Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Bank Heist Takedown
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The bank robber armed with a gun came upstairs to check if anyone was on the second floor. Luckily, the guy who opened the door and entered had a short attention span and didn't bother checking behind the desks. He glanced around the room, pulled down the window blinds, and headed back downstairs.
“Hey? Branch Manager, my phone isn't working.”
He'd tried to contact someone outside, but there was no signal.
“I've heard robbers sometimes use signal jammers.”
“There's all kinds of stuff out there. What about that button from earlier, then?”
“It's wired directly as a backup to signal jammers. Security should be here in three minutes, and the police in five.”
The robbers had the bank staff filling bags with money.
“Hurry it up! You wanna get burned alive?!”
The fire mage urged them on with bursts of flame, but it backfired. The staff's legs went weak, slowing them down even more. That just started another round of the mage's yelling.
At this rate, it'd take all day. The police might arrive before they finished and be satisfied with what they'd grabbed so far, potentially avoiding any casualties—but judging by the constant barking, they had no intention of cutting their losses.
The police would soon seal the exits, and the hostage situation looked set to drag on.
He assessed the scene. The gunman and mage could be handled somehow. The problem was the lunatic wrapped in explosives. Pale with tension, he was sweating bullets, eyes darting everywhere. His nerves seemed shot; it felt like he could accidentally hit the button any second.
“Let's get a better read on the situation first.”
He watched as they cracked open the vault and swept the cash into bags.
“Phew... Just my luck. I come to the bank and get dragged into this mess.”
Was he some kind of bad-luck magnet?
“S-sorry.”
“No, this isn't your fault, Branch Manager. Why apologize?”
“Just... you know.”
The Branch Manager's face had gone pale with tension too. It was understandable for a non-Awakener, non-Hunter to be stuck in this.
In the meantime, the police arrived—even faster than the Branch Manager had predicted.
“You're surrounded! Drop your weapons and surrender!”
“Fuck! Why are they so fast?! Who hit the button?!”
The gunman aimed at the hostages.
“Kyaaak!”
The hostages ducked and screamed.
No one owned up to it. Because no one there had.
“Damn it!”
Fortunately, the robber vented without shooting anyone.
He peeked outside by lifting the blinds slightly.
“I'm going out!”
The bomb-vested guy yelled at his accomplices and threw open the door.
“Bomb! Back off or we're all going up with this whole neighborhood!”
He waved the bomb and dead man's trigger for the police to see.
“Calm down! What do you want?!”
A megaphone-wielding officer tried negotiating.
“Clear the road! Back off, all of you!”
“We'll see what we can do! We need time!”
Of course, they wouldn't cave to demands. No negotiating with terrorists—that was the rule.
“Open the road now! You wanna see hostages die?!”
“Any injured? Send out the wounded first!”
“Fucking pigs!”
Frustrated that talks weren't working, he stormed back inside.
It didn't look like outside help was coming. The cops wouldn't let these guys walk, and one wrong move from them could blow everyone inside to bits. Better if he handled it himself—safer that way.
“We'll resolve this from inside. Branch Manager, stay here.”
“P-president... It's dangerous.”
The Branch Manager grabbed his sleeve. Impressive professionalism, worrying about a customer even now.
“You know what I do for a living, right? Don't worry—just stay hidden and quiet. Mind if I borrow this?”
There was a commemorative coin on the Branch Manager's desk. He smashed the case and pocketed it. Extending his aura sense, he pinpointed their positions. His sharpened senses let him see right through most doors and walls. No one was guarding the stairs down to the first floor right now.
He crept downstairs silently.
The bomb guy was near the front entrance, the mage by the vault. The gunman paced around the bank.
He had to take all three at once.
Holding his breath, he pulled the commemorative coins from his pocket, one in each hand. He waited for the perfect moment, tracking their gazes and positions.
Finally, the gunman and bomb guy both looked outside at the same time.
He flicked the coins with his thumbs at the gunman and mage, then charged straight at the bomber.
The coins embedded in their skulls. The bomber spun around. He was already in the guy's face, seizing the thumb on the dead man's trigger.
“Huh?”
The guy's face went slack at the sudden intruder. He wrenched the thumb back to prevent pressing the detonator.
“Gaaaaah!!!! Fuck!!”
Preferring death to capture, the bomber reached with his other hand for the switch. It looked like slow motion to him, so he grabbed the wrist and snapped it.
“Aaaagh!!!”
He choked out the screaming man until he passed out, then propped up the collapsing bomber by his collar. Not knowing what might set it off, he tried not to move.
“Everyone, get out!”
He shouted to those inside.
They just stared, dumbfounded.
“Run out and get the police!”
A couple started moving first, then everyone rushed out of the building.
“P-president, you should go too.”
The Branch Manager approached, asking.
“Go on ahead. I have to deal with this guy.”
“B-but...”
“It's fine. Hurry.”
While the Branch Manager hesitated worriedly, the police entered.
“Come on out!”
An officer practically dragged the Branch Manager away. He made a mental note to buy some investment products from him later as thanks.
“You okay?”
The officer who'd returned asked.
“I'm fine. Can you disarm this?”
“The bomb squad will be here soon.”
“Then get out. If this goes off, I might survive, but you won't.”
The officer nodded, saluted, and left.
Moments later, the bomb squad arrived in hazmat suits.
“Hunter Lee Ji-seok, please stay still just a bit longer.”
The expert approached cautiously, inspecting everywhere. His expression soured.
“Crazy bastard.”
He cursed under his breath.
“What's wrong?”
“It's bigger than it looks. How'd you even get it? One bad roll and everything nearby goes sky-high.”
“This building?”
“No, the whole area around it. Flying debris would be dangerous even farther. Hold on. Captain, we need to evacuate the surroundings. It'll wipe out clean from 30 to 50 meters.”
He radioed outside with warnings.
“Can't move it somewhere else?”
“No. Way riskier if it blows mid-transport.”
“I'll hold it steady, so take your time.”
“Thank you.”
Sweating profusely, he opened the small box at the bomb's core.
The messy tangle of wires screamed sloppy craftsmanship. No meticulous personality here.
“Fortunately, the setup isn't too complex. I can disarm it.”
He pulled tools from his belt and probed the wires.
“Phew. Just cut this one and...”
The moment he snipped a wire, the bomber's chest screen flashed 00:03:00—and countdown rapidly.
Not three hours or minutes.
Three seconds.
Confirming the timer, he grabbed the bomb tech's collar and hurled him toward the front door.
Two seconds.
He tripped the bomber to the floor and gigantified his body. He confirmed the tech crashing through the glass outside.
One second.
He wrapped around the bomber as much as possible, hardening his face and chest, layering aura in front for double defense.
Zero.
KABOOOM!!!
The world shook, and he blacked out.
* * *
He opened his eyes to a white ceiling and bright lights. Looking down, his body was festooned with mystery tubes.
Beside him, his mother, Na-young, and Sang-heon slept.
Pitch black outside the window. He'd gone to the bank in the morning; quite some time had passed.
He sat up and yanked off the tubes.
Beep~~~~~
The machine blared, waking his mother and Na-young.
“Ji-seok!”
“Ji-seok!”
They shot up and rushed over.
“You okay? Anywhere hurt?”
“Lie back down.”
Their fussing was chaos.
“I'm fine. Perfectly healthy.”
His body had already fully regenerated.
“Hyung, we were so worried. Your injuries were really bad at first.”
Sang-heon woke and came over.
“Sang-heon, what happened?”
His excited mother and Na-young wouldn't explain well; Sang-heon would.
A nurse came running at the noise, checked him since he was alive and awake, not dead.
“Word is you covered that lunatic with your body?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks to that, the blast was completely contained—only wrecked the bank inside. If it'd gone off full force, the cops outside and people in nearby buildings who didn't evacuate would've been toast.”
“No one died, right?”
It'd be infuriating if anyone got hurt after he tanked it.
“A few minor injuries, but no fatalities besides the robbers.”
“Good.”
“Good?! What's good about it?!”
His mom shrieked.
“Do you know how scared we were?!”
Tears welled in his mother and Na-young's eyes.
“Sorry.”
“You little punk!”
Her palm smacked his back. He relaxed his muscles so it wouldn't hurt her hand.
“I told you no dangerous stuff!”
“Mom, I was just going to the bank?”
“Don't talk back!”
She kept smacking his back. Losing her last family member must've terrified her. Now that tension broke, she collapsed into a chair.
“At least we got there first—that was lucky.”
“You guys came? Why?”
“Your body was messed up bad earlier. But while self-regenerating, you absorbed life force from the paramedic who came to rescue you.”
“...Is that guy okay?”
“Yeah. Na-young and I arrived just in time, pulled him off, and poured mana stones and potions into you. We heard about the robbery and rushed over hoping to help—good thing we did. Oh, we gave the paramedic a potion too.”
“You did great. Thanks. Thank you, Na-young.”
“Son, now that you're up, want something to eat? Hungry?”
“No food yet. Wait for the doctor to check you.”
The nurse stopped her.
“Excuse me. I'm totally fine now.”
He got out of bed. Fully recovered already. Status window showed Sturdy Physique skill up from C to B. That level of impact warranted it.
“But still...”
Ignoring the worried nurse, he headed home.
* * *
“No more overdoing it, got it!”
“I know.”
Na-young's nagging had intensified since the incident.
He felt bad for her and his mom, but soon he'd have to tackle another dangerous job.