Chapter 3

There were far too many crazy bastards in this world. There were some things you just shouldn’t throw away, for God’s sake…

Cassian, who had just poured alcohol straight into his stomach, unleashed a string of curses.

“Fuuuck! Why the hell would you throw that card away now? Are you trying to screw me over?!”

Cassian Calypso.

He was the perfect example of the saying, Handsome men act their looks, and ugly men act their ugliness.

Perfect looks, high status, and glorious achievements.

And then there was…

Gambling, alcohol, cigarettes, dopamine, tattoo addiction, and so on.

He was a man who had a great many things going for him.

At the moment, he was busy with an “important appointment”: an illegal gambling session.

“Hey, you two were in on this together, weren’t you? My head still hurts when I think about how you screwed me over last time and made me lose my mansion! If you don’t want to die, you’d better confess right now! Huh?”

At first glance, people would think, Good grief, he’s handsome, but he looks like he has a terrible temper.

But the longer they looked at him, the more they would find themselves thinking, Good grief, he’s got nothing going for him except his face.

And this man was…

“That good-for-nothing is at it again.”

A good-for-nothing.

“He lost because he couldn’t play properly, and now he’s throwing a tantrum. I must thank you for the mansion, Your Lordship. I sold it and paid the children’s tuition fees with the money.”

“Damn it. I lost my house and had to sleep on the streets for a whole week. Ah, I’m out of booze. Hey, innkeeper! Bring me another bottle!”

“You’re not getting another drop until you pay off your tab!”

“Just wait. If I win this round, I’ll pay you back with interest.”

“You say that every day, and you still lose.”

The tavern owner snorted and turned his attention to another customer.

Cassian grumbled under his breath before pulling a cigarette from his pocket and sticking it between his lips.

His opponents, who were playing alongside him, burst into chuckles at the sight.

“You smoke that much, and you’re still breathing just fine?”

“Tell me about it. I wish he’d hurry up and die already.”

The five million gold coins wagered on this round represented everything Cassian currently owned.

Well, not everything. He also had a debt of 580 million gold coins.

But wasn’t debt considered an asset, too?

With assets worth that much, he was technically a rich man, one way or another.

Inhale.

Cassian drew in the cigarette smoke, and one corner of his mouth curled into a carefree grin.

“Checkmate!”

With the cigarette still between his lips, he played his card.

“Arrrgh!”

A groan of despair came from the other side.

Cassian was gleefully sweeping up the money when—

“Wait!”

One of the two men playing with him stopped Cassian’s hand.

“You forgot about this.”

Tap!

The man laid down his card, and Cassian’s face twisted in disbelief.

“You had a joker? Damn it…”

“The money belongs to me now. Heh heh heh!”

The man began stuffing the money into a sack he had brought with him.

Having lost his entire fortune right before his eyes, Cassian slumped limply in his chair, completely dazed.

Fuck. I’m ruined.

I’m getting hungry, too…

Should I visit Rosalyn? Or maybe Aileen? Rose wouldn’t be a bad choice, either.

Just then, a large shadow fell over Cassian.

Two men stood before him, wearing masks and carrying swords.

The men who had been gambling with him quietly slipped away, as though they were accustomed to this sort of thing.

Phew.

Cassian exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke and looked the two men up and down.

Loan sharks, assassins… What else was there?

They showed up almost every day, telling him to die, threatening him, and ordering him around. He was sick and tired of it.

Yes, that was how he had always felt…

So why, today of all days, was he so happy to see them?

“Cassian Calypso?”

“Only two of you came?”

Cassian greeted the pair with a wide grin. Anyone watching him would have thought he had lost his mind.

“So you really are Cassian Calypso.”

Clang!

The men drew their swords.

Cassian stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and asked lazily,

The shadows beneath his slightly tilted head made him look even more like someone from the underworld than the assassins themselves.

“But tell me something. How much of an advance did you receive for killing me?”

Beneath his deeply shadowed brows, his golden eyes swept over the assassins like those of a wild beast.

Their weapons were swords. Judging by their height and muscular builds, they seemed to be partners who worked as a pair.

Instead of answering, the assassins charged at Cassian.

They’re not bad.

With skills like theirs, they must have been experienced professionals who had made quite a name for themselves in their line of work.

But that would end today.

After all, when your life was on the line, the most important thing was how fortunate you were with your opponent.

And Cassian was the worst possible opponent they could have drawn.

Crash! Bang! Thud!

After exchanging a few blows with them, Cassian subdued both men in the blink of an eye, despite his enormous build.

He snatched the swords out of the air as they fell from the men’s hands and flung them toward the far wall.

“Innkeeper! Those swords are expensive! I’ll give them to you instead of paying my tab!”

“Oh, for the love of God! How many times do I have to tell you to pay in money?!”

“They’re worth more than my bar tab. Honestly, what’s your problem?”

Now, let’s see… How much money do they have?

Cassian slipped his hands into the assassins’ pockets.

Rummage, rummage.

After feeling around and stealing their wallets, he tossed them straight to the innkeeper.

“Put whatever’s left toward my tab. I’ll be back to drink here tomorrow, too.”

The assassins pinned beneath him struggled and shouted.

“You bastard! You’re making fools of us!”

They might have been assassins, but they were still professionals. Wasn’t this a little too humiliating?

The assassins exchanged glances and tried to wriggle free of Cassian.

And then—

Whack! Whack!

Cassian smacked them on the backs of their heads.

He did it with the precise snap of a security officer dealing with a thug or a teacher disciplining a student who refused to listen.

“Gaaah!”

The assassins clenched their teeth, enduring a humiliation unlike anything they had ever experienced.

We’re not amateurs who deserve to be treated like this! How did things end up this way…?

They had assumed that, despite being a war hero, Cassian’s current life was so pathetic that killing him would be as easy as swatting a fly.

But they had been wrong.

“Boys. I asked you how much of an advance you received. Why aren’t you answering me?”

Cassian looked down at the pair, who lay bleeding and quietly awaiting their deaths.

When they still refused to answer, he raised his dust-covered boot and ground it into their heads.

“From now on, every time you fail to answer, I’ll sever one of your Achilles tendons. Now, answer me.”

“…W-We each received an advance of 100 million gold coins.”

“You should have known better than to make me threaten you before you understood.”

Cassian crouched in front of them and examined them.

His fierce expression and overwhelming presence made the assassins close their eyes and prepare for death.

After all, this was none other than Cassian Calypso.

The man known as the Mad Dog of the Battlefield, who had mercilessly slaughtered the creatures born in darkness.

There was no way a man like him would spare the lives of people who had tried to kill him.

So this is the end for us.

As if he could read their thoughts, Cassian flashed a grin and made them an offer.

“Give me the entire advance you received, and I’ll let you leave with all your limbs intact.”

It was an offer, technically.

But for the assassins, it was an offer they had no way of refusing.

The buzz-cut man seemed like a thug at first glance, but the longer I spent around him, the more he reminded me of a silly uncle from the neighborhood.

“This is really delicious. Mmm~ So tasty~ Why won’t the baby eat any~?”

He pretended to enjoy the egg sandwiches he had been feeding me for days as though they were the most delicious things in the world.

“Gwaaaah! I’m a monster!”

He even stretched out both arms and wiggled his fingers, pretending to be a monster.

Hmph!

I was ten years old. Not only that, but I was the smartest child in Sunshine Wing class, and I was the tenth-tallest among all the children.

So I wasn’t going to fall for such obvious lies.

“Eeeek! Kyahahaha!”

I screamed as though I were running away and hopped around the little house.

I climbed onto the filthy sofa and even hid underneath the dining table.

Playing along with my clueless uncle was exhausting.

My heart kept pounding, beads of sweat gathered on my forehead, and I was out of breath from running around so much.