Damn! Damn! Chapter 1

The cloudy weather suggested another downpour was on the way. On days like this, one of my knees would ache without fail.

In this narrow, semi-basement space where even sunlight barely reached, Achim stared at the crack in the window that allowed a sliver of light to leak in, clutching and rubbing his right knee.

It was an injury from eight years ago when he worked as a mercenary in a PMC—or rather, a small-scale outfit, though “PMC” sounded better. It was the very scar that had become the deciding factor in him running this small errand center.

I really thought I was going to die back then. Reflecting on that time, Achim shuddered at the thought of a certain person.

A small village on the western edge of Frankfurt, Germany. Tucked away in a deeply secluded spot of a slum, number 43 Swait Shanty Town was both Achim Müller’s home and his place of work.

It was a shabby, dilapidated building, but absurdly enough, this worn-down place sometimes made him wonder if it wasn’t a slum, but a wealthy neighborhood.

That was only natural, given the ridiculously high rent. The reason he continued to stay here, however…

“Welcome.”

Achim shook off his idle thoughts and greeted the customer entering the dark shop.

It was his first customer of the day. He had been sitting there all morning wondering if spiders were going to start spinning webs in his mouth out of boredom.

Achim stayed in his slouched position, resting his chin on his hand as he stared at the man.

The room was already dim enough. With a ball cap pulled down low and the hoodie attached to his clothes pulled up over it, the man’s face was barely visible.

Achim gazed at the man intently, then lowered his eyes after a moment.

The fingertips peeking out from the ends of the man’s long sleeves were trembling slightly. As if aware of Achim’s gaze, the man covered one hand with the other. Watching this with narrowed eyes, Achim let out a small sigh.

“I don’t do drugs.”

At Achim’s words, the man went silent.

Figures. Achim, convinced his assumption was correct, waved his hand.

“You must have misunderstood because the place is so gloomy.”

“…”

“I only keep one light on to save on electricity. You’ve come to the wrong place, so please look elsewhere next time.”

It wasn’t the first or second time this had happened, so the words he had spoken countless times flowed out smoothly.

Well, drug deliveries were as common as eating meals in a place like this, hidden in the shadows. But he had set a rule for himself when he started this business: to not commit any illegal acts.

The man, who had been staring at Achim as he waved his hand, suddenly shook his head.

Was that not the business at hand? Thinking it was unexpected, he waited for the man to speak, and soon, lips buried in shadow parted.

“…50,000 euros.”

The man suddenly brought up a large sum. Achim’s eyes went round.

“…Upfront.”

“…”

“Complete the job, and I’ll pay the rest.”

Achim blinked his wide eyes a couple of times.

He swallowed hard. Words spilled out like a knee-jerk reaction.

“And the rest would be…?”

If the advance alone was 50,000 euros, never mind what the job was, how much exactly was the total fee?

The moment pure curiosity reared its head, the man’s shadowed lips parted once more.

“150,000.”

“…!”

Achim clamped a hand over his mouth. He did it so hard his lips ached.

But he didn’t even have time to think about the pain; he wiped his mouth with his palm and gripped his aching knee.

50,000 upfront, and if he finished the job, 150,000… a total of 200,000 euros.

It was an errand fee he had never heard of. By Achim’s standards, it was an absurd amount of money he wouldn’t even see in his entire lifetime.

What on earth is this errand?

Only when his thoughts reached that point did his instincts hit the brakes. Barely managing to keep his reason, Achim rubbed his knee out of habit.

“What is the request?”

There is no such thing as a free lunch. It was an immutable truth he had learned over his 28 years of life. If the amount was enough to make his jaw drop, it was bound to be a correspondingly difficult task.

As Achim asked cautiously, the man suddenly looked around. There was no one here but them. The man seemed to be extremely on guard, even fitting for his appearance.

The man’s cautious behavior made Achim feel tense himself. Before he knew it, Achim’s hand gripping his knee was tightly curled.

“I need you to get something for me.”

Ah. Achim let out a groan. He had expected it wouldn’t be a normal job, but that it would be theft of all things.

Achim dropped his head.

“I’m sorry, but… I don’t do theft either.”

Achim felt like he wanted to swallow his words, feeling truly miserable and regretful. But he couldn’t break the code he had painstakingly upheld.

To lose an opportunity for a windfall right before his eyes. He wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, or perhaps for days to come.

Achim turned his gaze away, trying to tear himself away from the temptation, but the man took one step closer.

“300,000.”

“…”

“I’ll add 100,000 more, for a total of 300,000.”

Achim barely managed to lift his stiff head.

Did I hear that wrong? Doubting his ears, he repeated the amount the man had spoken under his breath.

“300,000…”

At Achim’s mutter, the man nodded his shadowed head. At the same time, Achim was plunged into a desperate dilemma.

300,000 euros for one theft. No, wait. That wasn’t just “some theft.” He had decided not to do any more illegal work after his mercenary days.

…But, it’s 300,000 euros.

Good and evil wrestled inside his head. In the sudden inner battle, Achim was already gripping his knee as if tearing it apart.

Somewhere, there was a faint tapping sound—tap, tap-tap. It was the sound of raindrops beginning to fall and knock against the semi-basement window.

Achim rolled his eyes to the side. His gaze landed on the small, opaque window stained with dirty water splashed by people’s feet.

If it were 300,000 euros…

Achim’s gaze shifted back to the man. Achim bowed his head and roughly wiped his eyes with his palm, and with his vision blocked, he parted his lips.

“…What.”

Having uttered one word, Achim dropped the hand that had been covering his eyes. His gaze turned to the man’s eyes, visible faintly through the thick shadow.

“What do I need to get for you?”

At that, the man closed the distance even more than before. Then, as if guarding against something just like before, he looked around at the empty surroundings several times.

Just as Achim’s patience was about to run out from the man’s excessive caution, the man leaned over the counter and whispered.

“Michael Bernhard’s…”

“…”

“…semen.”

Achim couldn’t speak for a moment. His parted lips just moved silently; it was as if he had forgotten how to make a sound.

It was quite some time later that Achim, who had been silent, finally spoke.

“…What…”

Achim asked with a slight furrow of his brows.

“What did you want me to bring?”

The man, just as Achim had done a moment ago, said nothing.

Staring at the tightly sealed lips of the man, Achim asked again.

“N-no… whose, did you say, should I bring?”

“…”

The man said nothing this time either. Achim let out a sigh.

It wasn’t a matter of theft or anything of the sort.

It had been a long time since the superior genes of Alphas and Omegas were considered rare and valuable.

It was only natural that Alphas, who possessed powerful bodies and brilliant brains far exceeding the average person, and Omegas, who possessed unique beauty and the ability to conceive regardless of gender, belonged to the upper echelons of the pyramid symbolizing wealth.

Because of this, the genes of rare Alphas and Omegas had been bought and sold for a long time. When demand far exceeded supply, the price soared through the roof, and the governments of each country, realizing the severity, eventually outlawed gene trading on the grounds of human rights violations.

That was already more than 200 years ago.

However, illegal activities are bound to flourish everywhere. Semen from Alphas or Omegas was traded in secret to avoid government surveillance, and one could still find it without much trouble even now.