Rust - Chapter 120



Only Krnovel

RUST -120

The driver in the trailer truck shouted into the hands-free device.

“They’re crazy. No. They’re crazy bitches.”

[······.]

I hired a trailer truck driver with a criminal record. It was to check out Maru and his group’s tendencies. Since I was watching them anyway and there were people around, I planned to stop them before a big problem arose.

I told the truck driver that if he caused an accident and did it moderately, I would look after him. Then he tried to vent his desires to his heart’s content. But the woman he was photographing happened to be armed with a pistol and a grenade.

He’s stroking his pistol with an expression that makes it seem like there’s something missing. Is that normal? Let’s say that’s normal. At least half of the cargo loaded on the trailer truck is weapons.

But what is that thing? It’s something that crushes people’s wrists like candy.

‘Is this self-defense?’

‘······.’

‘But it’s noisy. Could you please be quiet?’

When the momentarily flustered employee was unable to answer, the driver pulled out his lower jaw, saying that he was being noisy and was trying to make him quiet down.

Woooooooooo

I had a blurry vision of a truck driver screaming and peeing and shitting himself.

The staff got goosebumps just thinking about it. It didn’t feel like this even when we were in a gunfight. It was just. It was different.

“Without batting an eye, he made a person crippled with his bare hands. You say that kind of thing is exempt from intensive surveillance? He should be monitored unconditionally. No, he should be put in quarantine immediately.”

The staff shouted with their fists raised, but the response was hollow.

[Didn’t you say that he made the threat first? If you watch the video, it looks like the truck driver made the threat first.]

“If you were that kind of guy, you should have told me in advance. What the hell are they? Those things.”

[You know, they’re survivors who escaped from Japan.]

“Am I a fortune teller? A physiognomist? Who would know that just because I escaped from Japan, I would be such a bomb?”

[Are you serious? Didn’t you know that Japan was practically in an apocalyptic state due to the earthquake, tsunami, and volcanic eruption? You think they were just ordinary people who escaped from that place without a single scratch?]

“I thought you weren’t ordinary, so I guess you wanted to check out what kind of personality you had?”

[But what’s the big deal?]

The staff calmed down. They were so excited by Maru’s unconventional response. They couldn’t see ahead because of the hands that were tearing their arms apart and pulling out their jaws because their screams were so loud.

If he had just pulled out his gun and shot, he wouldn’t have been this excited. If he had just shot the threatening truck driver. He would have grabbed that and shook it, thinking, ‘That guy is a low-boiling-point idiot.’

But this wasn’t the case. It was obvious to anyone that the truck driver was threatening the group of women. It was obvious to anyone that the truck driver, being a large man, was the one who attacked Maru first. So it was self-defense, and the Department of Homeland Security was also watching over him.

‘If you do this again, it’ll be difficult?’

Maru’s face, talking to him with empty eyes, came to mind. I had seen eyes that sparkled with life so many times that I was sick of them. I had also seen eyes that were soaked in drugs and alcohol, with yellow and blue whites, red with burst blood vessels, and all sorts of other colors that made me go crazy.

The bastard’s eyes were different. Something felt hazy. When I met those eyes, my body froze like a rat in front of a snake.

“I’m sorry, I got too excited. But they’re too dangerous.”

[It must be dangerous. Who isn’t dangerous? But didn’t you know their tendencies? They didn’t attack first. And according to what you said, they could easily kill someone with their bare hands, but they didn’t. They have self-control and respond rationally rather than emotionally.]

“Is responding rationally like pulling out your jawbone because it’s noisy?” The employee swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth because he was so upset.

[It is difficult to raise the surveillance level in the current situation. There is a shortage of personnel. Considering the employees dispatched to Japan, Korea, and China, it is virtually impossible to lose 40% of the personnel assigned to the drug dealers.]

“······.”

[Since they have ties to the Department of Homeland Security, it would be difficult to link them with just any work. The important thing is whether or not they are spies… Judging from their actions, that’s unlikely.]

“Yes.”

There was no way a spy would do something so blatantly crazy. Rather, when he was threatening women and using physical force, it would have been more suspicious if he had just been subjected to it unilaterally or had run away. How could he escape from Japan, which had turned into hell, without getting hurt at all, and then just get beaten up and run away?

[Just make sure to check location tracking, phone calls, text messages, and emails.]

“yes.”

[···Okay. Then thank you for your hard work.]

The employee looked at the darkening scenery. It was a little early, but he wanted to rest.

“I’ll stay overnight at the next rest stop.”

[Chick- Okay.]

The woman’s voice cut off briefly.

======

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The nurse was sound asleep.

He remembered the first time he had saved him. As the memory of him knocking out two people in an instant began to fade, he showed him the scene of him pulling out a truck driver’s jawbone raw.

As expected, he was a scary person.

Kim Yang was the same way. When I saw a woman walking around with a gun, looking around for something to shoot, I felt a little bit like that.

You must have had some drinks. You tried to talk frankly, but your emotions got the best of you and you got drunk. Then, you drink moderately and talk about this and that, isn’t that the process of people becoming close? But Ms. Kim was strange. She was listening quietly and then suddenly slapped me in the face.

‘Huh? Nani?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Why?’

‘hit.’

‘Ahh- why?’

‘If it’s right, you’ll know.’

‘······.’

‘I don’t know? Why is it right?’

‘If you keep getting hit, you’ll know.’

I was slapped in the face with the palm of my hand and then punched. I was beaten so hard that the police had to come. Fortunately, despite the many beatings, my bones were not broken.

Maybe he hit her so that her bones wouldn’t break. He hit her without even knowing why. When I saw Ms. Kim who hit her, I should have been angry and resentful, but I wasn’t like that.

Looking at Maru was scary, but strangely I felt a sense of stability, and I didn’t hate seeing Ms. Kim, who was violent, out of the blue.

It was much more comfortable than being burned, mentally harassed, even though I didn’t get hit. Something was going crazy in the ocean, something was roaming around in the ocean, and there were yakuza-like people walking around.

I felt comfortable being with these people.

‘Why do you want to come with us?’

I somehow ended up becoming a U.S. citizen. I asked for 3-4 months’ salary as he said and I could live on my own. Although I couldn’t speak English, I could enroll in a university language course, live in a dormitory, and look for a job. But I felt uneasy thinking about doing that.

‘···Think slowly about what to do from now on. I won’t chase away those who want to go with me, and I won’t catch those who want to go alone.’

Why? They were violent and rough people, but strangely, they didn’t want to leave. Was this Stockholm Syndrome? The nurse shook her head.

I saw the side profile of Ms. Kim, driving in a leisurely manner, as if she were a middle-aged man. Overlapping that was the image of Ms. Kim, taking a close-up shot of the truck driver with his jaw dislocated being taken away in a 911 with an excited expression. But I didn’t hate that image.

‘Am I crazy?’

The nurse exhaled softly.

[Chi-ik – I’ll stay overnight at the next rest stop.]

“Okay.”

Kim Yang glanced to the side as she answered. Her eyes met the nurse’s, who was sighing as she looked at herself.

“You sigh at me?”

“to?”

Miss Kim clenched her small fists.

“Stop it. Are you used to getting hit?”

Maru’s voice was heard from the backseat. Kim Yang, who had suddenly become more polite, put her hand on the transmission as if she had never clenched her fist before.

“But are you saying you’re just going to sleep in a place like this for a day?”

At Maru’s words, the two women looked outside. It was indeed so.

======

======

If you watch B-movies, you’ll sometimes come across a place like that. A rest area in a vast wasteland.

An old rest area with an inn, a restaurant, and a general store all in one place. When the sandy wind blows, something rolls around like a ball and passes by, and it’s a remote rest area where Black Brother, Peace Panic, or the inconsistent White Brother, or all three of them appear at once.

The employee who got off the trailer truck said.

“If we just pass by here, we’ll have to go another 200 miles to get to the rest area, but— I’m a bit tired.”

Maru made a face like, “So that’s it?”

“As you can see, this is a bit of a remote place, and there’s an entertainment city 3-4 hours away, so it’s a place where some rough people might come.”

“······.”

What do you want me to do? I looked at the employee and he explained further.

“To avoid any unpleasant incidents, please stay in your room after eating.”

Well, Maru was relaxed.

“Each room?”

Ms. Kim asked the question quickly.

“We haven’t reserved a room yet, but just in case, would you like the ladies to share a room? What do you think?”

Before Miss Kim could even make a discontented expression, the nurse nodded in agreement. So Miss Kim and the nurse shared a room, and Maru and the staff each had their own, and they headed to the rest area cafeteria.

Squeak

The old, oiled hinges groaned with age.

The eyes of the people sitting on both sides were focused on the entrance. At one end were the Black Brothers, and at the other end were those who appeared to be members of the Peace Panic Movement.

The employee who saw that stopped in his tracks.

“shit.”

Why at this time, in this place…

There were rare cases where gangs or cartels met in neutral territory, especially in remote areas where it would take hours for the police to arrive, and sometimes a shootout would break out depending on the outcome of the meeting. Naturally, witnesses and evidence were lost in the vast wilderness.

It was Maru who went in, ignoring the employee who was standing there blankly.

“Oh. I’m hungry.”

The Black Brothers and Peace Panics glared at him, but Maru sat at a corner table and raised his hand.

“Here you go. Order here.”

Ms. Kim and a nurse came out from behind the employee who was standing there blankly. The two pretty, petite women sat down at the table where the floor was.

Kim Yang was also ignoring the atmosphere. “Why worry when there’s Baekjeong?” Kim Yang quickly glanced at the menu and raised her hand.

A waitress who looked to be in her late twenties came to the table wearing a subtle outfit that revealed her upper chest. Her hands were shaking slightly. Was it hydrocephalus? All she had to do was serve the food properly without spilling it. Now that I think about it, the employee sitting across from me was also sweating and shaking slightly.

‘Are you overworked?’

Maru ordered without caring.

“Bacon, eggs, and potatoes on toast, one beef pie, one apple pie, and one pecan pie, and lemonade for drink.”

Miss Kim accepted it quickly.

“Same thing. Just Cherry Coke for the drink.”

“Me. Apple pie and milkshake.”

“Bacon potato soup, club sandwich, beer. Miller.”

The waitress took our order. As we walked, we stumbled slightly, and both sides snickered and whistled. Their eyes were staring at Ms. Kim and the nurse. Ms. Kim blankly stared and the nurse cringed.

“Let’s sleep somewhere else and leave right after dinner.”

The nurse nodded vigorously at the staff’s words. Ms. Kim waited for the food blankly, and Maru opened the newspaper next to her. ‘They have newspapers in restaurants in the US too. Who put it there after reading it?’

“I’m sorry. It had to come at a time like this.”

The staff kept talking nonsense, but Maru listened with one ear and let it go out the other.