Things that deserve to die

Hitman Lee Ja-Gyeong lives by two certainties: his aim and his paycheck. His bullets never stray, each one finding its mark dead center. The target’s sins are irrelevant—he takes the contract, executes the hit, collects his fee, and moves on. Morality has no place in his line of work; only precision and payment matter. That routine shatters when a longtime client forwards an unusually hefty request. The price tag is five million dollars, and the conditions are deceptively simple: eliminate Kang Il-Hyeon and retrieve a single object from his safe. The target, however, is no ordinary mark. He is the scion of a Korean underworld dynasty, a man whose slit-like eyes carry the cold vigilance of a serpent. Before Ja-Gyeong can close in, he finds the hunter becoming the hunted. Kang’s trap closes around him with chilling efficiency, strangling his every move. Then Kang confronts him directly. “I picked up something quite fascinating during a trip to Hong Kong.” Ja-Gyeong remains silent. “Aren’t you the least bit curious what that fascinating thing was? Someone is trying to kill me. Right inside my own home.” A pause hangs between them. “Explain yourself. I’ll hear you out, and then I’ll decide whether to believe a word of it.” Now Ja-Gyeong faces an impossible question: can he still fulfill the contract and put a bullet in Kang Il-Hyeon, or will he meet a grim and inglorious end? The clash between two men who seem destined for violent deaths has already begun.