Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Simultaneous Incidents (8)
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A sharp blade slices through flesh.
The moment she registered that, Kang Ha-neul's consciousness sank into the depths of oblivion. There wasn't even time to resist. With a sudden jolt, her knees buckled, and her body tumbled toward another Kang Ha-neul.
-Thud.
The other Kang Ha-neul, who caught her falling form, simply stared into the mirror.
-Bubble. Bubbling.
Soon, that face began bubbling up like it was boiling, melting away into an amorphous liquid. What emerged from within was a woman whose decadent features—marked by drooping eyes—bore no resemblance to Kang Ha-neul whatsoever.
Her name was Stephanie.
Stephanie Lewis Rodriguez.
Like Heo Sung-chan and Yoo Jin-su, she was a contract killer based in the slum district of Uijeongbu—and the one Na Ju-yong had hired this time to kidnap Kang Ha-neul.
"……."
Stephanie gazed at Kang Ha-neul, who slumped limply against her. More precisely, at the throat she had just sliced open.
No blood flowed from Kang Ha-neul's neck. Despite the blade having plunged in, the wound had already sealed shut like pursed lips. A closer look revealed a faint ooze of transparent medical adhesive around the injury.
The secret behind this bizarre sight lay in the knife Stephanie wielded.
Her special knife featured two buttons: one for spraying high-concentration anesthetic tailored for superhumans, and the other for medical adhesive. Using it, Stephanie had slit Kang Ha-neul's throat while simultaneously injecting anesthetic into her veins and spraying adhesive to temporarily seal the wound. The entire process unfolded in less than 0.1 seconds—the blink of an eye it took for the knife to touch skin.
A feat bordering on the impossible.
But for Stephanie, it was a technique she'd practiced countless times—a basic move she executed flawlessly as a matter of course. It was precisely her ability to pull off such impossibilities with ease that earned her a reputation as a professional contract killer.
Stephanie scooped up Kang Ha-neul's body and stepped into the stall. She sat the unconscious girl on the toilet, then pulled a long-antennaed signal detector from her pocket and scanned her body from head to toe. Just in case there were any bugs or transmitters.
-Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
The ensuing alarm made Stephanie yank off Kang Ha-neul's sneakers. The soles showed signs of a tear and hasty repair; prying it open with her knife revealed a tiny chip. Stephanie immediately recognized it as a GPS tracker.
>'No other hits besides the shoes. So the only implant is that tracker in her sneaker.'
>Just as she'd surmised, all Min Chae-ryeong had planted on Kang Ha-neul was the shoe tracker. With that confirmed, Stephanie moved straight to the next phase.
-Rustle.
The faint sound of clothing being shed echoed softly in the stall. Stephanie stripped off her own outfit, then Kang Ha-neul's as well. She donned Kang Ha-neul's clothes and activated her superpower once more.
-Bubble.
Her entire body rippled like slime before settling into Kang Ha-neul's form. But on closer inspection, the facial features and build were subtly off.
"……."
Unlike her previous eyeballing disguise, she now had an excellent reference right in front of her. Stephanie scrutinized every inch of Kang Ha-neul's body, from her face downward, gradually refining her mimicry until it closely resembled the original.
After thorough study, Stephanie achieved a near-perfect imitation of Kang Ha-neul's appearance. Even her parents wouldn't notice the switch.
-Knock. Knock. Knock.
A knock came from beyond the door.
Stephanie turned. Two identical women crammed into a bathroom stall—one passed out. If caught, it would cause quite the commotion.
Yet Stephanie calmly opened the door.
"……."
Standing there was a woman in a janitor's uniform. Not a real one, of course. She was Stephanie's partner, 'K'. Even as partners, Stephanie didn't know her real name—a common occurrence in their line of work.
K, her staff cap pulled low, gestured something. Stephanie replied,
"You can speak. No bugs around here."
"……Anything else?"
"Just a GPS tracker in her shoe. I checked it and put it back. You sealed the entrance well?"
"Just put up a 'Cleaning in Progress' sign. Can't guarantee no one comes in. So let's deal with her first."
At K's words, Stephanie dragged the naked Kang Ha-neul out of the stall and tucked her body—along with her own clothes—into the large cleaning cart K had brought.
"Any watchers?"
"No one stood out. At least no one staking out the bathroom entrance. That Min Chae-ryeong chick couldn't exactly plaster overt surveillance all over the academy."
"So surveillance is probably just CCTV at most? Perfect. No worries about getting caught then."
"The client wants the kidnapping hidden for at least a week. Can you pull it off?"
"You know that's my specialty. Not just a week—a month, and I won't get made."
Stephanie, now transformed into Kang Ha-neul, checked herself in the mirror, testing various expressions like she was auditioning her own face.
"……To fail such a simple job. Jin-su and Sung-chan have really gone past their prime."
Stephanie sneered, thinking of her fellow contractors.
"They're combat specialists, unlike us. The client picked the wrong ones from the start."
"Hmph. Specialty or not, if you take a job in this business, you succeed—that's the basics. And those hacks failed because they couldn't hack it, yet they strut around the client begging for a chance to make up for it. No wonder they ended up like this."
"Like this?"
"Oh? You haven't heard?"
A malicious smirk crept across Stephanie's face—a grin Kang Ha-neul would never make, brimming with malice.
"The client said Heo Sung-chan was causing such a ruckus around their workplace that they decided to silence and kill him while they were at it."
Stephanie cackled. Serves him right for always overstepping—he'd end up like that someday, she'd known it.
K silently watched her partner revel.
***
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Ji Ye-won reported to Min Chae-ryeong about the relationship between Junior Researcher Kim Sun-woo and Heo Sung-chan. It was still just speculation, but better safe than sorry.
Upon hearing it, Min Chae-ryeong kept an even closer eye on Kang Ha-neul. But she was already too late. Kang Ha-neul had been kidnapped, and the person Min Chae-ryeong thought was Kang Ha-neul—whom she'd been surveilling—was actually Stephanie in disguise.
Neither Min Chae-ryeong nor Ji Ye-won noticed. K and Stephanie had handled everything meticulously, and shapeshifters were so rare that no one considered the possibility of a swap.
Two days passed since the kidnapping.
In that time, Ji Ye-won searched for ways to infiltrate the lab's secure areas while monitoring Heo Sung-chan's every move via the IC chip in his smartphone. But he'd stayed holed up in the Uijeongbu slums ever since that day.
Until just moments ago.
"He's on the move."
Min Chae-ryeong's voice crackled back over the line.
-Direction?
"North. Heading to the rendezvous he set with Kim Sun-woo yesterday, probably. Kim Sun-woo just left the lab too."
-So the specifics are verbal? Cautious if cautious, reckless if reckless. Most clients avoid face-to-face with hitmen. Hand over the cash, and let the criminal who kills for money stay at arm's length—it's safer.
"Guess he's confident."
-Yeah, must be. Anyway, can you tail Kim Sun-woo?
"Already on it."
Ji Ye-won answered while watching the lab parking lot entrance. Moments later, Kim Sun-woo's black sedan pulled onto the road.
-Vroom.
She fired up her bike in sync and followed as his car set off.
The chilly night wind whipped Ji Ye-won's hair every which way.
Kim Sun-woo headed to a dilapidated church ruin in Yangju City. Seeing his car turn onto the single mountain road leading to the mid-slope church, Ji Ye-won parked her bike and proceeded on foot.
>'Heo Sung-chan's probably already waiting inside.'
She'd pinpointed his location via the tracker in his phone. Parking nearby, she climbed the mountain path.
Her goal in tailing Kim Sun-woo here was obvious: eavesdrop on his exchange with Heo Sung-chan. The IC chip in Heo Sung-chan's phone had a bug, but it only handled calls—not ambient sounds.
>'This screams danger from a mile away…….'
Ahn Su-ho's words flashed through her mind.
His advice to always prioritize her own safety, no matter what.
Ji Ye-won intended to heed it, but she also wanted to push as far as she could. It wasn't some random job—Kang Ha-neul was involved, so she couldn't just bail.
Because she didn't want anything bad happening to Kang Ha-neul? Sure, that was part of it.
But more than that, it was her feelings for Ahn Su-ho driving her. If something happened to Kang Ha-neul, he'd be devastated.
So she planned to give this mission her all, within her limits.
However.
"……Huh?"
The next instant, a suspicious vibe from around the church forced Ji Ye-won to halt.
***
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ At the same time, inside the church ruins.
Kim Sun-woo, entering through the half-collapsed entrance, spotted the two contract killers already waiting.
Heo Sung-chan. And Yoo Jin-su.
The ones he'd hired to kidnap Kang Ha-neul before—but failed.
For some reason, he'd contacted them again recently. Now, the three met in this forsaken church no one visited.
"……I never imagined we'd meet again."
Yoo Jin-su spoke first. Heo Sung-chan nodded vigorously in agreement.
"You mentioned a new job, but I assume it's related to the one we failed last time. Am I right?"
"……You could say that."
Kim Sun-woo glanced around unnaturally before scanning their faces.
"……Looks like you two are who I met before."
"Did you think someone else might show? Some contractors do subcontract, but you knew we don't."
"True enough. Still, had to confirm."
Kim Sun-woo glanced at the door he'd entered. Sensing something off, Yoo Jin-su probed,
"Confirm……what?"
"Yeah. Spent good money—can't afford to back the wrong horse."
A cryptic remark that landed yet didn't. As unease crept in and Yoo Jin-su lowered his stance, the silent Heo Sung-chan murmured,
"Jin-su."
Heo Sung-chan rose from the altar bench, shrugging off his overcoat. Thick veins bulged along his sleeveless arms.
"Looks like we got played for real."
"Sung-chan, what are you—"
"Hey, lab coat boy! If you're hiring cleaners, why not get pros? They can't even hide their killing intent! My neck's been prickling since earlier!"
"Ho ho."
Kim Sun-woo let out an intrigued chuckle.
"I don't buy into vague stuff like killing intent, but your senses must be sharp. Well spotted."
-Crash!
Kim Sun-woo snapped his fingers. Windows shattered as burly men poured into the church. The cleaners he'd hired to deal with Heo Sung-chan and Yoo Jin-su.
"That's low, man! Kill us over one failed job? What, thought we'd blab your request everywhere?!"
"As if. Everyone knows Uijeongbu contractors keep their mouths shut."
"……Then why hire cleaners to take us out?"
"You don't know?"
Kim Sun-woo pointed at Heo Sung-chan in response to Yoo Jin-su's question.
"Your partner's been nosing around the lab, being a nuisance. If the cops catch wind because of it, things get messy."
"……Sung-chan."
"You refused to meet even when I said I wanted to apologize! I'm innocent!"
Heo Sung-chan fumed indignantly while Yoo Jin-su shook his head, as if he'd seen it coming.
"Tch. Trying to kill us over something so petty. Hands the failed job to that whore Stephanie instead. Nothing likable about any of you!"
"No idea what you have with her, but unlike you, she's competent. She succeeded in kidnapping Kang Ha-neul two days ago—something you bungled pathetically."
"I'd have nailed it if you'd come back to me!?"
"Empty carts rattle loudest."
"That bastard—!"
"Sung-chan. Calm down. He's provoking you on purpose."
Yoo Jin-su soothed Heo Sung-chan, who looked ready to lunge, and scanned their surroundings.
Twelve cleaners encircled them.
Yoo Jin-su had no skill to gauge foes visually, but their solid stances marked them as no mere street thugs.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down his tense forehead.
"……Hey. Lab coat boy."
Heo Sung-chan, by contrast, showed no tension. His blazing eyes locked solely on Kim Sun-woo, who smirked leisurely ahead.
"Stay put. I'll smash these punks and then you!"
"You think I'm insane enough to wait here? Too dangerous."
Kim Sun-woo spun on his heel. Opening the rickety church door, he glanced back with a sneer.
"I'll be outside smoking. Have fun fighting."
With that, he exited. Twelve shadows charged at Heo Sung-chan and Yoo Jin-su.
A deafening roar echoed across the deserted mountainside.