"Excuse me, is this the place where you give out loans to people?"

"Huh? A brat? Hah, bro, come here, look at this kid."

"Hm. What do you need money for? What's in that bag?"

"I just need a couple hundred bucks, I am sure this time. This time I'll win and make three, no, ten times the amount! Just once."

"Bro, a gambler."

"What luck, we should use him."

"Kid, you seem like a rich brat, some money huh—AH!"

A jab straight to the Adam's apple made one of the guards stop in his tracks. I quickly grabbed his collar with one hand and his hair with the other before smashing his head into the other one's teeth.

"Guh!"

For good measure, I hit them both in the jaw again, and they fell down to the ground like toppled dominoes. Dusting my hands, I looked up at the building. Leaving the bike right outside the compound was a good idea; this place was clearly deserted.

The windows looking down here had their lights turned on. It wasn't smart to let them know I was here. Quickly, I dragged the two guards to the walls. For the last step, I pressed a foot on the shin and pushed down.

—CRACK!

Good enough.

"I should have asked them questions..." It was too late to think of that now. Someone else would have to be unlucky, I guess. I stepped inside the building and started climbing the stairs.

The lights overhead flickered. A scent of cigarettes and old mold filled the air. The building's paint was falling off, and the dim lighting barely helped.

Sounds of people playing poker resounded on the first floor. If I climbed above, things would get messy while coming down. It was best to eliminate everyone on my way up.

I pressed myself against the wall at the turn of the staircase, which offered a view of the room where the game was on.

A knife... but if they were only as good as the ones below, there would be no need. Instead, I reached into the bag on my shoulder and rummaged through it. Inside was a flare, the kind that let out a large amount of smoke to signal things from a distance. I had grabbed a bunch of them from home.

The first thing I did was bang on the steel railings of the staircase.

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"What's that noise?"

"Damn, is someone fighting?"

"I'll check it out. I need to take a piss, too."

One of them walked over after hearing the noise. As he came closer, I kept banging on the railing, and right before he took the turn, I hid, sticking to the wall.

A burly man stepped out of the turn. I tapped his shoulder. Surprised, he turned to me. "Who are—"

A kick, straight to the nuts, sent him wheezing within a second. I grabbed his head and smashed it into the railing next, continuing the sound. Then pulled him back, and smashed it again. And again, and a couple more times until blood pooled at his feet.

"The sound didn't stop."

"What's going on?"

"We should check, too—"

Right then, I used my lighter to light the flare and tossed it down the passageway.

"What's that!?"

"Fuck, smoke!!"

I charged into the smoke right after throwing the flare. Hidden in the smoke, I nimbly knocked them out one after another. A jab to the jaw, the back of another's knee, and then a punch in the neck. The solar plexus, the crotch, and smacking the ears.

They dropped like fleas before the flare even ran out. Without wasting a moment, I moved back to the stairs and started climbing up.

The sound was enough to attract a bunch of them; they had started coming downstairs.

"Alright, this makes it much quicker," I said.

"Get this bastard!"

I ducked and tossed the first one down the stairs. The next swung a metal bat at me. I moved to the side. He swung it again, and I dodged again. This time, the metal bat hit the stair railings.

Seeing the chance, I pushed his hands down and struck his face with the back of my fist. The man's grip on the bat loosened, which I quickly picked up and struck him again on his chest.

With the metal bat in hand now, there was no way I was going down. Even though being the one climbing was disadvantageous, my eyes were set on their weak spots.

When they fell, I made sure to smack them a couple more times so they wouldn't get back up.

I reached the third floor, and more people came rushing down from the next one. Before they could get here, I pulled out another flare from my bag and lit it up.

They reached the landing right then.

"DIE!!"

"Clench your teeth while fighting~" I shoved the flare inside the mouth of the first one and pushed him onto the others. Panicked, he ran around, throwing the smoke right at their faces.

Without missing a beat, I swung the metal bat, which had bent now. Punches and kicks all missed me by a hair's breadth as each of Astro Financing's employees fell to the ground.

Silence remained as the last of them dropped to the ground.

I could hear small whimpers.

"Is there someone?"

"P-please, help!"

The captives, it seemed. Instead of going to them, I grabbed the last guy I had punched and slapped him until his eyes opened.

"The girl you brought in today, where is she?"

"T-t-the girl...!" His eyes trembled in fear. "Top! The top floor, with the boss—"

Another hit to the jaw, and he fell right back to sleep. The metal bat was unusable now. I tossed it aside and climbed up. Anna was my priority here.

Tap, tap, I walked up the stairs. As soon as I reached the top floor, the gate leading to an office room came into my sight. Unlike the other floors with passageways on the left and right, this one was straight ahead of the stairs.

Suddenly, the door opened on its own, and a breeze of wind whooshed past me. A knife embedded itself in the wall behind...

...and a drop of blood trickled down my cheek.