Chapter 3: Hand Over My Money 1

‘How perfect.’

Ju-Heon started to smile while looking at them but Inspector Kim who noticed them opened his eyes wide in shock.

“Huh? Those bastards are? Wow, I caught them now! They ran away after using you as a human shield last time!”

Ju-Heon stopped Inspector Kim who looked ready to take them down.

“Ah, it’s fine, hyung. I’ll take care of it. I happen to need something from them.”

“What? You need something from them?”

“Ah, call an ambulance just in case. It’ll be complicated if they end up dying.”

Inspector Kim doubted his ears after hearing that.

‘What? Which side is going to die?’

“Hold on! Hey! What the heck do you mean? Ju-Heon!”

‘You don't know how to fight!’ Inspector Kim chased him for a moment but Ju-Heon disappeared into an alley.

The first thing Ju-Heon needed to do now that he returned to the past was to settle some loose ends. Well, settling loose ends might be too nice of a way to classify this…

Of course, the ones he was dealing with were the art brokers from the criminal organization.

He had ended up working for them once in high school when he was desperate for money and ended up being forced to work for this gang since then.

Ju-Heon really worked his ass off like a slave under these bastards.

‘If I remember correctly, I worked for them until my mid-twenties when I got my abilities.’

The Ju-Heon of this time even had his money stolen by them and had to do things he didn't want to do. However, he had never thought about running away. Even with an inspector around him, he didn’t know what kind of actions a gang would take.

Ju-Heon sighed as he remembered that fact better than anybody else.

Anyway, they originally planned to make Ju-Heon go deep in debt buying artwork before taking care of him, but continued to bother him after realizing that Ju-Heon’s memory was quite useful.

That was the same right now.

“Fuck, our little Ju-Heon. You poor orphan bastard. You should be greeting your hyung-nims as soon as you see us.”

“Work, it’s time for work.”

There were four of them.

Four bulky dudes were stretching in a small alley while blocking Ju-Heon’s way. One of them had a small wooden box with artwork in his shirt. They were probably looking for him because of this item.

“Alright, let’s hurry up. We are short on time, you bastard.”

“But he’s gotten much better. He sent the Inspector off on his own.”

“He finally knows who he should stick with. Who wouldn't want to live their life with their limbs intact?”

“I mean, how sweet of a job is this? Right? Other people are desperately looking for jobs but we let him go home twice a month, pay him even though he is an intern, and teach him a lot of things. Shouldn’t we be the ones being paid instead?”

Ju-Heon scoffed, wondering if they truly believed what they were saying.

They were making a grave mistake right now. The reason Ju-Heon got away from Inspector Kim as if he was Lupin was not because of their threats or fear.

Then why?

There was a simple reason for it. Things would get complicated if an Inspector saw what was about to happen.

For example.

“Hurry up and follow us if you kno……ugh!”

A scream suddenly filled the alley. There was a man who was sent flying with his teeth punched out. It had happened so quickly that nobody could figure out what actually happened.

At least until Ju-Heon started to laugh and make a comment.

“Morons.”

“What?!”

“The reason I didn't want the Inspector here was so that I don't get punished for excessive self-defense.”

“T, t, this bastard?!”

“Hey! Seo Ju-Heon! You dare to touch our hyung-nim!”

Ju-Heon brushed his hand off and calmly started to speak after sending the man flying.

“I don't have a letter of resignation on me so inform the boss verbally. I'm done with you guys now.”

“W, what did you say?”

The men started to wonder if Ju-Heon had gone crazy. The bastard who used to grovel at their feet had turned weird.

However, Ju-Heon just cracked his knuckles and started to laugh viciously.

“Ah. One more thing before I resign.”

“?”

“Do you guys have any money on you? I think I should get my overdue pay and compensation package right now.”

He had changed completely.

Although the men were confused, Ju-Heon was being serious.

The era of artifacts would start in a few months. He didn’t even have enough time to go into tombs right now and take the artifacts before other people did, let alone dealing with these bastards any longer.

That was why he would take care of any annoying loose ends before he started going into the tombs.

However, the men scoffed as if they could not understand Ju-Heon’s attitude at all.

“Huh, did he really go crazy? What? Pay? Compensation package?”

“Wow, Seo Ju-Heon. It looks like we need to train him properly once again.”

“Fuck, hey retard, a poor bastard who doesn't know how to fight should not bluff like that!”

These upset men started to scream as they charged toward Ju-Heon. To them, Ju-Heon was just a baby chick whose memory was useful.

However, Ju-Heon clicked his tongue while looking at them. He did expect that things would not end with just words.

“You give me no other choice.”

Ju-Heon poked one of them men in a vital point of the clavicle.

“Ugh!”

He then lifted his elbow and slammed it into another man’s neck. That was followed by grabbing a third man by the head and slamming it into his knee.

Crack.

“Uuuuuuuuugh!”

The men could not even see all of Ju-Heon's movements. Ju-Heon did not give the many time as he attacked them in their temples.

Every spot he had hit had been a vital point.

Two men in the front ended up groaning as they fell over.

“Hyu, hyung-nim!”

The other two were so shocked their jaws dropped as they looked at Ju-Heon.

“C, crazy. Y, you didn’t even know how to fight before!”

Ju-Heon had originally just been an excavator with the Archeologist’s abilities. It sounds like it has nothing to do with fighting, but how could a life related to artifacts be that simple?

He even had a vicious love scene with a homicidal maniac like Jack the Ripper over an artifact.

‘That was why fighting was essential.’

He had learned many different martial arts including Jeet Kune Do for self defense but it was fine to take care of thugs like this.

Pow!

“You bastard! Ugh!”

A man who took out a club went flying this time. Ju-Heon laughed in a relaxed manner as he watched.

Surprisingly, his body felt very light. His body had been a mess in his past life because of an illness he caught in a tomb.

‘I'll have less problems like this.’

He had felt it earlier as the police station as well, but his senses had remained. His stamina and strength might not be the same but he should be able to use everything he learned to a high degree even with this fifteen years younger body.

The club went flying into the air as the man flew away, before landing in Ju-Heon's hand.

“That bastard!”

The men started to glare but Ju-Heon just laughed. A club-wielding Ju-Heon was like a fish in water as he started to attack the other men.

Crack, the sound of one of their chin’s breaking could be heard.

“U, ugh!”

Ju-Heon aimed for the next one as that man stumbled in pain.

He aimed for the legs next!

The club struck right between the knee joint and the leg. That wasn’t it. He broke the club in half and pointed a sharp point to the man's stomach.

Pow!

He then punched the man’s face.

“Aaaaaaaaah! My eye!”

“Aaah!”

Ju-Heon had no problem causing a lot of damage with a single club. Once all three of them fell down, Park Kyung Tae, their leader, started to huff and puff with a flushed face.

“You disrespectful bastard! This is how you pay back our kindness for raising you?! Looks like we need to kill you to teach you a lesson!”

However, Ju-Heon just scoffed at Park Kyung Tae.

‘The kindness for raising me?’

The difference between Park Kyung Tae and the other three were that this bastard really was a dumbass.

Lo and behold, he took a fancy knife out of his chest pocket. Even if he calls himself an art broker, he was born a thug. These bastards didn't care for the methods.

Of course, even gangsters didn't take knives out in most situations these days, but Park Kyung Tae was a thug who believed he needed to show his knife a taste of blood at least once.

‘Looks like this damn art broker got another weird art piece.’

He probably sent his lackeys to go find a weird one again.

The groaning lackeys looked anxious after seeing him take out the knife.

“Hyung-nim, using a knife near a police station is a bit……!”

“Shut up, how can we walk around if we are afraid of damn pigs. Knives only become real knives after they taste human blood at least once.”

Ju-Heon started to laugh after seeing Park Kyung Tae point the knife at him.

‘I just have to send the knife flying.’

It happened as Ju-Heon was about to send the knife flying. Ju-Heon’s expression changed a bit as he looked at the knife.

It was because of the aura he felt coming from this brass knife with a dog on it.

‘That is?’

Other people would only see a fancy knife, but it could not trick Ju-Heon’s eyes.

He was certain. This feeling.

It was an artifact.

Ju-Heon started to laugh after figuring that out.

‘Something is weird. Why does this bastard have that?’

This was not yet time for artifacts to float around in large numbers. However, Ju-Heon soon accepted it after thinking about it for a moment.

Artifacts had many different ways of looking for a master. There were some like this one who came out of their tombs and just hid amongst other items in the human world. One of the best hiding spots for artifacts was in between works of art.

‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.’

Artifacts won’t be able to do anything in a normal person's hands.

However, Park Kyung Tae still charged forward with the knife.

“You bastard! You’ll need to find a grave in the hills today!”

His loud voice was quite entertaining.

However.

Pow!

“Aaaaaaaaah!”

Forget swinging the knife, Park Kyung Tae could only sound like a pig as his arm was twisted behind him.

“Ugh, ugh, y, you bastard!”

On the other hand, Ju-Heon smiled after picking up the knife. Park Kyung Tae's eyes opened wide as he saw Ju-Heon with the knife.

“You bastard, put that down! That’s not something for you to touch! Do you know how much that decorative item is worth?!”

Ju-Heon's sneer filled the area.

“Decorative item?”

Although none of them had been his, Ju-Heon had touched many artifacts in his past life. He could not help but laugh at someone who was thinking an artifact was a decorative item. Even a regular person should be able to tell that this was not normal after holding it for a while.

‘This bastard won't know the value of artifacts even in the future.’

Well, that was fine.

This was the first artifact to land in his hands after returning fifteen years into the past. He needed to see which bastard’s artifact this was.

“Catch that bastard first!”

Ju-Heon easily activated the artifact after hearing the thugs shout.

1. A fictional French thief.