The Manager Is a Gangster

22 – Whoever Found Whom (15)

1.

Until now, regardless of how things turned out, he thought it could be that way.

Hwan’s parents’ debt might have justified the brutality of these guys.

Even if Hwan had little involvement in incurring the debt, he was the heir, and the debt that he didn’t give up solely belonged to Hwan.

Even if he didn’t know he could renounce the inheritance regarding the debt.

In this world, it was only natural to suffer losses if you didn’t know, and although those losses were tremendous, it was an unavoidable reality.

Because that’s just how the world works.

So even though I fought to protect Haan, I wasn’t angry at their actions. I just thought they were a bit excessive.

But one of the three idiots’ slip of the tongue was something I couldn’t simply let go.

“Haan didn’t have any debt to begin with, right?”

The fact that Haan had no debt proved that their actions had no justification.

They were just trying to sell Haan off for their own greed.

Because Haan was pretty, because someone fell for her looks and bought her at a high price.

Just for those reasons, they turned Haan’s three years into hell.

They made everything Haan had, everything that made her shine, into a curse in her own eyes.

That’s how they made her unhappy.

“And not only did they make her feel like a burden by creating nonexistent debt… but they also went as far as to hinder her efforts to repay it.”

Thunk!

For the first time today, strength surged into my fist.

As I tightly clenched my fist, I could hear the sound of joints twisting and the skin and flesh squishing.

Eventually, blood began to drip from my tightly clenched fist, to the point where my body was injured.

But I didn’t feel any pain.

“And on top of that, they even used people around her as hostages?”

I was too consumed by rage to feel anything resembling pain.

Squish!

Clutching the bunched-up flesh of the palm, the fist, so tightly that blood drips from the creases, gains strength.

The fist, composed only of flesh and bones, transforms into an object harder than rock.

Formed in such a way, the fist itself was akin to a weapon, and I stood before three tough thugs, brandishing the weapon that was the fist.

Thud. Thunk. Thud.

As I stood still, with the tightly clenched fist lowered, the sound of blood splattering on the floor echoed.

Normally, when such a sound occurs due to blood dripping from a fist, one would look at the fist or the blood-stained ground. However, their gaze did not waver from me.

They couldn’t even tear their eyes away from me, gripped by fear.

“······Huh.”

I was genuinely amazed at their reaction.

The fact that these guys, so scared of just me, easily ruined the life of Han C and forced him to live in despair.

Because of these bastards, Han C even tried to take a life with his own hands, attempting murder.

Normally, I’m not the type to say such things to an opponent I’m about to beat.

If I ever thought of beating someone, it means that the opponent is not someone with whom reasoning would work in the first place.

But now, I had to express the sincerity in my heart out loud.

Because, at this moment, I wasn’t the only one here.

“It made someone more fit for holding a mic grasp a knife in their hands and put into action the thought of killing someone, who could bring happiness to many people.”

It seemed like I was talking to them, but this was for Han C.

“······A mic? Manager-nim, what’s suddenly with that······.”

“Ahem!”

Of course, there was a little personal desire involved. Anyway!

Every word I was saying now was clearly meant for Ha-an to hear.

“You guys who made Ha-an unable to trust people and even made him say he doesn’t deserve happiness to the point of throwing away his own life. You guys who have thrown away people’s lives into the gutter. Just because a thug approached with a fist, you cowered?”

“Heh, heheheheek!”

Just as I had said to Ha-an, I was a thug.

No different from the three guys in front of me, just a person who would use violence to achieve what they wanted, no different from a beast.

But if there was one thing that set me apart from the three guys in front of me, it was that I was immensely strong and on Ha-an’s side.

I wanted to appear as someone Ha-an could trust, someone he could rely on.

Like a real manager.

To do that, I had to completely destroy these guys.

“You bastards who laugh and mess around with other people’s lives! Since you think you’re going to mess with me, have despair in your eyes! You sons of b*tches who will mess with Ha-an’s life with that kind of determination!”

Thunk!

“Heeaaack!”

I swung my fist tightly towards the liver of the guy who had cowered.

Because if I hit the liver with this fist, it would definitely burst, so my fist hit the ground instead of his body.

But as always with things that break, it wasn’t my fist that broke but what my fist hit.

The deep shape of the fist was deeply engraved, and a deep and thick ink spread out from the shape.

“Hu, hughuk······.”

The guy who almost took a direct hit to the liver looked at the deep fist mark on the ground, flipped his eyes, and fell back.

The other two, trembling with their legs, crashed into each other with a thud.

Staring at the pale figures overwhelmed by terror, I bared my fangs and growled.

“These bastards don’t even have the courage to prepare for a simple beating…”

“Hee, heehee…”

“Hu, huuh…”

As the remaining two people lost strength in their legs, they hesitated and sat down, their faces half-mad with extreme fear, hastily wetting their pants.

Seeing the sight of two rugged adults, beyond the point of being robust, wetting their pants, my impression naturally turned sour.

Well, it’s dirty, but at least it’s shattered as I hoped, so I should be satisfied.

Honestly, I didn’t just want to break their spirits, I wanted to destroy their entire bodies so they couldn’t fulfill any human role, but I couldn’t make that decision alone.

“So, Haan, what do we do now?”

“Yes, yes? Me?”

“Yes. Haan. Obviously, these guys are your responsibility, Haan.”

Revenge is the responsibility of the victim.

No matter what anyone says, Haan was the victim, not me. I was merely an outsider in this situation from the start.

That’s why, as an outsider, even if I was angry, the best I could do was to threaten them and drive them to madness. If I wanted to do more than that, I had to consult with Haan, the victim.

“…”

Swoosh.

Haan, who paused for a moment at my words, solidified his expression and silently picked up a steel pipe lying around.

“Huh?”

Seeing that he seemed ready to smash these guys’ heads with the steel pipe at any moment, I urgently grabbed Haan’s arm.

“Why are you holding it?”

“Why, why are you stopping me! People can die from that!”

“Even if I die, it’s fine, right?”

“It’s not fine! I absolutely hate seeing blood on Han’s hands!”

I sincerely expressed my feelings and snatched the pipe from Han’s hands, throwing it far away.

Clang clang, clang clang!

Han, who had the pipe taken from me, looked at me with a slightly bewildered expression and complained.

“…You said it was my job. You asked me what I was going to do. But why are you preventing me from doing it?”

There seemed to be a misunderstanding.

What I wanted to do for Han was not to create a place for violence.

So, in order to correct her misunderstanding, I carefully chose my words to explain what I intended to do for her.

“If Han decides, I will carry it out. There’s no need for you to get blood on your hands. It’s against the rules.”

“…What?”

“But I can’t grant your request to kill. Contract killing is still murder.”

“Then, isn’t assault also not assault?”

“Still, it’s better than killing. Blood that comes from killing can’t be erased, but blood that splatters during a fight can be washed away.”

I taught Han the truth I learned from my father when I was young, that it’s better to fight until just before death than to kill in anger.

However, Han seemed to have not fully understood the meaning and only frowned.

“What does that mean?”

Well, it’s only natural that someone who has never experienced death wouldn’t be able to fully understand my words.

That’s why I hoped that Han would never understand this meaning and kept my wish for her in my words.

“What does it matter? I’m just doing my job as a manager. Apart from ruining Haan’s life, I’ll do everything Haan wants. After all, that’s what a responsible manager does.”

I am a manager. And I am the person who will be Haan’s manager. Even if Haan doesn’t accept it, I had planned to act that way.

“No, I don’t want to do anything like being an idol! How can someone like me become an idol? And why couldn’t you, as my manager, prevent me from becoming an idol in the first place?”

When we first met, even though it was only yesterday, Haan’s emotions were clearly more evident compared to back then.

Even if the emotions being shown were not positive, Haan, who expressed her inner emotions as they were, was shining beautifully.

Yes, Haan is beautiful.

To the point where I wanted to say that I would become her manager even if she rejected it.

But even if I said that, it would have been no different from being a stalker, and it was obvious that it wouldn’t be accepted, so I gave a different sincere answer to Haan’s question.

“Well, it’s because I like Haan.”

“······Huh? Uh, uh? No, no, um, yes, yes? W-what did you say?”

“I fell in love at first sight. With Haan.”

I really got caught in a serious accident with the fan.

“Y-you, you’re saying that as a m-m-manager? To m-me?”

“Yes.”

Just like that day when the girl sang a song for me for the first time.