"Huu… what a mess."
Kevin's whispers echoed within the room as he sat on his chair, staring at something on the table.
It was a gun.
The pistol was small and slick, its metallic sheen giving off an oily black hue. Around him were corpses of gang members, all of them with bullet holes in their heads.
"Without my corpse among them, it'll be pretty obvious to the higher-ups that I've betrayed them. But, since they should have some way to track the money, they'll go after that guy instead." He continued to whisper to himself. "I'm guessing they'll even think we worked together or something… me and him."
In a sense, Kevin and Luke were in the same situation.
They were both on the Nine Headed Dragon Alliance's radar, pulling off such a stunt.
'My plans for climbing the ranks have been jeopardized. Maybe I could start over by moving to another region and assuming another identity, but that would mean going through the whole selection process from scratch. It's not only risky, but… I don't want to bloody my hands with innocent lives any longer."
His true target was the Nine Headed Dragon Alliance itself.
'This fake cop badge won't help me if I go to another region to start over, which means I'll have to make another one.' Luke's image flashed in Kevin's thoughts at that moment. 'That guy fell for it so easily, though. Or was he pretending to be fooled? I don't know… I couldn't really read him.'
All Kevin knew was that no one would dare cross the Nine Headed Dragon Alliance for just ten grand. That was too absurd!
'It's possible that he doesn't know who they are, but… someone that powerful, who would fearlessly charge into our base like this… it's highly unlikely. There's no way he would be so ignorant.'
Plus, was it a coincidence that they had bumped paths twice now?
No…
'He definitely knows something! He might be connected to them in more ways than one, and since we're practically tied together after this incident, isn't it better if I latch onto him and work with him—or even for him—so I can achieve my goals?' At this point, Kevin clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
A look of pure rage and hatred filled his thin face.
"Big sis… I swear, I'll avenge you!" The image of his sister's brutalized corpse in their living room haunted his memories, causing him to growl with hate… and determination.
"Those monsters… they will pay for what they did to you!"
**********
"Hehehe… A phone at long last!" Luke grinned as he raised a device to the air, a look of relief forming on his face. The 10 grand was more than enough to cover his outstanding rent, and he even had spare change for other things.
'A life of crime really pays… ahem, what am I thinking?'
He quickly turned on his phone and connected it to a public wifi, swiftly going through his mail since he hadn't gone to the cyber cafe in a while. Luke wasn't expecting much, but he still had to commit to this daily practice since he wasn't sure what messages could visit him.
He also had a sim card now, which meant he could make calls and receive them.
Life had suddenly become so much easier.
'And this is just me at Level 10! What more can I—' Luke's thoughts came to a grinding halt once he saw an email from a familiar organization.
A hospital.
'Gracefield Hospital… They sent mail? What's it about this time? I already paid… hmmm…?!'
Luke's heart nearly stopped once he opened the message and viewed its contents.
~We have been trying to reach you for some time now. Your father has suffered an emergency in the hospital and is in need of urgent medical attention. Please hurry over as soon as you get this message. We are trying our best to stabilize the situation, but if you delay… it may be too late.
Nancy, Gracefield Hospital Attendant~
"Old man…" His heart began to race very quickly. "But I thought his condition was stabilizing!"
His body was paralyzed for a moment.
All the joy and excitement that once coursed through him quickly faded, and he found himself in a dreadful panic. His old man was the only family he had left. He was the man who took him in after his biological parents were killed by serial killers.
He was the only reason Luke put up with all the struggles and hardships of life all of these years!
"You can't… you can't die on me, old man!"
Gritting his teeth, Luke put all of his strength into his legs and dashed forward, his inhuman speed sending gusts of wind flying in all directions. The ground beneath him cracked, and commotion swirled around him.
But, at the moment, Luke didn't care in the slightest.
The only thing—only person—on his mind was the only person who was like a father to him.
**********
[A Few Hours Later]
Luke sighed.
He sat on a chair right next to a hospital bed, his eyes reflecting the image of a disheveled old man on life support. The man had gray-white hair, the strands decorating his wrinkled and emaciated facade.
This was Luke's 'uncle' turned 'father.'
'My dad's partner…' He nearly choked on his quiet sobs. 'Who would have thought, after all these years, we'd only have each other.'
He looked at the unconscious man and smiled softly.
'That's why you can't die yet. You can't leave me alone in this world.' Flashes of his past attacked his mind at that moment, and he vividly remembered his delinquent days.
He remembered how much violence he partook in, and the road he was spiraling in.
If he hadn't gone to Juvie, and if his old man had not fallen so ill, he would have probably joined some gang at some point. After he got out, he promised never to indulge in such violence any longer.
… And it was all because of his old man.
"Uncle Richie… Dad… you have to hold on. No matter what, you can't die." Luke said silently, his body trembling as he croaked those words. "If you die… I don't know what I can become…"
Even with those words echoing in the hospital room, only Luke could hear them.
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Dread swirled within.
Uncertainty clenched at the heart, unwilling to let go.
Then—
"Ah, Luke… you're still here." Uncle Richie's attendant, Nancy, came over wearing her usual scrubs.
She had a youthful expression, donning an innocent smile on her beautiful face. If not for dark circles and mild bags under her eyes that indicated an absence of sleep, she would have looked even prettier.
Nancy was about Luke's age—perhaps a year or two older—and was one of the residents of the hospital. She had been taking care of his adopted father, Richard, for over a year now.
"Yeah. I couldn't leave his side until I got the news."
"Well, it's good news." She smiled, causing him to exhale in relief. "His condition has stabilized again. Thankfully, we got to him in time and offered the treatment before the situation escalated."
"Thank goodness…"
Luke was about to celebrate when he saw Nancy's expression darken. "There's something else, isn't there?"
"Yeah…"
"What is it?" He had a hardened expression on his face as he asked the question.
"It's about your uncle's situation. Our facility can only help stabilize him for long, but the entropy will only keep increasing, which means the gap between episodes like this will shorten. What used to happen once or twice a year could happen more frequently now, maybe once every two months."
"What?!"
"It'll only get worse with time. Eventually, it will happen multiple times in the same month. The malignant virus is too deeply rooted, and I fear that with our facilities we can only prolong the inevitable."
"...." Luke was silent.
"The only solution now is the surgery."
'You think I don't know that? Everyone has been saying this, and all the research I've done points in that direction.' He frowned, helplessly shivering under the pressure. 'But how could I possibly afford that?'
The surgery was one that cost at least 5 million dollars upfront!
'Where would I see that kind of money?' Luke sighed. 'Even after that, I'll need a few more million for subsequent treatments and full recovery.
Only the rich could afford something like this! It was beyond the reach of a common man.
'Damnit!'
He slammed his fist on his lap, feeling a stinging sensation of pain as he kept gritting his teeth in frustration. His sudden action, and the noise it made, startled Nancy, which he was quick to notice.
However, he didn't say another word to her. His turbulent thoughts wouldn't let him.
"T-there's also something else…"
"What is it?" He angrily asked, slowly raising his head to see Nancy's pitiful expression as she helplessly told him the problem.
"It's about your father's hospital bills."