Chapter 24: Chapter 23
TL/ED: Hamsterminator
Mikel Drummond.
The second-in-command of Sweet Dream was now extremely anxious.
Really, really anxious.
His thighs were trembling, he was biting his nails, and he kept glancing out the window whenever he could.
"Hey, hey. Step on it more. More."
He was just badgering his subordinate who was already speeding.
This was all because he was a traitor.
He was planning to stab them in the back someday, but he didn’t expect it to be today. (TL: That's one hell of a goal ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))
“Hoo-”
Mikel let out a shaky breath and looked at his own hand.
Veins protruded on the back of his hand, his clenched grip visibly tense. And within that grip was a small case.
It was an ordinary case.
Of course it was.
It was something he had hastily grabbed.
But the item inside was a different story.
Mikel cautiously opened the lid, revealing a red ring that shimmered with a suspicious light.
He had found it by chance.
As usual, he had kidnapped a homeless person who was alone, injected him with a narcotic sedative, and put him into a sweet sleep.
Then he sliced open the belly, humming, and removed the organs.
Once he had taken what he needed, he burned the empty shell, and was about to toss the smelly clothes into the flames.
It just dropped out.
Too strange to be an ordinary accessory, with twisted letters engraved on the surface and a bizarre color.
Mikel instinctively realized this thing could be worth money.
So, he accessed Blacknet behind the boss’s back.
(There was a minor mistake during this process.)
He secretly scanned the ring and uploaded the data to the marketplace.
Hold on. How many zeroes is that?
Ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million, hundred million?
500 million?
In less than a minute, a buyer appeared offering that amount, and Mikel's eyes rolled back in disbelief.
When he came to his senses, he found himself arranging a meeting point.
This tiny gang's second-in-command position. He had planned to kick it away without regret when the time came.
Apparently, that day was today.
He had already made up his mind long ago, so now it was time to act.
He gathered nine loyal subordinates, took the stolen item, and headed straight for the rendezvous.
The problem came after that.
Once the deed was done, fear began to creep in.
Even though it was a tiny gang, the boss’s skill was the real deal.
What if that crazy bastard came chasing after him.
When he had found the ring, that bastard of a boss had shown interest, since he happened to be nearby at the time, and that image kept flashing in Mikel’s mind.
Naturally, his palms were soaked in sweat, and he shouted once more toward the driver’s seat.
“Step on it mo-!”
Screeeeech! Bang!
A screeching friction noise and the sound of something shattering pierced his ears.
In an instant, Mikel’s heart dropped to his feet as he whipped his head around with a pale face.
“......!”
In a moment that seemed to slow down.
Through the rear right window where he sat, he saw one of his men flying through the air.
Then, he witnessed that body hit the pavement and turn into a mangled mess in an instant, making Mikel scream.
“Fuck! Henri already?!”
As he shouted the name of the boss he had betrayed, the driver spoke in a trembling voice.
“Hyung! That’s not the boss!”
“...What?”
“I said it’s not the boss!”
At that, Mikel pressed his face up against the window.
There, mixing into his men, was a khaki-colored bike and the rider mounted on it.
His brow furrowed as he shouted.
“Who the hell is that bastard?!”
***
A sea of flashily blinking neon signs.
Down the eight-lane road running through its center, wheeled beasts were tearing through.
Vrooom!
As the roaring engine passed their ears, pedestrians flinched or scowled and turned their heads.
But by then, the beasts were already too far to be clearly seen, and someone spat on the ground and muttered under their breath.
“Hope they all die.”
Unaware that this might actually happen.
Kaaang!!
Sparks flew.
Jin blocked a blade aimed at his neck with the barrel of the Gravis, and at that moment, he kicked the enemy’s unbalanced bike, sending it flying.
The range of motion happened below the knee, and though the movement lacked full power, the superhuman strength behind it was enough to make the bike lurch.
Soon, the bike lost traction and smashed into a streetlight, shattering into pieces.
Of course, the rider didn’t make it out safely either.
His neck snapped on impact, clearly an instant death.
Jin confirmed this through the rearview mirror and was about to speed up to catch the van ahead.
Swaaaak!
With the sound of air being split, blades came flying in.
Two of them, at that.
Jin instinctively jerked the handlebars.
Barely managing to stabilize the wildly shaking body of the bike, he looked in the direction the attack had come from and saw a gang member swinging mechanical arms connected to both shoulder blades.
With the hands he was born with, he gripped the handlebars.
With the mechanical arms he bought and had attached later, he held twin swords.
It was truly the appearance of a cyberpunk-style monster.
Look at this unfilial bastard?
As Jin furrowed his brow, the enemy, who had closed the distance in no time, began stabbing wildly.
“Die!!”
A frenzied assault, like he was just hoping something would hit.
But it was effective. Jin, not used to defending with just one hand, took a deep cut to his thigh.
Jin gritted his teeth at the hot pain spreading through his entire leg like spreading paint.
While he was switching between right and left hand, driving, attacking, defending, barely managing everything, this bastard was having the time of his life.
Anger naturally boiled over at the unfairness of it all.
Jin immediately holstered his Gravis and dodged the slashing blade by just tilting his head back-
Then grabbed the mechanical arm like lightning with his bare hands.
"H-Hey, let go of this!"
The gang member shouted in panic.
Jin replied.
“You’re coming for a ride with me.”
Immediately after, the Manticore roared.
Vrooom!!
The bike accelerated as if launched from the ground in an instant.
The sudden burst of speed caught the gang member off guard.
"...Huh? Ahhhhh!"
Caught in Jin’s unimaginable grip strength, his body lifted into the air and then crashed down onto the pavement.
Ignoring the screams echoing from behind, Jin kept racing forward.
And at some point, when the screams faded.
Only the mechanical arm, torn off at the shoulder, remained dangling in Jin’s hand.
Chzzzz! Crackle!
Thick wires sparking like human veins gave it a grotesque appearance.
Of course, Jin had no thoughts about it.
He had simply gained a usable blunt weapon, so he started swinging it at the gang members now surrounding him.
And watching all of this unfold was Mikel.
“Fuck! What the hell is that bastard?! Why the fuck is he chasing us?!”
Eyes fixed on the rear windshield, he shook the driver’s headrest like a madman.
“Step on it! Floor the fucking gas!”
From the perspective of the subordinate, who had already been weaving through lanes in a nerve-wracking chase for some time, it was the kind of command that made curses rise to the tip of his tongue.
But even the subordinate couldn’t speak up, because he had eyes too, and seeing his comrades get taken out one by one made his knees tremble.
Even in the chaos, he offered an opinion.
“Hyung! Are we really doing the right thing? Shouldn’t we try to shake that guy off and hide somewhere?”
“What?”
“I think we’re already fucked. Can’t we just lose him now and hole up somewhere?”
For a moment, Mikel just blinked, wondering what the hell he was talking about, then snapped.
“You stupid bastard! We’ve already started this and now you want to bail?!”
Unthinkable.
This was 500 million.
That was more than enough for a fresh start.
Of course, not in the sense of turning his life around, but of building his own gang in another Area 40s district.
Without that crazy bastard Henri.
"There's only a few minutes left now. Just go a little further from here and we'll reach the meeting point. We'll arrive, finish the deal cleanly, and then we'll get on the highway and escape immediately. Whether it's Area 46 or Area 45, we'll just fucking go. Got it?!"
“...Yes. Got it.”
"Let's do this right. Please."
Only then did Mikel lightly smack the cheek of the subordinate who nodded, and turned to look behind.
Fortunately, the pursuer who had been chasing them was no longer in sight.
Though it was a problem that the subordinates had disappeared along with him.
“...Was he a Solo? Damn it. How did the rumors spread?”
Could it really have been because of the mistake on the dark web?
He had only activated the tool for less than 10 seconds...
Since things weren't going well, it seemed he had been caught by a high-level hacker during that short time.
Mikel bit his lower lip hard and looked out the window as they entered the tunnel.
That’s it. Just need to get out of here and the meeting point is right ahead.
He just had to make it there, no matter what.
While Mikel mumbled to himself and tried to calm down.
Ding!
A holographic display popped up in front of his eyes.
Someone was calling him with a video phone.
[Henri]
Seeing the name of the caller, Mikel unconsciously gulped.
But he hesitated only for a moment.
He answered the call in a calm voice.
“Yes, boss.”
[Boss? I didn’t think you’d still call me that.]
“What do you mean?”
[Acting clueless now, huh? You want to die? No, wait. You’re gonna die anyway. Maybe it’s okay to be a little shameless?]
“Sorry?”
[You fucking bastard. I know everything. That you stabbed me in the back. One of the guys who left with you spilled everything to me. What? A fresh start? Offering someone a top position? You moron. You thought that would work?]
“......”
[I knew you were going to pull something eventually.]
“...Turn around.”
Mikel said that to the driver’s seat.
“Yes, hyung? What did you say?”
“Turn the car around! We’re fucked!”
“We’re in a tunnel right now? Shouldn’t we get out firs-”
At that moment, the vehicle exited the tunnel.
[Anyway. Farewell. You backstabbing bastard.]
As if waiting for that exact moment, a massive explosion struck the van.
***
Damn it. I lost them.
Jin furrowed his brow.
The last coordinated attack by the final four gang members had been annoyingly persistent.
Those bastards ended up clinging to the Manticore, and while trying to shake them off, he had taken a wrong turn.
So he lost the van he had almost caught up to, right in front of his eyes.
'They chase well in movies, but I can't do it.'
Feeling quite embarrassed, Jin scratched the back of his head.
Still, it was fine.
Because he had a tracker.
Right, Khalifa?
Jin muttered to himself words the actual person wouldn’t even hear, then threw aside the blood-soaked mechanical arm and sped up again.
No more obstacles. With nothing left to hinder him.
He weaved through lanes, following the route shown on the terminal.
After passing through a long tunnel, he completed the approach to the target and decelerated while making a wide arc.
And then, he narrowed his eyes at the scene before him.
What kind of situation is this now.
The van was flipped over, belly-up, engulfed in flames and burning violently.
The flickering fire painted the surroundings a bright scarlet hue.
Jin passed the corpse still clutching the steering wheel and fixed his gaze on a man sprawled on the ground.
“Haah! Haah!”
The man clutched something tightly to his chest. Jin could tell without even checking, that must be the Artifact Khalifa had mentioned.
Even so, Jin couldn’t act right away.
It was because of the unfamiliar men who were confronting each other with the fallen man between them.
One of them, with a deep scar near his eye, spoke first.
“I’m not selling it. I told you, this was mine to begin with. So get lost before I stop being polite.”
In response, the masked man across from him answered.
“That’s a problem. I clearly came here as the buyer. Are you planning to waste my time?”
Something about the situation felt off, and just as Jin quietly took off his helmet and hooked it on the handlebar.
All three men turned their attention toward him at once.
“And who the hell are you?”
“Who are you?”
“...This mother...fu-”
Startled, Jin blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"I'm...probably a thief?"
And so.
A traitor, the guy who came to beat up the traitor, the one here to buy the item.
And the guy who knew nothing.
All stared at one another.
~~~
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