Ch.71Their Plan! (5)

#071

“Fucking bastard, you coward!”

“Isn’t it more cowardly for three guys to gang up on one?”

In response to the man’s words, Dexter sneered and drove his fist into the philtrum of the man who had been taking a beating.

Having been hit relentlessly, the man felt his head spin momentarily, and Dexter’s face began to appear as two.

“Uh, uh…”

Finally, as the man collapsed to the ground, one person tried to restrain Dexter by putting his hands under his armpits to bind both arms, while another started throwing punches at Dexter’s solar plexus.

“You work well together.”

The two seemed like they had been coordinating with each other for a long time, but it was of no use against Dexter.

Dexter simply raised his elbow and jabbed the ribs of the man behind him, immediately breaking free from the restraint.

Then he straightened the same arm and caught the fist coming toward his solar plexus.

“Huh?”

“What do you mean ‘huh’?”

Dexter pulled on the man’s fist, and unable to resist the strong force, the man was dragged right up to Dexter.

-Smack!

Dexter’s favorite attack method was to strike the jaw area with the hard part of his palm.

Slapping someone’s cheek with a palm is not only sufficiently unpleasant, but the impact from the sound and the shock transmitted from the jaw can flow directly to the brain.

The moment the lower part of the palm near the wrist collided forcefully with the jaw, the brain of the man who had thrown a punch at Dexter was severely shaken.

And when the rest of Dexter’s palm wrapped around his face, he felt a burning sensation like being scalded, beyond mere numbness, like salt being poured into a wound.

But the pain was brief; due to the brain being shaken, the man’s consciousness shut off instantly.

As the second man also collapsed to the ground without being able to respond properly, only the man who had tried to restrain Dexter remained, staring with bewildered eyes.

“No, no, how did you…?”

“You’ll figure it out after about 15 years of experience.”

Despite three men attacking together, two had fallen without being able to properly deal with Dexter.

Naturally, the man left alone couldn’t help but be intimidated by Dexter’s prowess.

“Wait, wait! Let’s just forget this happened…”

“No, that won’t work.”

“W-what?”

“I’m still not fully warmed up.”

“What happens when you’re fully warmed up…!”

As Dexter approached, the man raised his guard without being able to respond properly, thinking of the two who had been knocked out.

But his raised guard was trembling slightly.

“Your guard is too high. If you’re scared, don’t bother raising it at all.”

Hearing those words, the man unconsciously lowered his guard slightly, and Dexter struck his Adam’s apple with a straightened hand.

“Gack.”

The pain starting from his throat was so intense that saying he couldn’t breathe was an understatement. The man couldn’t even breathe properly.

As the man grabbed his own throat, unable to breathe, Dexter grabbed his hair and yanked it downward.

Then he drove his knee into the man’s philtrum.

The man felt as if his nose and philtrum were not just numb but burning as if a high-voltage current had passed through them.

“Hrgh.”

Fortunately, or unfortunately, his brain seemed to want no more of this pain.

The man staggered briefly before collapsing to the ground like the others.

“Time… 34 seconds. A bit faster than usual.”

Dexter checked his watch and grinned, then glanced at the three men sprawled on the ground before going back to support William, who was sitting leaning against the car, and headed toward the hospital.

“Mr. Pilgrim, let’s go.”

William, who had somewhat regained his senses while Dexter was dealing with the men one by one, had his eyes wide open.

Having thought of Dexter as just a prison guard who exercised diligently, William was left speechless after witnessing the movie-like takedown scene right before his eyes.

Completely unaware of William’s thoughts, Dexter headed to the address on the business card William had given him, and as he had expected, a dilapidated building came into view.

“Do you really have to get treatment at a place like this? Looks like the kind of place that would give you aspirin instead of morphine.”

“Th-there’s nowhere else.”

Though he couldn’t understand what William meant by “nowhere else,” Dexter entered the building as William directed.

Inside, like a scene from a horror movie, there was trash scattered on the floor, and the fluorescent lights were flickering.

“I can’t believe places like this still exist in the 21st century.”

[Abernathy Clinic]

Seeing the small, crude nameplate that looked like it had been hastily written with a marker, Dexter became even more suspicious of the doctor named Abernathy.

Nevertheless, upon entering the clinic, the first things he saw were an old woman dozing off in a chair and a middle-aged Black woman sitting at the reception desk eating cup noodles.

“What do you want?”

In response to the Black woman’s question, Dexter pointed to William and said:

“A patient. Probably heatstroke.”

“Oh, it’s Pilgrim. Just sit him down on that chair over there.”

After seeing the indifferent Black woman, Dexter set William down on the chair and was about to sit down himself.

“……”

Noticing a piece of gum stuck to the chair that looked like it had been placed there recently, Dexter stood up again from the seat he was about to take and crossed his arms, looking around.

Despite being somewhat shabby, the clinic was relatively clean for what it was.

“Dr. Abernathy! Pilgrim is here!”

Startled by the sudden loud voice, Dexter looked in the direction of the sound and saw the Black woman from earlier shouting toward what appeared to be the examination room.

“Is he coming soon?”

Dexter asked the Black woman who had sat back down, but she continued eating her cup noodles with an indifferent face and replied:

“I don’t know. I’m not the doctor.”

‘Just as I expected.’

True to a clinic in a high-crime area, the service spirit was zero.

As Dexter, who hadn’t expected much anyway, was waiting while tapping his foot, the door to the examination room suddenly burst open.

“*Cough* Will, is that you? Oh, no. Who are you?”

It was an obese elderly man who had all the characteristics one might include when asked to draw a drunkard.

‘He’s holding a half-empty bottle of liquor, his nose is red, his eyes are bloodshot, and he hasn’t bathed…’

Even the doctor’s coat he was wearing looked dirty with various stains stuck to it.

“Mr. Pilgrim seems to have collapsed from heatstroke, so I brought him here. I tried to take him to another hospital, but he strongly refused.”

“Pilgrim? Ah, that’s Will’s last name. Just looking at him, I can tell he went to another protest and got heat exhaustion.”

Abernathy chuckled, scratched his behind, and then pointed toward the treatment room.

“Shanice, show him to a bed, *cough*, and you who brought Will, help support him.”

“Me?”

“Should Shanice, who has no strength at all, move the patient instead?”

‘Judging by her size, she probably has about the same strength as me.’

Shanice, who seemed to be working as a nurse, pointed at Dexter, wiggled her index finger, and then went into the treatment room.

When Dexter brought William in, Shanice pointed to one of the two beds in the treatment room.

“Should I put him here?”

Instead of answering, Shanice nodded, and Dexter gently placed William on the bed and went back outside the treatment room.

Abernathy, still staggering just as before, was waiting for Dexter.

“Will wouldn’t be friends with someone as normal-looking as you, *cough*. Who are you?”

“I work at the prison where they’re protesting.”

“Judging by your pants, a guard?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Abernathy rummaged through his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit it.

Seeing him light a cigarette without hesitation inside the clinic, Dexter thought this place was truly a mess.

“He’s a pitiful fellow, so don’t treat him too harshly at your prison.”

“I know.”

At Dexter’s quick response, Abernathy grinned and held out his palm.

“…What is it?”

“Treatment fee. I’m only charging for the IV.”

“Huh, should the person who brought him all the way here pay?”

“I know Will doesn’t have anything on him, that’s why I’m asking you. Just give me 30 dollars.”

It seemed like everyone just wanted Dexter’s money.

“Geez, this is practically extortion.”

Still, since it was for William’s treatment, Dexter took out three 10-dollar bills from his wallet and handed them to Abernathy, then thought for a moment and handed over three more 10-dollar bills.

“What’s this for?”

“If I need to come back again later, tell him to use it from there.”

As Dexter briskly walked out of the hospital, Abernathy took a sip from the bottle in his hand and said:

“That guy might come back again.”

Indeed, there was what appeared to be fresh blood on Dexter’s knee.

As Dexter trudged out of the clinic, he saw three men with blue bruises on their faces and necks looking around.

They were the three men Dexter had knocked down earlier.

‘Youth has its advantages. They’re already up and moving.’

The three men continued looking around, and Dexter, paying no attention to them, left the building and went out to the street.

“Th-that’s the bastard!”

The men who spotted Dexter and approached looked terrible.

One had a broken nose covered in blood, another had a blue bruise covering half his face, and the last one had bruises in the shape of Dexter’s hand around his neck.

“How can you call me ‘that bastard’ when you look like that?”

Dexter said, as if dumbfounded.

“Y-you fucking bastard! Do you know who we are?”

“Who are you?”

“Vegas Disciples!”

“Vegas Disciples?”

Even though Dexter had heard many gang names during his time as a prison guard, this was one he’d never heard before.

“First time hearing it. And what kind of gang doesn’t carry guns?”

At least the gang members Hector led around had somewhat uniform attire, and each carried at least one gun.

From Dexter’s perspective, these self-proclaimed members of the Vegas Disciples gang looked like nothing more than local thugs.

“So, are you three going to attack me again? Don’t you have anyone else?”

For Dexter, these guys who had been helpless against him weren’t intimidating.

As Dexter mocked them, the man who had been most severely injured spoke up.

“You, you’re dead!”

The man’s pronunciation was noticeably slurred, and upon closer inspection of his mouth, Dexter saw that one of his front teeth was missing, likely from when Dexter had struck him with his knee.

“You should get an implant. Oh, by the way, I can’t pay for your treatment.”

“Shut up! When our crew gets here, you’re finished!”

“So, when are they coming?”

Dexter glanced at his wristwatch as he spoke.

“They’re coming soon! You’re dead, you son of a bitch!”

From Dexter’s perspective, the least scary people in the world are those who threaten him after getting beaten.

At this point, Dexter decided to wait with his hands in his pockets.

“Tell them to hurry up. I want to see their faces before I go.”

Despite Dexter standing there defenseless, the three men were just making verbal threats, like dogs tied to a leash.

“Just wait until our crew chief gets here!”

“Chief? Tell him to stick to cooking. Though even if you guys opened a restaurant, it would probably fail quickly due to the lack of taste.”

Dexter chuckled and taunted them, but the three men just flinched and didn’t come anywhere near him.

They sensed that approaching him would surely result in another beating.

Not long after, an old-fashioned van that looked like it could break down at any moment stopped in front of Dexter.

“Is this your group?”

The three men didn’t answer Dexter but instead opened the van door and shouted loudly:

“That’s the guy!”

With those words, a total of six burly men got out of the van.

Each was holding something like brass knuckles, a long metal pipe, or a golf club.

Though they were burly, their armament was weak.

‘At least they’re not a normal gang.’

Las Vegas is already an area where famous gangs and the mafia have firmly established their power.

Crews or gangs without “backing,” like the men in front of Dexter, find it difficult to possess guns, and if they boast about them carelessly, they’ll be wiped out instantly, like reeds breaking in a strong wind.

And such gangs don’t have many members.

Dexter could tell that the people in front of him were all there was.

“I know, idiot. You got beaten up but you’ve got a big mouth.”

One of the men who got out of the van slapped the back of the head of the man who had opened the door, then looked toward Dexter.

“Huh?”

“Uhh…”

Dexter pointed at one of the men who had gotten out and smiled broadly.

“You, you’re one of Hector’s lackeys from before, right?”

“No way, why is this bastard here…!”

The man, who was from Hector’s gang, stared at Dexter with bewildered eyes.