Clank, clank, clank.
Why is there so much doubt and worry?
I looked at the dozens of gang members pointing guns at me, chuckled, and followed Bert.
“Is Emma doing okay? If you’ve touched or bothered her, I might get a little angry.”
“Hehe, see for yourself.”
Bert smiled mysteriously and led me to a warehouse in the corner of the camp.
‘Were they keeping people locked up here?’
The hastily made warehouse was quite spacious but incredibly shoddy.
Even though it’s still summer, the western wilderness gets cold at night.
‘If she’s been here since this morning, Emma must’ve had a rough time.’
Maybe Emma would burst into tears and greet me as soon as the warehouse door opened.
That probably wouldn’t happen, but just imagining Emma crying and clinging to me was ridiculous.
I chuckled and opened the tightly shut warehouse door with Bert.
“Ahhh!”
The first thing I saw when the door opened were the trembling village girls.
There were about 7 or 8 of them—mostly familiar faces, though I didn’t know their names.
It seemed like there were more inside, but it was too dark to see everything.
Just as I stepped inside, unable to find Emma…
“Emma, where are you… huh?”
As I stepped into the dark warehouse, I almost tripped over something on the floor.
It was a person.
From the slender figure, it seemed to be a woman, but the problem was…
“……”
The cold, lifeless body and the clothes covering her face were Emma’s.
Emma rarely goes outside Justice Town, so she doesn’t have many clothes.
After working together for three years, I knew every piece of clothing she owned.
What I saw before me was clearly Emma’s coat.
‘No way…’
My bad premonitions have never been wrong, and I had a bad feeling now.
Even though we’ve been close for three years, the fact that Emma is an NPC hasn’t changed.
The reason Emma is important to me is that without her, there’s no one to cook or fetch water for me.
But for some reason, I was really angry.
If Emma’s face was under that coat, I felt like I’d lose my mind.
Swish.
With a chilling aura, I lifted the coat covering the woman.
And then…
“Ugh, cough cough. Who are you?”
“…Who are *you*?”
…The woman under the coat wasn’t Emma.
This was definitely Emma’s coat, but seeing a completely unfamiliar face left me stunned.
Just as I stood there dumbfounded…
“Boss?”
Finally, a familiar voice called out from the darkness inside the warehouse.
“Boss, why are you here…?”
“……”
It was Emma.
Emma approached, wide-eyed, as if she hadn’t expected to see me here.
I quickly scanned her condition.
Seeing no signs of harm, I asked in disbelief.
“Ah, damn… I thought you were the one lying here. Why’d you take off your coat?”
“That’s Anthony, Hector’s daughter from the fabric shop. She was so cold, so I lent her my coat for a bit.”
Ah, so she’s the fabric shop owner’s daughter.
Anthony, shivering under Emma’s coat, definitely looked like she had a fever.
I glanced at Anthony, then turned back to Emma.
“…So, are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Seeing Emma’s calm face, it seemed the Rush and Gold Gang hadn’t treated her badly.
Why did I feel so relieved?
I almost sobered up and let out a deep sigh.
But my reaction must’ve made it seem like I was really worried about Emma.
“By the way, Boss… why are you here? Did you… come to save me?”
“……”
Emma’s face held a strange mix of expectation.
Did I come all the way here to save her?
Well, the main reason I came here was indeed to save Emma.
But…
“Don’t get the wrong idea, Emma. I didn’t come to save you—I came to catch you.”
I didn’t want to give her false hope through this.
“Without you, there’s no one to cook for me. Who said you could skip work? I, the boss, came all the way here to catch my naughty secretary who dared not show up for work.”
“……”
Once again, I trampled on Emma’s feelings.
But Emma’s reaction was different this time.
“…That’s enough for me.”
“…What?”
Last time, when I rejected her with harsh words, she cried…
“…The relationship between boss and secretary. That’s enough for me. Thank you, Boss.”
Emma smiled bitterly, even as my words hurt her.
“……”
Maybe it was because she looked pitiful.
Or maybe it was because her face, smiling faintly under the moonlight, looked beautiful.
Or maybe it was because I’d had too much to drink and my head was messed up.
Swish.
Without thinking, I reached out and ruffled Emma’s hair.
Emma flinched in surprise.
I whispered to her.
“…I’m hungry.”
“……”
“I haven’t eaten a single meal today because you weren’t there.”
Emma patted the back of my hand as I whined a little.
“Oh dear. Our Kid Boss. You must be really hungry. Let’s get out of here, and I’ll cook for you right away.”
Her voice sounded like she was talking to a child.
Feeling a little embarrassed, I quickly pulled my hand away and turned around.
“…It won’t take long, so wait here for a bit. Lock the door properly.”
“Lock the door…?”
Locking the door while being held hostage?
Anyone else would’ve been completely confused.
Emma tilted her head at first, but…
“…Ah.”
She soon nodded as if she understood.
“Yes, I’ll lock the door properly. Don’t worry and be careful.”
“…Alright.”
As soon as she answered, I stepped out of the warehouse.
“Bert, I’ve seen Emma, and she’s fine. Now, let’s talk about how much Emma owes your gang.”
“Hehe, your girl owes us quite a bit. Let’s have a drink and discuss it slowly.”
As I stepped out, Bert smirked and firmly closed the warehouse door.
*Creak.*
I turned my head one last time just before the warehouse door closed, locking eyes with Emma again.
Emma looked at me and mouthed her final words.
“Don’t worry, go wild.”
As expected, Emma had perfectly figured out what I was about to do.
What a partner, so in sync with me.
It was a shame she had feelings for me, but Emma was an indispensable presence in my life.
I planned to keep her by my side until I saw the ending of this game.
Emma was, without a doubt, my ultimate, irreplaceable “endgame item.”
“So, if you don’t pay back the debt, we’ll have no choice but to sell your woman to a brothel? Heh.”
I had no intention of forgiving these guys who dared to touch what was *mine.*
—
Bert and I moved to a bonfire far from the warehouse where Emma and the village girls were being held.
*Click, click.*
Of course, even at that moment, the Rush and Gold Gang members were aiming their guns at me.
Dozens of men staring at me—talk about pressure.
In that tense atmosphere, Bert and I began our conversation.
“So… how much does Emma owe you guys?”
I had already seen the IOU last time and confirmed that Emma had borrowed $200, but I asked Bert again anyway.
And then…
“$10,000.”
Bert answered with a mocking laugh, as if teasing me.
From $200 to $10,000? Even a swarm of locusts would cry at that interest rate, but I stayed calm.
“That’s a lot of interest piled up. Last I heard from Emma, it was $200.”
“Our interest rates are a bit steep.”
“What if I can’t pay?”
“Well then…”
*Swoosh, click.*
Bert shrugged and pulled out a revolver from his holster.
“You’ll have to die.”
“……”
“$10,000. Pay up right now, or I’ll kill you.”
Of course, I didn’t have $10,000 in my wallet, and there was no way I could.
Bert had essentially declared that he was going to kill me right then and there.
“What? No $10,000? Then you’ll have to die.”
“Puhaha! Boss! Look at this guy, frozen stiff, can’t even speak.”
“Check his pants! Is he pissing himself? Hahaha.”
The other gang members laughed and mocked me, clearly planning to humiliate me before killing me.
“……”
I looked at them and picked up a nearby whiskey bottle.
Thinking it was fine to have one last sip before dying, they didn’t stop me.
I took a big swig of whiskey and shouted.
“I’ve got a counteroffer for you.”
“…What?”
In the midst of their confusion, I continued.
“$100,000.”
“……”
“Give me $100,000, and I’ll spare *your* lives.”
Silence followed my proposal.
The first to regain his composure and speak was Boss Bert.
“…Is this guy for real?”
He let out a hollow laugh and tapped my head with the hard barrel of his revolver.
“What? You’ll spare us if we give you $100,000? Oh, how generous of you!”
“……”
“I was a bit nervous because I heard you were skilled, but turns out you’re just a lunatic.”
Bert’s friendly smile disappeared as he looked down at me with disdain.
“$100,000, kid? Even if we sold your woman, your mom, and your grandma to a brothel, we wouldn’t get that much, you idiot.”
“…So, no money?”
“Nope. But what are you gonna do about it? Huh? You don’t even have a gun or a knife.”
*Tap, tap, tap!*
Bert’s taps with the gun barrel grew rougher.
As I took the hits without resistance, Bert and the others gradually lowered their guard.
I took the opportunity to whisper to Bert.
“If you don’t have the money, you’ll have to die.”
“So, what are you gonna do?”
“Like this.”
Inventory.
*Bang!*
*Crunch.*
“…Huh?”
The bullet I fired blew Bert’s head clean off.
The other members just stared, unable to process the surreal scene before them.
Can’t blame them.
To them, it must’ve looked like a revolver suddenly appeared out of thin air.
“You guys have no idea why I’m here.”
This was… my ultimate move, I guess.
The one advantage I had as a player.
The only way to log out of this damn Western game.
It was to fill the single inventory slot with $1,000,000.
Up until today, I had filled it with over $900,000.
But…
[Logout unavailable]
[Amount remaining for logout: $0 / $1,000,000]
Now, my inventory was empty.
Anyone who walked into my office right now would see a massive pile of $900,000.
Instead of the money, I had used the single inventory slot for a revolver, and I used every last bullet sparingly.
*Bang bang bang bang bang!*
“…!”
“Shoot, shoot him!”
After Bert, five more members fell before the others regained their senses, but it was too late.
I threw the empty revolver to the ground and picked up a fallen member’s weapon.
“You bastards. Because of you, I left something more precious than my life outside my body.”
An unbearable hunger washed over me—I had left behind all the money I’d saved over 17 years.
If I didn’t go wild right now, I felt like I’d collapse from the hunger.
But maybe it was the whiskey, because the guys in front of me looked like harmless sheep.
No need to hold back.
*Click.*
It was time for a massacre.
