Chapter 14: Ki, Do, Hyo (7)

The stairs leading down to the VIP room resonated with music as loud as the floor above. It wasn’t so much that the sound echoed in the space itself, but rather a thumping sensation that traveled through the walls and floor.

The air was thick with smoke, indistinguishable from cigarette smoke.

A heavy, cloying chemical odor.

In a word, the smell of drugs.

Lee Do inhaled his cigarette. The exhaled smoke tore apart and erased the traces of those pathetic druggies. He unfolded his flip phone before descending completely. He sent a text to Vivian.

-[016-151-6488]
What does this Rix guy look like?

A reply came immediately.

-[Q134.2e]
What?
You’re not planning on causing trouble, are you?
Don’t.
These are my orders, just snoop around quietly.

He folded his phone.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t making sense, but there were guards waiting in front of the hallway. Lee Do was the only one coming down the cramped staircase. It was obvious to them who the intruder was and who needed to be stopped.

So Lee Do raised his gun.

“That, that b@stard…!”

He adjusted his cigarette.

Once again, the cigarette smoke was about to erase the traces of the druggies.

Bullets flew from the muzzle. Bang, bang, bang! The guards clutched their knees and collapsed. They were guarding the door, zealously guarding it, but their fall was barely visible amidst the flashing lights from within.

Lee Do checked the chamber and moved forward.

“Gah…!”

He stepped over the guard’s body and opened the door.

It was a dark space.

At first, it was too dark to see anything. The lights were completely off, emitting no light whatsoever. Then, thrum– as the 808 bass pulsed, the lights flickered in time with it, flashing a dozen times in an instant.

A bright blue light, like sparking electricity, repeatedly flashed in his eyes. Finally able to see the interior, Lee Do closed the door and sent another text to Vivian.

–[016-151-6488]
There’s been a slight change of plans.
I’ll just take his chip, so send me a picture.

-[Q134.2e]
Oh, really…
I told you not to…

Even as she complained, she attached a photo.

A pale, slender man with an arrogant look.

Rix Hallow.

The face of the dealer, Red Stream’s money source.

Just as Lee Do, having fully memorized the face, was about to move, he heard something.

“Catch him! That b@stard!”

Faint voices dissolving into the music.

A large group of guards were descending the stairs he had come down. Lee Do glanced at them and then looked back ahead.

The VIP room.

It looked similar to the floor above, but no one was dancing. Most were sprawled on the surrounding sofas. Electronic chips lay scattered carelessly on the tables, along with colorful cyberpunk chemicals.

And several rooms branching off the hallway.

The effects of chemical reactions, especially stimulating to the great Daehyup’s keen nose.

The VIP room.

Their own private, secretive space. Where prostitutes might be gathered, and some young lord might be quietly indulging in pleasure.

The lights went out again.

The guards rushed forward and opened the door. But the lights were too dim to see anything. Thrum– just a dozen flashes of light in time with the 808 bass.

That was all.

“…Sht, sht.”

By the time their cheap, night-vision-less eyes scanned the darkness, Lee Do was already gone.

Drugs were inseparable from this world.

There was no proper medicine for a world riddled with disease.

Back alleys, abandoned buildings in the suburbs, basement bathrooms and parking lots of commercial buildings. There wasn’t a place Lee Do hadn’t encountered druggies. Whenever he dragged his shot-up body somewhere to lie down, trembling addicts were already there, having claimed the space.

And those vagrants and bums were mostly busy denying their own lives.

‘I, I d-didn’t do it.’

They all said the same thing.

‘I, I d-didn’t do it. I didn’t. The g-g-gang, gang b@stards. Th-they f-forced the drugs on me.’

Useless and unimportant facts. More importantly, he couldn’t escape their tired stories, no matter how hard he tried to block them out.

That’s why Lee Do couldn’t sleep, and that’s how he came to hate druggies.

Back alleys.

Suburbs, abandoned buildings, basement bathrooms and parking lots of commercial buildings.

And the VIP room.

There wasn’t much difference between those involuntarily hooked on drugs and those who willingly took them. Lee Do looked at those trembling on the tables in the room, then turned around.

“Wh-who are you? S-suddenly barging in…”

He pointed his gun at the mumbling woman, and her voice stopped with a hiccup.

Even with her mind addled, she understood the value of her fly-like life.

Lee Do left the room.

On the floor, guards with their cheap, night-vision-less eyes were frantically searching every nook and cranny. It was pitch black. Bzzt– as the space was momentarily illuminated, the lights flashed randomly but quickly faded.

Lee Do stepped into the next room.

He flicked his finished cigarette to the floor, but the guards couldn’t even catch the faint, dying ember. The flashing lights were already scanning and consuming every corner of the space.

He opened the door.

“Ah, you’re here?”

A man, checking his wrist instead of looking at the door, greeted him.

Pale, slender, arrogant-looking, dressed in expensive brands. A leather jacket, slicked-back hair, and stylish pants. The typical image of a young lord, flanked by attractive women on the sofa.

“Come sit down. You’re wearing white stockings, right? That’s what I ordered.”

The women next to him were the ones who looked bewildered.

Lee Do silently approached the sofa. He gestured for the women to move, and they flinched, startled by the pistol in his hand, and quickly made space. He sat down next to the man.

“…The smell of blood? Menstrual blood? I didn’t order that.”

The man looked up from his wrist.

He looked at Lee Do.

Lee Do also took a cigarette from his pack, put it in his mouth, lit it, and looked at the man.

It was Rix Hallow.

“…What the f*ck.”

Rix Hallow muttered.

“…A male prostitute?”

“No.”

“Then what the f*ck?”

“I have some questions.”

“Who, who are you?”

“Do you sell drugs?”

Rix frowned and looked towards the door.

“Guards! There are no guards here!”

“There aren’t.”

“What the f*ck…?”

“I killed them. Answer my question first. Do you sell drugs?”

His eyes drifted down to the pistol in Lee Do’s hand. His clothes were stained with blood in several places. The stench of blood was pungent.

Rix’s lips trembled and curled up.

“Who, who are you? What do you want?”

“Just answer the question. Do you sell drugs?”

“…I’m in charge, in charge of it. Not this area, but a few blocks over.”

“So you forcibly inject drugs into civilians too?”

“C-civilians? It’s a business, a business method. Why? Are you here to talk business, make a deal?”

“No.”

Lee Do quietly exhaled cigarette smoke.

That was the moment. Rix’s trembling hand reached behind him. In a flash, he grabbed the pistol lying on the sofa. He pointed it at Lee Do’s head.

Bang!

It fired.

“…Ugh, ah, gah!”

Rix slumped onto the table.

The gun hadn’t fired at Lee Do. The pistol in Rix’s hand clattered to the floor. As the women screamed, Lee Do lowered his gun from Rix’s thigh and said, “Do you have any regrets?”

“…R-regrets?”

“Your business, injecting civilians with drugs. You don’t feel any guilt, like the filthy animal you are?”

The look in Rix’s eyes as he looked up at Lee Do became strangely complex.

Clutching his thigh, he frantically shook his head.

“N-no, f*ck…! I regret it, I regret it!”

“Really?”

“Y-yes! I, I didn’t want to do it! What could I do when this f*cking system made me do it?”

When Lee Do didn’t respond, Rix started shouting even louder.

“The world, the world itself is fcked up! Isn’t it? This goddamn motherfcking world! Do you think I wanted to exploit people? They’re human beings too, how could I…!”

After his outburst, Rix’s eyes started to well up. Tears. They streamed down his cheeks and dripped onto the table. Lee Do thought for a moment, silently smoking, then picked up the gun Rix had dropped and examined it as he spoke.

“Then I’ll give you a chance. Let’s see how sincere you are.”

“…A-a chance?”

“Kill yourself.”

“What the f*ck…”

“If you truly regret it and repent, then die by your own hand. Put a hole in your head.”

Lee Do flicked his cigarette ash and handed him the pistol.

Rix, still weeping, looked down at the gun Lee Do had given him. It was the Black man’s. But he didn’t say a word.

He just stared at the gun, and by the time Lee Do had almost finished his cigarette, a certain resolve entered his eyes.

He grabbed the gun and pointed it at his head.

He opened his mouth, drool dripping down his chin.

“I’ll, I’ll die. But answer me one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Who, who are you? Are you a victim of my crimes? Family? Something like that? An assassin hired by them?”

“Doesn’t matter, does it?”

“I’m, I’m sorry. I’m sorry to them…”

Lee Do didn’t answer.

Rix reluctantly nodded. The barrel of the gun trembled in his hand. He closed his eyes. The muzzle was pressed against his temple.

Then, he opened his eyes again and pointed the gun at Lee Do’s head.

“You son of a b*tch.”

Rix spoke.

“What the f*ck do you think you’re doing?”

Silence.

But once again, there was no answer.

Even now, in this ridiculous situation, with a gun pointed at his head. Rix’s brow twitched. Lee Do took one last drag of his cigarette, then stubbed it out on the table.

Countless footsteps approached from outside.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

Lee Do took out his cigarette pack. He took out a new cigarette and put it in his mouth. Click, click, he lit it with his lighter, and just then, he heard the click of a trigger next to his ear.

Once again, click.

Click, click.

The sound of the trigger. The pathetic death rattle of a gun unable to kill the person in front of it. Because it was empty. Lee Do took his first drag and looked at Rix.

Rix’s face began to contort in horror.

Lee Do looked back ahead.

He exhaled smoke in silence.

At that moment, the door burst open. It was the owners of the footsteps.

Dozens of guards instantly filled the room.

Behind them was the woman with short, black hair.

Leaving aside her complex expression, the guards and the woman all drew their guns and aimed at someone. This was particularly striking to Rix.

“Who are you?”

Maria stepped forward and asked.

“Who are you? Who sent you?”

“A knight-errant.”

“…What?”

“A knight-errant, !diot.”

Smoke billowed from Lee Do’s mouth. He took the cigarette from his lips. It was Rix’s gun. The gun that had been in Lee Do’s hand all along. Unlike the Black man’s gun, this one was loaded.

He grabbed the back of Rix’s neck as he was about to sneak away. He dragged him forward.

He pressed the gun against Rix’s forehead.

He pulled the trigger.

“…You, you!”

Bang!

The instant blood splattered across his face, Lee Do raised his gun towards the ceiling. He shot at the room’s lights. With a crash, the room plunged into darkness, then was filled with a flash of blue light.

A violent vibration surged through the open doorway.

As it ended, the light went out again, followed by another vibration. Thrum– the blue light flashed a dozen times. The 808 bass. The kick, the snare, the rap song continued.

Lee Do, now standing on the table, was also splattered with blue.