BIA Ch. 73

Even when faced with a gun pointed at him, Bran didn’t seem surprised. Instead, he smiled and said,

“You had bullets left?”

Only then did Isaiah remember that Bran had been the one who emptied his gun case. Seeing that there weren’t any spare bullets, he must have roughly guessed the KTW bullet supply situation on this side.

“Want to check?”

Instead of relaxing his stance, Isaiah gripped his gun even tighter. It was to show that he had the grip safety engaged. Bran looked at Isaiah and said,

“Looks like you’re not hurt.”

It sounded like he was relieved. The tone of his voice was unnecessarily soft, and once again, the skin under his shirt tingled. But he still couldn’t tell where the itch was. It was just unbearably itchy.

“Did you kill Robin?”

Isaiah thought that this unidentifiable itch was a kind of frustration. The desire to scratch the itch was the same as the desire to know the answer. He believed that once the curiosity was resolved, the itch would also disappear. So he asked directly.

Bran didn’t answer. That in itself was an answer.

It was strange. Even though his curiosity was satisfied, the itch didn’t go away. It only got worse.

So Isaiah decided to ask one more question.

“Why?”

Was it his back, or maybe his chest? He didn’t know. His whole body was just itchy. He wanted to scratch anywhere, everywhere. Until he drew blood.

“Why did you kill him?”

Taking another step closer through the open doorway, Bran finally spoke.

“There was a bird I wanted to take out of its cage.”

But it didn’t seem like it wanted to come out. He chuckled softly and took another step.

“Don’t move.”

With the warning, Isaiah raised his arm higher, matching the narrowed distance. The gun muzzle always had to point directly between the target’s eyebrows.

“I believed that if I took the other bird out first, it would come out too.”

The distance was too close. He could see the black flecks in Bran’s irises.

For a moment, he was seized by an impulse to throw everything away. Afraid that his hand would lose its grip in a moment of carelessness, Isaiah gripped the gun in his hand even tighter.

Seeing Isaiah’s hand gripping the gun so hard that the veins were bulging out, Bran smiled wryly.

“But in the end, I failed.”

With those words, Bran turned around. He walked leisurely across the living room and quickly reached the front door, opening it and saying,

“Congratulations on returning to your cage.”

Bran’s figure disappeared through the doorway, and soon after, with a heavy thud, the steel door closed. It was just the apartment’s front door closing, but to Isaiah’s ears, it sounded like the door of a giant birdcage closing.

“What the hell is that crazy bastard talking about?”

Chester grumbled, looking at the front door Bran had closed. Even though he tried to hide it, it was obvious that he was relieved that Bran had returned without saying anything else.

“Anyway, You heard that right? He said he killed Robin.”

Instead of answering, Isaiah lowered the hand that was holding the gun.

“Isaiah!”

“Shut up.”

Isaiah spat out curtly and headed towards the cabinet in the corner of the bedroom. Hating his own hoarse voice from the tension, he deliberately opened the cabinet door roughly. He grabbed the first jacket he saw and put it on over his shirt. Chester shouted.

“Hey, where the hell are you going again?”

“To get bullets.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Isaiah dismissed him. The KTW bullets he used for his pistol hadn’t been available on the market for a long time. But there were still many people looking for them, so they were being traded secretly at high prices. WD was producing KTW bullets in-house, but to prevent the organization members from selling off their leftovers, they were only supplying the necessary amounts at set intervals.

“I made it clear on my first day here. I have to go to the collection point alone to prevent bullet leaks.”

“Bullshit. You were just being dragged around by Bran. Who knows if that bastard is waiting outside to kidnap you again?”

“Relax. I got my memories back.”

It meant that it wouldn’t happen again, so he could rest easy. But as Isaiah was about to leave the bedroom, Chester grabbed his arm.

“No. Even before you lost your memories, you were already planning to stab me in the back by joining hands with that bastard. There’s no guarantee you won’t do it again.”

Chester gritted his teeth and pounced. This time, Isaiah had no rebuttal.

In the end, the three of them ended up in Chester’s car, with Manny driving.

“Where should we go?”

Manny asked, turning on the navigation.

“Go to Mountain Dog first.”

“What? Shit, you’re going there even now?”

You crazy homo bastard, you’re going to die with your face buried in dick, you’re not right in the head, Chester cursed.

“Shut up. The supply depot is near there.”

“Ah.”

After a moment of awkwardness, Chester was back to being angry, saying as usual, why did you do things that would cause misunderstandings. Isaiah seriously thought for about 20 seconds about just shooting Chester as soon as he got the bullets and ending it all, but he soon changed his mind. Even if he was going to end it, he wanted to know what had happened between Bran and him in the past five days. More precisely, he was curious if Bran remembered him. He wondered if Bran had realized that he was that Lee from St. John Bosco Monastery. And if he did…

“…is that it?”

A voice suddenly cut in.

“What?”

Isaiah, who had been lost in thought, turned his head with a blank expression. When his eyes met in the rearview mirror, Manny asked.

“I was asking if we should keep going straight. On the way to Mountain Dog.”

“Yeah. Turn left one block before.”

Manny kept glancing at the rearview mirror. Isaiah didn’t look away either, seeing that Manny looked like he had something to say. Sure enough, Manny said with a somewhat somber expression.

“The robin thing is too bad.”

Manny seemed to think that Isaiah was quietly mourning Robin alone. This guy is surprisingly sensitive. Isaiah silently turned his head to the car window.

Unfortunately, he didn’t care much about Robin’s death. In this line of work, it was normal to hear about a colleague’s death every other day. If he worried about every single one, he wouldn’t be able to survive. Besides, Robin wasn’t even his original partner, and he was a has-been who had retired from the front lines a long time ago. The reason they suddenly assigned him to be his partner was clear. It was for surveillance.

He had no intention of quitting WD in the first place, and he had never done anything behind the backs of the higher-ups, so he didn’t care about being watched. It was just inconvenient because he wasn’t helpful when working. So, there was no need for mourning, and if he got a new, skilled partner this time, there wouldn’t be any problems. It would actually be a good thing. Of course, that was if Bran wasn’t the one who killed Robin.

Bran.

In the end, all his thoughts led back to Bran again. This time, it really couldn’t be helped.

“What does he mean by wanting to take me out of the cage?”

Staring at the familiar dark streets, Isaiah muttered as if talking to himself. He had been curious about it ever since he first heard it.

“What Bran said? He said he took Robin out of the cage first. Then he killed him. Isn’t the answer obvious?”

Manny said as if he had been waiting for it. It was as if he had been keeping that in mind the whole time.

“Is that really it?”

“What else could it be?”

Chester chimed in from the side.

“What, do you think he meant he wanted to set you free from WD like a bird trapped in a cage? Wake up. If that’s the case, he should have taken Robin out alive first.”

It was as if he thought Isaiah would have some absurd delusion, so Chester was glaring at him with fire in his eyes. There was no chance of a delusion in the first place, but hearing him tell him to get a grip with that kind of shitty tone made him feel like he was having some presumptuous thoughts.

…Well, he was having presumptuous thoughts. He should have done whatever it took to pay the penalty and cancel the contract. He had foolishly stuck by Chester’s side, saying he would save Bran, and ended up causing this mess. Who was he to save anyone? Bran was planning on killing him.

When he thought it was his own fault, he didn’t feel angry anymore, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Looks like you’ve finally gone crazy.”

Chester clicked his tongue, watching Isaiah chuckle. Ignoring him and just looking out the window, the car made a left turn.

“Stop here.”

Isaiah had the car stop at the entrance of an alley. And pointing to a small bar called Dolphin across the street, he said.

“It’s right there, so wait.”