Jace’s mouth went agape, so he quickly covered it. He then pointed a shaky finger toward Zeno.
“H-how did you know?” he stammered.
Zeno opened his phone and showed it to Jace. “The internet exists.”
“Oh,” Jace muttered, relaxing. “You did some digging, though. Not a lot of people know about it.”
“Well, not a lot of people care about J-Slick himself. His artists are all problematic, and that’s the only reason why they’ve stayed relevant until now.”
“You’re right about that,” Jace muttered. “It’s still impressive. He went by a different name back then. How did you know it was him?”
Zeno scrolled once until an old photo of J-Slick was shown. “Slicky Sean, right? It’s not that far from his current name.”
“He also got a lot of work done, so he’s not too recognizable,” Jace added.
“Is he going to sue the plastic surgeon?” Zeno asked, causing Jace to freeze.
“I mean, if I spent this much money for a new face, I certainly wouldn’t choose this,” he muttered.
His statement made Jace smile a bit despite their situation. “Anyway, I believe it’s his doing,” Jace muttered. “I don’t know any other artist who made a name for themselves from Dreamy except for him.”
“He’s the one with the debt?” Zeno asked.
Jace sighed and started playing with his fingers. “I don’t know the full story, but I knew that Slick was addicted to gambling back then. It was his escape after multiple mixtapes failed.”
“Moby and Bobby tried their best to get him to stop, but he was a rebellious artist. He didn’t listen to them, because quite frankly, it was ‘their’ fault why his music wasn’t doing well.”
“However, suddenly, Bobby bought a song for him that became a hit, and he became known in the underground rap world. However, he was still addicted to gambling, so the money he gained from that song was spent right away.”
“Until one day, he gambled all of his money and had been buried in debt. I remember when he swore it would be the last time he gambled as soon as Bobby and Moby helped him.”
“With that, Bobby signed off his debt, betting his own money on the line while J-Slick went behind their backs and built Continuous Dominance. Bobby left it all in the past, but I still remember it.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know why Bobby is being acquitted, though. He paid it all off!”
“Unless,” Zeno muttered before shaking his head with a small smirk.
His first mission was definitely given with a purpose. Destroy an enemy.
Just then, Zeno grabbed Moby’s worn-out black trench coat from the compartment and placed his mask on before getting out of the car.
Jace’s eyes widened. “Zeno, where are you going?”
“Zeno!” he screamed and tried to run after him, but Zeno was gone in the blink of an eye. Did he just… teleport? Where the heck was he?
Moby left the convenience store with two packaged lunchboxes in his hand. He frowned when he saw Jace wandering around.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Jace turned silent.
“Where’s Zeno?”
Jace scratched the back of his neck. “He disappeared.”
***
J-Slick took a long sip of his hot Americano, bitter and black—just the way he liked it. Who was he kidding? He liked it very milky and sweet, but he wanted to stay awake for this monumental moment.
His corner office overlooked Seoul’s sleepy skyline, a place still too quiet for 3 AM, but not for him. At least, not today.
Not when Dreamy Entertainment was on the verge of collapse.
He tilted back in his leather chair, the corners of his lips curling into a smirk. Article after article flooded the screen of his phone after it was revealed J-Slick was the one who had been wronged.
– Dreamy Entertainment is on the edge of bankruptcy!
– J-Slick is the victim this time. As much as I hate that guy, he needs to be paid back.
– Insiders say that the debt dates back a decade, but J-Slick kept quiet because he pitied Dreamy. But now, they’re doing very well. So, naturally, J-Slick wants to be paid back.
– It makes me wonder whether this is the reason why Zeno Han has gotten these big-scale projects. Like, it doesn’t make sense he’s in all the famous works for this year unless someone is pulling strings.
– Wait, you’re onto something.
“Perfect,” J-Slick muttered.
Well, it wasn’t exactly Bobby’s debt, but he signed the dotted line willingly, eyes full of hope and empty of caution. It wasn’t J-Slick’s fault he was naive.
J-Slick didn’t let Bobby become the co-signor.
He made him the sole debtor.
Bobby paid it back for him with a loan, but J-Slick never paid for original debt.
Instead, he’d used that money to build his empire. A few years later, he had Continuous Dominance, and the debt was still there.
Of course, he paid it off in the end. He wasn’t that much of an asshole! But now, he had the final dagger.
A folder sat on the desk, fat with stamped contracts and pristine bank records. Everything pointed to Bobby. And soon, the media would follow the trail.
J-Slick would be the ‘hero investor’ swooping in to ‘salvage’ Dreamy’s rotting corpse.
He would make it appear that he paid off the debt for Bobby, and now, he was simply asking for the payment back. But then again, J-Slick knew Bobby did not have that amount.
In the end, Dreamy will become his, and subsequently, Zeno Han.
He clicked to another window.
Cynthia—his new obsession—was live.
He pulled it out on the television with a small smile.
Tonight’s theme was a Bunny Girl Special.
The screen shimmered in pink and soft strobes as Cynthia tilted her head coyly, fingers to lips, soft coos echoing from the speakers. He leaned back, watching with amusement. She wasn’t as classy as Hailey, but she was loyal.
After Hailey betrayed her by talking about Zeno, J-Slick had switched sides to Cynthia.
Cynthia moaned on-screen while J-Slick watched intently.
He was too focused on the screen, when suddenly, without warning—
BANG.
The doors to his office slammed open.
Coffee trembled in the mug.
And a figure stood in the doorway.
Tall. Still. Face shadowed under a bucket hat. The black trench coat trailed around him like smoke.
J-Slick felt his heart skip.
His hand instinctively moved under the desk, where a knife was, but he didn’t open it yet.
“Who—?” His voice caught in his throat. He swallowed.
Was it a threat? A loan shark? No. This was worse.
This was death itself.
The grim reaper?
Was he dying?
His chest thumped harder. Was that chest pain? A heart attack?
Cynthia’s moans still filled the air, making him feel slightly ashamed.
“I asked you a question,” J-Slick said, trying to steady his voice. “Who the hell are you?”
The man stepped forward.
One foot.
Then another.
The bucket hat tilted up.
A face emerged from the shadows.
And J-Slick’s spine turned to ice.
“Let’s talk, shall we,” Zeno said, pulling the door shut behind him.
The lock clicked.