Knock, knock, knock.
At Rohan’s knock, the window of the van hummed as it lowered.
A strong smell of cigarette smoke wafted out from inside the vehicle.
“What the hell are you doing?”
The harsh voice and the glare that accompanied it were a sight to behold.
The man’s hands trembled slightly as if he was ready to pull out a weapon at any moment.
“Why aren’t you answering your phone? The elders asked me to come and check in directly.”
Rohan said the words he had prepared in a calm voice.
This was a method he could use because he knew who was backing these guys. Such a move was only possible because he already knew the outcome and could skip the steps in between.
Unlike the protagonist, Rohan wasn’t bound to being a neutral bystander, so he was taking a route that didn’t even exist in the game.
At the mention of “the elders”, the other party’s wariness started to fade.
The man in the driver’s seat pulled out his phone to check and responded with a scowl on his face.
“Phone? I didn’t get any calls.”
“I wouldn’t know about that. All I know is they’re really upset that you didn’t answer.”
“Well, it’s a bit of a problem for us if they suddenly get mad like that…”
There was a clear sense of hierarchy here.
The man in the driver’s seat frowned and his face hardened with a look of discomfort.
Then, as if seeking input, he turned his head toward the man in the passenger seat and began speaking.
Rohan listened to their pointless conversation and felt certain.
As I thought.
He had been sure ever since they reacted to the mention of “the elders”.
These were the same guys encountered in the tutorial.
The Yard-Pound Brothers.
Men who would commit any crime for the right price.
“Brother Yard, I’ll relay the message that way, then.”
Did their conversation inside the car reach a conclusion?
The driver who had been glancing to the side turned his head back.
“There’s nothing unusual to report. No calls came in either… Just go back and tell them that.”
“If you end it like that, it puts me in a tough spot, stuck in the middle.”
Rohan felt a firm resolve rising within him as he quickly scanned his surroundings.
As expected, there was no sign of anyone who could be the protagonist. The late hour, combined with the location, meant this was a deserted alley where even passersby were rare.
I was going to do it anyway.
Rohan quietly steadied his breath beneath his mask.
His mind filled with a variety of movements he had honed during his hunter days while apprehending ability-related criminals.
“Hey, just tell the elders that she’s the daughter of the Snow Tiger Emperor. We can’t help it. We want to gather intel quickly too, but people like her can spot us from inside the car like ghosts. We’re just being careful with our timing to make sure we earn our pay…”
“Enough.”
A voice came from the passenger seat.
The man in the driver’s seat stopped his lamenting mid-sentence, then shrank back as if realizing he had made a mistake.
“Pound, your loose tongue is always the problem.”
“I-I’m sorry!”
“Enough.”
Clunk! The passenger-side door swung open, and a man stepped out.
He wore a loose outfit and had a mechanical prosthetic arm on his right side.
Rohan immediately recognized him. It was Yard, one of the Yard-Pound Brothers.
This was the guy who played the leader and always dragged Pound the driver around with him.
Yard began to close the distance with his cheap prosthetic arm whirring as it twisted and turned. His eyes burned with hostility as if something had set him off.
Rohan stood still and just silently watched him approach.
When Yard was close enough, he spoke in a dissatisfied tone.
“Not once have those elders ever called during our work. They always wait until the time we give them our reports to voice their complaints.”
“And so?”
The sudden disrespectful tone of the question made Yard’s eyebrow twitch.
He forced himself to hold back when he recalled the payment for the job and exhaled deeply before continuing.
“They’ve never given us a specific number to contact when we’re in the middle of something, either.”
“Hmm.”
Rohan nodded his head. It was as he expected.
Of course, they’d be calling from a new number each time.
From the beginning, they simply hadn’t realized it themselves, but to those old men, they were nothing more than disposable pawns.
The elders made sure to pay well, so they probably thought of them as just cautious clients worth following.
“This task started barely two hours ago, and now you’re here complaining out of nowhere. Don’t tell me you’re planning to nitpick and cut the payment like last time?”
“You should be grateful even if the payment is reduced.”
“What?”
“You’re lucky we’re tolerating you sitting all the way out here, far from the dormitory, just to observe. If you got any closer, Frozenheart would’ve killed you on the spot.”
A vein bulged on Yard’s forehead.
He stepped closer and used his prosthetic hand to shove Rohan’s chest as if to intimidate him.
“Say that again, brat. Who’s going to die?”
The overbearing pride of someone who’d lived a life steeped in crime practically reeked off him.
Rohan, having seen this picture countless times before, let out a faint chuckle beneath his mask.
“This punk must be out of his mind. Are you laughing at me?”
“Yard, let it go. If you mess with him, it’ll only cause trouble later…”
“Pound, shut your mouth.”
Ignoring Pound’s warning, Yard continued to spew curses while Rohan watched him quietly.
Rohan knew that no matter how this situation unfolded, if these two caught Noah’s attention, they’d end up as corpses without question.
The difference in skill between the Yard-Pound brothers and Noah wasn’t something that could be bridged with cheap tricks.
Just one flick from Noah’s finger would be enough to shatter their prosthetic and their heads alike.
If I leave them alone, they’ll probably just do something else stupid.
Rohan clenched and unclenched his fist, then gave the area one final check.
He hadn’t considered any scenario where he would let these men walk away alive.
He had no intention of letting the other side know of his existence.
[A Quest has been Triggered]
[Battle Chick]
◇ Quest Objective: You have discovered a group attempting to monitor Noah Frozenheart. Punish the brothers who have lived their lives doing wrong.
◇ Category: Tutorial
◇ Reward for Success: Erasure of battle traces, 1 positive cliché, 300P
◇ Penalty for Failure: None
Perfect.
The quest had appeared just as Rohan decided to act.
Unlike Abyss City, which offered experience points and monetary rewards, this quest had a completely different reward structure, but to Rohan, it was more than enough.
Dealing with the aftermath would’ve been a hassle anyway.
He didn’t know what the “positive cliché” reward meant, but the existence of the quest itself felt less like coercion and more like adding fuel to the fire of his resolve, something he genuinely appreciated.
“No matter who sent you, I’m not going to take this kind of treatment from some shitty errand boy…!”
As Yard’s voice rose in anger, Rohan watched him closely.
Then, without hesitation, he moved.
Squish!
Rohan’s thumb plunged without warning into one of Yard’s eyes.
“Aaaagh!”
Yard’s hands shot up to his face in shock.
In that moment, Rohan’s kick struck him squarely in the groin.
Crunch!
The large man collapsed to the ground and started writhing in pain.
“——!!!”
The pain was so intense that he couldn’t even scream properly and his body trembled uncontrollably.
He clawed at the ground with his prosthetic arm. It was a clear sign of just how much pain he was in.
“Y-Yard!?”
The flustered Pound flung open the driver’s side door in an attempt to get out.
But Rohan’s kick slammed the door shut again.
“Gaaah!”
Pound was caught like a sandwich between the door and the car.
The knife he had been holding clattered to the ground with a metallic ring.
Whoosh!
Rohan snatched up the gleaming knife, used magical power to steady his wrist, and drove the blade forward without hesitation.
Squelch!
A wet, sticky sound followed.
The blade pierced through Pound’s throat who was trapped in the driver’s seat.
“Grrrk…”
Retrieving the blade, Rohan paid no further attention to Pound, who gurgled as he spewed blood foam.
Meanwhile, Yard was staggering to his feet and clutching his soaked groin.
“You bastard!”
With a hum, the metal of his prosthetic arm swung through the air with a heavy sound.
Despite the force behind it, the movement was too wide and clumsy and lacked any real threat. It screamed of inexperience and a lack of proper training.
“You rat…! You son of a…!”
One of Yard’s eyes and a testicle were shattered, and perhaps his intelligence had shattered along with them.
He spat out crude curses and started wildly swinging his fists.
I thought this might be a bit challenging, but it’s literally tutorial-level.
Rohan didn’t feel the need to use any skills.
Dodging the clumsy blows, he struck with his blade and slashed as he passed by.
For a few seconds, a scuffle ensued, too crude to even be called a proper fight.
Yard’s breathing grew heavier.
“Haah! Hrk…!”
His gaze flicked briefly toward Pound, who had slumped lifelessly out of the driver’s seat.
Perhaps his initial agitation was finally subsiding.
Not that it matters…. it’s already too late.
Yard’s body was now etched with red lines carved by the knife and blood flowed freely from the wounds.
“Let’s wrap this up. I need to get some sleep.”
As Rohan twirled the knife in his hand and closed the distance, Yard let out a strange, trembling noise. Fear took over the rage that had consumed him moments earlier.
“H-Hhk…!”
The oversized prosthetic arm swung in desperation.
Despite its power that was strong enough to flip a vehicle with ease, the battle followed its inevitable course.
Rohan evaded, and Yard was stabbed.
Thud!
Just like Pound, Yard staggered as if drunk with blood gushing from the hole in his neck.
Before he collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud; his life was snuffed out.
“Good, good. No one’s around.”
Rohan folded the knife and slipped it into his pocket. He was grateful for the lack of passersby; he then opened the van’s door.
Thud! Thud!
He carelessly tossed the bodies into the van, then climbed inside and began rummaging through the vehicle’s interior.
It wasn’t something he could do in a game, but reality offered boundless freedom, didn’t it?
Still, the results were disappointing.
Rohan clicked his tongue.
“Of course, these damn paupers… not even a single handgun.”
Maybe they kept all their money in their accounts.
All he managed to scrape together from their pockets and the van was a measly six coins. Just 60,000 won in Korean currency; it wasn’t worth the trouble at all.
He didn’t bother touching the suspicious drugs lying around and decided to leave them out altogether.
Rohan stepped out of the vehicle, smashed the brothers’ smartphones, and tossed them into a trash can marked for scheduled collection.
[Quest completed.]
[Reward obtained.]
[Erasing traces of battle.]
The notification window popped up just as he had been waiting for.
Rohan stood still while watching the scene unfold. He couldn’t help but be amazed.
“Wow!”
He had expected the cleanup to simply deal with some bloodstains, but it far exceeded his expectations.
The Yard-Pound brothers’ vehicle disappeared entirely as if it had been spirited away, and even the blood splattered across the ground was thoroughly wiped clean.
The coins and knife he had taken there were not lost, the bloodstains on his clothes were erased, and the smartphones that he had smashed and thrown in the trash were gone.
“Great work.”
The area was so clean as if nothing had ever happened.
It almost made him want to give a five-star and write a good review.
With the task completed, Rohan started walking back to the dormitory.
A thought crossed his mind on the way.
“Hmm, what should I do in the future?”
Thinking about what lay ahead, he realized it might be a good idea to have at least one companion.
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