The Red Sword
"Hah… hah…"
Dodging the bullets that kept whistling cunningly close, MarineVictory finally reached the factory near the enemy base. For a while now no more shots had come; he must have shaken them off.
These bastards… I'll send them out one by one, nice and slow. Once I know their positions, I'll wall-bang every last one of them for perfect kills.
Whiiik—.
A whistle from the left. MarineVictory spun and aimed. No one was there—just the sound, as if someone was hiding and blowing a whistle for fun.
Whiiik—.
This time from the right. He snapped his sights over again. Still nothing.
Whiiik—.
Whiiik—.
Whiiik—.
Suddenly whistles rose from every direction at once, and a cold dread seized him.
D-damn it, what the hell are these guys doing?!
He sprinted full-out for the factory behind him.
"Hoo… hoo…"
Inside, he tried to catch his breath. Then a black shadow fell over him from above.
Yeon-woo, who had been perched on the steel framework in the middle of the factory, dropped lightly down. He landed soundlessly behind MarineVictory and in the same motion pressed the muzzle of his pistol against the man's helmet.
"Don't move. Hands up."
The rule for subduing an opponent at close range without scoring a kill: Freeze.
Among survival-game clubs, it was considered the most humiliating way to lose.
"Kh…"
MarineVictory let go of his gun and raised both hands.
In the control room they were watching the factory CCTV. The PA crackled to life.
Red Team's final member has surrendered. Survivors 5 to 0 — Blue Team victory.
"Pffft."
Kim Jun-su, flipping meat on the barbecue grill, suddenly burst out laughing for no reason.
"What's so funny?"
"Just… remembering that guy bolting like his ass was on fire the second he heard the whistles."
Woo Seong-sik, coming out with washed green onions, immediately started whining.
"Uwaaaah, I'm the only one who didn't take anyone out!"
"…Huh? Was that true?"
Thinking back, aside from Yeon-woo, Jin Yu-han had scored in rounds one and two, while Kim Jun-su and Kim Ju-hyeong had each taken someone out in round two.
I cleaned up all five in the last round. Seong-sik never got a taste of it.
Jin Yu-han grinned.
"Let's do it again sometime. That was fun."
Yeon-woo watched him with mild interest.
Jin Yu-han finding something fun that isn't acting? That's new.
Fortunately, hanging out with friends seemed to be suiting him better than expected.
Yeon-woo asked the question that had been on his mind for a while.
"Yu-han, you seemed to get along with everyone pretty easily today. So why do people on set call you the Ice Wall?"
"Huh? Yu-han's an ice wall? I never got that vibe at all."
Seong-sik shot back, and the others nodded in agreement. Jin Yu-han gave a short laugh.
"Just… after seeing and hearing so much dirty crap in this industry, I end up putting up walls with people I only meet for work on set."
Everyone nodded. Even ordinary people had a rough idea how filthy the entertainment world could be; once he explained it, the answer made a strange kind of sense.
"Alright, alright, let's eat the meat already. Star Beyond the River's about to start."
Kim Ju-hyeong lightened the suddenly heavy mood.
"Come to think of it, this is crazy. We're gonna watch it sitting right next to the leads."
"Right?"
Jun-su agreed with Seong-sik. Jin Yu-han looked over at Yeon-woo.
"Where does today's episode start again?"
"Mm, episode eleven, so the special-set scenes should be rolling in. And the ending's that thing—the special-grade cameo."
"…Ah!"
Imagining how the friends and the viewers would react, Jin Yu-han smiled faintly.
They finished the barbecue, cleaned up, and by then it was almost time for the live broadcast.
"It's starting soon."
"Ohhh, then we've got something to prep first."
At Jun-su's words the friends gathered in front of the TV. Seong-sik pulled out his phone and started tapping away.
"Watching the live broadcast while checking the open chat reactions—that's the real way to do it."
"Hmm? So-hyun watches that too, I think."
"For real? She knows what's up."
Seong-sik scanned the chat flying up the open room.
Reading the flood of messages, Seong-sik glanced at the two leads sitting right beside him and felt a fresh wave of surreal wonder.
"Hey, Seo Hui and Yi Ji-baek. You guys saving Hong Ui-yeon today or what?"
"Shhh."
"Live broadcast."
Yeon-woo and Jin Yu-han both looked at him at the same time—one putting a finger to his lips, the other quietly pointing at the TV.
"Finally I can post this today. Yuhuhu."
Color-corrected to perfection—a masterpiece. Ethan Kim, the stills photographer who specialized in on-set shots, had been practically dancing with impatience since last week's shoot, dying to upload this photo.
"Khhh, the subjects are flawless, and that smile in the moment, the natural atmosphere…"
He kept murmuring admiration at the finished work glowing on his monitor.
The plan was simple: the second Son Jin-uk appeared as the cameo at the end of the episode, he would drop the photo on the official SNS account.
Ethan Kim turned his head toward the TV, watching Seo Hui and Yi Ji-baek on screen.
"…Too many of them."
Seo Hui, his official robes stained with blood from a cut across the shoulder in the melee.
Clang—.
"Khuk!"
Seo Hui cut down the thug in front of him and spun so that his back met Yi Ji-baek's. They stood back-to-back, surrounded by black-clad, masked men right outside the cave where Hong Ui-yeon was believed to be held.
"How many do you think you can take?"
Yi Ji-baek asked the man behind him. Seo Hui considered for a beat.
"Depends on you. If I leave my back to you… maybe seven."
"Seven? Still bragging to the end. Fine—then at least send five packing before you go. I'll guard your back even if it costs me my own neck."
Yi Ji-baek's voice was grim. Seo Hui huffed a laugh and started joking even now.
"Ha. I just passed the civil service exam and haven't even drawn my first salary yet. I was hoping to buy Mother a new pair of underpants with that first pay."
Even with death breathing down their necks, his friend still cracked jokes. Yi Ji-baek snorted.
"A grown man talking about underpants—how shameless."
The black-clad masked men charged.
"Take this!"
Clang—.
Seo Hui parried the lightning-fast thrust, spun, and cut the man down. He barely registered the dying scream before the next blade came; he knocked it aside, stepped back, and sliced through another attacker rushing from the side.
Just as Yi Ji-baek had said, Seo Hui ignored everything behind him and fought only front and flanks. Yi Ji-baek did the same.
Their twin sword dances locked together like perfectly meshed gears, a seamless, breathtaking action sequence.
It couldn't last. Numbers were numbers. The moment Seo Hui felled his fifth man, a masked fighter who had been waiting for the opening lunged in and slashed his side.
"Ugh."
Clang—.
Before the pain could even register he was already batting away the next blade. Exhaustion was dragging them both into a corner when—
"Ghk!"
A man in black almost identical to the attackers appeared, swinging a sword whose blade was dyed red and hung with crimson tassels. He cut his way into the fight.
"Who the hell are you?!"
The masked men reeled at the sudden new enemy. The red-sworded stranger tilted his masked face and regarded them.
"That's not a line men with dirty secrets should be asking. Shouldn't I be the one asking? Who are you?"
He didn't wait for an answer. The red blade carved through the thugs with terrifying skill.
"Yi Ji-baek. A path has opened. Give it everything."
Seo Hui and Yi Ji-baek seized the reversed chance and joined the red sword, the three of them cutting down the remaining masked men together.
Now the action became a tangled, dazzling three-man sword dance. Son Jin-uk, who had shot action films more times than he could count, Jin Yu-han, and Ryu Yeon-woo—whose entire previous life had been an action movie—moved as one and created a breathtaking picture.
The thugs fell helplessly. In the end only the three of them stood on the bloodied ground.
Seo Hui bowed to the man holding the red iron sword.
"I owe my life to the escort of the Provisional Court of Justice."
"Oh? And how did you know who I am?"
"I saw you training in the palace with that iron sword hung with red tassels."
"In the palace? So you're an official of Goryeo. With all that blood I couldn't even tell you were wearing court robes."
Seo Hui's robes were soaked crimson from the countless cuts of the brawl. Yi Ji-baek, equally bloodied, stepped forward and bowed as well.
"Shameless as it is, since you've already helped us—lend us your strength to clear that cave. These are the men who abducted a woman and set fire to civilian homes."
At those words the Song envoy's bodyguard pulled off his mask.
"After hearing that, I can hardly walk away."
Son Jin-uk's face filled the screen as the mask came off, and episode eleven ended.
The friends, who had never expected Son Jin-uk, exploded.
"Uwaaah! What the— Son Jin-uk hyung?!"
"Holy crap, out of nowhere?"
"He came in as a special-grade cameo."
Seong-sik let out a pure gasp of awe at Yeon-woo's words.
"Whoa, insane. I'm definitely watching live tomorrow. That was sick."
He immediately opened his phone and checked the open chat.
"This is insane. The open chat is going nuclear. The firepower is unreal."
"Yeah?"
Yeon-woo and Jin Yu-han both looked interested. Beside them Kim Ju-hyeong was already checking portal reactions on his phone.
"Portal reactions are great too. Ratings are gonna explode, aren't they?"
"That would be nice."
Bureau Chief Hwang was bouncing his leg with anxiety.
"It should be here by now…"
He kept staring at the door of the bureau chief's office, waiting for the overtime staffer to walk in. Speak of the tiger and he appears—the door burst open and a drama department employee rushed in.
"Well? What is it? You got the ratings, right?"
"It's not up on the web yet, but I called in a rush. Twenty-five point seven percent!"
"Yes! Yes!"
Meanwhile, the special-grade cameo had scattered bait across the ocean of information, and the fish eager to bite were swarming. Ethan Kim's still-cut pictorial went live.