Ch.187Careless Whisper! (5)

#187

Beep—

“Ugh…”

When Rascal opened his eyes to the ringing in his ears, he was greeted by a dark and dreary concrete ceiling.

The faint pain from his collarbone near his shoulder—which Dexter had broken and hadn’t yet healed—slowly awakened Rascal’s dazed mind, causing him to panic.

“Is this… Guantanamo?”

But the stuffy air characteristic of underground spaces suggested he was indoors.

Rascal knew that all detention cells at Guantanamo Bay were outdoors, so he could at least tell that this wasn’t Guantanamo.

That left just one question.

‘Where the hell am I?’

When Rascal tried to move in his confusion, he attempted to shift his arms and legs but found they wouldn’t respond. He tried to raise his upper body, but that didn’t work either.

Still lying on the bed, he slightly lifted his head to look down and saw that not only his limbs but also his chest and waist were restrained with leather straps.

OSA doesn’t restrain criminals like this.

At that point, Rascal slowly recalled what had happened before he regained consciousness in this dark, damp room.

‘I definitely escaped from the OSA basement, got into the Special Measures Team’s van disguised as a civilian vehicle, and then… my head felt like it was splitting, followed by an explosion sound, and the car flipped over.’

And then came the flickering memories—vague shapes seen through his fading vision.

The last thing he remembered was several men who looked like PMC contractors tearing open the van door roughly, with one of them hoisting him up and heading somewhere.

PMC mercenaries wouldn’t deliberately attack a civilian van.

‘The General must have come to rescue me!’

Rascal was about to grin when he remembered his current predicament.

‘But why am I tied up like this?’

While Rascal was pondering this question, he suddenly heard the clank of an iron door opening and the sound of something wheeled entering the room.

Several women in long-sleeved blue clothes appeared, followed by someone who entered with heavy footsteps.

“Ah, you’re awake!”

Hearing an elderly voice he’d never heard before, Rascal turned his head in that direction.

In his line of sight was a white-haired old man wearing a doctor’s gown and round glasses, grinning at Rascal.

As a bonus, when the old man grinned at Rascal, one of his front teeth was missing.

“What a shame for a young fellow like you, isn’t it?”

“W-what do you mean?”

The old man didn’t say anything more, just continued showing his toothless grin.

Again, the sound of something heavy and wheeled entering the room was heard multiple times.

Turning his head as much as he could, Rascal could see that the objects making the noise were electronic devices.

While he had no idea how to use some of them, he recognized others.

‘Isn’t that an ECG monitor?’

Rascal was bewildered about what they were planning to do as a monitor displaying heart rate and oxygen saturation entered the room.

“Ah, the Secretary is coming.”

There was only one person here who would be called Secretary.

‘Olivia’s Secretary.’

The only person who could explain this incomprehensible situation.

As the sound of brisk footsteps approached, Rascal turned his head toward the sound, extremely tense.

As soon as the Secretary entered the room, he clicked his tongue at Rascal and said:

“Explain yourself.”

“I-I’m sorry. It was just a minor mistake…”

“I know you attended a good university and entered OSA with excellent grades, but I never dreamed you’d do something even a child wouldn’t mistake.”

“I can explain that! If you’d just listen to me for a moment…!”

“……”

Rascal was taken aback by the Secretary’s expression of contempt, as until now, the Secretary had always greeted him with a smile.

“How does it feel to be humbled after underestimating your opponents?”

“……”

“Didn’t you say you could easily handle a muscle-head like Dexter?”

“That was…”

“Didn’t you say you’d make Agent Himena your slave and use her as you pleased?”

“……”

“Yet you didn’t insult those bastards, nor did you carry out Olivia’s orders.”

The Secretary pointed at Rascal’s face and spoke deliberately:

“Instead, you were captured by those two and even interrogated. You fucking idiot.”

“……”

Despite the Secretary’s insults, Rascal could only avert his gaze without saying anything.

“If I were Olivia, I’d want to throw you into a wood chipper and scatter your remains across the wasteland, but Olivia told me to be as forgiving as the ocean.”

The Secretary continued his harsh criticism, but the last part was key.

Thinking that at least the Secretary wouldn’t kill him as he was, Rascal showed a pleading smile and asked:

“S-so why am I tied up like this?”

The Secretary turned around, showing only the back of his head to Rascal, and said:

“She said you should offer your body to her.”

“What? Offer my body… you mean serve her at night… gack!”

“You little shit, what? Serve her at night?”

Unable to contain himself, the Secretary grabbed Rascal’s neck with one hand, causing Rascal to gasp for breath and struggle to speak.

“I… I’m… sorry…”

“No wonder you got your ass handed to you, with your head full of that crap.”

The Secretary released Rascal’s neck and said with a disgusted expression:

“Anyway, be grateful.”

“Ugh, g-grateful for what?”

“That Olivia has given you a chance.”

“But what kind of chance…?”

With his limbs bound, Rascal couldn’t understand what kind of opportunity this was supposed to be, and the Secretary didn’t want to give a proper answer.

‘I have no obligation to explain things properly to a failure.’

But this was practically Rascal’s last time as an ordinary human being.

With that thought, the Secretary glanced at Rascal, who was giving him a pitiful look, and gave a brief answer as he left the room:

“Encyclopedia—you know what that means. It’s an opportunity as precious as gold, so don’t refuse it and accept it well.”

“Wait, what do you mean? Encyclopedia? What does that…!”

Rascal also knew that “encyclopedia” didn’t refer to a book but to a person.

However, Rascal was also fully aware of the encyclopedia’s fate.

Recalling the grotesque death of the encyclopedia—a fate possibly worse than death—Rascal shouted loudly:

“Fuck, you want me to become a negative test subject!! Let me go!! Untie me right now!!”

The old man, who had been quiet all along, grinned and put an anesthetic mask on Rascal, saying:

“Accept your rebirth, Rascal.”

“Untie me right now!! I’m different from you people!! My great-grandfather was a British nobleman, and my grandfather was a well-known community leader in Tennessee!! I’m Rascal Fitzroy, the first son of the Fitzroy family!!”

“I’ll give you plenty of anesthetic. We’ll need at least twice as much to keep this one quiet. Hee hee.”

“M-money, I’ll give you money. I don’t have much, but my father… even now… could… give…”

Soon, as Rascal succumbed to the effects of the anesthetic, the old man pointed to his own face and said to a nurse beside him:

“Put on my mask. Things are about to get very interesting!”

Soon the old man’s mouth was covered by a mask, but the intense heat in his eyes was enough for the nurses in the room to imagine what expression he was making.

* * *

“Ah, fuck.”

“Why are you cursing as soon as you arrive?”

“Wouldn’t you curse if you saw the girl you liked stuck to another guy?”

“Wait, did you actually like me?”

“Fuck this.”

“You shouldn’t keep cursing.”

Dexter was dizzy trying to follow this conversation.

As soon as Decker saw Dexter sitting on the bench with Emily clinging to him, he immediately cursed, and Emily responded to Decker’s sudden profanity in her usual emotionless voice.

Thinking it would be better to get to the point rather than continue this pointless argument, Dexter asked Decker:

“What did those bastards say?”

“…They told me to come to the Huntridge Theater in an hour.”

“Good, let’s go.”

Seeing Dexter stand up from the bench without any preparation, Decker frowned and said:

“Those bastards will bring at least ten people. Can the three of us handle it?”

“It’s not three of us.”

Decker’s face brightened at Dexter’s words.

“So we’re getting more backup? You’re bringing more friends like yourself?”

“No, I’ll handle it alone.”

When Dexter said this with a grin, Decker grabbed his own head with both hands in disbelief:

“What kind of bullshit is that? Alone? No matter if you’re Emily’s boyfriend, acting that recklessly will get your head chopped off, man!”

“Isn’t that good for you?”

“How is that good! What do I gain if you get a hole in your head?”

“Emily.”

Dexter’s blunt statement.

Decker was momentarily speechless at Dexter’s words.

A brief silence fell.

Emily looked at Decker, and Decker glanced at Emily before avoiding her gaze and looking at Dexter.

Finally, to break the awkward situation, Decker stammered:

“I mean, it’s good, but! You should value your own life, you know!”

“You don’t need to worry about Dexter.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’ll show prowess beyond what you can imagine.”

When Emily also expressed confidence that Dexter would win, Decker couldn’t understand.

“I really don’t get it. How can you both be so sure?”

“Just tell me the contact plan. I’ll handle the rest.”

“Fine, I’m washing my hands of this. You’re on your own, so you’d better survive.”

“Tell me the plan.”

As Dexter pressed for an answer with a crooked posture, Decker spun around in place a couple of times before glaring at Dexter and saying:

“You crazy bastard. Do you have two lives or something?”

Ignoring Decker’s comment, Dexter twirled his two index fingers, signaling him to continue. Decker spoke with an irritated voice:

“I said it was a contact, but I told them I need to sell their goods before they’ll let me join them. So they’re bringing a trailer truck to the Huntridge Theater parking lot.”

“What’s inside?”

“I don’t know. Since I told them I mainly deal in vehicles like cars or motorcycles, they’ll probably bring something like that.”

“And then?”

“I’ll roughly estimate the price and hand over that amount of money to them. According to them, it’s worth about $300,000, but obviously I can’t trust what those bastards say.”

“So it’s a 1:1 trade of money for goods?”

Decker nodded but continued with a displeased expression:

“I don’t usually accept stolen goods like this. These fuckers are making me trade this way. If it weren’t for you, I’d be quietly living in my LA penthouse right now.”

As Decker kept grumbling, Dexter looked at him with annoyance and said:

“Just be grateful I’m not screwing you over because you’re Emily’s friend. So, is my role to be your bodyguard?”

When Dexter clenched his fist and waved it in front of Decker, Decker flinched, stepped back, and said in a small voice:

“Yeah. Driver and bodyguard.”

Though Decker was supposedly Emily’s friend, he was actually younger than her.

While he might be a big shot in the stolen goods market, to Dexter he looked like a teenager whose baby fat hadn’t even gone away yet. Dexter ruffled Decker’s hair roughly and said:

“When I make my move, you duck down and hide well. Don’t try to help by waving a gun around or you’ll get hurt.”

“Is your boyfriend always like this?”

As Decker swatted away Dexter’s hand, Emily slightly raised the corners of her mouth.

“Let’s go. You’ll be amazed when you see how my brother fights.”

“Brother my ass.”

Decker snickered as he got into the driver’s seat of his car, and the other two sat in the passenger and back seats as they headed to the Huntridge Theater.

The Huntridge Theater in Las Vegas is an old theater that has been closed for quite some time.

Matching the appearance of Las Vegas’s old downtown area full of dilapidated buildings, the parking lot—still covered with graffiti and faded old advertisements—incongruously housed a new trailer truck reflecting the streetlights.

And in front of the trailer truck stood five men who looked dangerous at first glance, openly carrying pistols and submachine guns.

“That’s a big trailer.”

“It could fit at least two cars.”

With a nervous face, Decker drove around the Huntridge Theater looking for any potential backup, but there was no sign of any.

At Dexter’s request, Decker dropped Emily off a short distance from the Huntridge Theater.

Seeing Emily’s confused look about why she was being left there, Dexter said in a low voice:

“If you hear gunshots, don’t come closer. Stay far away.”

“I want to help too.”

“I can protect one person, but two is difficult. And I can’t just abandon this guy.”

Decker, treated as someone who needed protection, got annoyed.

“Are you our father or something?”

“Yes, son. So just shut up, will you? The adults are talking.”

“Fuck.”

Though Decker was fuming, Dexter obviously didn’t care.

“I’ll come back here when it’s done, so really, don’t do anything.”

“……”

In response to Dexter’s words, Emily kissed him on the lips instead of answering, then turned abruptly and headed for a corner of the alley.

“God, this is so fucking annoying.”

“What, jealous because the adults are kissing?”

“Bullshit! What adults!”

Though Decker huffed and puffed as they headed back to the theater, the fear rising in a corner of his heart made him ask Dexter:

“Do you really have a way to beat five armed men?”

“I told you I do. Just make sure you don’t catch any stray bullets.”

Unlike the anxious-looking Decker, Dexter smiled as soon as they arrived at the Huntridge Theater.

“Just do as I say.”

“I’m really fucking nervous, shit.”

As Decker and Dexter arrived at the parking lot and got out of the car, a bald Latin man who appeared to be the leader nodded his head in greeting.

Combined with the hot air of Las Vegas, adrenaline coursed through Dexter’s body.

Now it was about to begin.