Rescue (4)
"How the hell did you do that?"
An Jin-ho was trying to sound composed, but he was thoroughly rattled. Park Yeon-chan had swung his knife in perfect time with An Jin-ho's own speed. Of course, as an Awakened, his physical capabilities far exceeded those of any Non-Awakened, so he'd blocked it with ease.
It came straight for my throat.
Having never witnessed the fight with the patrol unit, a chill ran down An Jin-ho's spine. The realization that this hadn't been a wild swing — that Yeon-chan had aimed precisely for his neck — lodged itself deep in his mind.
This crazy bastard... seeing it in person, he's ridiculously fast.
Park Yeon-chan hadn't tracked him with his eyes and swung. He'd simply predicted An Jin-ho would move in a straight line and timed his swing for the moment he expected him to close in. But it was more than enough to throw An Jin-ho off — a man who had never once considered the possibility of a counterattack.
An Jin-ho's shock at seeing the boy whose throat he was currently choking lasted only a moment.
Bang!
Even with his throat being crushed and one arm pinned, Park Yeon-chan used his free hand to aim the pistol at An Jin-ho and pulled the trigger. The aim was unstable — the bullet grazed past An Jin-ho's side.
"You little shit...!"
A surge of raw emotion flooded through An Jin-ho. The self-loathing of having flinched against a mere child. The wounded pride of failing to react to Park Yeon-chan's unexpected move. A bullet wouldn't have killed him, but that wasn't the point.
Crash!
He hurled Park Yeon-chan away like a rag doll, venting his rage. Yeon-chan tumbled across the ground several times before finally slamming into a shipping container and coming to a stop.
"Kh... hahk!"
The impact forced the air from his lungs along with a mouthful of blood.
"You're not dying easy."
An Jin-ho's voice was flat, but his face was twisted with fury. He fixed his gaze and started toward the boy he'd just thrown — when
Fwoom!
A blast of searing heat streaked past An Jin-ho's side. The laser-like flash that grazed him struck the ground and exploded, but it dealt him no damage whatsoever.
An Jin-ho's eyes snapped toward the source of the flash. At the far end of his gaze stood Lee Yeon-hui and Lee Yeon-ah, both holding Pyrolith Guns.
They'd fired on An Jin-ho at Park Yeon-chan's instruction — but hitting a target with a weapon they'd never fired before was no easy feat.
And yet.
Wiiiiing.
The second beam lanced straight toward An Jin-ho —
KRA-BOOM!
— and slammed into him head-on, engulfing him completely. A thunderous roar erupted as if a massive bomb had gone off, and the spot where An Jin-ho had stood vanished beneath a thick shroud of smoke.
"Park Yeon-chan!"
"Oppa!"
Confirming the hit, Lee Yeon-hui and Lee Yeon-ah sprinted toward Yeon-chan.
"Hah... hahk... good... cough...!"
Coughing up blood, Park Yeon-chan was forcing himself upright.
"That's enough! Don't talk — just let me look at you."
"Oppa... you're bleeding..."
Horror flooded both sisters' faces at the sight of his condition.
"I'm... fine... we need to move—"
Yeon-chan was trying to assess the situation and give orders when —
Whoosh—!
A sudden gale cut his words short.
And then.
"Haah... you really don't quit, do you."
A thoroughly irritated voice drifted through the smoke. Looking toward the sound, they watched the explosion's smoke clear away cleanly — and there stood An Jin-ho, completely unharmed, in the exact same spot as before.
"All of you, stay out of this."
He wasn't talking to Yeon-chan's group.
"Huh...?"
"Didn't you hear me? Stay the hell out of it."
"B-but still..."
"What? You think I can't handle one damn brat?"
He barked at the patrol unit members standing around in a daze, and those who had just witnessed everything firsthand stammered their reply.
"Y-yes, sir! Understood!"
They scrambled off into the distance. An Jin-ho's gaze returned to Park Yeon-chan.
"Kid. Was that your last resort?"
Even though it was Yeon-hui and Yeon-ah who'd fired the guns, An Jin-ho looked only at Yeon-chan — as if the two girls beside him didn't even exist.
Yeon-chan tried to answer, but he still couldn't catch his breath properly, so he flipped An Jin-ho the middle finger instead.
"Heh... at this point, I can't even get mad anymore. So? If that's all you've got, you're done. Nothing else prepared?"
Wind kicked up around An Jin-ho, blowing the smoke upward. He looked down at Yeon-chan with a bored expression.
"Maybe it's a good thing we met now. A guy like you awakening would be pretty damn terrifying."
He hadn't gotten an answer, but he hadn't been expecting one. An Jin-ho was about to wrap up the conversation.
Then.
"...Huh?"
A sudden shadow fell over him. An Jin-ho looked up —
KRA-BOOOOM!
A massive shipping container crashed down directly above him.
"N...now!"
Yeon-chan forced the word out, and on his signal, Yeon-ah and Yeon-hui hauled him up and broke into a dead sprint. Yeon-hui threw the barely-mobile Yeon-chan onto her back while Yeon-ah supported them from behind, running hard.
"I... I'm fine, so..."
"Shut up! Unless you want to bite your tongue off, keep your mouth closed!"
Fine, so what? Was he seriously asking to be put down?
Cutting him off, Yeon-hui clenched her jaw. She was grateful. Grateful that Yeon-chan was on her back and Yeon-ah was right behind her. Because even though she was barely holding it together, tears were welling in her eyes.
To Yeon-hui, Park Yeon-chan was far too calm and sharp to be someone her own age. She knew following his lead in a situation like this was the right call.
But still...! Still, you can't die!
— Unlike you two, I don't really have family who'd mourn me, and I'm not exactly overflowing with will to live.
Remembering how casually he'd said something like that made the surge of emotion hit even harder. She'd followed his orders and stayed put even when he put himself in danger — but reason and emotion were two different things.
When that Awakened's monstrous strength had flung Yeon-chan across the ground, she'd thought her heart had stopped. He'd told them not to move from their positions no matter what — and somehow even this had been part of the plan.
Yeon-hui bit her lip, replaying the scene. She was angry. Angry at herself for being able to do nothing. She wanted to yell at Yeon-chan for throwing his body around like that — but she was sick of her own powerlessness, of having no choice but to follow his words.
"I'm... fine."
A warm sensation settled on the back of her head. Park Yeon-chan's hand had come to rest on top of Yeon-hui's hair.
What was he saying was fine? His body? Or that she didn't need to tear herself apart? Probably the latter. She knew without him needing to spell it out. After her mother, Park Yeon-chan was the person who could read her heart like a book.
That single word. That one small gesture. The self-loathing that had been rising up drained away like it had never been there — almost foolishly easily.
Being too mature is a problem too.
She probably thought I couldn't see her face, but Yeon-hui's tearful expression was crystal clear to me.
A girl who stood above others — and because of that, carried more responsibility than anyone else. I only knew her from the original story's starting point onward, but it seemed like this had always been her nature.
It was a shame, but right now all I could offer Yeon-hui was a simple "it's okay."
The bigger problem was—
Every time Yeon-hui's back jolted, the vibration shot through my body like an electric shock. Damn, that hurts. The pain was one thing, but the damage I'd taken was severe enough that even moving properly was a struggle.
Even so, this situation had played out about as well as it could have. If Lee Jae-hun had come after us from the start, it would've been over. But for whatever whimsical reason, he'd decided not to target us. Reinforcements had shown up at the worst time — but the fact that I had intel on this particular guy was a silver lining.
The odds of getting out of their base without running into an Awakened were basically zero. I was almost grateful it was people I actually knew. I'd been able to use his personality against him, provoke him to my heart's content, predict his moves, and spring a trap like this.
The problem was that knowing was one thing.
BOOM!
A crash rang out from behind as the shipping container went flying into the sky. It was the massive container I'd timed to drop when I fired the gun. Even as a supporting character, this guy had been portrayed as a pretty serious powerhouse in the story, so I hadn't expected that to kill him.
But I didn't think he'd just toss it aside like that.
As if mocking my pitiful imagination from reading the text, the container sailed through the air like a feather —
CRASHHH!
— and slammed into the ground with a deafening roar.
His next move would be to come straight after us, but—
"Fwo...om."
KRA-BOOOOOOM!
On my signal — like an alarm going off — an explosion of staggering scale erupted. That was the special property of the Pyrolith Gun I'd dropped earlier. Pyrolith generates absurd amounts of heat. Force that heat out through a machine and it overloads, detonating whatever thermal energy remains. The blast was so massive that even at this distance, we would've been caught in it if we hadn't ducked behind a container.
"R-run."
Yeon-hui nodded at my words and started running again with me on her back.
"You can put me down."
"I told you to shut up."
"Yeah, Oppa! Be quiet!"
I'd said it because I thought I could move a little now, but both sisters shut me down instantly. Yeon-ah, still supporting me from behind, nodded in agreement for good measure.
I couldn't exactly demand they stop right now, so I resigned myself to doing what I could from Yeon-hui's back.
First, I checked the wind direction. Using the fact that it was blowing against us, I tossed smoke grenades behind us. The reverse wind filled the rear with thick smoke in seconds, merging with the acrid fumes from the explosion.
It was enough smoke to pass for a full-blown fire scene — but then
Whoooosh—!
A wind that no one could mistake for natural formed a whirlwind and blasted all the smoke upward.
"What the hell is that?!"
Yeon-hui's eyes went wide as she shouted at the bizarre spectacle behind us. I felt the same way, even if I didn't say it.
And then.
Whiiirrr!
Through that unnatural wind, a man was staring right at us.
Having blown the smoke upward, An Jin-ho stood still and watched Park Yeon-chan. Yeon-chan couldn't even run properly — he was being carried on Yeon-hui's back. The expression on An Jin-ho's face as he watched was complicated.
"What is this guy?"
At first, it had been pure irritation. The irritation of being made a fool of by a kid who looked like an elementary schooler. The self-loathing of having his moves read and getting counterattacked by a child.
But now he was feeling something entirely different.
Interest. And awe.
Just what the hell was this kid, to be capable of all this? If their positions were reversed — could I have done the same?
No.
He could say that with absolute certainty. Even given the same weapons and the exact same situation, he would never have pulled it off.
He admitted it. This kid was on another level.
The gap between an Awakened and a Non-Awakened was as vast as heaven and earth — and yet he still hadn't managed to kill this boy. He'd even taken a hit. Looking at Park Yeon-chan, An Jin-ho revised his assessment.
This wasn't a situation for frustration or rage. This was an enemy. He recognized Park Yeon-chan as a genuine opponent.
And because of that—
I have to end him. Now.
He had to tie this off cleanly, leave no loose ends. That was what he decided. This was different from when he'd held back out of pride, refusing to open up his full power. The wind pouring out around An Jin-ho proved it.
WHOOM!
The wind boosted him forward, launching him at blistering speed. In an instant, he closed the considerable distance and was nearly on top of Park Yeon-chan.
And Yeon-chan must have anticipated it — because before An Jin-ho could fully close the gap, he leapt down from Yeon-hui's back.
"Hey!"
"Oppa?!"
Both sisters cried out in shock at Yeon-chan's sudden move — but he didn't look back. He sprinted forward and pulled something from his coat. An object that was nothing but a grip — no blade, no form.
Certain he was about to do something reckless again, Yeon-hui tried to chase after him immediately — but
Whoosh—
A violent gust of wind shoved Yeon-hui and Yeon-ah far away.
And then.
Fwoosh!
An Jin-ho finally reached right in front of Park Yeon-chan. As if on cue, An Jin-ho thrust his hand toward Yeon-chan — and Yeon-chan gripped the formless handle and swung.
At the point where the two collided—
KRA-BOOOOOOOOM!
The largest explosion yet swept through everything around them.