Hee Rak was slowly coming to his senses, his eyes struggling to adjust to the dim light of the basement. Ming You stood nearby, his face cold and resolute.
"Hello, Hee Rak," Ming You said emotionlessly. "If you scream..." He pressed a knife to Hee Rak's lips, "I'll cut out your tongue and make you swallow it, so let's talk calmly while we still can."
"What do you want?" Hee Rak tried to get up but quickly realized his hands and feet were bound. "You won't be able to keep me here!"
"Actually, I can," Ming You replied, not breaking his gaze. "And I have a few questions that you need to answer."
Hee Rak panicked, confusion evident in his eyes. "Please, let me go! I didn't do anything and I don't know anything!"
Ming You stepped closer, his voice low and threatening. "You don't understand the position you're in. I don't just want information. I'm willing to do anything to win. And if you don't cooperate, the consequences will be less pleasant than you'd like. But I can give you a chance to survive, or you can stay silent for ten seconds and I'll kill you, starting with your nails, then your fingers, and so on until your head." — Ming You moved even closer and widened his smile.
Hee Rak gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with fear. "O-okay, what do you want to know?"
"Tell me about your team and their plans, and I'd like to know how much money you can offer for your freedom." Ming You leaned in closer, his voice more insistent.
"My team? Plans? You kidnapped me over some basketball game?" Hee Rak asked in a panic, but Ming You grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer.
"I ask the questions here," he said, using the knife to rip a nail from Hee Rak's index finger.
"AAAH!!!" Hee Rak screamed with all his might, but no one but Ming You could hear him.
"You'd better not anger me. Talk, and maybe I'll let you live." Ming You tossed the torn nail onto the plastic.
Hee Rak hesitated, his fear reaching a peak. "I-I understand! I'll tell you. But please, just don't kill me."
Ming You paused for a moment. "In this world, no one is safe from death, Hee Rak. But I can listen to you."
Hee Rak swallowed nervously, took a deep breath, and began to speak:
"All the plans of the team depend on me; without me, they don't function, and as for the money, I'm in debt myself. According to the agreement with Taek Jun and Tae Hwan, I have to play streetball with other teams to cover the debts."
"Sorry, Hee Rak," he said, his voice devoid of any sympathy. "You're too useless to stay alive."
"Please, wait!" Hee Rak shouted, his voice trembling with fear. "I can really be useful to you! Just give me a chance!"
Ignoring his pleas, Ming You pulled out a knife that glinted in the dim light of the basement. Hee Rak shuddered, his eyes widening in horror.
"What a pity that you're also a debtor," Ming You said in an icy voice.
"Don't kill me!" Hee Rak exclaimed, his voice pleading. "I have a family! My mother, my fath..."
A blow...
Before he could finish, Ming You raised the knife and struck at his neck. Hee Rak slowly bowed his head, his blood pooling on the plastic of the post to which he was tied, and on his clothes.
Blood oozed everywhere, but he still had to dispose of the body. Ming You pulled empty trash bags from his backpack, but one of those bags was filled with tools. First, he took out a cleaver for dismembering the corpse, but before dismantling the body, he removed its clothing.
After placing Hee Rak's clothes into a trash bag, he began to dismember him, starting with the legs. He first cut off the feet, then he ran the cleaver across the knees, leaving the center player without legs.
After discarding the legs, he moved on to the arms, first severing the wrists, then the elbows, and finally cutting out the shoulder bones. With the arms discarded, only the body and head remained.
Ming You, emotionless as if he were simply playing basketball or eating, retrieved a kitchen knife from Hee Rak's throat, and calmly placed it near the corpse's ear before using the cleaver to cut off the head. Most of the blood from the arteries had already drained from the first knife strike, so there was less blood during the decapitation, and some of it had already begun to dry.
After dismembering the body into ten parts, Ming You began working on the organs. He started cutting out the genitals with the cleaver, and after discarding the male organ, he began to open the stomach and pull out the organs. He piled the organs next to him.
Once he finished with the organs, he began their more detailed dismemberment. He started with the intestines, slicing them like sausages, blood and feces oozing out, the smell was disgusting, but for Ming You, it was nothing in the pursuit of victory.
With the smaller organs, excluding the skin, it was much easier. Ming You simply took them and chopped them up as finely as if he were preparing meat porridge and planning to make sausages. The organs, especially the heart, bled the most, but most of it dried on the cleaver.
After finishing with the organs and placing them into trash bags, Ming You started crushing the bones and extracting the meat. The process of cutting the meat took the most time, but working with the bones was even harder, yet thanks to the plastic, no traces should have been scattered. However, the dust from crushing the bones with a hammer and cleaver could be noticed, and Ming You checked everything ten times before folding the plastic and wrapping it in trash bags.
Only trash bags remained of the center player. The basement looked like nothing had happened. Ming You, with an indifferent face, changed his clothes and packed his bloody black clothes in a garbage bag with Hee Rak's parts, and went outside, where it was already morning. He took out six bags of garbage and threw them into different containers on his way to school.
"Now it's more important to prepare the Yoshido team for the next game," Ming You thought calmly to himself.
Ming You pushed open the door to the school gym, and the air was filled with the smell of sweat and fresh rubber. The Yoshido team was running in circles, diligently training for the upcoming game. But as if nothing had happened, as if he had slept well just a few hours ago and done nothing else, Ming You approached them with a confident smile.
"Hey, are you all slacking off?" he said with a grin, interrupting their run around the court. "We have a serious game ahead!"
"Ming You!" Jung Ho, the former team captain, exclaimed, stopping to wipe the sweat from his brow. "You scared us! We thought you weren't coming."
"I couldn't leave you in trouble," Ming You replied, stepping closer. "You know we need to prepare for the game. We can't afford to make mistakes."
Lu Shen, always a bit skeptical, frowned.
"Are you serious? We have to play against them? Do you understand what we're getting into? Especially with your double debt!"
"Yeah, I understand," Ming You nodded. "But we have an advantage. Their strong center is their weak point. If we can control him, the rest of the team won't be able to adapt to him." Ming You spoke as if the center was safe and sound.
"What if they decide to play dirty?" asked Haru Lin, his voice full of concern. "We can't take risks."
"We have no choice," Ming You said, his voice becoming more serious. "I took on your debts, and now we have to resolve this. We can't afford to lose." Inside, Ming You was not thinking about how to pay off the debts but how to earn even more from this team.
Hun Ren, who had been silent until then, finally spoke up:
"But you don't owe anything, Ming You! Why did you take on our problems?"
"Because I'm part of this team," he replied firmly. "I won't leave you in trouble. We need to unite and show them what we're capable of."
Jung Ho, sensing the growing tension, raised his hand.
"Alright, let's focus. Ming You is right. We need to develop a strategy. How are we going to act against their center?"
"We can try to use a fast game," Lu Shen suggested. "If we move faster than they do, that will give us an advantage."
"And we need to be ready for any surprises!" added Haru Lin. "If they start playing dirty, we need to be one step ahead."
Ming You nodded, feeling the team beginning to unite. He knew they had a chance, for there was no longer any center.
"Okay," he said, looking confidently at his teammates. "Let's do this: Jung Ho and I will take care of the center, while the others will support the defense. Focus on agility and speed; the rest of the team, besides the center, doesn't stand out, and that plays to our advantage."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and the atmosphere in the gym changed. They were now ready for the fight, and nothing could stop them.