Ethan Grant's voice startled Christopher Carter awake. He shook his head and pulled out a watermelon knife: "Follow me!"

This was a very successful ambush. Within ten minutes, the Busan guys were fleeing in panic, leaving a few of their men rolling on the ground, groaning.

"You Busan guys are always so unruly." Christopher Carter squatted down and patted one of them on the cheek. "Does it feel like a big achievement to sell goods on someone else's turf?"

The man on the ground was tough and didn't say a word.

Ethan Grant said, "Brother Jiu, the usual rules?"

The usual rules: for this kind of turf-crossing, it's not a big deal—just leave a pinky finger or something as a souvenir and they can go.

Christopher Carter neither agreed nor disagreed. His gaze lingered on the captive's fingers for a moment, and he muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear, "Busan guys..."

After a pause, he stood up: "Forget it, just give them a good beating and let them go."

Ethan Grant and the other little brothers blinked in surprise. Since when did Brother Jiu become so merciful? Wasn't he just angrily shouting about revenge a few days ago?

Christopher Carter turned and left, hands casually stuffed in his pockets, as if talking to himself: "It's an election year, things are sensitive. Don't make it too bloody."

※※※

After that night, another change was that Christopher Carter and Brian Baker became closer. Every few days, they'd sit down for a few drinks, and often chatted on the phone.

"Old Jiu, although your problem is settled and you don't need my help anymore, you haven't forgotten the thing I asked you for, right?"

"Piece of cake, no problem. When do we act?"

It really was a piece of cake—just put on a show to help him play the hero and save the beauty or something. Such a small favor didn't even count as a real favor. Brian Baker had used this as an exchange, so Christopher Carter had gotten a great deal. Although maybe part of the reason was that Brian Baker himself wanted to use the opportunity to cooperate with ACUBE, Christopher Carter already felt he owed him enough.

"Here's the thing, I just started working with Lotte and arranged a comedy movie for one of my artists. Song Ji-hyo will play the female lead," Brian Baker said. "It's a female assassin role. I convinced her that to play it well, she needs to visit some chaotic places and experience it for herself. Ahem, I specifically pointed out your turf... So tonight, she’ll probably sneak over to your place to observe the hidden chaos of Seoul after dark."

"Only you could come up with this." Christopher Carter held the phone, both annoyed and amused. "You want to set up one of your female artists, does it really need to be this complicated?"

"This woman is a veteran—she's been in the business for ten years and has plenty of industry connections. Plus, she's now one of the pillars of my company, and I’m counting on her for growth. If I force it, it might backfire. Besides, she's older now and looking for marriage when she picks men, so sweet talk won't work. So it's best to create a story, makes things easier..."

"You're so shameless..."

"Cut the crap..."

"Alright, alright, call me tonight and I'll play along."

Christopher Carter hung up, shook his head with a smile, and had just put his phone back in his pocket when someone suddenly rushed over and bumped into his shoulder. Christopher Carter stood firm, while the person who bumped into him seemed to hit a wall and fell straight to the ground.

A woman's angry voice came from behind: "Stop! Thief!"

Christopher Carter looked down at the thief sitting on the ground. He didn't know every petty thief in this area, but he could basically tell they were all underlings of his underlings' underlings. He had no interest in catching his own people. He glanced at the woman chasing after the thief—half her face was covered by sunglasses, so he couldn't see her clearly. He wasn't interested and turned to leave.

The thief, seeing the woman catching up, quickly jumped up and shoved Christopher Carter: "Get lost! Good dogs don't block the way!"

"..." Christopher Carter reached out his right hand and grabbed him by the neck. "Idiot."

The thief was nearly choked out, his face turning red from the blood rushing up, unable to say a word. The woman caught up and angrily kicked the thief: "Give me back my wallet!"

Christopher Carter reached into the thief's jacket, pulled out four or five wallets, and shook them: "Did you lose this gold wallet, or this silver wallet, or this one..."

Before he finished, the woman snatched one of them and bowed: "This is it, thank you for your help, sir."

Christopher Carter shrugged and stuffed the remaining wallets into his own pocket.

After bowing, the woman straightened up, about to say a few more words of thanks, when suddenly a crowd surged behind Christopher Carter. The group of brothers who had just finished dealing with the Busan guys had returned: "Brother Jiu!"

The woman froze and quietly took a step back.

"Yeah." Christopher Carter casually tossed the thief in front of Ethan Grant: "Whose guy is this?"

Ethan Grant glanced at him: "Don't know him."

Christopher Carter waved his hand: "Have someone check, take him back and teach him a lesson before letting him out again. This idiot doesn't even recognize me and dares to work here?"

The brothers all exclaimed, "Is anyone really that dumb?"

The thief finally realized who the 'good dog' blocking his way was. He burst into tears and grabbed onto Christopher Carter's leg: "Boss Jiu, Boss Jiu, I must have been blind..."