4. Live like you're dead and stay the hell out of my sight.
Late at night.
A BMW X6 came barreling down a narrow back alley in Sillim-dong, its headlights blazing, and screeched to a halt.
Minsung got out and looked up at an old four-story commercial building with an exterior finished in red brick.
It was past midnight, so there wasn't a soul in sight.
The supermarket on the first floor had its shutter down, and most of the windows were dark.
Light spilled from only one window, on the left side of the third floor—that was the loan sharks' hideout.
Since the original owner of the body had gone there once to borrow money, Minsung knew it immediately.
"Those bastards. Who the hell do they think they're messing with?"
Repeat after me: you're all dead.
Minsung glared at the window, grinding his teeth inwardly.
Honestly, if he thought about it calmly, this wasn't something to get so worked up over.
But perhaps due to the influence of the inherited memories, no matter how hard he tried to stay composed, rage bubbled up from within.
He couldn't stand still, as if they had actually threatened his own family.
Especially since he was Patrick, who had lost his entire family in a tragic accident in his childhood, the original body's memories had merged with his own, causing him to reveal even more violent fury.
His eyes flashing coldly, Minsung strode toward the building entrance.
***
Jeong Gap-bae was a forty-year-old loanshark with angular features and sharp eyes.
A former boxer, he stood 180 centimeters tall with a solid eighty-kilogram frame.
Not only was he handy with his fists, but he also had a remarkable talent for moving money, and he ran a fairly sizable loan-sharking business.
"I sent you to collect money, and you come back crawling after getting beaten?"
Jeong Gap-bae glared at Baek Dong-seok and Choi Seong-yeol with a flushed face.
"Fuck, I'm so embarrassed I can't even hold my head up. You punks who supposedly know how to throw a punch couldn't even handle one scrawny bastard holed up in a gosiwon, and you come back looking like this? What the hell kind of disgrace is this!"
Jeong Gap-bae, leaning on a golf club like a cane with one hand, suddenly bellowed.
Both men were bruised all over, bandages wrapped tightly around their faces and arms—anyone could see they'd taken a proper beating.
On the other side, five subordinates under Jeong Gap-bae stood watching the two.
Every one of them was unusually large, and unlike the two who went out running around to collect debts, they were men Jeong Gap-bae trusted and relied on.
"You stupid bastards."
Under Jeong Gap-bae's continuous scolding, Baek Dong-seok and Choi Seong-yeol couldn't even make excuses and hung their heads.
Even they thought the situation was absurd, so they had no choice.
"Hey. Aren't you ashamed in front of the others? You got your asses kicked by some random bastard, so how are you going to properly collect debts from now on, huh? Huh?"
Jeong Gap-bae poked their chests with his golf club.
"He wasn't an ordinary guy."
Unable to hold back, Baek Dong-seok spoke with an aggrieved expression.
"That's right. No matter how much I think about it, he wasn't an ordinary person."
When Choi Seong-yeol added his voice, Jeong Gap-bae's face twisted with even greater contempt.
"Oh, for fuck's sake. If he wasn't an ordinary person, what was he?"
"Well, that's…."
When they thought about Minsung's physique, that of an ordinary man, there was nothing particularly noteworthy to say, so they couldn't answer immediately.
At that, Jeong Gap-bae put on a pathetic expression and kicked their chests mercilessly.
"If you're going to make excuses, do it properly!"
"Aagh!"
Choi Seong-yeol, struck so hard that a thud rang out, tumbled backward with a crash.
"Argh. Seriously! Are these guys missing something upstairs?"
Jeong Gap-bae shouted irritably.
The fact that he had kept such stupid bastards as subordinates made him feel like his insides were about to burst.
"Is this your bedroom? Get up now!"
"Yes. Yes, sir!"
Just then, someone knocked heavily on the office door—thump, thump.
"What is it?"
"Looks like the guy is here."
Shin Jae-hyeon, his right-hand man, spoke from behind.
"Oh?"
Jeong Gap-bae slung the golf club over his shoulder and jerked his chin arrogantly.
"Open it."
At Shin Jae-hyeon's signal, one of the subordinates quickly moved to open the iron door.
"Quite the gathering in the middle of the night."
Minsung slowly looked around the office with an expressionless face.
His loose black shirt had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and sharp eyes flashed between his roughly swept-back hair.
Then, spotting Jeong Gap-bae standing in front of him holding a golf club, Minsung spoke first.
"Are you the boss here?"
He had come once when borrowing the money, but this was his first time meeting Jeong Gap-bae today.
It was only natural, since the boss Jeong Gap-bae didn't pay attention to every petty loan of insignificant amounts.
"This bastard has a short tongue for someone who doesn't know where he is."
The man who had opened the door approached with glaring eyes, but Minsung threw a jab like lightning.
Then he grabbed the staggering man's hair with one hand and hammered in consecutive punches.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The man, his face a bloody mess in an instant, groaned and sat down hard on the floor.
The bruisers belatedly came to their senses at the situation that had unfolded in the blink of an eye and approached Minsung with vicious expressions.
"Stop!"
Just as a fight was about to break out, the bruisers froze at Jeong Gap-bae's words.
"Everyone, step back."
The bruisers glared at Minsung threateningly and stepped back one pace at a time.
Jeong Gap-bae, still carrying the golf club on his shoulder, looked Minsung up and down and suddenly smirked.
"You've got quite the guts, and your fists aren't bad either."
"…."
"How about working under me? Then I'll let this whole matter slide."
Without the slightest hesitation, Minsung scoffed and replied.
"Do you know why I'm wearing black?"
"...?"
Jeong Gap-bae furrowed his brow at the sudden question.
"What the hell kind of nonsense is that?"
"Look close. Shirt, pants, even shoes—all matched in black."
Minsung pointed at his clothes and propped one leg up with a crooked posture.
"Black clothes don't show blood splatter, and they're comfortable."
"You little shit…."
"I came here planning to go on a rampage from the start. I came to beat down things that aren't even human, anyway."
Minsung flicked his finger and bared his white canines provocatively.
"I have no intention of playing nice with thugs like you. Don't waste my time and come at me."
Rejected flatly, Jeong Gap-bae furrowed his brows and snorted in derision.
"Just like an ignorant brat. The only cure for a punk who doesn't know his place and runs wild is a good beating."
Jeong Gap-bae turned to the subordinates standing behind him and shouted.
"Boys! Teach him some manners."
"Yes, sir!"
At that, six bruisers—including Baek Dong-seok and Choi Seong-yeol—surrounded him with murderous faces and rushed him all at once.
The moment Minsung, who had been preparing in advance, was about to fight back, he suddenly felt a familiar sense of incongruity.
'This feeling….'
A heterogeneous sensation, as if Minsung alone had been separated and cut off from the world.
It was the exact same phenomenon he had felt when fighting the two guys he had handled earlier in the day.
When he raised his head, sure enough, everything except Minsung was moving very slowly.
He hesitated for an instant, but since this was a phenomenon he had already experienced once, Minsung didn't panic and moved immediately.
'First, the guy on the left.'
Minsung kicked the bruiser's jaw away, slightly dodged a flying fist from the side, grabbed the arm, and twisted it backward.
Crack!
The moment the sound of breaking bone rang out, the temporary alien phenomenon also vanished in an instant.
"Aaaagh!"
Minsung grabbed the head of the man making a pain-filled expression and kneed his face upward.
The man, covered in blood, collapsed on the spot as if crumbling when Minsung let go.
Two in an instant.
And they had been gruesomely smashed without even being able to put up a proper fight, causing the remaining bruisers to falter and hesitate to rush in.
Jeong Gap-bae, his eyes wide open, also couldn't hide his surprise and shouted.
"Why aren't you finishing him off already? What are you doing!"
At the urging words, the bruisers tried to move, but Minsung was faster.
He swung his fist hard at Baek Dong-seok's temple, who was swinging a baseball bat that he'd picked up from who knows where.
"Kuk!"
Baek Dong-seok let out a shriek and fell to the floor, tangled with a desk.
Minsung spun his body around and dodged the attack of a man rushing from behind.
Then he struck the opponent's solar plexus and side.
"Kgeuk."
As the man let out a sound like his breath was cut off and fell to his knees, Minsung kicked his face with all his weight behind it.
Crunch.
With a dull impact sound, the opponent fell powerlessly to the side like a rotten tree.
"Die!"
One of the men gripped a gruesomely sharp sashimi knife and charged from the front.
He quickly dodged to the side, but because his reflexes were slower than his original body, a burning sensation flared from his side.
Minsung brought his elbow down hard on the back of the head of the man who had stabbed at him with the sashimi knife.
Groaning, the man fell face-first to the floor.
He mercilessly kicked the fallen man's head.
"As expected of scum, pulling out knives too?"
Minsung glared at the man lying unconscious.
He lowered one hand and touched his side; his clothes were wet.
Blood had soaked the shirt heavily, but fortunately, it wasn't a deep stab.
At this level, it was manageable with rough hemostasis and emergency treatment he could do himself.
"This is really humiliating."
The wound to his pride hurt more than being grazed by the knife.
Who was he to be drawing blood from knives swung by such pathetic bastards!
This was something that would never have happened with his original body.
Minsung thought he needed to build up his body quickly and turned his head to the side.
"Huk."
Choi Seong-yeol, who had his arm in a cast from Minsung's beating earlier in the day, gasped in fright.
In the midst of that, he seemed to be trying to launch a surprise attack, but his attempt to hide the jackknife behind his back was clumsy.
"Aren't you going to come at me?"
"Ah. No!"
"What do you mean no? I saw you hiding it behind your back."
"I'm sorry! Please spare me!"
Choi Seong-yeol, his face terrified, threw the jackknife he was holding onto the floor.
Having witnessed the terrifying sight of six men being obliterated in an instant, he couldn't possibly muster the courage to attack.
Then Minsung straightened his head and looked at Jeong Gap-bae in front of him.
The composure had long since vanished from Jeong Gap-bae's stiff, rigid face.
"You useless bastards."
Jeong Gap-bae looked around at his groaning subordinates sprawled on the floor and spat out the words.
Then he glared fiercely at Minsung.
"You. What the hell are you?"
"An apostle of justice here to properly educate thugs like you."
When Minsung answered mockingly, strength flared in Jeong Gap-bae's hand gripping the golf club.
"Son of a bitch!"
Hwoong!
The clubhead, made of solid titanium, split the air with a heavy sound.
A single blow that could crush bones if it connected.
The heavy clubhead swept right past Minsung's eyes as he leaned his body back.
It was so close that his bangs swayed.
If he hadn't dodged, his skull would have been shattered.
It was a dizzying moment, but without blinking an eye, Minsung quickly closed the distance.
Because Jeong Gap-bae had swung the golf club wide, his chest was completely open.
"You shouldn't crudely use something made for exercise as a weapon."
Then he hammered a fist into the solar plexus.
"Kuk!"
Under the powerful impact, Jeong Gap-bae doubled over.
He grabbed Jeong Gap-bae's head with both hands and drove his knee up.
Crack!
"Aagh!"
The strength left Jeong Gap-bae's hand as he screamed, and the golf club he had been gripping tightly fell to the floor.
With his nasal bone broken and the inside of his mouth torn, Jeong Gap-bae staggered back, covered in blood.
But Minsung didn't stop here.
With bastards like these, he had to beat them so severely that they'd shudder at just the first syllable of his name to prevent future trouble.
"You picked a fight without knowing your opponent, so you have to pay the price. Consider yourself lucky, though. I won't beat you with the golf club."
"Iik!"
As befitting a leader, perhaps still having fighting spirit left, Jeong Gap-bae swung his fist at the approaching Minsung.
But Minsung slightly turned his head and easily brushed it aside with his hand.
Then he struck the opponent's face with consecutive punches.
Thud! Thwack!
Every time Minsung swung his fist, blood splattered and teeth broke off.
Pushed back until his back was against the wall before he knew it, Jeong Gap-bae became a punching bag, helplessly beaten.
"P-please stop…."
Paying no heed to the pleading words, Minsung put strength into his right leg, spun his body like a top, and kicked the battered Jeong Gap-bae's jaw with his other foot.
From the kick with proper weight behind it, Jeong Gap-bae's face whipped to the side as if it would break.
"Kgeuk."
His eyes rolled back, seemingly having taken a proper shock.
The fight was already decided, but Minsung grabbed the completely limp Jeong Gap-bae's hair with one hand and pulled him in.
Then he smashed his face hard onto the desk in front of him.
Bang!
With a loud sound echoing from the desk, Minsung let go and Jeong Gap-bae flopped backward.
His face was so covered in blood it was hard to recognize him, and only the weak groan seeping out indicated he was still alive.
"Disappointing. You drag someone out in the middle of the night for just this level?"
Minsung regulated his breathing, which had quickened from moving intensely, and turned his head sharply.
"Heuek!"
Meeting his eyes, Choi Seong-yeol fell to his knees in terror as if he had seen a ghost.
In Choi Seong-yeol's eyes, having witnessed overwhelming skill, Minsung was no different from the Grim Reaper right now.
"P-please spare me."
Seeing him completely terrified, Minsung spoke in an annoyed voice.
"Where's the promissory note?"
"Huh?"
When Minsung furrowed his brows, Choi Seong-yeol trembled again.
"S-sorry…."
"I don't say things twice. Bring me the IOU I signed."
"Understood!"
Only then understanding his words, Choi Seong-yeol sprang up and ran to a cabinet on one side of the office.
Finding Minsung's promissory note from the stacked bundles of documents, Choi Seong-yeol handed it over with shaking hands.
"Good. That's one thing taken care of."
Minsung checked the promissory note with his name on it, folded it in half, and put it in his inner pocket.
"You guys keep some money in the office too, right? Where's the safe?"
"Th-that's…."
"What a pain."
"I-it's in the boss's office! Inside the boss's office!"
Minsung dragged Choi Seong-yeol and went into the inner boss's office, where sure enough, a large safe sat beside the desk.
"Open it."
"Only the boss and the director know the password."
Apologizing, Choi Seong-yeol kept his head down.
"Tch. The boss is… sprawled out."
There was no point; he'd beaten him so badly that he wouldn't regain consciousness even if he tried to wake him.
"Then who's the director?"
"Over there…."
Choi Seong-yeol raised his arm and pointed at someone.
Among those who had all fallen down together, a man clutching his side and groaning.
"The guy who was waving the sashimi knife around."
So you're the number two?
No wonder there wasn't a hint of hesitation when he swung the knife.
Minsung strode forward and used his shoe to flip Shin Jae-hyeon, who was lying face down, onto his back.
"Water."
"Yes!"
Having now evolved to the level of understanding immediately, Choi Seong-yeol quickly drew water from the water purifier.
Minsung mercilessly splashed the cup of water on Shin Jae-hyeon's face.
"Puh! Keuheuk…. What the."
"Get a hold of yourself. I have something to ask."
Minsung spoke while tapping Shin Jae-hyeon with his foot.
"What's the password to your boss's safe?"
"Fuck off."
At that, as if he had been waiting, Minsung slowly stepped on Shin Jae-hyeon's broken ribs with his shoe.
"Uaaaagh!"
In terrible pain, Shin Jae-hyeon screamed with his mouth wide open.
Minsung watched that expressionlessly, slightly lessening the pressure from his foot before asking again.
"What's the number?"
"Uugh…."
When there was no answer, Minsung immediately put strength back into his foot.
As pain flooded in again, his hair stood on end as if touched by electricity, and unable to endure any longer, Shin Jae-hyeon urgently opened his mouth.
"Kuaak! 4, 3…. 5, 7, 9!"
"What?"
"4, 3, 5, 7, 9, you damned bastard…."
Shin Jae-hyeon panted, soaked in sweat.
Looking down indifferently at Shin Jae-hyeon glaring at him with venom in his eyes, Minsung turned his body and flicked his hand at Choi Seong-yeol.
"You hear that?"
"Yes."
"What are you doing? Open it."
Perhaps because they weren't proper gangsters, their movements were incredibly sluggish.
Minsung clicked his tongue and walked over, and Choi Seong-yeol quickly darted back into the boss's office and opened the safe with the password he'd heard.
Seeing the safe stuffed to bursting with bundles of 10,000-won and 50,000-won bills, Minsung let out a slight exclamation of admiration.
"Oh."
He had figured there would be ten or twenty million won at most, but there was more cash than expected.
Minsung spotted a large Boston bag next to the safe and pointed at it with his fingertip.
"Put it in there."
"Yes!"
Choi Seong-yeol picked up the bundles of cash from the safe and opened the zipper to put them in the Boston bag.
"Ah…."
Seeing Choi Seong-yeol suddenly hesitate, Minsung immediately raised his eyebrows.
"What?"
"Well…."
"Stop dawdling and pack it quickly. You skim even one bill from the back, you're dead."
At Minsung's renewed urging, the hesitant Choi Seong-yeol eventually gave up and stuffed the cash into the Boston bag.
After putting all the money in and taking the bag, the weight pulling down was no joke.
He wanted to bury the whole lot if he could, but doing so would cause all sorts of headaches.
So instead, what he chose was to empty the safe to make their loan-sharking operation difficult.
'And I get to pocket some extra compensation for my trouble.'
Minsung looked at Shin Jae-hyeon, leaning against the wall and gasping for breath, and spoke as if giving a warning.
"It won't end like this next time. Live like you're dead and stay the hell out of my sight."
Then he exited the ruined loan-shark office.