Her voice trailed off, leaving a slimy resonance. In those pale eyes was a chilling disgust, as if a damp mollusk crawled up the back of his neck. Chills ran up Lee Young-jin’s neck and ears. The disgust turned to shock at her next words.
“Look here. Answer me. Are you really sterile?”
The old woman tapped Lee Young-jin’s shoulder with the end of her cane and asked. Lee Young-jin opened his mouth. His lips moved several times. He couldn’t respond, and instead, he turned around.
Fifteen steps behind him, the man stood leaning on one leg, snickering.
“Right. The doctor already confirmed it.”
“There are so many quacks these days… Hey, hey!”
She hit Lee Young-jin’s shoulder a bit harder with her cane. Lee Young-jin’s body twitched, and he faced forward again.
“Speak up. Say anything. You’re not mute, are you?”
“Ah….”
Lee Young-jin attempted to say something, but only a faint groan escaped.
Once again, the man answered for him.
“He’s not mute. Was babbling just fine until a moment ago.”
“Damaged goods drop in value, even if it’s an Omega.”
The old woman hit Lee Young-jin’s shoulder with her cane a few more times. The tip of the cane fell sharply on his collarbone, making a thud sound. A small cry of pain escaped him involuntarily. Finally, a satisfied expression appeared on the old woman’s face.
“Tell your Teacher this one’s quite good. With a few years of work, it could easily bring in billions.”
“Sure will. We’ve been rolling it good for ten years now.”
The conversation’s words disassembled into sentences, phrases, and letters, slowly burrowing into Lee Young-jin’s ears.
A tsking sound was followed by a throaty chuckle.
Again, the cane hit the upper part of his collarbone, making a loud thud.
“Ah…!”
This time a scream of pain couldn’t be contained.
“Don’t dawdle. Get moving.”
The old woman grumbled a warning. Sturdy men emerged from behind her, pressing down on either side of Lee Young-jin. Several rough hands grabbed his arms.
Lee Young-jin did not resist.
Instead, he turned to look back.
The man shrugged his shoulders with a snickering face.
“Hey, Lee Young-jin. Still haven’t grasped the situation? You’re done for. You’re useless now. With Seoran on your tail and the cops all riled up, you’re finished in this business. Take this as a chance to start a new life. Teacher took pretty good care of you for the last, didn’t he?”
After that, the man took a half step back.
“Need to make a good impression on the new boss, huh? Kukukuk… Ack!”
The lewd laughter was abruptly cut off by a sudden scream, followed by a choking sound. Whoosh! Something sliced through the air in a straight line at incredible speed, reminiscent of the sound of the now-discontinued F-22 Raptor crossing sixty thousand feet in the sky at Mach 2.25. Thud, thump, thock, thunk, thwack!
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
Whizz! Whoosh!
In the darkness, bulky figures fell one by one with a flick, flick.
“What, what’s going on!”
The old woman swung her cane through the air.
The cane whipped through the sticky darkness like black tar, flashing. And then thwack! Argh! Thud!
“Hah, hah…”
Lee Young-jin gasped for air, his shoulders heaving. The hands that had gripped his arms were all sprawled on the ground. He looked around.
“Ah. Sorry, sorry. Didn’t give the signal yet.”
From atop the stacked containers, a cheerful voice suddenly spoke.
Lee Young-jin glanced in that direction.
From atop three stacked containers, 7.5 meters high, a shadowy, slender figure seemed to sway before jumping down lightly. Tap, the sound of weightless feet touching the ground was barely audible.
Emerging from the shadow of the containers, a pale face popped out. Step. The sound of military boots stepping on coarse sand was heard. The slender Omega who stepped out of the shadow flicked a small pebble upward with one hand. Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting-! The pebble bounced dozens of times between the container walls before silently falling down after a while. The long, white hand nimbly caught it.
“But listening to it gets annoying after a while.”
“…No. Thank you.”
Lee Young-jin replied softly.
His gaze swept over the ground, over the tumbling limbs, torsos, heads, and hands.
A freelancer who’d take on any profitable job shrugged lightly before hopping over the heap of bodies, a mix of 36.5°C flesh, bones, and blood, to retrieve the aluminum case from among them.
“This what you were looking for?”
“Ah. Thank you.”
Lee Young-jin lifted his head. His black eyes solemnly stared at Yoon Hwa-kyeong. A perfectly normal superior Omega, unlike himself.
Yoon Hwa-kyeong smiled lightly.
“Here.”
He handed the aluminum case to Lee Young-jin.
“But what’s all the fuss about? What’s in it?”
Yoon Hwa-kyeong peered at Lee Young-jin as he abruptly opened the case. Lee Young-jin quietly looked up at him. Yoon Hwa-kyeong’s face was clean. His sparkling eyes held a bit of curiosity, nothing more.
“No, it’s correct. From Bogotá.”
He took a slight step to the side. The sole of his boot pressed firmly on the neck of a figure trying to regain consciousness, crunching the vertebrae underneath. The man choked and flipped his eyes back in his head, foaming.
“There was quite a stir in Shanghai too, right?”
Lee Young-jin moved his lips slightly.
“Guess so… What could it be…”
Maybe that question was what Lee Young-jin should have asked first.
“But it’s done now. Whatever it is…”
He turned his gaze back to the road.
Inside the aluminum case, a heavy laptop was revealed. He opened the laptop lid. The screen lit up automatically, and a light flashed on the black screen.
Lee Young-jin had expected a plain prompt asking for a code input. However, something else was there. The screen flickered. There was no password. Familiar graphical interfaces and the mouse cursor twinkled. A few icons blinked on the clean desktop.
“Ah.”
Lee Young-jin’s eyelids fluttered.
His eyelashes quivered.
Yoon Hwa-kyeong blinked.
“What’s wrong?”
Lee Young-jin shut the laptop lid and looked up at him.
“It’s fake.”
Once those words were spoken out loud, everything became clear.
The item was a fake. This entire transaction was nothing more than a scam. Teacher had intended to dispose of Lee Young-jin along with the fake item.
Lee Young-jin turned around in desperation.
“The item was fake. Teacher sold a fake. Then the real one is… No. Before that, there’s something else I need to figure out. How many people have been given fakes, then what about the CEO now…”
“Wait. Calm down.”
Yoon Hwa-kyeong lightly tapped Lee Young-jin’s rambling shoulders with the back of his hand. That alone made Lee Young-jin stagger several times.
Unconcerned, Yoon Hwa-kyeong grunted as he climbed over a mountain of flesh and bones several times, effortlessly grabbing one of them by the scruff with one hand. Then, with the other hand, he slapped his cheeks several times. His face swiveled left and right a few times, soon swelling up and leaking a whining sound like crying.
“Please spare me….”
It was the man who had driven Lee Young-jin here just a moment ago.
Yoon Hwa-kyeong smiled at him, lifting the corners of his mouth. The man gasped for breath. And as soon as Yoon Hwa-kyeong lightly raised his hand again, a shriek came out.
“What happened to the item?”
Yoon Hwa-kyeong asked, tapping near the man’s mouth with his fingertips.
“The, the item….”
The man stuttered. Yoon Hwa-kyeong did not hesitate. Slap. His palm swung once again.
“Huuk Heooeoo….”
The man began to sob.
“I, I don’t know any….”
Snap. The sound of flesh hitting flesh was quite cheerful. Several bloodied molars popped out between the swollen lips. Watching this, Lee Young-jin flinched even more.
Yoon Hwa-kyeong slapped the man’s cheek a couple more times before making a bored nasal sound.
“Answer.”
“I do, don’t….”
“Hmm.”
Yoon Hwa-kyeong grabbed his scruff and jerked him forward, then pushed him hard. Thump! Agh! Thump! Ugh! Thump! Ack! Screams of a crushed back of the head tore through the silent junkyard. His slender white hand easily flipped his body over, grabbing it. The hand holding the back of his neck pushed his head down to the ground. Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! The sound of a collapsing nasal bridge, shattered front teeth, and sinking cheekbones cheerfully resounded.
“Tha, that’s enough! It’s all over! The heavy, brought all fakes….”
“Five?”
“Yes….”
The face, now missing all its teeth and with a crushed nose bridge soaked in blood, sobbed in response.
Yoon Hwa-kyeong signaled to Lee Young-jin. Understanding the signal, Lee Young-jin swallowed dryly and nodded.
“Did Teacher agree to sell the item to CEO too?”
“Yes… th… that’s right.”
As Yoon Hwa-kyeong sharply raised his hand, the man cautiously changed his tone.
Lee Young-jin’s breathing quickened.
“Fakes? When? Where? Did Teacher go personally?”
“I, I don’t know the details….”
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