Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Ambush (4)
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‘Yeah. That’s who he’s always been.’
Joo Won-jun’s greatest strength wasn’t his unique superpower or his wealthy family background. It was his extreme survival instinct—the ability to make any decision necessary to stay alive. That was his real edge.
Anyone else would have charged in to finish things right there, but Joo Won-jun cut his losses the moment his calculations went off the rails and bolted. Even though failing to kill Mallock would end his career.
That had been the right call, in theory. Few people could actually follow through on what they knew was correct.
“Should chase him down… Tsk.”
But the distance was too great. And with Mallock still there, he couldn’t just abandon his post on a whim. He trusted his team, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t take precautions.
His strongest precaution was Suhyun.
‘No helping it, then.’
Even if Joo Won-jun got away, there wasn’t much he could do anyway.
The corpse that had been moving with such precision suddenly went berserk. Its master had clearly given up control, letting it rampage freely.
Suhyun turned and began taking down the remaining enemies. The fragile balance that had held shattered the moment he joined the fray.
* * *
“Good work. You fought well.”
“Th-th-thank you, sir.”
Goo Jung-chul stammered as he nodded. Suhyun gave him an encouraging pat while scanning the surroundings. Aside from a handful of survivors, the situation was already under control.
“Shh, shoo! Don’t eat that!”
“…….”
Shaina was struggling to hold back a tiger that was trying to gnaw on a fallen corpse.
‘Coated with altaranium? Faster than I expected.’
Altaranium’s property of absorbing surrounding force became widely used after refining techniques advanced. It wasn’t something anyone could afford due to limited mining yields, but it offered rare resistance against superpowers.
Just then, Woo Shangkai returned with a weary expression.
“How about it?”
“What?”
“The situation! Can we move out now?”
Suhyun wondered inwardly why he was asking. Woo Shangkai and the others weren’t under him to begin with—they were temporary allies thrust together by circumstance. There was no reason to check with him before acting.
‘Well… no need to point it out.’
He’d probably asked out of habit after taking a few orders amid the chaos. No sense riling him up over it.
Suhyun nodded.
“Yeah, we can move. The prisoners…”
“We’ll take them!”
Woo Shangkai growled, refusing to yield an inch. He’d already been upstaged and embarrassed by Suhyun throughout this mess—if he lost the prisoners from their sector too, he’d have no face left.
“Fine, whatever.”
“?!”
The easy concession caught Woo Shangkai off guard, his eyes widening in surprise. He hadn’t expected Suhyun to back down so readily.
‘What’s his angle?’
“You did the heavy lifting in the fight, and this is Chinese territory. Can’t exactly haul prisoners off ourselves.”
“R-right? Yeah.”
It sounded good, but something felt off. Woo Shangkai nodded in agreement anyway.
‘Not like they’re worth much anyway…’
Prisoners were only valuable when they served a purpose. He already knew who the culprit was and had ways to bring him down—no need to bother dragging them along.
‘Besides, Joo Won-jun wouldn’t have left evidence on them.’
The prisoners were essentially useless. Handing them over was a perfect way to look generous.
“But let’s use their comms in exchange. We’re giving up the prisoners—least they can do.”
“Uh… sure.”
Suhyun immediately contacted the Korean side, reporting Joo Won-jun’s suspected involvement in the terrorist attack and ordering his immediate arrest upon sighting. Seo Gang-seok, standing nearby, asked with concern.
“No evidence, and we’re acting first? Is that wise?”
“Doesn’t matter. It’ll tie his feet at least. And I’m not in a position to get counterattacked over lack of proof.”
Suhyun wasn’t who he used to be. As a mage, his standing meant he didn’t need to sweat the details of evidence for a claim like that.
“We’ve got survivors on our side too. We can cover a few bent procedures. Just need to nab the bastard.”
“Think he’ll head into the city?”
“Fifty-fifty. He might slip straight out to the outskirts. Can’t do much about that. Here’s hoping for luck.”
* * *
Uncle Jo Company returned to Pyongyang at full speed, only to be greeted by unexpected news.
“He escaped?!”
“The checkpoint got the order and attacked immediately, but he slipped away. As you know, checkpoint forces aren’t equipped for a capture like that…”
Seo Gang-seok shook his head upon hearing it.
“This is a pain, Team Leader.”
“Yeah, a real pain.”
“If he flees far, it’ll be a hassle…”
“No, not that kind of pain.”
“Pardon?”
“I know the guy. If he was coming into the city, he’d sneak in carefully. If fleeing, he’d be gone for good. But he hit a checkpoint?”
Suhyun felt a sudden headache coming on. Nothing was more troublesome than a target veering off-script.
‘Trying to draw eyes away on purpose?’
For city intel, he wouldn’t need to test a checkpoint—plenty of other ways. Showing up there deliberately meant…
He was definitely trying to loosen security inside the city.
‘What’s worth going that far for?’
Suhyun closed his eyes, deep in thought. What would he do in Joo Won-jun’s shoes?
Only one answer. Hit what the opponent hated most.
‘What do I hate? My weakness that he’d know about…’
A message came in then. Few had his number. Suhyun checked it curiously.
-Lab. Now. Danger.
It was from Choi Ji-eun. Something clicked in his mind.
“The lab.”
“Pardon?”
“He might not know my weakness, but he knows yours inside out! Finding out where your daughter went isn’t hard!”
“?!”
Seo Gang-seok’s face paled. Anything involving his daughter changed him completely. He couldn’t ignore even a hint of risk.
Racing to the lab, Seo Gang-seok protested.
“Aren’t you overreaching? It might not be that!”
“I get wanting to deny it out of worry, but look at the facts. He can’t know my weaknesses. Yours are obvious, though. And factoring in your role here, what do you think he’d do?”
“…….”
Seo Gang-seok couldn’t argue. If his daughter was taken, he’d have no choice but to comply.
‘Damn it, of all things…’
Suhyun muttered inwardly. Joo Won-jun couldn’t know about him and Choi Ji-eun. But by cruel coincidence, Choi Ji-eun was exactly where Seo Ye-na was now.
If she got hurt in an attack…
“Faster!”
“This is top speed!”
* * *
“Where is she? I heard she was here.”
“No idea what you’re talking about. This is a government lab, not a daycare.”
“Playing dumb? You think I’m joking around?”
Joo Won-jun threatened Choi Ji-eun in a voice dripping with killing intent. The lab staff had all been dragged out and forced to kneel. Joo Won-jun and a few mercenaries had breached the perimeter in a surprise raid.
“Can’t claim she’s here if she isn’t. If you don’t believe me, search. She’s not here.”
Even with guns trained on her, Choi Ji-eun didn’t flinch, maintaining her composure. It started to unnerve Joo Won-jun.
Was his intel really solid?
“You XX… Search it. And don’t even twitch. See them? One blink, and your heads roll.”
He pointed at the corpses he’d propped up as a threat, but the researchers just exchanged blank looks and nodded. After handling so many bodies, empty threats like that didn’t faze them.
* * *
“Doesn’t look like anything’s wrong. Lights are on, no noises…”
Suhyun didn’t reply, hopping out and striding forward. A uniformed guard emerged to block him.
“What’s the—”
“Gah!”
“Where’d you learn that cheap trick?”
Suhyun snapped his fingers, snapping the guard’s limbs. The thought of Choi Ji-eun in danger made him antsy.
“What the hell?!”
“They took over and disguised as guards. Good thing—they’re still inside.”
Worth the rush. Suhyun’s eyes flashed as he scanned for an entry.
“!”
“Damn it!”
Several superpowers hit at once. The sentry corpse shredded apart. Too late, though. The signal would have reached Joo Won-jun inside.
‘I’ll kill him this time, no question!’
Gritting his teeth at the tricky power, Suhyun smashed through the wall and charged in.
“How?!”
Joo Won-jun was as wary of Suhyun as Suhyun was of him—maybe more. Still, him showing up here right away didn’t make sense.
‘Layers of smoke screens, and he still tracks me?’
Joo Won-jun glared at the researchers. One of them must have tipped off the outside.
“What’s going on?”
“…We’re pulling out!”
Joo Won-jun knew Suhyun’s strength well. Clashing over one hostage was suicide.
“Get the prep out!”
Suhyun’s telekinesis was infamous among those in the know. Joo Won-jun had prepared for the day he’d face it.
“Clever bastard…!”
Smoke billowed thickly as the lights died. Suhyun ground his teeth. In pitch darkness with hostages, he couldn’t unleash telekinesis freely.
“No light coming in!”
“Artifact.”
Power cuts didn’t block outside light normally. But this darkness persisted—an artificial superpower filling the space with an artifact, no doubt.
“Louis Lil!”
“On it!”
Suhyun’s side had a card too. A specialist for darkness like this. Louis Lil teleported boldly into the void.
“What the—who?!”
A scream from the mercenary activating the artifact. Then the darkness lifted. Louis Lil emerged grinning, bracelet in hand.
But it wasn’t over.
“Blow it and bail!”
All but the front mercenary and the one who’d lost the artifact had reached the escape route. Joo Won-jun barked coldly.
The researchers were civilians. Suhyun would have to use telekinesis to protect them, buying time to widen the gap. Injured were a bonus—he’d have to stop to heal them.
The mercenary sprayed bullets and reached for the bomb switch. It entered Suhyun’s view as he burst in. Choi Ji-eun glared coldly at the enemy even now.
‘No!’
The bastard would hit the switch faster than Suhyun could activate telekinesis. His finger was already halfway down. In the urgency, Suhyun didn’t register the full scene.
Then…
Time slowed.
The mercenary floated into the air, the bomb flew off, the gun barrel twisted to pierce his gut.
Focused on ending the threat, Suhyun didn’t grasp what was happening. Grateful for the enemies’ slow-motion crawl, he dashed through the dilated time.
The terrified mercenary trying to use his power shredded before he could raise a hand. Another rolling aside got his throat slit mid-air.
Shock finally dawned on Joo Won-jun’s face. Suhyun growled at the man’s sluggishly drooping eyelids.
“Bye.”
Crunch!
Time snapped back, blood erupting everywhere—the aftermath of Suhyun’s rampage. Only then, staring at Joo Won-jun’s pulverized corpse, could Suhyun finally catch his breath.