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Swish. Swish, a flashing blade flew toward him as if to pierce his throat. Ja-gyeong retreated while putting more distance between himself and Choi Man-sik. Then he quietly removed his sunglasses and placed them on the sink.
"Who sent you! Fuck, was it Boss Park? Or Boss Kim?"
You've made a lot of enemies, haven't you. When he didn't answer, he charged with the knife raised. He grabbed the wrist with both hands and twisted it completely backward before pushing his body against Choi Man-sik. Thud, his body slammed violently into the bathroom wall and the knife he was holding fell to the floor.
He quickly kicked it far away, ducked to avoid a flying fist, and seized the moment when his gaze briefly followed the knife to drive a fierce punch under his chin. There was a crack sound and Choi Man-sik's face spun as his body wobbled.
This time Choi Man-sik threw a punch. It was slow, but at a glance it looked as hard as stone, and getting hit might knock him out. He quickly blocked and defended, then kicked off the wall to lift his body into the air and drove his knee straight into Choi Man-sik's face.
Thud, with the sound Choi Man-sik staggered backward, and when he spun and kicked, he went down completely.
Blood gushed from his nose as he shook his head, stumbling to his feet.
"You little bastard! Fearless little shit!"
Choi Man-sik charged again, snorting like an enraged bull. As they exchanged punches, Ja-gyeong took one to the face too. As expected, the impact was considerable. His vision spun. Fuck. Dragging this out would clearly put him at a disadvantage. Ja-gyeong licked his split lip and grinned.
"Laughing? I'll make today your funeral."
"Your brother said that too."
Choi Man-sik's pupils wavered.
"Your nephew said the same thing."
Rage boiled in his eyes.
"So you're that fucking bastard!"
Furious, Choi Man-sik lunged at Ja-gyeong. As expected, making an opponent angry in a fight becomes a weakness. The person who uses this best is Kang Il-hyun. His ability to provoke and enrage people was truly the best in the universe.
Dodging the charging Choi Man-sik, he quickly pulled the cut rope from his waist, hooked it around his neck, and moved behind his back. In an instant, he was strangled and tried to pull the rope off, and Ja-gyeong used all his strength to flip Choi Man-sik over and slam him into the floor.
When he fell face-down on the floor, he immediately grabbed a nearby vase and struck the back of his head. With a thud sound, the vase shattered into pieces and Choi Man-sik couldn't easily get up from the shock. Ja-gyeong climbed onto his back, pressing his body down with his knee, and tightened the rope as much as possible, waiting for his breath to be cut off.
His large body convulsed.
"Kkeck... kkeck...!"
He slapped the floor with his palm like a wrestling contestant. But Ja-gyeong showed no mercy. The violent thrashing gradually subsided until Choi Man-sik's body went limp like wet laundry. Just then, someone knocked on the bathroom door and voices could be heard.
After confirming that Choi Man-sik's breath had been cut off, Ja-gyeong dragged him to an empty stall. As expected, he was fucking heavy. He picked up the dropped knife, put on the sunglasses he'd left on the sink, and opened the door. Click, the door turned and through the gap, two men with fierce faces glared at Ja-gyeong, then stepped back when they saw blood splattered on his clothes.
"Sorry."
Ja-gyeong greeted them and came outside. But that was brief—as he went downstairs, people who appeared to be Choi Man-sik's subordinates rushed in a group toward the bathroom from above.
The others, busy dancing, didn't seem to have any idea what was happening. Ja-gyeong leisurely walked toward the entrance. A large man standing in front, talking to someone on an earpiece, approached with a fierce expression and pulled a gun from his waist.
Ja-gyeong raised both hands to shoulder height. The guests nearby stirred. Ja-gyeong reached out his hand to show the approaching guard that he had nothing. In the brief moment when the guard's gaze touched his hand, he grabbed the gun in a flash, pulled it toward the ceiling, and ejected the magazine. Click, the trigger was pulled by a hair's breadth but no bullet was fired.
Ja-gyeong drew Choi Man-sik's knife from his waist and immediately stabbed it into the man's neck and side. Blood spurted out and the guests at the entrance screamed and scattered. Ja-gyeong took the gun from the fallen man's hand and inserted the magazine.
Looking back, Choi Man-sik's subordinates were running down the stairs in a group. Ja-gyeong took a fire extinguisher from the fire box at the entrance, rolled it inside the club, and fired at it. Bang, bang, powder sprayed from the fire extinguisher and the club became chaos. When he shot the lights on the ceiling, sparks flew.
People screamed in chaos, and the men coming down from the second floor after confirming Choi Man-sik's body were trapped in the confusion. Ja-gyeong started heading back toward the entrance. He saw the parking lot lights and the moment he stepped outside, he increased his speed and ran toward the car. Soon after, Choi Man-sik's subordinates who followed discovered Ja-gyeong and fired indiscriminately.
Bang, bang, bang, using the parked cars as shields, he ran low, opened the back door, and got in at once. As soon as the door closed, Wang Han looked back at Ja-gyeong to check if he was hurt, and Wang Lun hurriedly stepped on the accelerator. Screech, the car curved in a half-circle and sped toward the parking lot exit.
Bang, bang, bang, bullets rained down but couldn't penetrate the bulletproof glass. When they reached the road, several cars immediately followed behind. Since it was in the middle of downtown, there were quite a few cars, and it seemed like they would be caught for sure at this rate.
"Getting my heart pounding."
Wang Lun laughed and Wang Han hit his arm, telling him not to joke and focus on driving. He drove with acrobatic skill, then ignored the signal and turned left. A truck was coming straight at them, a situation where they could almost be crushed.
Baaaang— despite the ear-splitting horn sound, he didn't slow down and turned left straight into the alley. As his body swayed, Wang Lun grabbed the handle next to him and cursed, and Ja-gyeong looked back to check the vehicles.
Sure enough, Choi Man-sik's subordinates were also chasing through the alley, coming up fiercely. Wang Han made hand signals. Turn right, turn left here. Following his signals, Wang Lun skillfully turned the wheel left and right. They drove through the complicated alleys lined with motels, dodging cars and shaking off the pursuit, then Wang Lun slowed down in front of a motel and quickly pulled in.
He turned off the engine and the three watched outside while holding their breath. After a while, black cars passed one after another under the long canopy at the entrance. There weren't just one or two. When no more cars passed, the three let out sighs of relief and leaned their heads back at the same time.
Then Wang Lun got out of the car and changed the license plate. Just then, Ja-gyeong's cell phone rang. It was the phone Kang Il-hyun had given him as a gift. As soon as he answered, Park Tae-soo's voice was heard.
[Are you alright?]
He must have already received the report. How fast.
"Yes... We're hiding in a parking lot right now. I'm sorry. I tried to resolve it quietly, but things got big."
[Our staff is waiting nearby. We'll contact you when things quiet down, so please stay there for now.]
He conveyed his business and hung up. The three got out of the car and went into the motel, paid for the room, received the key, and went up to the top floor. The old motel had colorful wallpaper, a red sofa, and red blankets as well.
Ja-gyeong closed all the curtains and peered outside. A black car Kang Il-hyun had sent was parked some distance from the motel, and a few of the chasing cars had returned and were circling the same area repeatedly. As he was closing the curtains, a call came in.
The three letters saying "bastard" made Ja-gyeong pause. He soon steadied his breathing and answered the phone naturally.
[It's me.]
"Yes. I know."
[Are you okay?]
"No. As you must have heard, things went a bit wrong."
[I'm asking if you're hurt anywhere.]
His voice asking about his well-being first gave him a strange feeling. He looked at Wang Lun and Wang Han alternately. Wang Han was one thing, but Wang Lun had the eyes of a hyena eyeing its prey. He would surely try to connect it somehow and make fun of him. Avoiding that, he went into the bathroom and closed the door.
"I'm fine. But Choi Man-sik's subordinates are spread out outside, so I don't think I can go out right now."
[Should I come pick you up?]
Ja-gyeong frowned.
"Why don't you just advertise that I'm here?"
He heard a small laugh. Kang Il-hyun didn't say more, but he could feel that he was genuinely worried. Hating that, Ja-gyeong tried to end the call quickly. Then Il-hyun asked the question from earlier again.
[I didn't hear the answer. I'm curious what flowers you like.]
Ja-gyeong thought. Then he remembered that he had given him roses at their first meeting. He didn't know many flowers, and not wanting to drag it out, he answered roses, and as expected, he said he knew it and laughed softly.
After hanging up, a photo arrived from Il-hyun. A bouquet of roses was placed in a vase next to his bed. There was no message. Did he buy them himself? He stared blankly at the flowers in the photo, then deleted it and came outside.
The room was empty. Hearing sounds at the door, he tucked the pistol left on the table behind his waist and approached. When he opened the door, Wang Lun and Wang Han came in carrying armfuls of bags.
"Done with the call?"
"Yeah..."
"Those bastards are still roaming around outside."
"Let's rest and go back at dawn."
"That'd be best. Brother Han, put on some music."
They exchanged very brief but meaningful glances. Han turned the music up loud and Wang Lun opened the motel closet. Inside, a large bag, new clothes, and shoes that someone had placed in advance were sitting there. When they opened the bag from the car, instead of weapons, there was money.
Wang Lun took out stacks of money one by one, examined them, and began transferring them to the black bag. Ja-gyeong also sat beside him and helped. As if they had made a promise, all three said nothing. They just silently packed the money.