Chapter 314
Chapter 314
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 314
Chapter Title: Feint Operation
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Boom!
The sound of the highway sound barrier shattering.
"Yahoo! Road at last!"
"Ah, now I can breathe easy."
The Cull van finally settled onto the highway.
"Wizard! Those guys don't have any other abilities, right?"
Jang Hyun-deok asked me as he picked up speed.
I could tell what he was getting at.
Even if they were superhumans who could run at speeds similar to a car, that was only possible over short distances.
No one except Kid had the ability to maintain high speeds over long periods.
"Yeah. As long as we don't stop, they won't catch up."
On our side, we were riding in an illegally modified super Cull van.
Vrooooom—
The speedometer read 240 km/h. We couldn't keep it up forever, but we'd reach Busan within the hour.
"Once we get to Busan, it's all over, right?"
"Uh... ."
Jang Hyun-deok's business would end the moment we arrived in Busan, but mine would start there.
It wouldn't take long in Busan, though.
No, I could wrap up most of it before those pursuers even reached the city.
The real problem was...
"We're pretty late."
The full moon hanging in the midday sky.
The eastern sky twisting into an ominous shape.
The stars slowly shifting positions.
Signs that a horrific event involving abyssal entities was about to begin.
"You okay?"
"Probably."
I'd anticipated some trouble.
'No, honestly, I didn't expect the Conqueror, so we're even later than that.'
We were way behind the expected time.
"Seriously, if we'd set out without a plan, we'd have been totally screwed."
"Ehh...? Something like that? A 'late pass'?"
"'Late pass'? What's that?"
It'd be nice if something like that existed, but in a way, what we had was even better.
I sank into the plush seat, gazing at the sky in the direction of Busan. Ah, guess I was pretty tense earlier. My back hurts.
"The people who went ahead to Busan will handle it."
* * *
"This is a problem. Things aren't going according to plan."
Seo Cheon-seul muttered with an uncomfortable expression.
The plan to storm Cure Medical Care and cause a commotion fell apart before it even started.
They couldn't get in.
"That bad?"
"Kim's boys wouldn't get it... This body of mine can't break through that."
Go Kyung-su's cunning strategy.
Passersby grimaced and muttered about the ridiculous state of Cure Medical Care's fence.
"Is that really blood?" "Nah, probably paint." "Isn't that a bit much?" "Even for a protest..."
Go Kyung-su's men, disguised as protesters, had splattered massive amounts of blood on Cure Medical Care's fence.
"If it's blood you need, we can provide plenty."
What Akiyama had told Go Kyung-su.
It was a biotech research institute, after all.
Blood was easy to procure.
"Ugh... Should I use sorcery to summon some rain?"
Seo Cheon-seul was a goblin.
A goblin that touched blood would forget the grace of the King of Ten Thousand Gold and turn into a two-faced monster. And Seo Cheon-seul, the Thousand Gold Captain, absolutely could not risk that.
"How wide an area can you cover?"
"Hm? This area around here? Easy."
Seo Cheon-seul gauged the mana in the air with a finger, then shook his head.
"That's climate manipulation... This area's under heavy abyssal influence. It'll be tough."
"Hmm... I'll look for another entry point."
Park Gwang-rim used her [Dowsing] ability to scout the surroundings, but found no good entry points.
Traps set up in clever ways, sentries at surveillance posts.
Guard dogs constantly shifting positions.
But Cure Medical Care's grounds were huge.
Go Kyung-su didn't have enough men to cover every spot.
So there had to be lax spots in the defenses. But...
Park Gwang-rim shook her head.
"Impressively thorough. All the weak spots are coated in blood."
"Huh—totally different from before. This is gonna be tricky today, huh?"
* * *
"How about it, Mr. Goblin? Pretty tricky today, isn't it?"
Go Kyung-su grinned smugly from a spot where Seo Cheon-seul and Park Gwang-rim couldn't see him.
The situation was different from before.
Previously, the policy had been to lure them in, capture, and exorcise—requiring long-term viable strategies.
That's why he'd used loose, full-of-gaps tactics.
You had to dig holes to set traps.
But not now.
Less than five hours left.
Just hold out for that long, and the mission was done.
"Alright. No variables, no changes allowed. Keep the dog walks going every 20 minutes."
"Got it!"
"And the most important thing! Fifth time I'm saying this, but it's really important, so again!"
"Ah, give it a rest!"
"You idiots! If a small disturbance pops up, don't swarm it. Hold your positions! Maintain alert status. The goblin's gonna get pissed and try a breakthrough soon! If anything looks off, splash blood first and pop a [Brain Cooler]!"
[Brain Cooler].
A mental enhancer that forcibly activated the mind to block brainwashing or hallucinations.
"Yes, sir!"
"The opponent's a goblin. Don't forget. He can use clone spells, illusions, feints, triple decoys—don't get suckered!"
"I got it! My ears are gonna fall off!"
"Yeah, yeah! I trust you guys. Sun's up tomorrow, we hit Haeundae for some noodles, then straight to Paju!"
"Ah, what noodles?" "Busan has beef too!"
"Shut it, drinks in Paju!"
A suspicious vehicle packed with shady types had just left Cure Medical Care.
What were they after? What was about to go down in this city?
Go Kyung-su sighed, eyeing the ominously twisted sky.
'Haa... I miss the century's greatest beauty.'
Gotta drop by Basilisca when he got back to Paju.
* * *
"Bahaha—then this body shall show you the true power of the Thousand Gold Hall!"
"What's the plan?"
"They're all Kim's boys anyway, right? This body makes a few clones, stirs things up over there. Then pick a weak-willed one, hit 'em with an illusion to freak 'em out, cause a commotion. Meanwhile, use sorcery to slip in the opposite way."
A feint—no, triple feint operation?
"What do you think?"
Exactly what Go Kyung-su had predicted.
Of course, Park Gwang-rim didn't know what Go Kyung-su was anticipating, but she felt an inexplicable unease.
"Hmm, wouldn't Go Kyung-su have countermeasures for illusions too?"
And the problem wasn't just Go Kyung-su.
Cure Medical Care was ultimately the cultists' stronghold.
They'd seen combat-capable guys leaving, but would they guard the base with just outsiders during such a critical time?
Vrrr—
Suddenly, something odd caught Park Gwang-rim's eye.
"That's..."
A bizarre bird-shaped thing flying across Busan's sky.
"What're you looking at?"
At Seo Cheon-seul's question, Park Gwang-rim glanced away briefly—and missed the bird.
'It looked just like that one from the mansion.'
Had she seen wrong?
"Nah—nothing."
It definitely had four wings. And at the same time...
"Ah, Captain Thousand Gold. I've got a great idea."
An idea that popped up like magic.
"A great idea? What?"
"A feint operation."
Seo Cheon-seul responded with a puzzled look at the words "feint operation."
"Oh, you mean that joke? Where you repeat what the enemy said like it was your own idea?"
He chuckled, thinking it pretty funny.
"Ah, no. Thanks for laughing, but that's not it."
"Then?"
"It's a feint operation, but one where you don't have to step up yourself, Captain. We just need to buy time, right?"
"Aha?"
"There are tons of armed groups in this city who hate Cure Medical Care's guts."
The Ten Thousand Ages One Faith cultists who believed Dokgo Gyeom was locked up inside.
Black King's men who thought Kim Shin-hwa was in cahoots with them.
Plus fixers, criminals, and drifters who'd bought into Kim Shin-hwa's propaganda that Cure Medical Care would bring world-ending doom.
Kim Shin-hwa's antics had drawn all these groups to Busan.
"So many showed up—why haven't we seen hide nor hair of them?"
"They're all rounded up and locked away."
"Where?"
"I can find them."
Park Gwang-rim had the ability to locate anyone.
And with the Thousand Gold Captain's overwhelming force...
"Free them, and they'll swarm Cure Medical Care all at once. Even if not, can't you use your illusions to goad them into moving?"
Seo Cheon-seul burst into his signature "Bahaha!" laugh at that.
"Bahaha—that's a real Kim's-boy plan."
Meaning Kim Shin-hwa.
Taking it as praise, Park Gwang-rim nodded.
"Who knows? Maybe all this is Kim Shin-hwa's setup."
Park Gwang-rim and Seo Cheon-seul.
The criminals and cultists flooding into Busan.
And...
* * *
"This can't all be because of Kim Shin-hwa, can it?"
Yang Seo-ho scowled from inside an armed truck marked with the Foreigner Control Office emblem.
KABOOM!
An explosion echoing from afar.
Superhumans infiltrating Busan Customs.
They hadn't even fully resolved that when bizarre incidents started popping up one after another.
Not just one, either.
The radio in the armed truck blared urgent messages nonstop.
"Ten Thousand Ages One Faith cultists under detention have escaped! They're rooftop-running toward Haeundae District!"
"Black King gang criminals swarming Cure Medical Care!"
"Busan tollgate breached by unidentified assailants!"
"Emergency at Songjeong Port! Superhumans pouring out of the sea!"
"Support requested from Busan Police Special Forces. Illegally modified Cull van rampaging on Busan outer loop road! Suspected to carry high-rank wizard 6th circle or above!"
"Grade 3 emergency! Repeat, Grade 3 emergency!"
Seo Cheon-seul, guardian of the Thousand Gold Hall, had the ability to fold space for instant travel.
Cure Medical Care's fence had barriers preventing it, but traveling to where the cultists were held? Simple.
With Park Gwang-rim giving precise directions and distance, Seo Cheon-seul folded the space with mystical song and dance.
"Ah, this sucks."
Yang Seo-ho scratched his head, pondering the best response.
"The timing's too perfect."
'Conveniently,' while the Foreigner Control Office's main force was away.
'Conveniently,' all the Cure Medical Care haters get released at once.
'Conveniently,' right when something's brewing at Cure Medical Care.
"Something feels off."
"Feels off, sir?"
Shin Woo-jin perked up at his boss's grumbling.
"Yeah. Like we're being played by someone. It's unpleasant."
One more 'convenience.'
'Conveniently,' Yang Seo-ho was heading to Cure Medical Care himself.
KABOOM!
An explosion from Cure Medical Care in the distance.
Someone had already beaten him there. How'd they get there faster?
"Did the ones we locked up at Gwakgyeolsan escape too?"
Gwakgyeolsan was right next to Gijang County.
A spot they couldn't help but reach faster than him.
Realizing there was no time to agonize, Yang Seo-ho simplified things.
"Anyway, they're all gonna converge there, right? Hey, pull over."
"Huh?"
"Pull the truck over."
"Got it!"
Stepping out, Yang Seo-ho eyed Busan's nightscape, roars echoing from all directions.
Chasing shallow schemes, running around investigating, gathering evidence, deducing, agonizing, thinking—
"Ah, screw it. I'm done with all that."
Brains are for invalids anyway.