Thinking back, he was always like that.

From the time he was young, amidst the cousins playing and arguing, he had always been this way from childhood until now.

Always deceiving people with his face.

The cousins who grew up together in the main house knew him too well, but occasionally, there were relatives living abroad or far away who would return or visit the main house for a while.

No exceptions, anyone meeting him for the first time would sigh in admiration. How could such a beautiful child exist in the world? Unbelievable.

The love for beauty might be an instinct of humans; anyone meeting him for the first time, whether child or adult, couldn’t help but love him.

In a very short period after the first meeting. No, perhaps that period wasn’t entirely short.

Even if he didn’t smile, maintaining a cold and emotionless face, or sometimes said bored words, they would still be surprised, widen their eyes, and smile, thinking, “Children are often impolite and mischievous.”

As he grew a bit older, people said that his face was truly valuable, so being a bit two-faced wasn’t uncommon. A beautiful and attractive person being somewhat rude and mean wasn’t surprising. Who didn’t know that a person’s appearance and personality didn’t necessarily match?

However, even so, he was still special.

Even without intending to, having the nickname ‘Face Deceiver’ wasn’t strange.

Now, it’s the same.

When he stepped into this bar, all eyes in the place turned towards him.

More than half of those were hateful and wary looks from those who knew him, but the rest were admiring and enamored glances from strangers. Even if he didn’t care about others’ looks, those glances wouldn’t disappear.

And now, the first person to attack the opponent with a glass was also him, and although blood splattered everywhere, none of it was his. A curious guest, with confidence and a sense of justice, sitting in the other corner, stood up abruptly and approached him.

In a situation where the atmosphere was getting more and more tense due to the aggressive men surrounding Chris, who was sitting leisurely, the guest suddenly shouted about how attacking one person at a time like this was bullying the weak.

The guest’s words sounded reasonable at first.

Four or five large, fierce men, hard to take down, surrounded one fragile-looking man. It felt like just hearing the men’s shouts could break him into pieces.

But when the confident, big guest stood in front of him, an odd silence occurred for a moment without the guest realizing it. That was indeed a wrong move.

“Move aside, you fool.”

A gentle, calm, and composed voice came from behind, but the guest didn’t understand its meaning. Because of the soothing voice and beautiful face, he muttered, “What?” and turned his head.

At that moment, a hand suddenly reached out.

Before he could enjoy the soft feeling of the hand caressing his ear, it ruthlessly pushed his head to the side, as if annoyed.

The guest stumbled into the standing lamp in that direction and fell to the floor. The lamp fell, hitting his forehead. He didn’t realize what was happening until blood started trickling from a small cut on his forehead.

It was much later that he noticed the blood flowing from his forehead.

But by then, he was no longer capable of questioning anyone. Now, his mind was completely blank, unable to think of questioning anyone.

The situation before him had changed completely.

A sound like meat bursting echoed, and the noisy chatter and soft jazz also stopped.

The guest, like many before in his life, witnessed a scene he couldn’t believe. He widened his eyes and felt like he was dreaming.

The man with the fragile, glass-like face, unchanged in expression, was taking down those surrounding him.

************************

It was a chaotic scene with screams, shouts, and groans.

A large picture frame decorating a thick square column supporting the high ceiling had fallen to the floor. A man, covered in blood, lay on the broken glass of the frame, clutching his face and groaning. The black-and-white photograph of a famous photographer was trampled under blood-stained shoes.

The square column where the frame hung was now stained with red handprints and blood like a horror movie. Christoph leaned against the column.

“Instead of feeling grateful for my patience in waiting, you do this foolish act? Where’s the guy who came with me? Bring him here immediately without laying a finger on him.”

Christoph spoke gently, but his hand was gripping another man’s neck, making him look like an old, worn-out sack. Over the man’s shoulder, another pointed a gun at Christoph, but Chris didn’t even glance at him and spoke.

“Before there’s a bullet hole in me, I’ll make a hole in this guy’s neck, or I’ll shoot your trigger finger off. Life without an index finger would be very inconvenient.”

Christoph’s calm words weren’t empty. The men had been around Christoph long enough to know that.

Suddenly, the bar became quiet. The screams and shouts stopped. Though there were still soft groans, curses, and heavy breathing, compared to before, it couldn’t be called noisy anymore.

The atmosphere was quiet but filled with the strong smell of blood. Under Christoph’s feet lay many motionless bodies like chunks of meat. Despite being covered in blood, Christoph himself wasn’t hurt or scratched.

The gun barrel pointed at him trembled.

Unintentionally, the man, covered in blood and hanging in Christoph’s hand, was between the gun barrel and Christoph. If the shot missed, it could hit his ally.

Christoph ignored the tension and fear, roughly banging the man’s head against the wall again.

“I said bring the guy who came with me here. Don’t you understand?”

Christoph muttered calmly, banging the man’s head against the wall until blood splattered. Though the man had fainted and couldn’t respond, Christoph stood there waiting for a few seconds and then clicked his tongue.

“Seems like you don’t understand. This head is no good, better destroy it.”

It was a casual statement. As soon as he finished speaking, Christoph grabbed the bloody man’s hair and pulled him towards the wall. As he was about to swing his hand up…

*Bang—*

The sound of a gunshot reverberated through the air.

“…!!!!!”

The space fell silent.

The gasping breaths and intermittent groans vanished into the silence.

The gun barrel pointed at Christoph emitted a faint smoke that quickly dissipated.

The pungent smell of gunpowder rose from the freshly fired gun. The bullet had flown to its target, tearing through flesh and creating a gruesome hole, spraying blood.

But it wasn’t the blood the shooter wanted to see.

“See… I said there’d be a hole in this guy’s neck first.”

Between the gun barrel and Christoph, the man he was holding by the neck was still there. Though unconscious, he screamed in pain and opened his eyes wide when his head was painfully tilted. Dark red blood spurted from the hole in his neck like water from a tap, soaking his clothes in an instant.

Christoph looked indifferently at the unrecoverable body and threw it to the floor like a rag. The shooter widened his eyes as if they would tear from their sockets, staring at the corpse on the floor, his whole body trembling.

Christoph shrugged and looked at the man.

“Why? I guess you wanted to kill him yourself before I smashed his head?”

“God, JACOB… Christoph, YOU BASTARD!!!”

The man stared at his friend’s corpse in a daze, then suddenly raised his head. With a face twisted like a monster, he shouted and aimed the gun at Christoph.

Another shot rang out.

However, the random bullet missed Christoph and hit the column behind him, exploding into small stone fragments. The debris fell, only grazing Christoph’s collar.

The third bullet was nearly accurate, aimed at Christoph but missed because he was no longer there. Chris quickly closed the distance to the man, almost as if he teleported, gently grabbing the wrist holding the gun.

“As I said, before there’s a hole in me, your finger will be gone first.”

With Christoph’s calm words, the man’s index finger, ready to pull the trigger, was cut off and fell to the floor.

The man didn’t realize what had happened for a moment. It seemed he didn’t even feel the pain, looking confused. When blood gushed from the severed finger, soaking his chin in an instant, he looked down at his hand where the finger once was.

“… —!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

A beastly scream erupted after a delayed beat.

“MY FINGER, MY FINGER—..!”

The man screamed in pain and convulsed. Christoph picked up the fallen gun.

The man clutched his hand, screaming incoherent curses, suddenly staring at Christoph. Then he charged madly.

But Christoph’s expression didn’t change. He slammed the gun butt into the man’s face. The man collapsed, clutching his face, unconscious. Christoph didn’t look back at him, turning to face others charging at him.

The situation turned into a one-sided massacre.

And then it went like that.

“Christoph! Oh God, Christoph, please stop. It’s terrible and frightening for brothers of the same blood to witness such bloodshed!”

A mournful voice echoed from the hallway behind the bar.

It was Eric—the temporary manager of this bar—standing there with a horrified and sorrowful face, looking at Christoph.

How many people realized this strange and different feeling?

Like an actor passionate on a lavishly decorated stage, he displayed emotions clearly and vividly. Astonishment, fear, sorrow, etc., were evident as if he had decided from the start to show those emotions.

Upon noticing Eric, Christoph stopped and released the man whose shoulder he was dislocating. Without hesitation, he turned towards Eric, like a robot locking onto a new target, advancing straight towards him without looking at anyone else, his face remaining expressionless.

“Oh Christoph, Christoph, calm down. Calm down. Hey, do you recognize me? Huh? Hey Christoph?”

“Eric.”

“Yes, it’s me, Eric! Your unparalleled friend Eric! The dear friend who would risk his life for you!”

Eric shouted joyfully as if he had regained a lost friend, his eyes brimming with tears, spreading his arms wide to embrace Christoph—who was approaching, covered in blood.

But there was no touching embrace between friends.

Christoph drew close to Eric, grabbed his chin, and slammed him against the pillar next to the bar. Eric’s head struck the pillar, and he screamed in pain, looking at Christoph’s hand around his neck with fearful eyes.

“Hey Christoph…”

“Bring that man here,” Christoph interrupted Eric, speaking briefly.

Eric’s eyes widened in astonishment, then he sighed regretfully and shook his head.

“Still about that? I truly don’t know. How could I harm your friend? Your friend is my friend too! Why would I do that…”

“The person managing this bar can’t possibly not know.”

“I truly don’t know!!!”

“In that case, you’re not only useless but also a bother to me.”

Christoph muttered to himself, tightening his grip around Eric’s neck. A strange sound came from Eric’s throat.

“Wait, Christoph—…”

Eric’s face turned red from lack of air, displaying a pitiful look as he gazed at Christoph, but Christoph’s expression remained calm.

Killing someone was a matter of seconds for him.

However, Christoph looked at Eric’s pitiful and utterly terrified face. He was silent for a moment. Then he unexpectedly tilted his head slightly and muttered.

“Eric. Why are you so sure I won’t kill you? Killing you is very easy.”

Saying so, Christoph tightened his grip around Eric’s neck.

“I suppose because there’s a better target here than Eric.”

A voice replied from behind.

It was Richard.

He stood about ten steps away from Christoph.

Thinking back, it seemed he had always been there. They had always been at a distance where a surprise attack was impossible, a place where they could clearly see each other’s faces. That distance, despite trying to escape the shackles of inheritance, became distant with that. Yet now, it has returned to its original position. As if that distance had never changed. Disgusting.

It was because of this that Christoph had left this place, for he hated it. That was why he never wanted to return to Dresden. But now, standing right here, the distance remains the same.

Christoph no longer remembered who was the first to bear this enmity or why. When he became aware, Richard had always drawn a clear boundary with Christoph, showing hostility in indifference. Christoph, always as emotionless as ice, disliked Richard. More accurately, he was repulsed rather than hating.

Why?

No one could know.

“A better target than Eric… Indeed.”

Still holding Eric by the neck, Christoph slowly let go, half-turning to look at Richard. Then he fully turned to face him.

Richard glanced briefly at Christoph’s blood-soaked clothes, partly dry and partly still wet. Then he looked directly at Christoph. And surveyed the horrific scene around.

The cold hostility was evident on Richard’s always calm and gentle face.