John Wick - Chapter 62: There Are Hitman Organizations in Asia Too? (Patreon)

Joe didn’t seem offended by the question. He gave a carefree smile.

“I was a troublemaker when I was a kid. One day, I went out to play and got kidnapped by human traffickers.”

Nate’s expression immediately changed.

There were few kinds of people he hated more than human traffickers.

“After that, I was sold to a couple. They put me on a truck, and I never saw my hometown again.”

Joe spoke calmly, almost as if he were telling someone else’s story.

“That couple were [Hunters], operatives planted by the High Table throughout Asia.”

“They searched for children with good physical potential and sent them to hitman training camps.”

“And by ‘training,’ I mean locking dozens of children in a sealed room and forcing them to kill each other.”

“No weapons. Just a bunch of little kids scratching with their nails and biting with their teeth.”

“The last one alive would be taken somewhere else, treated, and given more advanced training.”

“Unfortunately, I was the one who survived.”

The awkward smile disappeared from Joe’s face.

He returned to his usual expressionless look.

Nate remained silent for a long time.

He had no idea what to say.

It didn’t take much imagination to understand that Joe must have endured horrors most people couldn’t even comprehend just to survive this long.

So Nate changed the subject.

“There are hitman organizations in that part of Asia too?”

“There are, but none of them amount to much. Just rats hiding in the sewers.”

“Most of them are like the couple who took me. They find recruits for foreign hitman organizations.”

“In other words, human traffickers.”

“You know how strict the gun laws are in the part of Asia I’m from. It’s one of the few places the High Table has never managed to properly infiltrate. These days, it’s probably one of the safest places in the world.”

“But even there, rats like these still exist.”

“And nobody can do anything about those traffickers?”

Anger was already written all over Nate’s face.

“You can’t kill them all. Wipe out one group, another goes into hiding. Give it some time, and another group appears.”

“Getting a single child out of the region is worth a lot of money.”

Joe paused.

“Oh, and gold coins too.”

“Fuck! Those fucking traffickers deserve to die! Wiping out their whole families wouldn’t be enough!”

Nate practically shouted the words.

He took a deep breath and forcibly pushed down his anger before asking, “You never thought about going home to see your family?”

“It’s been more than thirty years.”

Joe’s voice remained calm.

“Even if they’re still alive, if they saw me like this... would they even dare believe I was their son?”

Joe grabbed the hem of his tank top and pulled it off.

The scars weren’t limited to his shoulders and back.

Those had simply been the parts Nate could see.

With his shirt gone, countless scars covered nearly his entire body.

“Better not to disturb their lives.”

Nate could hear the sadness buried in Joe’s voice.

He fell silent.

So did Joe.

Everyone else had heard the conversation too, and none of them seemed to know what to say.

Winston noticed the mood in the room and stood up to break the silence.

“Gentlemen, it’s still early. You’ve had enough rest. Let’s get back to training.”

“Jonathan. You’re up.”

John was silent for a moment.

“...All right.”

Joe was already on his feet before Winston had even finished speaking.

He didn’t put his tank top back on.

He simply walked toward the sparring area bare-chested.

Under the lights, the scars looked even more horrific, as though someone had used shards of broken glass to carve a map across his body.

John stared at them.

His lips moved slightly, but in the end, he said nothing.

He stood up and followed Joe into the sparring area.

Nate walked over and sat beside Winston.

Joe put on his gloves, took his position, and turned toward John.

His face was expressionless, exactly as it had been while talking about his childhood.

John put on his protective gear and settled into his stance.

Then he raised his right hand and beckoned Joe forward.

“Come on. Take me down as fast as you can.”

“Don’t hold back.”

Nate understood immediately.

John wanted to give Joe a chance to vent by beating the hell out of him.

Emotions were better released than buried.

The longer you bottled them up, the more damage they did.

A rapid series of impacts soon echoed through the gym again.

John kept his vital areas tightly protected, occasionally trying to throw a counterpunch.

It didn’t accomplish much.

With his enhanced Eagle Eye, Nate could see that despite John deliberately provoking him, Joe still wasn’t using his full strength.

He was hitting with roughly the same amount of force as before.

If anything, he was holding back even more.

At least John could remain upright this time.

He wasn’t being beaten into the corner and forced to curl up like before.

For someone who looked like such a simple, intimidating giant, Joe was actually remarkably gentle at heart despite everything he had endured.

If his childhood hadn’t been stolen from him, maybe by now he would have married, had children, and been taking care of his aging parents somewhere back in Asia.

Fucking human traffickers.

Fucking High Table.

“Winston,” Nate called.

“Hmm?”

The manager glanced toward him.

“Can we actually change any of this?”

Winston knew exactly what he meant.

“Do you want to change it?”

“That’s a stupid question,” Nate replied irritably.

Winston wasn’t offended.

He chuckled.

“It isn’t that simple.”

“Young man, things like this have to be done one step at a time.”

He paused before continuing.

“And right now, you’re not strong enough.”

Nate didn’t respond.

Instead, he changed the subject.

“I know you’ve been testing my talent, Winston.”

Winston froze.

For once, his usual composure disappeared.

Henry turned toward them as well.

“How did you notice?” Winston asked.

“Every time you look at me, it feels like I’m being run through an X-ray,” Nate said, meeting his eyes.

“Then you follow it up with something about how talented I am.”

“I’m not stupid. It wasn’t hard to figure out.”

“So everything that happened today, including Joe deliberately provoking us, was arranged by you.”

“You wanted to find out what my strongest talent was, didn’t you?”

There was now a clear edge of irritation in Nate’s voice.

He hadn’t liked what Winston had done today.

So he decided to put it out in the open.

He wasn’t trying to embarrass Winston.

He simply hated the feeling of being manipulated into someone else’s setup.

“And taking that a little further, what exactly are you planning to do with that ability?”

Nate’s gaze sharpened.

“Find talented fighters and build yourself an army of prodigies?”

“Use them to bring down the High Table?”

“And even assuming you can actually do it, what happens afterward?”

“Do you just create another twelve seats, put twelve puppets in them, and keep the same bullshit going?”

Henry remained silent beside them, simply watching the conversation.

“Nate, Winston isn’t...”

Elena tried to intervene, but Winston raised a hand and stopped her.

The manager of the New York Continental stared directly into Nate’s eyes without saying a word.

Nate spoke first.

“Sorry, Winston. I’m not Henry.”

“I don’t know you well enough yet.”

“If you want me on your side, you’ll have to convince me the same way you convinced John.”