(Third person's POV- Omniscient)

Jaws of three men and the now-bald woman, smashed together on the ground as there stood a girl in the darkness and her eyes were deadly.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Kairo growled as he clenched his fists.

The woman hissed, anger flashing on her eyes as her bald head shone in the darkness, "M—my hair! How dare you—you do this to me?!"

But everyone disregarded her as their eyes were on the entity.

Kairo stepped ahead as Lorenzo and Kanzaki held the woman. He asked, "What the hell are you doing here, Hana?!"

Hana averted her eyes and said nervously, "I—I was just passing by..."

A brow twitched on Kairo's forehead, "Passing by...?" He said through his gritted teeth, "You are miles away from Shinkyo and you were passing by!?"

Hana flinched at his voice as she was still unable to look into his eyes. Well, she couldn't find any other excuses to sprout... What was she doing here anyway?!

The answer was simple... She had been following them for two days and made sure they had no clue of her traits in which she had succeeded.

However, Kairo seemed really angry at her now.

Hana said with a straight face, "I was strolling the cities and got lost."

Kairo clenched his teeth as he could see through her lies. She couldn't even make a good excuse!

And then they heard someone's footstep from behind them. At the same time, Habibi came down as well as they all turned around to see.

It was Komesuge and on his back, there was a man who had passed out.

As soon as Hana's eyes fell on that man, she gasped.

****
(A few moments earlier)

The commotion got worse as Komesuge had successfully riled up the other drunken men. He was acting as if he was a boisterous man who loved to cause trouble while drinking.

The man before him said, "Don'tcha think ye can defeat me easily in a fight, ye cheeky bastard!"

The other said, "Shut yer mouth, Hordy! Ye just don't like a young bastard is winning in a fight! Hahaha!"

As the other men mocked Hordy, he got angry while Komesuge looked at him warily. He didn't need to insult him!

He could see the man was getting angrier by each second especially after getting a lot of criticism that he was loosing to Komesuge.

In truth, Komesuge wasn't even drinking. There was a potted plant just beside him which hadn't been blessed with the owner's or workers' pity and got itself watered. So it had dried down to the extent that it would never come back alive even if Komesuge keep pouring all the alcohol on it.

Komesuge's task was to make them fight not get himself into a fight!

But damn these drunkards! They keep dragging him to their fights.

They might be thinking he was one of them...

Fights, curses, throwing things such as the tables and chairs, bottles, mugs or women toward each other were everyday occurance here. No one cared as long as their drunken self could boost their sky-high egos and so-called manliness.

"Dis ain't even a fight!" Hordy grumbled as he stood up, taking Komesuge's attention. He pointed his finger at Komesuge and said, "Yo boi! Com'ere! Fight like a man!"

He cracked his knuckles together and grinned, "Let me show ye how ta fight!"

The previous man who had been criticising him said, "Eh? Why, Hordy?! Just 'cause ye can't beat 'em ta drinkin' now ye want ta show off yer skills in a hand-ta-hand fight! Hahaha! Yer a chickenshit!"

Komesuge looked blankly at the man. Was he serious! Why was he doing this to him?! He needed to go back because he just saw Kairo and Kanzaki leaving the place with the culprit.

Komesuge coughed as he stood up to excuse himself but the surrounded people started to cheer for him because they thought he was getting ready to fight.

Komesuge said, "I—err... I need ta go—"

"Yeaaaaahhhh!" The man, Hordy thought he(Komesuge) stood up to fight him as he charged beforehand so he could land a punch on his face first. However, in a reflex, Komesuge's hands caught his fist and threw him away.

The man went flying to the bartender as he collided with him and both of them blanked out.

Shit!

And the people around him started cheer for him as Komesuge only stared blankly at a distance. What a drag...

The man who had been criticising the Hordy man, said while punching Komesuge in the back, "Ye boi have it what it needs ta be a man! Ye are so young but ye could defeat that dumbass! Hahah!"

He was about to retreat as the man caught his hand and said, "How 'bout ye join my group! We work together and we get money together! A lot of money!"

Komesuge shook his head, "No thanks, I need ta go back because I—"

But before he could finish his words, a few people beside him shouted, "Boss! The bartender is down!"

And the man looked at his subordinates. "Ei? The bartender is down?!"

The others nodded as the man scoffed. "Throw 'em out! I don't need 'em anymore! He was useless anyway!"

Komesuge's head snapped at the man as his accent sounded a little different from before. It felt like he was just using the previous accent to hide his true accent.

But why?

And it didn't take him long to guess why?

A man who was hiding as if he was one of the rowdy and boisterous drunk men. There were three reasons for his concealment. One, he was a leader of an illegal gang, Two, he was the viper.

Or three, he was both of the above.

Komesuge's palms clenched as his hands slowly went toward his sword. He had not one ounce of doubt on the man who was sitting beside him all this time. He thought he was just one of those rookies!

Komesuge's eyes followed each corner of the inn's diner...

There were too many of his men and he didn't know if he had more men outside or not. It would be a foolish move to engage in a battle with everyone here. It would catch their attention that they were from Wansai. It would create a big disaster later in the future...and probably trouble for them.

He stood straight as he didn't go for his sword and asked, "Money ye say?"

That caught the man's attention as he smiled wickedly, "Yes! A lot of money!"

Komesuge gave a lopsided grin and said, "If money is dere then who wouldn't want dat!"

"Hahah! Yer one smart boi!" The man said and ordered his subjects with a harsh tone, "I'm goin' back ta my den, ye foolish bastards! Clean dis mess before I come back! And throw dat lowly bartender!"

The men around him nodded as his loyal and obedient dogs while the boss led Komesuge. "Let us go ta my hide! We can talk business dere!"

Komesuge, as a enthusiastic young boy, followed him from behind but his eyes glinted as he smiled wickedly, "Ay! I'm all yours!"

The man seemingly very interested at him but he had no idea that once they left the inn, Komesuge was about to knock him out.

And he did just that. As soon as they left the inn and the doors closed behind them, Komesuge's fingers reached the back of his head swiftly, making him unconscious in a second.

He looked around and saw there wasn't anyone who would come running toward them. Most of the men were flirting with women and he made sure that they look like they were leaving the inn after getting too much drunk.

He pulled the man on his back and started to walk toward where they had planned to meet.

****

"What happened?" Kairo asked as he saw Komesuge coming toward them and Hana getting stiffened at her place.

Hana looked at the man who was on Komesuge's back as she said, "He—he is the man who used to experiment on me!"

And everyone froze.

So, he was the viper...

-----
3rd April, 2023
(1381)