Chapter 5
"You bastard! I heard you had another shootout in town last night!! Do you think Justice Town is your playground?"
"No, Sheriff. You're wrongly accusing me again. You don't think I drew my gun for fun, do you? I was catching outlaws who were threatening the town's peace," I said this while pointing to the outlaws on one side.
The corpses of the Marcos brothers and Jake McGuffin, plus Marv Murchins tied up alive—a total of five outlaws.
If these guys had caused trouble in town, they would have done significant damage.
Jett seemed to realize this too, as his eyes changed when he saw the outlaws.
He sighed while carefully comparing them with the wanted posters I handed him.
"Hmm... To think such vicious criminals came to our town. What could they possibly want here..."
"That's because Justice Town is a respawn point for outlaws."
"...Haa, can't you break that habit of spouting nonsense I can't understand?"
Jett, seemingly having a headache from the increasing influx of outlaws lately, rubbed his face a few times before speaking to me in a calmer tone, "...Kid. I apologize for getting angry as soon as I arrived. I want our town to always be quiet and peaceful, but hasn't Justice Town become noisy since you came?"
"That's not my fault, is it?"
"...Right, it's not your fault. But I keep hearing about you, and I guess that built up and made me lose my temper. I'm sorry."
Jett, who had been the sheriff of Justice Town for 10 years now, was strict but not a bad person.
I nodded, accepting his apology.
"I'll also apologize for calling you an old fart, fossil, idiot, potbelly, baldy, impotent, has-been, and geezer."
"..."
"Let's quickly verify the outlaws' identities and go inside. I'll make you a cup of coffee."
"...Then I'll excuse myself for a moment."
Jett, being a strict old-timer, didn't get along well with free-spirited MZ like me.
Nevertheless, we had an inseparable symbiotic relationship.
Jett needed a bounty hunter like me to help deal with the influx of outlaws.
And I, too, found it advantageous to be on good terms with Jett, the sheriff.
"I've confirmed them. They're all the outlaws from the wanted posters... Good job for now."
With that, Jett finished verifying the outlaws' identities and came into the office to have coffee with me.
***
"I've confirmed all the outlaws' identities, so come to the sheriff's office and I'll pay out the bounties."
"Alright, I'll send Emma along later, so please give it to her."
Slurp.
I took a sip of the coffee Emma had brewed and casually asked Jett, "By the way, Sheriff. Are there any new updated wanted posters?"
This was one of the benefits of being friendly with the sheriff.
After all, as a bounty hunter, I needed lots of wanted posters.
Even if I caught an outlaw, it was useless without a wanted poster.
"New updated wanted posters? Didn't I give you some yesterday!"
"I caught the guy from yesterday's poster today. If I caught one, you should give me another. If you have any wanted posters you've been hiding, please give me a few more."
"Urgh..."
Perhaps he had brought some wanted posters, as Jett licked his lips while rummaging through his bag and asked me, "...What you want most is money, right? How much of a bounty are you looking for?"
"Hmm..."
[Unable to log out]
[Remaining amount until logout: $894,556 / $1,000,000]
The remaining money until logout was about $110,000.
It was clear that it would take a long time if I only caught small-time outlaws like the ones I caught today.
"Are there any with bounties over $100,000 by any chance?"
$100,000 was about 3.6 billion in today's Korean currency.
No matter how vicious an outlaw was, it was unlikely they'd have such a large bounty.
I asked knowing it was unlikely, but...
"Outlaws worth over $100,000... There are some. To be precise, ones worth $150,000."
Jett nodded and pulled out two wanted posters from his bag.
"Huh? There really are... oh..."
And when I saw them, I was immediately disappointed.
[Name: Unknown]
[Age: Early 40s (estimated)]
[Dead or Alive $150,000]
[Characteristics: Founder and boss of California's largest gang, the South Brotherhood.]
First, the boss of the South Brotherhood.
This unnamed figure was the final boss of the last chapter in <CO>.
It would be impossible to easily catch the boss of the South Brotherhood, which was notorious throughout the West, centered in San Francisco.
Most people didn't even know his identity.
Of course, having cleared <CO>, I knew who he was, but...
Still, it was nearly impossible for me alone to take him down and collect the bounty.
And the next wanted poster.
[Name: Unknown]
[Age: Early 20s (estimated)]
[Dead or Alive $150,000]
[Characteristics: Founder and former boss of the secret society TKK]
The first boss of TKK, a young gang in the form of a secret society.
...This one's identity was also unknown, and for various reasons, he couldn't be caught.
To begin with, the existence of these two people was considered almost like a unicorn, an imaginary animal, among bounty hunters.
Jett probably just pulled out these old wanted posters as a joke.
"Come on, what are these?"
"You asked for ones over $100,000, so I brought them out."
"Aren't there any wanted posters for a big score other than these mirage-like ones?"
At my words, Jett shrugged and replied, "At least not in this area. We're out of outlaws."
"Oh man..."
Is it taking time for outlaws to respawn because I caught so many this time?
It seemed I'd have to make do with the wanted posters I already had for a while.
But then...
"Ah, it's not a case from this area, but..."
"...?"
Jett suddenly seemed to recall something and pulled something out of his bag as he spoke, "Have you ever heard of the Red Beard Gang?"
"Red Beard? What's with that name, sounds like it's from a pirate manga."
I was about to shake my head at the out-of-place name that sounded like it could be a Devil Fruit user, when...
"Wait a minute..."
Red Beard Gang...?
Suddenly, a memory that had been buried deep in my mind for a long time surfaced.
"Red Beard Gang... Could it be that bank robber gang?"
"That's right. You knew about them?"
"..."
...How could I not know?
The Red Beard Gang.
Those guys were...
The main villains of Chapter 1 in <CO>.
Come to think of it, the current year was 1874. And the time setting of <CO> was also 1874.
...Damn, I've been too busy trying to survive to pay attention to this important detail.
While I was confused, Jett took a sip of coffee and announced the Red Beard Gang's crime.
"The Red Beard Gang robbed the Wells Fargo Bank in Lexio County and then fled."
Is this a coincidence?
My age in Korea was 23.
And now that Noah's body, which I was in, had also turned 23...
Chapter 1 of <CO> [The Red Beard Gang Bank Robbery Incident] had occurred.
***
Chapter 1 of <CO> [The Red Beard Gang Bank Robbery Incident] began with the protagonist, a Pinkerton private detective, coincidentally visiting Lexio County, the chapter's setting.
The protagonist noticed the somewhat suspicious atmosphere of the town and through clues hidden in the town, realized that a bank robbery was planned, and stopped the Red Beard Gang's bank heist.
There were two endings here.
The first was a happy ending where one successfully took down the Red Beard Gang's boss. In this case, the protagonist's fame increased and the Red Beard Gang was completely wiped out.
The second was a bad ending where one let the Red Beard Gang's boss escape. In this case, the Red Beard Gang fled and a bounty was placed on them.
But now, given that the bank robbery had already happened and a bounty has been placed...
Looks like the protagonist let the gang boss escape. It's the bad ending.
It seemed the bad ending had occurred.
For now, I asked Jett, feeling like I was reaching for sour grapes, "How much is their bounty?"
"The boss is $1,500, and the other well-known executives are about $200 to $500," Jett said this while handing me the wanted posters for the Red Beard Gang's leadership.
"The other unnamed regular gang members are $50 each."
"Are there about 20 of them?"
"That's about right, as far as I know."
"Wow, then how much would it be if we caught them all?"
Catching just this one gang would bring in far more than what I earned today.
As I was counting on my fingers, Jett took a sip of coffee and said, "Why don't you go on a business trip then? Lexio County is a bit far, but... it's not an unreachable distance, and you're incredibly good at catching outlaws."
"..."
"It seems they're in complete chaos over there because of the bank robbery. The gang members probably haven't fled far yet, so go and solve it."
Occasionally, when outlaws disappeared from Justice Town, I would sometimes go on trips to other regions to catch outlaws.
But...
"I'm not sure. I don't think I could catch them even if I went this time."
I was negative about going to catch the Red Beard Gang.
"Why, don't tell me the great Kid is scared of some bank robbers?" Jett asked me, surprised as if this was unexpected.
He probably thought I'd pack my bags and leave immediately for this amount of bounty.
Of course, if the Red Beard Gang were ordinary outlaws, I might have gone after them, but...
"No way. But I can't catch these guys even if I go. It's just one of those things."
These guys were a bit special.
If one got the bad ending in Chapter 1 of <CO> and the Red Beard Gang escaped...
[You failed to catch the Red Beard Gang. They disappeared with the setting sun.]
...With this message, they become permanently uncatchable in the game.
Even if I rushed to Lexio County right now, they would have already fled somewhere.
I had no intention of wasting time being tempted by their high bounties.
"...I don't understand what you mean, but you're saying you don't want to go after them? Take these anyway," Jett said this while handing me the wanted posters for the Red Beard Gang.
"You never know, right? Since you came, outlaws have been swarming to Justice Town like wolves to a buffalo carcass. They might come to our town too."
"...That's not likely, is it? But... well, I'll take them if you're giving them to me."
I received the wanted posters from Jett and quickly scanned their mugshots and personal information.
[Name: Edward Wild]
[Age: 41]
[Dead or Alive $1,500]
[Characteristics: Red Beard Gang Boss]
[Crimes: Bank robbery, murder and attempted murder (9 counts)]
The reason the gang was named the Red Beard Gang was because the boss was a ginger with red facial hair.
It was like this in the game too, but seeing it in person, he really does look vicious.
I took the posters since they were given to me, but even while looking at them, I was certain I'd never meet these vicious-looking guys.
"Emma, stash these wanted posters in that drawer over there."
"Yes."
So I had Emma store their wanted posters away carelessly.
Who knew what might happen this very afternoon.