Geom-myeong Corporation (3)
While Mr. Chang's body stiffened for just a split second, the remaining subordinates all collapsed. Over twenty men turned into corpses in an instant.
'Damn it!'
As Mr. Chang whirled around to warn Im Yeon-sin to flee, Jang Cheon surged toward his back.
He was intimidated by Jang Cheon, but he couldn't just die helplessly like this. Mr. Chang spun and desperately thrust his sword.
Clang clang clang clang!
Chang's attacks were swift and precise. When the strike aimed at Jang Cheon's chest was blocked by his sword, he seamlessly shifted his form to target the side and arm in quick succession.
It was a razor-close contest. Up close, Jang Cheon seemed more manageable than expected.
His joy was short-lived as Mr. Chang locked eyes with Jang Cheon again.
Those were the same calm eyes from before—unchanged from when he'd faced the subordinates. Utter tranquility.
Mr. Chang knew it then. If things continued like this, he was doomed.
Without hesitation, Chang threw his desperate gambit.
Shwaaaaa!
The blade flying toward Jang Cheon's arm suddenly veered toward his neck.
It was a reckless technique that disrupted his breathing and forced an unnatural change in direction—the attacker would suffer internal injuries too. A true trade of flesh for bone.
Jang Cheon narrowly dodged the sword hurtling at his throat. By the slimmest margin imaginable.
But Mr. Chang saw it. Jang Cheon's eyes remained utterly composed.
How skilled did one have to be to evade so perilously yet stay this relaxed?
The moment Jang Cheon's sword flashed, Mr. Chang felt a searing heat in his chest.
As he tumbled backward spewing blood, he caught sight of Im Yeon-sin leaping from the air behind Jang Cheon, sword slashing downward.
'No! Run!'
But no words escaped his lips.
Im Yeon-sin had watched the fight from inside the house.
He'd sensed the intruders weren't pushovers, but with twenty subordinates and Mr. Chang, he believed they could handle it.
He knew Chang's skills better than anyone.
When all the subordinates fell and Chang was locked in a fierce duel, his mind grew urgent.
He'd considered fleeing for a moment, but they didn't seem that formidable.
Judging that teaming up with Chang would seal the deal, he'd emerged through the rooftop emergency passage.
Leaping from the roof into the air, he plummeted vertically toward Jang Cheon in the yard. He saw Mr. Chang collapsing below.
He'd expected more resistance, but Chang fell faster than anticipated.
Shwaaaaa!
The moment he entered striking range, Im Yeon-sin's sword finally whistled through the air, poised to cleave Jang Cheon in two.
In a flash, Jang Cheon spun like lightning and swung his sword to block.
Sword met sword.
Claaaaang!
A thunderous metallic boom echoed as one sword flew into the air before crashing to the ground.
Thud.
The blade embedded in the grass trembled, unable to withstand its own force... then shattered with a ping, scattering into fragments.
Blood dripped onto the grass. Im Yeon-sin's right hand was mangled beyond recognition.
"How...?"
A single clash had wrenched the sword from his grip, the impact shattering it.
Im Yeon-sin couldn't comprehend it.
Given the skills Jang Cheon had shown earlier, there was no way he could block.
Yet this outcome?
"You were hiding your true strength!"
Jang Cheon nodded.
"Why?"
He offered no reason.
Jang Cheon leaped toward Im Yeon-sin. Im Yeon-sin channeled his inner energy into his uninjured left fist.
A devastating punch that cratered the ground.
Whoooosh!
Tap.
But Jang Cheon's palm stopped it cold.
Im Yeon-sin's eyes bulged wide. It was like a father casually blocking a child's playful boxing jab—far too effortless.
Im Yeon-sin couldn't block in return.
Shwick!
Jang Cheon's fist slammed into Im Yeon-sin's face with blinding speed.
Thwack.
The world went black before Im Yeon-sin's eyes.
How much time had passed?
Im Yeon-sin came to.
'I'm still alive.'
He quickly assessed his condition. His dantian was sealed, inner energy suppressed.
He cracked his eyes open slightly.
Familiar carpet—his own home. The wall clock read 12:05. Not long since he'd blacked out.
'How did they get in the door?'
No way from outside. It was rigged to explode if forced.
'Ah, through the ceiling passage.'
The path he'd taken. In his haste, he hadn't secured it properly.
A button beside it would have sealed the ceiling too.
Then Jang Cheon's voice rang out.
"Searched everywhere?"
Another man's voice replied.
"Yes, nothing unusual."
"The safe?"
"Opening it now."
Im Yeon-sin didn't recognize it, but the speaker was one of the four-man team.
"The inspector said these guys are behind it."
Im Yeon-sin perked up his ears, still feigning unconsciousness.
'Inspector? Behind it?'
The conversation between Jang Cheon and the four continued.
"These bastards placed the original hit on Clean Company. They framed Guwolmun. Who the hell do they think we are!"
Im Yeon-sin jolted inwardly.
'Black Heaven! These fuckers are assassins from Black Heaven.'
Now it made sense. No one but Black Heaven could overwhelm Mr. Chang or him so effortlessly.
They'd sent their elite.
"What about this one?"
"Send him upstairs. They'll dig up everything there."
Im Yeon-sin's heart sank. Captured by Black Heaven meant torture worse than death.
'I have to let the higher-ups know Black Heaven hit us.'
They'd save him—or at least avenge him.
He checked his body again. Dantian sealed, but pressure points on limbs untouched.
He could move.
They deemed inner energy suppression enough against him. Planning to haul him off.
Im Yeon-sin devised an escape.
'One shot.'
Nearby lay his salvation.
He focused on the voices. After what felt like five hours—but was mere minutes.
"Safe's open."
"Let's see."
As Jang Cheon's voice receded, Im Yeon-sin sprang up and dashed to the wall.
He yanked down the mounted deer's antler.
The wall spun like a revolving door. Im Yeon-sin clung to the antler.
Shouts erupted behind.
"Grab him!"
But the wall slammed shut first with a thunk.
"Yes!"
Im Yeon-sin whooped in triumph.
This was the safe room. Simple activation for emergencies, quick-sealing door.
Once shut, impenetrable from outside.
He snatched the desk phone—an old rotary dial.
Click click. Click.
He dialed the preset number, embedding his ID and location.
Ring, ring, ring.
A connection.
"Requesting aid—Black Heaven ambush."
After thirty seconds, a curt reply.
"Rescue team arrives in fifteen minutes. Good luck."
Click.
Im Yeon-sin exhaled in relief. He could hold out fifteen minutes, no matter what.
He pressed a wall button. A dozen monitors flickered on, showing the house.
Jang Cheon stood before the safe room. The four lounged in the living room—some on phones, one reading, Phone listening to music.
Their nonchalance chilled him. They'd lost him, yet so relaxed?
The yard feed showed no bodies.
He glanced at the clock again. Too soon to clean up that fast.
'When did they...?'
Then—
Creak. The door spun open. Jang Cheon entered.
"Wha—?"
Im Yeon-sin recoiled in shock. More than when his sword flew earlier.
"H-how? The d-door?"
He stammered in disbelief. If openable from outside, it wasn't a safe room. Only exit from within.
"We fixed it up beforehand."
"What?"
"You thought you woke up right away?"
Im Yeon-sin flinched. Jang Cheon's words stunned him.
"You've been out for three hours."
He gaped at the clock.
'No way.'
A realization hit.
"You turned back the clock!"
While Im Yeon-sin lay suppressed, Phone and the four cleared bodies and ransacked the house.
Searching for secret safes like at Clean Company. They'd found this room.
"We opened it first. Made it accessible from outside."
"You deliberately put me in here?"
Jang Cheon nodded.
"Why?"
"Someone like you won't confess easily. Torture won't work either."
Im Yeon-sin still didn't get it.
Jang Cheon's gaze shifted to the desk phone.
Opening the room took an hour and a half—even for the four who cracked Clean Company's safe in under ten.
Spotting the phone, Jang Cheon realized it was a direct line to the organization.
No calling cops. An obsolete, hard-to-trace model.
He'd bugged the phone and rigged the door.
Reset the clock to make him think little time passed—lest they wonder why he hadn't left.
From Jang Cheon's stare at the phone, Im Yeon-sin realized.
"Damn! You're tracing the call."
His face twisted in horror. Thoroughly played.
"You're not Black Heaven."
"No."
"Figures. Assassins stabbing backs wouldn't be this clever. Who are you?"
Jang Cheon said nothing.
Curiosity aside, Im Yeon-sin had a bigger issue.
"What now?"
"You tried to kill Chairman Park In-hwan. You murdered Elder Song Tae-geun. Plenty more sins, but that's enough for me."
Shwick.
A white sword-flash sliced horizontally across Im Yeon-sin's throat.
Splurt!
His headless body toppled backward.
"Let's go."
"Yes, sir."
Leaving the corpse, Jang Cheon, Phone, and the four exited the house.
Their rescue team would arrive soon.
But it didn't.
Instead, ten minutes later—
BOOM!
A massive explosion rocked Im Yeon-sin's house.
Jang Cheon watched from Phone Express parked on a hill overlooking it.
Flames roared, but the isolated mansion didn't spread to neighbors.
No visitors, no missile—it had been rigged with explosives from the start.
This was how his backers handled subordinates.
No rescue in crisis—just elimination.
Post-call, they'd debated his survival or the boss pondered.
Then a call from Bishop.
Jang Cheon replied mentally, but voiced aloud for the style.
Neither side's identity was revealed yet.
At least they knew the Alliance Leader was involved; the enemy would think Black Heaven killed Im Yeon-sin.
One more: no more hits on Chairman Park In-hwan.
With the direct order-giver dead, blamed on Black Heaven, they'd drop it.
No organization ignored Black Heaven.
Jang Cheon hung up and said to Phone,
"Fancy a drink? Been a while."
"Sounds good."
Jang Cheon tapped the rear wall twice.
"All of us."
A small cheer rose from the cargo hold.
Phone started the engine. As distant fire truck sirens wailed, Phone Express descended the hill.