Jeokryeohui (1)
Choi Yeon stood before Bihak Mountain.
The mountain in Cheondong, Dong-gu, was shaped like a crane taking flight.
“Haa…”
A sigh slipped from Choi Yeon’s lips.
He never would have guessed that Jeokryeohui’s secret laboratory lay somewhere this close.
Kim In-beom stepped up beside him.
“It’s close, sure, but it’s a different district from Seonhwa-dong.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Choi Yeon agreed and glanced back.
Lee Geon-woo, the boy who had escaped the lab, stood with the Nubyeok members.
Would the kid understand that they simply hadn’t known because it was outside their jurisdiction?
Probably not.
“…Anyway.”
Choi Yeon decided to change the subject. Dwelling on it would only leave a bitter taste.
Kim In-beom caught his intent right away.
“I was surprised when you spoke up against Cha Jae-hyeok, In-beom.”
“I was surprised myself. Everyone was staring at me with their eyes wide open…”
Kim In-beom trailed off and shook his head.
What he had actually opposed wasn’t clashing with Jeokryeohui—it was Cha Jae-hyeok going out himself.
Was he simply unhappy that their leader was taking the field in person?
If the reason had been that simple, Cha Jae-hyeok would be the one standing in front of Bihak Mountain right now. It had been a perfectly reasonable objection, which was why Kim In-beom was here beside Choi Yeon instead.
Should he ask casually? Choi Yeon considered it, then let it go. Something far more important waited right in front of them.
“…This way.”
Kim In-beom strode forward without hesitation.
His steps were so sure it seemed he already knew exactly where the laboratory was hidden.
“I didn’t know you had a detection skill, In-beom.”
“I learned it from the leader around last year.”
“From Cha Jae-hyeok? He can use detection skills?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Huh? Uh, ahaha…”
Kim In-beom gave an awkward laugh.
How was he supposed to answer a question like “why can he use it?”
Failing to find a good reply, the conversation between them died. Naturally, the Nubyeok members trailing behind fell quiet as well.
Huff, huff. The boy’s breathing gradually grew louder until everyone could hear it.
“Oh.”
A cave-like entrance came into view.
It gaped wide open, as if waiting for guests. At the same time, it looked like the maw of a monster stretched to its limit.
Either way, it was waiting for them to walk inside.
“…….”
“…….”
The group’s eyes gathered on Choi Yeon and Kim In-beom.
Whether they noticed or not, the two never slowed. Their feet carried them straight toward the entrance where a trap might be waiting.
Are they just going to walk in like that?
The obvious question painted confusion across the members’ faces. Lee Geon-woo looked up at the man beside him because of it.
“Mister. Is it really okay for them to do that?”
“Mmm… Well, it should be fine, right? It’s those two, after all.”
Mr. Woo shrugged.
With the two leaders already heading in, it would have been ridiculous to claim it wasn’t okay.
“Let’s go in too.”
“…Okay.”
Lee Geon-woo nodded slowly and stared at the entrance. He gazed at it for a moment, then finally stepped forward with his right foot.
Rumble…
The moment the boy entered last, the monster’s maw slammed shut.
While the boy flinched in brief panic, Choi Yeon remained perfectly calm, as if he had expected exactly this.
Rather than worrying about the door behind them, he focused on the corridor ahead.
“Senior, looks like a welcoming party.”
Kim In-beom, walking beside him, spoke up.
As if to continue the thought, a little over ten people came walking from the far end of the corridor.
Swollen veins stood out on their necks and arms. They were the same type as the team leader’s group they had run into during the day, only the red aura was faint rather than deep.
Probably a difference in experimental results. The deeper the color, the stronger; the fainter, the weaker.
“These must be the regular combatants Geon-woo mentioned.”
“Yes, seems that way.”
Kim In-beom gave a short affirmative and raised his arm, then lowered it.
Except for Mr. Woo, the members drew their weapons and stepped forward.
“Huh…?”
Choi Yeon’s head tilted as he watched the fight.
They were outnumbered nearly two to one, yet the battle was completely one-sided. Nubyeok was suppressing Jeokryeohui with almost ridiculous ease.
Even though the individual skill of the Jeokryeohui side was higher.
The image of Ko Sung-yoon’s movements in the park flashed through his mind.
The way he had been unable to control his own body after receiving a buff was playing out right in front of him again.
“Power gained too easily always looks pathetic.”
“…….”
“To lose to trash like that…”
He shifted his gaze to Nubyeok.
They were covering for any shortfall in individual ability with teamwork.
They blocked attacks for one another and stepped in to strike when someone missed their timing.
Their coordination was so good that even though Jeokryeohui had the numbers, they somehow looked like the smaller force.
And so the fight between Nubyeok and Jeokryeohui—
“…It’s over already?”
“Y-yeah, it’s over.”
“Wait, this is supposed to be Jeokryeohui?”
“Tsk. Something feels off.”
—ended without a single person injured.
It was a result that would have been impossible without an overwhelming gap between the two sides.
Was Jeokryeohui rotten, or was Nubyeok simply that good?
While Choi Yeon was still turning it over, Kim In-beom called to him and pointed at the bound Jeokryeohui combatants.
“Senior. What should we do with these guys?”
“Hmm… Even rotten fish is still fish. They won’t spill information easily.”
“Looking at the state they’re in, if you just give me a little time—”
“Do we need to?”
Choi Yeon gave a single shrug.
Was spending time extracting information really necessary? The Jeokryeohui team leader was waiting for them anyway.
Besides, the boy Lee Geon-woo was watching.
“Understood.”
Kim In-beom nodded and turned to the members.
The moment his gaze landed on them, the members struck the heads in front of them in perfect unison, as if they had rehearsed it. Dull impacts rang out and the bodies went limp.
As Choi Yeon walked on, conversation drifted from behind him.
“How about it? Pretty strong, right? Our elites.”
“…Yeah. They are.”
The boy’s reply to the proud voice sounded dazed.
Walking beside him, the boy kept staring at the bound combatants. He did so even as they passed, and long after.
Unable to look away, a voice echoed in the boy’s ears.
“Kill them, Number 99. Kill them all.”
Whether it was his own voice or the memory of the Jeokryeohui team leader’s, the boy did not know.
He simply made up his mind.
“H-hey, Team Leader. Is this really okay?”
Spotty threw the question at the team leader, who was staring only at the door. Worry trembled in his voice.
The team leader answered curtly.
“What is?”
“This whole thing. Don’t we need to report it upstairs…?”
“Report? What for?”
The team leader’s voice was completely at ease as he asked back.
Spotty opened his mouth to explain the reasons. The words never made it out.
The team leader’s mouth continued first.
“We just kill every last one of the bastards who came here, then finish off the rest of the Nubyeok trash. That’ll be the end of it.”
“…….”
“You don’t think so?”
“N-no! I think the same! Of course!”
Spotty waved both hands frantically in agreement.
On his tense face, the desire to deny it and the cowardice that kept him from doing so showed at the same time.
Whether he noticed the wandering thoughts or not, the team leader kept staring at the door.
The wish for it to open soon—
“Huu…”
—was granted almost immediately.
The door opened and Choi Yeon walked in.
Unlike the team leader, who broke into a sly grin, Choi Yeon frowned the moment he stepped into the space.
It was because the room he had seen in the team leader’s memories now lay right before his eyes.
Ignoring the team leader and Spotty, Choi Yeon looked at the firmly shut doors.
The children would be behind those iron doors.
“So we meet at last. Fox of Seonhwa-dong.”
When Choi Yeon remained silent, the team leader spoke first.
He looked like a man who could not hold back the words trying to spill out along with the smile hooked at the corner of his mouth.
“I had a feeling it would turn out like this.”
“…….”
“Really. Even when I saw you instead of Cha Jae-hyeok, I wasn’t surprised. I just thought, ‘Ah, of course…!’”
“Haa…”
“You’re making your dislike way too obvious. You’re going to hurt my feelings.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“Haha!”
The team leader burst out laughing.
His amused expression shifted to the boy. Lee Geon-woo met his gaze without looking away.
“Still that good look in your eyes, Number 99.”
“I—”
“Even so.”
The team leader cut Lee Geon-woo off.
He showed not the slightest interest in whatever the boy had been about to say.
“I never expected you to come back on your own… Are you an idiot?”
“I’m not an idiot! I, I came to—!”
Swoosh. Choi Yeon’s back stepped in front of the shouting Lee Geon-woo.
Just as the team leader had done earlier, the boy’s words were cut off—but for a completely different reason.
Choi Yeon knew exactly what the suffering child was about to say. That was why he stopped him.
“We didn’t gather here to chat. Let’s just each do what we came to do.”
“Oh. Right. We should. But are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“……?”
“You’re not Cha Jae-hyeok.”
The team leader’s eyes moved to Kim In-beom.
You’re out of your league.
—That was the dismissive look he gave, and Kim In-beom shook his head in disgust.
This piece of trash is looking down on who right now?
“Trash like you is more than enough for me.”
“Is that so?”
“Honestly, I’m disappointed it’s only you guys. What, been short on people ever since Amhyanghoe cleaned you out?”
“Well now…”
For the first time, the team leader’s expression changed. Anger colored the face that had been wearing a constant sly smile.
“Getting cocky after taking down a few failures isn’t even funny.”
“As if you look any better.”
With that, Kim In-beom laughed.
The mockery packed into the sneer made the team leader’s face harden.
As strength gathered in the right arm thrust into his pocket, Choi Yeon spoke as if lamenting.
“Hey, I couldn’t even report in, so I haven’t checked my overtime pay yet, you know?”
“…Overtime pay?”
“Yeah. So let’s wrap this up quick. Oh, and if you’d just turn yourselves in, that’d be even better.”
“…….”
“No? Then how about a two-on-two match. We’ll put In-beom out. What about your side?”
Crunch…
The sound of grinding teeth rang out. As if giving the sound form, the team leader’s face twisted into something vicious.
He did not like that the initiative had been stolen. It almost felt as if Choi Yeon, not him, was the master of this laboratory.
“Spotty.”
“Y-yeah…?”
“Kill him. That loudmouth.”
“Ah, yeah! Got it!”
Spotty answered energetically and pulled a weapon from his magic pouch.
As if he had never been cowering, his shoulders squared and a single-edged sword shaped like a sickle settled onto them. It was a khopesh, the blade once widely used in the ancient Near East.
Kim In-beom drew his own weapon as well.
The dagger in his left hand was a main-gauche, often used for defense. Spotty saw it and let out a laugh thick with mockery.
“Heh, you sure you’ll be okay with a little knife like that?”
“More than enough.”
“Confident, huh? Fine. Let’s see what you’ve got…!”
Thud!
Spotty kicked off and charged, raising the khopesh high.
The will to split a head poured from the blade, making the sword look more like an axe. Probably because the center of gravity sat toward the front.
Whoosh, clang…!
Kim In-beom deflected Spotty’s khopesh. Taking it head-on would have shattered the main-gauche for certain.
Whoosh, clang!
Spotty’s hand swung the khopesh; Kim In-beom’s main-gauche knocked it aside.
Failing to achieve his goal again and again, rough words burst from Spotty’s mouth.
“Grr! Stop with the weird tricks and just die already!”
The khopesh came crashing down savagely.
As he had been doing, Kim In-beom moved to skillfully bat it away.
Spin!
Spotty broke the repeating flow of the exchange. The descending khopesh rotated once and hooked the main-gauche that had been aiming for its side like a claw.
The violently yanked khopesh tore the main-gauche from Kim In-beom’s left hand.
“Heehee!”
Spotty laughed at Kim In-beom’s startled face.
He raised his arm high to split the head of the idiot who had dropped his weapon right down the middle.
Just before the tip of the khopesh could carve a great arc through the air—
Thud!
A dull impact rang inside Spotty’s skull.
Thump.
Even after his knees gave out and he sank down, Spotty still did not understand what had happened.
He could only guess by looking at the fist in front of him.
Had he been punched in the jaw? But he had clearly dropped the main-gauche and been flustered. How had the counter come so fast—…
Mid-thought, realization struck him.
“Don’t tell me… on purpose…?”
“Oh. Smarter than you look.”
“You little scheming—!”
“Yeah, yeah. If you’re going to blame something, blame those eyes of yours that were staring so hard at just the main-gauche.”
“You…! I’ll make sure you—!”
“Sleep.”
Thud!
Kim In-beom’s fist smashed into Spotty’s temple.
Leaving Spotty collapsed with only the whites of his eyes showing, Kim In-beom turned to pick up the main-gauche that had gone flying.
“…Hee, heehee!”
His feet, however, stopped almost at once.
It was because of the breathy laughter coming from behind him.
When he looked back, Spotty was standing with the khopesh still in his hand.
“…You were out cold.”
“Heehee, heeheehee!”
Spotty’s eyes turned red as he laughed like a madman.
Had the capillaries burst?
Thinking that, Kim In-beom settled into a stance.