A Change of Plans

Thud-thud-thud!!

Thud-thud!!

Thud-thud-thud-thud!!

Once the noisy footsteps had faded into silence, I cracked the door open just enough to check the hallway.

"Hyung, so what's Plan B?"

"Splitting the people up."

I answered Jaeyeol's question and stepped out into the now-quiet corridor.

I could feel the stares of people peeking through every door lined up along the hallway as I moved quickly past them.

There were eight of us on the move right now.

Me, Gihun, Jaeyeol, Mingu, Jaemin, Yeonghun, Yeonghun's uncle.

And that piece of trash we'd grabbed from the department store.

"Th-this ish..."

His mouth was so swollen he could barely form words, and his entire face was a mass of blue-black bruises, puffed up beyond recognition.

That was the result of Yeonghun and his uncle beating him every single day while they waited for today, barely able to contain their rage.

No one felt sorry for him. No one tried to stop it.

Yeonghun's cousin had suffered far worse pain, terror, and fear before she died.

"Th-there..."

The guy who looked ready to drop dead at any ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠second pointed at a closed door.

Inside were two of the four remaining pieces of trash that weren't even fit for recycling.

"Sorry, but you need to finish this fast. The soldiers could come pouring in any second."

"Sorry, nothing. I'll repay this debt with my life."

Instead of answering, I opened the closed door, and Yeonghun shoved the half-dead guy inside by the back.

"Ugh..!!"

He sprawled face-first onto the floor. When he saw Yeonghun staring down at him without a word, he scrambled on all fours toward a folding cot and shook the guy sleeping there awake.

"Hey..! Hey..!! Get up...!!"

"Ah, what the hell..!"

"Lights out..! Fuck...!"

Talk about living the good life.

Even after that loud broadcast, they were still off in dreamland.

Yeonghun, fed up, sent a low voice toward the two guys still grumbling in their sleep on the folding cots against either wall.

"Get up."

"I said get the fuck up..!! You can sleep after I disappeared?!"

"What the hell are you on about..!!"

"Fuck, seriously!!"

The first bruised guy Yeonghun had been shaking finally sat bolt upright.

Then he froze solid.

Shlick!!

Squelch—

A military combat knife punched through thin skin and pulled free, and blood sprayed like a fountain from the bruised guy's throat right in front of him.

"Uwaa.. mmpph!!!"

He never even got to scream.

Yeonghun's hand clamped over his mouth and nose and shoved him back down onto the cot like he was pinning him there.

But the real horror came after.

Shlick!!! Stab-stab-stab-stab!!

Yeonghun's uncle, the one who'd just put a hole in the bruised guy's neck, started slamming the blood-dripping combat knife down.

Right between the legs of the guy Yeonghun was holding down.

"Ghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!"

Normally this was the part where you'd make them beg and apologize, but there was no time—and those two had never planned on accepting an apology anyway.

They didn't need some half-hearted "sorry." They wanted these bastards to die the same way their cousin, their daughter, had died—without even knowing why they were dying, without understanding why something this horrific was happening to them, full ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of injustice.

Stab-stab-stab-stab-stab!!!!

The combat knife that had been hammering between his legs soon started slamming mercilessly into his chest, and the trash died without even getting to close his eyes.

Meanwhile the last guy, fully awake now, was trembling in terror with Jaemin's hand clamped over his mouth, waiting for his turn.

"We'll wait outside."

"Yes. We'll be right out."

"Hah..! Hah..!"

Yeonghun took the blood-soaked combat knife from his uncle's hand and walked steadily toward the guy Jaeyeol had pinned. I took the others out into the hallway to wait.

Not because it was hard to watch—because we needed to prepare for anything that might go wrong.

"Think they'll show up already?"

"They will. All the real soldiers pulled out, and we were walking around in uniform in plain sight. People saw us and definitely told the military. They'll have figured out there's no guard detail at the entrance either."

While Jaeyeol and Mingu checked the nearby emergency stairwell, Gihun and I waited in front of the elevators.

That was when the elevators that had been stopped on our floor started moving.

All six elevators on both sides began descending at once.

"Jaeyeol! Mingu!"

"It's quiet over here!"

"How soft have these people been living?"

It was almost funny that they still weren't using the emergency stairs even now, but it worked out perfectly for us.

"Hyung, it's done."

"......"

"......"

Right on cue, Jaemin opened the door first. Behind him, Yeonghun and his uncle stepped into the hallway, pretty thoroughly covered in blood.

Thud—

I pressed my hand against Yeonghun's chest—his uniform already soaked with spatters of blood—then headed down the emergency stairs to the second floor.

The bloody footprints alone would have been enough, but just in case I deliberately left marks with my bloodied hand on the stairwell railing.

A nice invitation for the soldiers to come down to the second floor.

"Alright. On your knees."

We dropped to our knees in the second-floor hallway, hands raised over our heads in the classic unconditional surrender pose, and waited for the soldiers.

After a short wait, noisy footsteps erupted and soldiers burst through the emergency stairwell door, swinging their muzzles toward us and starting to shout.

Or rather, they started to shout and then stopped.

"Nobody move...! Don't..."

"What the hell are these guys..!"

"You crazy bastards..! Do you even know who you just killed?!!"

I knew.

The guy we'd been beating for days ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had spilled everything about who the perpetrators really were.

The bruised one had been the second son of some chaebol family. The two who'd been sleeping so peacefully were the son of the brigade commander—the top dog in the National Assembly—and the son of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff.

That was why they could rape and murder a minor and never face a single consequence, why they never had to stand a single watch, why they could sleep through an emergency broadcast like it was nothing.

But two more were still left.

The son of a high-ranking police official and the son of a field-grade officer.

Apparently their parents ranked a little lower, so unlike the ones sleeping so comfortably, those two actually stood guard duty and got sent on operations—or so the bruised guy had told us. That meant we hadn't been able to pin down their locations.

We'd planned to hunt them down quietly, but the sudden firefight had thrown everything off, so we'd switched to this method instead.

Lucky us, though. Looks like we found them.

Among the more than twenty soldiers, two of them looked especially nervous.

Those were the last pieces of trash.

"Restrain them!"

At the commander's order, some soldiers advanced with their muzzles still trained on us while others came forward with rope instead of guns, heading for the kneeling group.

Now.

Welcome to the crocodile's mouth, soldiers.

Bang!

Bang— bang— bang— bang—

Every door lining both sides of the hallway flew open at once, and in an instant the soldiers found themselves surrounded, muzzles pointed at them from every direction.

Bang-bang-bang!!!

Three shots into the ceiling.

That was Suho announcing that the guns in their hands weren't empty. He shouted at the soldiers.

"Drop your weapons and get on your knees!!!"

Suho and Baek Sihyeon's group alone wouldn't have been enough.

So we'd gotten help.

From the people who'd come to Yeouido with Suho.

The place they'd hidden to avoid the eyes of the soldiers pouring out toward the armory had been the rooms where the people who'd come with Suho were staying.

Originally they'd been extremely reluctant and hesitant to answer, but then a quest had popped up and they'd agreed to help us with surprising enthusiasm.

Assist the resistance's operation and join the resistance.

A quest that handed out a full three stat points.

"W-what's your objective..!"

"Cleanup."

"Cleanup..?"

"Wh-what the hell..!! Ugh...!!!"

"Stay back!! Ah...!!!"

Just as I'd thought—those two were the remaining perpetrators.

Yeonghun's uncle, who knew the faces of the guilty, finished one of them with his own hands and left the last one for Yeonghun.

One quest done.

All that remained was rooting out the corrupt soldiers.

"Only ten rounds in this magazine?"

"These are all empty mags."

"This one's got five."

"Only three over here."

From more than twenty soldiers, the total rounds we'd taken didn't even reach fifty.

Even after a firefight had broken out inside the National Assembly, this level of armament meant their ammunition stockpile was basically scraped clean.

Even so, we couldn't push any further.

"Suho, split the rounds into five magazines and load them. The second you link up with the others, pull back immediately."

"What are you talking about? Pull back??"

"It's not happening right now."

"After all this, we at least have to try once."

"Too dangerous."

Every building in the National Assembly was connected by underground passages. If anything went wrong, the high-and-mighty would be escorted by soldiers straight into those tunnels.

Deciding the bullets were low and charging into an underground passage guarded by fully armed soldiers to purge the corrupt elites would be suicide.

That was why we should have set up first and waited.

Just like we'd just done with these soldiers—hidden in advance so they couldn't even resist when we took them down.

But since that had failed, we needed another approach.

If this chance didn't work out, we could always wait for the next one.

The quests the resistance and the others had received didn't have a time limit like mine.

"Hold on. Why are you telling that to Suho-hyung? It's like you're not even coming with us..."

I nodded at sharp-eyed Jaeyeol's words and answered.

"That's right. I'm not going with you."

Unlike you lot, I've got a time limit.

Vrrr!!

Right on cue, a text arrived from Captain Son Gijun.

Looks like he'd already gone down into the underground passage.

So I sent a reply.

I slipped the phone—now set to silent—into my pocket and called Suho and Jaeyeol over, whispering in the tiniest voice.

(Keep a close eye on An Gyeongsu.)

Alright then. Time for me to go do my quest.

After leaving the Members' Office Building, the others moved to link up with the resistance while I slipped through the dark National Assembly, moving fast and staying hidden.

Current time: 10 a.m.

The situation had ended, and the National Assembly's leadership had gathered in one place.

"We need ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to increase the perimeter guards!!"

"How dare they come barging in here of all places..!"

"Are we just going to keep being this sloppy?!"

"How long are we supposed to stay here, anyway?! Why isn't Army HQ sending a rescue helicopter?!!"

"Everyone shut up!!!!!!!!!"

A fist slammed the table and a roar rolled through the conference room, silencing it.

"Everyone quiet..! Be quiet...!!"

The soldier grinding his teeth and making a request that sounded more like a threat held the rank of colonel.

He was the chief of staff—the second-in-command of the airborne special forces brigade currently controlling the National Assembly.

And also a parent who had lost his son that morning.

"This is a military operations meeting..! Assembly members and ministers, please restrict your comments..!!"

Under normal circumstances someone would have shouted about a mere colonel raising his voice, but everyone knew he'd lost his son, so not a single person made a peep.

In the end, the person with the most power right now wasn't any assemblyman, minister, or vice minister—it was the military.

"Brigadier General..! Send troops right now and crush them..!!"

"I understand how you feel, but we need to move a little more carefully."

"Brigadier General!!! My son is dead..!!"

"My son is dead too. Do I look fine to you?"

"....S-sorry.."

"Don't worry. We'll catch them and tear them to pieces. So let's be a little more careful. We can't have the misfortune of letting them slip away, can we?"

"Yes, sir!"

Brigadier General O Yongwon didn't even raise his voice even though his son had died in such a horrific state.

Instead he clenched his teeth hard enough to draw blood from his gums, holding down rage that looked ready to explode at any second as he spoke.

You could feel it in that voice alone.

His resolve to make Kang Juhan pay dearly for those two rewards he'd received.

But Kang Juhan felt the same way.

He planned to rip off those extremely annoying tags as fast as possible.

Right here, right now.

"Aaaagh!!!!"

"Wh-what?!!"

"What's going on?!"

"Chief of Staff!!"

In an instant the chief of staff screamed and was sucked under the massive conference table as if a black hole had opened beneath him.

Then came the sound.

Crunch!!!

The horrific noise of a neck snapping.

And an unfamiliar man's voice.

"So other people's kids dying is fine, but not your own? Hypocrisy much."