Chapter 50
Chapter 50
Translation: godtl
Uninvited Guest (2)
A thick cloud of dust billowed up.
"Kyaaah!"
"Wh-what kind of explosion was that?!"
"Someone call 119! Hurry!"
"Ma'am! It's dangerous—come over here!"
Screams and chaos filled the area in an instant.
From the rooftop of a nearby building, a man in sunglasses watched the pandemonium unfold and let out a small chuckle.
"Keh-heh! Explosions are always fun, I tell ya."
Behind the sunglasses perched on his nose, his blue eyes gleamed. He brushed aside his light brown hair, fluttering in the wind, and stared at the ongoing commotion that showed no signs of settling.
"Dead yet?"
Considering he was the one who caused the explosion, it was clear he had intended to kill his target.
Strangely enough, the white man clicked his tongue in disappointment.
"Tsk. They said this Silver had some potential, but if he dies from an explosion like this, that's just lame, isn't it?"
Well, it's not like a Silver would be called a Silver for nothing.
The man shrugged his shoulders and turned around.
"Seriously, why mess with the Chinese when they're the same race? I swear, I just don't get Asians."
He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and bit down on it.
As he stared at the tip of the cigarette—
Poof.
A small explosion ignited a flame.
For a while, his blue eyes remained blankly fixed on the flickering fire at the tip of his cigarette.
To be precise—
It was more accurate to say he was staring at the small explosion that had lit the cigarette.
"Ah, inside! My dog is still inside!"
"When the hell is 119 coming?!"
"Did you even call them?! Why aren't they here yet?!"
Whoosh.
Amidst the clamor—
"If only the blast radius had covered this entire area... What a shame."
Just as the man, lost in his own reverie, took a step forward—
"The entire area? You'd be permanently expelled from the organization if that happened."
A clear, resonant voice.
The white man immediately spun around and flicked something white from his sleeve.
Flutter.
A neatly folded paper airplane.
An object that had no business being in the middle of this sudden explosion scene.
But—
"Won't work twice."
Snap.
A strikingly handsome man with sharp features merely flicked his fingers, his expression icy.
The explosion that should have occurred was nowhere to be found.
Whoosh.
The paper airplane, caught in the wind, fluttered weakly away to who-knows-where.
The white man in sunglasses stared blankly as the paper airplane drifted off.
"You..."
His gaze shifted toward Si-mun.
"What just happened?"
"What do you mean?"
Then—
"How the hell did you survive that explosion?! No, before that—"
The dazed white man's eyes sharpened like blades.
"What was that finger flick just now? Why didn't my ability activate?!"
Even accounting for the typical maturity of Westerners, he looked barely in his early twenties.
Yet, he spoke fluent Korean as he fired off questions.
"You ask a lot. Do I really owe an explanation to the bastard who just tried to blow me up?"
At Si-mun's reply, one of the white man's eyebrows twitched upward.
"Fair point."
He then shook his head side to side and continued.
"Then I'll ask something else. Do you know me?"
The white man's gaze grew even more murderous.
Of course it did.
Kim Si-mun—his assassination target.
This Asian man had clearly—
"You just mentioned 'permanent expulsion' to me."
"Oh. You even know what 'permanent expulsion' means? Your Korean's pretty good."
"I've got a bit of a knack for languages."
"Ah, come on, have some conscience. It's not a natural knack—it's thanks to your comrade's ability, isn't it?"
"......"
Watching the white man fall silent, Si-mun became certain.
'I had my suspicions when I saw those paper dolls...'
The intricately folded paper dolls.
The ticking sounds coming from them, followed by explosions.
Judging by his past life's experience, there was only one person connected to all of this.
A faint smile played on Si-mun's lips as he stared at the white man before him.
"Why so quiet all of a sudden? Did I hit a nerve? Jace Clark."
"You..."
The white man's face darkened further at the mention of his name.
Even though it was broad daylight with the sun high in the sky—
His face grew so shadowed it almost seemed like a pitch-black darkness had descended over him.
"How do you know my name? No, wait—wrong question."
Jace's voice turned as cold as his expression as he asked,
"Just how much do you know about us?"
"Hmm. I know it's an organization that hands out severe punishments if you engage in activities outside your assigned targets."
"Oh? So you have no intention of telling me anything then."
At Si-mun's teasing remark, Jace let out a bitter laugh and spread both arms wide.
Before anyone realized, dozens of paper birds were already streaming out from between his long coat sleeves and hands.
"Whatever. Doesn't matter. I'll just kill you and be done with it."
"Such fighting spirit. But are you sure about this? If you detonate all those, you'll really get permanently expelled... won't you?"
Si-mun deliberately drew out the words "permanent expulsion."
And for good reason—in that organization,"permanent expulsion" wasn't just a matter of being kicked out on paper.
Perhaps Jace had caught on to what Si-mun was implying.
The corner of Jace's mouth twisted upward.
"Don't worry. When I report that I eliminated someone who knew the organization's secrets, I'll probably get a reward instead."
"A reward? Ah. You mean the reward from that Bomb Demon Mogadam bin Abdullah you revere so much?"
The name of the Middle Eastern man.
As if it had struck a nerve.
"You bastard! How dare you speak his name!"
Jace's face, previously filled with scorn, contorted like a demon's.
Flutter flutter—
Dozens of paper birds came flying toward Si-mun.
Si-mun immediately activated Odin's Eye.
Kiiing.
A pale golden magic circle floated above his left eye.
Instantly, the movements of the incoming paper birds appeared to slow down—and that wasn't all.
'Just as I thought—all the detonators are drawn at the center again.'
To be precise, they were hidden by carefully folding the paper.
After confirming the unique patterns inside the neatly folded paper birds, Si-mun reached out his hand.
Snap.
Then flicked his finger.
Outwardly, nothing seemed to have changed, but Odin's Eye saw it clearly.
Fizzle.
The sections engraved with what appeared to be detonators all turned into blank paper.
In the end, the dozens of paper birds—just like the paper airplane from before—
Flutter flutter—
Naturally scattered in all directions as they brushed past Si-mun.
At this—
"W-what the hell?!"
Jace's eyes bulged.
"You damn yellow monkey! What kind of cheap trick did you pull?!"
It was understandable.
Jace Clark's A-rank Trait—Paper Explosion—was an ability that had never misfired even once.
To give a clear example:
Even when an assassination target with a water-related trait had pulled the cheap trick of soaking all the paper with water—
It had still detonated normally, blowing their body to smithereens without a trace!
"I have no obligation to explain. Let's just call it a compatibility difference."
"Don't spout bullshit! The only person in this world who can talk to me about compatibility is one single individual!"
With an angry shout, Jace flared his coat open once more.
As if he'd activated some artifact—
Jace's body floated weightlessly into the air.
Thanks to that—
Shhhhh—!
From Jace's embrace, paper dolls of various shapes—
Tick tock, tick tock—
Accompanied by sounds like a second hand moving, poured down like a torrential downpour.
'Looks like he's dumping his entire stockpile.'
Paper dolls, each boasting power greater than a grenade.
Though hundreds of them were raining down, Si-mun simply watched with calm eyes.
Naturally.
No matter how renowned this awakened criminal organization was—
Even if this was an all-out offensive from a rising star of the infamous villain organization Desperado—
Snap.
Before an alchemist of Si-mun's caliber, they were nothing more than paper dolls.
"This can't be...!"
The paper dolls scattered uselessly around Si-mun just like the previous attacks.
Jace stared down at them with a dazed expression.
Si-mun gazed at Jace with his golden-tinged eyes and smirked.
"Too easy."
He meant it.
Though Jace Clark, Desperado's rising star, would never admit it—
Fundamentally, transforming matter into a desired form was one of the most basic types of alchemy.
As long as the principle of Equivalent Exchange was satisfied, any alchemist could do it.
In the end—
"Stop mocking me! I said stop mocking me!"
Flutter, flutter flutter.
Given the nature of paper bombs—engraving detonators onto paper to cause explosions—
Si-mun, who could simply transmute the "sections engraved with detonators" back into "blank paper," was literally his worst possible matchup.
And moreover—
"Tch, I told you it's useless."
Snap.
Without even drawing a transmutation circle or any prior preparation—
If he could complete all transmutations with just a flick of his finger, then it was game over from the start.
"Damn it!"
Had he already used up all the paper dolls he was carrying?
"Now you get it, right? Your tricks don't work on me."
"...Fine, I'll admit it. I don't know what kind of trick you're pulling, but my trait is completely useless against you."
Jace could no longer scatter his paper dolls and bit his lip hard, his face twisted with frustration.
Even his mentor—the infamous villain Bomb Demon Mogadam bin Abdullah—had never suppressed his explosions like this before.
'To be rendered so powerless by some Asian bastard...!'
Grit.
Perhaps from biting too hard.
A sharp pain and the metallic taste of blood seeped into Jace's mouth.
"Hah... I thought I'd at least have to face a Diamond-rank before using this."
Laughing hollowly, Jace threw off his coat.
To be precise—
Flutter.
It would be more accurate to say his coat folded itself like origami.
As if enchanted with some special magic.
In an instant, the coat transformed into the shape of a paper airplane.
"Desperado never fails a mission!"
Mounting the coat, Jace immediately soared toward Si-mun.
In response, Si-mun raised his hand once more.
One.
'That's...'
Si-mun's left eye twitched as he spotted the rune engraved on the left side of Jace's shirt.
'Magic Immunity?'
Immune.
A power that grants complete immunity, completely nullifying certain attacks or status effects.
And Jace's shirt bore a rune specializing in magic immunity on its left side.
'With that level of mana, it's at least B-rank or higher... Tch, he's wearing some disgustingly expensive gear.'
Si-mun's gaze naturally shifted to the right side of Jace's shirt.
There, engraved just like the detonators on his paper dolls, was the A-rank Trait: Paper Explosion.
'I see. So he's planning to self-destruct.'
The world's most notorious villain organization, Desperado.
True to its infamous reputation, its rising star was exceptional not just in equipment but in mental fortitude as well.
Perhaps noticing the slight hardening of Si-mun's expression—
"Kehahaha! Figured it out, did you? But it's too late now!"
Jace let out a mad laugh as he accelerated.
Ssssskree!
The detonator rune on his right sleeve glowed red-hot, as if ready to explode at any moment.
"Kihihit! Let's go to hell together, you damn monkey!"
The moment Jace, riding his coat, flew right up to Si-mun's face—
"Sorry, but go alone."
Snap.
Si-mun flicked his fingers, and the muscles in his arms and legs visibly bulged.
Then—
Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Strike: Tyrant Emperor Break.
A dark energy erupted from Si-mun's fist as he struck with full force.
KWA-BOOOOOM!
The blast engulfed Jace mid-flight, reducing him to nothing but a deafening explosion.
Ruuuumble!
Just like the sudden explosion from before.
"W-what the?! Another explosion?!"
"Is this a terror attack? What the hell are the police doing?!"
"Police? This is clearly an Awakened crime—we need the Specialized Awakened Unit!"
Once again, the Sinrim district descended into chaos from the explosion.
"Phew..."
The perpetrator of the second explosion.
Si-mun steadied his breathing and rolled his shoulders.
"That was too close for comfort."
Not far away, one of Jace's legs landed with a thud.
Si-mun shook his head slightly at the sight.
"To think he'd actually try to self-destruct..."
The opening move of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Tyrant Emperor Break.
Had he not combined it with [Ogre's Body Tissue] to unleash a peerless martial technique, he might have ended up the same way.
"These guys are really insane."
—Told you! But are you okay, Oppa?
"Yeah. Just used up all my Transmutation Power, but otherwise fine."
As Si-mun patted his shoulder—still sore from the Tyrant Emperor Break—the Philosopher's Stone spoke in a worried voice.
—You could've just dodged the self-destruct, you know. Then you wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble.
"Well, yeah..."
Si-mun trailed off.
His gaze drifted downward.
Listening to the voices of the people below, the Philosopher's Stone sighed weakly.
—...Actually, never mind. This is just how you are. Sorry, forget what I just said.
"Nothing to apologize for. You weren't wrong."
Despite the intense battle.
He couldn't help but smile at the Philosopher's Stone's concern.
—By the way, Oppa, what now? Sounds like people have already called the authorities.
"Ah. I heard that too."
In fact, the wailing sirens were already getting closer.
'Police cars, fire trucks, and the Specialized Awakened Unit, huh.'
Confirming the approaching vehicles, Si-mun pulled his hood deeper over his head and activated [Black Panther's Body Tissue].
Then, leaping onto the rooftop, he pressed his phone to his ear.
"Hey, Si-hyeok, it's me. You busy right now?"