Chapter 13 : I’ll Kill You All (2)

“Haaah. I’m seriously losing it.”

Hotel buffet.

Yuri was cutting up sausages bit by bit, but her mind was an absolute mess.

It felt like she’d been on the run for a week, but in reality, not even a full 24 hours had passed.

She already wanted to go home and rest.

But then again, the thought of going back to a house where perverted bastards were sneaking trackers into her underwear made her feel kind of nauseated.

“They said they’d quit this life once they left Korea…”

Cheolwoo, putting down his gun?

She couldn’t picture it.

Whenever he had a moment, he’d be disassembling his gun, fiddling with it, muttering to himself while making that click-clack sound — like a total lunatic.

She’d only seen it for the first time yesterday, but he was scarily good at it, like someone who’d been doing it his whole life.

Would Geummyeong Group really stop chasing them cleanly once they left Korea?

Considering how relentless they’d been so far, she highly doubted it.

And aside from shooting guns, Cheolwoo had no other skills — could he really give up a decent income and start from scratch?

He was the type who might just quietly endure it all, but if he ever got into an accident or needed a large sum of money, he’d be right back holding a gun in no time.

It’s not like she could earn enough to feed him and cover everything herself.

Ugh — to Yuri, the future just looked pitch-black.

“Haaaaah…”

Shrrk— shrrrk— She pulled out and sheathed the wakizashi hidden in her clothes, over and over again, taking deep breaths.

That clear, delicate sound of drawing the blade.

It calmed her mind and body.

When she did this, all the anxiety and worries just faded away.

If she left her brain out of it, she could probably keep doing this all day.

Swish— the sound of the blade brushing its sheath, followed by the click of it fitting perfectly with no wiggle.

She didn’t know about durability, but the craftsmanship was impeccable.

Why did kendo insist on using those ugly bamboo swords when there were such beautiful real blades like this?

She was just starting to question it when—

“Excuse me, ma’am.”

“Ah— huh!? Yes?!”

Startled, Yuri scrambled to fix her clothes.

She thought maybe the sound of the blade was too loud and they were going to ask her to stop, but judging by the staff’s expression, that wasn’t it.

She followed the waiter’s hesitant gaze and her jaw dropped.

Her table — the one she was sitting at alone — was absolutely piled with plates.

“Of…”

“I’m really sorry, ma’am. We don’t have a strict time limit or anything, but… when someone eats this much, it becomes difficult for us to operate. If you’d like, we can give you a refund, so… we’d really appreciate it if you could leave now…”

Everything after that was a blur.

She couldn’t remember if she crawled out on all fours, sprinted out at full speed, or just blacked out from the embarrassment.

How many plates did I eat…?

And each one had been packed with mostly meat.

She didn’t even eat like that on cheat days.

What the hell happened?

The most ridiculous part?

Even after being kicked out — she was still hungry.

No way she could knock on the doors of the other restaurants inside the hotel.

She had this awful feeling she’d been blacklisted and that her name was now circulating among all the hotel staff.

Like, if she walked into another restaurant, they’d be whispering, “That’s the woman who devoured an entire pig at her table.”

Even though she knew it was just her imagination, the embarrassment was too much to bear.

She left the hotel entirely.

The moment she stepped outside, a department store across the street caught her eye.

As the woman watched the CCTV and gave a signal, the red light suddenly shut off.

“Nice to meet you. Did you see my business card? I’m Han Sirin, the president of this department store.”

“What business do you have with me?”

“You’re Mr. Min Chul-woo’s sister, right? I came here—perhaps rudely—to make a good offer for the both of you.”

“…”

A good offer? You sure it’s not just a good deal for you?

Yuri’s eyes, fixed on the woman’s outstretched hand, showed no signs of letting her guard down.

Ding— The elevator came to a stop.

Just then, bzzzzzz—Yu-ri’s phone vibrated.

She looked around nervously.

Han Sirin gave a little nod, as if telling her to go ahead and answer.

As soon as Yu-ri picked up the call, a thunderous shout exploded from the speaker.

[“What the hell are you doing?! I told you to contact me if you were leaving the hotel! Since when is texting and running off acceptable? First action, then report? Really?”]

“I mean… I thought it was fine since you didn’t reply right away.”

[“Tch. So where are you now?”]

“Right now…”

She glanced sideways again, trying to read the room.

Han Sirin smiled softly, as if to say, it’s okay, go ahead.

“Dongyang Department Store… in the elevator… with President Han Sirin…”

[“What? Why?”]

How the hell should I know?

She wanted to shoot back—Shouldn’t you know better than me, you dumb bastard?

“If it’s okay, could I let her speak to you directly?”

“Oh, sure.”

“Mr. Min Chul-woo? Hello, this is Han Sirin, president of Dongyang Department Store—you’ve heard of Oriental Group, yes? I happened to meet your sister and was having a chat, and I was wondering if maybe you—”

[“Oriental? You guys again? You’ve got ten minutes. Shut the store down, get everyone out. In ten minutes, I’m storming in and killing everyone.”]

“Uh? Huh? Wait—?”

Click. The call was cut off without mercy.

Han Sirin, who had looked completely composed just moments ago, now showed a flash of panic.

Geummyeong Security Team 1 Office

The bodies had all been cleared, and janitors were scrubbing away bloodstains with vigor.

Chief Jeong lit a cigarette, sitting in his office where the safe had been ripped open and the door smashed in.

“Phew… Goddamn, that cocky little punk. Where the hell did he learn to act like that…”

When that rookie first showed up, he looked like he didn’t have guts or grit.

Chief Jeong had figured he wouldn’t last in corporate life.

The kid couldn’t even meet a superior’s eyes—but now? He talked back, stared colleagues dead in the face, did everything his own way.

At this point, wasn’t that enough for a pass?

There was no reason not to let him pass the promotion test.

All the resources and manpower they’d blown so far? Whatever.

If the rookie started bringing in cash now, it’d all be worth it.

If shooting guns in the street got Geummyeong Security shut down? They’d just set up a new PMC and start fresh.

A single competent guy was better than hundreds of polite, obedient ones.

With Chul-woo on their side, wiping out the Oriental Chinese bastards from Korea was no big deal.

Send him to the Middle East, and Geummyeong Group could dominate intel ops there and even dip a toe into oil rights.

He laughed just imagining it—Middle Easterners, used to U.S. military doctrine, getting a taste of that rookie’s raw gunfire and going into culture shock.

Forget suppression fire or whatever—they’d just be getting their heads blown off one by one. How could anyone stop that?

“Hehehe… huhhh…”

Could that rookie even grasp this grand plan?

Chief Jeong grinned as he poured out some blue powder on the desk.

He bent over, placed his nose to it, and snorted the whole line in one breath.

“Khhh! Ugh! Krrkk—agh! Agh! Holy shit—!”

Suddenly—snap! His eyes snapped open, blood vessels bursting red across his sclera.

His muscles swelled up all over his body.

Crack—crunch! His spine straightened out with a horrible sound.

With a sharp whip of his head, he threw a punch—bang!—and a steel filing cabinet crumpled from the impact.

“Haahh… haaaah… this is it. This is good. Feels like I’m twenty again.”

After shaking violently for a while, Chief Jeong shot up to his feet.

Swish-clack, swish-clack—his pistol draw speed had clearly improved.

From draw to trigger pull took less than 0.1 seconds.

The average human eye captures about 10 frames per second—reacting to that speed was physically impossible.

Even if someone managed to see it, the nerve impulse would never reach their muscles in time.

His body felt like it had returned to youth.

No—better than his youth.

It had surpassed human limits.

That was the only way to describe it.

“Hehehehahahaha. What’s the point of accurate aim? If you’re slower than me, it’s all worthless, you bastard.”

He looked forward to seeing the rookie again.

If push came to shove, he could beat the guy to a pulp and then start salary negotiations.

And if he taught the kid how to rapid-fire?

Just imagining the monster he’d become made Chief Jeong laugh out loud.