Hammurabi Style - Chapter 14

“I have no idea what you are talking about. I want to go by myself, so leave me alone.”

Thud.

The eagle mask took off his mask and got onto his knees on the ground.

It was Hyeongki Seo, the Skyclo Monster shop’s owner’s older brother.

“Mr. magician. The owner is my younger brother. Please, do not kill him. I know he is stupid, but he is basically not a bad person.”

“…”

‘I didn’t really think about killing him.’

However, he didn’t miss this chance that was handed to him.

He lowered his voice as dark and damp as possible.

“You have to pay the price.”

“I will as much as you want.”

“I will stop by the shop later. Your brother is the one who has to beg for my forgiveness.”

“Thank you!! Thank you!!”

Kimin left behind Hyeongki Seo who was bowing on his knees.

“Where are you going to return to?”

“Around Gwanghwamoon.”

“Ok. Here is your return stone. You can take the mask as a souvenir. I hope you had a great time with us. Take care.” 

He could leave only with the return stone the Dark auction offered.

Kimin thought this was suspicious too.

He returned to the motel he was staying, packed his stuff completely, and came out of the room.

“Why are you coming out of the room? Who are you?”

‘Oops, I’m still wearing the mask type artifact. I forgot since it was comfortable.’

Kimin decided to make up a lie shamelessly.

“I just caught my younger brother who ran away from home and came to pack his stuff. That was why I have the room key.”

“What? You are his brother? Then, why does your face look like that?”

“What’s wrong with my face?”

“Is that a question? You must be good at studying. For sure.”

“Why?”

“If the good looks all went to your brother, the other has to have a good brain. If you are not good at studying, it’s too shameful.”

“Ha, this granny…”

“What? You are not good?”

Kimin left the motel while half grumbling and half giggling.

“Thanks to you, I came back safely. Thank you for the invitation and for your advice.”

“Huh…? Oh! It’s a mask type artifact. You are welcome. I’m glad I was helpful to you.”

“I’m changing my lodging. Still, I will come and say hello often.”

“Please come whenever you have time.”

Kimin stopped by Saehyun shop before moving.

He hesitated for a moment.

‘Should I stop by Skyclo Monster shop now?’

‘No. I need to change my moving line and then go there later.’

After nodding, he pushed the door and left.

‘There has to be communication in revenge.’, Kimin thought while moving to a new hotel.

‘Opponents have to know why they are the target of revenge. It’s not revenge if I just kill them right away.’

‘Dongsoo Choi…’

Kimin still had nightmares sometimes.

It was a dream about when he was tied and tortured.

‘I will make you not want to live.’

Finally, it had begun.

***

“Good morning, sir!!”

“Yea.”

Dongsoo Choi was walking in the lobby at Ohsung head office and was in deep thoughts.

It was because of his recent project that was making slow progress.

‘I wonder why…’

He unconsciously reached out his hand.

He had a habit of touching the huge energy stone in the lobby on the first floor whenever he couldn’t think very well.

However, the energy stone didn’t exist anymore.

‘Oh…’

His hand that was reaching nowhere came down and went into his pocket.

‘Why did it disappear…’

The security camera and other related data only showed the fact that the energy stone wasn’t hit by anything.

Eventually, the Ohsung group couldn’t figure out the reason why it happened.

“Good morning, sir! …?!”

“Yea… Is there anything wrong?”

“No, sir. Have a good day.”

An employee left quietly after rubbing his eyes and tilting his head.

‘What was he up to?’

He was going to forget about it, but something was weird.

His forehead was kind of itchy.

Dongsoo Choi went to a restroom to look at the mirror.

“!!!!”

There was something that he couldn’t see until he came to work.

It was a big black letter ‘S’ on his forehead.

“What the fuck is this!!”

He screamed out in anger.

Scrub scrub scrub!!

Dongsoo Choi scrubbed his forehead madly. He tried to use liquid soap and scratched as much as he felt pain.

However, he couldn’t remove the letter ‘S’ no matter what he tried.

“Fuck… What the heck happened?”

He gnashed his teeth so hard.

He didn’t have any other choice so he decided to go to his room.

It was better to deal with it there since he had his own private restroom in his office.

Creak!!

Dongsoo Choi opened the restroom door after coming back to his office.

“Fuck! Fuck!!!!!”

There were even two more letters on his forehead.

His forehead spelled sex.

***

Washing his forehead until his skin came off didn’t do anything.

Dongsoo Choi had to wrap his forehead with a cloth and leave early.

“Wow, look at him. Does it mean you are going to work hard? I like it, Mr. Choi.”

“You remind me of my field work days a long time ago. Mr. Choi, don’t work too hard. It makes us look bad. Hahaha.”

After Dongsoo Choi smiled at the director and left, he got in his car and frantically pressed the accelerator.

Where he was headed to was a tattoo shop.

“Good morning.”

“I’m here to…”

“Oh my god.”

When he unwrapped his forehead, the woman tattooist covered her mouth and looked frightened.

‘Shit…’

Dongsoo Choi despaired.

That the person could see the tattoo on his forehead meant it wasn’t ‘hallucination’. Furthermore, if the tattoo was real…, what kind of a crazy man would this woman consider him as?

He bit his lip and continued, “…to remove this tattoo.”

“When did you do this? No… Lay down here for now. Let me test some parts first. It will sting a little.”

The tattooist touched Dongsoo Choi’s forehead, tried to use a laser to remove it, and then shook her head.

“Wow… How many layers did they apply? Sorry, sir. It’s going to be difficult to remove it with my skill.”

“Is it impossible to remove it?”

“I can forcefully remove it, but it’s going to be more like removing your skin… It will leave a serious scar even if I remove it all.”

The tattooist hurriedly added her words.

“It’s going to be the same even if you go to other tattoo shops. The person who tattooed you did it too much.”

“Shit…”

“Oh my god!!!”

Dongsoo gnashed his teeth and tried to get up, however, the tattooist’s surprised voice made him lay down again.

“Sir, wait. God. There is a message… it seems like an address. Oh my!! Are you a secret agent or something?”

“!!!!”

It was just like what she told him.

He took a picture of the letter with his phone and zoomed in and there was an address and a time on it. 

And the last letter ‘X’ had…

“‘Must come alone’. It’s so scary~~”

‘8’o clock? it’s…’

Dongsoo Choi looked at his watch.

Only one hour left.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“One more. Look here.”

“Where?…?!! Oh…”

Her eyes spun madly and suddenly became empty.

“Do old school and there will be my husband when I go home. Hehehe… The swallow is pretty and pinup girl, no!!! No!!! Hehehe… Eating dinner and the pillow hurts my neck so much. If I fix tailbone, is a radio going to not work?”

“Thank you. Take this.”

Her mind collapsed by Dongsoo Choi.

After he took some money from his wallet and put them in her hand, he gnashed his teeth and picked up his phone.

“Yea, it’s me. Get ready. You got work to do.”

While he wrapped his forehead with the cloth again and waited for a little bit, a black van arrived in front of the tattoo shop.

They were hunting dogs from the Ohsung group.

***

“Wait, boss. Did this SE… tattoo suddenly appear?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, it’s crazy. I can’t even imagine what kind of skill it is.”

“Now, we are going to go and find out.”

“That bitch made a mistake. How dare did he do this to you.”

Click.

Somebody checked his firearm.

After Dongsoo Choi and the hunting dogs had a conversation for a moment, they split and got into their cars.

Someone was screaming through a speakerphone when Dongsoo Choi speeded up madly.

– Boss! Slow down! How can this van chase your Maybach!!

“Dude. Do it on your own. If you get left behind, prepare to die.”

– Shit!! Then at least give me the address!

“Hm… Just follow me for now.”

Dongsoo Choi was close to the address the person wrote and his speakerphone was ringing again.

– Boss, is this it? I have followed you, right? I’m not following another car, right?”

“You guys standby here. I’m going in by myself from here. When I give you a signal, come in right away.”

After a while, Dongsoo Choi was standing in the middle of the Mapo bridge.

***

‘…It’s 8’o clock.’

Dongsoo Choi breathed in deeply and yelled.

“Come out, motherfucker!!”

Woosh-

Cars passing by him swallowed his shout even before it echoed.

Only smoke from the cars were left behind.

“Is he really coming or what? Ha, fuck…”

He wanted everything to be just a dream.

However, the three letters he could see through his phone camera was his reality.

At that moment.

“Urk…?!”

Dongsoo Choi felt a sharp pain on his chest.

He sent a signal to the hunting team immediately.

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know… but I think he got me.”

“What…?”

“I’m checking it right now.”

As he pulled up his shirt, everyone’s eyes panicked.

There was calligraphy written by a knife on his body that was bleeding. 

[ MUST COME ALONE ]

“Thi… This…!!”

Then, another bloodstain appeared in front of everyone.

It was a new address.

No one could say anything while their faces turned pale.

The leader of the hunting team barely opened his mouth.

“Boss. Have you ever incurred someone’s animosity? This seems like a supreme curse magic by all appearances. It’s not just supreme… It’s the best of all the curse magics. I can’t explain better than this.”

“I’m not a person who earns grudges…”

“Indeed, you kill a person before he or she bears a grudge.”

“I really haven’t touched any curse magicians. Also, do you think I would do something to this kind of person?”

“That’s true… So, boss. What’s your plan?”

“Go back. I’ll go alone.”

“How can we do that? We will standby at a traffic circle near the place.”

Dongsoo Choi let out a sigh.

“Just go, bitches.”

Eventually, the hunting team couldn’t help going back without Dongsoo Choi.

In the van of the hunting team, “Hey, by the way, when boss let out a sigh at the end.”

“What about it?”

“Didn’t you smell alcohol a little bit?”

“I smelled it too.”

“Right? Hm… He’s not a person who drinks because of an incident like this.”

At that time the leader tilted his head, Dongsoo Choi was driving quietly.

The new address was near Gyeonggi-do(one of the states in Korea).

While leaving the Mapo bridge and driving a beltway around Seoul, a taxi got close.

‘…?’

The moment he didn’t care and pressed his accelerator, something suddenly rose up inside.

‘!!!!’

Alcohol smell.

Intoxication.

Even excessive intoxication.

“Shit…”

His stomach was burning like fire.

There was always a limit even though a skill user’s physical ability was better than ordinary people.

The alcohol ate his brain away with unspeakable speed.

His hands and feet were not listening to him.

‘Break… I need to press… Break…’

BAM!!!!

His Maybach hit a tree and he lost consciousness.

It was not certain which one had occurred first.

“…”

Then, the taxi stopped next to the site of the accident.

***

Beep- Beep- Beep-

“Ugh… Uh…”

Dongsoo Choi struggled to open his eyes with the sound of a heart rate monitor.

A doctor and a nurse hurriedly ran inside.

“Sir, are you conscious?”

“…Yes. Where am I?”

“It’s the Ohsung hospital. You woke up after a week.”

Dongsoo Choi’s news might spread.

The vice president, Jinbum Park, personally came to see Dongsoo Choi.

“I have heard what happened. You might get hurt from a curse magician.”

“I have brought disgrace upon myself. I didn’t even see his face…”

“Yes. You have to feel that way.”

?!!

Dongsoo Choi looked up with great difficulty.

“When you got into the accident, your Blood Alcohol Content was 0.9%. You couldn’t control your fear if you didn’t drink or what? Dongsoo Choi, were you that kind of a person?”

“I… don’t think I drank…”

“Dude. Is there an alcohol curse? Are you saying the doctor told me a lie?”

“That’s not it…”

“How ridiculous… 0.9%? Did you get a vodka IV or something? Your pride has died so much.”

“…”

“By the way, you didn’t get hurt that much even though you fucking drank so much and drove. That’s why I’m scolding you now. If you got hurt too much, I couldn’t even do that.”

“…You are right.”

“Anyway, take care of yourself. Listen to the doctor well.”

“…Ok, sir. Thank you.”

After Jinbum Park left, Dongsoo Choi struggled to use his vacant brain and tried to ruminate on the situation.

‘I don’t understand… I didn’t even put my lips on alcohol. However, the vice president is right. There is no such thing as an alcohol curse. Then, does it mean he is not a curse magician?’

‘What the hell did happened… A skill that makes the opponent get drunk? Are there skills like that?’

‘Fuck, it doesn’t make any sense. Why did that kind of bitch do that to me? He could just open a bar and sell alcohol.’

He couldn’t find an answer.

“Urk..”

He wanted to flip his body over, but his body had no strength.

He couldn’t even press the call button.

‘Should I shout to call a doctor?’

At the moment Dongsoo Choi struggled, a guy wearing a mask came in.

He sat next to Dongsoo Choi’s sickbed.

Then, he opened his mouth, “Long time no see, Dongsoo Choi.”

“….?”

“Do you remember this by any chance?”

The guy pushed an iron in front of Dongsoo’s eyes.

It was long and sharp and had a knife blade on the side.

Was it some kind of special awl?

“Oh…. This… Ah… Ahhh!!! You…!!”

Dongsoo Choi’s eyes shook like an earthquake.

A memory came to his mind.

In his mind, the riddle was solved.

Why the tattoo suddenly appeared.

Why bloody letters suddenly appeared on his chest.

Why he suddenly got drunk so much.

A word, ‘retribution’, passed through Dongsoo Choi’s head.

“As expected… You know me. Thank you for remembering me. I would feel dejected if you didn’t remember me since It was so tough for me to make this happen.”

The guy with the mask smiled brightly.

–

Translator’s note:

I’m getting treatment for a neck disc. There will be no new chapters for the next two weeks 🙁 I’m sorry.