With a new goal in his life, Han Jaechun spent each day faithfully.

It was the first time he’d worked this hard at something since his childhood, back when he’d studied with the goal of becoming a lawyer.

Drill even harder with “drifter hero” as my target. And...... I’m going to make < cafe Naru > the hottest spot in Yeonnam-dong!

No one had asked for the latter, but he made it his private goal anyway. A new employee was born—one with ambitions bigger than the owners’.

Thanks to a capable, diligent, experienced hire, < cafe Naru > steadily took on the shape of a real café.

Every path of movement was optimized, and their signature menu was chosen.

All that remained was setting an official opening day to match the second-floor <☆Lucky Rabbit Spellcraft Beauty Shop☆>.

“Um, sir.”

It was almost closing time when Han Jaechun carefully spoke to Kim Chanho.

“Could I come in a little late tomorrow? There are still some things I need to bring over from the place I used to live.”

“Jaechun. I’ll give you the day off tomorrow, so don’t come in at all.”

“Yes, then I’ll come in by ten.”

“That’s not what I mean—we’re going to close for a day and rest, too!”

Han Jaechun started to say he’d open the shop by himself tomorrow anyway, but he got chased out with an order not to even think about coming into the café until the morning after next.

“If we rest even one day, we’ll lose customers.......”

He regretted it, but if the owners didn’t want it, there was nothing he could do.

Han Jaechun decided to use the chance to grab the rest of his moving boxes and headed to his old place.

And at the door, he spotted a familiar face lurking around.

“Jaechun! You’ve been doing well, right?”

“You.......”

The face that turned back with bright delight was covered in deep bruises.

It was Lee Jaeik of the Three Evils Society—the friend who’d stolen Han Jaechun’s money.

Han Jaechun walked up and grabbed Lee Jaeik by the collar.

“Get lost. I’ve got nothing to say to you.”

“I-I’ll explain everything! Just look at my face. I got snagged by some crazy bastard and I seriously almost died!”

Lee Jaeik’s face really was a wreck.

About half of it was from getting beaten by Kim Muhyuk, and the rest was from getting beaten by the Three Evils Society leader.

“First, take this, Jaechun. The settlement took way too long, right? I’m really sorry.......”

Lee Jaeik pleaded as he held out a thick envelope.

Inside was the money Han Jaechun should’ve received as his original pay.

After checking what was inside, Han Jaechun loosened his grip, deciding he might as well hear what he had to say.

“You didn’t come here just to give me money, so what is it?”

“Let’s go inside and talk. This time it’s a really big score.”

The two went into Han Jaechun’s place, and Lee Jaeik immediately explained why he’d come.

“You know that job last time? This one’s way bigger. If we do this one right, you won’t have to worry about money for a whole year. Even just the upfront is double last time!”

The Han Jaechun Lee Jaeik knew was a fool who would work even if you spat in his face, as long as you paid him.

They’re offering that much money—how could your eyes not roll back?

He was sure Han Jaechun would accept without even asking questions.

But contrary to his expectation, Han Jaechun asked with a flat expression.

“If it’s that big, why would it come all the way to me? Did money start rotting in your pocket?”

“Ah, well.......”

Startled, Lee Jaeik let out an awkward laugh.

Right now, the Three Evils Society was short on people who could work—because thanks to Kim Muhyuk, most of their members had at least one bone broken.

They needed manpower they could use right away.

Han Jaechun was a steady fool, easy to assign work to, and a coward who wouldn’t carelessly leak information about smuggling.

And he’s an orphan, so even if we quietly erase him after it’s done.......

Of course, he couldn’t say that out loud.

Instead, Lee Jaeik acted offended.

“Why else! Do you think I don’t know your situation? I saw a good opportunity and ran here first, thinking it could help my friend!”

“When I contacted you for my pay, you ignored me, and now you show up?”

“Ahem. First, take this. I brought a generous upfront.”

“.......”

After checking the money Lee Jaeik had shoved at him, Han Jaechun’s eyes wavered as if he was agonizing.

But in truth, he was thinking something else entirely.

This bastard still thinks I’m a fool.

It had only been a few days, but meeting Kim Muhyuk had completely changed Han Jaechun’s life.

Because he’d found a new goal to live for.

He had no intention of living like someone who would do anything as long as you paid him.

Even so, there was one reason he was pretending to hesitate.

Muhyuk said he’s investigating smuggled goods. If I squeeze information out of him, it might help.

He’d heard it recently from Kim Muhyuk.

That soon, they planned to work with the Martial Alliance to wipe out a smuggling organization coming into Incheon.

Han Jaechun was acting because he thought he might be able to help, even a little.

When he kept stalling, an anxious Lee Jaeik grabbed Han Jaechun’s hand.

“My friend. You’ll help me, right? Just save me this one time.”

“This is going to put me in a tough spot.......”

In the end, Han Jaechun nodded as if he couldn’t resist.

“But what’s coming in this time? Is it the same as last time?”

Thinking everything was going his way, Lee Jaeik spilled information freely.

“Some of it’s the same as last time, and some of it’s the real money-maker. A big backer grabbed the whole table this time.”

“......Who?”

“You’re the only one who can know this.”

When Han Jaechun nodded with an intensely tense expression, Lee Jaeik lowered his voice.

“It’s a job being run by the Black Heaven Society.”

“......One of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects?”

“Heh-heh. Now you get why I said it’s a jackpot, right?”

The Black Heaven Society was one of the five largest organizations in the unorthodox martial world.

A force comparable to the orthodox Eight Great Sects, they were trying to push a massive smuggling operation in a time when the Eight Great Sects had been weakened.

“Who knows? If we catch the eye of someone high up in the Black Heaven Society, maybe our fortunes will finally turn.”

“Ooh.......”

Lee Jaeik puffed hot air into the moment, and Han Jaechun played along even though he knew.

You gullible idiot.

You pathetic moron.

Hiding their true thoughts, the two smiled at each other with satisfied faces.

After finishing his business, Lee Jaeik stood up.

“Thanks, my friend! Let’s land a huge score and come out on top.”

“Yeah. Get home safe.”

After Lee Jaeik left, Han Jaechun’s smile vanished as if it had never been there.

He immediately pulled out his smartphone and called Kim Muhyuk.

“Muhyuk. That bastard Lee Jaeik came looking for me...... I’m heading over now, so let’s meet and talk first.”

Han Jaechun met Kim Muhyuk and delivered the information he’d squeezed out of Lee Jaeik.

As expected, Kim Muhyuk’s eyes gleamed.

“The Black Heaven Society got involved? I suspected one of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects might be tied in, since the scale didn’t add up.......”

The Black Heaven Society was a name that made martial artists tremble in fear, whether orthodox or unorthodox.

But to me—someone who’d toppled even the Eight Great Sects—it was nothing more than another force that needed to be beaten down.

I shared the information with the Martial Alliance, and we were able to build a concrete plan quickly.

“Han, thanks to you, I think this is going to be a lot smoother.”

“I’m glad it helped. Is there anything else I can do?”

“.......”

I looked at Han Jaechun with fresh eyes.

Up until now, I’d only thought he had a gentle personality that didn’t fit a drifter at all.

I’d figured it would take quite a while to make him into a proper drifter......

So it surprised me that in that brief moment of judgment, he’d managed to draw information out of the other side instead.

Maybe this is who he always was.

Maybe, until now, deep lethargy and despair had been suppressing his ability.

After sorting my thoughts, I decided to give Han Jaechun a more important role.

“Han. Do you want to take a commission?”

“......A commission?”

I grinned and nodded.

“I was planning to plant one of our people inside the enemy and run the operation. I was going to do it alone...... but you just got handed a chance.”

The Three Evils Society—subcontractors for the Black Heaven Society.

They planned to board a boat at the port, rendezvous with a supplier out at sea, and haul the smuggled goods up from the water.

Meaning: there was a chance to approach the Black Heaven Society up close while on the boat.

“You didn’t sign a contract with Lee Jaeik, did you?”

“A contract? No. That bastard would never leave something behind that could hurt him. He was scared the call might get recorded, so he came in person to ask.”

“Good. Then it isn’t a double contract.”

Most work for bottom-tier drifters went that way.

But with me stepping in, Han Jaechun wouldn’t be treated like a bottom-tier drifter anymore.

I contacted the Martial Alliance and asked them to email a document over.

“A drifter’s reputation rises when they take one big job, not when they keep picking up the small stuff. And who the client is matters, especially.”

A little later, I handed Han Jaechun the printed document.

It was the official contract used when a drifter and a client entered an agreement.

“This is.......”

It was his first time even seeing a contract, but more than that—Han Jaechun stared at the client line, where < Martial Alliance > was written, and his mouth fell open.

I spoke like it was nothing.

“People don’t really know this, but when the Martial Alliance needs to, they hire freelance drifters.”

Of course, the drifters who could contract with the Martial Alliance were an extremely small minority with both skill and reputation—but with my recommendation, that part was waived.

“Still—if you sign this, you have to show you’re worth it. You know what that means, right?”

“Me......?”

At first, I planned to help him. I never intended to send him on the mission alone.

And I wasn’t going to force him either.

“We’ll run the operation as quietly as possible, but afterward, you could end up making an enemy of the Black Heaven Society. If it feels like too much, you don’t have to do it.”

“......I understand what you mean.”

Han Jaechun swallowed as he stared at the contract.

His hand shook as he held the pen.

If he were the man he’d been just a few days ago, he might’ve run away in terror.

Even now, he was still afraid......

But as if something had possessed him, his hand moved first.

“Even so, I want to do it.”

To spread your name as a drifter meant, naturally, that you’d also gain debts and grudges in equal measure.

After finishing his signature, Han Jaechun’s eyes were shining like never before.

*****

Episode 117. Rather Than the Small Stuff

With a new goal in his life, Han Jaechun spent each day faithfully.

It was the first time he’d worked this hard at something since his childhood, back when he’d studied with the goal of becoming a lawyer.

Drill even harder with “drifter hero” as my target. And...... I’m going to make < cafe Naru > the hottest spot in Yeonnam-dong!

No one had asked for the latter, but he made it his private goal anyway. A new employee was born—one with ambitions bigger than the owners’.

Thanks to a capable, diligent, experienced hire, < cafe Naru > steadily took on the shape of a real café.

Every path of movement was optimized, and their signature menu was chosen.

All that remained was setting an official opening day to match the second-floor <☆Lucky Rabbit Spellcraft Beauty Shop☆>.

“Um, sir.”

It was almost closing time when Han Jaechun carefully spoke to Kim Chanho.

“Could I come in a little late tomorrow? There are still some things I need to bring over from the place I used to live.”

“Jaechun. I’ll give you the day off tomorrow, so don’t come in at all.”

“Yes, then I’ll come in by ten.”

“That’s not what I mean—we’re going to close for a day and rest, too!”

Han Jaechun started to say he’d open the shop by himself tomorrow anyway, but he got chased out with an order not to even think about coming into the café until the morning after next.

“If we rest even one day, we’ll lose customers.......”

He regretted it, but if the owners didn’t want it, there was nothing he could do.

Han Jaechun decided to use the chance to grab the rest of his moving boxes and headed to his old place.

And at the door, he spotted a familiar face lurking around.

“Jaechun! You’ve been doing well, right?”

“You.......”

The face that turned back with bright delight was covered in deep bruises.

It was Lee Jaeik of the Three Evils Society—the friend who’d stolen Han Jaechun’s money.

Han Jaechun walked up and grabbed Lee Jaeik by the collar.

“Get lost. I’ve got nothing to say to you.”

“I-I’ll explain everything! Just look at my face. I got snagged by some crazy bastard and I seriously almost died!”

Lee Jaeik’s face really was a wreck.

About half of it was from getting beaten by Kim Muhyuk, and the rest was from getting beaten by the Three Evils Society leader.

“First, take this, Jaechun. The settlement took way too long, right? I’m really sorry.......”

Lee Jaeik pleaded as he held out a thick envelope.

Inside was the money Han Jaechun should’ve received as his original pay.

After checking what was inside, Han Jaechun loosened his grip, deciding he might as well hear what he had to say.

“You didn’t come here just to give me money, so what is it?”

“Let’s go inside and talk. This time it’s a really big score.”

The two went into Han Jaechun’s place, and Lee Jaeik immediately explained why he’d come.

“You know that job last time? This one’s way bigger. If we do this one right, you won’t have to worry about money for a whole year. Even just the upfront is double last time!”

The Han Jaechun Lee Jaeik knew was a fool who would work even if you spat in his face, as long as you paid him.

They’re offering that much money—how could your eyes not roll back?

He was sure Han Jaechun would accept without even asking questions.

But contrary to his expectation, Han Jaechun asked with a flat expression.

“If it’s that big, why would it come all the way to me? Did money start rotting in your pocket?”

“Ah, well.......”

Startled, Lee Jaeik let out an awkward laugh.

Right now, the Three Evils Society was short on people who could work—because thanks to Kim Muhyuk, most of their members had at least one bone broken.

They needed manpower they could use right away.

Han Jaechun was a steady fool, easy to assign work to, and a coward who wouldn’t carelessly leak information about smuggling.

And he’s an orphan, so even if we quietly erase him after it’s done.......

Of course, he couldn’t say that out loud.

Instead, Lee Jaeik acted offended.

“Why else! Do you think I don’t know your situation? I saw a good opportunity and ran here first, thinking it could help my friend!”

“When I contacted you for my pay, you ignored me, and now you show up?”

“Ahem. First, take this. I brought a generous upfront.”

“.......”

After checking the money Lee Jaeik had shoved at him, Han Jaechun’s eyes wavered as if he was agonizing.

But in truth, he was thinking something else entirely.

This bastard still thinks I’m a fool.

It had only been a few days, but meeting Kim Muhyuk had completely changed Han Jaechun’s life.

Because he’d found a new goal to live for.

He had no intention of living like someone who would do anything as long as you paid him.

Even so, there was one reason he was pretending to hesitate.

Muhyuk said he’s investigating smuggled goods. If I squeeze information out of him, it might help.

He’d heard it recently from Kim Muhyuk.

That soon, they planned to work with the Martial Alliance to wipe out a smuggling organization coming into Incheon.

Han Jaechun was acting because he thought he might be able to help, even a little.

When he kept stalling, an anxious Lee Jaeik grabbed Han Jaechun’s hand.

“My friend. You’ll help me, right? Just save me this one time.”

“This is going to put me in a tough spot.......”

In the end, Han Jaechun nodded as if he couldn’t resist.

“But what’s coming in this time? Is it the same as last time?”

Thinking everything was going his way, Lee Jaeik spilled information freely.

“Some of it’s the same as last time, and some of it’s the real money-maker. A big backer grabbed the whole table this time.”

“......Who?”

“You’re the only one who can know this.”

When Han Jaechun nodded with an intensely tense expression, Lee Jaeik lowered his voice.

“It’s a job being run by the Black Heaven Society.”

“......One of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects?”

“Heh-heh. Now you get why I said it’s a jackpot, right?”

The Black Heaven Society was one of the five largest organizations in the unorthodox martial world.

A force comparable to the orthodox Eight Great Sects, they were trying to push a massive smuggling operation in a time when the Eight Great Sects had been weakened.

“Who knows? If we catch the eye of someone high up in the Black Heaven Society, maybe our fortunes will finally turn.”

“Ooh.......”

Lee Jaeik puffed hot air into the moment, and Han Jaechun played along even though he knew.

You gullible idiot.

You pathetic moron.

Hiding their true thoughts, the two smiled at each other with satisfied faces.

After finishing his business, Lee Jaeik stood up.

“Thanks, my friend! Let’s land a huge score and come out on top.”

“Yeah. Get home safe.”

After Lee Jaeik left, Han Jaechun’s smile vanished as if it had never been there.

He immediately pulled out his smartphone and called Kim Muhyuk.

“Muhyuk. That bastard Lee Jaeik came looking for me...... I’m heading over now, so let’s meet and talk first.”

Han Jaechun met Kim Muhyuk and delivered the information he’d squeezed out of Lee Jaeik.

As expected, Kim Muhyuk’s eyes gleamed.

“The Black Heaven Society got involved? I suspected one of the Five Great Unorthodox Sects might be tied in, since the scale didn’t add up.......”

The Black Heaven Society was a name that made martial artists tremble in fear, whether orthodox or unorthodox.

But to me—someone who’d toppled even the Eight Great Sects—it was nothing more than another force that needed to be beaten down.

I shared the information with the Martial Alliance, and we were able to build a concrete plan quickly.

“Han, thanks to you, I think this is going to be a lot smoother.”

“I’m glad it helped. Is there anything else I can do?”

“.......”

I looked at Han Jaechun with fresh eyes.

Up until now, I’d only thought he had a gentle personality that didn’t fit a drifter at all.

I’d figured it would take quite a while to make him into a proper drifter......

So it surprised me that in that brief moment of judgment, he’d managed to draw information out of the other side instead.

Maybe this is who he always was.

Maybe, until now, deep lethargy and despair had been suppressing his ability.

After sorting my thoughts, I decided to give Han Jaechun a more important role.

“Han. Do you want to take a commission?”

“......A commission?”

I grinned and nodded.

“I was planning to plant one of our people inside the enemy and run the operation. I was going to do it alone...... but you just got handed a chance.”

The Three Evils Society—subcontractors for the Black Heaven Society.

They planned to board a boat at the port, rendezvous with a supplier out at sea, and haul the smuggled goods up from the water.

Meaning: there was a chance to approach the Black Heaven Society up close while on the boat.

“You didn’t sign a contract with Lee Jaeik, did you?”

“A contract? No. That bastard would never leave something behind that could hurt him. He was scared the call might get recorded, so he came in person to ask.”

“Good. Then it isn’t a double contract.”

Most work for bottom-tier drifters went that way.

But with me stepping in, Han Jaechun wouldn’t be treated like a bottom-tier drifter anymore.

I contacted the Martial Alliance and asked them to email a document over.

“A drifter’s reputation rises when they take one big job, not when they keep picking up the small stuff. And who the client is matters, especially.”

A little later, I handed Han Jaechun the printed document.

It was the official contract used when a drifter and a client entered an agreement.

“This is.......”

It was his first time even seeing a contract, but more than that—Han Jaechun stared at the client line, where < Martial Alliance > was written, and his mouth fell open.

I spoke like it was nothing.

“People don’t really know this, but when the Martial Alliance needs to, they hire freelance drifters.”

Of course, the drifters who could contract with the Martial Alliance were an extremely small minority with both skill and reputation—but with my recommendation, that part was waived.

“Still—if you sign this, you have to show you’re worth it. You know what that means, right?”

“Me......?”

At first, I planned to help him. I never intended to send him on the mission alone.

And I wasn’t going to force him either.

“We’ll run the operation as quietly as possible, but afterward, you could end up making an enemy of the Black Heaven Society. If it feels like too much, you don’t have to do it.”

“......I understand what you mean.”

Han Jaechun swallowed as he stared at the contract.

His hand shook as he held the pen.

If he were the man he’d been just a few days ago, he might’ve run away in terror.

Even now, he was still afraid......

But as if something had possessed him, his hand moved first.

“Even so, I want to do it.”

To spread your name as a drifter meant, naturally, that you’d also gain debts and grudges in equal measure.

After finishing his signature, Han Jaechun’s eyes were shining like never before.

The day the smuggled goods were due to come in.

The Three Evils Society leader looked over the people they’d pulled together by exhausting every connection.

If we don’t nail this, it’s over.

After some lunatic had even cleaned out their storage, the Three Evils Society had nearly collapsed on the spot.

If he hadn’t built ties with a mid-level officer in the Black Heaven Society—if he hadn’t managed to wedge himself into this job—he would’ve been dragged away by creditors and turned into fish feed.

So this had to succeed. And that meant security had to be airtight......

“......Han Jaechun? Who’s that next to you?”

“He’s my friend. He’s a guy who does work unbelievably well.”

“If you just give me the chance, I’ll work hard at anything!”

Because of Han Jaechun’s shameless answer—and the unfamiliar guy standing next to him—the Three Evils Society leader’s temper flared.

He called Han Jaechun over and smashed his fist into the back of Lee Jaeik’s head.

“You fucking...... I told you to keep security tight!”

“S-sorry!”

Lee Jaeik—who’d become the Three Evils Society leader’s stress-relief sandbag lately—glared at Han Jaechun.

Bottom-tier drifters were always trouble.

Sometimes, without consulting anyone, they’d drag someone along and call them a friend. He’d told him to be careful so many times......

When this is over, I’ll clean up both of them.

Handle it properly. Or you die.

The Three Evils Society leader and Lee Jaeik decided they would dispose of the two drifters after the job was finished.

If they threw them out now, and resentment made them run their mouths everywhere, it would be a disaster.

The Three Evils Society leader warned the two as if he were letting it slide just this once.

“Only this time. And since he wasn’t scheduled, your pay is cut in half.”

“Thank you! I’ll do my best!”

The new drifter beside Han Jaechun answered in a voice full of fighting spirit.

He was Kim Muhyuk, wearing a human-skin mask.

Just as I thought.

Knowing how the underworld worked, I expected the Three Evils Society leader wouldn’t want to kick up pointless noise before the job even started.

So I came openly with Han Jaechun—and as expected, even while he disliked it, the Three Evils Society leader still put me into the job.

“Get on the boat! We’re leaving soon!”

That was how Han Jaechun and I boarded the boat.

The boat cut through the black sea’s current and moved into the darkness.

TAP TAP.

The moment we departed, I tapped the tiny earpiece in my ear.

[Operation begins.]

A moment later, a reply came from the Martial Alliance forces waiting somewhere.

[Heh-heh. The night wind is nice. It’s the perfect day to dance with blades.]

A familiar voice—someone I knew well—was brimming with excitement.