Chapter 34 Rage
Chapter 34 Rage
“I’m gonna kill you all!” I roared, a primal, guttural scream ripping from my throat.
I didn't care about answers. To hell with explanations. All I saw was red.
I lunged forward, the blade of my construction knife flashing as I charged straight at Yoon.
The bastard only smirked.
His hand twitched behind his back, drawing a weapon.
My brain screamed, Gun!I’m dead.
I instinctively threw myself flat to the floor. Two metallic darts hissed through the air where my chest had been a split second earlier, thin cables trailing behind them as electricity crackled through the darkness.
A Taser.
Yoon didn't waste a second. He scrambled up from his seat, pulling Alice against his chest—the sudden jerk ripping Tanaka and Kenta out of her—and began backing rapidly toward the rear of the suite, dragging her with him.
I pushed myself off the floor, my hands empty—I’d dropped the construction knife during my dive.
I spotted the steel blade glinting in the middle of the room. Tanaka saw it at the exact same second and launched his heavy frame across the floor toward it.
Before I could dive for the weapon, Kenta stepped into my path. He settled into his heavy boxing stance and snapped out a blindingly fast punch. Time seemed to slow as I reacted, the rough voice of that old gym coach echoing through the adrenaline in my head:
"Don't be like that boy—he's too predictable. Always opens with a quick jab to the jaw... The secret to a real fighter is adaptability. Unpredictability."
I ducked beneath his reach and drove forward, stepping deep inside his guard. The gorilla looked down at me, keeping his right arm raised to block the same jumping maneuver I had used last time.
But I never left the floor.
Instead, I dropped as low as I could and drove my fist straight upward with everything I had left.
Crack. My knuckles pulverized his groin in one brutal, dirty strike. The giant's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed heavily onto the carpet.
I spun around just as Tanaka got his thick hands around the handle of my knife. He swung it clumsily through the air. "Stand down, or I’m gonna kill you!" he stammered, forcing a shaky, terrified laugh. "You really had your fun beating me up last time..."
I couldn't see Yoon and Alice at the back of the room anymore, but I caught the shadow of a concealed door sliding open in the left wall. They were escaping.
"Move, fatso, before I fucking kill you!" I shouted.
"Don't move, I said!" Tanaka trembled, holding the blade out. "You think you have any power here? The young master... nobody beats him. Nobody!"
He was hesitating—terrified. He wasn't a fighter. And I knew exactly how to break him.
"Do you really think Saki is doing okay right now?" I said, letting my voice drop into something cold. "I guess you didn't notice how tight I pulled those straps... especially the ones around her throat."
Tanaka froze, his eyes widening in horror as he instinctively glanced toward the wall.
That split second was all I needed. I whipped my cap off and hurled it straight into his face. As he swiped blindly at the fabric with the knife, I drove the heavy toe of my shoe up between his legs with every ounce of power I possessed.
With a choked gasp, he crumpled to the floor just as fast as the gorilla.
I didn't waste another breath. I snatched my knife from his fat hand and charged straight through the concealed doorway at the side of the suite.
I burst through the secret passage and realized immediately where it led—right back into Saki's private BDSM room. She was still hanging there in the center of the room, blindfolded and bound, the vibrator humming relentlessly against her as a heavy puddle glistened on the floor beneath her.
I didn't even slow down. I sprinted right past her, tearing open the door and bursting out into the fourth-floor hallway.
"Where are you fuckers?!" I growled, sprinting down the corridor toward the elevator.
As I rounded the corner, the elevator doors were just beginning to slide shut. Standing inside the car were Yoon and Alice—both of them completely naked, staring calmly out at me from the bright cabin.
I charged, practically spitting blood, my knife raised high above my head. "Aliceeeeee!" I screamed from the very bottom of my chest.
She just tilted her head, stuck her tongue out at me, and mouthed a single word:
"Loser."
The heavy metal doors sealed shut with a cold, final thud just as my body slammed full-force against them.
"Damn it!"
I spun around wildly until my eyes caught the stairwell sign. I threw the door open and hurled myself down the concrete steps, taking them three at a time.
I burst out onto the third-floor landing just long enough to check the elevator indicator—the glowing red numbers were already dropping to 2.
I scrambled like a madman back into the stairwell. As I rounded the next flight, a man in a black suit—a different one—was leaning against the railing, smoking a cigarette. His head snapped up toward me, but before he could even open his mouth, I launched myself into the air and drove both legs straight into his chest.
The impact sent him flying backward, his spine slamming hard into the concrete landing below. I didn't slow down for a fraction of a second. I vaulted right over his groaning body and pounded down the remaining steps.
I burst into the second-floor hallway and checked the elevator: doors wide open, completely empty. I spun toward the grand overlook of the main staircase and spotted them. Yoon and Alice were moving down toward the ground floor, flanked by two more guards in black suits. The muscle-men shoved casino patrons out of the way, parting the crowd for Yoon and Alice, who glided through the chaos as if they didn't even care they were completely naked.
A wave of shocked commotion rippled across the floor as every eye turned toward them.
Suddenly, the thunder of heavy boots erupted right behind me. I spun around just as the guard from earlier—the one with the rough, scarred face—charged out of the stairwell.
"Fucker!" he roared.
I didn't hesitate. I swung my blade hard in a wide, vicious arc.
The steel caught flesh and fabric with a sickening, wet tear. Blood erupted into the air, raining over the balcony railing and splashing down onto the crowded casino floor below. Patrons shrieked as the warm crimson spray hit them, and total, screaming pandemonium broke out across the room.
"He has a knife!" a stripper screamed over the stampede.
Down below, Yoon and Alice were already nearing the front entrance of the building. But blocking my path were two more Yakuza enforcers, charging up the main staircase straight toward me.
“Motherfuckers! Move! Out of the way—I’m gonna cut his dick off!” I roared like a rabid animal, throwing myself down the stairs at them and slashing wildly at the air in a blind frenzy.
They scrambled backward, desperate to avoid the flashing steel. I lunged forward into the opening, drawing the blade hard across one enforcer's hand.
“Asshole!” he shrieked, clutching his bleeding limb.
But the second guard capitalized on my reckless momentum, stepping into my blind spot and driving a brutal punch straight into my jaw. My head snapped to the side, my vision flashed white, and I stumbled hard against the brass railing.
I didn't let the stun stop me. I shoved the knife between my teeth, bit down hard, and vaulted straight over the second-floor balcony. Launching myself into open air, I reached for one of the heavy hanging light fixtures. My hands clamped onto the cold metal frame. The sudden jolt nearly tore my arms from their sockets as the ceiling mount ripped free under my weight. I plummeted straight down and crashed through a green-felt poker table on the casino floor below.
Wood splintered beneath me. I rolled through the shower of playing cards and clay chips, swallowed the agonizing surge of pain in my spine, and scrambled to my feet. I flicked my knife back open, tore through the front doors, and burst out into the night.
The neon-lit street was already in an uproar. Bystanders were shouting and pointing as Yoon and Alice sprinted down the pavement, completely naked and shielded by their two Yakuza escorts. I didn't slow down. I pushed through the exit doors, my blade gripped tightly in my fist. A stream of warm blood was running down my leg, and the side of my face was already swelling shut from the punch.
Someone in the crowd kept screaming, “He has a knife!”
Out in the harsh glare of the red-light district, the crowd parted around me. Pimps, sluts, drunken gamblers—everyone was staring at the blood-soaked madman charging down the sidewalk. A couple of phone cameras were already held high, recording the insanity.
I didn't give a damn about any of them. My eyes were locked on the targets ahead, and I kept my legs pumping.
Another Yakuza enforcer stepped directly into my path, drawing a blade of his own. I didn’t even slow down. To hell with it—I didn’t care if I died right here on the asphalt. His steel sliced deep across my forearm as I barreled past him, but the adrenaline blocked the pain entirely. I just kept my eyes glued to those two fuckers.
Wailing sirens echoed in the distance. The street was swelling with crowds pouring out of the clubs and parlors to watch the madness.
I was almost there—only two meters separating me from my prey.
"Aliceee!" I roared from the bottom of my chest.
Then came the screech of tires, a blinding flash of headlights flooded my peripheral vision. A ton of steel that had been screaming toward me suddenly braked—yet still slammed into my side like a sledgehammer.
My knife clattered out of my grip, spinning away across the asphalt. The heavy bumper of the black sedan clipped me hard, lifting me clean off my feet and hurling me across the street.
I hit the ground hard, the wind knocking out of my lungs in a ragged gasp. Through the haze of pain, I forced my heavy eyelids open just in time to see them: Yoon and Alice, calmly sliding into the back seat of the sedan.
They were getting away.
“No… no… no…” I tried to scream, desperately dragging my broken body across the pavement toward my fallen knife—but my limbs refused to respond.
Shadows loomed over me as a fresh wave of black-suited Yakuza swarmed in. They didn't care that I was already shattered, bleeding out onto the asphalt. The blows rained down in a ruthless torrent—the brutal thud of heavy boots and fists smashing into me from every direction. I curled into a tight ball on the pavement, burying my head in my arms to shield my vitals.
Through the blur of blood and chaos, the very last image burned into my mind was Alice.
She was already settling into the leather seat of the sedan, gazing down at me through the window. Her face held nothing—no anger, no fear, no recognition. Just cold, bored disappointment. She shook her head slowly, as if I were a minor inconvenience, then gave me one last dismissive wave.
She turned toward Yoon. Her entire expression melted instantly into a soft, loving grin.
My world dissolved into black. Flashing red and blue lights bled together into meaningless shadows. The screaming sirens faded to a dull hum in my ears. And finally, even the agonizing pain slipped away as the darkness swallowed me whole.