Zhang (張, Zhang) is an executive of the Kakyuu Association and Xianming Lin's former boss.
Characteristics[]
Appearance[]
As described in the first novel, Zhang is a plump skinhead with a round face and a large, upturned nose. He has a high-pitched voice and wears a purple suit.
Personality[]
Zhang is an ambitious and self-important crime syndicate executive. As a businessman, he is professional toward Mayor Harada and his employees, but he is condescending toward Lin, whom he views as an amateur and a nuisance. He describes himself as dishonest due to his line of work, but he has a certain degree of hypocrisy. He unabashedly disregards his agreement with Lin to stay away from Qiaomei, but he expects those he makes deals with to uphold their end of the bargain, evident in his frustration when Ivanov is unable to kill Lin.
Background[]
Zhang became Lin's employer after the latter was purchased by the Kakyuu Association. For two years, he handed assignments down to Lin, and Lin worked to pay off his family's debt. In that time, Zhang sought connections with influential people in the Fukuoka and pocketed the money that Lin was diligently sending home to his family every month.
Shortly before the start of the series, a detective named Takeda began looking into the connection between Mayor Harada and underground associations in Fukuoka. Zhang met with the mayor in Club Miroir, and their meeting was photographed. In the anime, Zhang's boss Long Fang Wang met with the mayor instead.
Synopsis[]
Mayor Harada Scandal Arc[]
Zhang calls Lin shortly after Takashi and his lover are killed. He sends Lin the details of his next job, the murder of police detective Takeda. The detective is hanged by Ivanov shortly before Lin's arrival, however, and Zhang refuses even Lin's advance payment for the job. To retaliate, Lin refuses to work until Zhang pays him.
He calls Lin the next morning to remind him of his next assignment, killing the private detective Zenji Banba, and warns him that he will have other killers take up Lin's work if he refuses. Lin decides to get in Zhang's way by protecting the target. When he meets Banba, Lin is offered money and a way out of his debt in exchange for information. He immediately identifies Zhang as the man in Banba's photograph of the mayor
Zhang meets with Munakata, one of Mayor Harada's employees, in Club Miroir. Munakata requests a young woman and Zhang easily agrees, having recently arranged for the trafficking of Chinese women to Fukuoka to work for the club. In exchange, he requests that Munakata's group kills Lin.
He calls Lin in the morning to mention the morning news. When Lin learns of his younger sister's trafficking and murder, Zhang calls him again to disclose his mother's death five years prior, and Lin rushes to Zhang's office and kills his subordinates. Zhang refuses to name Qiaomei's buyer and confidently reminds Lin that he is a child simply playing killer in an adult's world. Ivanov grabs Lin and begins strangling him as Zhang departs.
Zhang returns to his office after Lin's departure and watches security camera footage of Lin, Ivanov, and eventually Banba entering the office and Banba and Lin leaving together. Munakata arrives at the office to check on the body of his friend, and Zhang expresses his displeasure at how easily the professional was killed. Munakata requests the task of killing Lin, and Zhang asks for Lin and Banba to be delivered to him alive.
After Munakata and Reiko learn from Enokida of Lin and Banba's plan to get to Yusuke Harada, they report to Zhang, who tells them to go along with the exchange and bring Lin to a tenant building used by the Kakyuu Group for torture and executions. The Niwaka Samurai joins the meeting and receives his assignment of killing Banba.
When Lin is released from the suitcase that evening, Zhang greets him and has his men surround him. He binds and beats Lin without resistance, reminding Lin that he should have never messed with adults. He instructs the Niwaka Samurai to cut off Lin's head, and the killer cuts of Zhang's head instead.
Niwaka Samurai Impersonator Arc[]
As of the second light novel, Long Fang Wang, the president of the Kakyuu Association and Zhang's superior, has tasked his assistant, Li, with finding the traitor responsible for Zhang's and his subordinates' deaths.
Relationships[]
Xianming Lin[]
Zhang and Lin have a spiteful relationship. They both act dismissive and insulting toward each other. Zhang insists that Lin is a child, while Lin is determined to be recognized as a professional. To get back at Lin for his refusal to kill Banba, Zhang sells Lin's sister. Her murder causes Lin to actively seek Zhang's death.