John Wick - Chapter 76: There Really Isn’t... (Patreon)

“…………”

Miss Jennifer stood there in silence for a long moment.

So Nate asked again, “Do you have a Gatling gun?”

She held it in for quite a while before finally saying, “No...”

Nate refused to give up.

“Come on, you’ve got to have one~~~”

“...We really don’t.”

The Sommelier was running out of patience.

Seeing that, Nate finally stopped pushing and tried asking a different way.

“What about a rocket launcher? Got one of those?”

“No...”

“Seriously? How do you not have anything?”

Jennifer lowered her head and fell silent. Nate could clearly see her chest rising and falling, and several imaginary black lines practically appeared across her forehead.

She took a deep breath, looked up at Nate with wide, innocent eyes, and said, “You’re... not here just to make trouble, are you? Right?”

Nate: “……”

“Of course not. I genuinely want this stuff.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Lin, we’re hitmen. What do you need those things for, fighting aliens?”

“Never mind whether you’d even have a use for them. If you use something like that and make a huge scene, the information processing fees will be extremely expensive.”

“And if ordinary people get caught up in it, it’ll cost even more.”

“Huh? Really?” Nate turned to John. “We’ve caused plenty of trouble these past couple of days. How come I never saw any of those charges?”

John nodded. “I already paid them.”

“How much?”

“Fifteen each time. Thirty gold coins total.”

“Oh. Then never mind. I’ll buy them!”

Having several hundred gold coins in his pockets gave Nate plenty of confidence.

He turned back to the Sommelier. “There’s really no room for negotiation?”

Jennifer said nothing, but her answer was obvious.

After another long silence, she finally forced out, “Our suppliers don’t carry anything like that... We really don’t have them.”

“All right, all right.”

Nate would just have to find a way to get one himself. When it came to firepower, there was no such thing as too much.

He continued, “What about grenades?”

“We have smoke grenades and flashbangs. Fragmentation grenades are currently out of stock, but I can order some for you when the next shipment comes in on Friday.”

“What day is it today?”

“Wednesday.”

“All right. Then give me ten of each to keep on hand.”

He paused, then added, “Hey! When you restock, can’t you order a Gatling gun too?”

Nate still refused to give up.

And that was how the two of them ended up being politely “escorted” out by the Sommelier.

A moment later, Nate pushed the door open again. “Wait, I haven’t paid yet.”

Jennifer pressed a hand to her chest and took a deep breath. She just wanted to get this troublesome customer out of here as quickly as possible.

“That’ll be twenty-four gold coins, please.”

Her voice was barely holding together.

Then she watched as Nate started pulling gold coins out one by one from various pockets all over his suit.

“Why don’t you keep them all in one pocket?” she asked, baffled.

“It’d bulge out. Doesn’t look good,” Nate replied as though that were perfectly obvious.

Jennifer covered her forehead with one hand.

“Would you like everything delivered to your room?”

“Send it to the underground shooting range, thanks.”

Nate practically fled through the door.

Watching the young man leave, Jennifer slowly let out a breath, then nodded to John.

“Goodbye, Mr. Wick. Enjoy yourself.”

John nodded back.

The two of them arrived at the shooting range, where the same bald attendant from before was still on duty. He was the one Nate had thoroughly stunned with his throwing knife demonstration last time. Ever since then, he had gotten himself a few throwing knives and had been practicing with them at the range.

Nate stood there watching for a while.

He had to admit, the guy was actually getting pretty decent. In only a few days, he could already hit the target consistently from around five meters away.

After throwing all the knives in his hand, the attendant walked over to the target to pull them out. When he turned around, he spotted Nate and John.

“Oh, Mr. Lin. It’s been a while. Take a look at my throwing knives...

“Hm? Mr. Wick! What brings you here? It’s an honor to see you both.”

“William, long time no see.”

John and William shook hands.

Only then did Nate learn that the burly bald man was named William.

“You’ve changed a lot,” John said.

“Yeah. Working out made my hair loss pretty bad, so I figured I might as well shave it all off.”

William smiled a little awkwardly.

He quickly changed the subject and turned toward Nate.

“By the way, Mr. Lin, could you show me that throwing knife technique again? What you did last time genuinely blew me away.”

“No matter how much I practice, I just can’t pull it off.”

“Sure, no problem.”

Nate had been wanting to test it again himself, so he accepted the throwing knife William offered him with both hands.

The knife began spinning rapidly in Nate’s hand.

William froze at the sight, while John stroked his chin and watched with interest.

Nate lowered his gaze.

The instant the knife stopped spinning, his hand snapped up and he threw it.

“Whoosh!”

The throwing knife tore through the air faster than the naked eye could follow, producing a sharp whistle as it shot toward the target.

Just like before, it punched straight through the wooden target without slowing down and buried itself in the bulletproof wall behind it.

This time, only the handle remained visible.

John already knew Nate was extremely skilled with throwing knives, but even he gave Nate a thumbs-up after seeing that throw.

“Comparing yourself to other people really can drive you crazy,” William said with a bitter smile. “It’s only been a few days, and your ‘skills’ have gotten even better.”

Nate smiled without saying anything.

“You work here every day?” Nate asked. “Doesn’t it get boring?”

“No. We rotate once a month, and there are two people assigned to this post. Besides, the work is easy, and the pay is very generous.”

William held up five fingers.

Nate understood.

You weren’t supposed to openly discuss salaries with coworkers while on the job.

So the two of them silently mouthed the numbers at each other.

“Five thousand?”

William mouthed back, “Add a zero.”

Nate leaned back instinctively.

Damn. That really was generous.

Then again, this was an organization where people spent gold coins.

“Lanes five and six are open, and the targets are all fresh. Use whichever you like. If you need anything else, come find me.”

William gave them a nod, then went back to practicing with his throwing knives.

Nate had come here to find out exactly what his 50% Firearm Proficiency could do. He had been too pressed for time before and had never gotten a proper chance to test it.

The two of them stepped up to the firing lanes. The guns they had bought from the Sommelier still hadn’t been delivered.

For now, all they had were their pistols. John’s was an AREX, while Nate’s was an HK P30L.

Except each of them was holding the other man’s gun, and neither seemed to have any intention of giving it back.

Some kind of unspoken understanding had apparently formed between them.

“So, how about a little competition between us?” Nate asked John with a grin.

“Who said we’re buddies? Call me Uncle.”

Nate ignored that completely and changed the subject.

“Shooting by yourself is boring.”

“True.” John looked at him. “So how do you want to compete?”

“Twenty meters to start. Fifteen rounds of rapid fire, highest score wins. Sound good?”

John drew the pistol from his waist, put on his hearing protection, and nodded.

“Let’s do it.”