Chapter 28. We Found Him…
Chapter 28. We Found Him…
When his comrade suddenly exploded like a popped balloon without any warning, the enhanced soldier fighting Cheolmin was thrown off. Cheolmin’s sword seized that opening and slashed deep across the man’s upper body.
As Cheolmin’s blade—driven in past two finger joints’ depth—raked across the enhanced soldier’s torso, a spray of blood burst out like a fountain.
“Keuk!”
Paying for that moment of carelessness with an unexpected hit, the man pulled a small ampoule from his waist and sprinkled it over the wound.
White smoke rose, and the gash began sealing shut almost immediately.
Cheolmin had been locked in a fierce battle for a long time, barely able to touch the man at all. Now that he’d finally landed a meaningful strike, his confidence surged.
The opponent looked like a soldier or special operative, with no wasted motion.
Cheolmin, on the other hand, had too many unnecessary movements.
In street fights, momentum and swagger often mattered more than skill—and those habits were ingrained in him.
Against small fry, he couldn’t tell. Against a real powerhouse, he could.
“What the—?!”
With one man bursting for no reason and another getting injured, tension snapped through the previously loose atmosphere of the enhanced soldiers who’d been chuckling and joking.
“It’s the U.S. military!”
At that moment, the sound of helicopters rolled in.
AH-64 Apache Guardian helicopters.
Three helicopters operated by U.S. Forces Korea curved over the ridgeline and flew into the clearing.
“Terminate and withdraw.”
When the one who seemed like the senior enhanced soldier shouted, more than ten triad members leveled their rifles at Cheolmin.
“Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!”
The close-range gunfire was ear-splitting.
Cheolmin focused and swung his sword at the incoming bullets.
Maybe it was the sword wind from that ferocious swing—none of the rounds hit, all of them grazing past.
Cheolmin then turned that sword on the triad members.
Three or four heads flew through the air, and several men dropped on the spot.
He had no intention of showing mercy to people firing rifles at him. All Cheolmin could think about was cutting them down and rescuing the younger brothers who’d been taken.
“Scatter and fall back!”
The Apache helicopters had already arrived overhead and were hovering in place. When one enhanced soldier shouted, the surviving triad members and enhanced soldiers started fleeing in all directions.
A moment later, the Apache doors opened, and U.S. soldiers wearing massive mechanical exoskeleton frames leapt down from the sky and gave chase.
“Jaehun! Seokmo!”
Cheolmin was about to chase the fleeing enemies—then stopped when he saw his younger brothers burst up from the ground.
After receiving guidance to form a core, the former Isu Gang guys had become strong enough that they should’ve been able to protect themselves anywhere.
That was why he’d trusted them to pursue the drug traffickers—yet they’d been taken down far too easily, and only photos of them unconscious had been sent to Cheolmin’s phone.
[If you want them alive, come alone! Let’s fight fair!]
It was practically a duel challenge. Cheolmin had come here with nothing but a sword, as they demanded.
But the enemies waiting for him were nothing like what he’d expected.
More than ten Chinese gangsters with rifles—and five Hulk-like monsters.
Whether monster or human, he hadn’t been afraid. But once the fight began, he couldn’t easily put down even one giant, and panic churned inside him.
He even thought he might die here today. The kidnapped younger brothers were likely already dead. Cheolmin steeled his will, determined to drag at least as many enemies as he could down to hell to pay their blood debt.
Then U.S. helicopters arrived, the enemies scattered, and the younger brothers he thought were dead were alive.
And behind them was a face Cheolmin never expected to see.
“No… Ms. Lauren?!”
Lauren, the guest from Room 104, tore off a half-peeled wig and stared at the American soldiers chasing the Chinese agents.
“We should get out of here too!”
Lauren grabbed Cheolmin’s arm and pulled him when he reacted in shock.
And then, far away, Cheolmin saw another enhanced soldier explode the same way as before.
Seeing that, both Cheolmin and Lauren assumed the pursuing U.S. military had done it.
It was so brutal that even Lauren felt chills. Even though she knew most weapons systems, she couldn’t imagine what kind of new weapon this was.
Once they got into Cheolmin’s car parked at the foot of the mountain and merged onto a main road, everyone finally exhaled. Sporadic, thunderous gunfire still echoed behind them.
“What on earth happened to you, Ms. Lauren?”
“What happened to you, Mr. Cheolmin? Did you know I’d been kidnapped and came for me?”
At Cheolmin’s question, Lauren looked genuinely puzzled and asked back.
Her face was deathly pale, and her hair was packed with dirt.
“I was trying to get inspiration for my work by looking at Seoul’s narrow alleys, and I saw those men force these two into a car. I panicked and tried to stop them—and they kidnapped me too. Who were they? And how did you show up there?”
Cheolmin had a lot he wanted to ask Lauren, but when she instead demanded an explanation from him, he was left speechless.
“I came because these younger brothers were in danger. I’m truly surprised to see you there, Miss Lauren.”
That was what he said, but Cheolmin wasn’t an idiot.
This girl named Lauren was extremely suspicious. What happened today couldn’t be dismissed as coincidence.
But when the other person flat-out played dumb, it wasn’t easy to force answers out of her.
And he still didn’t know whether she was an ordinary person or someone with another agenda.
“I’m sorry, hyung. But those giants weren’t normal. We couldn’t even swing a punch before we got subdued.”
Seokmo and Jaehun spoke to Cheolmin, sounding ashamed.
“No. Those bastards really are monsters. I fought one myself—it was hard. Anyway, you’re alive. That’s what matters.”
“But what were those helicopters? Is it okay to shoot like that in Korea?”
At Seokmo’s words, Cheolmin only gave a low, grim sound.
In a country where guns were practically nonexistent, enemies who charged in that recklessly felt overwhelming.
Today he’d survived thanks to the sudden U.S. military response—but if he ran into them again, they’d be dangerous.
“You’re back!”
Back at the motel counter with heavy hearts, Kang Chan was there, greeting Lauren and Cheolmin.
Master was reading a wuxia novel, but even seeing the two of them—covered in dirt, clothes torn, faces hollow from fighting—he didn’t look surprised.
“We’re back.”
Cheolmin bowed ninety degrees to Kang Chan, then gave Lauren a light nod and went back to his room.
He’d gained many insights today, facing a strong opponent in real combat. He’d gotten arrogant because he’d grown a bit stronger.
After a life-or-death clash with someone around his level, Cheolmin realized he still needed to cultivate further. His body was still trembling with battle adrenaline, and he wanted to calm his mind in his room and sort through the realizations.
Lauren silently watched Cheolmin enter Room 105. Then she poured herself a cup of coffee at the counter, downed it in one shot, and went back to her room.
I smiled as I watched the long-term guest who’d just returned to the motel.
Cheolmin hyung was VVIP to me, and the party who’d signed a contract to take responsibility for safety.
But Lauren was just an ordinary motel guest.
If it was inside the motel, I might protect her depending on the situation, but I had no intention of taking responsibility for what happened outside.
Because she looked quite suspicious, I’d attached a telekinetic field to her body like a thread. That was how I knew she’d been in a life-or-death crisis today. If the Isu Gang guys hadn’t been buried alive with her, I wouldn’t have saved her.
But unexpectedly, I got to see some rare scenes.
Cheolmin hyung showed up to find his younger brothers and fought Hulk-like guys, while Chinese gangsters sprayed gunfire.
I saved Cheolmin hyung, Lauren, and the Isu Gang guys with telekinesis.
A lot of work.
But there were gains, too. In the chaos, I was able to run the experiment I’d been agonizing over—on the giants whose bodies looked enhanced beyond normal human flesh.
The result was a disastrous failure.
If you just gather ambient energy and forcibly cram it into the human body, you don’t get a rebirth-through-transformation effect. You explode like a balloon.
So I tried again, slower and more carefully, pushing internal power in with caution—but the result was the same.
Once a certain amount accumulated, the human body couldn’t withstand it and detonated.
Good thing I tested it.
If I’d treated Bella like it would “just work” like in wuxia novels, Bella would’ve exploded too.
A grim feeling settled over me: Bella’s demands wouldn’t be solved easily.
For now, I’d have to do it the orthodox way—grow internal energy, stabilize it, widen the pathways with qi circulation, and over time let the body adapt to internal power.
Major circulation, or opening the Ren and Du meridians—something along those lines.
Now that I’d felt the threshold where a human body bursts, starting tomorrow I needed to properly test qi circulation on Cheolmin hyung.
Cheolmin hyung also needed to become stronger.
If I didn’t intervene, it felt like he’d die violently within days.
My precious VVIP can’t just die!
The Pentagon, U.S. Department of Defense.
Dozens of screens were replaying what had just happened in a Korean mountain area.
Satellite footage captured in real time.
“It’s highly possible.”
“But isn’t this different from stopping missiles or the UFO phenomenon?”
At the Secretary of Defense’s words, an aide answered.
“Look. Without any medium at all, the Chinese enhanced soldiers were blown apart. I’m convinced it’s connected to the mysterious phenomenon that occurred in Korea.”
But the Secretary frowned at the aide’s certainty.
What they wanted was the unknown force that could stop missiles falling from the stratosphere. Making people explode was interesting enough—but it wasn’t what they were after.
“Are you sure?”
Seeing the Secretary’s displeasure, the aide explained.
“If it’s a force that can stop missiles and shells, it can easily make a person explode. Look—an invisible force acted without any medium. It’s definitely connected to the phenomenon we’re looking for.”
Only then did the Secretary’s expression ease.
He had a point.
That force the entire United States—starting with the president—had been pouring all resources into finding.
They’d caught a thread.
“That agent is one of our black agents—specifically, the one who secured the UFO tub, correct?”
“Yes. There’s a connection there as well. She’s currently staying at the motel where the tub was found.”
“Then it’s confirmed. That motel is involved!”
“Secretary! You need to see this!”
At that moment, an analyst monitoring the footage shouted.
“It’s this scene!”
Triad members fired dozens of rounds at a man holding a sword—yet the man wasn’t hit once.
“We checked the bullet trajectories. They bent midair.”
“He made the bullets curve to dodge?”
“Yes. It’s smaller in scale, but it’s the same principle as the force that acted on the missiles and shells.”
“We found him. It was that bastard!”
The Secretary beamed.
And every screen dominating the Pentagon situation room began dumping Cheolmin’s face and information.
“He’s staying in the room next to our agent! Tell her to extract information from him!”
After dragging a net across Seoul, America’s intelligence web finally caught a lead.