SWNOVELXO Chapter 402
Kwarung!!
Swaaaa
On a dark night with no moonlight, when cold rain falls and thunder tears the sky, Berman can’t help but feel sentimental.
“…I guess I’m getting old too.”
The city-state of Omerta.
Due to some geographical conditions, various political reasons, and a bit of coincidence, Omerta, despite its city-sized scale, functions as a unique small-to-medium-sized nation without interference from other countries, standing alone as a city.
Somewhere in Omerta, there exists a secret safe house.
A hidden space known to only a few, yet the two of them used this secret place extravagantly just to share memories.
“For the great Berman to utter such weak words. What a surprise.”
“No. I’m old enough. I feel it every time I force my rusting body out of bed, aging day by day.”
Despite his words, Berman, in his 40s, had a physique that defied his age, robust and solid.
“But isn’t that all proof of how hard you’ve worked to raise the Family?”
The one who denied Berman’s weak words and comforted him was another middle-aged man in his 40s, with a cold, ruthless demeanor.
“…Yeah. Proof of a hard life. The Capenna Family… Who would have imagined it started as just a group of orphans with nothing but guts, crawling through the back alleys?”
“Do you ever miss the old days?”
“Ha! Miss the old days? Me? The head of the Capenna Family, called ‘Godfather’ by countless members, longing for the days when I had nothing and relied on my fists? …I’d like to say that, but honestly, it’d be a lie to say I don’t miss it at all.”
Berman quietly leaned back in his chair.
His body was impressively solid for a middle-aged man, but as he leaned back, he seemed to shrink a bit more than he actually was.
“Actually, even now, when I close my eyes, the memories of the past come back vividly. John, who liked the woman from the bakery. Benny, who couldn’t even read but said he wanted to own a bookstore someday… My life now is satisfying enough, but sometimes, when I close my eyes, I miss those Family members who are no longer by my side.”
“They all sacrificed for the growth of the Family. Their deaths weren’t meaningless.”
“Yeah… I hope so. What about you, Rufus? Don’t you miss the old days?”
Berman smiled wistfully, reminiscing about old friends who left during the Family’s growth, then turned to Rufus.
At his words, Rufus smiled as if recalling the past and quietly closed his eyes.
“I do… miss the old days. It comes back vividly every time I close my eyes. The streets ruled by blood and fear. The streets where anyone could have cheap drugs and women for a few coins. Sometimes, I miss it so much. No, actually, I think I always miss it. And every time I open my eyes, I feel disillusioned by the disappointing reality.”
“Wait… Rufus. You…”
Without realizing it, Rufus’s voice carried an unmistakable, sticky desire.
Berman looked at him with a stiff expression, and when Rufus opened his eyes after finishing his reminiscence, their gazes met, and Berman couldn’t help but freeze.
His desire shimmered with greed. For everything.
“This street now is like a pampered pet, fawning over its master. So dull, so pathetic. The street I loved wasn’t like this. Don’t you think this street suits the cold rain’s bloody stench, stealing warmth, and the heat of blood splattered from head to toe?”
Berman, buried in his chair, secretly tensed his muscles and cautiously raised his upper body without Rufus noticing.
“…Did you betray the Family?”
“The way you run the Family is so disappointing. So I decided not to be disappointed anymore.”
Now, Rufus no longer hid his true feelings.
No matter how good the clothes he wore, the house he lived in, or the food he ate, it couldn’t fill the savage hunger lurking within him.
Even knowing the situation was irreversible, Berman shouted at him as if he couldn’t believe his old friend’s betrayal.
“Do you want to bring this street back to the old days? When people would be dead on the streets by morning, and everyone would pass by with hopeless eyes, pretending not to see? Is that what you really want?”
“Ha!! I should be asking you! Destroying the organization running brothels, freeing prostitutes buried in debt, expelling fences, closing gambling dens, sweeping away all other organizations! Berman! Always singing about the Family, the Family, are you playing house or something?!”
“It’s not playing house, it’s family! The Family was established for orphans with no one to rely on, to survive under the oppression of adults and criminals! It’s true that we grew by any means necessary, getting our hands dirty and committing crimes, but that was just us making the only choices we could to survive in this damn street! Crime was just a means to survive, not the goal! And now that we rule this street, don’t you, who helped me build the Family, know that violence and savagery are no longer needed?!”
“Family? Are you still living in that lukewarm fantasy? Sold by your parents for a few pennies and left on the streets, and you still believe that nonsense! That’s the difference between you and me. You’re still lost in the fantasy of that day, looking for a substitute for the family that abandoned you, but I realized the day I was abandoned by my parents. Family is just an illusion, and the truth is that this world is a structure where the weak are exploited by money and violence! As a child, I was on the side being taken from, but not anymore! It’s time to pay back the debt!”
But despite his shouts, Rufus’s gaze didn’t change, and if anything, the ambition in his eyes only grew stronger.
In stark contrast, Berman’s expression was deeply troubled.
“…I noticed you were going off track at some point. But I thought it was just a phase. But in truth, I just couldn’t accept that my old friend had become a monster. I was too foolish.”
“Capenna’s fierce dog has grown old too. You’ve become as dull as this street. Your fangs have rusted, and your mind is filled with thick fog, like the morning after rain. But don’t worry. I’ll rebirth this dull street, just like the old days ruled by violence, women, and drugs!”
Unable to hold back, Rufus was the first to charge.
Like the wolf beastkin he was, he exploded forward with strength several times that of an ordinary person, attacking Berman.
But Berman had anticipated and prepared for his attack.
He swiftly moved his body, escaping the chair, and Rufus’s claws only shattered the empty chair in vain.
Kwang!
The once high-quality wooden chair scattered into pieces.
Berman, having dodged Rufus’s attack, gained a slight advantage. With Rufus still recovering from breaking the chair, he could strike at his defenseless back.
But Berman hesitated and instead tried to escape outside the safe house.
Rufus openly revealing his desire and attacking him, the Godfather of the Capenna Family, meant he had already prepared a trap to catch him.
However, Berman’s escape attempt was blocked by an unexpected obstacle.
Creak
“You… you guys…!”
The secret safe house, known only to him and a few close associates in the Capenna Family.
As he tried to open the door and leave, the door opened, revealing numerous people inside the safe house.
They were the leaders and executives of the many criminal organizations the Capenna Family had crushed while conquering the streets.
With people appearing at the only exit, Berman froze, unable to move forward or backward.
From behind him, the low growl of a beast’s voice was heard.
“You didn’t eat it, so I took it. Since you didn’t eat it, you won’t mind if I have it, right?”
“Damn it…”
Berman felt his vision darken and closed his eyes.
“Don’t resent me. It’s all just the rules of this damn street. In the end, we’re all just puppets dancing on a piece of cursed paper. You, and me too.”
The beast’s voice was now beside him.
.
.
.
Swaaaa
Kurung
Kwang!
On a night when even the moon is hidden by storm clouds.
As if thunder has torn the sky, relentless heavy rain beats down on the ground.
As if mourning someone who will disappear today.
Or as if burying the death of someone who will fall today.
Splash
“Cough…! No, not yet. Not yet… I can’t die.”
But Berman wasn’t dead yet.
Today might be the day he dies.
But not now.
Feeling the cold rain mercilessly stealing his body heat, Berman struggled to take a step.
Was his vision blurring because the rain was too heavy? Or because he had lost too much blood?
Berman had managed to escape the safe house from Rufus and his followers, but the cost was high.
Stabbed and slashed multiple times during the escape, his torn clothes seeped with dark red stains, and his body screamed for rest.
Lucky to have escaped, but his condition was desperate, and countless pursuers were out looking for him with burning eyes.
For him, escape was no victory.
It only delayed death by a few hours.
Berman, sensing this, still moved his feet out of duty.
“There should be another safe house around here…”
‘If I go back to the safe house?’
‘How will I handle Rufus’s rebellion?’
‘Even if I’m lucky enough to get back to the safe house, it’s just delaying death by a few hours, right?’
‘What’s the point of this?’
With each step, negative thoughts bloomed.
In the distance, another hidden safe house began to appear, but Berman felt no hope seeing it.
Splash
“All I wanted… was a family.”
He kept moving, not stopping, but it was just inertia from running away from Rufus.
But even that was slowing down.
His eyes were no longer looking at the approaching safe house.
His increasingly blurry vision chased the longing he had as a boy.
Splash
“When I come home, even if I’m not there, the warm lights are on, and the fragrant smell of soup wafts from afar… Like other normal kids… Welcomed by family…”
Yes. Like the brightly lit hut before his eyes.
“…What?”
Why is there light in that safe house?
As he doubted his eyes.
A lizardman appeared, opening the door of the safe house he had hidden.
The lizardman was holding a ladle.