novelraw Chapter 14 : Chapter 14
Chapter 14 : Chapter 14
Chapter 14. Alex (2)
The height Riman jumped from was the 4th floor.
About 15 meters.
If an ordinary person were to fall from this height, they would suffer fractures, or if unlucky, death.
Of course, Riman had no intention of letting that happen.
[Gust]
Whoooosh!
A fierce gale blew up from beneath Riman's feet.
A sharp updraft.
Naturally, Riman's falling speed decreased sharply.
Thus, Riman landed softly on the ground without any injuries.
“Cough.”
However, he couldn't stop the sand and dust from being carried by the strong wind and entering his nose.
Well, it was a minor problem.
In any case, the thing to do now was…
“Where could he have gone, our Alex.”
Track and exterminate.
He couldn't let the bounty get away.
However…
‘This is the first time I’m chasing after this bastard, Alex.’
In the game, the battle with Alex was always concluded inside the building.
Meaning, an event of chasing Alex never occurred.
But because he had actually committed the bizarre act of attacking by destroying the ceiling from below, something that shouldn't have happened, happened.
‘Well, whatever.’
It just got a little annoying, but the chase itself wasn't difficult.
After all, Riman had the geography of this area all in his head.
Riman activated his magic.
[Detection]
Vwoooom!
A wide detection field spread out with Riman at its center.
But…
‘What, where did he go?’
Alex was not caught in the detection network.
In this case, it was one of two things.
He either went into a building, or he ran farther than the detection range.
‘But in a situation where he’s fleeing, he wouldn’t have entered a building. That would be like a mouse crawling into a poison jar.’
Then there was only one choice the man would have taken.
To run like mad.
‘Sigh.’
In a case like this, there was nothing Riman could do.
He had no choice but to search and chase on foot.
Riman, while maintaining [Detection], began to run in the direction Alex likely went.
* * *
“Heok, heok…!”
Alex was running like a madman.
After jumping out of the window, Alex ran at full speed and escaped the place.
Riman's prediction had been correct.
For reference, the vocal cords were not the only part of his body that Alex had received enhancement surgery on.
He had also transplanted strengthening fibers into the muscles of both his legs.
Because of this, his leg strength was considerable, and his running speed was also very fast.
This was the reason he was able to jump from the 4th floor and run out of Riman's detection range.
However…
‘Kuk…!’
His legs soon reached their limit.
No, it was a miracle that he had been running at all, his body was in such a mess.
The [Electric Bullet] Riman had shot from under the ceiling had completely messed up the muscles in his entire body.
‘What the hell is that bastard…?’
Alex didn't know Riman.
Leaving aside whether he knew him or not, he hadn't even seen his face properly.
Riman had covered half his face with the collar of his coat.
‘Why did he come after me when I was just minding my own business… could he be a Headhunter?’
It wasn't out of the question, since a bounty had been placed on him not long after he broke out of prison.
But he came to find me just one day after the bounty was placed?
How did he know?
“Damn it….”
At some point, his running speed suddenly decreased.
Now, his legs were no longer listening to him properly.
‘I have to hide.’
Alex desperately looked around.
This was the outskirts of the shopping district.
His territory, which he ruled.
Just then, a sign that read ‘Yeongsu's Gukbap’ caught his eye.
Alex hurriedly walked into the yard of the gukbap restaurant.
The female owner, who was washing a cauldron at the tap in the yard, was startled.
“What the?!”
“Ge-get out of the way, you bitch. If you tell anyone I'm here, I'll kill you.”
The owner looked Alex up and down.
Burnt clothes, extensive burns, a limping leg.
Truly a pitiful sight.
The owner soon put down the cauldron she was washing and rushed into the kitchen.
And when she came out again, there was a shotgun in her hand.
Alex's brain froze for a moment.
“Wait a minute.”
BANG!!
With a heavy gunshot, a 12-gauge shell lodged itself in Alex's abdomen.
Alex collapsed right in the middle of the gukbap restaurant's yard.
“Keok… keokeok….”
Surprisingly, he was still alive even after being hit by a shotgun at close range.
It was thanks to having received enhancement surgery in various places besides his vocal cords and legs.
But that didn't mean he could do anything more.
His body was already completely paralyzed.
“My, you rotten thing, what face do you have to come crawling in here?”
“O-owner…nim….”
Just then, the owners of nearby shops, who heard the gunshot, flocked to this place.
“What in the world is… huh!”
“Alex? Isn't that Alex?”
“It’s that bastard Alex!!”
The owners rushed to Yeongsu's Gukbap with their own guns.
If they didn't have a gun, they brought a nail gun or a kitchen knife.
They remembered.
The incident where the chairman of the Merchant Association, who had been dragged away by Alex's gang, returned with only his lower body.
Their hatred for Alex had already reached its limit.
And now, they were given a chance.
A chance to execute the oppressor with their own hands.
And they did not miss this opportunity.
The merchants surrounded Alex.
Simultaneously, countless gun muzzles were aimed at Alex.
At that moment, Alex shouted as if in a last-ditch effort.
“W-wait! Do you know who’s behind me?! Behind me is the Red King….”
There was no time to listen to his last words.
The merchants hurriedly pulled their triggers.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!!
A furious barrage of gunshots that echoed throughout the shopping district.
Riman also heard the sound.
The moment he heard the gunshots, an ominous thought crossed Riman's mind.
“Don't tell me…?”
The most terrible situation from a Headhunter's perspective.
It was having the bounty snatched away in the middle.
In the end, the bounty goes to the one who puts a bullet in the bounty's head at the very last moment.
Regardless of how much damage was dealt to the bounty, the one who landed the final blow gets the bounty.
That's why it often happened that one would go through all the trouble only to have the bounty snatched away by someone else who landed the final blow.
This was the situation known as ‘snatching’.
And Riman's intuition was telling him that he had probably been a victim of that snatching.
“Damn it…!”
Riman ran with all his might in the direction the gunshots came from.
Of course, that sprint did not last long.
“Heok, heok…!”
Muscle loss and reduced lung capacity due to long-term imprisonment.
Because of that, even a short run was difficult.
“This damn stamina…!”
Still, somehow, Riman arrived at the place where the gunshots had come from.
In front of Yeongsu's Gukbap.
But by the time Riman arrived, the execution ceremony was already over.
“Excuse me, can I ask you something?”
“Hm?”
The merchants turned to look at Riman with murderous eyes.
Riman asked.
“By any chance, did a guy named Alex Boyman come here?”
“Ah, you mean that guy….”
The merchants pointed to the red stain left on the ground and said.
“This is it.”
“Pardon?”
What ‘was’ Alex was scattered on the ground.
The human form itself no longer remained.
Anyone could end up looking like this after being hit by about 100 shotgun shells at close range.
Riman felt his strength drain away.
“My bounty…!”
My 4 million Credits!!
This was worse than having it snatched.
Because you couldn't receive the bounty with a body that was damaged beyond recognition.
If it had been snatched, he could have at least gotten a part of the bounty through negotiation or something else.
But in this case, the bounty itself had evaporated.
“Aah….”
Riman let out a sigh with a dazed expression.
Seeing this, the merchants suddenly aimed their guns at Riman.
“What are you?! Don't tell me you're with Alex's gang?!”
From their perspective, the sigh Riman let out was read as mourning for their dead boss.
Of course, Riman was dumbfounded.
“Me? You think I'm with this bastard's gang?!”
“You're not?”
“Of course not! I was the one who caught this guy, but you guys turned him into pulp!!”
“Really…?”
Just then, the female owner of Yeongsu's Gukbap backed Riman up.
“I think he's right. That guy Alex, he was already a mess when he came here.”
“Th-then….”
The merchants' gazes all turned to Riman at once.
Riman said.
“If you don't believe me, go to this bastard's hideout. I've wiped out his entire gang.”
“…Is that true?!”
Life began to return to the merchants' faces.
“Let's go! Let's go and check it out!”
“Alright!”
The merchants rushed out of the gukbap restaurant, guns in hand.
And Riman stared blankly at the scattered remains of Alex on the ground.
“Hoo….”
First, he had to confirm if this was Alex.
Riman collected a sample of the blood on the ground and applied it to the terminal of his phone.
The genetic identification was completed simply.
“…It's Alex Boyman, alright.”
And just in case, he took a picture, scanned the biological response, and submitted it to the Bounty Management Server.
The reply came back instantly.
“I knew this would happen, damn it.”
Facial recognition data of the bounty was essential to receive the bounty, so there was no way it would work with a body like this.
Riman's strength left him, and he slumped down onto a chair in the yard.
First of all, he was angry.
Because these people had ruined the result of his hard-won hunt.
But he also knew all too well the hatred these people had for Alex.
So he couldn't just be angry.
Because he felt that he would have acted the same way if he were in their shoes.
‘Ah, whatever, now that it’s come to this.’
I should just eat the breakfast I missed.
“Ma'am.”
“Yes?”
“Could I get one bowl of gukbap, please. The special.”
“Ah yes, I'll bring it right out!”
Soon, a bowl of slices of boiled pork rice soup in an earthenware pot came out.
It was quite delicious thanks to the rich bone broth flavor, the exquisite seasoning, and the generous amount of meat.
Even in the Seoul of the 2200s, gukbap was still gukbap.
‘This is really delicious.’
Even when he was playing the game in his past life, this ‘Yeongsu's Gukbap’ was famous among the NPCs for being delicious.
Of course, back then, it was food beyond a monitor, so he couldn't eat it.
‘…But I didn't expect to actually taste it like this.’
Just as Riman was finishing his earthenware pot.
The merchants who had left the gukbap restaurant returned.
There was blood on their clothes, and weapons in their hands.
One of them approached Riman.
And for some reason, he spoke with a more polite attitude than before.
“…We just came back from that bastard Alex's hideout.”
“I see.”
“And we confirmed the kill on all of them.”
“……”
It was enough to confuse one whether this was a Merchant Association or the mafia, but in this world, this was normal.
It was a place where it was hard to survive without this much grit.
“Just as you said, all the members were indeed subdued.”
“Yes, well, that would be the case.”
“But… did you really do this all by yourself?”
“Yes. I don't really like moving around in a large group.”
A look of astonishment crossed the merchants' faces.
They exchanged glances for a moment, then nodded their heads.
Then, they offered a bag to Riman.
Riman asked.
“What is this?”
“It's the money from that bastard Alex's safe. Please take it, sir.”
“……!”
Indeed, the sack was filled to the brim with cash.
At a rough glance, it was tens of millions of Credits.
Riman's jaw dropped.
“Th-this….”
“We all desperately wanted to kill Alex. But we couldn't because we didn't have the strength.”
“……”
“You have fulfilled our dream for us, sir. You deserve that money.”
Riman tried to calm the corners of his rising mouth and said.
“…Then I'll accept it gratefully.”
“Don't mention it. Take care on your way.”
Riman paid for the gukbap, took the money bag, and went outside.
‘What a windfall……!’
Even if he had caught Alex, the money Riman could have had was 4 million Credits.
But the money in this bag was tens of millions at a rough glance.
In an instant, it had become a business that was several times more profitable.
Of course, Riman could have robbed the safe himself after catching Alex.
But this money was what Alex had extorted from the merchants, strictly speaking, it was the merchants' money.
So even if Riman had taken it, it would have been a bit uncomfortable, but it turned out that the merchants had given it to him willingly.
‘Nice.’
Losing the bounty had turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Thus, Riman left the market with light steps, along with a bundle of money.