Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Escape (1)
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Fortunately, I was prepared to answer this question.
“As you can see, my recovery isn’t great, so my master tipped me off early.”
“Who was your master again?”
“Choi Yoon.”
It wasn’t Kudo who reacted—it was the Cureus Company Chairman.
He let out a weird noise. I stroked the head of the four-year-old kid yanking on my white hair and turned my gaze.
“No way, that Choi Yoon?”
“What’s that Choi Yoon supposed to mean?”
“Etak Chairman’s adopted kid! How do you not know that?”
The senior must have judged it a pointless conversation because he turned away.
Kudo splashed through water up to his ankles as he headed toward the south gate.
That side was blocked by collapsed debris too. The sturdy staircase door leading to the underground parking lot was barely visible.
I moved toward the senior while answering the chairman.
“I grew up without parents, so I’m lacking in a lot of ways.”
The chairman flinched, at least having that much shame.
“Black Badger’s Choi Yoon is some big corp adopted kid?”
“Yeah, and you didn’t know that even though he’s your master? …Well, he’s not the type to explain it himself.”
You know him well.
I nodded and properly cradled the squirming kids in my arms. When I found them, they were both terrified, but splinting them and rambling nonsense seemed to help ease their tension.
The kids, who’d been frozen stiff, started moving a little.
The girl who’d introduced herself as Becky tugged on my hair. The boy named Luke flailed his good arm wildly in the air.
Ignoring the pain like my hair was being pulled out and the mess in my vision, I stood behind the senior.
“Can we get through?”
Instead of answering, Kudo gripped the sword in his right hand again.
He was going to cut through the piled-up debris.
I took a step back.
“What’s that uncle doing?”
Luke pointed at Kudo’s back.
“Is the sword real?”
“It’s real.”
“Does the sword go into rocks too?”
Becky yanked my hair hard, tilting my head to one side.
Watching Kudo’s blade trace a graceful arc, I answered slowly.
“Depends on who’s holding it.”
Screeech.
Thud, boom! The piled ruins shattered into small pieces and collapsed to the floor. The cut surfaces were clean and flawless. Delicate, flowing motions continued, slicing the remaining debris even finer.
“Wow!”
Becky finally let go of my hair and exclaimed in awe.
“Cool uncle!”
“Whoa! Awesome!”
“What are you doing?”
Next to the kids’ pure admiration, the chairman pointed out.
I glanced at the senior sweeping away the debris in front of the door with his shoe, then turned my head.
Meeting the chairman’s pitiful gaze, I grinned wryly.
“I’m just a total rookie.”
“Big bro can’t do that?”
“Oppa can’t do that!”
“Useless jerk.”
That’s harsh, Becky.
It sucked that I couldn’t even argue back. Letting out a hollow laugh, I re-embraced the slippery kids.
I went to the senior’s side, where he was kicking debris, and joined in with my feet. Naturally, the guy who was the chairman didn’t help, and I had no intention of setting down the kids who wanted to pitch in.
The senior and I silently cleared the debris blocking the door.
Rumble…
This tower really gonna collapse for real?
As the building shook with an eerie sound, Kudo opened the staircase door.
The lights were out. No light sources came in except through the open door. I’d have to be careful not to trip. The underground parking lot was probably pitch black too.
The senior must have thought the same because he turned to look at me.
“Give me one.”
He neatly sheathed his katana and held out his hand.
Becky’s body leaned toward Kudo. I handed the flailing girl over to the expressionless senior.
Without a hint of emotion, he held the little girl in his left arm.
Then he started descending the stairs. The crisp sound of his dress shoes echoed through the eerie staircase.
I let the chairman shove ahead, saying he’d go first, and followed behind.
The sound of dress shoes echoing on the stairs.
“Hey!”
The chairman, stumbling down the stairs, yelled.
“There’s cracks in the walls!”
“That’s why we should get down before it collapses.”
Keeping my eyes on the senior, who seemed to be holding back anger, I said.
“Don’t waste your energy for no reason…”
Boom!
I nearly tumbled on the stairs.
Rumble, thud! The building shook again. The precarious structures from upstairs collapsed into the lobby. A deafening roar vibrated through the narrow staircase from behind.
Cement chunks poured through the open door.
The smell of dust rushed in. The space darkened. The light coming into the staircase dwindled in an instant. It was already narrow and creepy, and now even the lit area was swallowed by darkness.
The debris seemed to have buried the open door.
“Light the stairs with your phone!”
The chairman yelled in a faintly trembling voice.
“I can’t see a thing!”
“Watch your step going down.”
I pressed close to Luke, who let out a drawn-out “whoooaa” like some old uncle.
“It’ll be fine if you go slow.”
“Uncle, are you married?”
In front of the panicking chairman, Becky boldly asked.
What a brave kid.
Kudo’s flat reply came from the darkness as he walked.
“I was.”
“Why were you?”
“Hey, Becky! You don’t ask that!”
Luke craned his neck and shouted.
“Ask something like ‘how’s work these days’ instead!”
“What about your second life, then?”
As I stuck out my tongue at overly mature Luke’s words, a bold voice came from below.
“Oppa, were you married?”
It seemed aimed at me. Calling me oppa instead of uncle?
I answered without much thought as I carefully descended the stairs.
“Dunno.”
“Dunno? Why dunno?”
“Hey, Becky! He already answered!”
Luke raised his voice again.
“Don’t ask more!”
Not quite.
I was a bit flustered but didn’t correct it. I ignored the chairman endlessly grumbling to shine a phone light. The hand not holding Luke needed to stay free for emergencies.
The stairs were narrow and dark. Probably two floors down to the underground parking. Tripping or something falling during the descent would be bad.
The building’s condition wasn’t reassuring either…
…Huh?
Something scratched at my nerves. With Luke in my left arm and gripping the railing with my right, my careful steps slowed.
I could see silhouettes of people moving below. The chairman fumbling down. The senior already half a floor ahead.
Faint crimson afterimages flickering on their backs.
Crimson…?
The moment I urgently turned and fire arrows rained down was simultaneous.
Pffft!
An arrow pierced my right thigh.
“Bro!”
“Argh! It’s out again!”
Luke and the chairman raised their voices.
The one actually hit couldn’t even scream at first from the piercing pain.
Fuck, that hurts.
But the pain sharpened my senses. I looked up where we’d come from.
A lump of flame floating on the first staircase landing. It writhed to shoot another fire arrow.
“Luke. Curl up!”
I pressed the boy tight to me and yelled.
“Move, move!”
The chairman panicked and bolted down the dark stairs. Kudo set Becky down and rushed up toward me.
Passing him, I dashed down the stairs.
I’d seen something before the stairs went fully dark.
“Fire hose cabinet!”
I leaped half a floor in one bound and thrust my right hand toward the wall.
“Senior, use the fire hose cabinet!”
Bang!
Clang. Clunk. Clang! Fire arrows bounced off Kudo’s blade into the air. The wall pitted with hits of flame and heavy thuds.
The chairman let out a shriek and plopped down.
I set the silently trembling Luke behind me and opened the fire hose cabinet.
“Blast it with water.”
The senior facing off with the creature ordered without turning.
“Right after the next attack.”
“Yes.”
I gripped the hose and waited.
Fire Shield unleashed powerful attacks multiple times, then had a gap before the next. We had to hit it with the water cannon in that window.
Narrowing my eyes, I watched the fire arrows lighting the dark space and timed it. Didn’t Yoon say to exploit that split-second?
Like when Ye-hyeon stabbed a level-10 creature…
“Blast it!”
Kudo sharply yelled and twisted away.
Pssshhhhhh!
Heavy water pressure surged through the hose.
Kudo nimbly leaped down the stairs to scoop up Becky at the same time my hose blasted the creature.
It’s getting pushed back. That soccer-ball-sized floating flame lump.
But why isn’t it going out?
“Bro!”
As I rushed up the stairs, Luke freaked out from behind.
“Bro! Don’t go!”
[Creature ‘Fire Shield’]
Getting closer, I read the creature entry that followed.
[Extremely difficult to fully eliminate. Recommended to evade upon encounter. Breeding method unknown. One of the creatures that cannot be captured alive. Attacks in response to movement….]
Boom!
The moment the creature was pushed out of the staircase, I kicked the door shut, red-hot from heat. Whoosh! Flames shot up through the door crack.
“Talib!”
The senior, now holding Luke too, yelled from below the stairs.
“We’re heading to the underground water tank—run!”
Without a word, I tossed the hose and leaped down the stairs.
***
“Should I call Mr. Mullen?”
In the pitch-black underground parking lot, having put distance from the Fire Shield, we caught our breath beside a pillar.
The chairman and two kids were half out of it, silent. Only the senior and I moved around in the dark.
Watching Kudo calmly staunch the bleeding on my thigh wound, I said.
“If it’s that guy, he might know how to kill it.”
Kudo, tying my wound with a torn cloth strip, shot me a look like he’d heard the weirdest thing.
He stared at me silently for a while before asking.
“Mullen?”
“Yeah.”
“John Mullen?”
“Yes. Science Division.”
“Phone works?”
Kudo muttered to himself, brow furrowed.
“You have his number?”
“Yes. I have it. I’ll call.”
Ignoring the senior’s reaction like he doubted if he’d heard right, I dialed.
Nothing to lose.
Still, a scientist rivaling Einstein might give a new perspective on that creature?
“…You’re actually calling?”
“Yeah, he picked up.”
Good timing.
I held the phone to my ear.