Playthings

Bang! Bang!

"Goddamn door!"

Several feet tried to kick open a luxuriously decorated door.

Unfortunately, it was too sturdy.

"Hey, old man! It's almost night time and we still haven't gotten any food as you said!"

A muscular man with tattoos berated a suit-wearing man.

"It's here! I'm sure it's here!"

The man wearing a tattered suit was Director Jing.

His plan was to rob Erza's food while he was away.

Who knew the hotel's Royal Suite had thorough protection.

They broke into the hotel from the hotel's back door.

Seeing that the lift did not work, they broke into the emergency stairs, despite being electronically locked.

"We've wasted bullets just to get to the food that we couldn't get. Old b*stard! I don't mind putting another one in your head!"

A scrawny man aimed his gun at Director Jing's head.

"Please! Mercy! Mercy!"

Director Jing cowered and kneeled. He even pleaded with his eyes to a woman standing beside the muscular man.

Aqua Rose just frowned on him.

'What am I supposed to do? I didn't know things would happen this way!'

Her eyes were feigning ignorance.

They spent the whole day exploring the hotel, only to find some meager leftovers.

Furthermore, they had to shoot the doors on every floor to destroy its lock.

Once they reached the empty corridors, they were greeted with low moans of Infected.

True enough, some rooms even had Infected inside.

Erza didn't clear up everything for a few reasons.

One of them is as a defense against intruders.

Looters and robbers would try to open the hotel rooms' doors.

There was still some food and water, complementary to the hotel's seven stars service.

The Infected inside would stall them long enough for Erza and his team to come back and get rid of the intruders.

They ransacked the hotel rooms until they reached the highest floor.

"We have to hurry. The night's coming! Here, Jeeba, take this!"

The tattooed muscle man gave his underling a red stick with a wick on one's end.

"Boss Krash is a genius!"

The tanned lanky henchman praised his leader.

They are a local gang that runs a part of K-City.

When the apocalypse happened, they banded together and were surviving on their own.

"Old man, you light it up. You, make sure he lits it up and it goes off. The rest come with me to the floor under."

Krash ordered one of his men to supervise Director Jing in lighting up a stick of dynamite!

The gangsters had some connections with people in the demolition business, so getting explosives were not a problem to them.

"B-b-but, Boss Krash, i-i-isn't this dangerous? Not to mention, it's illegal-"

Smack!

A red handprint imprinted on his face.

"Shut up and just do what the boss says! This b*stard son of a-"

The henchman gangster slapped Director Jing.

"Y-Yes! Thank you Boss Jing for the honors!"

The gangsters laughed their way down.

'One day. One fine day!'

The middle-aged man swore he would take revenge for his humiliation.

The corridor was too narrow for tens of gangsters to take cover.

…

Alerted of the situation, Erza called his Sixth Uncle.

"Uncle Yoon, bring everyone to the 21st Floor. It's unlocked and once everybody is inside, it will be automatically locked."

He calmly instructed his relatives to move to the safest place in the hotel.

First Aunt Chey was rather flustered by the sudden notice.

'There are bad men with guns heading towards you.'

The sentence immediately made them run to the Royal Suite.

As they detoured to Cousin Hong's suburban apartment complex, the distance back to the hotel was further.

30 minutes.

The navigation display showed the estimated time of arrival.

After ending the call with Sixth Uncle, Bucky's face paled.

"B-Big bro, they have some sort of explosives!"

"What?!"

He switches the car's display screen to the surveillance camera view on their floor.

A man was passing a one-inch red cylinder to a man with grey hair.

'Hmph, you really brought me trouble this time!'

On the hotel compounds, they placed motion sensors to alert them of intruders.

That gave them an advantage.

Erza had Bucky shut down the electricity supply of every floor except the 20th and 21st.

Even though it was day time, the hotel was dark and dim.

The darkness would stall intruders, forcing their eyes to adjust to the surroundings and stumble along their way around.

The hotel's camera was equipped with night vision, so they could discern the identity of the outsiders clearly.

'I shouldn't have been too lenient.'

Erza recognized Director Jing and Aqua Rose's faces.

Although they were a thinner and dirtier, he could still spot them.

'Twenty men.'

The gangsters were armed with weapons.

They had guns, knives, and machetes.

Erza was trying to match the faces of the gangsters with any Awakened that he knew from his past life.

'Must be small fries.'

None of them looked like any powerful Awakened he remembered.

Erza picked up his phone and gave another set of instructions to his uncle hiding inside the suite.

…

Boom!

"Cough! Cough! Boss Krash, after you!"

Director Jing personally detonated the door.

Clouds of dust from the explosion settled.

"Jing, I've lost a lot of things coming here. I hope you're prepared."

Krash's cold voice made him shiver.

The gangsters rushed into the suite.

A grand interior greeted them.

"How fancy! That bastard's been enjoying life!"

Jeeba, Krash's right-hand man arrogantly strolled the area.

The gangsters start searching every nook and cranny for resources.

"Boss! We found it! Jackpot! We've hit the jackpot!"

A henchman shouted.

The discovered packets upon packets of rice, instant noodles, and canned food.

"Hahaha! I've begun to take a liking to this place! Maybe we can make this our new home, boys!"

The gang cheered.

They opened the canned food and started indulging themselves.

They drank liquors they took from the restaurants on the 1st Floor.

"Hey, boss! Look what I found!"

Jeeba called his leader.

"Cheet! Looks like this guy is a sicko."

In a small cramped room at the back of the suite, they found five living people all tied up.

They were dirty and smelled like urine.

They even had bloodstains over their arms and faces.

The five tied-up people were Erza's relatives!

"Uncle Yoon, listen to me if you want to live."

He urgently instructed his uncle to rip their clothes with knives and turn them into rags.

"Cut your thumbs and smear it over your skin. The more the better! And soak your torn clothes in piss!"

To make them look worse, he asked them to smudge their clothes and faces with the brown soil in the suite!

This in turn would make them a 'valueless' hostage.

"Tie yourselves with ropes and tape your mouths."

Aqua Rose and Director Jing were equally stunned.

"Hmph! No wonder he didn't eat my tricks! He's a sadistic psycho!"

Aqua Rose misunderstood the situation.

"What do we do with them, boss?"

Jeeba asked Krash.

"Release them and bring them to me. Let's see if we can use them!"

…

7.45 pm.

The elegant doors of a lift opens.

'Not a single sentry. I guess that's why they would be unheard of in the future.'

A black-armored man silently walked through a corridor.

'Heh. Child's play.'

The man pushes a heavily reinforced door with ease.

Kreaaak!

Apparently, the door was barricaded with pieces of furniture inside of the suite.

The loud sound startled the occupants inside.

"Huh?!"

"W-Who's there?"

A few delinquent looking men shouted.

Rumble!

The barricade was easily pushed away as if it weighed nothing.

"Hold it!"

"Hey as*hole, stop right there!"

The man appeared before them.

"What's the commotion, you runts?!"

Jeeba, a local gang's vice-leader appeared.

Assessing the situation, he focused his attention on a man wearing full battle gear.

"You the sicko who used to own this place?"

He did not hesitate to point his gun to him.

"Yea. And you are?"

The man has a charismatic voice.

"This place's new owner, b*tch! Now take off all your armors, give us your weapons and handover any foo-"

Before Jeeba could finish his sentence, the man disappeared.

'Holy ghost!'

There were three people who witnessed the disappearing act.

They looked at each other in bewilderment.

Thud! Thud!

"I don't remember selling my place to anyone though?"

Two out of three men who were facing the man in black fell down unconsciously.

Jeeba's mouth was wide open.

It was less than a few seconds.

"Now tell me, how are you going to compensate for my resources?"

The man spoke with slight killing intent.

"Compensate? What compensation? You compensate with your life, as*hole!"

Click! Click!

'Eh?'

The gun in his hand was silent.

Jeeba pulled the trigger a few times but all it did was producing a clicking sound.

"You know a gun needs bullet, right?"

The man revealed a black rectangular block.

"H-h-h-how, y-y-you-"

Jeeba's face paled.

It was as if he was facing a specter.

In less than a few moments he disappeared, the man disarmed his gun and took his magazine!

"Brother Jeeba, what's up?"

"Jeeba, who's the c*nt wearing the armor?"

The commotion slowly woke the whole suite up.

Soon, ten to twelve men gathered at the suite's entrance.

"Good, is everyone here?"

The man in black spoke up.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Zeta, and I'm your worst nightmare."

Before the men could react, Erza turned into a blur.

Crash!

One by one, the gangsters in the suite fell.

Bang! Bang!

Gunshots were released.

'F*ck these people. If I am a Class-6, no, Class-7, I would subdue them all in less than a minute.'

Erza cursed under his breath.

The gunshots would attract the Infected!

"Enough!"

Bang!

A loud, rough voice accompanied a loud shot.

A tattooed, muscular man appeared from the chaos.

"Who the f*ck was your name, guy? Zera? Zeta? Whatever. Hey, you got skills, man. Come join me. With you in the gang, we've got nothing to be afraid of!"

It was Boss Krash.

Seeing his unstoppable might, he tried persuading Erza.

"Are my slaves still alive?"

He asked Krash.

"Slaves? Oh, those garbage? Sure, sure. I'll give them back to you. Man, you sure did them real good. They were scared sh*tless when I mention you! They even wanted to be under me to escape from you, haha!"

Erza purposely told his Sixth Uncle.

"Desperately ask them to save you from me. Tell them you're willing to do anything, as long as you could get away from me!"

That way, it will reduce the chances of them being hostages.

"Che! Why would I believe you? Bring those scums here, I haven't finished teaching them their lessons!"

Erza raiser his voice in a psychotic manner.

"Okay, okay. Hey, bring them here!"

A few moments later, his whole relatives appeared.

'Thank goodness.'

There were no apparent injuries or signs of abuse.

Erza internally exhaled a breath of relief.

"I'll teach you guys a lesson later!"

Erza took off his helmet and looked at his 'slaves' with a 'cold' glare.

Dirt and traces of blood smeared his fair, good looking face.

'He's quite a big guy.'

Erza gained a few kilograms of muscles ever since his advancement to Class-9.

He slowly walked to Krash.

Gulp.

The gangsters were intimidated by his cold aura.

Krash gestured to his henchman to back away.

"So what's it gonna be, guy?"

He tried to keep his composure in front of his men.

Quietness pervaded the area.

"Boss."

Clack!

Hsss-!

The gangsters were in disbelief.

A man who could take down the whole gang in seconds kneels to the Boss?

"Hahahaha! Good, good!"

Boss Krash laughed in pompously.

A strong man submitted under him.

His gang grows stronger now!

'A few more guys like him and I can contend against the Don…'

While his sweet imagination drifted, an amorous voice pierced the situation.

"Darling, how can we trust him? What if he stabbed you in the back?"

Aqua Rose appeared from Krash's shadow.

Erza glared at her.

"L-l-look at him! Darling, I'm scared!"

She confided with Krash, establishing her hierarchy within the gang.

'I'm the lady boss, and you're just a lackey! Hmph!'

She still hasn't let go of her grudge with Erza.

'I'll make your life a living hell!'

No matter how strong or influential a man is, there is always a way for a woman to bring them down.

'Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.'

"Boss, I agree with sister-in-law! He might just be pretending!"

Jeeba needed to do something to retain his position.

A stronger, more loyal guy would replace him in no time if he allowed things to progress naturally.

"Hmm."

Krash took their opinions into consideration.

He looked at Erza and looked at his dirty 'slaves'.

"Right. Prove yourself by killing some of your 'playthings'. Anyone would do. Don't worry, when we find someone you like, I'll give you priority to choose another slave."