It is a rainy night in Bangkok.

The wet, slippery streets did not stop the racing bikers however. Rokuro "Rock" Okajima, a Japanese man, is speeding through a busy lane with another racer. They each zoom pass other incoming motorbikes- receiving feedbacks of insults and middle fingers. What was initially a food delivery service unexpectedly became a test of driving skills. Rock should not have let his thirst for adrenaline dictate his choices, especially ones that that are life-threatening. The good news is that he had already delivered the food to the customer. The bad news is that the customer challenged him to a race.

"Hey, come on! Don't be staring at my ass the whole way back!" said the Aussie-accent customer.

"Damn it."

The final destination is back to the restaurant Rock currently works for. The customer frequently orders from there, so he knows where to go. Rock, on the other hand, had charted every possible way, including the shortcuts, to return to the restaurant in his mind before accepting the challenge. It did not matter. Rock is solely putting his focus into staying in front of the customer rather than getting to the end first. Defeating your opponent is more evocative than achieving victory. Then again, having the losing hand does not help.

The two racers are pushing thirty blocks before arriving at the restaurant. The customer is still in the lead. Rock shakes his head to move his long hair strands away from his right eye. He seeks for any opportune moments. Seeing that the sidewalk is the answer, but a cheat way to win, he goes for it. His motorbike dashes through screaming civilians and splashing water at them. Nevertheless, Rock is gaining speed and catching up to the customer on the street. As they come closer to the restaurant, Rock lifts up his bike and let the rear wheel do the work. He is winning.

Not before he notices a woman and a baby in a stroller having their backs toward him.

"Wah!" Rock puts the front wheel down.

He swiftly dodges and nearly hits them. The woman gasps when Rock bolts right by her, and holds her breath as she witnesses him crashing into newspaper vending machines. The bike launches the unfortunate Japanese man across the pavement. Rock rolls into puddles until he finally stops. Luckily, his head is intact as always. He grunts as he sits up and hears the customer laughing from the street.

"I win, mate! Better luck some other time!" said the customer as he disappears into the traffic. "Thanks for 'the big special'!"

"What…?"

Rock realizes that he is only a few feet from the restaurant.

"(Sigh) Are you kidding me?"

As he enters the empty restaurant, he groans over his body aches and continues to do so during which the Thai chef starts yelling from the kitchen.

"Oi, J-man! What the hell you been doing?"

"I've been on my way back, that's what I've been doing."

"Why you covered in water? You swim? My floor is puddle mess!"

Rock observes himself. He really is drenched. Good thing he wore a sauna suit before he left.

"You late anyway! It's closing time! You have final order coming up! One more 'the big special' order!" The chef puts the bag with the box of food on the counter and also the receipt. "Address on receipt! Hurry, or you late again! Go now or no pay!"

"But my motorbike's busted."

"Then get taxi! Be late and I keep pay! Okay?"

Rock scratches his beard and curses himself for putting up with this crap in a span of two months- a familiar habit of his from the other jobs he took in the past.

He takes the bag and receipt, reads the address, and heads back out into the miserable rainy weather.

Inside an apartment building,

Rock goes up two levels and walks through a poorly lit hallway. The walls are coated with rust stains. Night bugs are crawling in between floor cracks. No fire escape maps, no room area codes- there are even missing numbers on the doors. Rock guesses his way for the customer's apartment with the bag of food coated in rain droplets by his side. The food probably has gotten cold already. His premature senses tell him that he should be close.

Then, there were signs.

Loud, muffled screams and yells filter out of the discolored walls. Rock hears sounds of heavy footsteps thudding on the floor and glass breaking from inside one of the doors. He slightly bends and moves slowly to the source. He reaches a door that has the same numbers as the ones on the receipt. The sounds grow louder and louder until it cuts quiet. Rock halts in his place and feels a tingle on his neck.

All of a sudden, the door breaks open. A man flies out and slams into the wall. Blood leaked from his nostrils and teeth daubed in red. He moans in his sweat-soaked muscle shirt and khaki shorts. Rock continues moving up to analyze the situation. Then three Thai men step out. Two are slim and one is bulky. No hair on their heads but a single topknot. From the creases on the eye line and smirking attitude, Rock sees joy and pride on their faces.

The two slim men each hold a woman and a young boy like hostages.

"(In Thai) (Please…don't…!)" begged the man on the floor.

"(You'll get them back once you pay us up!)" The bulky man starts to rub his hand around the woman's belly, "(Don't be late this time…or she won't have any room left for you.)

They turn to leave, but notice the Japanese man with long black hair strands over his right eye in a blue sauna suit. With the delivery boy get-up, they assume Rock is just a bystander. They have to ensure that. The large Thai man draws a pocketknife out of his pants' pocket. He grabs Rock by his neck, pushes him against the wall and threatens with the sharp edge over his left brown eye.

"(You didn't see this. You didn't hear anything. You didn't know anything. You didn't see anything. Got it, you stupid foreign dog?)," said the bulky man.

"…"

His tan skin radiates out a reeking odor up to Rock's face. The man releases him, takes the white bag of food from his hand and walks away. The woman and boy are dragged against their will by the two following smaller men. They each stare at Rock as warnings to never cross with them. The hostages' cries fade out beneath the floor as the men go down the stairs.

Rock stands there, bewildered.

Did this delivery service turn into another unexpected event?

He walks over to the bleeding older man.

"Are you all right?"

"Why do people ask that when something bad already happened?" responded in English by the Thai man. "Who are you?"

"My name is Rock. I am a deliverer for a restaurant. You weren't the one who ordered 'the big special'?"

"'The big special'…? What the fuck's that?"

The Thai man pushes himself up and leans against the wall.

Rock crouches and asks, "What is your name, sir?"

"…Gamon."

"What exactly happened here, Mr. Gamon? It looked like a whole lot more complicated than a robbery."

"How'd you guessed that?"

"They didn't leave in a hurry."

"Heh, I'm fucked, kid. I'm deeply fucked." Gamon churns. "I should've hurried."

"Hurried…? For what…?"

"Look, this is not of your business. Just go."

"I just saw a woman and a boy get carried off by thugs. Not too long ago, I almost crashed my motorbike into them. I can't ignore this. Just at least tell me the problem."

"… (Sigh) I work for those guys." Gamon admits. "They're a gang faction that serves under the Thai mafia. I am one of them. Or rather, I applied to be one of them. They told me that if I can rob enough money and give it to them upfront, I am in as a brother; that meant protection and income. It was test for any underling. Also works as an initial fee, you know. Did a couple of fetching and got my hands dirty…but, just with only a couple more baht left, I backed out. I knew after having a kid meant something else. I can't afford to ditch out every day or night with a gun in my hand, risk going to jail and miss my family. So, I made an ultimatum. I told the gang that I quit and they can keep the money. But, they saw me as a chicken- a coward. They took my reason for joining them in the first place in order to get all the money I swore them."

"Joining the gang for protection was a bad idea." Rock commented.

"Hey, I was talked into it. One of them gave me the opportunity for my family. I had no education, no way to sustain myself in a job, and I let that stop me. I could've gone to some restaurant and work like you do. I was impatient, kid. And going into that gang meant aiming high at the time. I should've hurried…hurried and gave them all the money, then cut loose."

Rock disagrees, "It wouldn't matter though. Once you paid into it, they can't let you just idly walk away. That stolen money is in their hands, and you're the stealer. What happens when the Royal police find you? They'll ask you where it is, you tell them, and it pretty much stamped a wanted star on your head. The gang will have to kill you, and that might be a difficult thing for your family. You shouldn't have gotten involved with them in the beginning."

"…Shit, kid…I told you I had no education." Gamon scoffs. "I just…want…out…"

"What do you have to do now?"

"The cash I grabbed and gave to them got disregarded. I have to fucking start all over! It'll take some damn time, but I gotta make due. I gotta save my wife and son."

"You're in no condition to be robbing anyone." Rock holds Gamon's shoulder. "…Or running from the police."

"Well, I can't wait until I'm better. Those men are gonna do terrible things to them if I don't deliver."

"…" Rock makes his life-threatening choice. "I can help you."

"Wh-? Don't be stupid, kid. How can you help? You're a delivery boy."

"How much money do you have on you?"

"Feh, let's say I don't have enough to tip you for your service."

"Do you have a gun?"

"…? Kid, you can't…"

"I can get you the money to save your wife and child. Call it a moment of salvation or whatever. I have a job to do. I have to make sure my customer is satisfied. Let me help."

"…"

Gamon gestures for Rock to support him standing back up.

"Ugh, fine. I can't ask you to get yourself involved with a gang deal. Just remember, if you get in trouble, that's not on me. I could've done it myself."

"I had my share with the criminal underworld. This is just another common thing I saw in the past. Only this time, I care."

"…"

"Do you have a gun?" Rock asks again.

"Under the sink…inside a soap box..."

Rock walks in Gamon's trashed apartment and searches for the weapon. Gamon remains out in the hall. Digging into the sink cupboard filled with washing agents, Rock finds the soap box. He unfolds the lid and discovers a black-tone Beretta 92FS pistol. Returning to him with the pistol, Gamon nods to Rock that he found the right one.

"How much do you still owe them?" Rock takes out the magazine.

"Er, couple thousand baht."

"How much specifically…?" Rock retracts the barrel and catches the bullet out from the ejection port.

"(Fuck!) 10,000! But for what I know, those guys probably raised up the fucking fee to get my family back!"

"All right." Rock slides the barrel to its normal position.

He inserts the bullet into the magazine, loads the gun, and cocks it.

"I know a place to get enough. It's not a bank or any place with expensive items and heavy security." Rock informs.

"Kid…"

"…?"

"You're not just some delivery boy, are you?"

"…" Rock smirks as the tips of his dangling hair strands drop water, "I'm not a delivery boy anymore."

Back at the restaurant,

The Thai chef exits from his main office. He hears the jingling bell on the entrance door. Presuming that his Japanese employee has returned, he goes out to meet him.

"You late again, J-man! No pay for you tonight-."

He freezes in his spot. It was not his employee.

A man in a black white-striped tracksuit stands in the dining area with a gun in his right hand.

The chef stares into a white skull mask, completely covering the man's face.

"(P-Phi Lok?)" The chef panics.

The man raises his gun and shoots him once in the left shoulder. His legs lose control and his body collapses onto the floor. Anguish screams fill the restaurant. The man steps over to the telephone, removes the handset from the base, and dials 1646. The chef's screaming can do the rest. After that, the man heads for the office. There is a safe with a dial lock beside the main desk. The man quickly spins the dial to the correct combination, apparently already knowing what it was. Stacks of money that add up to 160,000 baht lay inside. The man pulls out a white bag and steals all of it. He escapes through the kitchen's emergency exit, where a Thai man waits for him in a car. Once he is inside the vehicle, the man takes off the skull mask while the Thai man hastily drives away.

"Why a skull mask?" Rock asks Gamon.

"The mask belongs to the one gang faction called Phi Lok. Wearing skull masks is their motif. I had to wear it to spread their reputation." replies Gamon.

"Phi Lok…"

"It's the name of the ghost that haunts and scares people everywhere. You can see the resemblance between it and the gang."

"I do see it."

"How much did you get?"

"160,000." Rock shows him the bag.

"(Holy shit!) The chef is packed with this?"

"He is the guy that delivers drugs through his food." Rock answers.

"What…?"

"He uses this money to pay for the drug shipment. The trucks come in with the food supplies as well as the small stashes of narcotics. Every now and then, a particular customer calls the restaurant. He would order either "the usual" for weed, "the typical" for cocaine, or "the big special" for heroin. The drug is weighed by the gram, gets packaged and hidden within the food- usually in the drink- and we deliver them to the customer."

"Whoa, and you get paid for this?"

"The payment is given to the chef. I only get 10% of the total earnings for the entire week. So, if the chef gets 40,000, I get 4,000. And that's just the normal rate."

"That means you can make 16,000 in a month! Or even more!" exclaims Gamon. "You can get yourself a nice apartment with that!"

"Yeah…"

"I knew I should've worked at that restaurant instead of joining the gang. Fucking hell…!"

"It's still dangerous though. The Royal police already know about this distribution strategy." Rock warns.

"Is this what you meant, kid?"

"…?"

"About you had your share with the criminal underworld?"

"…Not precisely."

"Why that man? The chef? You had something against him?"

"Oh, I…didn't want to put up with him anymore. Even with the good payday, I can't spend a lifetime with that."

"Heh…You and me both in different ways."

"…"

"So, I just give this money to them? That's the plan we're going with?"

"To get your wife and son back…? Yes."

"But you said it yourself, even if I paid them and go home with my family, they won't leave me alone. They'll follow me, follow my wife, and follow my son for god's sake!"

"They won't get all of this money."

"What do you mean?"

Rock digs into the bag of 160,000 baht and extracts 10,000.

"This 10,000 is what you will give them. The 150,000 is for you and your family. You will use it to get out of this city or even the country if you know someplace to go to."

"God damn…"

"Make your apology discreet. Don't give them any reason to hunt you down. Let them know you underestimated their rule and wouldn't do anything that would provoke them. People love to be complimented with power. So, make them seem powerful enough to be merciful on you and your wife and son. All it takes is for you to act like a kiss-ass, and that's all it will take."

"How do you know all this, kid?"

"This is the business game, Mr. Gamon. Everyone plays it."

At an abandoned auto repair shop,

Gamon parks the car at a relatively safe distance from the building.

"This is their place."

Rock suggests, "Do you need me to go with-?"

"No. They saw you at the apartment. It would be very suspicious if they see you with me. Besides, this is my deal."

He takes the bag with the 10,000 baht. Rock hands over the Beretta 92FS pistol.

"You hold onto it. Listen, kid, if something goes wrong, please find my wife and son. You get them out of here for me."

"That probably won't be the case."

"Well if it does, do it, alright?"

"…"

"Thanks a lot, kid."

Gamon leaves the car and hobbles to the shop. The garage door swings open and glaring white car headlights flash at him. His eyes squint and he sees silhouettes standing in front of the cars.

"(Hands up!)"

Gamon stays right outside of the garage and complies.

The car lights switch off. Gamon can now see all the faces. The three men that were at his apartment earlier are present, along with his gagged wife and son. Seeing his family in such a distressful state, Gamon immediately asserts his point.

He tosses the white bag at their feet, "(I got you your money! 10,000!)"

The large bulky thug inspects the bag and counts each baht. He nods to the other two.

"(Where in the hell did you get this?)" He asks Gamon.

"(Same as where I've been getting it from- shops and wallets.)"

"(…Is that right?)"

Rock watches from the car. He discerns the situation, but cannot hear any words. He doesn't see anything bad happen yet.

Suddenly, the door opens from Rock's side.

"(GET OUT!)" An unknown man grabs and hauls him out.

Rock falls on his face, and a shotgun barrel presses against the back of his head. Another man looks inside the car. He seizes the Beretta 92FS and the bag with the 150,000 baht. Rock spots white skull masks on their faces. They are Phi Lok gangsters.

"(ON YOUR FEET MOTHERFUCKER!)"

Rock is forced back on his feet.

"(NOW MOVE!)" The barrel jabs him.

The large thug perceives the two men walking towards the garage with the Japanese man captured. Gamon turns to see the commotion and is alarmed at the kid being found. Rock is knocked down to his knees next to him. The confiscated Beretta and the bag with 150,000 baht are given to the large thug.

"(We found these in the car with him, boss.)" One of the men tells him. "(150,000 baht is in the money bag.)"

"(160,000 baht, Gamon.)" The Phi Lok boss shakes his head. "(Did you really think you can get this much money from only shops and wallets in a few hours?)"

"…"

He puts the two bag with money on the hood of a car.

"(I had my boys follow you when you left the apartment. They told me that this stupid foreign dog came out with you. Then you went and hit up that restaurant. Now, since you didn't go anywhere else and came straight here…that must mean you hit the jackpot at that place, eh?)"

Gamon shivers in fear, and more so when he watches his wife and son crying.

Rock kneels upright and the gangster with the Remington Model 31 shotgun aims at him from behind.

The boss treads over to the Japanese man and stoops down to meet him at eye level. He clasps Rock's long hair strands and strikes into his face with the tip of the Beretta. Pain darts up his nose and water secrete out of his eyes. Rock hisses through his teeth to relieve the stinging.

"(The man you worked for at the restaurant was working for ME. That store was in MY territory, you son of a bitch. You worked there and you stole MY money in a skull mask! You stole MY money with MY OWN name!)" The boss whacks him three times more. "(I warned you. You didn't see anything!)"

He pushes Rock to the ground and watches the blood ooze from his nose.

"(All right, Gamon. You want your wife and kid back?)"

"(Yes.)"

"(Then do this one easy favor and I'll cut you all loose. No bullshit.)"

"(What do I do…?)"

"(Kill him.)" The boss points to Rock.

"…!"

"(You kill this fuck, and you can consider us square. I'll forget that you stole my money. I'll forget that you wanted to be a Phi Lok. Just kill this man.)"

He holds out the Beretta 92FS to Gamon.

"(Take this. Shoot him in the head.)"

"…" Gamon hesitates. "(I…can't…)."

The boss sighs. He looks at the men who are restraining Gamon's family.

The thugs take out their pocketknives and commence slicing through the wife's and son's clothes.

"(HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!)," exclaims Gamon.

"(If you don't end our deal by killing this man, those men over there are going to rape your wife and son. If you still stand there and wait, they're going to start cutting off their toes and work their way up. Then all that will be left of them are organs to sell. You want them back? Then take the fucking gun and shoot him. It's that easy.)"

"(I…never killed.)"

"(A man will do what it takes to protect his loved ones, right? Do it.)"

"(LOOK, I'M SORRY! I'm sorry for being a chicken and not fully paying you guys! I promise I will not tell anyone about the money! I will never mess with you! Please let us go!)"

"…"

The thugs slam the wife's and boy's heads down and unbuckle their belts. Gamon quickly accepts the gun.

"(ALL RIGHT, I'LL DO IT! Just please stop!)"

"(They won't stop until you finish the deal.)" The boss steps back. "(Kill him first.)"

Gamon looks at Rock.

Rock is bracing himself up with his hands and is facing the ground.

Gamon's hand furiously trembles when he closely aims the gun at the top of his head. He listens as his family desperately shrieks through the cloth in their mouths behind him. He can't let these men ruin them. He has to end this. He has to kill the Japanese man.

The rain has stopped.

Tears pour out as Gamon grits his teeth.

"I'm sorry, kid." He cocks the hammer.

"…"

"I…" Gamon infuriatingly shuts his eyes. "I can't do it…!"

Out of nowhere, Rock begin to chuckle.

Gamon and the boss take notice.

His chuckles develop into ominous cackling.

Every man at the garage glares at the Japanese man.

Rock's head tilt up. He turns to stare at the large thug. The boss detects what appears to be almost a different person. The mouth curves upwards, complacently expressing with a grin. The slanted eyes convey an aggressive killing intent. The brown iris colors replaced by a silvery glower hits the bigger man with a hammering dread.

The Japanese man startlingly speaks in their language,

"(It all worked out just fine. You think that I don't know who you are?)"

"…! (What the fuck?)" The Phi Lok's eyebrows rise.

"(The moment I saw you at the apartment, I knew who you were. I needed a way to find your location. I could've just chased after you, but that would be too expected. So, I took the other opportunity.)" Rock glimpses at Gamon. "(You.)"

"…What?" Gamon is muddled.

"(Your wife and son were captured by his men. I knew you didn't want them to be, and I could tell that you wanted them back. And to do so, you had to- like he told you- pay him. What better way to find the boss than a simple money quest? So, I decided to lend you my help. The debt was 10,000 baht. Obviously, I wasn't going to rob from every shop in the mile and wait until it all piles up. Then there's the restaurant. I already knew it belonged in his territory. I only started working there so that I could get a lead to where the boss could be. I previously tried following the supply trucks, but it only sent me to a distributor to another distributor, not the main supplier. My employer, the chef, had plenty of money in that safe of his. It only took me a one night break-in to figure out the combination. Since I knew what it was, I stole that 160,000 and used that to get me closer to my goal. I didn't count on being followed, but it doesn't matter. If you had safely came back out with your wife and son, I would have been gone already.)"

Gamon and the boss are completely silenced by Rock's story.

"(And then…)" Rock stares back at the Phi Lok boss. "(…I kill you.)"

The boss twitches with anger, "(Who the FUCK are you?)"

"…"

The two men who had captured Rock stand ready for the boss's go-ahead signal.

Rock glances at Gamon, whose hand is barely gripping the Beretta. He inconspicuously slides his knees to the side.

"(KILL THIS BASTARD!)" The boss commands the gangster with the Remington.

Rock rapidly snatches the Beretta from Gamon. He flips on his backside and aims at the two men behind him. Before the man could pump the shotgun, Rock shoots both men in the heads. Promptly, he leans backward and shoots upside-down at the other two men. The bullets whiz into their throats. Droplets of blood spray onto the hostages' naked bodies. The wife and boy are free from the thugs' clutches. Gamon sprints to protect them. Rock then directs his line of fire to the Phi Lok boss. One shot into the kneecap stumble the hefty gangster.

"(Fuck!)," screeches the boss.

As Rock calmly stands on his feet, the boss staggers to the dropped shotgun.

A shot into the other kneecap incapacitates him. He plummets straight down and lands barely close to the weapon. He lowly wails when he frantically crawls for his chance to live.

However, only the fittest survive.

The person who claimed to have entrapped him grabs the shotgun first.

Instead of using it, he simply slings it aside.

The Phi Lok boss rolls over to face him.

Rock cocks the hammer on the black Beretta 92FS while intensely gazing at the fallen leader.

"(W-Who are you?)"

The Japanese man in the tracksuit crouches down to let him goggle at the baleful eyes behind the long hair strands.

"They call you Phi Lok- named after the ghost that haunts others."

Rock puts the pistol's muzzle in the boss's mouth.

"They call me Reaper- named after Death."

A small whimper sound before a loud gunshot marked his last breath.

Rock shifts his attention to the survivors in the garage. He gets up and enters the building. The Thai man is hugging his bare, ungagged wife and child close to his chest.

Gamon watches the Japanese man moving towards him. He cannot choose whether to be frightened or enraged.

"The deal is done, Mr. Gamon," said Rock. "You paid the amount to them, and I made sure that they will not bother you or your family again. You can choose whether or not to take that 160,000 baht, but you can always leave."

"Who are you? And why did you do this?" Gamon questions.

"My name is Rock; and this is the business game."

Condoning that as his final words to him, Rock leaves.

He saunters down the empty wet street.

Pulling out of his pocket a cell phone, he calls for a certain contact.

When the other end picks up, Rock states, "It is done. The judgment has been passed."

A filtered voice responds, "Good. Come to the port. It is time for the Reapers to meet."

Rock closes the cell and throws it away.

He unzips his track jacket and discards it also.

Now in his white business shirt and blue tie, the Japanese man disappears into the shadows of the dark night in Bangkok.

Kill from Anywhere