Chapter 249 - 245: The Joker

Ryder stepped out of the lift and saw the back of a person walking in the direction of the toilet.

'Bastion?' Ryder thought as he recognized the person as Bastion.

'Perfect. I was wondering how I could keep him away from this. This worked out for the best without me doing anything,' Ryder thought as he smiled. 

Ryder waited for Bastion to enter the toilet before he ran up there and locked the door.

"One of you guys stay here and keep an eye on the door. Make sure no one opens it from the outside. No one should be able to come out of this place," Ryder told one of his men to guard the door.

He had locked the door from outside, but he still didn't relax. He didn't want anyone to open the door from outside and let Bastion out after Bastion starts constantly knocking on the door. 

Ryder wanted to avoid this situation, so he decided to place one of the ten guys here to keep an eye.

Ryder took the other nine men and walked in the direction of the room where everyone was staying inside.

****

Bastion checked inside the Men's bathroom and found it to be completely empty.

He walked back to the door and tried to leave, but when he tried opening the door, he found himself being unable to open the door.

"It's locked? Did someone lock me inside?" Bastion muttered as he looked at the door.

He tried pushing the door and calling out for someone to open the door, but no one opened the door for him.

He brought his phone out of his pocket and tried calling his friends to come open the door, but no one picked the phone.

****

While Bastion was trying to call the people in the Karaoke Room, the Karaoke room was busy on its own.

The entire room was suddenly silent, and only the ringing of a phone could be heard.

It was Dan's phone that was ringing and it was Bastion who was calling.

Ten people in joker's Masks were standing inside the room as well. All of them had a gun in their hands, pointing at the people in the room.

Ryder had told the leader of the ten people to do all the talking other than him since he didn't want to say anything, but he had to be the one that caused Imane to cry, so he had also planned for that. It was for him to be the one who made her cry using the leader of the gang.

"Kekeke, we came here looking for the enemy gang member, but it looks like we got the wrong information. Those guys are not here. Instead, just some kids are here. Such a waste of time," The leader of the said as he chuckled.

Ryder was standing beside him, and he simply nodded his head.

"Boss, since we already came here, how about we have some fun instead. It's clear that someone gave us the wrong information, and I'm pretty irritated. I want to let this steam out. Please, boss, let me do this. The girls here look so pretty," The leader said as he looked in the direction of Ryder.

Ryder made his voice sound heavy to make it indistinguishable. He looked in the direction of the leader of the hand and nodded his head.

"I'm not interested in anyone here, but since you're my loyal man, I won't let you down. But you can only choose one girl. We don't have time," Ryder replied as he nodded.

"Kekeke, of course, boss. I am somewhat confused, though. All of them look so pretty. Can you pick one for me? Just chose any," The leader told Ryder.

Ryder looked at the leader of the ten people before he roamed his gaze over all the girls. It was just to show since he had already decided on the girl he wanted to choose.

All the girls were shivering as they saw the masked men and heard their words. They knew that they couldn't do anything and that they might lose everything today.

Even Imane was looking scared. She was looking down, hoping not to get seen.

"Any? Fine. I'll choose one for you. For us, dark-hearted people, you need a dark-hearted girl. That girl looks pretty evil. You take her," Ryder told the leader as he slowly raised his hand and pointed towards a girl.

The girl he was pointing at was none other than Imane.

Imane couldn't help but take a step back in fear.

"N-no, please don't," She said as her shivering increased. She was too fearful now as she held the corner of her clothes. Her eyes started getting wet, but she still wasn't crying.

The Leader that was with Ryder started walking towards the girl.

"Wait! Don't you dare touch the g..." One of the guys started moving towards the girl, but that's when Ryder fired a shot, intentionally missing.

It was a warning shot to show that he was serious about killing people, and the gun wasn't a fake. Because of the silencer in the weapon, it didn't make much noise. The you who was trying to move froze in his place, unable to move in fear.

He couldn't believe that he was so close to death just now. Suddenly, all his courage had left the body. No one tried moving.

Even Shu didn't move. Shu was just silently standing in the background, looking at Ryder with great interest.

No one tried moving after that as the leader of the gang continued walking in the direction of Imane.

The man reached near her and stood just a few feet away from her. The man slowly reached out his hand towards the face of Imane to touch her face. Imane closed her eyes in fear as a teardrop fell from her eyes.

<Mission has been completed>

<Rewards have been given>

Ryder heard the voice of Janus, who gave him the confirmation of the mission.

"Forget it. It's just a waste of time. Let's leave. We should find those guys instead. I want to kill the ones that gave me the wrong information first," Ryder let out in a solemn tone as he told the leader to stop.

"Kekekkeke, You're lucky little girl. You escaped. Man, I really wanted to have a taste, but I can't go against the wishes of my boss," The man said as he stopped his hand that was just a few inches away from Imane's cheeks.

Imane slowly opened her eyes as she breathed in relief, but she continued crying.

Ryder and the others left the room and locked that room from outside as well.

He gestured for the man that was guarding the toilet to leave as well.

All of them left through the stairs while Ryder entered the lift.

The lift and the stairs didn't have any cameras, which Ryder had already seen.

Ryder changed his clothes inside the lift and came back to the floor through the same lift.

The other guys left the place entirely.

Ryder stepped out of the ring and walked back to the room with his phone in his hand.

He opened the room and entered inside.

"Man, the network is really getting worse nowadays. I can't believe I had to leave the building to get a good connection. Why did you guys give the door closed from outside, though?" Ryder asked as soon as he entered, but he stood shocked as he saw everyone in the room shivering.

"What the heck happened here? Why are you so looking so scared? Did you see a ghost or something while I wasn't here?" Ryder asked in curiosity.

While Ryder was disguised as the Joker, he had dialed the leader. Both of their phones were connected. He did it to make sure that if Bastion tried calling his number, it would be busy. He disconnected that call after entering the lift.

"Also, where is Bastion?" Ryder asked again.

Everyone in the room looked in his direction.

"Right, Bastion! I hope he's safe!" Dan came out of his fear as he pulled his phone out and called Bastion. 

The other people started telling Ryder about what happened.

Ryder pretended to be continuously shocked as he heard about it.

"We should call the cops!" One of the girls suggested.

"Yes! Call the cops! We need to tell them everything!' Another Girl chimed in.

" I don't think there will be a benefit of doing that. The people had already left. This place doesn't have any cameras either. The cops won't find anything. It'll be a useless endeavor," Shu said as he shook his head.

"I agree. When I came up here, I didn't see any people dressed in a Joker outfit. They probably left. We should all just leave. The day must've been tough for you guys. Go back and rest," Ryder agreed.

"I guess you're right," The guys and the girls slowly started nodding their heads. They all understood that it was useless at this point. Fortunately, everyone was safe.