## Chapter 82 – (9)
“Kuh…!”
Thump!
Brody’s body cut through the night sky.
I watched his figure, pushing off the ground powerfully to escape, slowly with my eyes, but his massive body was swallowed by the darkness.
Escaping through this darkness at that speed, it seemed like it would be burdensome to chase him normally.
Brody had a large wound on his arm, but the sea breeze washed away the smell of blood.
However, I had Swiftness and Inner Force.
Crackle.
Inner Force settled in my legs.
Enlarged blood vessels and tendons appeared on my legs, and a strange heat began to circulate through my body.
My breathing regulated, and my five senses became more acute.
I quietly listened.
Even if he hid everything to escape, he couldn’t hide the sound of powerfully leaping off the ground.
I waited for the sound to echo through the quiet, deep night of the pier.
Thump.
The sound was small, as he was quite far away, but it was definitely audible.
And I moved too.
The ground caved in as I kicked off.
Whoosh!
The sound of cutting through the wind brushed past my ears.
Even in the darkness, I could vaguely see the surrounding scenery being sucked backward.
As if folding space to run.
With each step, the surrounding scenery and scents changed.
Perhaps feeling impatient, I heard the thumping of his footsteps becoming faster.
But I could already see a ray of light.
The light from his headlights.
Immediately after,
Crack!
A loud noise echoed through the pier, and the surroundings became quiet.
Only the occasional sound of waves filled the pier.
The headlights were broken, and Brody was embedded in a tree.
He had been hit by my kick, splitting the tree and burying himself halfway into it.
Brody clutched his abdomen, gasping for breath.
He didn’t even look at me.
“Khehehe…”
He just laughed hollowly and looked down at the ground.
“I endured so many dangers, only to be defeated here.”
A dry laugh was heard.
He had already given up on escaping and leaned against the tree.
He had accepted that it was no longer possible to escape.
I slowly picked up the broken headlights and approached him.
The front glass was broken, but the light was still on.
He slowly looked up at me.
“Are you going to kill me?”
“Hold on a second.”
Standing in front of Brody, I first called for an ambulance.
It wasn’t for him.
It was for Detective Lee and the Chief, who had been attacked by him.
If the negotiation went well, maybe this guy could ride along too.
“Negotiation?”
Brody looked dumbfounded when I said I wanted to negotiate.
Then he answered firmly.
“No deal.”
Before even hearing the terms of the negotiation, I brought the jungle knife to his throat.
“That works too.”
Honestly, negotiation was just the first option.
If it didn’t work, there were other methods.
Seeing my attitude that I had no regrets, Brody became anxious.
“W-wait a minute.”
Of course, how much would a villain care about their organization?
Those romantic villains are all dead already.
As I slowly moved the jungle knife towards his neck, a small drop of blood fell.
Brody twisted his head left and right to avoid the jungle knife, despite saying he didn’t want to negotiate.
“Feeling more inclined to listen?”
“…”
That heavy head nodded up and down.
The terms of the negotiation were simple.
I would spare him, he would leave Korea alone, and he would ensure that no one, including himself, ever came to Korea again.
“Just me leaving? Not all of Wolf?”
“Yes.”
This was a pre-planned negotiation from the conversations with the Chief and Detective Lee.
I wanted to eliminate the entire Wolf organization, not just kick them out of Korea, but that wasn’t something that could be solved by catching Brody and negotiating.
So, the first priority was to get Korea out of this threat, even if just for now.
The first step was for Brody to leave Korea and prevent any more villains from coming to Korea.
It would be troublesome if villains running rampant in neighboring Japan came to Korea.
“What about Bella and Alex?”
“I can handle those two myself.”
“…That’s, true.”
Of course, the word “handle” probably meant something different to Brody than what I was thinking.
There was a reason for leaving Bella and Alex behind.
I had gained their trust, and I was going to use it.
If things went well, this could be an opportunity to use Wolf to clean up the villain organizations in the country and even crack down on various crimes, according to the Chief and the higher-up he was bowing and scraping to on the phone.
I agreed as well.
I wanted to target Bella.
As always, my quests returned great rewards when I took something.
Bella and Alex’s strange relationship.
And Bella’s walls.
It smelled like a quest.
“Okay… fine.”
Realizing that the proposal wasn’t too disadvantageous to him, Brody nodded immediately.
“I’ll set up a meeting for the executives tomorrow. I’ll say I’m leaving for treatment.”
“Hmm… hard to believe.”
“…”
When I looked down at him with a disbelieving expression, Brody took out his phone from his pocket.
He forced himself to touch the screen of the phone, which had a bit of red liquid on it from the blood that had seeped into his clothes from his shoulder, and made a call.
Click.
The other person answered immediately.
Brody lifted the phone with trembling hands.
[Brody? Calling me first… what’s wrong?]
It was a familiar voice.
Bella.
Another S-class villain.
“…I was attacked. The enemy was one person. I managed to escape, but I was seriously injured.”
[What? You escaped? Wait, who was the opponent?]
At that question, Brody looked up at me.
I made a number 1 with my finger and brought it to my mouth.
A silent pressure to keep it a secret.
“…A small, older man. I’ll call a meeting tomorrow and talk about it.”
With that, Brody hung up.
As he said, a meeting would be called tomorrow.
I looked down at Brody with a satisfied expression.
“I called an ambulance, so try to stop the bleeding until then.”
With that, Brody silently tore his clothes and tightly tied the shoulder area to stop the bleeding.
It was a skillful movement.
It was about 10 minutes before the ambulance came through the darkness.
The location was what it was, so it was understandable that it was late.
Moreover, the paramedics apologized for being a little late because they had been carrying Detective Lee and the Chief.
“How are the two of them?”
I was more worried about the two of them than Brody.
“Their lives are not in danger. However, we need to have a detailed examination at the hospital to know more.”
“Hoo, I understand.”
As long as their lives weren’t in danger, that was a relief.
The rest had to be left to modern medicine.
At least I had done my part.
“Actually, this guy’s injuries are more…”
The paramedic looked strangely at Brody, who was sitting there unharmed, saying that Brody was more seriously injured.
Well, that was his own fault.
I wasn’t worried.
***
Early in the morning, I headed back to Bella’s hotel room.
It felt like I was going into this room every day lately.
Well, most of it was my own scheme.
I knocked on the door and immediately entered.
After all, Bella was the one who called me today.
“You’re here? Sit down.”
Alex and Bella were already sitting on the large sofa, and both of them looked unhappy.
“What’s wrong?”
I asked casually.
Then Bella said with a serious expression.
“I don’t know either, you’ll have to ask Brody for details.”
Then she asked me if I knew who Brody was.
I nodded.
“Yeah, I checked the USB you sent.”
A lot of people, about ten, had been attached to it, checking every single word.
I got to know him personally as well.
Brody, with a large brace on his shoulder, opened the door and came in.
He was also wearing something on his stomach.
“Brody! What happened?”
As soon as Brody came in, he looked at me deeply and chuckled.
Then he quickly returned to his original serious face.
“…I was attacked by a hero I’ve never seen before.”
Alex and Bella’s expressions darkened at those words.
“If you were defeated, does that mean he’s an S-rank hero?”
“Yes. All I could do was run away.”
Brody answered without hesitation.
The two’s expressions darkened even more, as if things had gone wrong.
They seemed more shocked by the fact that Brody had lost than by the fact that he was an S-rank hero.
“Brody…”
As the room became quiet, Brody said.
“I’m not feeling well, so I’ll have to go to Japan for a while.”
“To Japan? Then what about the operation in Korea?”
“I’ll leave it to you. Do well, the three of you.”
“Three…”
Only then did Bella turn to look at me.
It was as if she was slowly reminding herself once again that Alex had escaped and I had been added to the executives.
I could feel a look of trust from Bella.
“Okay, we’ll do well here. Focus on recovering.”
“…Good luck.”
Brody gave a bitter smile and stepped outside.
As if the real meeting was starting now, Bella said to the two of us with a serious expression.
“We need to find out who attacked Brody.”
Alex nodded, and I lowered my head.
I couldn’t manage my expression at all.
