Implanted Bombs
Situation terminated.
She's no ordinary bitch... She's a monster...
Even as he screamed from the stilettos piercing his limbs, the man thought that. He'd sensed it from the moment she'd dodged the sniper shot, but the speed of the assassin who'd subdued him was anything but ordinary. No amount of enhancement procedures in the world could produce that kind of velocity. Dodging sniper fire with her eyes and batting away every round from the submachine gun—what kind of speed was that? She was a monster whose very existence defied comprehension.
If only I'd brought more illegal weapons...!
The banned illegal arms from Central. If he'd stocked up on just a few more, he might have had a chance. But he'd blown most of the advance payment on implanting the bombs, the sniper rifle, and the submachine gun. His pistols were illegally modded, at least, but the three assassins handling his comrades were monsters in their own right. One of them was overwhelming four of his men.
No choice... It's a shame I couldn't take even one down, but all that's left is to self-destruct...!
Pushed this far into inferiority, the man abandoned any greedier ambitions. The five bombs implanted in each of them—if detonated all at once, they'd take at least thirty percent of the Baek Ya-seong assassins on this rooftop with them. Then the world would remember him like this: not as a failed assassin, but as the man who scarred the number-one assassin corporation, Baek Ya-seong.
Y-yeah, they can't kill me anyway. Just hold out a little longer...!
With his resolve set, the man gritted his teeth through the agony of the stiletto stabbing his arm. He'd endure somehow, wait until they grew careless while dragging them away, and detonate then. All five of them shared detonator switches—pressing any one would blow everyone's bombs. He just had to hold out until then.
But as the assassin swung her stiletto to sever his last arm, she wore a puzzled expression.
"...Huh?"
Damn it all...!
The man instantly realized why she looked puzzled. He'd felt the stiletto touch the bomb implanted in his arm.
He twisted desperately to escape, but the assassin's blade sliced through his arm faster than he could pull away.
Screeech—
"Gaaahhh!!"
His flesh split open like rotten fish, flaying apart. As the man screamed in horrific pain, the assassin peered beneath his skin and spat a curse.
"What the fuck..."
She jolted upright, clearly having spotted the bomb. Seeing her reaction snapped the man out of his pain-hazed daze, and he bellowed.
"She spotted the bomb on this guy!! Blow it!!!"
His shout echoed thunderously across the rooftop. The order to detonate. His comrades instantly pulled small bombs from their pockets, and the Baek Ya-seong assassins tensed for countermeasures.
But those small bombs were just decoys to blind the enemy. They scattered them wildly, and the explosives detonated in unison.
Kaboom-crash-boom!!!
The rooftop tore apart viciously as the small bombs erupted together. Thick black smoke from the blasts swiftly engulfed the area.
As everyone tensed and peered into the smoke, the man's comrades bolted forward. To maximize damage with their implanted bombs, they charged straight into the cluster of watching Baek Ya-seong assassins.
The rooftop's fierce winds dispersed the smoke quickly, but it was already too late to stop them. Seeing his comrades close in on the assassins, the man grinned, curling his lip.
"Stupid bitch. Too late now that you've figured it—"
"Not too late yet."
Before he could finish his mocking sneer, the assassin lowered her voice and kicked off the ground.
Thud.
The sound of her launching rang in his ears. With it, her figure vanished in an instant.
By the time the man blinked and looked up, it was all over.
"...Huh?"
All that escaped his lips was a hollow question.
And what filled his vision were his comrades collapsing like marionettes with cut strings.
We're fucked.
When I sliced open his arm with my stiletto and found the bomb inside, that's all I could think. A bomb implanted in his body—it was obvious this was for self-destruct. No need to guess.
But was this guy the only one with a bomb? No way.
Out of the five enemies, it made more sense that all of them had bombs implanted rather than just this one. They were fire moths, after all—suicidal types chasing a spectacular death over their own lives. Safe bet.
And if all five had bombs, the reason they'd deployed that smokescreen was simple: to inflict maximum casualties.
Sure enough, as the wind cleared the smoke, there they were—the four charging straight at the Baek Ya-seong assassins.
The moment I saw them, I murmured inwardly.
Bullet Time.
My vision accelerated the instant I invoked it. Feeling the world slow around me, I kicked off the ground and dashed.
At least they're not timed bombs.
Realizing the bombs this late was the worst-case scenario, but there was one silver lining: the implants weren't timers.
Three years as a Back World assassin had exposed me to plenty of explosives. From what I'd seen in his arm, this was a manual detonator bomb—not a timer. Block their detonators, and we're good.
Found 'em—the detonators!
And perfectly timed, the idiots were pulling them out themselves. They fumbled for switches, ready to press.
But my body reached them before their fingers could.
No choice... gotta kill these four!
Subduing them was priority one, but trying that now meant I couldn't stop all the detonators. Unavoidable—I'd have to kill every last one.
Decision made in a flash, action instantaneous. I gouged the lead guy's skull with my stiletto, then drew my dagger from my waist and pierced the next one's brain.
Next, wire. I unfurled it and bound the remaining two heads together, slicing clean through.
Shlick—!
Decapitated necks flew skyward as Bullet Time ended. Back in normal flow, I gasped for breath amid the rooftop chaos.
"Hah... haa..."
Unlike my usual paced fights, I'd pushed my body to the limit this time. Even with superhuman stats and mental buffs, that took it out of me.
I wanted to collapse right there, but priorities. I retracted my bloody wire and surveyed the carnage.
"Hah... close call."
Four mutilated corpses sprawled on the ground. Detonators clutched in their hands, but not one pressed. No more bomb threats.
I let out a relieved sigh, steadying my breath. That's when the Baek Ya-seong assassins, who'd gathered around, fixed their eyes on me.
But their gazes weren't like before. No more disdain, jealousy, or rage—now laced with awe.
"What... what the hell was that just now?"
"Insane—she dashed over and killed four?"
"I saw her deflect bullets earlier, but..."
I'd have smirked and mocked them back in my prime, but no energy for that now. Tired aside, cleanup came first.
"Baek Se-rin! What the hell?! Killing them means...!"
"Hah... no choice. They'd implanted bombs in their bodies."
Lee Kang-woo charged me, yelling. I gave him the quick rundown, and Kim Woo-jin twitched his brow.
"Bombs? For real?"
"Yeah, confirmed it on this one. See the detonators they dropped?"
"Ah, right. Definitely detonators."
Kim Woo-jin finally bought it, pointing at them. But some Baek Ya-seong assassins still looked skeptical.
Their distrust pissed me off more than words could fix. So I acted instead.
Shlick-shlick—
I drew my dagger from its holster and sliced my own arm open. No grimaces—everyone here was used to blood and guts.
Their eyes locked on the exposed flesh. I dug in and pulled out the unmistakable implanted bomb.
"Killing them was the right call..."
"Told you. Couldn't be helped."
While I was at it, I cracked open other spots—four more bombs tumbled out. If they'd rushed into the crowd and detonated, dozens of assassins would've died or been gravely wounded. Even they broke a cold sweat seeing the things.
With everyone convinced, I stood from dismantling the corpses. Breath caught, situation wrapped—only one thing left.
"Well, at least one's still alive. Silver lining."
All eyes turned to the lone survivor slumped far off.