Chapter 125
Chapter 125
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: Sword Ghost
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Actor Kim Yu-chan slipped on his foot and tumbled down the hill. Even so, he didn't scream too loudly while falling.
"Ughhh."
The moment he hit the flat ground at the bottom of the hill, he lost his balance and sprawled face-first onto the dirt.
Shin Eun-ha grumbled from atop the hill, watching the scene.
"That oppa really looks like he could play a badass action spy just based on his face—so why is he like that?"
Yi Bo-ra spoke up.
"He did a spy movie. It broke five million viewers."
"Ah, right."
"And his action in Sunny Day was so scorching hot that he earned the nickname 'feral pretty boy.'"
"Yeah, that's his mass-appeal image, but in reality, he's such a total klutz. Even in Sunny Day, Gang-in oppa covered all his action scenes."
Yi Bo-ra took a sly jab.
"Isn't that the same for you? Your public image is pretty different from the real you, isn't it?"
Shin Eun-ha fired right back.
"Don't lump us together. You put on airs too."
"You do it more. I heard that drink CF's action scene only worked because of Gang-in oppa. The green tights..."
Na Gang-in muttered.
"Damn."
Yi Bo-ra hurriedly waved her hands.
"No, Gang-in oppa, I wasn't teasing you like Eun-ha."
That wasn't why he'd cursed. Na Gang-in glanced toward the warehouse.
"We're busted."
"Huh?"
Two gang members emerged from the warehouse.
It wasn't because of Kim Yu-chan. They were heading for their car when they spotted him sprawled on the ground.
Kim Yu-chan pushed himself up with both hands against the dirt.
"Ow, thought I was a goner... Huh?"
His eyes locked with theirs.
One of them scowled.
"Who the hell is that punk?"
The other—the one among the trio who'd kidnapped Yi Bo-ra—recognized him and bellowed.
"It's that bastard! Kim Yu-chan! He showed up at the rendezvous earlier trying to take Yi Bo-ra!"
"Why the hell is he here?! You said there were no tails!"
"Huh? How did he actually follow us?"
Kim Yu-chan raised a hand awkwardly.
"Uh, yeah, you guys do your thing. I'll just head out..."
He tried to back away. But he couldn't. Searing pain lanced up from his ankle.
"Gah!"
With a sprained ankle, running was out of the question.
The rest of the gang inside the warehouse heard the commotion outside and came rushing out in a group.
"What? What's going on?!"
"Huh? Who the hell is that guy?"
Kim Yu-chan's face had already gone deathly pale.
Na Gang-in charged down the hill.
Shin Eun-ha followed after him, complaining all the while.
"Does Yu-chan oppa have joints made of twigs or something? He sprained his wrist filming in Gangwon-do, and now it's his ankle?"
Na Gang-in reached Kim Yu-chan's side in an instant and stood next to him.
"You gotta be more careful."
Kim Yu-chan looked apologetic.
"Yeah, tell me about it. Wasn't planning on this..."
Shin Eun-ha and Yi Bo-ra came down the hill and took up positions behind them.
The entire gang had now poured out of the warehouse. Each one gripped a steel pipe.
Shin Eun-ha counted the enemies.
"One, two, three... ten. Wow, they said about ten, and it's exactly ten."
The boss scowled and turned to the kidnap team's leader.
"Hey. You said you'd handled it clean, no loose ends."
The leader panicked.
"We took the goods, sent the girl off, and parted ways smooth. No tailing cars either, so how..."
"Didn't switch the plates?"
"No chance. We swapped 'em midway."
The boss snapped in irritation.
"Then what, one of 'em a shaman or something?"
"Maybe the guy next to Kim Yu-chan is an undercover cop..."
"If so, would've been more than just four—and actors at that. Hold up. Who's that next to Kim Yu-chan anyway? Actor? Anyone know him?"
No one recognized Na Gang-in.
The leader said,
"He said at first he was bringing the manager, right? Probably his manager."
"Yeah, that tracks."
The boss smirked slyly.
"Hey, celebs. We let you walk nice and easy, but you come tailing us anyway? Should've just parted on good terms."
Na Gang-in let out a scoff.
"You kidnap someone, threaten to kill her, steal someone else's stuff—and after grabbing everything you could, now you wanna smile and wave goodbye? Why the hell should we?"
"Hey, manager. You eat something funny? You're four total, we're ten. One's got a busted ankle, two are scrawny actresses? They even know how to fight? You're the only one who looks halfway decent."
Na Gang-in pointed at Shin Eun-ha and Yi Bo-ra.
"These girls fight plenty well on the regular."
The boss flew into a rage.
"Why's this punk so damn cocky? Wanna die that bad? Fine by me. Boys!"
The leader cut in desperately.
"Boss, they're famous celebs. We take 'em out, it's a shitstorm."
"You, a thug, using your brain... No. This wouldn't be such a mess if you hadn't grabbed Yi Bo-ra in the first place!"
"Huh?"
"You bastard! You infiltrate my crew to tank me? On that car director's orders?"
"No, that's not—"
"That's why you're worthless. Types like them don't listen to talk—they buckle to threats."
The boss bellowed at his men.
"What're you idiots doing standing around?! Grab 'em! Especially that cocky manager punk—smash him to pieces and drag him here!"
The first two out of the warehouse, plus the boss and leader, were empty-handed.
The remaining six each clutched a steel pipe. They swaggered forward, swinging them idly toward the four.
The lead guy grinned at Kim Yu-chan.
"Hey, stay put and I won't touch that pretty face. Heh. You're a celeb, after..."
Na Gang-in bent his knees, lowering his stance. The guy had no clue why.
"What? Legs already giving out...?"
Na Gang-in kicked off the ground and leaped. He soared high, as if taking flight.
The startled foe raised his pipe overhead, but it was pointless. Na Gang-in's foot slammed down from above onto the enemy's torso.
"Kek!"
The kicked man flew backward and crashed into the dirt. The pipe flew from his grip the instant he was struck, arcing into the air.
Na Gang-in landed lightly and snatched the falling pipe with his right hand.
He crooked his left fingers beckoningly.
"Let's clear the small fry first, then talk. Come on."
Na Gang-in's strike had been too clean, too flawless. The gang members froze in confusion.
"Wh-what the...?"
"What just...?"
The boss roared from behind.
"It's just one guy! Beat him!"
The gang members reacted on reflex to the order.
"Raaah!"
They rushed Na Gang-in, swinging their pipes wildly.
Na Gang-in smacked away the first incoming pipe with the one he'd just seized. The force behind it was immense. A metallic clang rang out as the enemy's arm was flung outward. His chest lay wide open.
Na Gang-in whipped the pipe into the foe's side.
"Kek!"
Ribs cracking, the man flew sideways.
As he blasted the one in front away, another circled behind Na Gang-in. That one raised his pipe high overhead and brought it smashing down.
Na Gang-in thrust his pipe upward, blocking the attack without even looking.
"Urk?"
Na Gang-in whirled around and unleashed an uppercut. His fist nailed the enemy's jaw dead-on. The body lifted into the air before thudding back down. Not even a scream this time.
The others panicked.
"Huh? Huh?"
Of the ten, the six pipe-wielders had charged (excluding the boss, leader, and two unarmed). Yet in a blink, three were smashed.
The remaining three hesitated, terror-stricken.
"Th-this is what...?"
Shin Eun-ha pumped her fist and cheered.
"Hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about!"
Yi Bo-ra shouted too, eyes blazing.
"Smash 'em all!"
Kim Yu-chan regained his composure.
"Phew. Knew it'd turn out like this from the start..."
The boss yelled at his two unarmed men.
"Why the hell are these punks still standing?! Go kill 'em! Or I kill you!"
They edged toward Na Gang-in warily while moving to scoop up fallen pipes from the ground.
Na Gang-in pressed forward too. He targeted the one hesitating right in front of him.
"U-uaaa!"
The terrified foe flailed his pipe wildly.
Na Gang-in smacked it hard aside. The arm flew wide, chest exposed.
Na Gang-in drove his foot straight into the enemy's waist. It connected solidly. The body folded in half and sailed backward.
"Keeek!"
This time, it wasn't aimed at Na Gang-in.
The guy had given up attacking Na Gang-in. Instead, he charged the closer target: Kim Yu-chan with the injured ankle. Kim was up front, nearer than the other two.
Na Gang-in twisted his body backward and leaped in front of Kim Yu-chan. The attacker startled and skidded to a panicked halt.
Na Gang-in looked down at him. The man couldn't even scramble to his feet and retreated in a frantic scramble.
Kim Yu-chan, who'd flinched in fear for a moment, let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew. Thanks..."
Suddenly, a new problem arose.
Na Gang-in whipped around toward the boss.
The boss had already drawn his pistol and taken aim at Na Gang-in.
AI Jeon Ji-in displayed the predicted firing path while reporting in rapid-fire voice.
Pistols were low-accuracy weapons. Even average people struggled to hit targets at any real distance.
But this boss was different. His aim was solid.
AI Jeon Ji-in marked the firing path as a line and even warned right up to the trigger pull.
Know the exact path and timing of the bullet, and dodging a pistol round came down to reflexes alone. Na Gang-in had those in spades.
But not this time. He couldn't dodge. Kim Yu-chan was right behind him. If Na Gang-in moved, Kim ate the bullet.
Na Gang-in didn't dodge. Instead, he positioned the steel pipe exactly at the holographic predicted impact point.
The boss's hand twitched slightly as he fired, shifting the projection a hair. Na Gang-in slid the pipe sideways in a flash.
The bullet launched. It flew precisely along the AI's predicted trajectory—straight into the pipe.
The pistol round lacked the penetration to punch through that steel pipe.
It ricocheted off the pipe. The pipe kept whipping through the air in a wide arc.
Na Gang-in thrust his right arm out to the side after deflecting it. The pipe in his grip looked for all the world like a sword.
Wind stirred. His clothes fluttered in the breeze.
Everyone was aghast. No one could move.
The gang members were gripped by terror.
"Di-did he just deflect a bullet?"
"I saw it! He slashed it! Sliced the damn bullet!"
Even the boss was stunned.
"Wha? Huh? Huh?"
Yi Bo-ra couldn't even close her mouth.
"Oh my god. In this world..."
Shin Eun-ha had seen Na Gang-in pull off so many impossible feats that she'd convinced herself nothing could surprise her anymore.
Even she was floored. She couldn't help it.
"Wait, are you secretly the world's greatest swordsman?"
The boss refused to accept this reality.
'Luck, right? Just happened to hit the pipe?'
He wanted to believe that. Had to.
'No way a human sees a bullet and bats it away. Makes no sense. Gotta be coincidence. Has to be.'
To confirm, just shoot again. But he couldn't.
'Not enough ammo.'
The advance pistol from the client only had test rounds loaded. It'd come with three bullets originally—one already used for testing, one just fired. One left.
A gun without ammo was just a hunk of metal.
The client who'd tasked them with fetching the Dragon Plate promised full ammo on balance payment.
'What if I fire the last one and he blocks it again? Or dodges?'
Watching Na Gang-in dismantle his men, dodging seemed plausible.
'He blocked it—surely he can't dodge too.'
Surrender wasn't an option. Things had gone too far.
Shin Eun-ha and Yi Bo-ra stood a short distance apart from each other.
'Too late to turn back now! Them first!'
The boss slipped behind the leader to evade Na Gang-in's line of sight, slipping his left hand behind his back. A second pistol filled his grip.
He drew it.
The client had advanced two pistols. The boss didn't trust his men with them—he'd kept both.
He didn't aim either at Na Gang-in.
Predicted trajectories appeared in the air, shifting in real time. The targets were obvious at a glance.
One pistol locked dead-on Shin Eun-ha. The other, Yi Bo-ra.