Chapter 115
Chapter 115: Three Shots Left
Kim Han-yang trembled at the sight of me and hung his head low.
Killian spoke.
"Do you two know each other?"
"He's one of my subordinates."
"Is that so?"
Killian looked at Kim Han-yang.
Kim Han-yang said nothing.
"Let's have a drink."
Killian gestured, and one of his men brought over some liquor.
Whiskey.
"I'm not sure if you like whiskey."
The scent of high-end whiskey wafted through the air.
Killian suddenly offered me a drink.
The reason was obvious.
A string of unsettling situations.
Even he needed time to regain his composure.
And there was the posturing—wanting to show off his own nonchalance.
But I already knew.
The hand pouring the whiskey was trembling ever so slightly.
"Have a taste."
He held out a glass toward me.
I didn't touch it.
"……You don't want to drink? There's no poison in it."
Killian smiled lightly and took a sip first.
"Whiskey doesn't sit well with me. Unless it's hard liquor."
"It's a Macallan 1962. Worth over 30 million won a bottle."
At his words, I looked over at Kim Han-yang.
"Why don't you give this friend a glass instead of me?"
Swoosh.
I slid the glass Killian had given me in front of Kim Han-yang.
Kim Han-yang flinched.
"It's a drink from your boss."
"Ah…… well……"
Kim Han-yang glanced nervously between me and Killian.
"Looks like he doesn't want it."
Killian looked at me and Kim Han-yang in turn with a displeased expression.
"Let's talk business."
"Minister Pyeon Jae-yeong came by, didn't he?"
"How did you know that? Ah…… You heard."
Killian glanced down at the severed head on the table.
"Korea made a remarkable offer."
"I'm here to make one even bigger."
"Without even hearing Korea's offer?"
"It's obvious. Take care of me. Then you'll be rewarded."
"……"
I smiled as if it were nothing, and reached into my bag to pull something out again.
After all, a severed head had already come out of it.
Killian watched my hand intently, tensed for a moment, then let his eyes light up.
"14th floor's Chivalrous Hero's Secret Medicine, and 37th floor's antidote."
"……"
Items Killian would already know about.
And items he would desperately want.
"When my master was in Korea, he had a contract with Gukmubon. Exclusive distribution rights for this Chivalrous Hero's Secret Medicine and the antidote. But here's the thing."
I pointed to the items.
"That deal with Gukmubon has now fallen through."
Killian's eyes lit up.
"My master is looking for a new partner. Not a small country like Korea—someone with an incredible organization and distribution network capable of dealing with the entire world."
I pointed at him.
"Chairman Killian seems like exactly the right fit."
Killian swallowed hard as he stared at the antidote.
His pupils shifted.
He was clearly deliberating.
The Chivalrous Hero's Secret Medicine and the antidote.
The value of the information I possessed was truly staggering.
The problem was why someone like me—a walking treasure—had suddenly come to him.
He opened his mouth.
"Pyeon Jae-yeong told me. That your master has taken over the Red Dragon Gate in Korea."
"That's correct."
"Seeing your ability, I'm rather worried about my Black Market too."
I gave a quiet smirk.
"It seems Pyeon Jae-yeong told you one thing but not the other 2."
"What do you mean?"
"The Red Dragon Gate was never my master's business partner, was it."
"……Hmm."
"My master never touched Gukmubon, his business partner. And now we are simply looking for a new one."
"Your master and Gukmubon's relationship—it was severed unilaterally."
"Do you not also know the reason it was severed? Who was betrayed first."
I stared directly at Killian.
"I am giving Chairman Killian an opportunity right now. Do not touch us or the people around us. Then we won't touch you either."
Killian sank into thought.
Wondering whether this sudden opportunity that had come to him was actually a trap.
At last, he asked me.
"……And the conditions?"
"3 of them."
"Let's hear them."
"First—we distribute our goods through Chairman Killian on the Black Market. Profits are split 8:2. 8 for us, of course."
"My commission is low."
"The commission can be adjusted over time based on the volume you move. We need to see it for ourselves first."
"The French government won't stay quiet. If we proceed directly without involving them."
"I've accounted for that as well."
"……How so?"
I reached to one corner of the table.
I picked up the catalogue for the items being auctioned at this event.
"Please give us entry passes so we can participate in this auction—as both buyers and sellers."
"……A clever move."
Killian smiled.
Ghost and the Nameless Hero participating as sellers.
Judging by the current stance of the French government, this would serve as a decisive wedge.
That Ghost and the Nameless Hero were behind the French Black Market.
"It seems you've prepared some fine items."
"You'll be satisfied."
"The 2nd condition?"
"I need the CCTV footage of Pyeon Jae-yeong's visit."
"There's no such thing."
Killian shook his head.
"He's the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Korea. Do you think I would have recorded a conversation with him?"
He threw up both hands with a baffled expression as if it were absurd.
"If something like that existed, I'd be holding a card to use Pyeon Jae-yeong like a slave—"
"Killian."
Swoosh.
I drew up my energy and fixed him with a sharp gaze.
Killian's chattering mouth fell shut.
"Let's not make things tiresome for each other."
"……"
I extended a hand and pointed to one section of the bookshelf.
Where a hidden camera was recording this room.
Killian looked at me for a moment, then rose and pulled a book from the shelf before handing it to me.
Opening it, there was a hard drive inside.
"It contains everything currently recording, along with the original footage of Pyeon Jae-yeong."
"Thank you."
I smiled lightly.
Handing over the original to me.
It obviously meant a copy existed elsewhere, but I said nothing of it.
【Kim Tae-yang is overjoyed, thinking he has obtained a card to deal with Prosecutor Pyeon and Minister Pyeon Jae-yeong. +1,000,000 Happiness Points】
"One condition remains."
It was time to state the 3rd condition.
"One of my subordinates is being held here. A man named Omar."
"Is that so?"
I pointed to Kim Han-yang.
Kim Han-yang was startled.
"This fellow should know."
Killian exchanged a few words with Kim Han-yang and frowned.
He then instructed his men to bring Omar.
Kim Han-yang was visibly restless.
The matter of imprisoning Omar—it seemed even Killian had been unaware of it.
While Omar was being brought over.
I was flipping through the auction catalogue.
It was surely classified.
Yet even as I looked through the items one by one, Killian made no move to stop me.
Perhaps he had deliberately let me see.
‘This is outrageous.’
‘They're actually trafficking real human beings as auction lots.’
One page of the catalogue listed descriptions of the women being put up for sale.
Physique, age, virginity, appearance grade, and more.
Among them were Koreans as well.
‘……Filthy scum.’
"You seem interested."
"I suppose."
"A young man's desires are written all over him."
He looked at me with a grin and spoke, amused at something.
"Your master, this so-called Nameless Hero…… Seems like a decent person, actually."
"What makes you say that."
"I didn't expect you to include a subordinate's release as one of your conditions."
"A person ought to look after their people."
At that, Killian scratched his temple and said,
"I have a niece. She says she's met you before."
"You mean Louise."
Killian smiled faintly.
"That's right, that girl…… She's currently being punished in a room over there in the corner."
"Punishment?"
"She's gluing together shards of a broken porcelain piece, one by one. I gave her a simple task and she completely bungled it."
"Hehehe."
Imagining her struggling with it made me laugh naturally.
"You seem fond of your niece."
"I am. I have to be…… Because eventually she'll inherit everything, won't she."
"Why not pass it to your own children?"
"I don't have children. They'd be a liability."
"That doesn't make sense to me. You're fond of your niece, so she'll be a liability all the same."
"Louise is not my liability."
"……?"
"I have many nieces."
I stared at Killian quietly.
Words that made sense yet somehow didn't.
"The only thing I trust is this."
He tapped the revolver at his hip.
Then, with a click—
He suddenly drew the revolver and set it on the table.
"A gift."
"Ha."
"Do you have any interest in dating a foreign woman?"
"……Pardon?"
Just as I made a baffled expression.
Omar, bound in restraints, was brought into the room.
"B-boss!"
"Omar."
"Ugh……. Boss, I'm sorry. I made a mess of things."
Omar, who had immediately shown tears at the sight of me, caught sight of Kim Han-yang in the room and his expression transformed as he lunged forward.
"Kim Han-yang, you son of a bitch!"
Crash!
As Omar leaped at him, Killian's men grabbed Omar and pinned him to the floor.
"You bastard! You……! My sister…… you worthless piece of garbage!"
‘There's something between these two.’
"What happened?"
Killian asked Kim Han-yang.
"Th-that's……"
Kim Han-yang said nothing.
And Omar, screaming from the floor, shouted at me.
"Boss Kim Tae-yang! My little sister is being held here! This bastard did this to my sister……. Ugh!"
Grab—!
I snatched the Macallan 1962 bottle off the table and brought it straight down on Kim Han-yang's head.
Crack!
"Aaaargh!"
Kim Han-yang crumpled to the floor, clutching his head as blood poured freely from it.
The expensive whiskey trickled across the floor.
"Consider it drunk. Omar, translate."
Omar relayed in French that his sister had been held captive here and had been victimized by Kim Han-yang.
Killian looked at me quietly.
Then he gestured for Omar to be lifted off the floor and released.
"Boss……"
"I know."
I turned immediately to Killian.
"Please release Omar's sister as well."
"You said there were only 3 conditions."
"Killian."
He pointed to the revolver on the table.
"I gave you trust. Are you planning to break our agreement already?"
"Please release her. I'll pay for it."
"We'll discuss that later. I need to hold on to something as a down payment, don't I?"
Killian crossed his arms.
"Those items you and your master said you'd put up for auction—bring them. Then I'll release her."
I looked at Omar.
Omar looked back at me with bloodshot eyes, then gave a slow nod.
"I suppose I have no choice. Understood."
I rose from my seat and took the revolver Killian had gifted me.
Kim Han-yang glared up at me from the floor, trembling.
I spoke to Omar.
"I told you to manage your subordinates properly."
"……"
Swoosh.
I handed Omar the revolver.
"3 bullets left."
"Yes."
"……!"
In that instant, Killian's expression stiffened—and Omar, without a moment's hesitation, fired at Kim Han-yang.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Click! Click! Click—
【Omar seethes with fury and relieves at least some of his rage. +2,000 Happiness Points】
Blood flowing from Kim Han-yang's lifeless body spread across the floor toward Killian's side.
Killian glared at me. I gazed down at the corpse indifferently and said,
"Looks like I can't bring this one subordinate back."
"……"
"Keep that down payment safe."
I stepped out through the door.
Behind me, Omar followed with the revolver gripped in his hand, his expression now entirely transformed.
"Hahaha!"
Killian burst into uproarious laughter as if the whole thing were beyond belief.
***
"I'm sorry, boss. And thank you."
Omar, having received first aid, bowed deeply to me in my hotel room.
"It's fine. Don't worry about your sister. I'll bring her back without fail."
"I don't know how to express my gratitude."
"Rest. You have a lot of work ahead of you."
"Yes."
Leaving Omar behind, I got back into the car.
Late at night.
The streets of Paris were quiet.
A short while later.
I parked in front of a lavish hotel.
‘This is the place.’
At the very top of the hotel. The suite.
There, by the window, a man in a hotel robe stood holding a glass, gazing out at the night view of Paris.
It was Pyeon Jae-yeong.