WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Max-Level Swordsman of Fusionpunk ◈
Chapter 4
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After finishing Selna's job, Kang Doseok left the Blood Gang's warehouse. The payment was 1.35 billion relic. Including the earlier job of raiding Beckman's office, he'd earned 2.35 billion relic today alone.
That went beyond a tidy profit. Just looking at his account was enough to fill his stomach. After checking his terminal one last time, Kang Doseok walked toward his sedan.
Rain was falling from the sky. Water ran down the neon signs and into the narrow alleys. Kang Doseok roughly turned up his coat collar.
Then he looked ahead. Two young punks were hanging around his car.
“Come on, bro! Hurry up so we can get out of here before he comes back!”
“Just wait. How does this thing work? They said all I had to do was stick it in here...”
One was crouched by the driver's door, while the other kept watch. The one at the door was holding a crude hacking tool. Kang Doseok looked down at them for a moment.
“Touch that, and you lose a hand.”
“Shit!”
The younger brother, who'd been keeping watch, fell backward. The boy by the driver's door, who looked about thirteen, instinctively raised his hacking tool. Whatever he thought he could do with that stick, he seemed to be holding it out as a weapon.
At that moment, Kang Doseok's body blurred. Shing. Appearing right in front of the boy's nose in the blink of an eye, he swung his sword.
Clack.
The hacking tool fell to the ground, neatly severed. Kang Doseok looked down at the broken device.
A cheap circuit board was exposed inside its severed end. The thing hadn't even been properly waterproofed. As rain seeped inside, a blue light blinked twice, then went out. Kang Doseok stared at it before speaking.
“Use your head. You think you can hack anything with that piece of junk?”
“...Fuck this. Run!”
The boy holding the hacking tool turned first.
By then, Kang Doseok had already moved. He kicked the boy trying to flee in the side.
Thwack!
“Guaagh!”
The boy flew into a wall.
“F-Fuck! Bro!”
“Uuugh...”
“Quit making a fuss. I went easy on you.”
The other boy kept shouting. Kang Doseok lightly turned his sword in his hand. Then he approached the boy he'd sent flying and swung.
Shhk. The concrete wall split like a sheet of paper. The cut was right beside the fallen boy's face.
“Eek!”
Steel bars showed through the split wall, and rainwater trickled into the gap.
Both car thieves froze. Kang Doseok spoke with his sword pointed down.
“Move, and I'll kill you.”
“...”
“Answer me.”
“I-I won't move.”
“Good.”
Kang Doseok nudged a piece of the broken device with his toe.
“Who are you two?”
“W-We were just... passing by...”
“Kids who are just passing by try to hack someone else's car? With a tool they brought along?”
The boy swallowed. He squeezed his eyes shut and spoke.
“Lotus told us to.”
“Lotus?”
Kang Doseok narrowed his eyes.
“And who the hell are they? Gangsters?”
“They're not just gangsters.”
The boy stammered through his explanation.
“They're in the car business. On the surface, they buy used cars, repair them, tune them...”
“And?”
“Behind the scenes, they get kids like me to steal cars. Then they change the plates, swap out parts, and sell them.”
“And they told you to steal my car?”
“Yes. They said it was expensive... They'd had their eye on it for two weeks. They said they'd wipe out our debt if we brought it in.”
Kang Doseok thought it over. They hadn't simply spotted a car in passing and decided to steal it. They'd been watching it for two weeks. They'd checked the model, its location, and when the owner would be away. Which meant...
“So this wasn't just a crime. It was premeditated. That makes it especially serious.”
“W-Wait! Today's the first time we've even seen that car! That bastard told us to follow it and steal it, no matter what! P-Please spare us! I'll treat you like my own big brother!”
The younger brother's cry made Kang Doseok laugh in disbelief. Was the kid even nine?
The one against the wall looked three or four years older. Both wore rain-soaked clothes. Old jackets, worn-out sneakers, and faces that hadn't been properly washed. They looked like kids who scraped by in the back alleys.
“Hmm.”
After studying the two boys for a moment, Kang Doseok slid his sword into its sheath. Both boys held their breath.
“Get in.”
“...What?”
Beep-beep.
The lights flashed twice, and the sedan unlocked. The boys stared blankly at Kang Doseok. Opening the driver's door, he spoke.
“We're going to see that bastard.”
“U-Us too? Wait. If we go with you, we'll die.”
“Who'll kill you?”
“Lotus.”
“If you don't come, I'll kill you.”
“Eek.”
The younger brother gulped. The older one got up first.
Clutching his side, he staggered to his feet. He still seemed to be struggling to catch his breath. Even so, he grabbed his younger brother's arm and pushed him behind his back.
“I'll show you the way. Just please let me and my brother live.”
“Get in. Hurry up.”
Kang Doseok opened the driver's door.
The older brother stopped briefly by the rear door. He looked down at his wet clothes and muddy shoes. The luxury sedan's black seats looked far too clean for back-alley kids like them.
Kang Doseok spoke through the rearview mirror.
“What are you doing?”
“We might get it dirty...”
“Just get in.”
The older brother pushed his younger brother in first, then carefully took a seat beside him. As the door closed, the smell of wet clothes filled the car. The younger boy sat with both hands on his knees, barely daring to breathe.
Kang Doseok started the engine.
Vroom.
The sedan's engine settled into a low rumble.
“Address.”
“Sector 12, Zone G. Lotus Auto Repair.”
“How many people are inside?”
“About ten mechanics who actually work on cars. The rest are just thugs. Maybe thirty in total?”
“A nice, efficient business. Their finances must be in pretty good shape.”
With that, Kang Doseok stepped on the accelerator. The car glided into the rain.
* * *
The vehicle business under Lotus looked like an ordinary auto repair shop from the outside.
Cars on their last legs stood in a row beneath an old neon sign. Inside the workshop, cutting machines, lifts, and all kinds of equipment stood mixed together.
In the office at the back, Lotus's boss sat deep in a chair, checking car auction prices on a terminal. A glass of liquor, cigarettes, and several forged vehicle registrations with ink that hadn't yet dried lay scattered across the table.
Then a subordinate ran in from outside.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“A car's coming in.”
“Why are you reporting something as ordinary as a car coming in?”
“It's an RS-623.”
The boss's hand stopped.
“An RS-623?”
“Yes. Black. The one with the sixteen-cylinder internal combustion engine.”
At the subordinate's words, the corners of the boss's mouth lifted.
“Those little shits actually brought it in?”
The boss stood up.
“How much could we get for it?”
“It looks good on the outside. We'd have to open it up to check the inside, but assuming about a hundred million in costs, including laundering it, we could probably make a billion. It's a rare model you can't even get anymore.”
“Good.”
The boss looked out the window. A black sedan was entering the workshop. Blue neon spread across its rain-soaked body. The boss grinned.
“I'll have to show those little bastards some love.”
Leaving the office, the boss walked into the middle of the workshop. The car stopped, and the rear door opened.
Two boys got out. The boss's eyebrow twitched. Both had come out of the back seat. Which meant someone else was in the driver's seat.
“What the hell? Who did you bring with you?”
Just as the question ended, the driver's door opened. At the sight of a swordsman stepping out, the smile vanished from the boss's face.
Kang Doseok slowly looked around the premises. Stripped car doors, vehicle frames piled beneath a cutting machine, and fake license plates covering one wall.
He nodded.
“Looks like a decent business. You must be making good money. Plenty of cars, too.”
“...Who are you?” the boss asked cautiously.
Kang Doseok took a business card from inside his coat and tapped it against the boss's chest.
The boss took the card and read it. Their eyes wavered.
“Kang Doseok...? A Player?”
“That's right.”
Kang Doseok brushed his rain-wet hair back.
“Are you the one who sent these kids to steal my car?”
The boss looked toward the boys. They flinched.
“Don't look at the kids.”
“...”
At Kang Doseok's words, the boss turned back to him and forced a smile.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding. We run a legal vehicle business...”
Kang Doseok raised a hand.
“Save that for the city authorities. I don't care about any of that. I'm here for one reason.”
“What's that?”
“To collect money.”
The boss's face stiffened. Kang Doseok took out his terminal and opened the calculator.
“Now, let's do the math.”
His face was blank as he tapped the screen.
“You wasted forty-eight minutes of my precious time. At a million relic per minute, that's forty-eight million.”
“...”
“I'm upset that my car was almost stolen. Fifty million.”
The boss's mouth twitched. Kang Doseok kept tapping his terminal, unconcerned.
“Twenty million for the insult of using a cheap hacking tool on my car.”
“Insult...”
“The back seats got wet while I brought the kids here. Ten million for cleaning.”
The two boys stared blankly at Kang Doseok.
“And since I came all the way here myself, sixty million for the callout fee.”
“Ha. Now, hold on.”
The boss gave a hollow laugh. Kang Doseok turned the terminal around.
“A total of 188 million relic.”
After staring at the screen, the boss finally burst out laughing.
“Ha. You crazy bastard. Think you can do anything because you're a fixer? Because you're a Player?”
“Are you not going to pay?”
“Pay, my ass. You stupid fuck. You're dead.”
The air inside the workshop suddenly turned cold. Clack. The sound of a gun being cocked came from behind Kang Doseok. Both boys went pale. He slowly turned his head.
“Good.”
“What the hell is good about it?”
“Negotiations have broken down. We'll have to start over.”
Kang Doseok reached for his sword hilt. At the same time, the boss shouted.
“Shoot!”
Gunfire erupted.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Kang Doseok's gaze flicked around. Behind the workbench on the left, beneath the lift on the right, and by the office door ahead.
Three in total.
Having located them, Kang Doseok drew his sword.
His blade flashed through the air. The sound of bullets striking steel tore through the workshop.
Clang!
A deflected bullet pierced the throat of the man who'd fired it.
“Gah!”
The man dropped his gun and collapsed backward.
Clang! Clang!
The remaining bullets changed course off the blade. One struck a shooter's chest, and the other pierced the forehead of the thug aiming from the rear.
Thud! Thud!
All three went down almost at once. Blood spread across the wet floor. Mixing with the oily water, it slowly flowed toward the workshop drain.
“...”
The boss stood frozen, mouth open. Kang Doseok hadn't even moved from his spot. All he'd done was deflect the bullets with his sword. Yet only the boss's subordinates had died.
Swish. Kang Doseok gave his blade a light turn.
“Let's begin the second round of negotiations. You wasted fifty-one minutes of my precious time. At two million relic per minute, that's 102 million.”
“...”
“I'm upset that you shot at me. A hundred million.”
The boss swallowed hard, looking from the fallen subordinates to Kang Doseok's sword. The smile was long gone.
“I'm upset that you tried to use a hacking tool on my car. Forty million for the insult.”
“Wait, it was twenty million just a moment ago...”
“A hundred and twenty million for coming all the way here myself. The seats got damp, so twenty million for cleaning.”
“...”
Kang Doseok raised his terminal again.
“A total of 362 million relic. Pay up.”
“...Are you insane? I apologize for trying to steal your car in the first place. I understand that you're a very impressive fixer. But doubling the price like this...”
“Do we need a third round of negotiations?”
“...”
The boss's mouth shut.
After a moment's hesitation, the boss looked again at the three subordinates lying on the floor. They were the ones who'd fired. Kang Doseok had killed all three without taking a single step.
“For the record, starting with the third round, I collect things other than money. Organs, for example.”
“...Your account number, please.”
The boss took out a terminal with a hand slick with cold sweat. Without a word, Kang Doseok turned his screen around. The boss tapped the terminal with trembling hands.
Rather than hurry things along, Kang Doseok simply stood with his sword pointed at the floor. Beep-beep. A short while later, his terminal sounded.
The screen showed that the relic had been deposited.
After checking it, Kang Doseok looked at the boss and pointed his chin at the two boys.
“Don't touch them. If you do, I'll come back for you.”
“Y-Yes. Understood.”
The boss nodded over and over. Having confirmed that, Kang Doseok put his terminal away. He'd been paid. There was nothing else to do here.
Kang Doseok turned.
The two boys were still frozen at one side of the workshop. Guns had gone off, and three people had died. What's more, the person who'd killed those three was a swordsman. He'd deflected bullets with a sword. Everyone present knew what that meant.
It meant he was so skilled that you could hardly hope to run into someone like him on the street.
Skilled enough to kill everyone here if he wanted to. Young as they were, the boys understood that much.
Step, step. Kang Doseok walked toward the sedan.
“Get in.”
“...What?”
“Don't make me say it twice.”
The older brother grabbed his younger brother's arm first. The younger boy was practically dragged into the sedan.
Kang Doseok sat in the driver's seat and started the engine. The black sedan slowly reversed. Not one of the Lotus thugs inside the workshop could stop it.
The sedan pulled out into the rain.
For a while, no one spoke.
In the back seat, the younger brother was crying in quiet, hiccupping sobs. The older brother spoke first.
“...Sir. Are you going to kill us?”
“Yeah. Then I'll sell every last useful organ.”
“P-Please spare us...”
“I'm joking.”
Kang Doseok turned the wheel, his face expressionless.
“I don't kill kids.”
The older brother swallowed. Then he bowed his head.
“Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. I made money. That's enough.”
“...Okay.”
The car glided along the wet road. Neon signs passed outside the windows. The two boys sat shoulder to shoulder in the back seat.
Kang Doseok glanced at them in the rearview mirror.
Grimy faces.
Rain-soaked clothes.
The way they looked out for each other first, even with fear in their eyes.
He looked ahead again.
“Don't do it again.”
The older brother raised his head.
“What?”
“Don't get caught.”
“Don't get caught?”
“Right. Steal cars, kill people and take their money, do whatever you want. But don't get caught. You'll lose your head. If you die, can your little brother survive on his own? Remember, you've got another life riding on your shoulders.”
The older brother's face hardened.
His younger brother had stopped crying and was looking up at him.
Kang Doseok kept his eyes ahead as he drove. Neon signs flashed past.
The car stopped in front of an old underpass on the outskirts of Zone G.
There was a roof to shelter them from the rain, and a few cheap restaurants nearby were lit up for the night, open until morning. The smells of fried synthetic meat and wet concrete drifted in together.
“Get out.”
The boys looked at each other for a moment.
Then the older brother opened the door. The younger one followed, holding on to his brother's clothes.
Rain poured down beyond the underpass.
Before closing the door, the older brother bent at the waist.
“Thank you for letting us live.”
Instead of answering, Kang Doseok took a business card and a few banknotes from inside his coat and handed them over.
“What is this... Why are you giving us this?”
“I went to the trouble of letting you live. It'd piss me off if you starved to death.”
Without another word, Kang Doseok climbed into the driver's seat.
Vroom. A moment later, the black sedan disappeared into the rain.
The two boys stared blankly after the retreating car, then looked down at the banknotes in their hands. There was more than money. Something white was tucked between the bills. The older brother moved his fingers.
A small business card that fit in his palm.
It read:
$$ Independent Player, Swordsman Kang Doseok $$
&& Blackmail and threats tailored to your needs &&
&& Debt collection that follows you to the afterlife &&
&& Contract killings you can count on &&
※※※ ABSOLUTELY NO JUNKIES ※※※
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