That’s How They Became Villains

#40. Blackmail is a Villain’s Basic Skill – 2 –

Silence fell over the casino.

Grumsch, Goliath’s right-hand man, swallowed hard.

Who sent these guys, that they dare block the path of our Red Witch?

Although they were just remnants, Red Witch was once a renowned villain alliance. They weren’t an organization that should be treated like these nobodies.

Grumsch gripped his club tightly.

“Wait! If anyone has guns or bombs, please set them down where you are. I’ll go easy on you.”

“Stop talking nonsense!”

“Alright. Then if anyone has guns or bombs, please set them down where you are. I’ll spare your lives.”

“Shut up! How long are you all going to just stand there? Attack!”

The thugs gripped their clubs and rushed forward all at once.

Grumsch shouted.

“Marchina! So you’ve finally turned against our Red Witch!”

“What!? No! This is just these guys acting on their own…”

“Flash grenade!!”

Chae Yu-ha shouted as she threw something the size of a fist.

In that moment, everyone in the casino turned their gaze away from Chae Yu-ha.

Beeeep-!

An earsplitting explosion echoed throughout the casino.

Marchina and all the thugs who had their ears exposed fell into confusion.

“Shit!! My ears!!”

“That bitch lied!!”

“I can’t hear anything!!”

Simultaneously, Kim Seok-ho sprang into action.

-Thud! Thud thud!!

With dull thuds, numerous thugs collapsed in a messy heap.

Seolhwa stepped forward to treat Marchina, whose ears were bleeding.

“Grenade!!”

A black ball spewing colorful sparks soared high into the air.

The deafened thugs clearly saw the acrid smell of gunpowder and the sparkling ball of fire.

Instinctively, they thought: That’s a grenade!

“Stop your tricks!!”

Grumsch jumped into the air, caught the sparking ball, and threw it back at Chae Yu-ha.

However, the ball hovering in the air shot back toward Grumsch as if caught in a reverse wind.

“What, what…!? How!?”

Flash-!

The flash grenade exploded right in Grumsch’s face.

“Arrrgh!!”

The deafened thugs, now blinded as well, screamed in agony.

Kim Seok-ho, who had kept his eyes tightly shut, sprang into action. He then carefully struck each thug in the jaw, knocking them unconscious. He needed some of them to return home and report what happened.

In the process, some thugs bit their tongues or broke their jaws, collapsing in pools of blood.

The soft-hearted Seolhwa tried to treat them, but Chae Yu-ha stopped her.

-Thud.

A thug foaming blood at the mouth collapsed.

He was the last one.

Grumsch, barely recovering from the blinding flash, saw his subordinates lying on the floor.

“Damn it…!!”

Grumsch looked around at the casino guards, seeking help but the guards merely looked away, as if Grumsch were invisible.

Grumsch bit his lip with a crunch.

“In that case…!!”

Grumsch snatched a gun from one of the guards.

Chae Yu-ha’s expression darkened. She stopped Seok-ho as he rushed forward to subdue Grumsch.

“What do you think you’re doing? Didn’t I tell you? If you have guns or bombs, please set them down where you are.”

“Shut up!”

Grumsch pulled the trigger.

-Click, click click.

For some reason, no bullets came out. Only the soft sound of striking empty chambers echoed.

“Why, why isn’t this working…!?”

“I wonder? Why indeed?”

Chae Yu-ha, who had somehow appeared right in front of Grumsch, gently placed her delicate-looking hand on his shoulder.

Grumsch swallowed hard.

“Did you do this yourself?”

-Crack!!

Grumsch’s left arm was violently ripped off. A piercing scream filled the air.

“Puhah!”

A smile spread across Chae Yu-ha’s face.

For a moment, her golden eyes seemed to be tinged with red.

Feeling unsettled by this sight, Kim Seok-ho rushed to Chae Yu-ha and grabbed her wrist.

Snapped back to her senses, Chae Yu-ha turned to look at Kim Seok-ho.

In her hand was Grumsch’s left arm that she had torn off.

“…”

-Swoosh.

Tossing the arm away carelessly, Chae Yu-ha smiled broadly.

“Is there a problem?”

“…No, nothing.”

Kim Seok-ho moved his lips as if hiding his uneasiness.

Seolhwa, who belatedly assessed the situation, approached Grumsch to treat his wounds.

And so, the fight that had been almost a massacre came to an end.

What is that? Where on earth did such people come from?

Marchina wondered as she watched the trio in walking suits knock down nearly thirty thugs.

In fact, they weren’t even a trio. One of them was busy rushing around healing injured people. In reality, only Kim Seok-ho and Chae Yu-ha had subdued the thugs.

Since they could attack humans, they weren’t enhanced humans. That meant the performance of their suits was overwhelming. The problem was that most walking suits were custom-made to order, making them astronomically expensive.

There was a reason why the number of terrorists wearing suits was so small. Not only were they difficult to use, but they were also expensive, so most organizations would rather spend that money on more weapons.

‘In this city, money is power, strength, and life! You’re rejecting this offer for such a reason?’ Marchina recalled her past words.

…This was like boasting in front of a pupa. She wanted to hide in a mouse hole if one existed.

“Ugh…my head.”

Goliath, who had been knocked unconscious by Kim Seok-ho’s takedown, finally woke up.

Beside him, his subordinates were kneeling in a row.

Of course, there was no coercion whatsoever. They were doing so voluntarily.

“What’s this? Why are you all like that?”

Goliath asked tactlessly. Then Chae Yu-ha, who seemed to have been communicating with someone, turned off her electronic terminal and approached Goliath.

“Hello, chunk? You’re awake? Can you tell us who’s backing you?”

“Ch-chunk? Did you just finish talking, miss?”

When Goliath flared up, the thugs flinched.

“Ah, is being tactless your concept, chunk?”

“No, from earlier this miss has been…”

“Mister, shut that chunk’s mouth.”

-Boom!

Seok-ho, still wearing his suit, pressed down on Goliath from above.

“Arrrgh!!”

Goliath groaned in pain.

“Heheh,” Chae Yu-ha’s gaze, accompanied by a laugh, was directed not at Goliath but at the thugs.

It was a licking gaze, as if selecting prey.

“You fools!! Do you not know who I am!!”

“I don’t, that’s why I asked, right? So why aren’t you answering on time?”

With a slight smile, Chae Yu-ha’s footsteps stopped in front of Grumsch.

Grumsch was completely terrified from the shock of having his arm torn off.

“That’s how you lose your subordinates so ridiculously.”

Chae Yu-ha’s arm pierced through Grumsch’s chest and emerged from his back.

Blood gushed out, soaking Chae Yu-ha’s face.

“Grumsch!!”

Goliath shouted.

Simultaneously, the arm was pulled out with a slurp.

Seolhwa, who had been waiting nearby, rushed over to heal Grumsch.

“Cough…!!”

Grumsch, who had narrowly escaped death, felt his face. His expression seemed to ask, ‘Why am I still alive…?’

“Now, chunk. There won’t be a next chance, so tell the truth this time.”

Grumsch and Goliath’s gazes met.

Finally understanding the situation, Goliath immediately adopted a servile expression and began to report in detail about their origins, objectives, and the people behind them.

“Oh, Red Witch? I think I heard on the news recently that they went bankrupt.”

“Well, yes. We did go bankrupt, but we weren’t completely wiped out. So remnants like us are going around trying to revive the alliance. Hehe.”

“Is your hideout in the outskirts of the city?”

“To be precise, it’s in the southeastern outskirts of Cheongang District.”

Chae Yu-ha, who had been sitting on Goliath’s back as if it were a chair, stood up abruptly and said.

“Then go and tell them. We’re taking over here, so you all need to clear out by today. And tell them we’ll be visiting soon, so please welcome us.”

“…”

“Answer.”

“…Yes! Ah, yes! Of course!”

“Now go.”

“Yes!”

The thugs hurriedly got up, gathered their belongings, and fled quickly out of the casino.

One issue resolved for now.

Mmm, Chae Yu-ha stretched and approached Marchina next.

“Hello, we’re acquainted, right?”

“…Why did you let them go?”

Chae Yu-ha was surprised internally. To still have the composure to talk back after witnessing that scene, she was quite a stubborn woman.

“Why? Are you afraid they’ll come back for revenge?”

“…Of course! My life is more precious to me than anyone else’s. I want to live, that’s why I hired those thug bastards by giving them money.”

As Marchina rambled on about things that weren’t particularly interesting, Chae Yu-ha held out her hand.

Marchina couldn’t understand what the hand meant. What, like a hero from some comic saying, ‘Don’t worry, I’m here now’?

“40 percent.”

It wasn’t.

“I’ll help you, so give me the 40 percent you mentioned earlier.”

“…”

Marchina was at a loss for words.

“Don’t you like it?”

“…To be honest, I don’t.”

“Why not? In a way, I’ve given you a 10 percent profit, haven’t I?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“Those guys initially asked for 50 percent, right? But I’m asking for 40 percent now. Originally, you would have been forced to give up 50 percent, but now it’s 40 percent? Isn’t that a 10 percent gain?”

“Uh…”

Does it work that way?

Marchina, who no longer had the energy to argue, decided to just go along with it.

After ruthlessly extorting 40 percent of the casino’s monthly revenue, Chae Yu-ha handed Marchina a business card in return.

“What’s this?”

Marchina asked as she received the card. Chae Yu-ha replied, dragging out the end of her sentence.

“Umm…someone who’ll help you in my place?”

“What? What did you just say…”

Whoosh-!

The trio, including Chae Yu-ha, became transparent and disappeared with the light of an optical camouflage.

Left alone in the casino in an instant, Marchina chuckled and checked the business card Chae Yu-ha had left.

It read:

We’ll do anything for money! -Detective Agency