Title: Kill the Lights
Author: Jangryang
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Supernatural, Psychological, Mature, Smut
About Main Characters:
Noah Raycarlton (rich, handsome, tall, young, arrogant, CEO)
Mason Taylor (soldier, fighter, old, died once)
Proofreader/Editor: Kaima, Hwarang
01
That day was somehow weird.
My body felt heavy, ever since I'd opened my eyes. It was as if something was pressuring my shoulders. Maybe the onset of a cold? Mason Taylor was not convinced that anything was off.
Actually it would have been weird, had my body felt light. It's already been two months since we'd started our mission. So, for the two whole months, I didn't want anything spectacular. I just wanted to sleep at someplace with a roof overhead.
"I'm seriously gonna quit after this job."
One of our team members, named Clark, said something similar to what Mason had been thinking. Mason laughed. For three years, that guy said the exact same thing, every time they were on a mission, but he still was doing this job.
"I'm serious! I even wrote my letter of resignation, to be sent right after this job. Do you want to read it?"
This stupid bastard was saying how he wanted to become a writer, so he wrote the letter really well, like a poetry. And so Mason asked, "Why do you have to write a letter of resignation, so well?" and frowned.
"I told you, my dream was to become a writer. Don't you have such dreams, team leader? Do you?"
"Of course I do. Who do you think I am?"
"Team leader has a dream?"
"A guy, who is so dry?" The bastard was being rude. Mason nodded and said,
"Ah! This instant, I want to take a hot bath, drink warm milk, and sleep 'til I'm not tired, on a dry bed."
It couldn't get any better. Just imagining the scene, made him feel really heavy and tired.
".....ah seriously..."
"Why are you being like this, Team leader?" –That bastard sounded like he was sick of it. Mason checked his watch and said, "Why are you like this, especially in front of the enemy's territory?" Even though they look relaxed, they were in a 'life or death' situation. When everything was ready, they will intrude the enemy's hideout in the bunker and either kill the target or die trying.
"What do you mean?"
Ashley, who was applying mascara behind them, asked and Clark retorted, "Sis, don't you think our Team leader is a bit dry?" to gather some support.
"He says that his dream is to take a hot bath and sleep on a dry bed."
"That sounds, good...."
Fred, who handed a lipstick to Ashley, murmured as if he was daydreaming, and Ashley smacked Clark's head.
"Don't you think you are too clingy? What kind of mercenary reads this kind of a poem?"
"What's wrong with poems? I'm really going to quit. This... this dry job. People in here think it's embarrassing to read books. And their brains are filled with muscles..."
"Who are you saying this to? Do you know how disgusting it is, to look at a guy the size of a gorilla, carrying around poetry books and crying over it
He got smacked again. Mason laughed, looking at him crying and holding his poetry book and teased him, "Did you even pay off your credit card debt?"
"This team is so relaxed. –Are you guys ready?"
Aaron, who was guarding outside, asked looking at them. Three months ago, he was dispatched to Mason's team, and after they'd devised the plan, he'd looked very nervous. He still looked tense, ready to blow off. Even if someone just touched him, he might blabber right away, 'actually this mission is to kill the weapons merchant Alta.....'
He disagreed strongly when they said that they will enter the enemy's territory disguised as prostitutes. Later he had agreed that this was the only way to kill the target, who never came out of the bunker for like two months, with only 12 team members. But he still disliked the plan.
"Do you want to stay here?"
When Mason asked, Aaron's pride got hurt and he said frowning, "I don't need to". Mason saw Ashley looking at Aaron secretly. Ashley felt Mason's stare and smiled awkwardly.
"Hm.."
It was none of his concern, but Aaron was not a good man. Just a common mercenary, an ordinary trash. But she probably has realized this by now.
Mason was checking his weapon. He put the Taurus PT 22 on his ankle restraint; because of its smaller frame, it was easy to hide. He checked his watch.
"If we're too late, they'll suspect us. We should get going."
Mason looked down at two the actual prostitutes and the guards. They were shivering next to the guards, who have been tied up and fainted. Both of them were blonde with pale skin. The weapons dealer was hiding like a mole and had specific preferences. Well, that made his job easier.
Mason smiled at them, so they didn't get too scared.
"About... 30 minutes later. I think you guys can go home."
Alta's penis will die with its owner soon. Because he had a scary face, the prostitutes started to cry. He left them behind and took their Jeep with Ashley.
Mason fixed his ghutra behind his ears, and Aaron just stared at him with a displeased expression. His expression said, 'don't you need to hide your face, what are you doing?'
"I have an American face, so what's the point of covering it?"
".....Do you take this as a joke?"
He replied sharply. Clark tapped him and said, "Hey, what's wrong?" to stop him, but Aaron's expression didn't get any better.
"Such a crappy plan.... You might have led a cut-rate life, but why do we have to be treated the same?"
He was trying to make him mad, but Mason just ignored him.
"If you are so scared, stay, like I told you to."
"It's not like that. Fuck, don't we at least have to rehearse!"
"Ah, I told you, if you could control your expression, we'll be fine."
Mason knew that his words will make the situation worse, but still he went ahead, waving his hands at Aaron. "You are the one who should be reading poetry books", Mason tried to insult Aaron's delicate nature. Aaron's face got really red and his eyes burned as if on fire, but Mason was instead catching the sandy breeze and looking at the approaching bunker entrance.
Usually Mason would say that they'll be fine, and he'll take care of everything to make them feel comfortable, but today he didn't feel so great. His shoulders were growing heavier, and now it felt as if there was a big rock on his shoulder.
Are there any ghosts holding a grudge against him? He was sure there were plenty of them. And there was going to be another one pretty soon.
There was Alta's bunker entrance, very close. Mason stopped Aaron from talking and jumped out of the Jeep and called out to the guards in front of the gate.
'Hey! Hey!?'
Mason shouted, and the guards were pointing their guns at them. 'Who are you?' They shouted back at him. Bingo. It's good enough that they didn't shoot right away.
Mason hid his happiness and approached them. They looked surprised that an unarmed American was approaching them.
'I brought women that you guys told me to, but I have a problem....'
Mason was wiping his sweat off his forehead and spoke in his poor Arabic. The guards were curious and approached him with their guns pointing at him.
Ashley pretended to faint, just like she was told to, and Mason was carrying her on his shoulder and spoke desperately.
'This bitch took some drugs. Ah fuck, do you have some water?'
'Hey, what are you?'
'Ah, do you have some water?'
Mason shouted like a crazy man. Because of his force, the guards were all startled and so was Aaron.
'Do you know how much this bitch costs?... Water, where's the water?'
He sounded like he was going to cry, and one of the guards ventured to check on her and another one gave some water. Mason purposely dropped the water and shouted at them 'Ah, fuck... are you kidding me?!'
The guard, who was checking Ashley, thought it was weird that she looked fine, but soon Mason slapped her face and screamed at her, "Bitch! Wake up!" and the guard backed away. They were startled because of his loud voice.
'Do you have a doctor inside?'
'What?'
'Do you guys have a doctor? Are you guys gonna take responsibility if she dies?'
When Mason shouted at them, they were just staring at him, like 'what the hell is wrong with him'. His face was really red, as if he was going to choke. He was crying 'Fuck, she is so expensive... if she dies, I'm going to be bankrupt!'
'Don't you guys have a doctor? I'll pay.'
He was begging to save her, and the guards were confused and talked to each other. Mason urged them, and one of them talked on the radio.
'What's going on?'
The bunker's door opened and a guy who looked like a doctor stepped out. Mason saw him and followed him, carrying Ashley to him saying, "Thanks, thanks!". Everyone looked confused, but no one was able to stop Mason from following the doctor. Aaron quickly followed him, and Mason urged the doctor for a bed.
They didn't know what was going on, but Mason was smiling behind the doctor.
Gosh, thanks for getting fooled. Mason looked at it
Aaron, and he was murmuring, "What the... this kind of..." He looked very displeased. He had thought that 'this kind of a plan' wasn't going to work at all, and yet it had worked without a hitch. He was a little annoyed. Thinking back, it was indeed a crazy plan. People would definitely say that they were crazy for doing this. It was way too reckless.
Mason asked the doctor, 'Where is Alta?'
'Hey. Ah, is this the woman that he called?'
The doctor pointed to a room without thinking, and Mason smiled wiping his sweat. When they took another turn, he noticed that there wasn't any CCTV. He hit the doctor, from behind, on his neck. The doctor couldn't even scream and fainted, and Aaron dumped him inside an empty room.
"Wake up, Ashley!"
"You're so heavy". Mason complained to Ashley and she got annoyed, and said, "I'm not that heavy" and got off.
"Let's finish this fast and go home. I feel heavy."
Mason said, while he was tapping his shoulder, and Ashley gave a look that said, 'don't be childish'.
"What is it, a cold?"
"I don't know."
"-Why do you get annoyed at me."
She was glaring at him now, and Mason rubbed his beard and looked around. In front of the coward's, Alta's room, there were four men guarding the door.
"....Tsk!"
Looks like a jail, not a hideout. Actually there weren't that many guards inside Alta's bunker. But if the door is locked from the inside, unless you bring a cannon, there was no way to open it. And this place was famous for a lot of unknown passageways. Right when you open the gate with a cannon, he would definitely have run away.
This was the only way to handle such a situation....
Mason smiled and said 'hello'.
'I brought the wo...'
He was trying to say it brightly, but he paused and his expression got solid. It was only for a second, but he felt some chill behind his back.
'-What?'
They approached Mason before he stopped, and Ashley bumped on his shoulder. Mason gave a servile smile and said,
'I brought the woman. They were eating outside, so they just told us to go in.'
He noticed Ashley's cold sweat, and Mason tried to smile a little more convincingly.
He hesitated for a second, but after passing by the first guard, there should not be any trouble with the second one, since they will just assume that they have already been verified. These guys didn't care about them and said, 'What are they eating at this hour?'
The door opened. Mason put Ashley first and followed her. Mason quickly checked the insides of the room. Alta was doing some paper work on his bed. Mason told Aaron to lock the door, and Alta looked up at them.
Very skinny and a pale face. Alta, who looked like a mouse, asked, "Ah, woman? I asked for two. Why is there only one?"
"!"
Ashley quickly ran to him and punched his mouth. He couldn't even scream and collapsed on his bed. She punched his bloody mouth again. He tried to escape, and Mason grabbed his hair and blocked his mouth and said, "I'll kill you if you scream."
"Wha, what..."
Mason showed his dirty smile. Purposely he undid the gun's safety and slowly, aimed at him. He was massaging is shoulder while Ashley was tying Alta's wrist and blocking his mouth. Alta was glaring at Mason and Mason smiled back. Such a smile really helped during these situations.
"You. You know where we're from right?"
His eyes were shaking. That means he knows. Right, if he didn't know, he wouldn't hide in a place like this.
"You have some gut to steal the blueprint from Zii."
Mason smiled and told him, and he was shivering and shaking his head. "What do you mean no...."
Two months ago, the mercenary company Zii, where Mason works, was guarding Alta's and a weapon company BS's deal. It was a simple task, they just had to get the money from BS and hand it over to Alta and get the blueprint from Alta and hand it over to BS. But Zii-14's team leader Becky, who had the job of transporting the blueprint, ran away with it.
Stupid Becky. America's biggest mercenary company Zii, did get some back stabbing before, but never missed any traitor. Of course, Becky got caught in four days and before all of her arms and legs were cut off, she told them who was behind this. If she'd told them earlier, she could've at least save one hand.....
Anyway the name that she told was unexpectedly Alta.
Zii sent Mason's team with only 12 people to get the blueprint back. And even though there wasn't any direct order, they said, 'You can kill Alta if necessary.' This means to kill him.
Alta was shivering and made weird noises through his blocked mouth. Mason got in front of his face and asked,
"The blueprint. Where is it?"
Alta's eye lids were fluttering. It wont be long before he spits it out. He was the owner of a big weapon merchandise and was very calculative. He's the person who would stay in this kind of a place to save his precious life. It was stupid of him to betray Zii, but he wasn't stupid enough to think whether Mason was actually going to torture him.
He was crying, and he pointed to a wall.
"......"
Mason looked at where he pointed and smiled.
"You know... what happens if you scream, right? That door won't even open anyway."
This coward will never use a door that can be easily opened from outside. Mason removed a handkerchief from his mouth. He was rolling his eyes.
"Be..be...behind the frame..."
Mason nodded to Ashley, and she removed the frame from the wall. There was a small safe door.
"It's there inside..."
Alta said with a shivering voice, and Mason looked at him and the safe, back and forth. Ashley desperately asked, "Passwords?" and he said, "463788...." As soon as Ashley hummed and tried to open the door, Mason noticed that Alta's eyes were sparkling. Right away he hit his head with his gun.
"Ashley! Don't touch that."
"-What?"
"Why, what's wrong?" She asked with surprise, and Mason grabbed Alta's head from the floor.
Wha, what.."
"Stand up. You open it."
After he said that, Mason noticed Alta swallowing down his dry throat. Ashley took her hands off right away.
"What the... bluffing?"
"Pretty sure... A guy like him will never put his 10 million dollars in a place like that."
Just by looking at his reaction, probably there was a bomb instead of the paper. If the bomb went off, he would have probably rolled under one of those bomb proof furniture.
"Do you want to open it with your hands and actually take it out?"
Mason smiled and asked. Alta was rolling his eyes and said,
"Are..are you gonna kill me?"
"I don't know. Upper people said 'eliminate if you need'."
When Mason said that, Alta's face turned pale with anxiety. He seemed to know that, 'eliminate if you need' is the same thing as 'kill him.'
"Le..let's make a deal."
"A deal?"
"Underneath my bed there is a safe that contains the blueprint of the missile and the bank account key from Swiss bank that has my whole fortune. I'll give you everything, so spare me."
Mason signaled Ashley, and she removed the mattress. She frowned because there was nothing there, but he told her to lift the bed. Underneath the bed there was a small gap, and when she put her finger in it and removed the cover, an adult body size, hexagonal shaped safe appeared.
"It's about 50 million dollars."
Ashley and Aaron swallowed loudly together, after the guy talked about money, but Mason only frowned. When he looked at Aaron, Aaron was looking at Ashley.
Fifty million dollars. That's a lot of money. Alta probably felt Ashley and Aaron's agitation, so he looked at them carefully.
"If, if you spare me, I'll tell you the safe number."
"How do we know if you are telling the truth?"
That was Aaron who asked, and he approached him.
"......"
Mason was about to warn them not to think anything stupid, but he closed his mouth. Probably because of his heavy shoulders, he didn't want to bother them. Anyway they can't even do anything with that money.
"Do... you think I'll cheat, with my life on the line?"
"I know my life is precious". When Alta said that Mason just laughed. A guy who knows his life is precious betrays Zii and BS.
Mason actually didn't have to know if he was telling them the truth and didn't have to make the deal with him.
"I...I'll tell you the password when we're out."
"Never mind."
Mason shrugged and loaded the gun. Alta's face got really pale and Mason was thinking, 'My shoulder is too heavy' and stared at him without any expression.
"I'll hand it to Zii, just like that. The smart upper people will figure out the password."
Giving them the whole safe was to annoy the superiors who sent only 12 people to carry out this difficult mission. As someone who took care of many safes before, Mason knew that this safe looked fucking difficult to open.
"Wa,wait, it's 50 million dollars. Wait, I'll tell you the passwords! They need my iris and fingerprints scanned!"
"Still, no."
"12, 36.5, 37..."
Alta desperately crawled and poured out the password, and Mason frowned putting his finger on the trigger. If I hear everything, I need to report it to the superior, and I don't want that. If I tell them the password the director, Berretta, will smile as always and give him these fucked up kind of jobs again later.
"Wait, Team leader!"
Behind him he heard Aaron calling out to him, but Mason didn't hesitate to pull the trigger. He saw Alta shiver and take his last breathe, noticed that he was trying to say the last number, but pretended not to hear it.
"!"
A gun with a silencer, shot a bullet through Alta's chest. He coughed out blood and kneeled. He was breathing heavily and frowned, and Mason was....
"....Wha, what are you doing! Aaron!"
Ashley screamed.
"....."
Mason felt warm, sticky blood dripping down the middle of his forehead. He didn't have time to understand what was happening. The heavy air that had been pressuring his shoulders since that morning, now pressed down his whole body like a compressor.
Mason blinked and Ashley was calling, 'Tea, team leader... Team leader...' but he couldn't answer.
He didn't even realize that something hot was dripping down from his forehead and to the ground, and he fell down on the cold floor. He was trying to breathe for a second, but blood came out from his nose and mouth and wet the floor. His whole body was shivering and convulsing. It all happened so fast.
The light in his eyes was getting small really fast and blurred. A cold feeling started from his forehead and spread quickly through out his body. He began to lose his sense, starting from the fingertips.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Ashley shouted like she was screaming, and Mason saw Aaron approach him through his dimming eyes. He grabbed Alta, who was either already dead or dying, and pointed a gun at Ashley and said something. It seemed like he was offering something, but Mason couldn't hear anything.
"........"
Because he had already taken his last breath.
A dark energy that was pressing on Mason's shoulder since that morning suddenly swallowed him right away.
The insides of death's stomach was cold and dark.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kill the Lights by Jangryang
Proofreader/Editor: Kaima, Hwarang
Ch. 1 Part 2
***
At the same time, a house in LA–
It was an expensive-looking house but pretty gloomy, probably because the lights were turned off, or that the house was in a secluded place. Or it could be just the white moon. The house was so quiet that it seemed like no one was living there.
Deep inside the house was a basement, a small storage space down the stairs. From within the basement door there came a sound, of a small machine and running water, which went on and on. But suddenly, after a while, the noise stopped.
The wooden door opened and a man with a tired face exited. Something definitely happened in there. The man was replete with cold sweat. He opened the basement door a little and stared at the wall outside with his blood shot eyes. There were many shiny camera lenses pointing at him.
Those damn paparazzi... He could see the people waiting outside the compound wall, trying to get a picture. He pressed a button, and all the windows in the house were covered with blinds. Coldness was permeating the living room. He accidentally kicked a pile of newspapers on the floor.
His manager, Tony Bridget, had brought these in the morning. Those newspapers were filled with provocative headlines.
'....Haley confessed to Raynoah?!'
'Did Hollywood's scapegrace, Haley Lusk, actually confess to the American sanctuary, Raynoah?? – Last night there was a shocking news that Haley Lusk confessed his feelings to Raynoah.'
And the article was full of ridicule and criticism. There were some crappy pictures of the man.
'Oh my god! Haley proposes to Raynoah! Finally gone crazy?' Beside the provocative headline they had used a picture of him taken last year, when the man was climbing over the walls of a rehab facility in order to run away. On the paper where it said, 'Haley Lusk vs. Noah Raycarlton,' there was a picture of him falling down, holding a cup of coffee, after a court trial for drunk driving. He hated that picture.
The man turned around, stepping on the newspapers.
In the living room, unlike the pictures in the newspaper, there were several beautiful portraits of the man. Everything was from when he was a child.
He was a child actor. When he was little, he used to be popular, but after his parents died, he destroyed himself quickly. Drinking, smoking, unrestricted sex, and getting high, was all he ever did. The once cute and lovely face had declined to a gloomy and normal face.
His parents' money and the wealth that he'd earned were uncountable, but the gold digger cousins and his extravagant life-style had nearly forced his finances to bankruptcy. The accounting agency had warned that if this kind of life-style continued, he'll definitely go bankrupt in one year, but he didn't care.
Because, in his eyes he still looked cute and lovely, like when he did as a poster child. He thought that the pictures taken by the paparazzi were all out of malice, and even the pictures that he sometimes took for modeling looked bad because the photographers hated him. He still thought that if he took care of himself a little bit, he would definitely bounce back in a short time. And he will have all the ads and movies and would earn a lot of money.
He went to the kitchen and took out an Evian water bottle from the refrigerator and turned on his answering machine.
Beep- soon 27 messages were pouring out. Out of the 27, only two were not from his manager Tony. 'Liz? Liz! Why aren't you answering? Are you serious? Don't you know you have schedules tomorrow?' He started skipping his whining messages and deleted them. 'I'm seriously gonna stop being your manager!' He erased all 25 messages indifferently. 'Hi, Haley,' said a gentleman's voice. 'I'm Lauren.' He always thought Lauren was annoying, but he decided to listen.
'Haley. I heard that you still collected those weird stuff? Rachel told me you used 300,000 dollars on something suspicious. You're kidding right? Your accountant said that you're nearly bankrupt.... Do you even have the money to pay your fine if Raynoah sued for defamation?' The man continued to listen quietly and after hearing the ridicule he said, 'bitch' and deleted the message. This guy was an asshole. He got mad and pressed the button to hear the next message. This time it was a woman.
'Hey, lovely Liz~ Honey. I'm Rachael. Did you use the thing I gave you? How was it?' He frowned that she used his nickname. He murmured to the answering machine, 'I did use it, but I don't think there was any effect. Honey!' Almost as if she had heard him Rachel said, 'you are not gonna get the effect right away. But hold tight. I do understand that all the other things I sold you didn't work, but this one is different. I brought only three from Japan. Honey, you know my friend Billy? The day after he used this charm, Angela came to his house and went straight to bed. They are getting married next month. –Actually, 'doing that' could be a little scary and nasty, but the effects are guaranteed.' She said in a sweet voice.
'You just wait. Your wish will come true soon.'
Of course it was supposed to work, it was worth 300,000 dollars! The man smiled. He was about to take another sip.
'Oh yeah, honey. I told you this right?'
He dropped his water bottle. The bottle was rolling and water was spilling everywhere. Instead of looking at the bottle, the man was holding his chest. His eyes opened wide.
'After doing the ritual, you need to be careful about everything you do. The wish always come true, but sometimes the spirit enters and something goes wrong. Haha... but it's probably a made up story right? It still creeps me out because, going through it is a little weird.'
A laughing voice could be heard from the answering machine, but the man was hardly breathing. His big, open eyes looked outside the window and saw the white moon.
Bang... his heart rate was dropping. It cannot be a mistake. The man frowned and grabbed onto his chest. He felt a pain, as if his heart was being ripped apart. For a second there, he had the vision of a desert and a man. This man had black hair and eyes and looked normal. Even though he had never seen him before, he knew who he was.
His heart, head and body were shaking. The voice of Rachael was saying something through the answering machine, but he couldn't hear anything. Something had gone wrong, but he couldn't turn back now.
He listened to his heart stop and soon collapsed on the floor. Cold, spilled water was drenching him, and the man had his eyes wide open and took his last breath.
His world was shaking and collapsing, and then it started to rebuild again.
This world was different, a desert, and there was the man from his vision a second ago. His black hair was cropped like a soldier's, and he woke up with a tired face. As soon
as he woke up, he took his gun and looked around. And he took care of his team members. He looked over his shoulders, and Haley felt like they made an eye contact, for a second.
Mason Taylor...
He murmured his name and the two overlapping worlds were once again pulled apart.
***************************
Kill the Lights by Jangryang
Proofreader/Editor: Kaima, Hwarang
Ch.1 Part 3
***
And during a similar time in New York, there was a premiere for the movie 'Shutter', at a hotel and the place was loud with the sound of camera shutters in front of a single man.
Bright lights were flashing everywhere.
"Mr. Raycarlton! Look here!"
"Tell us something! Mr. Ray..."
"Here! Here!"
A blonde guy, who looked better than any celebrity, was looking a little uncomfortable because of all the reporters surrounding him.
"Mr. Raycarlton! What do you think about Haley proposing to you? You can be honest! No one is going to blame you, even if you say you were offended!"
Because of what one reporter said, everyone started to laugh. The blonde guy, called Noah Raycarlton, looked really handsome in a tailored black suit. He made an awkward face.
Two days ago, the official bitch of Hollywood, Haley Lusk was at an after party of this one fashion show. There was an incident where he was completely drunk and confessed to Noah. Even if he was sober and said, 'I'm your fan. I like you,' people will be mad at him for crushing on the likes of Noah. But Haley stopped Noah in front of everybody in the party and said.
'Excuse me. I do that really well.' Spitting out some vulgar stuff, he said, 'Sleep with me for once. Yes?' and clinging on to him. 'If you sleep with me once, you'll never forget it.' And then 'Marry me.' And shouted, 'I really love you!' and then of course he followed it with, 'I'll die if you don't go out with me!'
'Oh my god Haley!' Everyone at the party sighed and what happened on that day quickly spread through SNS and newspapers.
If it weren't Noah Raycarlton or Haley Lusk, this wouldn't be this big.
But Noah Raycarlton, also known as Raynoah, his grandfather was the owner of a big petroleum company in 1900's. He was called the Midas touch, George Raycarlton. Noah's mother, the award winning best actress Rebecca Kelly's side was a famous politician family. His father, Edgar Raycarlton, had established the biggest law firm in US, and he was their only child. America's thorough bred. That was Noah. Currently, he was helping his grandfather to invest in many cultural, defense and environmental projects, etc. He invested in many companies that helped the world, and everything he touched turned into jackpots, so he was able to amass a large sum of money.
And then there is Haley Lusk... He was a famous child actor who caught the eye of many Americans, but just like many other child actors, before he became an adult, he ruined himself with alcohol, drugs, luxury and sex. He became one of those typical child actors. He was barely publicized in the newspapers but for his dirty scandals, and the only thing going for him was that his face was a bit prettier than the average Joe. But still, compared to Raynoah he was nothing.
It was like a street whore confessing to a prince. And everyone thought that it was a disgrace.
"Please say something!"
"Mr. Raycarlton!"
The reporters were like hyenas trying to get any kind of information from him. But Noah Raycarlton just apologized with courtesy and modesty and passed by the reporters, with his secretary Phil Hepson on tow. Even if that person was a trash, it wasn't like Noah to say something nasty about him.
"Mr. Raycarlton. I think it's best for you if you leave for today."
Phil looked around the hotel entrance and frowned. He was ought to go to the movie premiere, since he was their biggest investor, but the situation wasn't looking good.
Many people couldn't enter the hotel because all the reporters who blocking the entrance. And people who were about to go inside the hotel had stopped to watch Noah's reactions.
Noah's expression looked uncomfortable as he glanced around. When his face turned their way, many reporters were amazed. His beauty was breathtaking, even to those who saw good-looking celebrities every other day.
Raynoah was famous not only for his family background, but also because of the famous incident where he got kidnapped when he was a child. People said that his business skills were way better than his grandfather, and that he showed a gentle personality and good manners to everyone. Every day there were dozens of paparazzi following him, but his private life was never revealed... There were many reasons why he was so famous. But people who actually met him in real life will know that the biggest reason for his fame was his beautiful face.
His attractive figure looked like it had just popped out of a painting. His fancy blonde hair, mysterious green eyes, perfectly sculpted face, tall height, and a model-like body, all shined the brightest when he was smiling. There were probably less than a handful of people who would not fall for his sweet, beautiful smile.
The reporters stirred after they were dumbstruck by his good looks. The camera shutters started to click. There were flashes everywhere, and the man sighed and said, "We should go back, Phil".
Phil called the car that was ready, a black Rolls Royce, which stopped in front of the hotel entrance. The bodyguards cleared a path to the car. The reporters started to take pictures like crazy, because it was the only thing they could do. Because of the whining reporters, Noah apologetically said, "I'm sorry. I don't have anything to say." However, when he was about to get on the car–
One reporter grabbed his shoulders through the bodyguards. Noah startled and looked back at the reporter.
"Ah, excuse me...."
The reporter stuttered. When he grabbed Noah's arm, he already had something in mind to say. If Noah displayed an awkward smile, he was going to say, 'What's so hard? Please say a word!' But when he saw Noah's expressionless face, he froze. His staring, cold green eyes gave him a cold sweat. However, in a moment Noah smiled, as if it had all been his imagination. He let go of his arm and smiled nicely. Noah's smile gathered more attention, the shutter noises getting faster.
The guard pushed away the reporter. He was looking at Noah with nervousness, but didn't realize why he was acting so.
Phil opened the back door, and Noah got inside. And right before the car door was shut.
"What? Haley?"
Among the din of flashlights, a man's voice was heard pretty loud. The man, who was answering the phone, closed his mouth and looked around. Did something happen to Haley Lusk? The reporters were staring at him like hyenas. While their focus was on that reporter, Noah's car door closed and left the scene.
All the reporters were looking at the reporter who had spoken out loud and quickly ran over to their cars and called some places.
Noah looked outside the window. Few cars followed him, but several others went in a different direction.
"Haley Lusk died."
Phil heard the latest news through his radio and told him. Noah looked at Phil, and Phil said, "His manager found him dead in his house. They don't know the cause yet. But they think it's because of drug overdose. It could also be suicide."
Noah laughed instead of being surprised. The guy who had said to him, "I'll die if you don't go out with me!" had actually died.
"He can't sit still, can he?"
He sounded rather annoyed, than being interested in him or sympathize with him. Because of Haley he had been involved in this scandal for two days. He laughed saying, "I should just stay at home for a while." It was obvious to him that a bunch of sympathizing articles about Haley will be published, and the reporters will be swarming to his house like bees to hear how he feels.
Noah was indifferently thinking, 'Should I go to a warm southern country for a while?' This was not a bad excuse for that. However, it will be better for his image if he stayed at home, acting sick than not taking any days off. Until that guy disappears from people's memories. –In about three of four days there will be another scandal, and people will be like 'Haley? Who is... ah, that dead guy?' There were many different kinds of celebrities in Hollywood.
Anyways, he kinda felt empty that the person he was about to crush down died before he could do so.
'I'll die if you don't go out with me!'
Two days ago. Noah was just waiting for the security to arrive when he heard that crappy line. That dirty rag was angry and said, 'don't regret.'
'You'll regret that you disregarded me today.'
He was controlling his facial expression, but ended up laughing after hearing that. The man, who was so drunk that his eyes were out of focus, froze, and Noah bent down, so only he can hear him.
'Mr. Lusk, you'll end up filming dirty porn for the rest of your life.'
Noah smiled kindly and looked at Haley, who was just frozen after hearing his vulgar way of talking.
'So, why don't you worry about your hole rather than mine?'
'It's probably already too lose.' –He actually sounded like he was worrying for his close friend's health, and Haley's face slowly turned blackish red.
Noah shook off his clothes where Haley had grabbed him and turned around. Behind him, Haley was screaming, 'You... you are gonna regret this! Just watch!' But Noah didn't laugh this time.
"....Had he meant that I won't be able to crush him down?"
He murmured to himself. Regretting only because he wasn't able to destroy that person. 'I do have that kind of a personality, but I'm not a sadist...'
Noah just stared outside the window.
"...-Hm."
Or did he actually think I'm going to regret just because he died? –Since he didn't know his place, it is possible that he thought so. Probably, even if that trashy guy dies, of course he or the world won't care.
Noah was neither regretting nor showing any sympathy for Haley. He was thinking, 'It would be better for him if he dies now.' He wasn't kidding when he whispered that Haley would live, filming porn, for the rest of his life. Such a deal was easy for him– destroying a dirty rag to hell; since he had invested about tens of millions of dollars every year, in movies, dramas and other entertainment business.
Haley was stupid and the only thing he did was to throw tantrums, so in half a year, he would have ended up filming bestiality or gore porn films. Even if he was alive, he'll probably die from either drug overdose or intestinal rupture from putting something dangerous inside him. Imagining all these made Noah wonder that, Haley was better off dying like that.
It was definitely better for him to die now. Just as he came to that conclusion, Phil frowned after answering his phone.
"What?" He checked the information again and looked at Noah. He talked on the phone for a while and hung up. And he told him with a bewildered face–
"Mr. Raycarlton. Haley Lusk seemed to be still alive."
Haley Lusk is alive. He definitely checked the latest message that he'd been dead for about one or two hours, but then everything overturned. Haley Lusk was alive and was now heading to the local hospital. Phil checked if the messages were misguided, but they weren't. It was true that he actually stopped breathing, and rigor mortis was already setting in, but then he suddenly revived according to the police.
"No, he was definitely dead but then revived."
'It wasn't like he revived right away. His body became cold, but his heart started to beat' –Phil was surprised about that, but Noah was just indifferent and just frowned a bit.