A young boy rushed down a dark alley to run into a dilapidated shack, shouting.
“Jake! Jake! It’s an emergency!”
“What’s wrong?”
The boy who answered looked about the same age as the first, but he was a brawny looking young boy with eyes that looked as savage as a beast’s.
“The Texon bastards invaded our area! Plant and Kay are being beaten to death!”
“What? Those sons of b*tches!’
Jake jumped up and picked up the wooden club next to him.
“Take me! Where are they?”
“Quickly! Our guys are about to die.”
Following where he was led, Jake ran after the boy. And running after Jake was a couple of other boys who seemed to be in the same gang.
“Oh? What’s this? Those kids are running somewhere with clubs.”
A noble lady looking out from her carriage spoke.
“Yes, Ma’am. Those are beggars from the back alley. It seems like something happened amongst themselves and they’re fighting between gangs.”
“How could such trash be found in the capital of our wonderful empire? I hope they get cleaned out soon.”
Then, as if she lost interest, she rode off in her carriage.
This was the capital of the Andrews Empire. It was a city full of splendor and opulence, well suited for the capital of the continent’s strongest country.
However, underneath the splendid capital was a darkness created by those who had nothing. And in the city slum, a scene of desperate struggle was occurring.
“You bastards!”
Jake, who seemed to be two heads taller than the average boy, jumped into the brawl with a loud roar.
“Ah? It’s Jake.”
“F*ck! Don’t be a wussy! As long as he breaks his head, that bastard… Keugh!”
“If you think you can break it, why don’t you try! You XX bastards!”
[a]
Jake shouted at them as he swung around the club in his hand.
Smack! Pow! Bam!
“Keugh!”
“Ack! My… my arm!”
“Guh…”
In the midst of the brawl, Jake’s movements were different from the others. He wasn’t just strong and big. Jake instinctively knew where to attack and where to avoid; he was overwhelming.
“Follow the leader!”
“These bastards! Kill them all!”
The boys in the same gang were encouraged by Jake’s performance. It was all thanks to Jake that the fight was immensely favorable towards Jake’s group; even though their opponents had twice as many boys as them.
“Kuh…”
Having knocked down the last member of the enemy’s gang, Jake grabbed the enemy leader by the collar, lifted him up, and growled at him.
“Texon, didn’t I say that if you tangled with us one more time, I’d kill you? I’ll kill you as I promised!”
At Jake’s threat, his opponent started crying.
“We… we couldn’t help it. There’s been a lot of crackdowns in our area. It’s hard to pick pockets now and if you even dig through the trash for food, the guards will pick you up.”
“So you started eyeing our territory? You think we’re rich?”
Sniff
“...We just want to live. Forgive me this one. Please…”
Jake stared at his opponent with trembling fists.
‘Damn it…’
He knew that the guy was no different than himself. Jake knew that the guy was doing everything he could to survive in this f*cking world. This was the result. The only difference was that he had won while this guy had lost. It was a life so terrible that it wouldn’t be strange to die at any moment in time.
Jake threw his opponent on the ground as he shouted at him.
“Get out of my sight! Don’t ever let me see you again!”
At that, the enemy gang staggered up and left.
“Jake, you’re just going to let them go?”
“......”
“Even if you’re not going to kill them, you should’ve beaten them bloody. At least break Texon’s leg.”
“No.”
“Jake!”
“I said, no! Just leave it alone.”
As if irritated, Jake turned around.
Jake, he was so famous that all the waifs and strays in the back alleys of the Empire’s capital all knew about him. He was young, but amongst the strays, he was someone who was in charge of a district. Although they were no different than a gutter rat, for the boys, Jake was a strong man who enjoyed a life that was better than theirs.
But for Jake, his life was miserable and there was never a day where he was not irritated.
“This damn world…”
***
“Jake, are you in there?”
Someone came to see him. This person wasn’t a boy of Jake’s age, but was a grown up. When Jake saw him, he unconsciously frowned, before controlling his expression.
“Brother Gale, what can I do for you?”
“Elder brother is looking for you. Come by twelve o’clock tomorrow.”
Jake frowned again.
“Is he raising the payment again?”[1]
“What was that you little bastard? You got a complaint?”
“......”
“This f*cker… control your expressions. You want me to remind you about the past?”
The man currently threatening Jake was someone who had been in the same gang as Jake during his childhood. When Jake had been young, he had often suffered from this man’s violence.
But that was four years ago.
“Do it if you can.”
“This bastard… he doesn’t even know the debt he owes for raising him…”
Flustered, the man could only stammer.
“......”
Jake just continued to stand in front of him, staring straight into his eyes. He had nothing to say.
Debt for raising him? Bullshit.
This man was a piece of trash who had lived off the money his younger brothers brought him from pickpocketing or begging. He had also used that money to buy his way into a back alley organization and even after that, continued to collect money from the boys.
There was no reason for Jake to feel indebted. In fact, he was even thinking about taking his opportunity to release his past resentments.
But…
“A… anyway, I’ve delivered the message. You’ll be in big trouble if you don’t come.”
“......”
“You’ll be in big trouble if you’re this arrogant next time! You know that I’m Chason’s brother, right?”
“Ha… you dumb f*ck.”
It was pathetic to see a guy bluffing by using his backer without even fighting.
“What… What did you say?”
“Piss off.”
As if he didn’t want to deal with him any longer, Jake ignored him.
The man glared at Jake’s back as if he wanted to kill him, but he didn’t dare attack. Why?
‘XX that bastard’s getting hella[2] big…’
He knew that he could never win.
***
There was a bar called the Drunken Traveler and it was doing pretty well considering that it was a bar in the back alley. This was because the owner of this bar had a decent presence in the back alleys of the capital.
It was owned by a man named Chason, who ruled over a large territory of the capital’s back alley and had a lot of men to govern his large territory. And today, he had gathered the most useful subordinates in his bar. Jake was one of them.
“So that’s Jake?”
“He still looks like a kid. How old is he?”
“I think I heard that he’s 14? Think he’s almost 15.”
“He’s a brat?! But he’s already at an executives’ meeting?”
“If you look at his size, he won’t lose to adults.”
Jake heard all the ‘executives’ talking about him behind his back, but he pretended not to hear it.
‘These bastards…’
It was obvious that they were worried their territory would be taken away since there was a rapidly developing person right after them.
‘They’re all pathetic.’
Just as he was thinking that, Jake saw someone.
‘What’s up with that guy?’
He had believed that besides himself, everyone else would be adults in this executives’ meeting. But there was one other guy who seemed about the same age as himself. He was even talking to the other executives without any hesitation.
“Hahaha… thank you, Sieg. I did exactly as you said, and the guards stopped cracking down on us.”
“Sieg, I’m in a bit of a bind, too. There’s a problem with the bars in my area these days.”
Rather than a conversation, it seemed like most of the executives were humbling themselves, talking cautiously as if to please him.
‘Who is that guy?’
That was what Jake thought when he saw Sieg. Having lived in the back alleys for a long time, he had seen all kinds of people, but he had never seen him before.
At that moment, someone came in announcing, “Big brother is coming in.”
All the noisy executives quickly stood up.
And the moment one man came in…
“Welcome, Big Brother!”
“Welcome, Big Brother!”
He was greeted loudly.
The man called Big Brother smiled with satisfaction.
“I’m glad all of you came. Sit down, get comfortable.”
He sat at the head of the table and spoke to one of his men next to him.
“Is anyone not here?”
“No, sir. Everyone’s here, Big Brother.”
“Good. It’s been a while since we all gathered like this. I’m glad you’re all here.”
This man was Chason. He was a cruel man who had a lot of subordinates and controlled a large portion of the back alleys using fear as a weapon.
As a child, Jake had seen Chason execute people. The execution method of cutting off limbs and throwing them to a pack of hungry wild dogs had terribly frightened him. That childhood trauma became a shackle and even now, it was difficult to make eye contact when Jake looked at him.
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“I’ll get straight to the point. Recently, I was asked to do something by someone high up. So, you’ll have to work hard.”
“What’s the job, Big Brother?”
“Leave it to me.”
“No, I’ll do it.”
The corner of Chason’s lips curled up at his subordinates’ loyal words.
“It’s the Gregory bastards.”
Those words quickly silenced the executives.
Gregory was a lot more powerful than the Chason gang. The two territories were adjacent to each other and had been living without much conflict, but in reality, Chason’s gang had been avoiding them.
“I don’t know what they did, but it seems like they did something to bother the higher ups. So we’ll have to clean them up for them.”
The ambitious men who had been frantic to show their loyalty all avoided Chason’s eyes now.
‘Psycho. What does he mean Gregory…’
‘I heard rumors that he’s a mercenary.’
‘He has a whole bunch of men… Did Big Brother finally go insane? How could we get into a war with the Gregorys?’
The most important thing to survive in the back alleys wasn’t strength, it was being sharp-witted and alert. There was no one who was willing to be brave like the knights and step forward saying, ‘I’ll give it a shot, My Lord.’
Chason also knew that this would be how his men reacted. That was why…
“Immediately gather up your boys. It’ll be a full-scale attack.
He had decided to mobilize all his men. That was also why he had gathered all his executives.
‘That…’
‘We’re Xed.’
Chason smiled cruelly as he saw his men’s faces hardened.
“If we win this fight, we’ll dominate the city’s back alleys. Of course, I’ll give you, my brothers, your share.”
At those words, the executives’ turned greedy.
“Those who contribute to the downfall of the Gregroys will be rewarded. And so the person who kills Gregory, I’ll give him the best part of their territory.”
Some of the executives looked blatantly greedy.
‘The best of Gregroy’s territory?’
‘If only I could make that mine…’
‘Seems like if I’m lucky, my life will completely change?’
Fear and reward. Chason’s specialty was managing his subordinates well with these two traits.
At that moment, Jake stood up to ask a question.
“Big Brother, I have a question, sir.”
“A question? The youngest brat seems to have come crazy. You dare to…”
One of Chason’s closest men snarled at Jake’s words, pulling out a dagger. Jake flinched, and for a second, wondered whether he shouldn’t have spoken up. But, Chason raised his hand and stopped the man.
“Bill, calm down.
“But, Big Brother.”
“Tsk, you’re too hasty and violent.”
Then Chason spoke gently and benevolently.
“Hey, kid. You can ask me. What are you curious about?”
By having his man frighten his opponent while Chason himself stop his henchman and talked to his opponent in a friendly tone, he was getting into their head before the conversation even started.
From next to Jake, Sieg spoke as he grinned.
“His acting really sucks.”
Jake heard him, but at that time, he didn’t understand what he meant. Instead, he voiced his opinion in a trembling voice.
“If we clashed with Gregory, then it’ll turn into a war with hundreds of people, sir.”
“I know that. Are you scared because of that?”
“No, it’s not that…”
Jake struggled to continue.
“I’m just wondering whether we won’t catch the eyes of the guards if such a massive war broke out… That’s why I asked, sir.”
At Jake’s words, the executives seemed to have realized it as well. If two huge organizations that controlled the back alleys of the Empire’s capital clashed, there was no way the guards would ignore that. If they were unlucky, the knights residing in the capital may even intervene. In which case, it was game over. They would only be considered small fries, at best, by the knights.
“Hahaha… That was your worry? Don’t worry about that.”
However, Chason laughed heartily and waved Jake’s concerns away.
“Didn’t I tell you? I’m pretty sure I told you that this is an order from a higher up.”
“Ooh, Big Brother. Then, do you mean…”
“That’s right. That person will take care of the guards. All we have to do is get rid of the Gregorys.”
At that, the other executives all looked ecstatic.
“I got it, Big Brother.”
“I’ll bring you Gregory’s head, Big Brother.”
“Whether he’s a mercenary or not, there’s no way a blade won’t go into his belly. I’ll do it, Brother.”
“What are you talking about, that’s my job.”
As his executives began to dream of a joyfully happy future again, Chason banged on the table as he spoke.
“Good. It’s been decided. It’s war.”
“Yes, sir!”
And so, that’s how blood began to flow in the back alleys of the Imperial capital.
***
“Die, you son of a b*tch!”
“Keugh…”
Jake dodged the knife that was trying to stab him. And then…
“Got you.”
He grabbed his opponent’s wrist and twisted it backwards.
Crack!
“Keughhhh!”
His opponent screamed as his arm broke. He grabbed his arm before wobbling and falling.
“Whoo…”
Jake caught his breath as he checked his surroundings.
“Tommy, how are our boys doing?”
“Ron and Ken were badly injured.”
“Damn it…”
Jake clenched his teeth.
“Gather them. We’re retreating!”
‘Damn it. It’s been three months already. What the hell are we doing?’
Three months ago.
The Chason gang ambushed the Gregory gang, however, the Gregory gang somehow knew about it. Because of that, the Chason gang had fallen into a trap and been soundly defeated. Since then, the Chasons and the Gregroys had been in a nonstop war, exchanging blood for blood.
The longer this war went out, the more disadvantageous it became for the Chasons. From the beginning, the Gregorys were much bigger. That was why Chason had wanted to hit first and kill Gregory in order to end the war sooner. However, the raid had failed. Once the war between the two factions began, the difference in strength was quickly revealed.
Chason’s people gradually fell, while Jake became increasingly dangerous.
“Over here! Jake’s over here!”
“That f*cking bastard! Beat him up!”
Jake had become known as a threat to the Gregorys. Although he was still young, because he played an active role with his natural fighting instincts during this war, Jake had become known as a very big threat. The only reason the Chasons were still limping along even though they had pushed back, was because Jake had dealt with all the big players of the Gregory gang.
“Damn. You guys get away first.”
In order to get his injured boys out first, Jake blocked the enemy.
“Boss Jake!”
“Are you crazy? How’re you going to deal with them?”
His subordinates worried about him, but he only shouted at them.
“Get out of here!”
Then, Jake ran towards the Gregroy gang members who were running towards him.
“Kill him!”
“Don’t underestimate him just because he’s a brat… guh!”
“Keugh!”
There were more than ten opponents, but Jake fought like he was possessed. He first smashed in the head of the man running in the front with the club in his hand. Then, Jake rushed straight towards the next person and punched in his face. Having quickly knocked down two adults, Jake was able to take the lead and dealt with the rest of his enemies.
“Guh…”
“Damn it. Someone, get him… gah!”
“Kah…”
The other Gregory gang members couldn’t make use of their numerical advantage and struggled as Jake continued to fight like he was possessed. Before they knew it, more than five of their comrades were on the floor.
However, no matter how well Jake fought, it was only natural there would be a chance once he lost his stamina.
Smack!
“Keug….”
Jake felt like the world was spinning when someone suddenly struck him in the back of his head with a club.
His enemies didn’t miss the opportunity.
“Now!”
“Stomp on him! No, kill him!”
“You son of a b*tch!!
Someone kicked Jake in the back and knocked him down. They violently and mercilessly attacked him.
“Keugh… ugh…”
Jake tried to endure it by curling up and protecting his organs, but he gradually got weaker.
‘F*ck. Am I going to die like this in a place like this?’
Jake felt wronged. He had been born as gutter trash in the back alleys, but he never wanted to die as one.
But then…
“Keugh…”
“Who… ack!”
Someone suddenly showed up behind the man put held Jake in a tight spot.
“You’re…? Sieg?”
1. The raw used 상납금 which is money offered to superiors. I debated using protection money (‘cause I was thinking about mafias) but went with a more general translation
2. Raw used a dialect, so I also used a regional term