054
We finally arrived at the hospital after many twists and turns. The acrid smoke still lingered on our bodies.
“What is your relationship with the patient? If you are not the legal guardian, you cannot visit.”
The nurse spoke with an annoyed expression and didn’t even look at us. Her computer screen was filled with shopping catalogs.
“Miss, is this okay? Buy a nice outfit and wear it.”
Gabriel deftly took out the credit chip and held it out. The nurse absentmindedly reached out and put the credit chip in her bosom.
They both seemed accustomed to this kind of bargaining.
“Ms. Norma is in room 401.”
The name of Tora’s confidant we are looking for is Ken Noma. He served as Tora’s personal bodyguard.
As I entered the hallway where the sickroom was, a musty smell of medicine and body odor wafted out. From inside the closed sickroom, moans that sounded like screams could be heard from time to time.
The mental hospital was essentially a prison for isolation. If you wanted to treat people properly, you wouldn’t put them in a place like this.
I stood in front of room 401. The heavy lock opened with a clanking sound.
Squeak.
The rusty sound of the door not being opened often was unpleasant and scratched my ears.
“Ken no Ma?”
I called the man’s name as I went inside.
Ken Noma was sitting on the bed in the hospital room. His eyes were devoid of light, and his cheeks were sunken and dry. The sheets and pillows of the bed were covered in musty yellow stains.
Ken didn’t respond to my voice.
I sat down on the chair in front of Ken. Gabriel, who followed me, leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms.
“My name is Luca.”
I spread out my palm and waved it in front of Ken’s eyes. His pupils followed my movements.
“Lou, Ka?”
Ken’s awakening to consciousness was considerably delayed. His ability to perceive reality was extremely impaired.
Just right, right, hard.
Ken’s limbs and prosthetic limbs were twitching, indicating that the brain’s nervous system, which controls muscles and motor skills, had gone mad.
“Luka, can you give me a proper answer? Your brain is obviously like a sponge with holes in it. Your nerves are probably like burnt electrical wires.”
Ken was so damaged that even Gabriel could not diagnose him.
“I have a question about the Torah.”
I spoke slowly. This time, there was no answer from Ken.
Ken’s consciousness returned intermittently, like a broken monitor. Normal communication was difficult. I scratched my head after trying to talk several times.
“I’m done for. Aleph has completely crushed the man. He’s basically dead.”
Gabriel continued to chime in from the side, as if he was chiming in. I closed my eyes without responding.
I recalled, one by one, the knowledge I had learned at the guard training camp.
The guards work extremely hard on the brain and nervous system. They also teach a number of temporary measures for symptoms of brain and nervous system damage. Of course, this is not a fundamental treatment.
‘Ken was good with melee weapons, especially knives.’
Ken was the dedicated bodyguard of the arena manager. He was quite skilled. Although not to the level of a royal guard, he seemed to have received some drug-based nervous system enhancement treatment.
“Let’s go now. It’s a waste of time.”
Gabriel said, shaking one leg. I still ignored Gabriel’s words and put my hand on my waist.
Keying.
I took out my self-defense knife. Ken’s eyes changed. His pupils were following the knife. His reaction speed was faster than before.
Humans have a strong connection in their nervous system when it comes to the work they have done throughout their lives. In particular, intense work such as combat does not leave the body easily.
Whirlwind.
I turned the knife in my grip and offered the handle to Ken.
Trembling.
Ken grabbed the knife with his twitching hand. At that moment, his trembling stopped. His pupils were more focused than before.
Whoosh!
I reached out and tried to attack Ken.
Kang!
Ken blocked my attack by moving his knife. My hand and knife collided several times, continuing the attack and defense.
Other functions will also be activated, centering around the brain nerve system responsible for combat and knife skills. If that has any remaining capacity, then there is no other way.
“Wh, what’s going on? Lou, did you say Luca?”
Ken finally asked me a question. His consciousness was slowly coming back to him. He probably had quite a headache too.
“Huh, huh? What did you do?”
Gabriel uncrossed his arms and turned away from the wall.
It’s a simple principle. To use a metaphor, it’s like replacing a broken switch with another circuit to operate the machine. It’s just a temporary awakening. Since it’s not a normal method, it will put more strain on the damaged brain. But it doesn’t matter because treatment isn’t my goal anyway.
“Oh, it’s been a long time. I, I’m so clear-headed. No, I’m not clear. It feels like someone is shooting fireworks in my head. But, it’s better than when I was stuck in a swamp.”
I extended my arm and attacked at a speed that was easy for Ken to react to. Ken kept blocking my hand by moving the knife, and sometimes even counterattacked.
Kick!
I held the knife between my fingers and blocked it. Ken quickly pulled the knife out and twisted his lips in interest.
Kang!
You have to keep your brain active by continuing to attack and defend. When the combat situation stops, Ken’s consciousness will sink again.
“I came because I have something to ask.”
“Oh, you’re Aleph’s subordinate? Oh, I see you still have questions about me.”
“I didn’t come here because of Aleph. I just received information from Aleph. What I’m curious about is the people around Torah.”
“Look, the boss’s entourage?”
Perhaps if Kinuan had been hanging out with Tora, he would not have used his real name.
I explained Kinuan’s characteristics. A man with an aura like Kinuan is rare. Especially in the lower districts, it is even harder to find.
Ken rested his chin on one hand and swung the knife with the other. After thinking it over, he looked at me.
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“I think I know. Ha, but why should I go and teach you?”
Ken is not a saint. He is a gangster from the lower classes. He does not help others without any compensation.
“I’ll get you out of this hospital. Gabriel, do you have a room left in your house?”
“What? Are you asking me to do the work of an old man with dementia?”
“Just suffer for a few days. Oh, and find a hideout. Gather some trustworthy people. From now on, I’ll create a gang with you as the boss.”
“Wait a minute! Luca, what are you talking about?”
“If you don’t like it, tell me. I’ll find someone else.”
“No, it’s not that I don’t like it… … .”
It was a plan I had been thinking about since last time. I needed someone to be my hands and feet in the lower areas. Gabriel alone is not enough. There needs to be an organization like a gang.
My eyes widened as I thought about this.
‘Maybe Kinuando… … .’
Why didn’t I think of this sooner!
If Kinuan is to carry out unofficial missions in the lower sector, he needs an organization to act as his hands and feet. That’s why he formed a gang with Tora as his guiding hand.
In other words, the relationship between Kinuan and Torah would have been similar to that between me and Gabriel. This is only a guess, but the evidence is almost certain.
“Are you really going to let me out?”
“Believe it or not, Ken Norma, you don’t have much of a choice.”
“True, you are a smart friend. Yes, I have no choice but to believe you. It’s a situation where you have no choice but to lose.”
If you reject my offer, Ken Noma will just rot away here. If you accept, you have a chance of getting out of here.
Kang!
Ken moved his arm with dry eyes. His knife was aimed at my neck. It was slower than before. It meant that the temporary awakening was wearing off.
“Then let’s begin the story, Luca. We don’t have much time.”
Ken told Tora that he had an old friend and supporter. The unidentified man was not a member of any gang and had no external activities. Therefore, only Ken, who was his closest associate, knew of his existence.
That sponsor would be Kinuan.
Tora’s gang was practically owned by Kinuan. The time of Tora’s downfall was probably after Kinuan retired from active duty and contact was lost. This will come out quickly if we investigate.
* * *
I gave Gabriel a few instructions and headed straight up to the upper level. Gabriel grumbled as he pushed Ken’s wheelchair, but he followed my instructions well.
I went to the guard’s database room. Since it was a closed network, access from the outside was impossible, and only physical contact was possible.
After connecting the terminal to the computer, I looked at Kinuan’s history again.
‘The point at which Kinuan became an instructor overlaps with the fall of Torah.’
After Kinuan retired, Tora’s gang quickly fell into disarray.
And three years later, Tora died after the arena was taken away. It seems he originally tried to run away with the slush funds.
“Did Kinuan abandon the Torah?”
I thought about my relationship with Gabriel. Even if he creates a gang, Gabriel can’t run it alone. He needs my advice and support.
‘If the gang grows in size… … If I just let go, Gabriel won’t be able to quit even if he wants to. He’ll slowly decline and die like Torah.’
I heard that Tora was a greedy person, but he was also a very loyal person for a gangster from the lower class. That’s why Kendo stayed by Tora’s side until the end.
‘Because of his character that values righteousness, Torah was chosen by Kinuan. And he was also abandoned.’
It wasn’t that Kinuan had done anything wrong. Rather, it was because of Kinuan that Tora had risen to great heights. He became the boss of a gang and even the manager of the arena.
However, Kinuan knew that Tora would fall, but he left it alone. There is no way a man of his stature would not know the future of Tora.
‘Am I following Kinuan’s footsteps and reproducing them at the same time?’
The feeling was subtle. The more I investigated, the more similar my past actions were to those of Kinuan and my current actions. I carried out unofficial missions in the same lower-level areas and formed a force by recruiting local followers.
After I finished gathering information, I also looked for materials for Ken’s rehabilitation and saved them to my terminal. The Guard had many treatment cases for soldiers with brain dysfunction.
I was thinking of trying to improve Ken’s condition. After talking to him for a while, I felt that Ken would be a useful person in many ways. There was also more to hear about Kinuan.
I disconnected the terminal and looked around. In the database room, only the repetitive resonance of large computers towering like bookshelves was spreading.
When you listen to the mechanical sound of a computer, your senses become dull. Regular sounds dull your senses.
Thud, thud.
I walked toward the entrance, passing computers larger than me.
Kiiing, kiiing.
The noise spreads. I stop walking at the end of the computer wall. Something is strange.
Dust was swaying between the purple lights. I observed the movement of the dust. The dust was being attracted by some other force besides the flow of the fan.
… … Someone was hiding around the corner.
“Who are you?”
“Excellent, Luca. You’ve completed the basics of the Archies Victory. It’s time to move on to the next step.”
Kinuan, who had been hiding his presence, revealed himself. I hid my complicated feelings with a blank expression.
To be honest, I respect Kinuan. I didn’t feel bad when he praised me. But on the other hand, I felt bad because it felt like Kinuan was looking right through me.
‘… … Kinuan.’
Kinuan was the most resilient and cunning man I have ever seen. He was able to balance complex interests and secure his own safe zone. He was someone who did not lose his way even in chaos.
Yeah, I have to admit, I want to be someone like Kinuan.
