Chapter 25 : Bank Account
Hartman spotted four people coming down from the rocky hill and waved his hand.
They appeared to be security officers from Mollibay.
He didn’t know why their numbers were fewer than expected, but the Tomdis’ ambush had also been an unexpected variable.
Seeing the security officers rushing toward the Wells Fargo stagecoach, the Tomdis frowned.
“Those bastards—”
They dared to kill the second Tomdi?
As soon as they exchanged glances, they scattered to the sides and pulled out grappling hooks.
Whoosh!
The hooks latched firmly onto the carriage windows, and attached to their ends were small bombs made by the Tomdi brothers themselves.
The decoy carriage trailing closely behind began to shake violently.
The driver had abruptly pulled the reins after spotting the bomb.
“Damn it!”
BOOOOM!
BOOM!
The explosion shattered the second carriage into pieces.
Through the dust, the eldest Tomdi revealed himself.
Hartman fired rapidly, striking his side.
Even in such a disadvantageous situation, Hartman noticed that Tomdi was smiling.
Was it his imagination?
“What—”
“Ahhh! Ahhh! In frooont!”
The driver’s scream proved it wasn’t imagination.
Whether it was precise timing or some hidden mechanism, no one knew.
As the carriage entered a narrowing path, bombs detonated in succession.
BOOOM! BOOM!
Rattle! Rattle!
To avoid the explosions, they veered off the road, but the uneven rocks caused the carriage to sway dangerously.
Hartman’s body lifted into the air.
Ah, it’s going to tip—
Creeeak!
Time seemed to slow down.
The eldest Tomdi, grinning brightly, aimed his gun at him.
Damn dwarf bastards…
Just as Hartman’s thoughts froze—
Bang!
Another distant gunshot rang out, and the eldest Tomdi’s head exploded.
It was as if the sound wasn’t from the shot itself, but a warning that his head was about to burst.
The carriage overturned, and Hartman and the driver tumbled to the ground.
Hiiiing!
“······There he is.”
Click!
Jaei muttered as he reloaded.
From his angle, if the Tomdis were on the right side of the carriage, he couldn’t see them.
As the carriage overturned and the Tomdis scattered, Jaei pulled the trigger as if he had been waiting.
Bang! Bang!
The first and second were dead.
There were only four Tomdis, but the bombs they carried were equivalent to the force of hundreds.
They had almost succeeded, but losing two in that short span made things difficult.
The third and fourth exchanged glances and nodded.
“They’re running, those bastards!”
“Chase them! Kill them!”
“No! Don’t go! There might be more ambushers! Our mission is to escort the carriage! Protect it!”
“Bullshit! You think there are more than four? They were scared when they saw our numbers! Bastards!”
“I said no!”
As an enraged Pinkerton agent tried to pursue, Hartman shouted.
But they ignored him and kicked their horses forward.
They were rough men, no different from outlaws, and more importantly, they were assigned flexibly depending on contracts.
Hartman might be the leader now, but who cared?
Let the targets escape?
Nonsense! Do they even know how much those bounties were worth?
Bang! Bang!
Clatter, clatter! Hiiiing!
As three Pinkerton agents chased them, the Tomdi brothers spat on the ground.
Then they casually threw a smoke bomb they had made.
Fwoosh!
The horses that inhaled the smoke shook their heads in pain.
Unable to run straight, they staggered wildly and threw their riders off.
One man was kicked by a horse’s hind legs, his neck snapping instantly.
Watching through his telescope, Hartman sighed quietly.
“Listen to orders for once, damn it.”
“Are you alright? We’re from Mollibay!”
The security officers stopped while keeping watch, and James chased after the Tomdis.
Escorting Wells Fargo wasn’t really his concern.
It didn’t earn him anything.
His only goal was the bounty on the Tomdis.
Click! Bang!
Jaei’s bullet pierced the back of the third Tomdi’s head.
Watching him fall helplessly to the side, Jaei pulled the trigger again, but the last one kept running unharmed.
“Huh.”
It seemed he had gone out of effective range.
Jaei clicked his tongue and called Onyx, descending the rocky hill.
Now he could only hope James would handle the last one.
As if meeting his expectations, James’s horse closed the distance at incredible speed.
Clatter, clatter!
“······!”
“Hey, dwarf!”
Bang! Bang!
Click!
The fourth Tomdi fired back, telling him to get lost, but that was it.
James’s shot tore through his back, and he fell to the side.
The now-lighter donkey continued running alone.
“Ah… that hurts…”
“How many of us are still alive?”
“About nine still moving, I think… not sure. Some will probably die soon.”
Hearing that, Hartman let out a small sigh.
From the overturned carriage, the Wells Fargo employees crawled out through the windows.
Relief at surviving was brief—they immediately began pointing fingers at Hartman and the Pinkerton agents.
“Unbelievable! What kind of situation is this? Do you know how much we paid for escort? And you couldn’t even handle four men?”
“And they were just four dwarfs on donkeys!”
“What kind of incompetence is this? When we return to California, we will lodge a strong complaint!”
The Pinkerton agents bristled, about to retaliate, but Hartman stepped in front of them.
His gaze, standing with his back to the Wells Fargo employees, was chilling.
This was the wasteland.
If no one saw, he could kill them all and still send the money to Mollibay without issue.
In fact, he’d probably receive even greater compensation for protecting the carriage after such a fierce battle.
But the security officers had already arrived.
With witnesses present, he had no choice but to endure.
“Are you alright?”
Jaei, coming down from the rocky hill, asked as he joined them.
Hartman turned his head.
A very young-looking boy.
Judging by his clothing, he didn’t seem to be a security officer—so who was he?
He could vaguely sense that the officers were wary of him.
“Thank you for your help. Thanks to Mollibay’s support, it seems they retreated.”
“Yes, well, it was nothing. The carriage overturned—can it be set upright? Do you need more people?”
“No, we should be able to manage with the remaining men. We still have horses.”
At that moment, James, who had been collecting the Tomdi corpses one by one starting from the fourth, called out to Jaei with dissatisfaction.
“Hey!”
The reason was simple.
Except for the last one he killed, all the others had their heads blown apart.
Identification was the most important part when claiming bodies—this made it useless.
“Why’d you shoot their heads?”
“Ah, I didn’t have much choice.”
“No choice? Damn it! What a waste! Do you know how much each of these is worth?”
James grabbed the collars of the four Tomdi corpses and shook them.
Seeing this, the Pinkerton agents looked at Jaei in confusion.
Did that mean this boy had taken down three Tomdis?
And all with headshots?
Looking at the Sharps rifle slung over his shoulder, they asked,
“You hit them from the rocky hill with that?”
“That distance… that’s impossible.”
“The first three were fine. The fourth didn’t reach.”
They had assumed the security officers had handled them.
The Pinkerton agents were stunned into silence, then awkwardly coughed.
“But those bodies… couldn’t we have killed them? It’s hard to believe someone hit headshots from that distance.”
“Yeah, it was chaos. Could’ve been us!”
“Listen, hand over those headless ones. We’ll take care of them.”
Though the faces were destroyed and identification impossible, bodies with dwarfism were rare.
They could be sold to doctors for a high price.
Even in this mess, they wanted to gain something.
At their suggestion, James frowned deeply.
“What nonsense is that? These are ours.”
“Then prove it.”
“Proof? Want me to show you?”
James took out a knife and split open one of the shattered heads.
Jaei turned away at the gruesome sight, and the Pinkerton agents frowned.
But James casually dug out the lodged bullet and held it up.
“Anyone here want to claim this bullet is theirs? Speak up.”
No one said a word.
The security officers only glanced nervously at the overturned carriage.
They needed to set it upright quickly, but the atmosphere made it difficult.
Hartman waved his hand and stepped forward.
“No. Everyone’s just on edge right now. We won’t contest the bodies, so how about we focus on setting the carriage upright? The sun will set soon.”
Hmph.
James sneered, tossed the bullet aside, and loaded the corpses onto his horse.
“I’ll head back first. Need to process these quickly.”
“Yes. See you in Mollibay.”
“Right. Come safely. Hyah!”
Hiiiing!
As James rode off, the Pinkerton agents, who had been silent, each added a remark to Jaei, trying to ease their embarrassment.
“Didn’t expect someone like you in a backwater like Mollibay. Kid, you should join Pinkerton instead of staying here.”
“Yeah. With your skills, the company would train you well.”
“You’re impressive. Mind if I take a look at your gun? Wondering if it’s modified. Honestly, that shot makes no sense. That was near max range.”
Jaei refused their outstretched hands and gestured toward the carriage.
What kind of gunman would hand over his weapon to strangers?
Stop wasting time and fix the carriage.
“Hah, seriously. Think about Pinkerton. Do you know how much we get paid for this?”
“A whopping $70 each.”
Yes, $70!
Nearly $300 total had been spent, yet the carriage had overturned and the Wells Fargo employees were crawling out of windows.
The bank employees glared at them disapprovingly, but the Pinkerton agents didn’t seem to care.
“It’s fine. Stop chatting and handle my money, please.”
My money?
Everyone’s eyes widened.
Only the Wells Fargo employees and Hartman knew that nearly half the payment was actually a bounty.
“M-Mr. Kim Jaei?”
A bank employee hurriedly stood and dusted off his coat, and Jaei sighed as he spoke.
“I’d really like to get paid now.”
***
“Here it is!”
Wells Fargo Bank, Mollibay branch.
The branch manager presented a crisp certificate to Jaei.
“The number written here is your current deposited amount. Deposits and withdrawals can be made freely at any branch. However, only you may conduct transactions, and identification is required. Without transaction records and verification through a seal or signature, it will not be recognized. Additionally, if this is damaged, the verification process becomes complicated, so please handle it carefully. Thank you.”
Jaei counted the number—$3200.
It had taken an incredibly long time.
By Western standards, it was fast processing, but for someone used to South Korean administrative systems, it felt like years.
“Thank you. I’ll be going now.”
Jaei stood up, satisfied, placing the certificate in his coat.
Behind him, Wells Fargo employees erupted into applause and cheers.
According to Wells Fargo records, Jaei was the youngest VIP to hold over $3000 in his first account and first transaction.
A crowd of Mollibay residents had gathered to witness it, and among them were Pinkerton agents as well.