The outskirts of Daegu. An abandoned warehouse.

Screech—

A sedan glided under the half-open shutter door and parked smoothly inside.

Clunk. Clunk.

All four doors opened at once, and four convicts in leather coats stepped out.

It was Romeo, Juliet, Oberon, and Titania.

“Well, well, well! Team Shakespeare!”

A gruff man perched on a stack of old tires grinned, spreading his arms wide. A thick Daegu accent spilled from his lips.

“Look at all you big shots from back in the day. How’ve you been? Didn’t think you’d all still be alive.”

“Long time no see, Scar,” Romeo said, recognizing the man with a faint smile as he stroked his beard. “Sub-commander of the Blue Lion Gang. Or I guess it’s vice guild master of the Blue Lions now, isn’t it?”

“The world’s really changed for the better, eh? Even thugs like us get to wear official hats and live the good life.”

Scar licked his split lip, a grotesque smile spreading across his face. “Heard you lot were rotting in the slammer, but look at you now, all spruced up. Must’ve been living large in there, huh?”

Romeo clicked his tongue. “It was pretty damn awful, actually.”

“Puhaha! Should’ve picked the right side, like us!”

Scar gestured toward his feet. “So, what do you say? This deal goes through, you’ll be free, right? How about joining us? Daegu’s overflowing with work. We’ll treat you right.”

When Romeo didn’t answer, Scar turned his head toward Juliet. “Eh? What about you, Juliet? Still as pretty as ever. Once this job’s done, how about you and I have some fun?”

He blew a kiss at her. Juliet shivered in disgust.

“Stop hitting on her and let’s get on with the deal.” Romeo stepped in front of Juliet, his sunglasses-obscured eyes sweeping their surroundings. “Where’s the client?”

“Oh, come on, our boss is swamped. The whole city’s in chaos. He’s not in a position to come out here,” Scar said, waving his hand dismissively.

But Romeo remained firm. “If the client doesn’t show, there’s no deal.”

“Come on, it’s not like we just met. Don’t be like that.”

“That was ten years ago. A lot can change.” Romeo opened the sedan’s driver-side door again and stated flatly, “Tell your client to show himself. Otherwise, the deal is off.”

Just as Scar licked his lips, his expression twisting, a new voice spoke.

“My, my. Such a lack of trust.”

Someone walked out onto the second-floor catwalk. Team Shakespeare looked up.

It was a middle-aged man in a perfectly tailored suit, his body as muscular and imposing as a lion’s.

The guild master of the Blue Lions and the current mayor of Daegu.

Man-su Oh.

The man responsible for the double-cross, having placed simultaneous requests with both the Black Parade and Team Shakespeare, offered a slight smile.

“All right, I’m here. Shall we proceed?”

***

Man-su Oh, mayor of Daegu.

“Guild master” was a polite title; in reality, he was a warlord who controlled the entire region.

Under his command, the Blue Lions were little more than an organized crime syndicate, and the military units under his sway had long since become his private army.

Still, in an era when the central government had abandoned the provincial cities, Man-su’s guild and military had been the ones who killed monsters and maintained public order.

His overwhelming approval ratings and the Blue Lions’ growth into Daegu’s most powerful guild were built on the blood they had shed over the decades.

The King of Daegu, Man-su Oh, leaned against the second-floor railing and spoke.

“Isn’t this a good deal? I get out of paying that massive mission fee to your unit. You get your remaining sentences wiped clean.”

“…”

“It’s a win-win. Nothing but upsides. What’s there to hesitate about? Let’s make the exchange.”

Romeo said stiffly, “The judicial agreement with the central government comes first. Mayor, use your authority as head of public security to commute our sentences.”

“The item first.” Man-su Oh didn’t back down. “It’s a vital item. The future of our city depends on it. So important that a few collapsed buildings mean nothing.”

“…”

“The product. Did you bring it?”

At a nod from Romeo, Oberon and Titania opened the car’s trunk and pulled something out.

It was a large lion plushie, nearly the size of a person. For some reason, its wrists and ankles were bound.

At a gesture from Man-su, Scar and his subordinates stepped forward and carefully took the plushie.

“Ugh, why’s it so heavy?”

It was surprisingly heavy, and Scar and his men stumbled as they carried it up to the second floor. The plushie struggled as if alive.

Man-su observed its frantic wriggling and nodded.

“No doubt about it.” Then he waved his hand dismissively. “Clean them up.”

Click! Clack! Click!

Hidden troops emerged from all corners of the warehouse, leveling their firearms at Team Shakespeare.

“?!”

They were completely surrounded.

Romeo frantically drew a collapsible baton in his right hand and a pistol in his left, while Juliet aimed her rifle. Oberon and Titania drew their daggers.

Glaring at Man-su, Romeo ground his teeth. “So this was your plan all along.”

“More or less.”

“You’re doing all this just to save a few credits and avoid commuting a few sentences? Double-booking us and then breaking both deals?”

“No, no. Quite the opposite. The mission fee is irrelevant.”

Man-su smiled thinly, tapping the lion plushie at his feet with the toe of his shoe. 

“This is about keeping this item’s secret. This thing is the hope of our city. It absolutely must not be discovered by Seoul.”

“…”

“But you brought it all the way here. So, to maintain secrecy, I have to kill you. That’s why I went to the trouble of double-booking in the first place.”

He had commissioned the Black Parade to retrieve the item safely and secretly, then separately commissioned their field team, turning them against their own organization to sever the connection.

And now, he would eliminate the field team.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough of a gambit to ensure plausible deniability. Hard to say if it was unbecoming of a thug or perfectly suited for a mayor, but Man-su knew how to play the angles.

Regardless, Team Shakespeare wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

«Man-su Oh.»

Romeo pulled a phone-like communicator from his pocket, placed it on the sedan’s roof, and switched it to speaker. An aged voice emanated from it.

«Do you really believe the item we handed over is the genuine article?»

It was Shylock’s voice.

Frowning, Man-su looked down at the lion plushie at his feet.

“This is…?!”

The plushie shimmered like mist, then transformed into the figure of a chubby boy.

“Mmph! Mmmph!”

It was Status Window, bound hand and foot, his mouth gagged.

«It’s been a while since you’ve seen my… ability. Guess you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be on the receiving end?»

D-Rank prisoner Shylock’s ability was Hallucination. It allowed him to designate two targets and swap their appearances.

A ridiculously simple, basic ability with no combat application whatsoever, yet Shylock had used this trickery to toy with his opponents and rise to the pinnacle of the underworld.

«Did you really think we’d hand over the merchandise without a single failsafe?»

“Shylock…”

«Let’s confirm the terms once more,» Shylock declared, unperturbed by Man-su’s frustrated click of the tongue.

«Immediately negotiate with the central government to commute the sentences of all our team members and ensure their safe passage out of Daegu. Only then will we reveal the true location of the ‘product.’»

“Heh heh…” Man-su Oh chuckled.

If all his previous expressions had been those of a politician, the one now on his lips was purely wicked.

“Just as I’d expect from Shylock. Thorough, as befits a top star among the first-generation villains.”

It was the laugh of an old villain, finally facing a contemporary after so long.

“But tell me, Shylock. Do you know what your weakness is?”

“…?”

“You’re too famous.” Man-su Oh covered his mouth, chuckling. “No matter how much you move in the shadows, once you get that famous, you’re bound to be analyzed.”

“…!”

“Your ability is the lowest rank, D. And its effective range is a mere thirty meters.”

After reciting data he’d known for ten years, Man-su gleefully surveyed his surroundings.

“Which means you’re somewhere within thirty meters of this factory… and you know this, don’t you? This is my turf.”

Vroom!

Outside, dozens of troop vehicles slowly began to encircle the building.

“I figured that with so few cards left to play, even you would have to show your face. That’s why I had my troops deployed in advance.”

«Man-su Oh…»

“Thought you could dismiss me as some country bumpkin and get away with it, old man? Looks like you’re in for a rude awakening.”

Shylock ground his teeth. «If you don’t pull back your troops right now, I’ll destroy the product—»

“You won’t do that.” Man-su Oh, holding the upper hand, was completely at ease. “That’s your only lifeline. How could you destroy it? Am I wrong?”

«…»

“You’re the type to claw and scratch to survive, always planning for the future. That’s why you’ve clung on so disgracefully, even in that prison. You wouldn’t burn your only chance of survival here.”

«…»

“I’ll give you three minutes, Shylock. Bring the product out here right now. Do that, and while I can’t speak for your subordinates, I’ll spare your life. After all, you were once a senior I respected.”

As he shouted this, Man-su quietly gave an order to Scar. “Shylock is somewhere within thirty meters. Find him, no matter what. Kill the rest.”

“Yes, boss. Understood.”

“And get rid of this piglet on your way out.”

“Yes, sir.”

After giving hand signals to his subordinates, Scar drew a wide cleaver from his belt and approached Status Window.

“Mmph! Mmmph!” Status Window writhed, snot and tears streaming down his face.

“Been a while since I carved up some pigskin.” Scar licked his lips, taunting the boy as he leaned down.

Just then.

Oom-cha, oom-cha, oom-cha, oom-cha…

Through the factory’s speakers, a raucous medley of trot music from the early 2000s began to blare.

«Is lo~ve~ for just anyone~»

The first song was Jin-ah Tae’s legendary hit, “Is Love for Just Anyone.”

“…What the hell?”

As everyone stood bewildered, Man-su muttered, “Who the hell is playing trot music? What kind of moron…?”

Scar, equally flustered, looked up at the vibrating speakers on the ceiling.

Then, in the blink of an eye, someone appeared directly in front of him.

A round-eyed boy in a scratched-up windbreaker.

Jae-hee Han.

“…?!”

As their eyes finally met, Scar recoiled.

“Nice tune, right?” Jae-hee said, a little sheepishly.

Whoosh!

The next moment, with Status Window tucked under his arm, Jae-hee vanished like the wind.

“What?”

For half a second after the Boy’s sudden appearance and disappearance, silence hung in the air.

Then Shylock broke it with a scream.

«Now!»

The four members of Team Shakespeare simultaneously gripped their weapons and sprinted in one direction.

The Blue Lions operatives reacted a beat too late.

Oberon and Titania charged with a speed that defied their age, their daggers a wild flurry. One side of the encirclement shattered in a spray of blood.

Rolling behind a pillar for cover, Romeo and Juliet unleashed a barrage of gunfire.

“Fire!”

“Kill them—!”

The Blue Lions operatives roared, launching a counterattack.

To the exhilarating, staccato beat of the trot medley, the two sides clashed with guns and blades, turning the abandoned factory into their stage.

All around, sparks and blood exploded like fireworks.

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