Future War (8)
I looked down for a moment at the man who had introduced himself as Lee Seongguk, vice-representative of Dongmyo Station, then slowly turned my head to the side.
"Kh… khhk…!"
When I turned, I found Park Jinwoo looking up at me with his waist slightly bent. Watching the way the corners of his mouth and his whole body trembled as he stared up at me, it was clear he was holding back laughter with everything he had.
I clenched my fist tight as I glared at Park Jinwoo, who had screwed me over yet again.
I will get my revenge. Absolutely…!
I glared at him and swore vengeance in my heart. Right now I wanted nothing more than to plant a low kick straight into him, but…
There's something I have to do first. Revenge can wait.
I smoothed the twisted expression Park Jinwoo had put on my face and looked back at Lee Seongguk, deciding it was time to start the Yoo Joonghyuk cosplay in earnest.
"Dongmyo? I see."
That woman I knew. If it were Yoo Joonghyuk in this situation, how would she act? What would she say?
Anticipating and predicting that was an extremely easy task for the only person who had read Ways of Survival all the way to its conclusion.
I glared at Lee Seongguk exactly the way Yoo Joonghyuk would and spoke in a cold, merciless voice.
"Then get lost."
"…Excuse me?"
Lee Seongguk's face visibly stiffened as he stared blankly up at me.
"This is my station from now on. Hand it over and get out of my sight."
I shot a quick glance at Park Jinwoo. Catching my signal, he gave a small nod and barked at Lee Seongguk.
"Are you hard of hearing?! Lady Yoo Joonghyuk originally intended to wipe every last one of you out. But if you hand over Dongyeoksa Station, she is graciously offering to spare your lives! Hand over Dongyeoksa Station at once and disappear from her sight!"
"Th-that's…!"
Lee Seongguk looked back and forth between Park Jinwoo and me, his expression deeply troubled.
"My words don't sound like words to you?"
"Th-that's not it! I-I would love to give Dongyeoksa Station to Lady Yoo Joonghyuk, but… it's impossible! A station that's already been claimed can't be transferred…"
I snorted inwardly at his words.
"Do you take me for a fool?"
"…Pardon?"
"You're the vice-representative. Anyone with authority at or above that rank can transfer a station at will. You didn't even know that?"
"……!"
Lee Seongguk's face went rigid, then slowly drained of color until it turned pale blue.
"If you don't hand it over by the time I count to three, I'll cut all your throats. One."
Lee Seongguk's subordinates stared at me with tense faces. Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon also glanced at me as if wondering whether this was really how things were supposed to go.
Is Park Jinwoo the only one here who fully understands what I'm doing?
I shot him a sidelong look.
"…………."
Park Jinwoo looked down at Lee Seongguk and his group with a composed expression. But if you looked closely, the corners of his mouth were still twitching.
…That bastard isn't normal either.
The fact that the only person who understood my intentions and was helping me was a lunatic like him made me suddenly feel a little sorry for my own luck with people.
"Sounds like a joke to you? Two."
I drew Unbreakable Faith from where it hung at my waist and activated a skill to press my presence down on Lee Seongguk.
Exclusive Skill, White Pure Demonic Energy Lv.2, has been activated!
Blade of Faith has been activated!
The moment the skills activated, a current of pure white light like a flash of lightning erupted from the blade of Unbreakable Faith. Watching it, Lee Seongguk's face went deathly pale, and cold sweat began to bead on his skin.
"Thr—"
"W-wait! I-I'll give it to you!"
Just as I was about to say the final number, Lee Seongguk shouted in a panic.
Somehow that feels unsatisfying…
Normally, backing off here and simply taking Dongyeoksa Station would have been the wise move. But something about it left me wanting more.
The man who called himself Lee Seongguk had only urgently offered up the station after I used White Pure Demonic Energy and projected killing pressure.
What did that mean?
This guy is a Prophet who knows a fair amount about Yoo Joonghyuk.
Which meant Lee Seongguk knew how strong she was, and how merciless a bitch she could be. Put another way, he also knew just how foul her personality was.
So I decided to take more.
"I don't need it."
"…Excuse me?"
Lee Seongguk asked blankly at my answer.
"You answered too late. Hand over Dongdaemun as well."
I nodded and sent a signal to Park Jinwoo. At my cue, he broke into a grin.
"Lady Yoo Joonghyuk says she wants Dongdaemun Station as well. What will you do? Hand it over and live. Refuse, and you all die."
Three grenades had somehow appeared in Park Jinwoo's hands. Then, like a jester juggling, he began tossing the three grenades in the air.
…Why is he so good at that?
Park Jinwoo juggled the three grenades with practiced ease, smiling brightly as he quietly looked down at Lee Seongguk and his group.
"I-insane… are those actual grenades…?"
Lee Seongguk stared up at Park Jinwoo in horror. The people behind him looked equally terrified.
"Huh? Even when I say the same things as our Lady Yoo Joonghyuk, I guess I just don't have the same persuasive power."
Park Jinwoo tilted his head as he looked down at Lee Seongguk and his group, who had frozen in place staring at him.
"Aha! You think these are fake grenades, don't you? Well, can't be helped then."
He stopped juggling, pulled the pin on one grenade, and hurled it far into the distance.
About five seconds passed.
BOOM!
The grenade exploded. At the blast that thundered through the subway interior, Lee Seongguk and his subordinates flinched hard, then began whispering among themselves while nervously watching Park Jinwoo and me.
"…H-holy shit. That wasn't a toy—that was a real grenade?!"
"B-boss! Th-those are real grenades!"
"I know that! Everyone shut your damn mouths…!"
Lee Seongguk's subordinates pressed him with frantic faces. He was clearly terrified himself as he tried to calm the group that had slightly lost its composure.
If that lunatic had been born in some ancient era, he would've made one hell of a tyrant or a mad revolutionary…
I'd only wanted him to scare them with words, but instead he'd shattered both their momentum and Lee Seongguk's composure with raw force. He was a bigger maniac than most maniacs.
But everything Park Jinwoo had just done was, for the moment, outstanding support.
There's no easier prey than people who've lost their cool at a time like this.
I leveled my sword at Lee Seongguk and spoke.
"You saw that. If you don't hand them over, the deal is off and I kill every last one of you."
"Th-that's…! Please, anything but that…!"
"I'll count to three again. One."
Realizing there was no room left for negotiation, Lee Seongguk's expression turned markedly worse.
In the end, he squeezed his eyes shut, dropped to his knees, and said:
"I-I can transfer Dongyeoksa under my own authority, but Dongdaemun…! You'll have to meet our representative and decide…! On the King's Honor of the one I serve, I swear I will not bring even the slightest harm to Lady Yoo Joonghyuk!"
Dongmyo Station Vice-Representative Lee Seongguk has staked the King's Honor.
Should this oath be broken, Lee Seongguk will subject himself to a punitive sentence.
Confirming Lee Seongguk's words and the system messages, I smiled.
"Fine. Lead the way."
A short while later, after receiving the transfer of Dongyeoksa Station from Lee Seongguk, we followed his guidance into Dongmyo Station.
Murmurs rose around us.
"Who are those people? Why are they coming in with the vice-rep?"
"How should I know? But the vice-rep's face looks pretty bad."
"Yeah? He headed over to Dongyeoksa earlier. Think he failed to take the station?"
With complete strangers following behind their vice-representative Lee Seongguk, the members of the Dongmyo group whispered among themselves.
But not a single person approached Lee Seongguk to ask who we were.
Oh, that girl's pretty cute.
As we entered Dongmyo Station, I looked over the Dongmyo group members whispering among themselves as they watched us.
Then I spotted beauties with a completely different vibe from the two sexy women who'd been with Kang Ilhoon's group earlier, and my gaze settled on them.
"Oh…"
A sexy-looking girl in black leggings, a cute-looking girl in hot pants that showed off her pale thighs, a pure-looking girl in a low-cut top that showed off her cleavage, a delicate-looking pink girl in a pink sleeveless shirt—beauties everywhere.
Should I live here…? Paradise on earth isn't that far away…
I seriously considered it.
Unfortunately, one person who had already figured out my thought patterns to a certain degree shut that down immediately.
"Jinwoo-ssi."
"Yes?"
"Where exactly are you looking?"
"……I was just checking out the surroundings…"
"Look at them one more time and I'll punish you."
Kim Dokja stared straight at me with a chilling expression. Looking at her face and her eyes, I understood. Ah. She was serious.
Goodbye… my earthly paradise…
"Hiiing… my paradise…"
"Shut up, you pervert."
"But Dokja-ssi, this is a man's instinct. It's not entirely my fau—"
"……Shut up."
"As a man, how am I supposed to see beauties and pretty girls like that and not loo—"
"「I impose a punishment on Park Jinwoo. Park Jinwoo will keep his mouth shut for the next thirty minutes.」"
Chungmuro Station Representative Kim Dokja has used Punishment on Chungmuro Station group member Park Jinwoo.
Chungmuro Station group member Park Jinwoo has had his mouth forcibly sealed for 30 minutes by Punishment.
My mouth snapped shut.
"………? ……?! ………!?"
Kim Dokja's punishment forced my mouth closed with a solid click. Panicking, I tried to open it again, but it was completely useless.
"Pervert bastard."
Kim Dokja snorted at my flustered state as if I deserved it and walked past me.
"Trash…"
Jung Heewon looked down at me with pure contempt and walked past as well.
And Lee Hyunsung, the only other man among us—
"J-Jinwoo-ssi… hang in there."
—just gave me an awkward smile and walked on by.
This is so unfair…. All I did was look at some beauties and I get this kind of treatment and punishment…
I followed behind Kim Dokja with a dejected face, arms hanging limp at my sides.
Hiiing… of course I know I can't just hand my body and mind over to lust in a situation like this…
I knew perfectly well that if I surrendered myself to desire right now, it would eat away at me like a swamp.
Come to think of it, in Ways of Survival, didn't Yoo Joonghyuk (the male one) abandon a comrade who'd been consumed by lust?
Even though he himself dated Lee Seolhwa, married her, and even had a kid.
I kept walking, grumbling about the situation under my breath. At one point up ahead, Lee Hyunsung took a fist to the stomach from Jung Heewon, but let's just move past that.
After walking some distance across the Dongmyo platform, a tent came into view up ahead.
If that tent is visible, that means we're about to meet the shut-in king.
Lee Seongguk, who had been guiding us, stopped in place, turned around, and bowed politely as he pointed to the tent in front of us.
"This way. Our representative of Dongmyo is inside that tent."