Noah felt edgy after completing the money transfer. He had maintained a calm voice so far, but he could feel his control slipping. It felt real as he looked at the empty account balance.
Ah…
Twenty-three billion had evaporated into thin air, and it had even been perfectly laundered.
Noah said in a quivering voice, “Congratulations. You have become one of the richest people in the world within just one night.”
However, something felt ominous as the assassin’s uncomfortable silence continued.
No way…
While Noah was paying attention to the assassin’s cold breath, he got a new order. The assassin said as if he had taken everything before for granted, “Open another account.”
Noah almost screamed and turned his head back. However, people said that supernatural powers appeared when life was at stake, and Noah was like that. He managed to keep his head in the same position. He said while clenching his fist to the point where it trembled, “Twenty-three billion dollars can turn your imagination into reality. You can become anything you want, and you’ll never be able to spend it all no matter how hard you try before you die.”
The amount couldn’t be earned even if someone robbed thousands of banks. The weight of the bills alone could crush the assassin to death, but he was obviously not satisfied.
“The more money I have, the happier I get.”
Noah couldn’t feel any excitement from the assassin’s voice. It was definitely not the sound of a person who had just gained an astronomical amount of money. The assassin would have known the value of twenty-three billion as he knew the concept of prop accounts and had taken out a secretive Swiss account.
It was then that anger and shame permeated Noah’s shaking voice, “You are not here to kill me. Did you come to get my family vault?”
“Your family’s money is just a trophy. Isn’t it obvious I have the right to take one?”
“Obvious?”
“You started this fight, Noah. You probably had no idea that this would end up with you losing your life.. If you want to resolve the issue with violence, that’s very welcome to me, idiot.”
Noah finally realized the identity of the assassin.
“You…!”
Noah had never committed violence using his own hands, but it was different now. An uncontrollable rage flooded his heart and strongly commanded his brain. His eyes held a murderous, evil gleam. He stomped out of his seat as soon as he grabbed a fountain pen.
“Dieeeeee!!!”
Noah swung his arm when the target came into his sight, but it was a clumsy move. He couldn’t see anything properly, and he got painfully injured. He clenched his nose as blood poured out like a faucet and groaned.
“Ugh…”
As he stepped backward, he stumbled and hit his head against the corner of the desk. His head began to throb, and he glared at his feet. His gaze slowly rose, and he finally saw the assassin’s face for the first time.
It was Na Seon-Hu, as he had expected. He had the same face as his passport photo that was registered at the immigration office, but his heartless eyes were not displayed in the picture. It was a murderer’s eyes.
“How! How!” Noah shouted.
How could he do this! How… How could he show up?
The Asian boy was certainly the finance genius of the century. Hence, he was able to tempt Jonathan Hunter, who wasn’t anything special six years ago, and establish Jonathan Investments at the age of twelve. The boy had achieved the miracle of winning consecutive finance games, so Noah was confident that obtaining the boy’s efforts was worth it. That was why he was doing all of this base work. The boy had laundered funds, evaded taxes, dominated the economy of his home country by disguising his money as foreign funds, and combined the Karjan family in Germany and the Gillian Group in the City together into one team. Yes, he was a genius. No one would ever believe that all of this was done by an Asian boy unless they confirmed the facts with their own eyes.
But why is he here?
The Asian boy had the same look in his eyes as the cleaners did when they started working their job. Money and violence were said to be inseparable, but it was only true when dealing with the lower classes and mere pocket change. The boy was in the same top class as Noah, so he wasn’t in the position to show up as an assassin himself. He should’ve sent someone on his behalf instead!
Noah was out of his mind, but one thing was clear: the boy would not hesitate to kill him and already had the required skills to do so. Anyway, the guy with the grudge against him had appeared in person, and he didn’t seem to have the intention to negotiate. In fact, the boy categorized the family’s precious slush funds as mere trophies.
I should run away!
Noah thought of the safe room which was a perfectly blocked safe space, and it had been created in case of this situation. If he could escape that far, he could call 911 with his safety guaranteed. It was located upstairs. Noah confirmed that the Asian boy wasn’t holding a gun, so he tried his best. Of course, he had no plan in fighting back against the boy, so his only goal was to arrive at the safe room.
Noah opened the door and sprinted out, but he saw a bizarre scene in the spacious living room. His bodyguards and mansion employees had collapsed on the floor. There was no blood, and they were just spread around the room. Noah couldn’t tell if they had been knocked out or dead, and he didn’t have the time to check.
He was startled and giddy because the Asian boy… no, the murderer was chasing him from behind. The boy wasn’t running, but he was fast. It was a frightening scene. The soaring adrenaline made Noah move faster, but it didn’t help him to balance himself.
“Keuk!”
Noah lost his balance several times, and every time he checked behind him when he collapsed, he could tell that the murderer was getting closer and closer.
“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”
He was resentful of the tall stairs in the mansion. He had almost tripped several times over the bodies of people that he didn’t know if they had fainted or died. Anyway, he had to reach the safe room as it was the only way to survive.
When he arrived at the safe room, he was covered in blood because blood had poured out from his nose and the wounds he got whenever he fell down. The safe room was hidden in the closet. Noah felt like the clothes in the closet were like human skin that had been peeled off. It was probably because he was too terrified.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
He frantically waved his hands, and clothes were thrown to the floor. Then, a gigantic iron gate appeared, and it opened through fingerprint recognition. At that moment, the murderer was squeezing his face into the room, and Noah felt like the eye contact he had made with the murderer was terribly long.
He barely managed to enter the safe room, closing the iron gate behind him. When the short notification indicated the door was locked beeped, Noah began to cry.
I’m alive.
He had succeeded in running away from the killer. The room was only about two hundred square feet in size, but there was everything he needed, including emergency food, medicines, cash, weapons, and a satellite phone he could use to contact outside.
“Heuk. Heuk.”
Noah first found the satellite phone. When he was about to call the police with trembling fingers…
Thud!
The murderer’s fist broke through the iron gate. The sight was more surreal than a twelve-year-old Asian boy establishing an empire called the Jonathan Group within six years. The murderer’s fist disappeared out of the hole, then Noah saw the fingers grasping the hole.
Crack-
The sound wasn’t loud, but the boy was tearing up an iron gate that was usually installed in large banks. He did it so quickly without much effort, and Noah thought he must have been a monster as the boy came in, ripping the gate apart. It looked like he was about to die while pressing the phone buttons. For a moment, the scene of him dead like the broken iron gate crossed his mind.
NO!
Noah immediately grabbed the pistol after throwing away the satellite phone.
“Aaaaaargh!”
When he screamed, a power that he had never had before welled up. This was a question of survival, and he had to kill the monster by any means. He had no hesitation in pulling the trigger of the gun.
Ta-ang! Ta-ang! Ta-ang!
The sounds of the gunshots crushed Noah’s eardrums, but he couldn’t smell gunpowder or feel pain in his ears. He could only see the monster walking toward him despite the multiple shots. After each shot, a barrier with a subtle light appeared and disappeared repeatedly around the monster’s body. It was a beautiful light, but Noah’s fear had reached its peak that he wasn’t fascinated by it.
The power that soared up in Noah for a moment vanished like a lie. The distance between him and the monster was narrowing, and there was no more space for him to back up. He couldn’t escape anymore. Only the sound of ticking filled the room as the gun became empty.
When the monster came near, Noah’s legs became shaky. The monster looked down at him as he collapsed to the ground bonelessly.
“Come on, Noah. You wanted this,” the monster stated.
***
When I searched the news, I found out that the Morgan family was now in a civil war over the head position. It was because the former head and his successor had suddenly died one day, and the commanding structure had evaporated.
However, the world was quiet despite the mysterious incident that had happened in a traditional North American family. The police stopped the investigation due to the pressure from the Morgan family, and the story of the day only hovered among a few powerful people and disappeared. The man who ran the assassin business went missing that day too. After all, dead men told no tales. The night between the Morgan family and me existed only in my head as I had perfectly cleaned up the mess.
<Seon-Hu: Come over.>
<Woo Yeon-Hee: To America?>
<Seon-Hu: Yes. We should start conquering again with proper equipment.>
Over the years, the war between huge capitals raged as the pre-Awakened formed groups and began targeting dungeons.
However, it was just our world’s task, and the general public was living the same daily life as the day before. This had to be the case in the future. A future where the money would be just a scrap piece of paper should not have come. On that day, ordinary people would live their lives and evacuate to the shelter whenever the gate opened. Then, they would go back to their life again when Awakened like us destroyed the gate.
Taking one step at a time toward an undisturbed daily life while maintaining the current civilization intact was important. In this way, the war against the Seven Demon Kings would end with our victory. I dreamed of that day, so it was ridiculously early to be satisfied at this point. There was still a long way to go, and I needed more money and abilities.
Five years had passed with that mindset.