Ch.166[Episode 166] To Cartel

Don Castello’s Secret Villa.

There, Don Castello was puffing on a cigar with a furrowed brow.

“…Brother.”

That single word suddenly blurted out by Don Castello.

And suddenly, unable to contain his anger, Don Castello took a rough breath and threw the ashtray against the wall.

The words his brother, Don Cartello, had said to him a few days ago still echoed in his ears.

‘Why don’t you hand over the work to me and take a good rest?’

What Don Cartello had said.

At first glance, he might have seemed like a caring older brother concerned about his sibling’s health.

But looking deeper, those words had a completely different meaning.

His brother, Don Cartello, was someone who couldn’t survive without their father’s help.

It’s not something a younger brother should say, but Don Cartello was the epitome of incompetence and ignorance.

A man with an empty head, the vacant space filled with desire and greed.

He was so incompetent and greedy that he had begged their father to let him run the family’s most profitable casino, only to ruin it.

In contrast, what about Don Castello?

Although he received some help from his father, he was skilled enough to be considered self-made.

He loved games and joined a game development club, then grew that club into a solid company solely thanks to Don Castello’s excellent business acumen.

The only help he received from his father was learning the basics of business management from his father’s acquaintances.

Now, let’s recall Don Cartello’s words once more.

…

The day Don Cartello came to visit.

‘Why don’t you hand over the work to me and take a good rest?’

That’s what Don Cartello had said to Don Castello.

Did you notice this subtle nuance?

That’s right.

Don Cartello was blatantly revealing his intention to steal the results of Don Castello’s hard work.

Moreover, what Don Cartello said next was even more blatant.

‘I’ve already talked to father and he agreed to give it to me, so start preparing for the handover—’

‘What nonsense.’

Don Castello said with a frown and a sneer.

That evening, Don Castello visited his family home after a long time to meet his father.

‘Father. Is it true that you’re giving my company to my brother?’

‘…What are you talking about?’

‘What?’

Don Cartello had clearly—

In fact, Don Cartello had tried to deceive Don Castello through clever wordplay.

He said he had spoken to their father, but never said he had received permission.

Upon discovering the truth, Don Castello immediately rushed to confront his brother.

He intended to demand why he had lied.

But as soon as Don Castello saw his brother, he was struck speechless.

‘From now on, we’re enemies, little brother.’

Don Cartello provoked Don Castello with a somehow confident smile.

And then, attacked by thugs who appeared from nowhere, Don Castello had to flee in an undignified manner.

…

That was the situation so far.

Don Castello’s hands trembled.

The cigar, burned down to the root, was burning his fingers, but Don Castello was too deep in thought to notice the pain.

Why.

Why would his brother do this to him?

What could he possibly want with his younger brother’s modest wealth?

And why on earth did his brother attack him?

Don Castello couldn’t begin to guess Don Cartello’s true intentions.

But one thing was certain.

The relationship between Don Castello and Don Cartello had deteriorated to the point where they could no longer be called brothers.

Don Castello slightly pulled back the thick curtain to look outside.

The sunset was fading.

He needed to hide here until tomorrow morning.

There might still be attackers outside—

Crash!

The sound of breaking glass came from somewhere.

No, not just one, but multiple windows breaking.

And then, as if not even trying to hide, footsteps and the sound of something being dragged could be heard from far away.

“Is it here?”

Bang!

“Or here?”

Bang!

The intruders were rushing around, kicking open every door in the villa.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sounds were getting closer.

Don Castello unconsciously began to back away from the approaching footsteps.

“Here it is!”

Bang! An intruder kicked open the door to the room where Don Castello was.

But the intruder didn’t see Don Castello.

Instead, all he saw was a wide-open window and thick blackout curtains fluttering in the wind.

“…He escaped! Find him!”

The intruders jumped out through the window frame.

And began to search thoroughly around the secret villa.

“Where could he have gone…”

Even the last remaining intruder left through the door into the hallway.

In the empty room, only the curtains fluttered.

“…”

No, actually, one person remained.

“That was close.”

Don Castello emerged from a pillar next to the window.

There had been a secret space cleverly created using an optical illusion.

Don Castello sighed with relief.

“I can’t keep hiding anymore.”

Don Castello decided with a grim expression.

Until now, he had minimized his use of electronic devices due to concerns about wiretapping and location tracking, but the fact that pursuers had come even without him using electronic devices meant that information about him was leaking from somewhere.

If that was the case, it would be better to boldly make contact and meet directly.

“Now Sir Dominic is the only one I can trust.”

Don Castello bit his lip tightly.

“Let’s see how far this goes, brother.”

As his anger toward Don Cartello continued to grow.

…

In a narrow, dark room.

“Heheheha! Did you see him running away so pathetically? I wish my brother could have seen himself like that!”

Don Cartello laughed without dignity.

His sagging cheeks trembled.

“I don’t see what’s so funny.”

A dandy man with sparse white hair said, putting a cigar in his mouth.

“Your sudden outburst ruined our kidnapping and confinement operation.”

“Well, even so, we still have the upper hand, don’t we?”

Don Cartello grinned as if something was terribly amusing.

Such an immature attitude.

“Even if you lose 10% of the assets because you blew the opportunity?”

“That can’t happen.”

Don Cartello turned serious at the dandy man’s words.

His mouth was firmly shut, but his eyes gleamed with desire.

“Was it really going to cost 10% of the assets?”

Don Cartello asked, sounding wronged.

“Of course.”

The man lit his cigar and took a deep drag, then explained point by point why Don Cartello would lose 10%.

“If things continue like this, do you think that guy will just sit still? He’ll definitely ask others for help or hire mercenaries.”

“And do you think that will cost just a few pennies? No. He’ll spend all the money he has to bring in the best personnel.”

“But since most of his capital is tied up in investments in his company, the range he can utilize is about 10% of his assets. Assuming he spends all that money, you’re losing 10%.”

The man’s words sounded plausible.

However, the man’s explanation completely failed to account for one possibility.

Namely, the possibility that the operation would fail.

In fact, this dandy man knew very well that there was a chance this operation could fail.

It was only because they had quickly declared war while Don Castello was still disoriented that they had any advantage; the moment Don Cartello’s parents discovered his misconduct, Don Cartello would be completely ruined.

The dandy man bit his fingernails.

Time was not on Don Cartello’s side.

Yet he was thinking and moving so leisurely, which was incredibly frustrating.

“I see.”

Don Cartello nodded.

As if he had only heard what he wanted to hear, he said something completely irrelevant.

“So we just need to attack before he spends all his money, right? Isn’t that why we joined forces?”

The dandy man’s neck stiffened.

It was the kind of frustration that could make one’s blood pressure rise to the point of bursting blood vessels.

This situation clearly demonstrated just how incompetent Don Cartello was.

The dandy man tried hard to calm his anger and spoke gently to Don Cartello.

“Z is already preparing, so we just need to arrive on time.”

The man looked at the luxurious watch on his wrist.

Soon after sunset, Don Castello would be attacked.

According to their inside collaborator, Don Citadello… that is, Don Cartello and Don Castello’s father, was currently unaware of the brothers’ fight.

They needed to settle this as soon as possible.

If this plan failed too…

The man glanced at Don Cartello.

Either abandon him, or… use him until the end.

Feeling the man’s gaze, Don Cartello unpleasantly smiled back, meeting his eyes.

“Boss! We have a problem!”

Just then.

The thick, heavy iron door of the narrow, dark room opened, and someone rushed in.

Don Cartello frowned and was about to say something to the person, but the man spoke faster.

“The attack failed! Don Castello escaped!”

“What…?”

Don Cartello asked as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“We’re doomed.”

The dandy man, addressed as Boss, pressed his throbbing forehead.

Nothing was going right.