"Oh. No. It's indeed usually a little busy at this time too. I am also puzzled. Maybe everybody is scared about that armed robber, so nobody wants to be out at this hour," Ai guessed.
Jun hummed.
As they reached her apartment, Jun noticed a glaring fault in the area.
Why the hell two of the street lights are not working?
No light's presence made it even darker and haunting on the road, especially around her apartment. The working ones were quite far away.
This is like inviting for a murder to take place, he sneered.
Ai was having different thoughts altogether.
He came this far to drop me off. Should I invite him for a cup of coffee?
Usually she would have, but the present situation between them made it tricky for her.
Ai gave it a thought and finally decided. "Thank you for dropping me back home. Do you…" she slightly pressed her bag's handle, "Do you want to come up for some coffee?"
Just then Jun noticed some movement from the corner of his left eye. It instantly disappeared as if it wasn't even there in the first place.
"No," he replied with a chill. But that chill wasn't meant for her.
Ai had expected this reaction. Nevertheless, she felt a little disappointed.
"Okay," She bowed and left.
Jun didn't. He tilted his head and casually crossed the street.
Her flat was only on the first floor. Ai dropped her bag on the couch and opened the curtains of her living room. The view faced the street.
Her brows crinkled seeing Jun enter an alley across the road. It was darker than on the road.
Why is he going over there?
Jun entered the middle of the ominous alley. He didn't hear a sound.
"Come out."
There was no response.
"I am saying it for the last time because if I find you, Mr. Armed Robber, then it wouldn't be a good ending for you."
Something ever so slightly stirred from his back. It moved akin to the lightning speed that was about to strike Jun.
Jun smiled and flawlessly moved a step sideways.
As I thought, it was a knife indeed.
The robber froze in his steps. He hadn't expected such a quick reaction from Jun. Jun grabbed his wrist, knocked out the knife from his hand and jabbed on his knee. It happened within a span of just one short second. The robber yelped and collapsed.
Jun picked the knife and twirled in his hand lazily. "Who were you looking at? Me or her?"
He held his knee that was hurting like hell. "You bastard…Who the hell are you?"
"You don't deserve to know. So, how many have you killed?"
"I am just a robber."
"Your eyes are that of a murderer's. I know those eyes. I have seen them a lot of times. So how many?"
He sweated. "Those fucking people deserved to die! Have such a nice home, wear such nice clothes and what about me? I eat dirt on the road!"
"I don't wanna get into philosophy stuff. That's not my style," Jun yawned. "If my mother had been here, she would have lectured you for hours about the difference between the right and wrong path. Dad, my brothers and I take the easy way out. So how many have you killed for money?"
He gritted his teeth. "...Five. I didn't have a choice!"
"Everybody has a choice."
"Why are you even asking me!?"
"Because depending on your answer, I will either kill you or think about your life perhaps," Jun's gaze was calm, but his smile wasn't.
"You…"
"Who were you looking at? Me or her?"
The robber was actually keeping an eye on both of them. Jun's watch looked pricey while Ai had a thin chain on her neck.
But gauging his expression, he instinctively felt that he shouldn't take Jun's name.
"Her! That woman. I was looking at her chain!"
Silence.
"Would you have killed her?" His voice quietened by several decibels.
He sneered. "If she resisted, then yes. I only care about her money. Might have had some fun with her too before killing her since I am so unlucky with women."
The frost in Jun's eyes deepened and so did in his voice. "Wrong answer."
He stiffened.
"I said I know a murderer's eyes. Do you know why? What do my eyes look like right now?" Jun tilted his head and raised his brow in amusement.
The robber felt it difficult to breathe.
His eyes…They looked like a predator to him.
A malevolent smile curled Jun's lips upwards. "You killed five people. But in the darkest and evilest place where I have worked for a spell, I have killed more than five not so innocent people like you. Do you know what that place is called?"
The robber gasped in pain as Jun poked the tip of the knife into his neck.
He grimly answered his own question, "The Underworld."
The robber widened his eyes in horror.
"And the Underworld doesn't forgive people like you."
With one strike, Jun stabbed the knife into the robber's neck. He swiftly turned to avoid the blood spurt on his face and clothes.
The robber struggled in vain for a few moments, and then he breathed his last in an excruciating manner.
Jun kept the knife on the ground and wiped his fingerprints. Then he made a call. "Dump the body and weapon from here. I have texted you the address."
He hung up and dusted his pants. "Problem solved."
Then he thought about something else and dropped another text.
'Build new street lights in this area by tomorrow.'
Jun kept his phone back in pocket and left the alley with a bored expression as if nothing had happened.
But the one with the most stunned countenance right now was none other than Ai who was hiding under a shop's roof. She had followed Jun, thinking it would be dangerous if there would be that armed robber.
But witnessing the murder, she realized that Jun was the danger himself.
She touched her chest and felt her heart thudding like akin to rumbling thunder. She had never seen Jun like that before. Or rather she wondered just how many emotions were sleeping inside that man?
Just how dark and intense was he?
She figured Jun was someone rich as how he lived in a condo.
But now he killed that robber.
She heard their conversation and naturally, she was displeased by the robber for harbouring such evil thoughts about her.
But Jun, a normal citizen, killed him without even batting his eyelid. In fact, his eyes were even more sinister than the robber himself.
Ai recalled he talked about the Underworld.
A lavish condo and the dark underworld…
Just who are you Jun?