Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 68
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Bang bang bang! Thud-thud!
Kyung-wan reacted swiftly. Stepping backward, he fired two rounds into the man's chest and one into his forehead. The cracked visor finally shattered away, but the man kept coming as if the bullets had no effect at all. Kyung-wan emptied the remaining two rounds.
Right into the man's crotch.
“Ohu! Shit!”
Even if someone had a superpower granting resistance to bullets, their balls would still feel pain. The man collapsed, cupping his groin with both hands.
Creating more distance, Kyung-wan shouted toward Kim Jun.
“Give me your gun! Gun!”
Screw it! Kim Jun tossed his gun to Kyung-wan, who caught it smoothly and aimed for the man's eyes.
But the man shielded his face with his palm, and the bullets flattened on impact and clattered to the floor.
Everyone except Kyung-wan was horrified. Even keratin-hardening ability users couldn't negate the impact itself, yet this mysterious man seemed to be absorbing the kinetic energy of the bullets.
“I will kill you!”
The man stood up, recovering from the pain in his groin, and growled angrily.
Kyung-wan replied:
“I'm sorry.”
Yet he didn’t stop shooting. Yes, aiming for the groin again was something he felt bad about as a fellow man, but survival came first. In an emergency, you shoot wherever you can.
Bang bang! Bang bang!
As Kyung-wan fell back while occasionally targeting the man’s balls, FBI agents provided covering fire. But the man, ignoring bullets hitting his back, charged straight at Kyung-wan while shielding his face with one hand and his crotch with the other. At such close distance, supporting fire became impossible.
Kyung-wan had no choice but to fight him in close quarters.
Whoooosh!
A massive arm sliced the air above Kyung-wan’s ducked head, making a savage sound. Getting hit by that would feel like being struck by a car, minimum bone fracture.
Even an observer would sweat watching this close call after close call. Yet somehow, Kyung-wan managed to dodge every attack the man threw.
[You rat bastard!]
“What the hell are you yapping about?”
Retorting, Kyung-wan shouted toward Kim Jun:
“Why aren't you helping?!”
“You're too close!”
Kim Jun yelled back. Even with a heavy machine gun, they weren’t sure they could bring down someone this tough. With Kyung-wan stuck right next to him, there was no safe way to fire.
“Don’t we have any super-strength users on our side?!”
“They should be on their way!”
Kim Jun answered, sounding almost apologetic. No one had anticipated that they'd need a brute-strength ability user while arresting Manny Face, who didn’t even have physical enhancement powers.
But time was on their side. Everyone was hoping Kyung-wan could keep the suspect occupied until more backup and better suppression tools arrived.
He could not.
Because a suspicious man wearing a silicone mask appeared. The mask was a commercially sold rubber mask modeled after a certain former U.S. president’s face. He spoke to the muscular man attacking Kyung-wan:
[It’s over. Let’s go.]
Apparently they knew each other, because the big man stopped attacking and jerked his chin toward Kyung-wan.
[What about him?]
[The Asian guy? Who is he?]
[A mind reader.]
The masked man stared briefly at Kyung-wan, then shook his head.
[We don’t have the leeway to take him.]
[… Got it.]
The big man nodded and followed after the masked man.
The masked man was also a superpowered individual. As if he had the abilities of a flea, he leapt between buildings and disappeared onto a rooftop. The big man followed the same way.
Jamie urgently ordered pursuit, but by then, nearby digital infrastructure had been paralyzed by hacking, and even the ones engaged in a firefight with SWAT had escaped. The non-powered suspects were also taken away by the masked superhuman.
Anyway, the FBI's superpower crimes unit left evidence collection to the late-arriving support teams and immediately pursued Manny Face.
They found him brutally murdered. His limbs, neck, and waist were twisted at impossible angles, giving the corpse a grotesque appearance.
The face was unrecognizable, but the scent rising from the cooling body unmistakably identified it as Manny Face.
[This is bad.]
Jamie, the scene commander, wore a deep scowl that refused to disappear.
= = = = =
Genetic analysis confirmed that the corpse belonged to Manny Face. FBI and other investigative agencies launched a full-scale investigation into this mysterious vigilante group known as Vigilance.
But tracking them from the remaining evidence failed completely. The trail ended in perfection.
The investigation did yield a few insights:
Vigilance had far more diverse talent than expected, and their size was likely not small.
The hacking of CCTV and satellite interference in the affected zone proved that a top-tier hacker either belonged to Vigilance or assisted them. The FBI began searching their hacker rosters for possible suspects.
Agencies including the NSA suspended turf wars and cooperated. They understood well how dangerous an uncontrolled, organized superhuman group could be to public authority.
But while the U.S. government was running wild, Kyung-wan had to return to Korea. The Korean government had urgently requested his immediate return.
Kim Jun conveyed this honestly to Kyung-wan.
“Something’s happened in Korea.”
“Do you know what?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but it seems Mr. Lee’s abilities are needed urgently.”
“Wow… why am I so busy? I wanted to rest a few days… I earned it, didn’t I?”
Kim Jun nodded. The man Kyung-wan fought, internally nicknamed Hulk-Man because his bullet-resistance and physical strength were comparable to the Hulk, was held off long enough thanks to him. If not for Kyung-wan drawing aggro, some superpower agents would definitely have been injured.
Because none were, they still had manpower to deploy in this busy period. Well, maybe the agents would've preferred hospital beds to being worked to death…
Anyway, escorted by Kim Jun and the FBI, Kyung-wan returned to Korea. At the airport entrance, people who were obviously from NIS, or a similar agency, waited for him.
“This is where we part.”
“You did well.”
Kim Jun shook hands with Kyung-wan and handed him over to the NIS agents, then turned to leave, only to witness Kyung-wan punching an NIS agent square in the jaw!
“You bastards ditched your own citizen in another country and flew home without him?!”
Watching Kyung-wan yelling and causing a scene, Kim Jun immediately abandoned the idea of intervening. He hurried toward the gate for the next flight back to the U.S., filing away a new fact about Kyung-wan:
He holds grudges longer than expected.
Kyung-wan causing a scene? So what? This wasn’t America.
What? He’s Korean, isn’t he? Korean or not, cleaning up your own mess is the behavior of a normal, mature adult.
To Kim Jun, the humiliation the NIS agents were currently suffering was simply the natural consequence of their own mistakes.
“I’m not going.”
Kyung-wan suddenly lay flat on the airport floor after punching the agent, and the NIS officers covered their eyes with their palms or stared at the ceiling in disbelief.
At first it went like this:
‘6898. Let’s go.’
‘Am I some flatfish you can just drag around when you say go?’
‘6898, you need to understand your situa, Ghk!’
‘You’re pissing me off. Hey! You think you can fight?!’
His complete lack of manners and constant swearing eventually forced another agent to calm him down with gentle persuasion. Just when they managed to settle him, he suddenly demanded:
Bring the two bastards who abandoned him in Japan and make them kneel in front of him, or he wasn’t moving a single step.
Their mission was clear: escort Kyung-wan from the airport as quickly as possible. But fulfilling his demand would delay everything, fetching those two agents would take over an hour.
So they refused.
And then he did this, lying on the floor like a tantrum-throwing toddler.
Even a child would hesitate, knowing people were watching. But a grown adult acting like this drew every gaze in the terminal.
‘Hey, isn’t that Lee Kyung-wan?’
‘Who’s that?’
‘You know, the guy who broke out of jail and made that congressman a laughingstock.’
‘Ohhh!’
Onlookers gathered, and the NIS agents panicked.
“Carry him!”
No choice now. It looked pathetic, but they’d have to carry him like luggage.
But it wasn’t easy.
Thud!
“Argh!”
“Hold still, Ghk!”
“This is kidnapping! Kidnapping! Is the NIS allowed to do this?!”
“It’s not! Not kidnapping! Criminal transport!”
The NIS agents frantically explained to the crowd, but dozens of people were already recording and uploading to SNS.
The field lead thought, Great, the deputy director’s gonna chew me out again, while helping subdue Kyung-wan. He also had to brief airport security and police who rushed in mid-chaos.
Despite the handcuffs, Kyung-wan thrashed wildly, using even his core muscles. He kicked shins, slammed faces, drove his knee into ribs, NIS agents suffered terribly before finally restraining him and loading him into a van. Many wondered why they joined NIS in the first place.
Inside the van, Kyung-wan complained to the agent sitting too close beside him.
“Too cramped! Move over!”
“Maybe your legs are spread too wide?”
“I’m bigger than you guys! I HAVE to spread this much!”
His shamelessness left everyone speechless. One irritated agent snapped:
“Keep this up and it won’t be good for your safety!”
With no bystanders watching, the agent felt emboldened.
But Kyung-wan smiled brightly and replied:
“Oh! Want a little exorcism ritual? Sounds fun. I was bored anyway.”
“What did you just say, you bastard?!”
Sensing danger, another agent intervened.
“Stop it. Don’t engage. You don’t mess with a rabid dog.”
“Woof woof!”
Kyung-wan barked in response. Was it a confession? A taunt?
The van finally decided to seat only one person beside him, and they transported the cranky troublemaker to an NIS safe house.
“I was on a plane for over ten hours! Let me rest one day at least! Isn’t that the human thing to do?!”
Kyung-wan protested as he got out of the car. The NIS agents ignored him with the quiet wisdom of people who had realized engaging with a madman was pointless.