Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 015
Chapter Title: Blood Ghost Hunt (3)
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There's a saying that life is real combat.
Even when professors spouted nonsense or rude customers threw tantrums at the convenience store, I'd tasted life's bitterness to some degree. But nothing had ever driven the point home like this moment.
And why wouldn't it? I was standing right at the front lines of this godforsaken real combat.
His name was Vladimir, right?
The guy who'd looked like a perfectly normal Russian bear just moments ago was gone, replaced by a monster that seemed like a mix of the Hulk and a werewolf who'd chugged a gallon of steroids.
The monster kicked off the ground with unbelievable speed for its massive bulk and charged straight at us.
No, "charged" doesn't quite cut it.
This was more like a dump truck barreling down a hill with failed brakes. Getting hit by that thing would turn you into a smear without a trace.
There was no time to think. My body reacted first.
Lee Chang and I dove to either side at the exact same moment—no way to tell who moved first.
Vladimir's hulking body barreled through the spot where we'd been standing.
Kwabang!
Unable to stop its momentum, it slammed headfirst into the outer wall of the building. The crumbling concrete tore apart like paper, accompanied by a dull explosion of sound.
Debris flew everywhere, and in an instant, our vision was choked with thick dust.
Damn, this dust is a nightmare.
My throat felt like it was getting shredded; it was pure agony. Breathing in this disaster-level dust cloud—not fine dust alert, but full-on catastrophe warning—made me certain my lungs were turning black like a lung cancer patient's by now.
Throwing us into a site swirling with top-tier carcinogens without even basic dust masks. I couldn't help but marvel at the welfare standards of this hellhole of a workplace.
Those stray thoughts didn't last. Lee Chang leaped back immediately, putting distance between them.
I inwardly admired his veteran instincts.
Sure enough, a sinister whoosh cut through the dust, and Vladimir's fist shot straight toward where Lee Chang had been.
Kwaang!
The concrete floor he'd smashed spiderwebbed with cracks and cratered deeply.
I hadn't even been hit directly, but the shockwave alone made my skin tingle. Taking that barehanded would've pulped me into oblivion.
The moment Vladimir emerged, Lee Chang's Beast roared to life.
Taang!
A flash split the darkness with the sharp crack of the shot. It was a perfect headshot with no margin for error, but Vladimir twisted away on pure beastly instinct.
Kwajik!
The bullet ended up tearing a chunk from his shoulder.
But even that was meaningless. The mangled flesh writhed grotesquely and regenerated in the blink of an eye.
"......"
I was too stunned to speak.
Body enhancement plus super-regeneration?
This is insane. I swallowed a sigh at the fact that this freakshow was my very first mission.
Right then, every nerve in my body screamed a warning.
I instinctively flung myself sideways and swung the Four Tiger Sword upward.
Kwajik!
A heavy thud. His fist hammered the spot where I'd been standing.
At the same time, my blade whipped across his wrist.
Seogeok!
The sickening sensation of bone and muscle parting traveled vividly up my arm.
I'd aimed to sever the wrist clean off. But it only cut halfway through—his flesh was far tougher than I'd imagined.
His wrist dangled loosely. But in just three seconds, it reattached like nothing had happened.
Seeing that, Lee Chang spat out his gum and said,
"Correction. Stronger than a Patrol Entity. At minimum, this guy's quasi-Grade 2."
Quasi-Grade 2.
From Anomalous Entities 101, that meant a monster capable of wiping out an entire dong—a neighborhood district.
Is this guy in his right mind?
Shouldn't they have told me that during the briefing earlier?
And now, while this beast is rampaging like it's gonna rip out my guts, he drops a casual "Oh, it's kinda strong. My bad lol"?
I was starting to get why the seniors had looked at me with pity when I got assigned to Exorcism Squad 1.
'Ugh, I wanna quit.'
Ridiculous to think that after one mission, but with this psycho boss and insane difficulty levels, I was losing my mind.
No time to get mad at Lee Chang's words—I kicked off again, leaping sideways.
Kwaang!
Vladimir's flying knee from the dust cloud pulverized another section of the inner wall.
At this rate, the building would collapse before we died.
Lee Chang seized the opening and yelled,
"Sun's setting soon. If we don't kill it before then, it'll get away!"
Maybe those words lit a fire under it. Vladimir changed tactics. He grabbed chunks of shattered concrete in both hands and hurled them at us indiscriminately.
"Kuk!"
Lee Chang and I dodged the flying debris easily or batted it away with our weapons. But that didn't seem to be his real goal.
Jjaenggrang!
The scattered concrete chunks shattered every old fluorescent light on the ceiling.
With the only light source gone, the building plunged into pitch blackness.
A brilliantly cunning move.
Humans can't see through darkness like Blood Ghosts without special gear. In the dark, they have the overwhelming advantage.
But he'd overlooked one thing: neither Lee Chang nor I were ordinary humans anymore.
Taang!
Lee Chang's Beast fired. The muzzle flash illuminated Vladimir's silhouette lunging from the dark, and Lee Chang used that split-second glimpse to dodge.
I moved at the same time. With sight blocked, my other four senses sharpened unnaturally.
The metallic stench unique to Blood Ghosts, the taste of dust, the flow of air. Every scrap of info in the space told me his position and movements.
I read the incoming fist's trajectory in the dark, ducked under it, then spun, channeling its momentum into a downward slash.
Seogeok!
A clean cut, like slicing through butter—totally different from before. This time, his arm severed completely and hit the floor with a thud.
"You monster! I blocked your vision—how the hell did you do that?!"
A hollow laugh escaped at his shocked roar.
"The monster here's you, asshole."
That very instant.
Taang!
A gunshot tore through my ears, and Vladimir's left knee joint exploded.
His mobility was sealed in a heartbeat.
A few seconds would let it regenerate, but in this split-second battle, those seconds were enough time for ten more decapitations.
Vladimir kicked off with his remaining right leg, trying to hurl himself down the corridor.
But I was faster—my Four Tiger Sword sliced through below his right knee.
Seogeok!
Both legs gone, Vladimir crumpled to the floor.
In that moment, sensing his end, he muttered lowly in Russian.
"...Fucking screwed (Pizdetz)."
Those were his last words.
I didn't hesitate—my blade took his head.
Seu-keong!
Lee Chang pulled out his smartphone, flicked on the flash, and approached the rolling head. He aimed the Beast's barrel.
Taang!
The head burst apart without a trace from the bullet.
Lowering the smoking barrel, Lee Chang looked at me and said,
"Always confirm-kill Blood Ghosts. Some high-V-Factor ones at True Progeny level can even regrow after decapitation."
Regrow even after decapitation?
Ahn Sang-sik had told me not to get bound by common sense against anomalies, but I hadn't expected decapitation-proof ones existed. This industry just kept throwing worse freaks at me the deeper I got.
Anyway, mission accomplished successfully.
As Lee Chang and I exited the building, agents from Field Cleanup Squad 3—disguised as police—had already arrived.
A middle-aged man who screamed "chief," looking as exhausted as Lee Chang, approached and asked,
"Any live Blood Ghosts inside?"
"Clean sweep."
Lee Chang's curt reply made the Squad 3 chief's eyebrow twitch irritably.
He jerked his chin toward the building's wreckage—the massive hole Vladimir had made like a runaway dump truck. Rebar stuck out from the shattered concrete like limp noodles; it was almost artistic.
"Clean? Hey, Lee, does 'clean' in your book include demolishing the outer wall? Damn it, what do I write in the report this time? Gas leak? Boiler explosion from age? Or maybe one of those trendy sinkholes?"
Ah, so this is the inter-departmental friction I'd heard about.
Even in this surreal anomaly-hunting world, the same petty organizational conflicts existed everywhere.
One team makes the mess, another cleans it up.
Looks like the woes of salaried workers are universal.
For that chief, maybe filling that hole with budget reports and incident forms was scarier than a prowling Blood Ghost.
Lee Chang didn't blink at the hysterical jab. He shrugged like it was the most natural thing and shot back,
"My job's exorcism, not building preservation. If they'd stayed put inside, I'd have handled it neatly. Want the site intact next time? Train the anomalies beforehand. Have Yu Chief scare 'em with fines for public property damage—might make 'em behave."
"Say something that makes sense...! Exorcism Squad 1 shows up, and it's half-demolition minimum—half! You know how many containers you wrecked at Incheon Port last time? Every budget review, I get grilled because of you!"
Yu Chief clutched his neck, ranting, but Lee Chang had already lost interest.
He yawned once, patted Yu Chief's shoulder like consolation, and said,
"Then spin that hamster wheel harder."
With that, he dragged me to his sedan and drove off.
"That rude bastard...!"
Yu Chief's muffled rage faded behind us—or maybe I imagined it.
The whole drive back to my Sinnon goshiwon, Lee Chang and I didn't exchange a word.
Battle fatigue was one thing, but I was sticky all over from Blood Ghost blood and my own sweat.
All I wanted was a shower and to crash into bed.
About an hour later, the car pulled up in front of my place.
As I started to get out, Lee Chang spoke up.
"Hold up."
He pulled a thick envelope from the armrest compartment and tossed it to me. I caught it reflexively and asked, puzzled,
"What's this?"
"Incentive for your first mission success. Good work—go treat yourself to some beef. Later."
He finished and peeled out.
I stared after him, then opened the envelope.
Inside was my official agent badge—and crisp 100,000-won bills, ten of them.
Five million won for one exorcism.
The word "quit" that had been circling my head vanished clean away.