Nikolai lay on his bed staring at the ceiling, his body sore and his thoughts sharp. The night's events kept replaying in his head.
He was getting rusty. His words, his approach, none of it felt as smooth as it once had. Manipulating men who already knew he was weak was a hard job.
These weren't strangers he could impress with a violent display; they had known him for years as a nobody who couldn't pay his debts. Suddenly claiming strength wasn't believable.
That was why he'd offered the month. On the surface it seemed like a risky move, promising to prove himself gave the thug an easy excuse to think of him as desperate. But it wasn't really about impressing them. It was about time.
He needed the next few weeks to move quietly, to find a way to build something that looked like power.
If those men went back and told their boss tonight that he was suddenly dangerous, there would be retaliation tomorrow.
By asking for a month, Nikolai had slowed the fuse.
He knew this alone wasn't enough. Fear faded fast. Without progress, they'd come back stronger and better armed.
What he needed now was a plan to climb, money, muscle, and some form of leverage. Enough to show results before the clock ran out.
For now, though, he'd achieved one small win. No bodies to hide, no immediate manhunt, and at least a sliver of breathing room.
He exhaled slowly and closed his eyes, letting the room go quiet. Tomorrow, he'd start working on becoming someone worth fearing again.
Nikolai reached into his pocket and pulled out what was left of the cash Stewart had given him. Only ₩100 remained.
He had spent ₩900 to pay off the three thugs, enough to make them think twice before running back to their boss tonight.
Money was always faster than threats when you had no army behind you.
He turned the last note between his fingers, frowning. That quick fix had cost almost everything Stewart advanced him. But it bought silence for now, and silence was worth paying for.
His thoughts drifted back to what Stewart had said earlier about tomorrow's client.
It had sounded like a small opportunity before, just another scam to make extra cash. But now it felt different.
After tonight, he needed leverage and resources fast. He couldn't afford to be empty-handed when the month was up.
Maybe he had no choice but to take Stewart's offer and use it as a starting point. Risky or not, it was the only lead he had.
Nikolai set the last of the cash on the bedside table and stared at the ceiling again. The room was silent, but his mind was already working.
Late that Night — The Thugs
A small bar sat half-empty near the docks. Smoke hung low over the room and music played soft and tired from an old speaker. Three men walked in and took a booth near the back.
They looked rough, one with his head bandaged over a ruined eye, one with his nose swollen and purple, and one with his hand wrapped thickly. Drinks arrived without them asking; the bartender already knew their faces.
For a while, no one spoke. Then the one with the broken nose finally broke the silence.
"So… what do you guys think? About his offer."
The man with the ruined eye let out a dry laugh. "I don't know, man. Feels like bluff to me."
The one with the bad hand shrugged. "Still… maybe we give it a month. See if it's true. If not, we go to the boss, tell him everything, get rewarded."
The man with the ruined eye turned sharply. "You two dumb? What if he just runs before the month's up? Then we're left with nothing. And three hundred ₩ isn't enough to pay me back for losing an eye."
The broken nose thug leaned forward, voice low. "So what, you want to go back to the boss now and lose another finger? Either way, you know he was right about one thing, we're nothing to the boss. Just tools. You tired of that yet? I came into this game to make money, get somewhere. Haven't done any of that."
The man with the eye patch scoffed but didn't interrupt.
"You think that scrawny little shit's gonna make us rich?" he asked finally.
"No," the broken nose thug said bluntly. "He's probably bullshitting. But he's also right, we need to start thinking about more than just being somebody's throwaway muscle. We need to make a name for ourselves somehow. Even if it's not with him."
They all went quiet again, drinking and thinking, none of them admitting out loud that fear had sunk deeper than they wanted to show.
The one with the broken nose leaned back, rubbing at his face. "You got any plan for that? Huh?"
The man with the ruined eye scoffed. "No…"
The guy with the bad hand hesitated, then asked quietly, "What is the boss shipping, anyway?"
Both of the others turned and stared at him.
"You wanna steal from the boss?" the broken nose thug asked, voice sharp.
The man with the bad hand flinched. "Shut the fuck up! You trying to get us killed? I'm not saying that. I'm just saying… if the boss is treating those shipments like gold, then whatever's in there must really matter."
They went quiet for a second, thinking, then the broken nose thug spoke again. "What about stealing cars? I know a guy who knows a guy who can move them."
The man with the ruined eye shook his head fast. "Where would we even take them? We can't sell right away, and we'd need someone who's good with cars, someone who can kill trackers and alarms. We don't have that. That won't work."
The broken nose thug grunted and looked away. "Fine. But no stealing from the boss. We do that, we're dead before we even spend the money."
They all went quiet again, the weight of the thought hanging between them.
All in all, this wasn't what Nikolai had originally planned. But if he had known what the three men were discussing at that bar, he wouldn't have complained.
His only goal tonight was to buy time and keep them from running back to their boss. Instead, they were now busy questioning their place, even talking about carving their own path.
Either way, it was a win for him.