Hello, Mr. Wesley

Exhaustion sometimes made him feel as though his body had been hollowed out after overworking himself.

After a busy day, Wesley opened his front door and casually tossed his coat onto the living room sofa.

Crossing the empty living room, Wesley wanted nothing more than a beer and some time to completely clear his mind.

As Kingpin's most trusted friend and subordinate, Wesley was certainly not poor. On the contrary, by any measure, he was wealthy.

So although Kingpin's operations were all in Hell's Kitchen, neither of them lived there.

Kingpin had chosen an office.

An enormous office, connected to a bedroom and living room, equipped with every sort of living facility.

Wesley preferred a detached apartment villa. He believed it highlighted his status as an elite, setting him apart from those gangsters with muscles for brains.

He opened the refrigerator and, following memory and habit, reached directly for a beer.

His hand came up empty.

"I remember... Maybe I remembered wrong."

He did not pay it any mind. This sort of thing was common enough.

Like remotes, glasses, or the money in a bank card.

I clearly remember it being there.

But it was not. You remembered wrong. (T^T)

Coffee would do too.

He was too lazy to make hand-ground coffee and all that. Though he normally insisted on such things in front of others, he had simply been too busy and exhausted these past few days.

After making a packet of instant coffee from the store, Wesley carried his cup over to the gramophone, found his favorite piece of music, and put on the record.

Crisp piano notes began to play. The distinctive sound quality of vinyl was one of his favorite pleasures.

As the music gradually deepened, Wesley, slumped on the sofa with his eyes closed, seemed to hear a faint discordant singing voice.

It sounded like... Doraemon?

"A sack of rice, carry it to the first floor~ A sack of rice, carry it to the second floor~"

"A sack of rice, I can feel the pain~"

"A sack of rice, wash it all away, I will understand~"

"A sack of rice~~ Doraemon!"

The voice drew closer and clearer...

It was not an illusion!

Wesley abruptly opened his eyes, and someone he had been desperately longing to see appeared before him.

"Hello, Mr. Wesley."

That lunatic!

"Mr. Wesley, I really... missed you to death!"

Leon bent down and patted his face a few times.

"You were really hard to find!"

"You are..."

"Oh, what a coincidence. These past few days, I consulted a lot of your company's, uh, employees. I spent... no, begged them for a long time before I found out about this home of yours."

With his hands behind his back, Leon strolled around with great interest, eagerly examining the apartment villa.

"Oh! Right!"

Leon suddenly turned around, startling Wesley, whose hand had been reaching beneath the sofa cushion for a gun. Like he had been bitten by a snake, Wesley quickly withdrew his hand.

"Thanks for the beer!"

Leon strolled back over. Smack!

The other side of Wesley's face received a slap as well.

"You do not even have snacks to go with the drinks. What kind of host are you? Are you looking down on me?"

The blow knocked Wesley's upper body sideways, nearly sending his glasses flying off.

But he did not dare dodge, nor did he dare cry out in pain, because there was no telling what the lunatic before him might do.

Forcing a smile, Wesley tried his best to act as though nothing had happened. With his face red and swollen, he said, "If I may have the honor, I would be delighted to invite you to dinner at Fiers Hotel."

"How delighted?"

Huh?

"I asked you, how delighted is delighted?"

"Hehehehe... You have no idea how delighted."

"Why not?"

"...Ah, well, because I am just too delighted!"

"You are delighted too soon!"

Smack!

Wesley picked up his glasses and put them back on. The resentment and rage in his eyes were almost impossible to hide, but he had always been good at concealing himself.

Endure...

There were weapons everywhere in this house. As long as he got one chance...

An arm hooked around his neck from behind, like intimate childhood friends often did. With an arm around Wesley's shoulders, Leon played the part of that nonexistent friend.

"Why did you move into a new place without telling your brother here? Were you afraid I'd steal your beer? I'm not that kind of person~"

"Show me around your place. Introduce it to me, how about it?"

What else could he do? Whatever Leon said went!

Half an hour later.

With a bandage wrapped around his head, a whistle in his mouth, and maracas in both hands, Wesley sat in the home karaoke room he had personally decorated, staring blankly as that lunatic wailed like a ghost and howled like a wolf.

And he had to keep the beat for him!

"I was born among men, free and easy~ Originally an immortal carefree in the heavens~ I care not for worldly dust, only fine wine stirs my heartstrings!"

"The mortal world rolls on, damn it, love runs deep! Meetings and partings always come!"

"Little sister, you sit at the bow of the boat, oh oh! Big brother walks along the shore! Hey!"

"I say hey, you say hey! Hey!"

Wesley: ...

Leon: π_π

Wesley: ...Hey...

"Louder! Did you not eat, damn it? Your voice is weak—no food for you?"

Leon slapped him again. "Sing with me!"

"Could this be your excuse for breaking up with me~"

"Move it!"

"No matter what, I cannot fly out of~" Leon looked at him.

Wesley: Hey!

"The dazzling world!" Leon looked at him.

Wesley: Hey!

"So it turns out I am a~" Leon did not look at him.

Wesley: Hey!

After an hour of endless torment, Leon's throat hurt a little, and Wesley was finally freed.

"How was it? Did you have fun?"

"Fun!"

"Harasho or not?"

"Ha-harasho!"

"Want to do it again?"

"..."

Just fucking kill me!

Wesley finally broke down.

This guy was humiliating him!

Making him provide accompaniment, making him sing harmony, making him dress like a clown and smile while applauding for him!

"You psychopath! Lunatic! Just kill me!"

"F++k you!! Lunatic! I'm not a Joker!!"

Leon still sat on the broad sofa, leaning against the backrest with his head propped on one hand. After listening to Wesley's furious shouting and curses, he even applauded.

"Wait for me."

Leon vanished from before Wesley's eyes.

Before Wesley could cautiously make his way to the door, Leon returned.

"Catch."

A gun was tossed in front of him.

It was a famous gun from his collection, the Colt he had always kept in his desk drawer.

"There is only one bullet in the gun. You can make a choice."

With his back to Wesley, Leon slowly walked to where he had been sitting before and slowly sat down again.

The same movement, the same posture.

"Use this bullet to end yourself, or take a gamble!"

He tapped a finger against his forehead.

Leon said temptingly, "Shoot here!"

Wesley tremblingly adjusted his glasses, picked up the gun he had never fired, and gripped it tightly with both hands! He aimed it straight at Leon's head.

Leon remained as nonchalant as ever, even crossing one leg over the other.

After a long while.

Wesley slowly, slowly turned the muzzle toward himself.

His face twisted, covered in cold sweat, snot, and tears.

Smack!

Another hard slap!

"Put your fucking finger into the trigger hole already!"

Wesley completely broke down.

Crying, he wrapped his arms around Leon's leg, sobbing loudly and begging for mercy.

He said he had been forced into it. He said he regretted it deeply. He swore that he would turn over a new leaf and spend the rest of his life atoning for his mistakes.

Crouching down, Leon patted the back of Wesley's head as he knelt on the floor. "Now, you look just a tiny bit like a Joker."

"But you're still not as good as me!"

Wesley raised his head convulsively, his neck craned back as far as it could go. Through tear-blurred eyes, he saw the lunatic who had always worn a mask remove his hat and then his mask.

Revealing a clown's face, covered in makeup!

Leon smoothed back his slightly curled green hair and licked the corner of his mouth.

He took a small knife from his coat pocket and shoved it into Wesley's mouth.

"Mmph...!"

Shh!!

Under Wesley's terrified and despairing gaze, Leon smiled and said, "Let me ask you a little question. Do not be nervous. If you get nervous, my hand might shake! So, here is the question: where do I need to go to find Kingpin?"

Wesley's tears would not stop flowing.

You should've said so, big brother!

You should've said so!

If you'd asked earlier, I would've told you earlier!

Why go through all this! Why put me through this!!

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