Mercenary Black Mamba

"Are you Lee Su-bok from the Chamchi syndicate?"

A low voice rumbled. Lee Su-bok strained his eyes. In the ink-like darkness, a figure of a man was barely visible. He missed his timing to respond.

A pointed toe of a shoe buried itself in his side. The kick was without any restraint, devoid of any mercy.

"Argh!"

Lee Su-bok's upper body crouched like a shrimp. The gut-shredding shock made him come to his senses.

"You bastard. When he asks, you respond right away. Do you get it?"

Nupchi growled like a beast that starved for many days.

"Yes. I am Lee Su-bok."

"How old are you?"

"Forty-two."

"You are lying. Are you left-handed or right-handed?"

Lee Su-bok felt ominous. He needed his left hand intact to feed himself.

"I'm right-handed."

"You lied again! I shall discipline you."

Lee Su-bok's right pinkie was abruptly thrust toward the back of his hand.

"Argh!"

Lee Su-bok, startled, pushed back his pinkie to no avail. He tried all of his might but his pinkie approached the back of his hand bit by bit. He had to fight against his own pinkie! Lee Su-bok was suddenly reminded of a scene from the movie The Omen. In the scene, a young child's head was thrust toward their back.

'Am I possessed?'

Lee Su-bok's face paled. If an infectious disease specialist saw it, they would have diagnosed him with the terminal seizures of acute tetanus.

'What scheme is he plotting? Why is he freaking out on his own?'

Dolbbak wondered. The circular light of the flashlight shone upon a man who shivered, holding his own finger. A sound like a dry twig breaking was heard. The finger, surpassing the terminal angle, was broken.

"Argh!"

Lee Su-bok's soulful scream was blocked. The mysterious power that broke his finger blocked his mouth too. Lee Su-bok, who was about to jump up, collapsed again as if hit in the head by an invisible hammer.

'It's a ghost!'

His finger betrayed his will and was broken on its own. A tremendous power broke his finger and blocked his mouth. Lee Su-bok was overcome with tremendous fear.

"Nupchi, there, there is a ghost here!"

The flashlight was shaken. Dolbbak's hand was trembling.

"You wanna die? Stop shaking!"

Nupchi growled right into Dolbbak's ear. A dry voice devoid of any emotions flowed out of the darkness.

"Lee Su-bok. That's the payment for your lies. You are left-handed."

"I am. I am left-handed."

"Stop trying to fool me. How old are you?"

"Thirty-five."

Fearful, Lee Su-bok confessed his real age.

"Whoa! He lied about his own age! He is indeed a con man."

Nupchi clucked his tongue.

"His face looks so old! I believed he was 42. How did Mu Ssang know?"

"Be quiet. He knows everything."

Dolbbak closed his mouth shut.

"I took only one finger this time. Next time, I will take your teeth. When did you start conning people?"

"I entered an apprenticeship under Chamchi at 22."

"That is quite a career. Why did you touch Mr. Kim's fabric business?"

'It was Mr. Kim!'

Lee Su-bok felt dizzy. He could lose a finger. That affair needed to be taken to his grave. If he opened his mouth, he didn't need to worry about his finger. It was his neck that was at peril.

"I simply got a job to make ends meet. I orchestrated a strike to improve the working conditions!"

The ring finger of his left hand was fractured without a warning. His left hand, shone by the flashlight, was looking grotesque. A white bone tore through the palm and the tendons and muscles were visible in the torn skin. That wasn't all. A healthy tooth shot out of his mouth.

"Aaargh!"

The pain of a healthy tooth being extracted was quite tremendous too. Lee Su-bok covered his mouth with his bleeding hand. The gesture covered his face with blood. The miserable sight made Kim Gi-taek's face pale. He had led an ordinary life. He had never witnessed a gruesome sight like this.

"You ignored my warning. The night is young. You still have many fingers and teeth. You also have toes. You also have ribs. You also have a penis."

'It's a nightmare!'

Nupchi and Dolbbak shuddered at Mu Ssang's emotionless voice. He was saying he could extract all the exposed appendages and if that doesn't prove sufficient, he was going to unroot the man's penis. They themselves had severed fingers with an ax and extracted teeth with tweezers but it was nothing compared to the nightmare before their eyes.

'Please make it right!'

Lee Su-bok, with his mouth blocked, couldn't scream and could only shiver. The second time, the pain was tenfold. The fear was tenfold. His head was emptied.

He no longer feared the threat and danger of a loan shark syndicate. He was faced with a demon, not a human. A demon in one's backyard was ten times more fearsome than Japanese invaders across the sea. He now only wanted to own up and evade the pain and fear.

"Shall I grant you one more chance at owning up?"

"Yes, thank you!"

Those words were the gospel itself. Lee Su-bok nodded countless times.

"Why did you target Mr. Kim's fabric business?"

"Our clients coveted the corduroy fabric produced by Mr. Kim's factory. It is much more convenient to take an existing factory than to build one from scratch and import machines."

"List everyone who was involved in the scheme."

"Jang Gi Su paid 5,000,000 won as a deposit. He planned the scheme. Chamchi supplied the manpower. The manpower consisted of low-level nobodies from the Pungguk syndicate. The one in charge of them was Kang Cheol-min from the Pungguk syndicate. Jang Gi Su bribed up the police and the Ministry of Labor so the operation went smoothly."

Lee Su-bok was feeling overwhelmed. As a con man, he was quick with thoughts. He was faced with someone who saw through his lies. If he lied once again, his neck was going to be snapped in half.

"You are a bastard!"

Kim Gi-taek clenched his fists and shivered.

"What was your remuneration?"

"The deposit of 5,000,000 won was used up as expenses. Chamchi received 10,000,000 won. I got 7,000,000 won."

"What about the ones from Pungguk?"

"They also got considerable amounts."

"Nupchi, did you hear that?"

"Yes. We shall retrieve the illegal compensation from Chamchi. But..."

Nupchi didn't finish his sentence. The Sam Shik syndicate colluded with his uncle's syndicate. Nupchi couldn't decide it on his own.

"I will take care of that."

"I am sorry. We are not strong enough to touch the Pungguk syndicate."

"I shall take care of that too. You just keep battering the con artists."

"I see."

Mu Ssang tossed Lee Su-bok a sheet of letter paper and a ballpoint pen.

"From now on, you will describe the scheme in detail, elucidating what, why, where, when, who, and how. If you lie or skip details, you know what will happen. It is up to you if you will stay on earth or pass onto the afterlife. You have two hours."

Mu Ssang stood without any regret. His status didn't make it seemly for him to keep conversing with a low-grade con artist. It was also a waste of time.

"Nupchi, when he finished writing, let me know. If I deem the content unsatisfactory..."

Mu Ssang threw a gaze upon Nupchi's side.

"I will make sure it is satisfactory!"

"I am counting on you."

Mu Ssang exited the back garden. Kim Gi-taek followed him.

"Dolbbak, staunch his bleeding first. Because of him, my own rib is going to be extracted!"

Nupchi growled in distress behind Mu Ssang's back.

"Hey, he is the vilest of the con men. Will he dig his own grave?"

"Don't worry. Syndicates have their own ways. Lee Su-bok will now be able to remember the number of grains he ate ten years ago. If he doesn't, he will crawl on the ground for the rest of his life or enter his grave early," Mu Ssang answered indifferently.

He had two faces that were different from each other. He was kindest to the good-hearted people but he didn't consider evil people as proper humans. For them, he was the Angel of Death.

"Phew. I still don't understand what is happening."

Kim Gi-taek sighed deeply many times. He was an ordinary businessman. He had a lot of grudges but when he witnessed Lee Su-bok being tortured, it affected him. He sensed an oncoming massacre that made his heart tremble.

"A good person like you may be better off not knowing. You will need to endure further disgust at the level of wretchedness some humans can attain."

Mu Ssang muttered inaudibly.

Mu Ssang, back in his study, opened his wallet and took out all the banknotes.

"I was graced by your favor eight years ago. I couldn't keep my promise up until now. It is late but I am paying you back."

"What? Don't. I said I am lending you money but that was an excuse. I was just giving you some pocket money. It wasn't a great amount either. My conscience doesn't allow me to receive it."

Kim Gi-taek tried to wave it away.

"For a thirsty person, a bowl of water is worth more than gold. When you wander in a desert for a few months, you consider anything else than water and food worthless garbage. You quenched the thirst of a thirsty one. You must pay for the inn fees and clothe your family properly."

"Yeah. I accept your favor."

Kim Gi-taek, holding the money, flushed. Mu Ssang was feeling content. He could always trust someone who keeps his conscience in times of need. Kim Gi-taek lived up to Sang-han's father's words who vouched for him.

"Mu Ssang, he has finished writing."

Quite some time after midnight, Nupchi brought him a 20-page report. Mu Ssang read it and nodded. Lee Su-bok was indeed a clever con man. The report was well written, covering from the preparation to the ongoing circumstances, with clarity and conciseness.

"This bastard?"

Mu Ssang was slightly startled. On the list of the bribed civil servants, police officers, and prosecutors, there was a familiar name. The chief prosecutor, Kim Dal Su. He was the prosecutor who demanded five years for Mu Ssang according to the investigation report forged by Jang Chi Soo and Mu Ssang's forced confession.

"A baby should know his place. When you rot in prison for a few years, you will know how to live in this world." On the day Mu Ssang was sentenced, he had said such words with a smirk in the prison van. He was also a member of the Jang family.

'Haha. It is said that nemeses are bound to meet. This time, I shall teach you, Kim Dal Su, how to live in this world.'

Mu Ssang laughed mischievously. He began this endeavor to help Mr. Kim. But now it was his own business.

"Sir, what shall we do with the con man?"

Since he was asking, they hadn't killed him yet. If they did, they would have handled it on their own.

"Do as you'd like. Do the same with the involved ones."

Nupchi felt grim at such a vague order. Such ambiguous order was the most difficult, from a subordinate's perspective. It didn't sound as if he trusted them with the task. It sounded like a threat that they shall be held responsible for the outcome.

'Should we sell them a slave to fishing ships? Should we cripple them and sell them to a salt farm?'

Nupchi's hesitation deepened. Mu Ssang's indifferent, vague order unwittingly threatened the lives of one con man and 20 thugs.

"Let's go, sir."

Mu Ssang got on the Citroën. A long night was bound to be eventful.

"Thank you. Let us go."

Kim Gi-taek was wanting to leave the gruesome scene. He hurriedly got in the passenger seat. The Citroën, leaving Eungsim-je in the middle of the night, passed a park and headed for the industrial complex.

Kim Gi-taek was feeling anxious. He was worried that they might find the inn. The Citroën took a turn left at the intersection in front of an elementary school in the direction of a women's high school. It pulled over in front of a dilapidated three-story building. The building was simply marked with a palm-sized sign that said "inn" without any further distinction.

"I will bring them out."

"Do as you please."

Mu Ssang, who was about to get off, sat back in. There was a situation ongoing that needed him to get off the car, but he deemed it resolvable outside the building. Kim Gi-taek pushed open the sliding door and ran into the building.

"There are thugs everywhere."

The location of the hassle was the rightmost corner room on the third floor whose window was open. The threatening voice of a man, the noise of a resisting woman was heard clearly. Without looking, Mu Ssang knew it was a thug who targeted a woman living alone in a cheap inn.

"He is not worth a 100-won coin."

Mu Ssang fumbled in his pocket to find a 10-won coin. The worthy 100-won coin returned inside the pocket. The copper coin, receiving Resonance Wave, glowed incandescently. The coin left Mu Ssang's hand and swooped into the window.

The common showers are at the end of a third-floor hallway. The man suppressed the woman and was about to defile her. The circular object that had just flown through the window attached itself to the man's cheek.

"Aargh!"

The man covered his face and screamed. White steam rose from the center of his cheek. The copper coin, controlled by Psychokinesis, buried itself into the man's cheek. The man, suddenly attacked, struggled to get it off. The woman's eyes widened at the incomprehensible sight.

- Are you just going to stay there?

The woman, surprised by a voice from nowhere, covered herself and ran out of the showers.

"A thug is not worth 10 won, to be honest."

Mu Ssang hummed and bit on his cigar. The thug was going to live the rest of his life with the number 10 engraved on his cheek. To erase it, he will need to remove the deeper part of his skin.

Since this day, Novatopia imported a great number of 10-won coins from Korea. The laboring criminals had the number 10 engraved on their left cheek, and the Buddhist tower on their right cheek, which was the image on the other side of the coin. Novatopia was not a corrupt country like Korea.