Past Life Returner

The yakuza Woo Yeon-Hee had shoved into the dungeon now numbered over one hundred as the dead Suzuki sisters’ influence over them still remained. When I arrived, there were gangsters wandering around at the entrance of the mountain. They were chasing the whereabouts of their fellow members, not knowing the exact location where they had consecutively gone missing.

I ignored them and arrived at the dungeon, and the ground was stained with blood. Woo Yeon-Hee was sitting in the tent’s folding chair and got up. She couldn’t think of anyone else but me who could approach her at this speed, so she was smiling.

“Did everything go well?” she asked.

“Yup. There are some guys coming up this way,” I replied.

“I feel like the dungeon will be discovered by the public at this rate.”

Gangs didn’t matter, but if the police started moving, it was highly likely that they would find the dungeon. While the pre-Awakened were conquering the dungeon, it was necessary to absolutely block the access of others. That was why I had flown in.

“I’ll deal with it,” I said while gazing down the mountain where the gangs were roaming around.

***

The guy didn’t even have a chance to pull the trigger.

Slam!

I kicked him in the chest, and Woo Yeon-Hee went behind the guy on the floor and pressed a dagger against his neck. People who were accustomed to violence or threats usually reacted the same way. They looked around quickly to grasp the situation instead of being frightened. The guy started looking down at the blade at his neck and glanced at his fellows, who had suddenly collapsed, the dungeon entrance that emitted a weird blue light, and the blood-stained ground. Then, he said while looking up at me, “Put the knife away.”

I ignored him and said to Woo Yeon-Hee, “The rest are useless.”

Woo Yeon-Hee laid down her dagger and began breaking the feet of the gang members on the ground as if she had mastered it over the past few days. Some of them screamed as soon as they regained consciousness from the pain.

Of course, the guy didn’t stay still. He tried bumping against me, but he soon frowned. When he moaned while covering his face, Woo Yeon-Hee threw all six gangs into the dungeon.

“Tell me where you belong to.”

He couldn’t reply easily since the sight of the petite and small Woo Yeon-Hee easily hoisting two bulky gang members on her shoulders was unbelievable, like the eerie blue light at the dungeon entrance. She raised her index finger and pointed to him.

Should I use Mind Control on him?

She sent me a signal, but I shook my head. Her Mind Control could only draw out short-term memories, and a physical lashing was the best solution to control this bastard who was still stuck in his fantasies. When I was about to smash his face once more, he opened his mouth. He seemed to be convinced by Woo Yeon-Hee’s ability.

“Was there one in Inagawa-kai…”

He murmured while looking at Woo Yeon-Hee. Although I didn’t know much about yakuza organizations, I was aware of the three major groups: Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai, and Inagawa-kai. These three were the largest factions among the Japanese violent gangs.

The guy was under the misunderstanding that Woo Yeon-Hee and I belonged to Inagawa-kai, perhaps because of my Japanese pronunciation. It looked like the core figures of Inagawa-kai were Korean-Japanese. In addition, another thing that could be inferred from his words was that he had first-hand experience of the Suzuki sisters’ abilities.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Matsui, the Vice Chairman of Hiroshijo[1] in Yamaguchi-gumi!”

The tone of his voice made it obvious that he thought that we were in big trouble. Then, he proudly revealed his affiliation similar to how Cho Dae-Hwan did in regards to the Jeon-il Group. I pointed at the dungeon entrance and gave him a firm reply, “That’s a passage to hell. However, if you bring just one person to me, you won’t be abandoned there.”

“W…who?”

“The fund manager of Yamaguchi-gumi. We, the superiors, have something to talk about just between us,” I responded.

Ptoey!

He was an idiot. He spat at a step far away from me, and there was no need for me to waste my time talking to such a guy.

“I knew it. I shouldn’t be nice to you.”

***

The situation was as expected. When the leader of the largest violent organization, Yamaguchi-gumi, had been replaced, the entire Japanese media were busy broadcasting about the incident. However, I had never heard of Suzuki Ririka, a young woman, becoming the boss.

Such news was dealt with not only in social commentaries but also in economic articles. Billions of dollars of black money under Yamaguchi-gumi also poured into Asia and Wall Street, and most of the funds from Japanese lenders that came in during the Asian financial crisis were from these gangs. They had intervened too much in the past, so the U.S. government directly froze assets and imposed economic sanctions on these gangs.

I recalled how Suzuki Ririka looked before she died. She had no ability to govern the entire Yamaguchi-gumi. All she could do was exert her awakening power on the public as the System ordered her. Therefore, she must have existed behind the scenes by placing a fake official boss, and it didn't look like she had taken full control over Yamaguchi-gumi.

Thus, things were easy for me. The real power holder of the current Yamaguchi-gumi was the fund manager, and his name was Takeuchi Ryusei. He was also the leader of Ryusei-jo, a yakuza group under Yamaguchi-gumi.

***

「Humanity and Justice」

A frame hung on the wall with those three huge words written on it. Underneath it, Ryusei was currently receiving a report from an executive.

“Yamaguchi-gumi’s movement is suspicious,” the executive said.

“They were always suspicious,” Ryusei replied.

“Boss!”

“We can’t do much about those bitches.”

“But something must have happened. I haven’t seen Hiroshijo and Ukedajo lately.”

Ryusei nodded calmly. It had been two years since the two girls raided the general assembly of Yamaguchi-gumi. The only outstanding thing about the older twin was her monstrous ability.

However, she was a stupid idiot who didn’t know a thing about the organizational system. At first, she wanted to be involved in the organization’s business, but soon, she had no choice but to give up. Then, she brought in a gangster named Hiroshi and entrusted her group’s position to him at the general assembly so that she could wander around the world. Since then, all kinds of foreigners attended the meeting and disappeared without a sound.

It was a shame that the boss of Yamaguchi-gumi died, but this was a golden opportunity for Ryusei. He gathered Yamaguchi-gumi’s executives and unified their opinions to let the Suzuki sisters do whatever they wanted as long as they didn’t ruin the group.

Ryusei said, “Just make sure the police don’t snoop around.”

The boss of Yamguchi-gumi had not appeared in public for two years, and Ryusei was certain that he had died. The police had been closing the dragnet as they were suspicious of the boss's whereabouts.

“Okay, sir.”

“Oh, and the guy you brought the other day… bring him in.”

“Are you talking about Kazuma?”

“Yes.”

The executive left the room, and Kazuma came in. The suit on him fitted him nicely. That was obvious because Kazuma wasn’t born on the street. He had graduated with honors at the University of Tokyo majoring in economics, and he used to be an elite who worked in the hedge fund Collec under the Jonathan Group.

Yamaguchi-gumi had scouted such a man by offering the highest salary. Until Kazuma arrived in Japan, he thought he would be working at a famous, ordinary hedge fund group in Japan, but instead it was under the largest and most violent Japanese gang, Yamaguchi-gumi.

Kazuma sat on the couch, and he seemed nervous as he neatly folded his hands on his knees.

“How did the thing go yesterday?” Ryusei asked while pretending that he didn’t know anything.

“As of today, the Goldstein Group has come up with a quick response. European stock prices have begun to stabilize, and the German banks started lifting restrictions on loans. You don’t need to worry about anything,” Kazuma said stiffly.

“I heard that the group’s female chairman went missing from her mansion. Is that something we need to worry about?”

“Nope, it’s a separate issue, sir. Have you considered what I told you last time?”

Kazuma was honestly scared and frustrated. He thought he had explained enough to his boss yesterday. The U.S. government had begun moving to impose sanctions on funds from gangs. Italian authorities had cracked down on Camorra, and Mexico had clamped down on Los Zetas, and their governments were already tying the gangs’ capital flows.

Yamaguchi-gumi was next in line. At this pace, the U.S. government would soon freeze their assets in America and brand the trade between them and North American companies as illegal. The only defense they had against their action was to act on this in advance by diverting funds in the U.S. to tax havens, laundering money, then investing in promising revenue streams.

“I’m waiting for Takeda,” Ryusei said.

“It’s not something he can resolve,” Kazuma replied.

“Okay, let’s say that things go as you say. Then what?”

“If we could directly invest in the Jonathan Group and the Gillian Group, we would’ve done so already. However, as you know, they are unlisted firms.”

“There are hedge funds with big returns.”

“Yes, that’s what we should instruct Takeda to do. The two groups’ Black Swan[2] hedge funds have the highest returns, but there’s no spot to invest.”

“So what?”

“If Takeda can’t break through, an IT company called Googol will soon be listed. Wall Street and the City are already paying attention to them as Jonathan Hunter has cooperated with their team to establish their firm.”

He was saying the same things as the others who handled Yamaguchi-gumi’s money. In fact, Ryusei was testing Kazuma to see if he could trust him to handle his group’s money. Ryusei had dealt with that himself.

The number of annual funds operated by the groups under Yamaguchi-gumi had exceeded three trillion yen. The money earned from legal actions such as from stocks, real estate, and state-run businesses didn’t matter, but the dark money gained from selling drugs, weapon trafficking, cabaret, pachinko, and AV needed to be laundered and distributed. That was the task that elites like Kazuma were responsible for.

“Okay, you are in,” Ryusei said decisively.

“...Pardon me?”

Ryusei called the executive in the hallway.

“Take this guy and train him.”

Kazuma looked around with wide eyes, and the executive told him to follow.

That afternoon, Ryusei’s real fund manager came into his office. The manager gave him a detailed report. It described that he had completed purchasing the target company’s stocks and that he would soon do something at the general meeting of stockholders.

The sun was setting outside the window, and Ryusei was getting up to have dinner with the manager.

Srrrr-

The door opened without a sound. Ryusei and the manager were shocked as a person suddenly appeared in an empty space, and he soon jumped into them aggressively.

Hwaaaaaak!

An eerie voice struck both of them.

“Kneel down.”

1. A clique under Yamaguchi-gumi. ☜

2. A type of hedge fund that seeks to gain big returns from sharp market downturns. ☜