Bang.
“……”
“……”
A gunshot rang out.
But it wasn’t me who fired.
“Django!!”
A woman who had fired a shot into the air to divert attention came running toward me.
…It was Josephine.
Josephine, swallowing her tears, sprinted toward Django and then…
Snap.
She immediately pointed her gun at me.
“…Let Django go.”
Josephine’s stance was surprisingly decent, as if she’d handled a gun a few times before.
But…
Shake, shake, shake.
Her hands were trembling like leaves in the wind.
I sighed as I looked at her and said, “You’re not going to hit me shaking like that, are you?”
“……!”
“Good thing I don’t have to bother chasing you all the way to the harbor. Miss, just put the gun down.”
Josephine might have come here to save Django, but in reality, she just walked right into my trap.
When I twitched my finger, Django shouted at Josephine with a look of utter despair.
“Josephine…!! Why did you come…? Why…! You should’ve just left me and gone to Hawaii… You could’ve lived the free life you wanted…!”
“How could I leave you behind…? What matters to me isn’t where I go, but going there with you…”
“Josephine…”
“Django…”
“You two are really something.”
They weren’t acting, but what were they doing with me in the middle?
Still, one thing was clear… their love was genuine.
Love.
It was something I wanted to experience someday.
Meeting someone I liked, holding hands, sharing a bed, and greeting the morning together.
But that was something I could never do in this game, where I was just data.
I was a clueless kid who didn’t know what love was.
And so…
Click.
I also didn’t know that love could lead to ruin.
“…Hey.”
“Josephine!!”
Josephine, who had been crying, seemed to think there was only one way out of this situation. She pointed the gun she had aimed at me toward her own head.
Seeing that, I clicked my tongue and reached out, causing her to shout.
“…Let Django go! Or I’ll just kill myself.”
“Good grief.”
Until then, I had been complacent.
Pulling the trigger on yourself isn’t an easy thing to do.
Hadn’t I considered the possibility that dying in this world might mean waking up in the real world?
But even I hadn’t been able to pull the trigger, stubbornly clinging to life for 17 years.
A rich girl who’d been pampered all her life shooting herself in the head?
From my perspective, it was unthinkable.
So I…
Swish.
Without wasting time, I pointed my gun back at Django.
I figured if I put a bullet in Django’s head, Josephine would lower her gun.
But…
Click.
“…Let’s be together in the next life.”
“Josephine!”
“I love you.”
Maybe she couldn’t bear to see Django die.
As I firmly aimed my gun, Josephine closed her eyes with a meaningful expression.
And then…
Snap.
“……!”
[The Best Gunslinger in the West] trait activated.
[The Best Gunslinger in the West] recognized this as a duel situation.
Meaning, Josephine was about to pull the trigger.
‘……Huh?’
I couldn’t help but panic.
If Josephine died, it was all over.
Not only would I not get the $10,000, but William, furious over losing his daughter, wouldn’t pay the $10,000 bounty for Django’s death either.
So everything I’d done to come to San Francisco would be for nothing.
Swish.
So I quickly turned my gun toward Josephine and fired.
Bang!
Thud!
“Ahhh!”
The bullet flew swiftly, precisely knocking the gun out of Josephine’s hand.
Josephine, who had been about to take her own life, collapsed to the ground, and Django looked at me in shock.
It all happened in an instant.
I had used the last bullet I’d saved to kill Django to save Josephine instead.
**
Have I ever shot someone to save them?
Did I just save Josephine solely for the sake of the mission’s success?
…It didn’t feel like that.
“…You were going to Hawaii. To live there forever?”
“…Yes.”
Covering my face with my hand, I asked, and Django, still shocked, nodded.
Hawaii.
An island I’d never been to…
But closing my eyes, an old memory surfaced.
A memory that was the reason I had to leave this world.
‘Hawaii? Of course I’ve been! Dad and Mom went there for their honeymoon! That’s where Dad… hehe…’
‘Honey! Don’t tell the kid that!’
“……”
Finishing my reminiscence, I opened my eyes and checked the guys lying in the alley.
They were all unconscious, but still breathing.
Django must’ve aimed to spare them.
I had an idea why, but I asked Django anyway.
“…Hey.”
“…Yes.”
“Why didn’t you kill them? Why spare them?”
“……”
The answer I expected from Django came.
“…Because they’re human, like me.”
“……”
“…Judging by their uniforms, they’re former slave patrols. They didn’t see me as human, but I saw them as human.”
Same human.
A phrase that had been irritating me just moments ago…
“Phew…”
Maybe it was the strong cigarette I’d just smoked… or maybe losing so much blood…
In my dazed state, I slumped to the ground and said to the two of them.
“Just go.”
“…Huh?”
“Just go. I won’t chase you anymore, so go to Hawaii or whatever.”
“……”
Caught off guard by my sudden change, the two hesitated, then…
“Django!”
Josephine rushed to Django, hugging him and stopping the bleeding from his collarbone where I’d shot him.
Django, stroking Josephine’s hair, quickly got up, perhaps thinking I might change my mind.
I watched them hurry away but made no move to chase them.
Sizzle.
I just smoked my cigarette.
“……”
Did I look pitiful to them?
Before leaving, Django left me with some advice.
“…Mr. Noah. Thank you for sparing me.”
“……”
“You hated the phrase ‘same human.’ But denying it doesn’t change the fact that we are the same.”
…Should I just shoot him now?
He’s really pouring fuel on the fire with that.
For a moment, I felt the urge to reload, but I managed to calm myself by smoking.
Then Django added one last thing.
“…The reason you spared me, Mr. Noah, is because you still have a warm heart… because you’re human, like me.”
“…What’s he on about?”
“I hope the day comes soon when you realize that.”
What a jerk.
I spare him, and he curses me to live here forever or something.
“…Just get lost.”
Still, I didn’t stop them from leaving.
The two of them stared at me for a moment before heading toward the harbor.
They’d probably leave America and go to Hawaii.
They say there’s no paradise where you run to, but who knows about those two.
Shakespeare’s *Romeo and Juliet* had a tragic ending, but…
This new story, Black Romeo and White Juliet, had an open ending.
I, the final villain and the only player in this story, decided it so.
**
“Phew…”
“……”
As I lay there smoking, someone approached and stopped my bleeding.
…It was Emma.
“…You sent two people.”
Emma pressed hard on my wound and asked.
“I’m naturally capricious. I just did it again this time.”
“…No matter how capricious you are, you’ve never once let a target go alive.”
“……”
“The Boss… is changing too.”
“…Come on, changing.”
Emma seemed to be seriously mistaken, so I chuckled and said.
“Emma, do you think I gave up on 20,000 dollars?”
“…Huh? You let those two go, so of course, you gave up…”
“Look at the faces of those guys lying over there. They’re familiar faces, you should remember them too.”
As I pointed to the pursuers William had sent, who Django had taken down earlier, Emma approached them, looked at their faces, and was shocked.
“…Boss, these guys are outlaws.”
“Right? I knew it.”
“Their crimes include murder, robbery, rape… They’re vicious guys who were active in Utah.”
William, who had even brought in outlaws to kill Django, couldn’t have been unaware of Django’s gun skills.
That bastard William…
No wonder the fee was suspiciously high. He never expected me to succeed in the request and just sent me here as cannon fodder.
“Emma, you know I’m a pro at getting money, right?”
“…I know. You can even make money out of thin air from your targets.”
“…I’ll get that 20,000 dollars one way or another.”
I can’t forgive the audacity of an NPC trying to manipulate and use me.
Even if I have to wreak havoc on William’s farm, I intend to get the original 20,000-dollar fee.
“Then… are we going back now?”
“Yeah, the job’s done, so let’s head back to Justice Town.”
Perhaps because this trip was so rough, Emma’s face brightened a bit at the mention of going back, but then she frowned immediately upon seeing my condition.
“…But before we go back, you need to see a doctor first. I stopped the bleeding temporarily, but you still have bullets in your body. You need treatment fast…”
It seemed that Emma thought my condition wasn’t looking good.
She was right.
Actually, I’m in excruciating pain right now.
I’ve lost a lot of blood, my head is spinning… I feel like I’m about to die.
But…
“Nope, wrong. I’m not going to a doctor.”
“…Huh? Boss! Don’t be stubborn! If you don’t go to a doctor soon…”
“To be precise, I can’t go.”
“What do you mean…”
Emma didn’t seem to understand the situation, so I explained slowly.
“First, I broke my promise with Luke. I caused a scene in San Francisco, so he must be furious.”
“Ah…”
Finally remembering Luke, the leader of the South Brotherhood, Emma’s expression darkened.
“Second, Billy disappeared at some point. He probably went to report to Luke.”
“…!”
So, what this means is…
“Emma, the roles have reversed. It’s our turn to run.”
“……”
“Let’s try to escape alive to Justice Town.”
The rulers of this city will soon be after us with fire in their eyes.
We’ve got a five-star wanted level.
If the goal until now was to catch Django and Josephine, from now on, the goal is to escape this city.
**
“…Boss, there have been consecutive gunshots from the harbor.”
“……”
Luke, the mayor of San Francisco and the leader of the South Brotherhood, looked out the window toward the harbor where the gunshots were heard.
As he silently gazed outside, there was a knock at the door.
“…Boss, it’s me. C-can I come in…”
“Come in.”
It was Billy, who had been assigned to watch Noah.
Despite it not being report time yet, Billy had come earlier than expected.
And with the consecutive gunshots from the harbor.
Luke, who had already realized this wasn’t a coincidence, greeted Billy with his usual expressionless face.
“Boss.”
“…Billy.”
Unlike Luke, Billy’s face was haggard.
She knelt before Luke and bowed her head deeply to the floor.
“…What have you done?”
“…I’m sorry. I failed to carry out your order to watch Kid. In the end, Kid got his hands on a gun… and he’s at the harbor now.”
“……”
“…The gunshots now are probably his. …It’s all my fault…”
“Enough.”
If it were the usual Luke, he would have severely punished a subordinate who abandoned their duty and ran away.
But Billy was too valuable to dismiss over this one incident.
Moreover, Luke had anticipated that Billy alone wouldn’t be able to handle Kid.
“…I order you to indefinite suspension until I call for you. So go back and wait.”
“…Yes.”
With that, Luke sent Billy away and sank into thought.
The gunshots had stopped.
Since Kid got his hands on a gun, he must have achieved what he wanted.
‘I should have killed him the moment we met again…’
Kid.
Thinking about the damage the South Brotherhood suffered because of him last time, tearing him apart wouldn’t be enough.
Yet, when he met Kid again, he didn’t think of killing him immediately but only put a leash on him.
Why did he do that?
Shiver.
“……”
Luke forcibly stopped his trembling hand.
The reason Luke couldn’t bring himself to kill Kid upon seeing him again.
It was because of the fear etched into his body.
As the mayor of San Francisco and the leader of the South Brotherhood, he always had to maintain rationality… but upon meeting Kid, fear led him to make the wrong judgment.
‘Let’s break free from this shackle.’
Gritting his teeth, Luke made his decision and called for a subordinate waiting outside.
“Boss, you called.”
“…Release all the currently waiting members and work with the San Francisco Security Force to capture him.”
“…!”
At Luke’s command, the subordinate turned pale and responded.
“…Just the fact that Kid has returned will shake the brothers.”
“…Hide the fact that it’s Kid.”
“And if we cooperate with the Security Force, the Pinkertons, who are already watching us, will become even more suspicious…”
“…It’s fine.”
What does the Pinkerton matter when catching a tiger?
“Yes, understood. Then…”
“Ah, wait.”
Just as the subordinate was about to leave the mayor’s office to follow Luke’s orders.
Luke, unlike usual, held the subordinate back and added another command.
“…Thinking about it, that’s not enough.”
“……”
“…Send a telegram to General Eric immediately. Have the state militia control the outskirts of San Francisco.”
“…!!!”
This was an extreme move.
One that could end Luke’s political career if it went wrong.
“Kill him no matter what. No matter what.”
Luke was that desperate.
[The South Will Rise Again!]
The enemies the South Brotherhood would face in the future were far greater than a mere gunslinger.
The South Brotherhood, which would one day overthrow America again, couldn’t be swayed by a ghost from the past.
“The South Brotherhood must move forward.”
In that sense, tonight would be an important day to wash away a long-standing disgrace of the South Brotherhood.
