Mercenary Black Mamba

What's this b*stard saying?

Surprised, Black Mamba jerked back.

Creeaaak—

The chair sharply scraped as it was pushed back. Ombuti's eyes grew dark. It was as though he was questioning how such a person could exist.

"Wow, you should watch your words. People might think I'm the sadist, and you're the masochist if they overhear. The soul-returning pain administration won't have any more effects on you. It will be hard to induce cell division at your age."

"That's f****** unfortunate."

Sun WooHyun looked disappointed. The effects of the soul-returning pain administration was definite. His body had turned light to the point that he couldn't feel his weight for the first time that week. His speed had turned two times faster, all of a sudden.

Even his enteritis, which he'd been suffering from for the past 10 years, had disappeared. His body was so light he wanted to have a go at Black Mamba. Of course, he didn't have an iota of thought about saying that.

Is he saying that he's going to stop hitting me because he's scared I'll surpass him?

Sun WooHyun couldn't get rid of his self-centered way of thinking.

"How do I train from now on?"

"Kyuksul isn't bad. Train yourself with the seven methods that I taught you in variations and gallop 10 kilometers every day. Half should be weight breathing, and the other half, no-oxygen breathing."

"Do I also need to keep training on my shooting?"

"You can get more stable shots when your bones and muscles grow stronger. All the waste in your body has been drawn. Your body should have regressed by at least a decade younger."

Edel and Ombuti's eyes flashed at the words of a decade's regression. Eyes filled with greed were directed at Black Mamba.

"Wakil, I want to be hit too." Ombuti's eyes lit up.

It was the same for Edel. Not even God can stop an old man's desire to remain young and a woman's attachment to youth.

"Haha, that'll be difficult. I already applied the lowest level of the soul-returning pain administration for Sun WooHyun. If I lower it any further, there won't be any effect at all. Will you be able to withstand the level of beating that Sun WooHyun withstood?"

Ombuti's face crumbled. Disappointment settled on Edel's face. The level of beating that the lackey had received was like indirectly asking them to die. What was the point of dying when they wanted to live and be young!

"I also wasted a lot of ki this time. My teacher gave me a thorough wash and lost 10 years of his life. It is the world's rule to gain something by losing another."

Black Mamba turned to Sun WooHyun and smiled.

You gain one by losing another? It's difficult to the point that it reduces a person's life?!

Sun WooHyun's expression turned into one that is a cross between a smile and a cry. Who could sacrifice themself like Black Mamba, seeking nothing in return!

What about him? He'd just blamed Black Mamba for refusing further training, on purpose. In retrospect, he was a captive. He had received all kinds of benefits just for being someone of the same ethnicity. He had even grunted for more after receiving all kinds of things like a pig.

Ah, I thought I knew that those with less saw those greater than them as idiots! How am I so foolish? I'm a pig.

Something hot swept past his skin. Sun WooHyun leaped to his feet and kneeled.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Surprised, Black Mamba avoided him.

"Wakil, you've given too much to someone so stupid. You have saved my life, you have given a lost b*stard a nationality, and you've also given me a large sum of money. You even taught me martial arts and fixed my illness without considering your own toil. I complained about getting more even after being graced with all kinds of kindness and dragged my feet. I'm a pig-like b*stard, no, I'm a swine."

"Why're you suddenly talking about that? Everyone does it."

It was that. He had filled another's weakness and parts that they had lacked without expecting anything in return, at such a young age. There were no conditions or calculations. How old was he! Sun WooHyun was truly embarrassed.

"No. I should be embarrassed. I hid at the beat without fighting in Dombrey forest, but Wakil never mentioned anything about it. If I'd guarded you back then, you wouldn't have been injured at all."

Ombuti flew to his feet.

"What? You hid like a rat while Wakil fought all those tanks and reinforced enemies by himself! I thought something was strange. Still, you stayed by his side and kept all the good things for yourself! I should have buried you in the Sahel a long time back!"

Edel grabbed Ombuti's arm, which was about to pull out a gun. Edel felt Ombuti's eyes, which were ablaze, on her. The eyes that used to be dark were now filled with white. Edel shook her head lightly. The fire had died out. It was the moment when the hierarchy of Emil-Sun WooHyun-Ombuti-Edel was set.

"Everything's good when the ending is good. Why're you bringing that up when everything's wrapped up? You were almost killed by Ombuti when I just started raising you."

Sun WooHyun glanced at Ombuti.

"Ombuti, you can shoot me. I'm a b*stard who is below an insect!"

Sun WooHyun sobbed. Tears streamed down from his eyes. Sun WooHyun's face was fierce and rough. A woman on a blind date would scream. It was a face that had no tears in its fortune. He wasn't a Tubilis for no reason. The tears streaming down his horrible face was unspeakably grotesque.

Ombuti leaped on his feet and kicked Sun WooHyun.

"You f****** idiot, don't you know that Wakil made you a warrior by sacrificing his own ki? Your duty is to protect Wakil for the rest of your life. If a bullet flies, block it with your own body, even if it's a knife! If you forget a servant's duty once more, I'll have your head!"

The Tuareg warrior's charisma could be felt throughout the entire hospital room, despite his old age.

Edel's eyes shook. How could a human trust and follow another human when he wasn't even God! Her heart trembled at the two men's fight.

This wasn't a loyalty born from an understanding but a loyalty where one submitted their everything. It couldn't be explained by the word "loyalty," either. It was the clashing of hearts between true men.

The lackey was always suspicious of his surroundings and slacked off. He was the type of person who didn't trust others and kept his heart close to himself. Black had dragged such a person in, like a black hole.

Is that the world of true men? Is that person's existence special? I want to cry and be kicked as a man too.

She lamented her birth as a woman for the first time in her life.

"I've nothing but my body to give to Wakil. I'm reporting to you officially as lackey Sun WooHyun."

Sun WooHyun kowtowed[1] three times, before kneeling completely. Black Mamba patted Sun WooHyun's arm.

"Sun WooHyun, I'll acknowledge your declaration. I don't like restrictions. I don't want my life or another person's life to be restricted. You came to me on your own free will. If you change your mind, you can leave whenever you want. It is your own free will."

Bang—

Sun WooHyun banged his forehead on the floor.

"I swear to the heavens that I'll live as a lackey. Just give me food and clothes. I'll give all the rewards that Wakil has given me to Miss Edel. I must have lost my mind because of the sudden, large amount of money."

"Lackey, I'll take that heart with good intentions. However, invest that reward in Ombuti. I need Ombuti to do something for me, anyway."

"I will."

Black Mamba closed his eyes. Another person's life had settled on his shoulders, just like that. It was as his master had said, he was blessed with lasting connections.

"Lackey, if you want to work with me, you need to abandon three things."

Black Mamba paused and turned his gaze to the ceiling. His father was smiling proudly.

The sadness that he had felt from being discriminated against, humans who detested the fact that they lacked power, humans who filled their stomachs by stealing others' earnings, those who stole lives to maintain their power, greed, and jealousy, didn't discriminate between races or ethnicity.

"Firstly, throw away your idea of distinction. The dogma that the organization you're associated with is special and always right is the fundamental cause of conflict and torment between a society. Being different doesn't mean it's wrong."

"Secondly, throw away the consciousness of supremacy that comes with distinction. You become incapable of respecting others with that mindset. If you do not respect another, people will turn hostile, and fights will break out. How do whites see blacks? They see them as people of lower standing and have committed an unforgivable sin called slavery for 100s of years. Look at the Arabian locals of the Sahara. They're no different from the blacks. Are humans better than chimpanzees? No. They're simply different."

"Lastly, throw away your psychological entitlement. If supremacy is the unexpressed state of mind, entitlement is an expression of psychological supremacy. Those who hold onto a rat's tail worth of power, money, connections, and knowledge, consider themselves above others and place themselves above the sky. They ignore the law, don't keep order, and ignore traditions. They're those whose souls have been tainted."

"Oh!"

She wanted to hang those words in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Her heart rate picked up.

Edel's light exclamation shook the atmosphere. Ombuti had been kneeling next to Sun WooHyun, listening in.

"I've thought about a lot of things in the Sahel and realized more or less. What do you think is the greatest pain amongst all pains that humans can feel?"

"Hunger."

Sun WooHyun and Ombuti nodded at Edel's reply.

"Right. It's hunger. Those who've never been famished spoke fulfilling words. I've seen the children of the Sahel starve to death. I saw Professor Giz and Edel's hard work. I also heard Mr. Edel's life story from Edel. His life is justified. There are always excuses for an unjustified life. An excuse that comes with a reason, but the reason isn't justified. I want to create a land where one can eat, learn, and work well, as far as my powers can reach. I want to create a world that doesn't need excuses. That's my goal as Black Mamba."

His final words rang like a predator's low-resonance howl. The hospital room shook as though it'd been greeted by an earthquake.

Ombuti, Sun WooHyun, and Edel looked at Black Mamba with gratification. Light emanated from his body. His revealed determination shook objects.

"All will go as Wakil has planned!" Ombuti and Sun WooHyun shouted.

"Your dreams will be realized."

Edel didn't want to call him Wakil, like Ombuti. The reason was something that only she knew.

"Ombuti, bring the world map, no, the map of the central regions of the Sahel."

Quick-witted, Ombuti immediately understood his request for the 15,000 square kilometers map that he had received from Bonipas.

"Ombuti, do you know anything about the Aouzou region?"

"It's an empty land, north of the Ennedi plains. It's a volcanic region 1,000 meters above water, so water is not available. There's nothing aside from the dried, red soil and wind."

"The population?"

"It's an abandoned land. There are two to 3,000 inhabitants in Aouzou, but no one really lives there. It's a land that president Tombalbye had presented to Libya in 1972. Habre's government is currently at war with Libya on the issue of national borders."

"A volcanic land 1,000 meters above the ground? That's not right."

Black Mamba shoved his nose into the map again. Ombuti slowly crept out of the room. Wakil had Wakil's job, and he had his.

Black Mamba, who'd been looking at the map, slapped his forehead.

Ah, I forgot about Bellman's request.

He opened his door and shouted.

"Lackey, tell the dark guy outside to come in!"

A member of the station's strategic department was called in. They became Ombuti and Sun WooHyun's feed after Landre had caused a scene. They were ordered to do all kinds of things, even cleaning the bathrooms. A strange scene of the DGSE members delivering ice creams and taking out the trash continued.

"Act!"

"Tell Landre to run over right now."

"Monsieur Landre left the company," the officer spoke nervously, frozen in his place.

"Oh! He was a smart friend, how unfortunate."

Black Mamba's expression suddenly dulled. He looked like a brother who'd just lost his sibling. Nubelle, the team leader of the fifth strategic team, suddenly lost his balance. The very person who had broken 15 of Middle East Africa Manager Landre's ribs was the VVIP hospital room's guest. It was spoken about in silence but everyone knew. If these were crocodile tears, it was well-acted.

He is the devil.

Nubelle straightened his head out. An unfortunate accident of his bones ending up in the grinder would occur if he lost himself to the devil.

"Who's the next in position?"

"It is Monsieur Ecjose Ariba."

The confidential information leaped out of his mouth, by itself.

"Tell him that I want to see him."

"Act!"

"Tsk."

Black Mamba licked his lips. It was truly unfortunate. It was said that the old was good, and he had been a b*stard that he could take advantage of, but he'd gone to see his child at home. Well, Bonipas wouldn't have taken the humiliation, lying down. The b*stard's skull could have ended up on a countryside's grassy field.

It hadn't been 20 minutes when a man as thin as bamboo, who looked about 40 years old, stepped inside the hospital room. His physical build was similar to Sun WooHyun's.

"I apologize for seeking a meeting so suddenly."

Ariba flinched. Black Mamba's words were polite, but his eyes were sharp. His eyes stung from Black Mamba's glare. It was understandable that secretary Bonipas, who was called the serpent king of snakes, had been crushed by this gaze. He breathed and straightened out his lower stomach.

"Black Mamba's consults are a priority."

Neither exchanged their station nor their greetings. Both knew each other's status very well, so there was no need to repeatedly introduce themselves as people who had secret identities.

"I have a request. Sergeant Bellman, real name Davis. Previously, he's a CIA agent. Davis is tracked by the CIA's clean up team for leaking internal mission information. Can you solve this problem?"

"Huh, how did Bellman get through Legion Etranger's strict investigation? He must have used a second identity. This is a hard problem to solve, as it is the CIA's internal problem."

Ariba was conflicted. He couldn't say anything about the foreign intelligence agency because serious problems could occur with rash intervention. There had also been a time when the two clean up teams clashed.

[1] An act of worship that involved kneeling and bowing.