Chapter 11: When Hope Is Traded for Blood

“Why… why…?”

I immediately turned to run, but the commander grabbed my hair and yanked hard.

I staggered and collapsed face-first onto the ground.

“Honestly, Obaltan, that idiot.

Can’t even catch one crippled girl…

I knew this would happen.

What kind of revenge was that uselessly soft bastard ever going to pull off?”

The commander clicked his tongue.

I couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying.

Was Obaltan really trying to catch me?

And how did the commander know about it?

There was no time to drown in confusion.

I might have had even the smallest chance to escape from Obaltan, but the commander would show no mercy.

After flailing weakly on the ground for a while, I managed to stand up.

I turned again to flee, but for some reason the commander was only grinning to himself.

“Uncle….”

Obaltan had caught up and was approaching.

Behind me was the commander, in front of me was Obaltan.

I was completely surrounded.

“Uncle!

Why are you doing this?

Snap out of it!”

Obaltan walked toward me expressionlessly, drawing closer and closer.

My heart pounded as if it might burst.

Could I really break through someone as large as Obaltan and escape?

No matter how I thought about it, it was impossible.

Left with no choice, I decided I might as well swallow the ring.

The moment I pulled the gold ring from my clothes, he was faster.

“Ah!”

Obaltan grabbed my wrist.

“Uncle, please….”

I clenched my fist tightly and clung to his arm.

Obaltan’s deeply sunken eyes were stained with sorrow.

“What are you doing?!

You can’t even snatch a single ring from a mere woman?!”

At the commander’s shouting, Obaltan’s gaze changed.

He tried to force my clenched fist open.

Clinging to him, I begged desperately.

“Uncle, please… this one thing, you can’t.

I-I’ll give you the jade button.

Take that instead.”

As I hurriedly reached into my clothes for the jade button, he grabbed my hand and stopped me.

He shook his head and spoke in a voice so quiet only I could hear.

“I’m sorry.

I’m really sorry.”

“Uncle….”

Biting down hard on his lower lip, Obaltan finally forced my fist open and snatched the cloth bundle containing the gold ring.

“No!”

That’s Gyesa’s hope.

No.

Don’t take it.

I lunged at Obaltan, hitting and clawing at his arm, desperately trying to get the ring back.

But he endured it all in silence, never loosening his grip on the ring.

“You crazy b*tch!”

The commander grabbed my hair again from behind.

Even as I was dragged backward by his strength, I stretched my arm forward like someone reaching for a lifeline.

But my body was completely restrained by the commander, pulled farther away from Obaltan.

“Ah!

You f*cking crazy b*tch…!

You won’t stay still?!”

The commander repeatedly slammed my head as I thrashed wildly.

My head rang and my vision turned white, but at that moment I was a little insane myself.

All I could think about was getting Gyesa’s ring back.

“Ugh!

Damn it… has this gone too far?!”

I bit down hard on the hand roughly covering my face.

The metallic smell of blood filled my mouth.

The commander shoved me away violently, then began raining kicks down on me as I lay on the ground.

“Give it… back….”

Taking the kicks directly to my body, I reached my arm toward Obaltan.

He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and spoke quietly.

“Keep the promise first.”

At those words, something inside me collapsed with a sound I could almost hear.

I didn’t realize it then, but looking back now, it was probably hope.

“Huh… you damn b*tch….

What did you say?”

“Hand over the gun first.

Like you promised.”

The commander stopped kicking and looked at Obaltan.

Wiping the sweat from his face, he staggered toward him.

“Ha!

You ungrateful bastard… hand it over first.”

“No….”

Groaning, I crawled forward and grabbed the hem of the commander’s pants.

His face as he looked down at me was full of irritation.

Just as he lifted his leg to kick me again, Obaltan spoke.

“Commander, don’t you know what kind of person she is?

That tough little b*tch didn’t shed a single tear even when her leg broke.

Get her off me first, then take it.”

“What?”

“And how am I supposed to trust you?

Give me back my gun first—the one I left as collateral when I joined the circus.

That gold ring?

I don’t even need it.”

The commander raised an eyebrow.

His face was filled with suspicion.

I clutched his pant leg even tighter.

The commander glanced down at me, his eyes bloodshot, then pulled the Mauser pistol from his bag and tossed it to Obaltan.

“Damn it.

Fine.

I should just shoot this trashy b*tch dead….”

Obaltan caught the pistol and carefully tucked it into his clothes.

After confirming that, the commander stomped hard on my hand.

“Agh!”

Pain like my hand bones were twisting made me release my grip without thinking.

Shaking out his pants, the commander gestured toward Obaltan.

“Now, hand over the ring.”

Obaltan looked briefly at the commander’s outstretched hand, then at me lying on the ground.

“What are you doing?

Hurry up and give it to me!”

As the commander snapped impatiently, Obaltan spoke softly.

“I’m a bastard.”

“What are you saying?

Hurry up and give it to me!”

“But, Commander… you’re a real, world-class bastard.

Still, I’m a little grateful to someone like you.

You kept your promise, at least.”

Sensing something wrong, the commander began backing away.

Even normally he couldn’t beat Obaltan in a fight, and now Obaltan even had a gun.

Yet Obaltan made no move.

He simply muttered as if possessed.

“Kid, I’m sorry.

But not long ago, I finally met my enemy.

The bandit bastard who killed my family.

This was the only way to get my gun back….

Before I die, just this once, let me be selfish.”

“H-hey.

Obaltan, you’re not seriously planning to shoot someone with that, are you…?!”

Obaltan met my gaze for a moment.

His eyes were heavy with guilt, and he couldn’t hold my stare for long before turning and running.

“Hey!

Obaltan, you bastard!”

Pointing and shouting, the commander began chasing after him.

I staggered to my feet and followed after the two of them.

My badly beaten body refused to move properly, yet I felt no pain.

Only the pounding of my heart, heavy with anxiety, echoed painfully through my entire body.

I fell again and again.

My shoes slipped off, blood streamed from my palms.

As I ran in rags, flailing helplessly, startled cries rose around me.

But all I could see were the backs of the commander and Obaltan growing farther and farther away.

They were running with hope.

As that hope drifted farther away, my vision blurred.

“No… no.”

I knew it was foolish, but I kept repeating those words as I ran.

If only I had been faster.

If only my leg had been fine.

No—if only I… I….

Floating what-ifs turned into sharp blades, stabbing painfully into my insides.

“Hah… hah….”

Crowds everywhere.

Slow steps.

In the end, I lost sight of them.

The press of people around me felt like it was choking my neck.

My trembling legs felt like they might collapse at any moment.

Still, I had to get it back somehow.

“E-excuse me, have you seen a big man with an eyepatch?

He has a thick beard, like this….”

“I don’t know.”

“Please… just think for a moment.

You really didn’t see him?”

“Hey, I’m busy!

What’s your problem?”

I grabbed anyone I could see and asked, but the answers were all the same.

They brushed past indifferently, or told me to get lost with annoyed expressions.

“Miss….”

The one who called out to me was an elderly man sitting on the ground in shabby clothes.

His hands trembled pitifully as he struggled to raise an arm and point in one direction.

“If you mean a man built like a bear, he went that way.”

The old man spoke so softly I had to strain to hear him.

For the first time, someone had truly listened to me.

I bowed deeply in thanks and ran desperately in the direction he indicated.

But once again, countless people blocked my view, and no one was in sight.

Just as I wiped the sweat running down my chin and tried to move again, a gunshot tore through the air, followed by screams echoing down the street.

Bang!

“Aaah!”

It was an omen of disaster.

With trembling hands, I pushed my way through the fleeing crowd and forced myself forward.

People running in panic slammed into my shoulders, but I ignored them and kept moving against the tide.

When I finally reached the scene, Obaltan was standing there with a gun.

And before him lay a man collapsed on the ground, bleeding.

Obaltan’s hand hung limply as he lowered the smoking barrel.

Farther away, the commander stood trembling, his face deathly pale.

I slowly shifted my gaze to the man lying on the ground.

His chest had been pierced, blood spilling out as he lay there.

He looked already dead.

In that moment, I understood.

This time, Obaltan hadn’t missed.

At last, he had completed his revenge.

I suddenly remembered wondering one day what would happen to Obaltan when the revenge that drove him was finally over.

Now I had the answer.

After steadying his breath, Obaltan loaded another bullet.

At that sight, the one who snapped back to reality first was, unexpectedly, the commander.

“N-no!”

Obaltan slowly raised the gun to his own chin.

He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang!

Another gunshot echoed through the street.

The bullet pierced Obaltan’s jaw and ended his life.

The large body of Obaltan collapsed helplessly onto the dirt ground.

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