IBDHD 3

Chapter 3

There were far too many crazy bastards in this world. Of all the things you could throw away, why the hell would you throw away……

Cassian, pouring liquor straight into his stomach, unleashed a torrent of curses.

“Fuuuck! Why the hell would you throw that card away right now? You’re basically telling me to go screw myself!”

Cassian Calypso.

The perfect example of the saying, If you’re handsome, you act like you know it; if you’re ugly, you act like a fool.

Perfect looks, high status, and glorious achievements.

And then there were his……

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

He was a man who had plenty of everything.

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

“Hey, you two were in on this together, weren’t you? Just thinking about how you bastards swindled me out of my estate last time still makes the back of my head ache! If you don’t want to die, you’d better confess right now. Understand?”

At first glance, people tended to think, Damn, he’s handsome, but he looks like he has a terrible temper.

But the longer they looked at him, the more likely they were to think, Damn, he’s got a handsome face and absolutely nothing else going for him.

And this man was none other than—

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

A good-for-nothing.

“He loses because he can’t play, then throws a tantrum about it. We appreciate you handing over your estate, Your Grace. We sold it and used the money to pay the kids’ tuition.”

“Fuck this shit. I was homeless for an entire week after losing my house. Ah, I’m out of booze. Hey, bartender! Another bottle!”

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

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

“As if! You lose every single day.”

The bartender snorted and turned his attention to another customer.

Cassian grumbled under his breath, then pulled a cigarette from his pocket and put it between his lips.

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

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

“Tell me about it. He ought to hurry up and drop dead.”

The five million gold coins on the table this round represented everything Cassian currently had.

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

But wasn’t debt technically an asset, too?

With assets that large, he was a rich man, no matter how you looked at it.

Inhale.

After drawing in the cigarette smoke, one corner of Cassian’s mouth curled upward in a satisfied grin.

“Checkmate!”

With the cigarette still hanging from his lips, he played his card.

“Ahhhhhh!”

A groan of despair came from the other side of the table.

Cassian was gleefully sweeping up the money when—

“Wait!”

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

“You forgot this.”

Tap!

The man laid down his card, and Cassian’s face twisted into a scowl.

“You had a joker? For fuck’s sake……”

“This money is mine now. Heh heh heh.”

The man began scooping the money into a sack he’d brought with him.

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

Fuck. I’m screwed.

I’m getting hungry, too……

Should I go see Rosalyn? Or Aileen? Rose might be nice, too.

Just then, a large shadow fell over Cassian.

Two men wearing masks and carrying swords stood before him.

The men he’d been gambling with casually began sneaking away, clearly accustomed to situations like this.

Phew.

Blowing out a stream of cigarette smoke, Cassian looked the two men up and down.

Loan sharks, assassins…… He’d had every kind of bastard come after him.

They showed up almost every day, telling him to die, threatening him, and making all sorts of demands. He was sick to death of it.

Yes, that was how he’d always felt…… So why were these two suddenly so welcome today?

“Cassian Calypso?”

“Only two of you came?”

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

“So it really is Cassian Calypso.”

Clang!

The men drew their swords.

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

With his head tilted slightly to one side, the shadows falling across his face made him look even more like a man from the underworld than the assassins themselves.

“By the way, how much of an advance did you two get for killing me?”

Beneath his deeply sunken, shadowed eye sockets, his golden eyes swept over the assassins like those of a 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 these, they’d probably been in the business for quite a while and made quite a name for themselves in the underworld.

But their luck would run out today.

When your life is on the line, the most important thing is who you’re matched against.

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

Crash! Bang! Bang!

After entertaining their combined attacks for a few exchanges, Cassian subdued both men in the blink of an eye, despite his enormous build.

He snatched the swords out of the air and flung them far away, sending them crashing against the wall.

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

“Ah! How many times do I have to tell you to pay me in money?!”

“They’re worth more than the drinks, anyway. Honestly.”

Let’s see. How much money do they have?

Cassian slipped his hands into the assassins’ pockets.

Rummage, rummage.

After digging around and stealing their wallets, he tossed them straight to the bartender.

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

The assassins pinned beneath him struggled and shouted.

“You bastard! You’re playing with us!”

They might have been assassins, but wasn’t this far too humiliating?

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

And then—

Whack! Whack!

Cassian smacked them on the backs of their heads.

It was the sort of precise, sharp smack a security officer might give a delinquent, or a teacher might deliver to a student who refused to listen.

“Grrrgh!”

The assassins gritted their teeth at the unprecedented humiliation of being struck on the back of the head.

We’re not the kind of people who get treated like this! How could this happen……?

They’d assumed that even if he was a war hero, a man who lived like such a piece of trash would be an easy target.

But they’d been wrong.

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

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

When they still refused to answer, he lifted his foot, its sole caked with dust, and ground it into their heads.

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

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

“Why do you only understand when someone threatens you?”

Cassian crouched in front of them and looked them over.

His ferocious face and overwhelming presence made the assassins close their eyes and brace themselves for death.

Of all people, they’d picked Cassian Calypso.

The man known as the Mad Dog of the Battlefield, who had mercilessly hacked apart and slaughtered those born in darkness.

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

So this is the end for us.

As though he’d read their minds, Cassian flashed a grin and made them an offer.

“Hand over all that advance money, and I’ll send you home with all your limbs intact.”

It was an offer, technically.

Though for the assassins, it was an offer they had no choice but to accept.

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

He’d been pretending to enjoy the egg sandwiches he’d been eating for days now as though they were the most delicious things in the world.

“GRAAAAAH! I’M A MONSTERRRR!”

He even pretended to be a monster, stretching both arms out and wiggling his fingers.

Hmph!

I was ten years old. Not only that, but I was the smartest kid in the Sunshine Wings Class, and I was also the tenth tallest.

So I wasn’t going to fall for a lie like that.

“Eeeeeek! Kyahahaha!”

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

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

Playing with this clueless uncle was quite exhausting.

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

As the smartest kid in the Sunshine Wings Class, I had to spend an entire week playing with Uncle Baron.

And then, finally—

Creeeeak.

I was eating yet another sandwich that Uncle Baron had bought for breakfast when the monster man appeared.

“Boss! When you told me to look after the kid, did you mean for an entire week?! I haven’t even been able to get off work! I’m dying here, Boooooss……”

The monster man staggered inside. His under-eyes were dark, and he reeked of alcohol.

He tilted his head, apparently unable to understand what Uncle Baron was saying, then spotted me.

“Why is the kid still in our house…… Ahhh. Right. Haah.”

The kid’s mother still hadn’t shown up.

The man muttered with a sigh, strode toward me, and grabbed me by the back of my neck, lifting me into the air.

“Huuuh?”

Mashed egg tumbled out of the sandwich I was holding.

The monster man’s bright yellow eyes stared at me as though they could pierce straight through me.

His gaze was so sharp that I was just about to let out a terrified sob—

“Stay here. I’ll take care of this and come back.”

Thump.

Cassian slung the little brat over his shoulder like a sack of flour.