GB 109

The aide, frozen stiff, stammered a reply. “I-I bought it at the roadside tobacco shop in front!”

“Have that shop tracked down immediately.” Yoon Moo-hwa snapped fiercely. Grinding his teeth and growling, he continued shouting, “NOW!”

The startled aide ran toward the exit as if his backside was on fire.

In the empty room, Yoon Moo-hwa slowly opened his hand. The crumpled cigarette pack revealed itself. No, more precisely, the contents inside were the issue.

Yoon Moo-hwa gripped the pack and turned it upside down, shaking it toward his opposite hand. Fresh cigarettes tumbled out, and suddenly there was a metallic sound that shouldn’t have been there. That sliding sound piercing his ears put Yoon Moo-hwa on edge.

With another shake, a silver chain spilled out like vomit.

There was no need to flip it over. 

ㅎㅐㄹㅗ. 

It was Haero’s military identification tag.

✼✼✼

“You’ve escalated things this far? Are you insane?! This is practically a declaration of war!”

Haero slowly opened his eyes at the loud voice.

The first thing he noticed was the stale, damp smell of mold.

“Weren’t we already in a state of war?”

The other person, the Captain, snorted derisively in response.

Haero couldn’t identify who was shouting at the Captain. It was an unfamiliar voice. One thing was certain though—it was a woman.

“This is different from before. You directly engaged with the squadron. And in such a cowardly way!”

“A pirate talking about cowardice? That’s why you’re still just a petty thief.”

“Petty thief? Ha. What right does an escaped convict who lives off those petty thieves have to talk? Oh, and before escaping prison, you deserted the military too, didn’t you?”

Soon there were shouts of “Whoa!” followed by cries of “Captain, Captain!” as others tried to intervene.

Internal conflict.

Haero immediately assessed the situation.

Whoever the opponent was, the Captain’s plan hadn’t been shared with everyone, nor did it seem to have their approval.

“Who built up that petty thief’s numbers? If it weren’t for the men I brought and my connections, you’d be nothing!”

“Of course I’d be nothing! I’m a woman! Shit, I should never have worked with men who act so recklessly, obsessed with their ego without thinking even one step ahead!”

“What did you say?! Hey, come here!”

“Call me Chief, you bastard!”

It seemed the attempts to stop the fight had failed.

There were sounds of things being hit, thrown, and broken. Haero didn’t care about the situation outside as he struggled to make sense of anything in the pitch darkness.

Light came only through a tiny barred gap in the door, otherwise there was none. Just darkness. Yoon Moo-hwa’s artificial eye would have been helpful now, but Haero had no implanted artificial devices except for the ear surgery he’d traded for his seasickness.

He carefully moved his hands, feeling around the floor. All he could find was dust, insects, and what seemed to be dirt. He desperately hoped it wasn’t someone’s bodily fluids.

His wrists and ankles were bound, and the gag was still in his mouth. Given that they’d kept him alive, his role was clearly that of a hostage.

‘What could they possibly hope to draw out with just me?’

Haero was self-deprecating but also extremely anxious.

He knew their target wasn’t the main naval force. As the Captain had already said, he was bait for a bigger catch, and that catch wasn’t the navy itself but clearly Yoon Moo-hwa.

The Captain had a strong competitive spirit and tremendous pride. Haero hadn’t known the Captain was from the navy, but from the woman’s recent words, he could infer that he had some military background. Something must have wounded his pride.

If he couldn’t bear that the group he had escaped from had captured him, handed him over to the courts, and treated him as nothing more than a “petty thief”… that would be a plausible hypothesis.

‘Could the Captain have been from the navy?’

Haero racked his brain while slowly moving his hips to sweep the floor.

Unfortunately, nothing pointed or sharp came to hand. They wouldn’t have been so careless. Still, he couldn’t give up.

“We can’t all die because of your pathetic desire for revenge!”

Either she had lost a tooth or had an injury in her mouth, but for some reason, the woman’s speech was more slurred than before. The Captain didn’t respond to her taunting words. She must have hit a nerve.

He had claimed it was revenge for his sister, but the massive organization hadn’t changed, and instead he had become a fugitive, ultimately making his sister a criminal too.

He didn’t want to admit that there might have been other ways, that the path he chose ultimately revealed who he truly was. Self-denial led to greater hatred of others. His resentment grew with each passing day.

Perhaps he wanted to take revenge on the group he had escaped from and show off that he had become a big shot. If so, it would make sense for him to hate Haero—ultimately it was Number 8, the runt he had personally taken in and raised, who brought the “naval rat” into their base and eventually lured the flagship.

But just because Haero understood the Captain’s story didn’t mean he had any intention of indulging his thirst for revenge. Why blame him? If anyone had a right to feel wronged, it was himself. Growing up with Yoon Moo-hwa, Haero had finally realized that the environment he was raised in was harsh, ruthless, and full of abuse.

“An arm and a leg will be enough.” The Captain growled. 

Haero’s fingertips touched something hard. Its edge was somewhat sharp. Haero felt his heart racing with anticipation. Struggling to swallow his dry saliva, he moved the object to his palm. He didn’t know what his restraints were made of, but he hoped it was string or cloth. Just as he brought the object to his wrist restraint:

“His father will offer bail money. You can have that. I don’t care about money anyway.”

“Money?! Just money?! You idiot. You’re trying to make a deal with me for just money when you’ve caught such a big fish? Sure, why not ask for an entire warship while you’re at it!”

With his palm sweating from tension, Haero very carefully scratched at his restraints. From what he could hear, even this large criminal organization was in complete disarray internally. 

‘Is fighting all that happens when people gather?’ 

Viewing the situation somewhat cynically, Haero focused solely on his escape attempt.

“You’ve got big dreams. You think the military would accept that? They’re merciless. Even the great Yoon Moo-hwa won’t make that massive whale-like organization bend. You’d be better off taking the money and fleeing to the Mediterranean to create a new identity.”

“Ah…!”

Haero sighed through his teeth. What he had grabbed was merely a crumbling piece of stone lacking sufficient hardness; it broke apart as it scratched the surface without making any progress.

“Damn it. There’s no talking with you. I should have left you to die as obsolete trash in that dust pit. What was I thinking, feeling nostalgic about the past.”

“Oh? You brought me along because of nostalgia? You had that in you? I thought you brought me because I was useful. Like when you immediately connected me with weapons brokers, planning to exploit my status as a military deserter!”

“Looking at you now, your self-pity really knows no bounds, does it?”

The woman and the Captain fought again. This time it was truly intense, with gunshot sounds following.

Haero didn’t want to hear any more of their tiresome quarrel that somehow seemed to evolve into a lovers’ spat. It only made his head throb. He wished he could turn down the volume drastically. Fighting against overwhelming fatigue, Haero moved his body a bit more.

And whether the fight continued or not, after circling the room once, what Haero discovered was that the room was very small, the floor was filthy—literally filthy—and yet perfectly clean of anything useful.

Exhausted, Haero closed his eyes. When he opened them after a brief rest, the light coming through the hand-sized iron bars had grown dimmer. Then, as if someone was switching a flickering light, it went out and brightened again.

And the door opened.

“……”

With the light behind them, Haero couldn’t see the figure clearly. As he squinted, the person who entered opened the door wider.

They weren’t alone. As a tall, skinny silhouette stepped aside, another figure appeared—extremely small in stature with remarkably thick hair that stuck out in all directions as if it hadn’t been combed for a long time.

Haero squinted even more.

The two entered the room and closed the door.

“……”

There was an unsettling silence.

The tension raised goosebumps from Haero’s nape to his cheeks.

Shortly after, with a hissing sound, a small light appeared. As a crude candle was lit and visibility improved around it, Haero recognized the two people.

“…!”

It was Salmo, who had boarded the ship and received his name a month before Haero picked up Yoon Moo-hwa, and the Captain’s sister.

Even if the gag hadn’t been in his mouth preventing him from speaking, he would have remained silent until the end, not knowing what to say.

Salmo smirked at Haero, who simply stared with widened eyes in surprise. He looked much older and much thinner than when Haero had last seen him. His lips, curled up slightly at the corners, opened.

“What? Are you so happy to see me you could go crazy?”