Chapter 91
Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 91
“Here, take this taser gun.”
“No rifles? A machine gun would be even better.”
“I’d like to give you a handgun at least, but the higher-ups had a seizure over it…”
The prison guard trailed off. It seemed he knew all too well about the incident in Japan where Kyung-wan had sniped a sniper with a handgun.
Well, no one would have the guts to put a gun in the hands of someone who had caused that kind of disaster at the National Assembly armed with nothing but a sedan and a sashimi knife. Considering what Kyung-wan had done in Japan, anyone approving that would have to be insane.
Kyung-wan nodded, took the taser gun and the in-ear device, and moved. Hong Director’s urgent voice came through the earpiece.
[“Kyung-wan! Just buy us some time. The police will be there within five minutes!”]
“But looking at this mess, it’ll be over in less than five.”
When Kyung-wan looked toward the auxiliary building, he saw a huge hole punched through the wall that had separated the prison from the annex, with inmates escaping through it.
The guards who had gone out armed were all down, as if they’d been ambushed by someone, but thankfully, they were all still breathing.
Kyung-wan grabbed the nape of one inmate who was fleeing through the hole and threw a hook straight at him.
The punch struck the temple perfectly, dropping the man. Leaving him on the ground, Kyung-wan slipped through the hole in the wall while the other inmates hesitated.
It was a sight to behold.
From the corner of a research building that had partially collapsed, suspicious figures were busily hauling something out.
Around them, black-clad espers and others wearing vests labeled ‘Ilseong Security’ were clashing, repeatedly leaving behind blurred afterimages as they collided.
They looked like contracted guards dispatched to the lab from a private esper security company established thanks to a recently passed law.
Kyung-wan had a hunch. This scene unfolding before him was exactly the kind of thing that would become commonplace in the future.
When he turned his gaze again, Nam Dong-geon was locked in a brawl with a brute-strength esper.
“Shit! Come on! Bring it on! Aaaaargh!”
Suppressing his presence, Kyung-wan approached and fired the taser gun at the nape of the assailant grappling with Nam Dong-geon.
“Ghk!”
The reinforced taser designed for dealing with espers worked wonders. The attacker’s eyes rolled back as he stiffened, and he was promptly sent flying by an uppercut from Nam Dong-geon.
Nam Dong-geon, startled by the sudden turn of events, spotted Kyung-wan, figured out what had happened, and gave him a big thumbs-up.
“Deal with those guys.”
Kyung-wan pointed toward the inmates pouring out through the hole. Still shaken from fighting an esper, Nam Dong-geon didn’t hesitate for a second at Kyung-wan’s order and charged toward the escaping prisoners, shouting. Dealing with weaker opponents was easier in every sense.
“Hey, you assholes! Freeze!”
While Nam Dong-geon bluffed his way into stopping the jailbreak, Kyung-wan headed toward the lab where the fighting was raging.
One of the intruders who saw a comrade go down rushed at Kyung-wan.
“Hey! You got the guts?!”
When Kyung-wan took a stance and taunted him, the masked man stomped the ground even harder.
But he never reached Kyung-wan. Someone wearing a vest marked ‘Ilseong Security’ jumped in between them.
“Idiot! Get back to your cell right now!”
He hurled curses, assuming Kyung-wan was just another inmate trying to escape during the prison terror attack. The orders from above were to protect the lab’s secrets, not to stop jailbreaks, so they didn’t really care if prisoners escaped through other holes in the wall or exits.
After all, fingerprints, faces, and even DNA were all registered. No one would stay on the run for long. The controversial DNA registration had been implemented as a precaution against espers with disguise or camouflage abilities, and any human rights objections to it would probably die down a lot after today.
Even in the face of words from someone who might one day be called a hero, an esper guard, Kyung-wan remained unfazed. He calmly swapped the taser cartridge and re-aimed at an intruder who was moving fast enough to leave afterimages.
Snap!
“Kehk!”
As if seeing the future, the taser darts flew at the exact moment the intruder collided with the guard, embedding themselves into the exposed skin of his neck before he had any chance to react.
Taking advantage of the opening, the esper guard easily subdued the criminal. He stared blankly at Kyung-wan until the words Kyung-wan spoke snapped him back to his senses.
“I’ll keep backing you up like that, so go take them on.”
The guard nodded and rushed toward the criminals. Just like someone who’s tasted a drug high can’t forget it easily, after effortlessly subduing a formidable opponent, the guard couldn’t bring himself to refuse Kyung-wan’s offer.
Another intruder approached to block the guard. They couldn’t all rush in at once, since the esper guards weren’t alone, and they couldn’t pull manpower away from the core classified facility where the real extraction targets were and the guards were dug in.
The guard lured the attacker over and fought near Kyung-wan.
At the moment of impact, an electric dart flew in and stiffened the criminal, and the guard’s uppercut landed squarely on his jaw.
With another comrade taken down, the criminals had no choice but to take notice of Kyung-wan’s presence.
“Be careful!”
The guard who had once shouted ‘get lost, idiot’ now politely warned Kyung-wan. He himself was being rushed by another assailant and couldn’t protect him.
Kyung-wan reached out his hand toward a three-section baton falling toward his head, as if performing a irrigation-channel thrust.
The rounded surface of the baton began sliding from his fingertips, ran along the back of his hand, down his forearm, and then bounced away at the elbow as he twisted with explosive speed.
The resulting distortion of the trajectory was enough to throw off the attacker’s upper-body balance.
Rewinding time slightly, while the baton skimmed his hand and forearm, Kyung-wan’s bent index finger hooked into the collar on the attacker’s chest.
Then, at the moment the baton bounced away and the attacker’s balance broke, Kyung-wan’s sole planted firmly against the lower part of the man’s shin.
Already off balance, the attacker couldn’t overcome the inertia of his forward-charging weight and pitched forward.
He tried desperately to regain his balance, but the single hooked index finger on his collar dragged his upper body down like a fish caught on a hook.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
His body flipped in midair and slammed back-first into the ground. It was a technique so clean that any jujutsu practitioner would have shouted ‘Master!’, but Kyung-wan didn’t stop there.
Judging by the man’s movements, he was clearly a physical-enhancement type esper and would recover and get back up quickly.
Kyung-wan fired the taser straight at the man’s face. When the darts pierced his eyelid, the attacker let out a strange scream and stiffened.
Bzzzt!
“Kelegk!”
Seizing the moment, Kyung-wan picked up the fallen baton and smashed it into the man’s temple as he convulsed from the electricity.
After subduing the attacker who had rushed him, Kyung-wan calmly swapped cartridges again and pulled the trigger toward another intruder fighting the guard. The result was obvious.
The guard, who once again subdued an intruder with Kyung-wan’s help, stared back and forth between Kyung-wan and the criminal collapsed at his feet with a dumbfounded expression.
Kyung-wan jerked his chin toward the lab while reloading.
“What are you doing? Let’s go.”
“Y-Yes.”
Swallowing dryly, the guard matched Kyung-wan’s pace as they advanced.
But there was no further fighting. The intruders who had infiltrated the lab emerged carrying long cylindrical cases and shouted for a retreat.
“That’s it! Move out!”
At that, the espers who had been fighting regrouped, and the Ilseong Security guards chased after them.
But Kyung-wan had no intention of pursuing them.
He pressed his earpiece and reported the situation.
“Situation over. Intruders have fled.”
[“You should chase them! What are you doing?!”]
Hong Director’s voice was filled with frustration, but Kyung-wan was indifferent.
“I don’t even have a physical enhancement ability. How am I supposed to chase them?”
[“Hmph! And if you did, you would’ve chased them?”]
“You already know the answer, so why say pointless things? You’re just hurting your mouth.”
[“...”]
If only he couldn’t talk, he wouldn’t be so annoying. Hong Director fell silent, and soon the police arrived and secured the hole in the wall.
Kyung-wan returned the taser and earpiece to the guard and went back to his cell to sleep, but the moment he woke up in the morning, he was summoned to Hong Director’s office.
When he entered, Hong Director was there along with a beautiful, intellectual-looking middle-aged woman.
The woman spoke first and greeted Kyung-wan.
“It’s nice to meet you like this, Mr. Lee Kyung-wan. I’m Kim Maria, director of the Korean Micro-Esper Research Institute.”
So well-maintained that she felt more like an older sister than an aunt or madam, she clasped Kyung-wan’s hand in both of hers and shook it enthusiastically.
The enthusiasm was so intense that his handcuffs rattled loudly.
Kyung-wan returned the greeting in an awkward tone.
“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you.”
Her smile directed at him felt burdensome. Not because it felt like a senior student hitting on a freshman, but because her smile didn’t feel like it was directed at a person, it felt like she was looking at an object.
Like the smile he made when looking forward to fried chicken and beer.
Maybe because of that, it felt like there was a smell in the air. The smell of an unbelievably nasty bitch.
Kyung-wan looked at Hong Director and spoke.
“Why did you call me?”
“Why do you think?”
Hong Director snapped back with a prickly attitude.
Catching Hong Director’s glance toward Kim Maria, Kyung-wan smirked and said,
“You know jealousy in men is ugly, right?”
“What are you talking about?!”
Hong Director raised his voice and flushed at Kyung-wan’s dangerous remark. Hong Director was a married man.
Kyung-wan replied calmly.
“Obviously I meant jealousy over my luxurious hair.”
“...”
Left speechless for a long moment, Hong Director finally snapped out of it under Kim Maria’s gaze and gestured for Kyung-wan to sit.
“Ahem! Hmph! Stop talking nonsense and come sit down. You’re here at Director Kim’s request.”
As Kyung-wan took a seat, Kim Maria crossed her legs and sat opposite him. Her white lab coat and white blouse, paired with a black skirt and black stockings, highlighted her well-maintained legs, creating a perfect black-and-white contrast with a striking focal point.
She opened her mouth toward Kyung-wan.
“You may or may not know this, but officially our Micro Research Institute is an auxiliary facility of ○○ Prison. In reality, though, we’re an independent institution.”
Of course you are.
Kyung-wan nodded.
“Our institute has contributed greatly to this country’s esper research. But last night, we had our most valuable research asset stolen.”
What does that have to do with me?
That thought crossed his mind, but what came out of his mouth was different.
“I see.”
“The abducted research asset is named Han Yeong-mi. She’s an esper with healing abilities.”
“...”
“...”
Kyung-wan’s blank gaze and Kim Maria’s expectant stare crossed.
A moment later, Kyung-wan let out a belated exclamation.
“Ah, that’s truly unfortunate.”
Classifying a person as a research asset, his premonition about her being an unbelievably nasty bitch had been right.
The nasty bitch, no, Kim Maria, continued.
“That’s why it’s such a shame you rejected the offer our institute sent you before, Mr. Kyung-wan. If you had accepted back then, so many opportunities and possibilities would have opened up, for us, and for you as well. This kind of incident, where Han Yeong-mi was kidnapped by intruders, wouldn’t have happened either.”
“Well, that’s impossible to know. More importantly, what’s the reason you wanted to see me today?”
Kyung-wan pressed for the point as he looked at Kim Maria. Hong Director might have summoned him, but the one with business was clearly this woman.