DM Side Story 11
Grrr! Woof, woof!
At that moment, the loose leash was released. Even so, Owen remained unfazed. These dogs didn’t need a leash in the first place. After taking five or six steps forward they then turned back, one of them had a small leather case in its mouth.
It looked worn out, as if it had been dropped by a homeless person.
“Drop it,” he said, but the dog continued to hold onto it.
Owen frowned and pulled the case out of the dog’s mouth, intending to throw it away like a toy. There were teeth marks on it.
Whether it was torn by the dog or originally in that condition, it was too worn out to tell.
As he went to throw it away, he realized it wasn’t a case but a wallet, and it partially opened. Inside the wallet, a photograph caught his cold gaze. Normally, he would have passed it by, but under the orange glow of the streetlight, he brought it to his eyes without realizing it.
Touching something old and dirty made him feel unclean. But somehow, Owen found himself looking at the photo.
The woman’s bangs were comically messed up. The woman next to her had forcibly pushed her bangs up, preventing her from fixing them, and she was frowning in displeasure. Owen’s gaze rested on her.
Perhaps the photo was as worn out as the wallet.
Somehow, one of her eyes looked hazy. Faded, perhaps, but he couldn’t tell.
Still unaware of his actions, his steps had somehow led him towards the shopping center’s display window.
“Excuse me…”
Owen’s thumb brushed over the worn photo. Maybe then the original colors would show. Someone called out to him in a distressed voice, but he paid no attention. If it was directed at him, the dogs would have barked or lunged in the first place.
“That’s mine.”
The sleeve of Owen’s coat was tugged. Only then did he lower his gaze to look at the person. There was an Asian woman with a deep beanie hat on her head with a troubled expression on her face. Owen immediately recognized her.
It was the woman in the photo.
However, it wasn’t her he had carefully checked with his fingers. Facing his expressionless face, the woman spoke again in a smaller voice.
“Please give it back.”
Since the owner had appeared, giving it back shouldn’t have been difficult. Yet his finger aimlessly brushed over the worn part of the wallet.
“That’s the only picture I have with my younger sibling… please give it back.”
The woman added with a hesitant tone, but Owen simply stared at her silently before belatedly asking,
“Younger sibling?”
The woman hesitated, her expression questioning why he would ask that, then nodded.
“Yes. I came here to work. I work at the casino in that hotel over there.”
“I see.”
The woman seemed to know who he was. As Owen slowly smiled, she averted her gaze. Oddly, the dogs behind him were not barking at the approaching stranger, but just wagging their tails lazily, as if they belonged to someone else.
“So please, give it back. I’ll give you a reward for finding it.”
He tilted his head slightly. The woman’s straightforward request intrigued him. Soon, his slight curiosity washed away as he saw Yuri walking towards him from a distance. He placed the wallet on the woman’s palm.
“Ah….”
He quietly swallowed as he saw it was covered in the dog’s saliva and tooth marks.
From his pocket, he took his wallet, grabbed the dollars inside, and placed them on top of the old wallet.
“Since my dog played with it, the reward is on me.”
That was it.
Owen brushed past the woman. With a brief whistle, the dogs that had been scattered quickly followed him in an orderly manner. It was a stride that felt almost elegant. Whenever the hotel’s owner, Owen, appeared, all eyes would turn to him. They couldn’t openly show it, but if they made a mistake in the casino, they would either be fired or saddled with a massive debt.
When it came to money and the losses incurred, he was precise. He knew he had to recoup the losses he inflicted on the casino, even if it meant going to hell.
The woman, Irin, sighed.
She had to throw away her wallet, but at least the picture of her with her sister, Sarin, is still intact. She didn’t expect the bloodless, tearless boss to pick up her wallet. How many times she hesitated whether or not to speak to him.
“I should buy Sarin something delicious with this.”
Money is not sinful. It felt good to see that the dollars in her wallet were thicker than a month’s worth of tips. She followed the handsome boss’s back, but he was already gone.
Walking down the street, he took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Somehow, his appetite had soured. The footsteps following closely behind him were familiar. Seeing Yuri’s face, Owen gave a wry smile. Even after dragging Eden City this far, there were still stray dogs prowling the city.
“It seems the elder will leave you in Moscow when he goes to Italy this time.”
There was a meeting in Italy. He would usually take Pavel and leave him in Moscow. Once there, he would be stuck for a couple of months, maybe half a year.
“Anyway, there’s no more climbing up from here. This time in Moscow….”
Yuri hoped for him to take over Nikolai’s work and firmly establish himself as the successor.
“You think that’s what I want?”
Owen said with a sour face.
“Owen, Pavel never leaves the old man’s side for a moment.”
“He’d be nothing more than a pet. Pavel is regrettable in many ways because he’s so ambitious.”
His voice was languid. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. Even if he wanted to get rid of Pavel right away, Owen remained relaxed as always. Even if he was called a cruel devil, one remaining bloodline might be important, or maybe not. Yuri had misunderstood him unnecessarily.
“Eden City is….”
It was just a stepping stone to climb higher. Anyway, this place is just Nikolai’s money laundering operation in Russia, with its limits. Owen’s vessel was too big to live here doing money laundering all his life
Everyone coveted Eden City, the fountain of Russia’s black money. Pavel, too, admitted it was such an enticing place that he would foam at the mouth and dive right in.
But they were painting a bigger picture.
“I like it here. I really feel like a king.”
Owen said as if already reigning like one. Without touching any drugs, he scanned the city’s facets with a face more intoxicated than anyone else’s. He took a long drag on his cigarette. Their steps grow closer to the hotel.
“Eventually, Pavel will take it from you.”
“That’s not happening.”
“Pavel will try to frame you for something to get rid of you.”
One corner of Owen’s mouth lifted. His eyes did not smile at all. The raw, beastly eyes shift from the city to Yuri slowly. Despite Yuri being much larger than Owen, Yuri twitched unknowingly.
“If I feel like it. Pavel’s got a cute way of thinking, so I’d rather wait and see.”
“Because he’s your brother?”
Owen chuckled, his face contorting. He gestured with the hand holding the cigarette to come closer. Yuri belatedly realized he had touched something wrong, but couldn’t refuse. Nonetheless, without refusing, when Yuri silently approached closer, the lit cigarette pricked his chest.
Sizzle.
The cloth burned.
It was fortunate it was winter. The cigarette burned only the fabric and was soon extinguished. However, feeling as if he had been burned deep inside, Yuri didn’t move, so Owen pressed the already extinguished cigarette against Yuri’s chest.
“You make funny noises.”
“I’m sorry.”
Realizing he had crossed a line, Yuri quickly apologized. It was only then that Owen withdrew, brushing his hand as if something dirty had touched it.
He looked remarkably like Pavel, but their demeanor and atmosphere were completely different. Pavel could maneuver like a snake with his tongue, but Owen was the kind of person who would cut that tongue off.
Even a brief observation revealed the stark contrast between them.
Yuri knew it wouldn’t end well for Pavel. Nikolai cherished bloodlines, while Owen could sever them. While Yuri felt fortunate, he also realized that Owen could eliminate anyone who wasn’t important to him.
Even Yuri, who stood by Owen’s side, could be disposed of at any moment.
His gaze, which had been fixed on Yuri, suddenly shifted to another direction.
Yuri, who typically didn’t pay much attention to his surroundings, also turned his body to where Owen was looking.
A woman had just entered through the hotel’s main entrance.
She didn’t seem like a guest but headed straight for the staff corridor behind the main entrance. Owen’s gaze follows her intently until she’s out of sight.
“Do you want me to get her?”
“No.”
Seeing the woman reminded him of the photograph once again. One of the eyes was unusually cloudy, which oddly bothered him.
Clicking his tongue briefly, he led the dogs back through the front door. He passed the greeters and stood in front of the elevator that would take him to his suite.
The elevator doors opened.
A strange sensation lingered on the thumb that had wiped the photo. Owen stepped into the empty square of space. The three dogs followed him as usual.
However, he felt like he had missed something.
The cloudy eyes in the photo.
That eye was looking at him.
He licks his lower lip. And when the elevator doors closed, Owen pushed it out of his mind. What mattered to him now wasn’t the old photograph.
It was an unknown first encounter that had happened sometime, somewhere.
It was one day, one night but Owen had buried it so deep in his memory that he hadn’t been able to retrieve it.
