John Wick - Chapter 41: Revenge (II) (Patreon)

Red Circle, underground pool, locker room.

Nate and John were already hidden in the shadows behind the door.

A security guard stood less than three meters away with his back to them.

“Did you see that girl?”

“Wish Rita was working tonight.”

The two thugs had changed out of their suits and into bathrobes, leering as they talked about whatever had put them in such a good mood.

One of them stood at the sink washing his face.

Soon, they would be going to meet their boss.

Iosef Tarasov.

The bastard responsible for killing John's dog and stealing his car.

Nate didn't even have time to signal John before John moved.

He snapped the security guard's neck with one clean motion, then gently lowered the body to the floor without making a sound.

The thug at the sink pulled a bottle of skincare product from his bag and started rubbing it onto his face, completely unaware that John had already slit the throat of his bathrobe-clad companion.

Nate took the body from John, covered the dead man's mouth, and dragged him aside.

John silently moved up behind the man at the sink.

The guy was still washing his face.

He was even humming to himself.

John didn't move.

He simply stood behind him while Nate went over to the locker room door, closed it, and locked it.

This was John's revenge.

Nate only needed to back him up.

The rest belonged to John.

Click.

Nate deliberately made a little noise as he locked the door.

The thug sensed something was wrong.

He looked up and suddenly realized there was someone standing behind him.

He spun around.

John's fist smashed straight into his face.

His nose collapsed, blood immediately pouring from it.

“Fuck you! Motherfucker!”

The man doubled over, cursing through the pain.

John ignored him.

He drove a vicious kick straight into his groin.

The man screamed.

John followed with a brutal punch to the throat, then a kick that shattered his knee.

Blood sprayed from the man's mouth as he dropped to his knees, unable to stand.

John grabbed him by the hair and slammed his face down against the marble countertop.

“You wrecked my car.”

Each word came out slowly.

The rage in his voice was completely unrestrained.

The man struggled desperately, his blood-smeared hands clawing at the counter. His fingernails scraped against the tile with a piercing screech.

John seized his right wrist.

Then, as casually as snapping a branch, he bent it backward.

Crack.

The broken bone tore through the skin, stark white against the blood.

The man's scream broke apart until nothing remained but hoarse gasps.

“You killed my dog!”

John pinned the man's hand against the counter.

With his other hand, he grabbed a metal cup.

Once.

Twice.

Every blow landed on the same finger.

He kept going until the finger had been reduced to a mangled pulp.

Nate leaned against the locker room door with his arms crossed, watching without expression.

Part of him wanted to join in.

Back when he'd watched the movie, he'd certainly felt the same urge. He'd practically wanted to reach through the screen and punch the guy himself.

But experiencing it firsthand was different.

All Nate could see now was the tragedy surrounding John.

The man just kept losing things.

“It's just a fucking dog!”

The thug finally managed to force out a complete sentence, his face covered in tears and snot from the pain.

John stopped.

For an instant, the entire locker room went silent.

Then Nate saw something he had never expected from John Wick, a man famous for his composure.

His eyes turned red.

John didn't say a word.

He yanked the man away from the counter and hurled him against the locker room wall.

With one leg destroyed, the thug couldn't stay upright. He slid down the wall like a sack of meat.

Before he could reach the floor, John stepped in and drove his knee into the man's head with everything he had.

His skull slammed into the wall.

With his enhanced vision, Nate actually saw the man's head visibly deform from the impact.

His body convulsed several times.

Then it stopped moving.

John stood there.

Something in him seemed to collapse.

“Her name was Daisy.”

Nate lowered his eyes.

He understood.

John hadn't simply lost a dog.

He had lost the last piece of warmth his wife had left behind in this world.

“Yeah. I know.”

Nate leaned against the wall and pulled a suppressed pistol from the [System Backpack].

Pfft. Pfft.

He put another round into each of the three men.

The one whose head had been smashed into the wall got two extra.

[Eagle Eye (Lv2): Vision increased by 50%. Firearm Proficiency increased by 20%. (9/7) Firearm Kills.]

The counter had gone up by one.

So one of them really hadn't been completely dead.

John didn't stop him, though a trace of confusion appeared in his eyes.

“Preventing respawns.”

Nate looked slightly embarrassed after saying it, so he quickly changed the subject.

“Where next? The pool?”

“The pool.”

John wanted revenge.

His anger hadn't faded in the slightest.

He pulled out a Microtech OTF knife and rose to his feet. The blade reflected a cold white gleam beneath the lights.

Nate opened the door and glanced down the hallway.

No one.

The two of them slipped out, one after the other, and disappeared down the corridor.