A massacre was about to unfold.
They felt like prisoners sentenced to be hanged.
Naturally, some men fled.
Of the 50 who had remained, 30 disappeared.
The leader had ordered a full assembly, but the first floor of the headquarters felt desolate.
Among the 20 who remained, most had only shown up to advise Dusk to stop.
“The casino will remain open. Kill anyone who gets in the way.”
It was a simple order.
As if brainwashed, Dusk maintained a firm stance.
‘Now we're all going to die.’
It wouldn't take long.
Drepia would have already heard the news of their monitor's death. And when it came to violence, those bastards were not the patient type.
That evening.
As expected, the attack began.
The casino was quiet, perhaps because of the rumors, but as is the way with addicts, there were always some who showed up.
While business was proceeding in this quiet atmosphere, a commotion erupted at the entrance.
Ten men stormed in, wielding swords, maces, and axes.
Seeing as they had already slaughtered the two guards at the entrance, their purpose was clearly not a civil one.
The moment the commotion started, Bae Wang-sik, who was sitting at a table near the entrance, stood up.
He naturally reached out and grabbed a hammer.
‘I can't use a shield.’
Fighting bare-handed felt empty, so he had prepared a slightly larger hammer than the one he used last time.
“Everyone, get back.”
With those words, Bae Wang-sik walked toward the ten men who had just entered the casino.
Smash! Smash!
There were no greetings.
It began with him crushing two men's heads. At the same time, five weapons struck his body.
But none of them could pierce Bae Wang-sik's body.
Smash! Smash! Smash!
As if playing whack-a-mole, Bae Wang-sik brought the hammer down on the attackers' heads.
One by one.
There were no mistakes.
“Block the exit.”
A quick-witted man took a wide path and closed the door the attackers had come through.
Before they could even sense that something was wrong, Bae Wang-sik charged again.
There was one who was fairly skilled, but all he could do was dodge a few attacks.
Smash!
Even the leader of the assault team, who had held out until the end, collapsed as his head was half-caved in.
“Nothing special.”
Bae Wang-sik tossed the hammer onto the floor, which was now stained with blood and brains.
“What are you doing? Clean this up, quick. We have customers to serve.”
Overwhelmed by Bae Wang-sik's sheer presence, the members of Dusk's mercenary group froze like statues.
“Move!”
Only after Bae Wang-sik shouted irritably did the men snap out of it and start moving.
Leaving them to clean up, he went to the office, where Dusk stared at him with a look of astonishment.
“What's with that disrespectful look?”
“N-Nothing, sir.”
“I told you I'd let you live. I keep my promises.”
“Huh? Yes…”
Dusk had something he wanted to say but chose not to.
‘There's no way we can stop Drepia with just this…’
A flicker of hope had ignited within him.
‘And we have that assassin, so maybe…’
But he quickly shook his head as he remembered the power of Drepia.
“Alright, now it's time for revenge. Two of your men were killed, after all.”
“What?”
“Your brothers were killed and you're not going to get revenge? Did you mince up your loyalty and put it in a stew?”
“But…”
“What was the last place they took from you?”
When Dusk hesitated, a thin needle flew out from somewhere.
“Kuh!”
The needle cleanly pierced the back of his hand and stuck into the floor.
If the target hadn't been his hand, he would already be dead.
“The pawnshop.”
“Get up. We're going to get it back now.”
Bae Wang-sik led Dusk out of the casino.
Elaym, the last stronghold of Dusk's mercenary group, was originally where they had first established themselves.
It was a small town, but its proximity to the tourist city of Neresa allowed them to live quite prosperously.
Their main businesses were an illegal casino, loan sharking, and a pawnshop—activities that couldn't be conducted in Neresa—and the income was quite substantial.
There were loan sharks and pawnshops inside Neresa, but only nobles or merchants with clear standing could use them.
Everyone else had no choice but to use the outlying towns, one of which was Elaym. As a result, the casino's profits were also quite large.
However, Drepia had already taken over the operating rights for the loan sharking and pawnshop businesses.
This had happened two years ago, and it was Dusk's first time visiting the pawnshop since then.
Just inside the entrance was a tiny space behind iron bars. Beyond that were a warehouse and an office for the loan sharking business.
“This is it.”
“You stay here.”
Bae Wang-sik opened the door, went inside, and ripped the iron bars off with his bare hands.
“Who the hell are you?”
“I'm a businessman.”
“Business?”
“Debt collection. It's a business that's about to get popular.”
CRUNCH!
Bae Wang-sik tore the iron bars off by force. The startled opponent tried to flee, but the hammer Bae Wang-sik threw was faster.
It was thrown with enough force to embed itself deep in the man's head.
After taking care of one man, Bae Wang-sik immediately went deeper into the pawnshop.
The noise continued after that.
Dusk, waiting outside, listened to the sounds with an anxious expression.
“Boss! What's going on?”
Five subordinates arrived, having been summoned.
They were the five he trusted most.
“Are we finally taking it back?”
His ever-present subordinate, Adum, looked ready to charge in at any moment.
“Wait.”
“Just wait?”
“Yes! Goddammit! I said wait!”
Despite being cursed at, Adum's fighting spirit still burned.
About twenty minutes later, the closed pawnshop door opened.
Unlike when he went in, Bae Wang-sik was now covered in blood, looking like a demon.
The waiting group recoiled in shock, and Bae Wang-sik spoke.
“What are you doing? Get in there and grab anything valuable.”
Bae Wang-sik roughly brushed off his clothes and wiped his face with a handkerchief.
It was a natural gesture, like wiping away sweat after a hard day's work.
“Get in there, now!”
Adum went in first, followed by the other four. In the end, only Bae Wang-sik and Dusk remained.
“Uh, th-thank you for your hard work.”
“You were tucking your tail between your legs because of guys like that? Pathetic.”
Dusk knew better than anyone that they couldn't be dismissed as "just guys like that."
‘Maxim must have been in there.’
He was a man specially dispatched by Drepia, the one in charge of Elaym. He was quite famous among mercenaries.
He was known to have been sentenced to hanging for committing numerous crimes, but Drepia had somehow gotten him out. Someone else died in his place, and he lived on under a new name.
This was a typical method Drepia used to recruit skilled individuals, and the 50-man Drepia armed unit formed this way was a core force feared by other organizations.
Maxim was also said to be skilled enough to join the armed unit, which was why Dusk hadn't been able to put up any resistance.
“Wasn't there a skilled man in there?”
Fearing repercussions if he had survived, Dusk asked directly.
“Nope.”
“What? Then…”
“There was one guy who dodged twice. Had a scar on his face.”
That was definitely Maxim.
“Only twice…”
“Forget it. He's already dead. Just clean up the mess and come back.”
Bae Wang-sik clapped Dusk on the shoulder and left.