Scissorhands Kang Kal-jin (2)
Kang Kal-jin's voice rang out, and one by one, the remaining organization members began crawling out of the grass around us.
Only five of them were left, but we couldn't afford to let our guard down. Even among the executives serving under the same Jo Jin-hyun, Kang Kal-jin's subordinates operated on a completely different level from Jeong Byeok-hyeon's men.
Where Jo Jin-hyun was the type of executive who commanded large numbers of people at once, Kang Kal-jin's subordinates specialized in assassination.
That meant they were more comfortable wielding blades and daggers than guns, and naturally, their physical abilities and mental acuity were a cut above the other terrorist underlings.
…And it went without saying that Kang Kal-jin, the man who dragged those monsters around with him, was far more dangerous than any of the other executives.
Shhhing!
"H-his fingers… they're turning into blades…"
"Be careful. That's the guy who took a bullet to the forehead and stayed on his feet."
"…I-I know!"
It seemed Han Sora had instinctively sensed that this one was on an entirely different level from the enemies we'd knocked down so far — her expression had gone rigid.
"I saw you last time too, but~. You're really pretty — just my type~."
"……"
"You look like you'd be so, so much fun to slice apart!!"
Whiiiiiing!
"Han Sora, dodge!"
With a light tap of footsteps, Han Sora's body sprang upward, and five blades sliced through the empty air directly above where she'd been standing.
If she'd stayed put, that strike would have left a deep gash across her face. Even with his own comrades dying around him, Kang Kal-jin seemed determined to savor his hobby — he clearly had no intention of killing her quickly.
Or maybe he simply knew we were academy students and was toying with us. He'd have done his homework on us beforehand, after all.
"Pretty quick on your feet, aren't you~? Well, it'd be no fun if you died too easily right out of the gate~."
"…Hey, Lee Seonho. Let me take this guy."
"Take him? Are you out of your mind? One look at him and you can tell he's dangerous. How exactly do you plan to handle a guy who shrugs off bullets?"
"…If all I have to do is dodge, I can hold out. As long as I don't take stupid risks, I just need to stall until reinforcements arrive from outside."
She'd figured out that Kang Kal-jin was targeting her, and that she — the fastest and most agile of us — was the best candidate to evade his attacks and buy time.
She really was exactly the Han Sora of the original story. When faced with the same situation in Surviving the Hunter Academy, she'd said the exact same thing and volunteered to hold the line herself.
I didn't like it, but here, I had no choice but to entrust the stalling to her.
If there were anything I could do in her place, I'd have done it — but this time, even I couldn't force the issue.
"Then… just this once, I'm counting on you."
"Seonho, you go help Eunju and Isabel. Those guys over there look more dangerous than anything we've faced so far too."
"…Right."
I was simply letting her play the role she had in the original story. All I could do was pray that no variable more dangerous than the original would arise.
Park Hana would probably join us soon, so we just had to hold out until then. By now, the skybridge had likely been blown apart, separating her from Park Cheon-ho, and she'd probably be searching for an aerial lift to reach the western area.
To get from the skybridge to an aerial lift, you had to pass through this plaza, no exceptions. And knowing Park Hana's personality, there was no way in hell she'd walk past a group of villains fighting students and just keep going.
"O Light, bind them!"
"Ugh, this second-year…!"
"D-Dark Spear!"
"Ngh…"
While Han Sora faced off against Kang Kal-jin and bought us time, the two girls behind us were locked in fierce combat with the remaining organization members.
Gun or blade, these men were, in the end, ordinary hitmen — nothing more. Stronger than the ones we'd fought earlier, sure, but they were hardly opponents who could react to Kim Isabel's binding magic or Cha Eunju's dark magic once it was already upon them.
"……"
"……"
— Nod.
Still, their instincts were a little sharper than that. They exchanged glances, sized each other up, and gave each other a small nod.
Setting aside the ones dead and the one restrained, four of them remained — but they would most likely hold that exact distance and wait us out until the battle was decided.
They knew that rushing in now would do nothing but waste their own lives. And yet, if they simply fled, Kim Isabel and Cha Eunju would be free to join the fight against Kang Kal-jin.
That was why they were deliberately holding their distance and waiting. Surely, they figured, it wouldn't be too late to move in once Kang Kal-jin had fully subdued Han Sora.
"S-Sora…! I want to help—"
"No, Cha Eunju! Focus!"
"O-okay…!"
The four organization members had shifted slightly, as if preparing to charge in the moment Cha Eunju let her attention slip. The instant I snapped her focus back into place, they hurriedly retreated to their positions and restored their standoff.
Until reinforcements arrived on one side or someone fell, whichever formation broke first was guaranteed to lose. It was that simple an equation.
"Don't look away for no reason. If those guys come in, neither Han Sora nor anyone else is walking away unscathed."
"O-okay…"
"Same goes for you, Isabel. Right now, the best we can do is trust Sora to hold out as long as possible — no matter what happens, you cannot take your eyes off those men."
"…Yes, I understand."
"And if some unforeseen variable does pop up… I'll deal with it."
Cha Eunju and Kim Isabel nodded, apparently understanding what I meant.
This was only the second time we'd fought together as a coordinated unit, but I believed that at the very least, I'd built up enough trust with the two of them.
There was a chance an unexpected variable would crop up mid-fight, but that part was mine to handle. All I could do was trust that the two of them would believe in me and not half-break formation on me.
"Hah… hah… haaah…"
"Hmm? Tired already~? I thought you'd last a bit longer than this~."
"Whew… hoo… hoo-ip!"
— Kkadeuk!!
"Honestly, what a boring woman~. I was actually hoping to watch that pretty face of yours get ruined, and yet here you are still resisting. It really doesn't sit well with me~."
The sound of Han Sora's ragged breathing and Kang Kal-jin's blades scraping against the stone pavement kept ringing out behind my back.
It felt terrible to say this about an exhausted girl, but for now, this was our best formation. It was both her misfortune and her saving grace that she was beautiful enough to catch Kang Kal-jin's eye.
All we had to do was stall a little longer like this. Once Park Hana arrived, we'd set up the Kang Kal-jin vs. Park Hana matchup, and everyone else would wrap up the organization members holding their distance over there.
It was a plan that had barely succeeded in the original story, so barring any other variables, it was still the best option.
"Well, well~? Now that I look, that girl over there is pretty cute too — not just you~?"
…Right. If only it weren't for that goddamn other variable.
Perhaps he'd grown bored of fighting a Han Sora who did nothing but evade, Kang Kal-jin's gaze — which had been sweeping over our side — was now pointed squarely at Cha Eunju.
Kim Isabel's face was hidden behind her veil, but Cha Eunju's bangs only barely covered one of her eyes.
With a 'beauty' who hadn't existed in the original story now added to the cast, this was, in a sense, a variable that had been bound to surface eventually.
"I'm getting tired of playing with this worthless bitch anyway~! So how about I sample this little lady here first and see what she tastes like?!"
— Taak!
"Hhk, w-wait…!"
"Cha Eunju!"
The man who had spent this whole fight obsessively hunting for Han Sora's face suddenly changed direction and lunged at Cha Eunju.
Han Sora was already dead tired just from evading his attacks, and Kim Isabel, glued to watching the organization members who looked ready to pounce at any moment, was in no position to move either.
"……Huh?"
And Cha Eunju — who had been watching the villain group without a shred of doubt in my word — was no different.
…Which meant that I, and I alone, was the only person on this battlefield capable of stopping the variable.
— Shaaaaak…!!
"Nnggghhh…!!"
Something was cleaved by a blade, and a searing, icy pain shot up my spine and into my skull.
The sensation of a deep wound carved from my shoulder down to my waist. Even without turning my head to look, the feeling flooded my brain with terrible clarity.
But I'd succeeded in protecting Cha Eunju. She was cradled in my arms, and together we collapsed face-first onto the plaza floor.
— Thud!
"…S-Seonho!!!"
"Nghk, ip…! Hh, hh-ip…!"
"Hah, what's this now~?"
Don't. Don't lose consciousness.
If I black out now, it's over for everyone.
I'd already burned through my mana to its limit, and if I closed my eyes for even a moment, the suggestions I'd placed on the three of them would unravel. A coward like Cha Eunju, a Han Sora with her focus shattered, and a Kim Isabel crippled by androphobia — those three could never win this fight alone.
And the buff I'd placed on myself before this had to be maintained until I faced Jo Jin-hyun directly, so I couldn't even—
"S-Seonho! Your wound…"
"Hah… hh, huu… hah…"
"You goddamn bastard~! I've reserved this right hand exclusively for carving up pretty girls, and you dare smear it with the filthy blood of a dick-swinging piece of shit?!"
"R-run…"
I wanted to tell her to run — his attacks couldn't reach her anyway — but the goddamn pain made it hard to even open my mouth.
If I could've used something like Adrenaline Explosion, I might have endured it, but I didn't have the mana left, and Suggestion could never hold two things at once in the first place.
All I could manage was to lift my body slightly so that Cha Eunju, pinned beneath me, could slip out and run. But of course, she had absolutely no intention of abandoning me.
"D-Dark Spear! Dark Spear…!!"
— Chaeng! Chaaeng!!
"What the hell is this shoddy shadow spear~? You thought this flimsy thing would kill me~? You're adorable, you know that~?"
"D-don't…!! Don't you dare come near Seonho…!!"
The sound of Cha Eunju desperately chanting lethal magic alternated with the sound of Kang Kal-jin deflecting those spells with the blades on his fingers.
I thought I could hear Han Sora's arrows glancing off his body, and Kim Isabel's bindings snaring the organization members who tried to seize an opening — but my head was so fuzzy, I couldn't be sure I'd heard any of it correctly.
I'd sworn never to think this if I could help it, but in this one moment, I wanted to be Seo Woojin instead of Lee Seonho. With that bastard's ability, the mere fact that Cha Eunju loved me right now would have been enough to put down a guy like him.
I'd tried to replace the protagonist with Suggestion and follow the original story as closely as possible, but in the end, Lee Seonho's ability simply couldn't overcome the single most fundamental limitation of any hunter: the limits of the body.
'First… I just need to buy even a little more time…'
…And if it came to it.
If it truly came to it — if my rotten luck demanded that I die here at this bastard's hands —
Then at the very least, I'd let Cha Eunju, Kim Isabel, and Han Sora hold out that much longer.
I tried to force my pain-warped body upright, but even that was a struggle. One shoulder had taken the blade wrong, and no matter what I did, my right arm refused to obey.
"Hah… h, hah…"
"N-no, Seonho! Don't get up!"
"Wow~? Look at you kids, all cozy down there~. Don't tell me you two are a thing, hmm~?"
"Whew… hoo, hoo-ip…!"
"S-stay away from Seonho…!! Stay away…!!"
"Did you enjoy playing prince~? Saving a girlfriend in distress made you feel like such a big man, didn't it, hmm~?"
— Kwaaak!
"Nghk, h, haaak…!"
"Don't worry, kid~. I'm quite the gentleman with pretty girls, you know~. I'll play with your girlfriend just enough and then send her along, so go ahead and wait for her up ahead!!"
"No, Seonho!!"
"Lee Seonho!!"
"Hey, Lee Seonho!!"
My vision was going hazy.
The pain and the blood loss made it nearly impossible to hold on to a coherent thought.
As Kang Kal-jin loomed over my back, grinding my wound under his shoe, and the voices of the women calling my name reached my ears, I squeezed my eyes shut for just an instant.
— …Kaaaang!!
…The sound of something hard colliding with metal rang out right above me.
— Cheopeo-eok!!
"Nghaaaak…!!"
"Goddammit, is this Seoul amusement park nothing but bastards like you?! Hey, are you two okay?!"
"Hoo… h, ngh, huu…"
Kang Kal-jin lay sprawled face-down on the ground, having been blasted somewhere by something, and standing exactly where he'd been a heartbeat earlier was a blue-haired girl with a bob cut, looking down at me with worried eyes.
It was the arrival of Park Hana, the close-combat heroine of Surviving the Hunter Academy.