Top Ranker's Second Chance: I Am the Lord of Passive Skills
Chapter 14: I’m Don Capo

Chapter 14: I’m Don Capo

Ace tore through the forest without breaking a sweat, not a breath escaped his lips, not a twig snapped beneath his feet. He kept yelling at one of his guys to run faster. The poor man whimpered like a beaten horse but pushed on.

Ace soon spotted more of his crew huddled beside the stream. Chaewon lay on the grass with a cold, wet towel on her forehead, her cheeks bright red as she panted. It looked like a sudden, vicious fever had slammed into her.

The others muttered, "Don Capo," when Ace showed up, and Chaewon forced her eyes open.

"I’m... sorry... for making you... worry and... stopping the trip..." Chaewon gasped.

Hearing her talk like someone on her deathbed yanked open old wounds. Ace’s chest felt like a thousand knives stabbed it. This woman always piled the blame on herself and apologized for things she couldn’t control.

Ace crouched and touched her cheek. "She’s burning. Grab the bike and drag it out of the forest. Bring the ropes too."

"Got it, Don Capo!"

Ace slid an arm under Chaewon, lifted her, and sprinted toward the trees’ edge. He knew his level and skills couldn’t help her; a real doctor had to. Once clear of the trees, he lowered her, knelt, and turned his back to her.

"Piggyback. Don’t bother holding on."

Her head blazed and tears blurred her eyes, but Chaewon trusted him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he stood. Her heat climbed higher, and his worry did too.

He tilted his head. "Tie her to me. Show me you remember the knots. If you screw it up, I’ll work you like slaves till you drop!"

"YES, DON CAPO!"

The gang snapped to it like drilled soldiers. Just a glance from Ace picked the best knot‑tyers, and they lashed Chaewon to his back.

Ace jumped on the bike and blasted off. Tires screamed on the dirt, then the concrete, then the highway. He shot past cars whose drivers stared in shock. The Human Engine gears in his core pumped power through his muscles, turning him into something almost unreal. At last the hospital loomed. He burst into reception and yelled, "Doctor, now! And help me get these ropes off her!"

Nurses flinched at the outburst. But when they saw Chaewon’s flushed, gasping face, they whisked her inside. Ace paced in the hallway while the doctor worked.

Afterward, he called Chaewon’s dad, explained the situation, and gave the hospital name. Then he updated the crew. Throat raw, he grabbed a cold drink from the vending machine and sat down.

A patient in a hospital gown shuffled over. Long hair, about Ace’s age, eyes clouded as he muttered under his breath. He stopped and stared down.

"You made a hell of a scene, huh..." he whispered. The voice made Ace’s eyes widen. "Maybe fate wants her dead, yeah? Fever just picks folk at random."

Ace looked up.

The guy’s eyes gleamed with madness.

Ace smirked. "Why aren’t you dead yet?"

"Doctors won’t let me..." the man said. "They keep wasting time on me. Taxpayers foot the bill—you’re paying for me. That piss you off?"

"As fuck," Ace said.

"Really? Most folks just spit spite. You sound like you truly want me gone. Now I don’t want to die."

You were always like that, bastard. No will of your own. You only fight other people’s will. Ace thought. Crazy that I meet you before the Chessboard Apocalypse. Even now you don’t want to live—only to deny everyone else.

Ace smiled. "Name?"

"Des. You?"

"Ace. So, Des—you think fate wants you dead?"

Des’s eyes widened. "Yeah."

"Nah. You just got no will," Ace said, standing and walking off, leaving Des blinking.

In Ace’s first life Des became a notorious high ranker. He made trouble everywhere simply to defy others. If a real savior rose, Des would be the first to block him. Boring—but his hidden talent was terrifying.

Des whispered, "No will of my own?"

Late that day, Chaewon’s dad reached the hospital. The doctors told him she’d pull through and should be home soon, and he passed the news to Ace. After promising to stay by his daughter’s side, the old man watched Ace leave to rejoin the gang.

The crew already knew what had happened, so they packed up, tidied the campsite like decent people, and walked home.

"Will big sister be alright?" Mercer asked once they were back home and only he and Ace were left.

Ace nodded. "Yeah. Smile for her, okay? She hates thinking we’re sad because of her."

"I’ll try," Mercer said, forcing a grin.

"I’m going for a walk," Ace muttered.

Dressed in a plain T‑shirt and shorts, he headed downstairs. At the foot of the apartment block he ran into a gang he’d never seen. Black filter masks hid their faces, and steel bats rested on their shoulders or scraped the pavement.

They spotted Ace.

"You! Fetch Alex and his lapdogs," one of them barked. "Word is they turned soft, so this block’s ours now. Don’t want your place trashed? Pay up. And call Alex, or we’ll make you squeal for him!"

Ace thought of how far his crew had come—training at the dojo, camping, learning to be better. He even liked being around them now.

He gave a thin smile. "Guess you missed the memo, huh?"

"What memo?"

"Alex and the boys roll with me. I’m Don Capo."

"Don what?"

"Figures. Trash like you only speak fist." Ace cracked his knuckles. "I’ll punch my name into your skulls. How many of you? Twenty? Barely a warm‑up. I could use one—I’m in a shitty mood."

"Kill this fucker!"

Against twenty of them, Ace planted himself like a wall. Then he charged in, unaware his gang had seen him.

When they heard him claim, "I’m Don Capo, and these men are under me," tears threatened to spill.

They held back the tears and stared as he singlehandedly pounded the enemy into the ground. He looked fierce and dominant, sealing his status deep in their hearts.

"They’d better have insurance," Alex whispered.

Marko and the others nodded, grinning.

Minutes later, Ace stood still amid the bodies littering the ground.

[You have obtained a new title—Don Capo (Common)]

[You have obtained a new passive skill—Life Steal (I)]

Really now?Don Capo... became a title?