64 – Edward Hyde is real (2)
In London, a city full of crime and sin, naturally, many stories were floating around like ghosts.
Of course, it was a place so gloomy that it was called a ghost city, or a gray fog, and people used to talk about numerous ghosts wandering around here and there, so it may be a natural story.
Even London Scotland Yard, which only claims to protect London, did not dare to know how many people die every day in this great heart of Europe, or how many pickpockets and thieves pick each other’s pockets and how much violence breaks out.
I couldn’t blame them for their incompetence. It is clear that only a very small number of people in England know how many of those who die each day actually reach the end of the lifespan given to them by the Lord and go to heaven.
Some ghost stories were based on real events and were floating around like ghosts.
From the mysterious death of an actress from decades ago that no one remembers anymore, to the myth of Spring-heeled Jack jumping across rooftops and walls, or to the story of Edward Hyde, the gentleman of the night, whose existence people still talk about until recently, there are many, many things. Ghosts were haunting London.
There were also strange rumors distorted and spread by bad magazines, newspapers, and those selling cheap and low-quality stories worth a penny.
Rumors about a human meat shop that sells pies made from eels that have eaten people, or a barber who cuts off the throats of customers and endlessly collects corpses for some purpose.
There were also vulgar stories that a rational gentleman in London would laugh at, such as a story about a corrupt handsome man who would never age because his portrait aged instead of him, or a story about a vampire who was said to be extinct and was actually roaming around London as an aristocrat. .
It also included a story about the ‘suicide club’. The rumor that there was a club where intellectuals who wanted to commit suicide but did not want to commit the crime of taking their own lives would gather and kill each other instead was a story worthy of black humor among the British.
And at the Suicide Club meeting that had been held for the first time in a long time, a card game that could determine life or death was in full swing.
They looked truly serious. The subjects who came to this club saying they wanted to die were really funny to see them trying to survive when they were so close to death.
James Moriarty, the president of the Suicide Club and known simply as ‘M’ to club members, was sitting at a specially prepared head table on the second floor, like a box seat at an opera house, overlooking the gambling scene taking place on the first floor.
Of course, he had the pleasure of watching the ugly behavior of self-proclaimed suicide aspirants, but his greatest pleasure was fooling idiots.
There were so many people in the world who believed that gambling was truly fair that the world was as full of people who could cheat as there were eels in the Thames.
Jane Watson, who is probably still practicing dissecting corpses under the guidance of a professor at the University of London, was one of those types of people.
Gambling was ultimately about cheating, and it was one of the things Moriarty was best at. This was true even for those suicidal people who naively believed that a truly fair game was being played.
Of course, not everyone came in the purest sense wishing to commit suicide. Sometimes there were such crazy people, but most of them were people who were tricked or simply brought in for entertainment, which was one of the reasons for the existence of this club.
But everything was already decided before the gambling began.
Moriarty calmly emptied his glass, savoring the sight of the face of the opponent he had decided to deal with today becoming distorted in despair after realizing his defeat.
“Your mask is crooked, master.”
“… Let’s skip over the little things. “It’s no problem if you know my face here anyway, right?”
“Still, it is my job to protect my master.”
It seems that the mask covering his face was a little crooked because he was concentrating without realizing it. At that moment, I felt a soft hand gently caressing my face.
Moriarty disliked unauthorized physical contact. But as picky as she was, she could be said to be quite kind to those she allowed.
Even now, the little girl who was holding him close, pretending to fix his clothes, was also a tool he loved and trusted, so despite grumbling, Moriarty left her body to Moran.
In fact, the only people who could be around Moriarty on the second floor were people he trusted, so there was no need to go through the trouble of disguising himself.
However, just as meaningless pretense sometimes gives important meaning and dignity, everyone around him, including him, was wearing makeup that made it difficult for them to be recognized.
Right now, Moran was wearing a larger hat than usual, covering his two wolf ears that always expressed his emotions in abundance.
Only those who could be trusted because they were their own people, like Porok and Moran, and those who were not even likely to betray because all of their limbs were cut off, like the person specially invited today, watched the ugly bet together around Moriarty. .
Meanwhile, according to the rules within the Suicide Club, a drawing of lots began to be held to determine who would ultimately die and who would be killed.
Today’s victim had to pick one of only two cards prepared in advance.
If you pick the Ace of Spades, it means the death row inmate who will be executed here today. And if you pick the ace of clubs, it means that you are the executioner who has to personally kill today’s death row inmate.
Of course, the person who planned to kill today was able to confirm with trembling hands that he had drawn the Ace of Spades.
The person who was scheduled to die today wanted to cry out for help. However, without even confirming that his card was the Ace of Clubs, or even accepting the club or pistol handed to him by the host next to him, the executioner laughed like a madman and rushed at the victim.
Everything happened in an instant.
The executioner grabbed the strong adult man’s neck with just one hand and lifted him into the air, then with a thud, he broke his entire neck vertebrae.
Shortly after, the man who had turned into a corpse was thrown to the floor, and the large, suspicious-looking executioner burst into laughter from the pleasure of killing a man.
“It’s a bad taste, M. And if you kill it in such a rough way, the price is bound to drop when you sell it.”
A middle-aged man who was watching this, a man with a neatly cut beard and dressed like a nobleman sitting right next to Moriarty, opened his mouth.
Moriarty lightly shrugged his shoulders in response.
“It doesn’t matter because the purpose is not to sell corpses. “Isn’t it more fun to give people a chance to live like that, Tidkin?”
“There was no possibility of survival from the beginning. And… “No matter how many times I tell you to call me Resurrection Man instead of my name, you won’t listen.”
“Because I’m the one who decides that, Anthony.”
At Moriarty’s arrogant words, Antony Tidkin only sighed as he looked at Sebastian Moran, who was glaring at him, and Porok, who was rubbing his fingers nearby and getting ready at any moment.
He already knew well that this was the reason why Professor James Moriarty allowed him to stay by his side.
A few years ago, he owned a sizable organization of his own, but in the end, everything was disbanded, and he was forced to work under a professor with his limbs literally cut off.
The reason the professor had saved him so far was because his abilities were useful, and he knew that no matter how he felt, he could not be the professor’s enemy.
Originally, Anthony Tidkin was a major criminal who was called ‘Resurrection Man’ in the behind-the-scenes world.
Unlike the grandiose expression containing resurrection, his nickname itself was a humble one.
‘Resurrection Man’ was a slang term referring to people who often steal corpses, and as befits this name, Tidkin was a corpse smuggler who had been stealing, making, and supplying corpses throughout England for a long time.
Cadavers were items in great demand for medical research and dissection practice, but their supply was always in short supply, and naturally, criminals who artificially ‘produced’ and sold them began to appear throughout England. .
After the infamous Scottish serial killers Burke and Hare were discovered to have killed dozens of people and sold them to doctors, British society was horrified and enacted several laws regarding the use of corpses for medical practice, but not all crimes were committed. As long as they were not caught, all corpses could legally be used for medical practice.
Of course, even Tidkin had no choice but to vent his dissatisfaction as it was a bit burdensome to sell a man whom a strangely large man had just killed with tremendous strength to his regular colleague, Professor Robert Knox of the University of London, without any suspicion.
Of course, it was just a complaint. Moriarty had no intention of listening, and next to him, Moran was glaring at him with murderous eyes flashing as if she would not tolerate the slightest complaint.
But Tidkin was also a criminal mastermind in his own right, and at least he knew that Moriarty would not get rid of those who were still useful simply because he was offended, so he expressed his dissatisfaction rather than dissatisfaction.
“Now that I think about it, M’s hands still seem clean.”
“That’s a funny joke, Tidkin.”
“I mean, M has never had blood on his hands yet. That’s why it’s even more bad taste. “He feels the weight of life, and he does this even though he has never personally experienced ending someone’s life.”
“… There are so many complaints about just one corpse with a broken neck. Or do you want to receive supplies directly from Sweeney in the future, Anthony?”
Only then did Tidkin close his mouth in response to Moriarty’s question. Efficiency was always important, so Moriarty then called on Porock.
At the same time, he only lightly gestured to Moran without saying a word, but Moran, who already knew everything about what the owner wanted, skillfully handed a copy of today’s newspaper into his palm.
“That’s right, Porok. “I remembered it because it was Sweeney, but tell him later that he should keep his hobbies to a moderate level for the time being.”
Moriarty tapped one of the knights with the back of his hand and showed it to Porok, who was twisting his mustache in annoyance.
-Torso discovered again after 3 months! Is it really a medical student’s prank or murder?
“Oh, really, professor! “I also have a certain position now, so can’t I ask the kids below me?”
“Porok.”
“Don’t complain about your master’s orders, wizard.”
“Ha… …. “Well, it’s the professor’s order, so of course I have to follow it.”
Ignoring Moran’s threat, Porok grumbled but nodded, and Moriarty looked down again as if satisfied.
I just made eye contact with the ‘surviving executioner’. It seemed like she had been glaring in his direction ever since she got drunk on the joy of killing.
From noble mtl dot com
“Hyde.”
Moriarty opened her mouth quietly.
Then, as if she had been waiting, the large man jumped up to strangle her and quickly reached the second floor.
