Chapter 112: It'd Be a Shame Not to Use It

TL: LittlePeach

How much time had passed since the explosion that started in the kitchen blew away half the mansion?

“Get Society Head-nim out of here, now!”

“Fuck! What the hell were they doing with the fire in that kitchen for this bullshit to happen?!”

Just as I'd expected, Qingshe Gang members came pouring out of the mansion through the acrid smoke.

As they crammed into the parked vehicles and fired up their engines, I leisurely began looking over my prey.

‘Is that it?’

Even amid all the chaos, a large vehicle slowly rolled out from the entrance of a concealed underground garage.

It was a hulking SUV, massive enough to pass for a presidential state car and looking as though it had been forged from a single block of steel.

“Looks like it.”

Perhaps because the vehicle was so heavy, it began crawling slowly across the garden.

Qingshe Gang members hurried after it.

Still, every group had at least one slowpoke who lagged slightly behind the rest.

I walked up to the driver's side of the last sedan, where the driver was fumbling with the ignition, and flung the door open.

Bang!

“W-who....”

Wham!

As always, my fist moved a beat faster than my judgment.

“Gurk.”

I dragged the gang member, whose eyes had rolled back as he passed out, from the driver's seat, immediately took his place, and stepped on the accelerator.

The real operation started now.

Vroooom!

Ignoring the sedans trailing behind in a line like a string of sausages, I cut straight across the middle of the garden and raced toward the rear of the SUV at the very front.

VRAAAAM!

“Oh no you don't!”

A few of the sedans realized something was wrong and tried to cut me off.

I deftly worked the wheel, weaving around them, then rapidly picked up speed and overtook the line of vehicles.

It didn't take long before I was riding right on the tail of Hu Tao's SUV.

“Tsk.”

You'd think that with me this close, they'd at least roll down a window and point a pistol at me, but Hu Tao's SUV was so utterly unresponsive that I almost felt awkward.

It was as if they couldn't care less whether I was openly chasing them or not.

Bang, bang-bang!

“Whoops.”

Instead, the escort vehicles behind me lowered their windows and began firing pistols.

They were clearly aiming for the tires of the car I was driving, so I floored the accelerator, surged ahead, and shot straight past the SUV.

Ahead stood the wall surrounding the garden and the flimsy iron front gate set in the middle of it.

Screeeeech.

I skidded the sedan sideways across the entrance.

I opened the door, stepped out, and went to greet Hu Tao's vehicle, only for the SUV to accelerate even harder.

‘Knew it.’

That was exactly what I wanted.

The SUV plowed straight into me as I stood stock-still in the middle of the road.

WHAM!

“Ugh!”

At the same time,

CRUNCH!

“Urgh.”

Without losing any of its momentum, the SUV smashed straight through the sedan and the iron gate.

If I'd been an ordinary person, my body probably would have been lying there split in half at the waist by now.

“Heave-ho.”

Instead, I clung to the bumper like I was hanging off the edge of a cliff, wrapped my arms around it, and hauled myself up onto the hood.

Only then could I vaguely make out the driver's face through the tinted windshield.

“....”

When I started crawling up the hood, the man's eyes went wide and he stared at me in utter shock.

Even I had to admit this was probably exactly what a scene from a horror movie felt like.

There was a partition behind the driver's seat, so Hu Tao was completely hidden from view.

“Phew.”

Even after I settled myself comfortably on the hood, the driver never once tried swerving the wheel to shake me off.

He was probably being considerate of Hu Tao in the back.

Rustle, rustle.

Thanks to that, I could leisurely rummage through my pocket and pull something out.

The driver's vacant gaze, which had been fixed on what I was doing, soon shifted toward my shirt as the headwind whipped it open.

Flap, flap.

The instant he saw what I'd strapped around my midsection like a belly band, his eyes bulged.

[FRONT TOWARD ENEMY]

Now everything was ready.

The clacker sat satisfyingly solid in my palm.

It felt like forever since I'd last held one, though in reality it had only been three months.

‘Since I came all the way to Dandong, it'd be a shame not to use it.’

I curled up and flattened myself against the hood, right over where the engine should be.

And then, just as my heart began pounding pleasantly.

Click!

KABOOOOOM!

“Nngh!”

A massive pillar of flame erupted upward in an instant.

The shockwave hit me head-on and sent my body sailing into the air.

Below me, I could see the SUV caved inward.

SCREEEEEECH!

The escort vehicles following close behind slammed on their brakes at the sudden explosion.

My body traced a long arc through the air, then dropped.

Crash!

I plunged straight through the windshield of the lead escort vehicle that had screeched to a stop.

“Aaaaaagh!”

The guard behind the wheel screamed in terror when he saw my face come crashing through the shattered windshield.

He must have thought my corpse had been caught in the explosion and hurled into his car.

Then again, having anything suddenly come crashing through the windshield was enough to make someone freak out.

‘Still, when someone freaks out that badly, it gets a little awkward for the person staring back at him.’

Anyway.

My thoughts were brief, and my actions were quick.

I drove my fist straight through the cracked windshield.

Wham!

“Ghk.”

The driver's jaw whipped neatly to the side, and at the same time, I spotted a pistol sitting on top of the center console.

I casually snatched it up and immediately aimed at the passenger seat and the back seat in succession.

Bang! Bang!

“Urgh!”

“Ghk....”

The guards, still frozen in their seats without even understanding what was happening, let out short, strangled cries and slumped over.

SCREEEEEECH!

The remaining escort vehicles behind us screeched to a stop, and their doors began flying open.

I ripped the rifle from the hands of the man sprawled across the passenger seat, then hopped onto the roof of the crumpled sedan.

Ratatatatat!

“Aaaaagh!”

“Urgh!”

“C-cover! Get to cover!”

Caught by the sudden barrage of rifle fire, the guards climbing out of their vehicles panicked and failed to react in time.

I emptied the rifle's entire magazine in moments, leaving bloodied men sprawled across the asphalt.

Only three or four of them remained alive at most.

Taking advantage of the sudden quiet, I walked over to Hu Tao's armored SUV, which had taken the explosion head-on.

Clunk!

“U-ugh....”

Apparently, money really did buy quality, because Hu Tao was still alive and looked surprisingly intact.

Of course, the shockwave from the explosion had left him dazed.

Compared to the driver in front, who had been reduced to a bloody pulp, Hu Tao had been protected by the partition separating the rear seats from the front.

I lowered my voice and began acting.

“Society Head-nim. The attacker has been dealt with. The vehicle is damaged, so I'll transfer you to another one.”

“U-uh, uugh....”

Without even having the presence of mind to be suspicious, Hu Tao completely entrusted his weight to my supporting hands.

While I leisurely led him out of the vehicle, several surviving guards realized their boss was effectively being held hostage and could only hover anxiously, unable to fire.

I carefully laid Hu Tao down in the back seat of the escort vehicle whose windshield I'd smashed.

“T-tr... trunk....”

“Yes?”

“In the trunk... there's a safe.... Th-the password is o-one-three-three-seven-eight....”

“Ah!”

As expected, greedy bastards cared more about money than their own lives.

Still barely conscious, Hu Tao managed to force out the order through trembling lips.

It made all my acting feel worthwhile.

“Understood. It looks like more attackers are coming, so I'll grab it quickly.”

“Uugh....”

The instant I shut the car door and stepped away, the remaining guards hurriedly opened fire on me.

Bang! Bang!

I calmly raised the pistol toward the direction the bullets were coming from and returned fire.

“Ghk!”

“Uugh!”

Before long, the remaining bastards were lying side by side on the asphalt.

Once the area had been cleared, I opened the SUV's trunk and found a small safe sitting there all by itself.

The password was 13378.

Click.

“Oh....”

There was more worth taking inside than I'd expected.

Forged IDs from various countries, more than a dozen passports, thick stacks of bearer bonds, seals, and even powers of attorney.

What stood out most, however, was an old leather notebook.

‘A bribery ledger.’

A quick flip through showed pages densely packed with names, positions, amounts, and more.

It detailed exactly who Hu Tao had paid, how much he'd given them, and what favors or business interests he'd received in return.

The sums and details were staggering.

‘One look tells me this is the kind of thing that'll cause trouble if I mess with it carelessly.’

Hu Tao's entire life was practically packed into this one small safe.

I swept everything inside into my bag.

After finishing up, I returned to the car where I'd left Hu Tao lying down.

“Y-you....”

Having finally recovered from the shock of the explosion, Hu Tao was shakily pushing himself upright.

Toot.

“....”

Once again, getting caught in an explosion had left me half naked.

Hu Tao's vacant eyes immediately dropped to my lower half, which had come out to greet him first, and he went completely blank.

Just as his mouth fell stupidly open,

Wham!

“Gngh.”

I neatly cracked Hu Tao across the jaw.

Before he could even protest, his eyes rolled back and he crumpled.

“Easy.”

Simple is best.

And just like that, the operation to covertly abduct Hu Tao, society head of the Qingshe Gang, wrapped up with ridiculous ease.

***

Everything after that went like clockwork.

I scavenged a few pieces of clothing off the bodies lying around, put them on, then drove back to the Kowloon Hotel with the windshield still completely shattered.

My phone had been blown away in the explosion, so I hadn't even been able to call ahead, yet Kowloon Society members were already waiting in position throughout the underground parking garage.

“Good work, sir.”

“We'll take Hu Tao from here.”

“Ah, okay.”

While they dragged the unconscious Hu Tao from the back seat and carried him off somewhere, I boarded the private elevator as the remaining members respectfully saw me off.

The penthouse floor was only a short ride away.

Ding.

“To think you'd abduct Hu Tao this quickly....”

Apparently having received word in advance, Yang Mi-ryeong was leaning against the desk waiting for me.

She still had her usual relaxed air, but the smile at her lips looked oddly defeated.

“Compared to those North Korean assassination squad bastards, this was nothing.”

I shrugged and took a seat on the sofa.

Yang Mi-ryeong strode over and promptly plopped down right beside me.

“What on earth happened? I heard there was an explosion at Hu Tao's mansion. They said half the building was blown away.... That was your doing, wasn't it?”

“Yeah, more or less.”

“Explain what happened. Did they blow your cover halfway through?”

It seemed the subordinates she'd stationed on standby within five minutes of the mansion had already reported what happened.

I picked up a bottle of water from the table and shrugged.

“No. Nothing like that. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, I saw a deep fryer, so I poured some oil on the floor and set it on fire. Then, after a while, the kitchen gas line went boom.”

“....”

“I was outside catching my breath when Hu Tao, who'd been hiding inside the mansion, happened to make a run for it. So I stole a car, chased him, fired a few shots, blew up his car.... That was basically it.”

I had nothing in particular to hide, so I told her exactly what had happened.

As if my neat little explanation had given her a headache, Yang Mi-ryeong pressed a hand to her forehead.

“I'll just pretend I didn't hear that joke.”

“But I'm telling the truth.”

“Good work.”

Yang Mi-ryeong didn't ask anything more.

Her face said she didn't want to ask a single follow-up question.

The long sigh she let out sounded strangely forlorn.

“From that story alone, I can't tell whether I sent a hitman or a terrorist....”

She wasn't wrong.

At this point, even I wasn't sure whether I was a black agent, a hitman, or a terrorist anymore.

*****

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