Chapter 53: Chapter 53

Translated by: ShawnSuh

Edited by: SootyOwl

La Santé was a prison infamous for its harsh environment. Described as hell on Earth by the former warden, the sheer number of rats and harmful insects within the prison far surpassed the number of inmates.

When an officer walked past a cell, the inmates within it glared at him with intense hatred. At which point, the officer walked into the cell and beat them to his heart’s content. When the inmates calmed down, the officer looked at them, scoffed with disdain, and said before he walked away, “Maggots.”

Then, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and stared intently at a skinny and tattoo-filled inmate. Looking toward the officer, the inmate curled his lips into a smirk and waved.

“Hi, there.”

Without greeting him back, the officer scoffed condescendingly. Then, a rookie officer came running toward him and gave him a status report.

“Sir! Section Two is clear, sir!”

“Yeah, yeah. Come here.”

“Sir?”

“Do you know what his name is?” the officer asked, and the rookie officer looked curiously at the inmate, whose eyes had a terrifying and ghastly glare to them, behind the bars. At which point, the rookie officer tensed up and asked, “What’s his name, sir?”

“Ace.”

“Ace? That sounds familiar.”

“A psychopath. His dad was an alcoholic and a gambling addict. Apparently, when the kid was born, the bastard thought the baby looked like an ace card. Hence, the name.”

“Oh…! Yes, I remember now. He speaks five languages and murdered over a hundred hunters. So, that’s him, huh? The psychopath…”

“You make it sound like he’s a celebrity. He’s just another piece of human trash if you ask me,” the senior officer said disdainfully, looking at the inmate as if looking at an insect. Staring right back at the officer, Ace chuckled maliciously and said, “Why don’t you come on in and say that to my face?”

With a hardened expression, the officer spat on the ground and said, “Hey, Ace.”

“Yes, officer?” Ace replied with a casual smile on his face. Then, putting his face against the metal bars, the officer scoffed and said condescendingly, “You have a big day tomorrow. It’s your last day in this hell hole.”

“You’re right. Although, I’m getting out of this place alive,” Ace replied, shrugging nonchalantly with a mocking smile on his face.

“That’s wishful thinking, don’t you think?” the officer said, sneering. At that point, Ace started to chortle, eventually bursting into maniacal laughter.

“Hahahahahahahah!”

Looking at the inmate, the officer shook his head and said, “Poor bastard must’ve lost his mind. Though, I do wonder if he ever had a mind to lose.”

At that moment, Ace strode toward the metal bars and grabbed them with force.

‘Clang!’

Startled, the two officers backed away from the bars.

“Isn’t it great? I’m getting outta this place!”

“W-what the hell’s so great about that, you nutso!”

“Open the door. Freedom is here. I can smell it,” Ace said, smiling maniacally. Then, while the two officers stood there at a loss for words and with furrowed brows, footsteps approached their direction. At which point, the two officers turned toward them. It was the warden, who seemed displeased about something. When the warden stood in front of them, the two saluted him without delay.

“Inmate 1827. Bring him out.”

At the warden’s command, a dumbfounded look appeared on the senior officer’s face, and Ace snickered ominously. Soon, the senior officer, gritting his teeth and opened the cell door. Humming cheerfully, Ace came out and put out his hands, and the senior officer, shaking his head, uncuffed him. With that, Ace walked free, whistling.

—

As soon as he arrived in Korea, Min Sung made his way to the headquarters of BBK, one of the largest fried chicken franchises in the country. Located in the lobby of a large building in a major street, this particular location was much more spacious and luxurious than most of the competing franchises.

As the Sun set, Bowl crawled out of Min Sung’s pocket and looked around. Stroking the doll’s head, the champion walked into the restaurant. At which point, he was greeted by young and energetic employees dressed in black uniforms.

“Hello! Welcome to BBK!”

Per his habit, Min Sung looked around the restaurant. Although it was early in the evening, there were quite a few customers chatting over fried chicken and beer. Walking further into the restaurant, Min Sung sat on a cozy-looking couch. Not only was it comfortable, but the table in front of it was also at the perfect height. With a satisfied look on his face, Min Sung studied the menu. Fitting to the size of the franchise, the restaurant had a very extensive menu. Starting with plain fried chicken, there were up to twenty-five different kinds of items. However, since he was about to have his first plate of fried chicken since returning to Earth, Min Sung decided to stick to the classics. Without further ado, he rang the bell. At which point, a young female waitress sporting a ponytail came running to his table.

“Hello! What can I get ya?”

“One half and half. One draft beer.”

“Certainly! Did you want that in a sixteen-ounce cup, sir?”

Min Sung nodded quietly and affirmatively.

“Great! Your order will be ready in about thirty minutes or so. Would you like me to bring you your beer first?”

“No. I’ll wait until the chicken’s ready.”

“No problem,” she said with a healthy smile and walked away. Looking in her direction, Min Sung thought, ‘She’s not just friendly. She’s full of life, just like all the other servers in here. Seems like they train their employees properly.’

Then, crossing his arms, Min Sung waited for his food patiently.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

For some reason, every second felt like a lifetime.

‘This is starting to get a little painful,’ Min Sung thought, rubbing his temple. Sitting in a restaurant filled with the intoxicating smell of fried chicken for thirty minutes was nothing short of torture. However, it wasn’t anything unexpected. Mustering every bit of patience and self-control he had, Min Sung waited for his food to arrive at his table, and eventually, his patience was rewarded as the fried chicken and the beer made their way to the table. The enticing appearance of the fried chicken’s cloud-like batter and the glistening surface of the sweet-and-spicy counterpart made the champion’s heart thump with excitement.

‘I loved every bit of the Schweinshaxe, but there’s nothing like freshly-made, Korean-style fried chicken.’

Sitting alone in the noisy restaurant, Min Sung picked up a drumstick with his hand while his heart raced with excitement. At that moment, just as his teeth were about to sink into the crunchy surface of the fried chicken, an explosion came from above, and soon, a cloud of dust came down from the ceiling and covered the plate of fried chicken like snow.

“…”

It wasn’t long before the restaurant fell into utter chaos. While the customers rushed out of the restaurant screaming, a series of additional explosions came out of nowhere and destroyed most of the restaurant. By that point, the champion’s face had twisted into an angry scowl.

—

“Hehehehehehe!”

While watching the high-rise building collapsing from the top, Ace chuckled maniacally.

“Beautiful. Just beautiful,” he murmured, staring at the ruins covered in a gray cloud of dust and smoke with eyes filled with excitement. At that moment, his phone started to ring. Smacking his lips, he answered it.

“We’ve sent you a driver.”

“Aw, you just couldn’t wait to see me, huh?” Ace replied in fluent Korean.

“We know that you’re in need of enchanted stones.”

“I sure am,” Ace replied, grinning. At that moment, a loud screech came from behind him. When Ace looked in the direction of the sound, a clean-cut man in a suit got out of the driver’s seat, bowed to him, and opened the door to the back seat of the luxurious sedan. Chuckling evilly, Ace said into the phone, “I’ll see you soon, brother,” and got in the car.

Looking out the window at the view of the city, Ace, sniffling, moved his tongue up and down. Tapping on the window with his finger, he looked toward the driver and at the GPS. Then, recognizing the address of the destination, he pulled his head up to the front and said, “Let’s make a pit stop at a convenience store. I could use a smoke.”

Hearing that, the driver stopped the car in front of a nearby convenience store.

“Thank you,” Ace said, patting the driver on the shoulder and getting out of the car. As soon as he paid for his pack of cigarettes, he stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

“Uh…s-sir? You can’t smoke in here,” the young female clerk said nervously. Then, blowing smoke in her direction, Ace grinned slowly and said, “Hey, cutie. Wanna see a magic trick?”

“… sir?”

Then, he sat on the counter and pointed toward the black sedan outside.

“See the guy in that car over there?”

Swallowing nervously, the clerk looked toward the car. At that moment, Ace snapped his fingers, and the car exploded into flames.

“Ahhhhhh!” the clerk let out as her legs gave out. After that, Ace laughed maniacally and said to her, “Wasn’t that great!? Huh? Wasn’t it!? Hahahahahaha!”

However, seeing the clerk shaking uncontrollably, terrified and covered in tears, he stopped laughing abruptly, looked down at her and said, scratching his head, “No? I thought it was.”

Tilting his head, he walked out of the convenience store, blowing smoke out of his mouth. Then, walking up to a cab, he took a pistol out of his chest pocket, pointed at the driver, and shot him repeatedly. After pulling the lifeless corpse of the driver out of the cab, he got in the driver’s seat, which was soaked in blood, and stepped on the gas pedal. The car took off with a loud screech. Humming cheerfully, Ace looked at the black sedan in flames through the reflection of the rear-view mirror. Just like that, the yellow cab took the cold-hearted killer to the outskirts of Seoul.