The Protagonist Makes His Entrance
The current time was 3 PM. A massive bus suddenly materialized right in front of the camera Yu Hana had installed in advance at the entrance of Seou Industries. It was the visual distortion that appeared when someone used camouflage-type superpowers.
Camouflage ability detected. Enemy forces have arrived.
“They’re here. Everyone, get ready.”
We watched as the bastards poured out of the bus and stormed into the building in a frantic rush. Then we each moved to our assigned positions.
“Alright. Good luck out there.”
“You too.”
My position was in the flowerbed right below the second floor of the building. After Seong Jiyeong teleported me into place, I hid behind a tree. It was still daytime and people were walking by, so exposing the Rabbit Vader helmet would be terrible for my mental health.
“Final equipment check.”
Before jumping into the operation, I gave my outfit one last inspection. Black tights, a dark brown field jacket, and specially customized gray work boots. In my right hand, I held a titanium arming sword. The blade was easy to carry and durable—my favorite piece of equipment. That was enough for gear. The only real problem was this damn Rabbit Vader helmet.
Every time I wore the hideous thing, it filled me with self-loathing. Honestly, I wanted to rip it off and throw it away right now. But what could I do? Ji Seoeun was ready to risk her life to protect it.
After finishing the equipment check, I scanned the operation area again. My assigned sector was the second floor of the five-story building right in front of me—the place where all the hostages were gathered. It was the most critical location; even the slightest mistake could result in immediate casualties.
Communication complete. The terrorists have publicly declared the incident and revealed their demands.
“Really? What about the data?”
“Doesn’t look like they’ve handed it over yet. They probably want to exchange it in person.”
“So they’re not complete idiots after all.”
From Yu Hana, we learned that the terrorists had notified the Superhuman Agency of the incident. They would start negotiating with the hostages as leverage. From the looks of it, the Seochok faction still held the information they wanted. Mentioning a direct exchange meant they were also wary of being disposed of once they outlived their usefulness.
If things played out like this, we had bought ourselves more time. As long as the terrorists held the data, the Seochok faction wouldn’t be able to detonate the bombs so easily.
Hostages have reached the target point. Breaching the second floor.
“Second floor, copy.”
Roof and front entrance teams commencing operation.
Front team will breach the roof immediately upon arrival.
Front team in position. Moving in.
A little time passed, and confirmation came in that the hostages had safely reached the target point. The operation had officially begun. Tasha would handle the front entrance while Seong Jiyeong took the roof and cleaned up the enemies. I might have planned the operation, but Yu Hana was the one coordinating from outside. Since I was on the front lines, that was unavoidable. She was the one who could handle all kinds of communication equipment with ease and held an overwhelming advantage in information warfare.
So once the operation started, I had to follow Yu Hana’s instructions too. The moment the order to infiltrate came, I crouched as low as possible and approached the building. I sprinted to the pre-planned spot and launched myself forward.
Seoeun's Magic Wand!
Iki~masu!
Boom!!!
The instant the breach order was given, Ji Seoeun fired her magic wand. Her unusually hyped shout was followed by a tremendous roar. It was the sound of Seoeun’s Magic Wand tearing through reinforced glass. I slipped through the massive, miserably shattered window and landed lightly. I swept the interior with a quick scan.
Hostages huddled together. Villains surrounding them like guards, guns pointed outward. The sudden explosion must have startled them—every single eye was now locked on me.
“Fuck!!”
There was no way the villains would just stand there after I boldly smashed through the window right in front of them. Curses I couldn’t even understand flew from every direction, and their gun barrels began spitting hot flames.
But it was already too late. If they wanted to catch me, they should have opened fire the exact moment the magic wand ripped the glass apart.
“...Crazy.”
The bullets hung suspended in midair, spinning uselessly as if crushed by something. It wasn’t any fancy technique. I had simply emitted repulsive force to cancel out their propulsion. Still, at my current level, I couldn’t maintain this ability for long—especially not in a situation where I had to protect more than just myself.
I neatly sliced the hovering bullets out of the air with my blade and charged forward immediately. I split the waist of the nearest villain, whose eyes had gone wide with shock.
Most of the villains guarding the hostages here were small fry. The ones who actually knew how to fight were all stationed on the roof or at the entrance. After all, airborne intruders could be stopped at the roof first. This spot wasn’t worth defending. Besides, they clearly hadn’t expected enemies to burst in the second they took their positions.
“Gahk!”
After lightly dispatching one, I sprang again, driving my blade into the chest of another who had resumed meaningless gunfire.
“Guhk!!”
This time I twisted my body in a sharp L-shape and cut down yet another. By now the place had descended into complete chaos. Some threw away their guns and drew knives, while others grabbed hostages and started screaming. It looked like they were planning to use the hostages’ lives to pull some kind of trick.
“Fuck! Don’t move!!”
Even though they were pointing their guns at the hostages, I paid them no mind. No matter what they did, I pretended not to care and simply carved through them one by one, steadily and methodically.
“Damn it!!”
My reckless behavior finally pushed one hot-tempered villain over the edge. He started shooting at the hostages. Apparently he had decided that stopping me was worth losing a few lives. But that decision only tightened the noose around his own neck.
I had already calculated everything and was simply waiting for their impulsive actions. The excited villain aimed at a hostage and pulled the trigger, but the barrel suddenly twisted and the bullet slammed into another villain’s body instead. Of course, I had orchestrated the whole thing.
The unexpected team kill turned the scene into even greater pandemonium.
Front entrance breach complete.
Commencing search~ Move move~
Roof secured. Breaching fourth floor. Hostiles sighted. Will eliminate.
Information from the other members kept pouring in through the comms. They had broken through the roof and entrance, and Ji Seoeun and Yu Hana had begun searching for the bombs. I had expected to need to assist at either the entrance or the roof, so I was a little surprised when that wasn’t the case.
“Are these girls really idols?”
They fought with an almost disgusting level of skill. Of course I knew they could fight well, but this was beyond even my imagination. At this very moment, I was seriously questioning whether it was right for them to be working as idols. Couldn’t they just wipe out an entire tank battalion?
No, no. For the sake of my comfortable retirement, I couldn’t afford to lose them. I shook off the useless thoughts, quickly cleaned up my sector, and started thinking about clocking out.
“Hah…”
How much time had passed? Now the only person still standing in this area was me. All the villains who had been guarding this floor were now corpses, sprawled pathetically across the ground. Even so, every single hostage was safe. Honestly, I could only call that luck. Infiltrating alone and protecting the hostages at the same time had been an incredibly difficult task.
After the first team kill, the hostages had become completely irrelevant to the villains. Thanks to that, I had been able to protect them more comfortably than expected.
“R-run away!”
Once all the villains were down, the hostages began to flee. They scrambled over the shattered glass wall and jumped outside. There was no need to rush that much, but…
“Well, I guess that’s normal.”
The scene here was a literal bloodbath. The office was covered in blood, with nothing but puddles of gore and the corpses of villains scattered everywhere. Any sane person would run first and ask questions later.
“I’m getting hit with another wave of reality…”
Staring at the blood-soaked battlefield made me feel a sudden rush of disillusionment. This was exactly the kind of thing I had hated enough to volunteer for a suicide mission. Yet here I was again, even after regressing. Of course I had known it would turn out like this, but experiencing it in person felt different. My mind felt strangely unsettled.
While I was lamenting my situation, communications flooded in from all directions.
Fourth floor to roof completely cleared.
Bomb search complete! Clear clear~
Entrance and first floor secured.
It looked like every other sector had been neatly cleaned up too.
Second floor. Please respond. Second floor.
Yeri, what are you doing right now?
My teammates urged me for a report while I was lost in thought. I swallowed a sigh and answered.
“Hostage rescue complete.”
Good~ But this bomb has a timer built in, so immediate disarmament is impossible~ We removed the wireless detonator, but we can’t stop it from exploding. Roughly… ten to fifteen minutes?
Really? The hostages have all evacuated, right? Then just detonate it. Ten to fifteen minutes should be enough time for us to finish our objective and withdraw.
Huh? You’re really going to blow it up?
This is the Seou Industries building, isn’t it? The terrorism alert has already gone out, so there shouldn’t be anyone nearby. Is there any reason we need to protect this building?
I see. We’ve achieved our goal. We can just leave.
Even though we had wiped out all the terrorists, there was a problem with the bombs. We had neutralized the remote detonation device, but the internal timer couldn’t be stopped right away. In this situation, Seong Jiyeong was ordering us to simply detonate the bombs. She said blowing up a building like Seou Industries was fine.
I honestly agreed. I couldn’t care less about a building like this. Just as Seong Jiyeong said, all the nearby residents should have already evacuated, so the collapse of a single five-story building wouldn’t matter. If anything, it felt like appropriate retribution.
My mood was already sour, so quietly watching the building demolition show didn’t sound so bad.
Then let’s all gather on the roof.
Roger~
Already up here.
Only Yeri is left. Seriously, you’re the one who planned this operation—why are you so late?
“When did I ever plan something like this… And you’re really going to do it?”
Of course. There’s a news helicopter heading this way right now. This is insane, seriously.
It was ridiculous, but we had already made a promise. Since I had agreed to it, I had to follow through. I hurriedly ran toward the stairs leading to the roof.
“Wait!”
Right before I reached the stairs, a man suddenly blocked my path. Shaggy hair, a powerful build, and an X-shaped scar running across his face. He looked exactly like the character described in the novel.
The protagonist of this story—Baek Seowu.
What the hell? Why is this guy here?
“Huh? Rabbit… Vader? Wait, why are you here… And what is that outfit…”
The novel’s protagonist, Baek Seowu, had made a sudden appearance. But it seemed I wasn’t the only one surprised. He looked just as shocked as I was.