As John Wick exited the hotel, Winston walked over to Smith.
"Smith-san, do you believe John Wick will survive long enough to reach your door?"
To Winston, the Assassin League was capable of protecting John Wick, but the question was how much effort they were willing to expend.
This matter might even reignite the long-dormant conflict between the two factions. After all, what John Wick had done could be viewed as either a minor breach or a major offense—it all depended on how the High Table's twelve elders interpreted the rules of the Continental.
Smith Dole chuckled and looked at Winston.
"If he doesn't even have the strength to survive the journey, then he's not worth protecting."
Winston understood. John Wick had to prove his own value.
"Then allow me to thank you on Jonathan's behalf."
······
Rain poured from the sky as John Wick walked home, soaked to the bone.
Back at his house, he stared at the photo of himself with his wife, overwhelmed with longing. He played her video once more on his phone.
He already had two of the seven Dragon Balls—five remained.
Helen… wait for me.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
John opened the door. Standing outside was Charon, the concierge from the Continental.
"Mr. Wick."
"If you're willing, please come with me."
John didn't speak—he simply nodded.
······
Charon drove Winston's Rolls-Royce with John Wick in the back seat.
John knew what was coming. After this meeting, the bounty would go live, and he would need to head toward the Assassin League.
His real trial would be breaking through the gauntlet of killers. If he made it alive, the Continental's pursuit would no longer matter. If he died—then it was over.
The Assassin League was his only hope.
He stared silently at the scenery outside the window.
The car stopped at the entrance of a park just as the first light of dawn painted the sky.
John stepped out. Charon shook his hand.
"It was a pleasure, Mr. Wick."
"Goodbye."
He pointed toward a specific direction in the park, signaling where Winston waited.
John crossed a footbridge and found Winston seated at the center of the plaza, reading.
As he approached, Winston greeted him.
"Jonathan."
John got straight to the point.
"Winston. What punishment awaits me?"
Winston sat on the steps, his face stern.
"Camorra has increased Santino's bounty to twenty million. They want the two Dragon Balls you carry."
"You are now under global pursuit."
John frowned.
"Camorra? The High Table?"
Winston nodded.
"Yes."
John asked again.
"And your Continental?"
Winston looked up at him, anger flashing in his eyes.
"You killed someone inside the Continental, Jonathan."
"You left me no choice. I have to declare you excommunicado."
"All privileges tied to the Continental are now revoked."
Winston stood and approached him.
"I regret to inform you… your life is now forfeit."
John's voice was raspy.
"Then why am I still breathing?"
Winston's gaze darkened.
"Because I don't think it's time yet."
Then, Winston nodded at a nearby man in a black trench coat.
The man took out his phone and said:
"Now."
The bustling park suddenly froze, as if time itself had paused. Everyone stopped in their tracks.
John looked around. Winston wasn't bluffing.
After a few moments, Winston nodded again, and the world resumed its motion.
Winston checked his watch.
"You have one hour. I can't delay it any longer."
"Perhaps this will help."
He pulled out a blood oath medallion—the very one John once gave him upon retiring.
Now, Winston returned it to him.
Taking the medallion, John said:
"Winston, tell them—tell everyone."
"No matter what comes, no matter how they come—anyone who tries to kill me…"
"I will kill them. I'll kill them all."
Winston looked at him and smiled.
"Of course you will."
As John turned to leave, Winston thought of Smith Dole back at the Continental and spoke again.
"You have two roads."
"The Assassin League… and the Elders of the High Table."
"The former can protect you. The latter can cancel the bounty."
John paused for a moment.
For him, only the Assassin League was a viable path.
"Thank you, Winston," he said.
Then he walked away without turning back.
As Winston watched him leave, he raised his phone and made a call.
"Activate: 1-1-1-1-1. One hour from now. John Wick… excommunicado."
······
What neither of them realized was that Smith Dole and Fox were watching from the rooftop of a nearby building, using binoculars.
Fox glanced at her phone.
"The price has gone up again. Twenty million."
"John Wick is now at the top of the Continental's bounty board."
"And now Camorra's people are interested in the Dragon Balls."
"Did they discover something about the Dragon Balls?"
Smith Dole closed the power-level scanner. No one below had impressed him.
"If the secret of the Dragon Balls were that easy to uncover, they wouldn't still be unknown."
"But the interest is growing. A lot of assassins have started looking into them."
"Anything that both John Wick and Santino were hunting is bound to attract attention."
Fox nodded in agreement.
"It's definitely tempting. Let's hope John Wick can survive long enough to reach the textile factory."
Smith Dole glanced toward John Wick, already fading into the distance.
"Let's follow him," he said. "Let's see how John Wick performs."
······
(End of Chapter)
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