Ch.2Hunting Dog Najin (2)

In the underground city of Attman, sunset occurs even in the morning.

What illuminated the morning in Attman, where the sun never rises, were not sunrays but lamps fueled by ore, and the light emitted by the ore was the color of sunset. Thus, Attman was always bathed in a sunset glow.

Those who had forgotten sunlight would reminisce about the sun through the artificial sunset glow of the ore lamps.

Of course, this didn’t apply to the boy now walking the streets. Born in the underground city and having never experienced the outside, the boy had never seen the sun.

“Letter for you.”

Early morning, on a street bathed in sunset glow.

A boy in a postman’s uniform, Najin, was knocking on the door of a tavern. A postman’s virtue would be to simply leave the letter and move on if no one answered, but the boy persistently knocked on the tavern door.

“Damn it, who is it?!”

Finally, a man flung the door open in frustration. He grabbed the postman standing at the door by the collar and lifted him up.

“Hey, you little shit, you could’ve just left it and gone, but you had to be so dense…?”

The man’s words trailed off.

The boy whose collar he had grabbed lifted his postman’s cap slightly to reveal his face. The moment the man made eye contact with Najin, his face froze.

“Kavin.”

Najin called the man’s name.

Looking at Kavin, the boy smiled.

“Tricksy’s inside, right?”

“…Why do you want Brother Tricksy?”

“A letter came from Ivan. For Tricksy.”

“……”

Kavin silently shifted his gaze toward the inside of the shop. After briefly exchanging glances with his brother sitting inside, Kavin sighed deeply and released Najin’s collar.

“Brother says to come in.”

“Oh. Do you have something to drink? My throat’s a bit dry.”

“…Tch.”

Though clicking his tongue, Kavin headed to the kitchen. While he went to fetch water, Najin entered the tavern with casual steps. The tavern was filled with men, each with at least one blade tucked at their waist.

Roughly seven or eight of them.

Despite having their sharp gazes on him, Najin leisurely walked to the center of the tavern. He plopped down on the guest sofa placed there.

“Nice sofa, Tricksy.”

“It’s an expensive luxury item I spent good money on.”

The one who answered Najin’s muttering was a middle-aged man sitting across from him. Tricksy, as the man was called, narrowed his eyes while swirling his glass.

“So what brings you here, Najin?”

“I told you already, Tricksy.”

Najin reached into his chest. At that moment, the men glaring at Najin flinched slightly. Their hands moved toward the blades at their waists. Noticing this, Najin smirked.

“A letter came from Ivan.”

What he pulled out from his chest was a letter.

As if telling them to relax, Najin waved the letter in his hand in front of them. But the tension remained. Everyone present knew that the boy was only disguised as a postman, not an actual one.

The underground city, Attman.

This lawless zone, where only minimal laws existed, was ruled by three powerful figures, one of whom was a man called One-Eyed Ivan. And the boy before them was a figure well-known to anyone belonging to Ivan’s family.

“Tricksy.”

Tricksy, also belonging to Ivan’s organization, knew well “what” kind of existence this boy was, who so casually spoke Ivan’s name.

“I told you to keep it low-key.”

Ivan’s right hand.

“This time you went too far.”

The organization’s collector.

“Taking children, cutting open their bellies, and selling them? That’s a bit much, isn’t it? You know what Ivan hates the most. You crossed the line.”

The organization’s executioner disguised as a postman.

Ivan’s hunting dog.

The boy called by these names, Najin, sighed and tapped the table with his fingers. Watching this, Tricksy clicked his tongue.

‘Arrogant little brat…’

He was a merchant quite well-known in these parts, though not as much as Ivan. He also held a high position in the organization. He couldn’t feel good about a boy treating him so arrogantly.

But he couldn’t voice that fact.

That boy was sitting before him as Ivan’s representative, and he had the skills to back it up. Tricksy moistened his throat with alcohol and spoke.

“So what do you want to say?”

“I just want to ask. Why did you do it?”

“A merchant has only one reason for what he does. I did it because I thought it would put more money in my pocket.”

“That’s the only reason?”

“Do I need another?”

Tricksy shrugged.

“You’ll understand when you’re older, kid. When an easy path appears before you, people tend to take it. When you can make gold coins flow by just capturing some kids and cutting them open, why wouldn’t you?”

“You know that if you rush in just because it looks easy, you might lose your ankle.”

“You always have a comeback, don’t you?”

“Ivan taught me that way.”

With a thud.

Tricksy put down the glass in his hand on the table. The ice in the glass clinked. They were tired of just eyeing each other. It was time to get to the point.

“So what did Brother Ivan say?”

“Would you like me to read it to you?”

“That would be good.”

Tricksy gestured with his chin.

Najin cleared his throat as he unfolded the letter.

“Tricksy.”

Najin’s lips moved.

“Your three chances are over.”

An ultimatum.

“……”

He didn’t need to hear what followed. So, Tricksy gave a signal with his eyes. At that moment, his subordinates surrounding Najin drew their blades. Kavin, who had gone to fetch water, opened the back door of the tavern.

Creeeeak.

Five men entered the tavern through the opened door. They held large blades in their hands. Glancing at them, Najin continued.

“Cough up all the money you’ve earned. Out of consideration for our past relationship, I’ll spare your life… That’s what it says. What will you do, Tricksy?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Tricksy gestured.

With a click, both the back and front doors of the tavern were firmly locked. The intention was clear. They had preemptively blocked Najin’s escape routes.

“Oh.”

Najin stuck out his tongue.

There were thirteen of Tricksy’s subordinates surrounding him now. Brushing off their fierce gazes, Najin let out a hollow laugh.

“Tricksy, do you have something to rely on? Pointing a knife at me is the same as pointing it at Ivan.”

“I found a better brother than Ivan, who sets unnecessary rules.”

“Dusk Horsey? Junkie Hakan?”

The other two powerful figures ruling the underground city.

Tricksy didn’t bother to answer which one he had aligned with. Instead, he just smiled regretfully.

“It’s a shame, Najin.”

“Yeah, really……”

The moment Najin put down the letter.

All thirteen men rushed at him simultaneously. Looking at the blades gleaming under the tavern’s cheap lighting, Najin exhaled deeply.

“I regret this, Tricksy.”

Najin’s foot moved.

Bang!

Najin kicked upward at the table between him and Tricksy. The glasses on the table shattered, sending water droplets flying in all directions.

The table floating in the air.

Water droplets reflecting the light.

It was in that moment when Tricksy’s attention was momentarily diverted. Tricksy heard it. The chilling sound of cutting. The sound of something heavy falling to the floor with a thud along with the table. The screams followed belatedly.

“Hu, huaaaaaagh!”

The table that had been lifted into the air and then fell. What fell with it was someone’s arm. The subordinate with one arm severed screamed.

That scream didn’t last long.

With a thwack, Najin’s kick caved in the face of the screaming man. With his head thrown back, one subordinate collapsed with a thud. In an instant, one had fallen. Twelve remained.

“Get, get him!”

“Damn, this kid…!”

“Rush him!”

The subordinates who had backed away due to the suddenly airborne table now rushed at Najin again. His eyes remained fixed on Tricksy, who was slowly backing away.

“Tricksy.”

Najin smiled.

“If you run, it won’t end with just you.”

Ivan’s hunting dog bared his teeth.

3.

The lamp hanging from the tavern ceiling swayed precariously. With each flicker of the lamp, shadows danced and screams echoed. Screams. Loud footsteps. The sound of things breaking and shattering.

“Aaaaaaaargh!”

“You crazy bastard…!”

Blood sprayed in long arcs.

The splattered blood stained the tavern’s tables, bottles, and windows a dark red. Amid the reek of blood and screams, Tricksy’s eyes wavered.

With each blink, another one fell.

Severed arms and legs were strewn messily all around. Those who charged even with severed arms had their faces and jaws met with Najin’s knees. Najin’s movements between the falling subordinates were eerily chilling.

He slipped through the blades swung at him as if sliding. With a light step, Najin raised his foot and struck down on a subordinate’s knee.

Crack!

With a chilling sound, the subordinate’s knee bent backward. Najin’s knee struck the face of the man who fell screaming. Before the man’s head, with eyes rolled back, could even hit the ground with a thud.

Slash.

The arm of a subordinate who tried to rush Najin flew through the air. Through the spraying blood, Najin could be seen already swinging his sword. Immediately after, Najin kicked off the ground with a bang and charged.

All those movements were eerie.

Fast, too fast.

He had thought the rumors were exaggerated, but it was the opposite. As more than half of his subordinates fell, Tricksy felt cold sweat running down his spine.

‘Crazy.’

Tricksy backed away.

Thirteen. There were a whole thirteen of them. He had heard rumors that this Najin kid was a monster, but he thought that this was more than enough to be able to handle him.

Half of the thirteen were members sent by Dusk. They were skilled blade wielders who had been by Dusk Horsey’s side for years, yet they were falling after just one or two exchanges.

‘I was mistaken.’

Now he had to admit it.

That his calculations were wrong. That this kid was more of a monster than he had thought. Tricksy, unable to just back away, turned his body completely and ran toward the door.

But, click.

No matter how he grabbed and turned the doorknob, the door wouldn’t open. The door that had been locked to prevent intruders from escaping was now holding the tavern’s owner who was trying to flee.

“Damn it…!”

Tricksy cursed as he fumbled at his waist. Just as he managed to pull out a key and was about to put it in the doorknob.

Crash!

Something crashed right next to Tricksy. Freezing in place, Tricksy slowly turned his head to the side. There was the face of his cherished subordinate. Not one of the members sent by Dusk, but his own subordinate, Kavin.

Kavin, with a torn forehead bleeding, made eye contact with Tricksy. Tricksy slowly turned around. There stood Ivan’s hunting dog.

“I told you, if you run, it won’t end with just you. Do I have to mention your son and wife’s names too?”

“You bastard…”

The one responsible for smashing Kavin’s head against the door.

Najin, still gripping Kavin’s head with one hand, looked at Tricksy with tired eyes. Tricksy’s gaze shifted beyond Najin’s shoulder.

“Urrrgh…”

“Gu, gulp…”

No one was standing.

But no one was dead either.

Those sprawled out, groaning, might have become half-cripples, but they were all still alive. However, Tricksy instinctively knew that the same wouldn’t apply to him.

The boy before him was Ivan’s representative. And Ivan never spared the leaders.

He was the leader here, so he couldn’t escape responsibility. Sensing his impending death, a hollow laugh escaped Tricksy’s lips. With his legs giving out, Tricksy slumped down against the door.

“……”

Najin, who had been looking down at Tricksy, pulled on Kavin’s hair, which he had smashed against the door. Kavin, who was groaning with broken wood pieces embedded in his face, had his cheek tapped by the back of Najin’s hand.

“Kavin.”

Making eye contact with the trembling Kavin, Najin spoke briefly.

“I told you I was thirsty.”

Kavin nodded vigorously.

When Najin released him, Kavin limped to a corner of the tavern to fetch water, this time for real.

“Phew…”

Exhaling deeply, Najin brushed back his hair. Wiping the blood from his face with his sleeve, Najin bent his knee to meet Tricksy’s eye level.

“Why did you start something you couldn’t finish and make things troublesome? Tricksy, you weren’t someone who miscalculated like this.”

“Kuk, kuhuk…”

Tricksy let out a bitter laugh.

“You crazy bastard. Normally, if you gather thirteen people, you’d calculate that it’s enough to take down someone like you.”

“Even if the opponent is Ivan?”

“That monster is an exception.”

“Then you should have made me an exception too.”

Tricksy burst into laughter.

Who was Ivan, the man who ruled this underground city? Ivan was once a knight who made a name for himself in the upper town. Unlike the riffraff, he was a master among masters who could draw out sword energy.

Looking at the young boy who asked to be placed on the same level as such a master, Tricksy couldn’t help but laugh.

But, at the same time.

Tricksy couldn’t completely deny Najin’s words.

The boy before him had an unusual martial talent. It was clear that he was a genius with a shining talent that could reach great heights if properly educated.

‘But.’

This is the underground city of Attman.

No matter how outstanding one’s talent might be, those who are abandoned here or born here can never leave this city.

Therefore.

In this city, talent is nothing but a laughingstock.

“Kukuk, Najin.”

Sensing his own death, Tricksy chose to mock rather than beg for his life. With a sneer on his lips, Tricksy opened his mouth. Moving his trembling jaw, he voiced his mockery.

“You will spend your entire life here… Kuk!”

Those words didn’t reach their end.

The tip of Najin’s sword had pierced Tricksy’s throat. Tricksy, who was making choked sounds as blood blocked his throat, collapsed to the side.

The flowing blood soaked the tavern floor.

Only when Tricksy’s movements ceased did Najin pull out the sword embedded in the corpse’s neck.

“I know, Tricksy.”

Muttering so, Najin slowly rose to his feet. Turning around, he saw Kavin offering him a glass of water with trembling hands. Najin gestured to Kavin with his chin.

“Ye, yes…?”

“Take a sip first.”

Kavin hurriedly drank the water.

Though told to take just a sip, Kavin drained almost half the glass, causing Najin to frown. Seems like there’s no poison in it.

“Thank you, Kavin.”

Najin snatched the glass before Kavin could finish it all. Sipping the remaining water, Najin looked around.

“It would be best to clean up by the end of today. Ivan doesn’t seem to want this shop to close… Clean it up neatly and you can take over.”

“Me, you mean?”

“That’s why I didn’t cut off your arm.”

Najin tapped Kavin’s arm with the back of his sword. Kavin’s eyes widened in shock. In a place where everyone had become half-crippled, only Kavin had all his limbs intact.

“By ‘clean up,’ I also mean the money earned through nonsense and the relationship with Dusk Horsey. Don’t make me do this job twice, Kavin.”

Dusk Horsey.

Though Tricksy hadn’t mentioned which side he had aligned with, Najin seemed to already know who it was. Kavin swallowed dryly and nodded.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Yes, please do.”

Najin rose from his seat, looking tired.

Only after he opened the door and left did Kavin’s legs give out, causing him to slump down. It felt as if a storm had just swept through.