Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: I Don't Like Seeing People Die (3)
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Thud!
Tumbling as if he'd been kicked in the back of the knee, Dive didn't even realize why he had fallen at first.
He had been in the middle of escaping, leaving all his men behind at the hideout.
The intruders would be busy fighting his men, so there was no one who could possibly shoot him.
It had to be.
It had to be.
But the pain that washed over him a moment later told Dive his hopes were in vain.
“Guaaaah!”
Blood gushed abnormally from his thigh, the vein severed exactly as Kanghyeok had intended.
Slam!
The driver's door flew open and one of Dive's men got out.
He looked startled at Dive reaching for him, but then he grabbed the bag on the ground next to him and scrambled back into the driver's seat.
Vroooom!
The car began to move, leaving Dive behind.
“You crazy son of a bitch!”
Dive screamed the curse, his voice cracking as he realized he'd been abandoned.
Thwack! Pop!
Another bullet flew in, shredding the car's tire.
The front of the car swerved sharply as Dive shielded his face from the impact, which sounded like an exploding shell.
Crack! Thud!
The driver's side window cracked, and a spray of blood painted the glass.
The car stopped moving.
Dive's jaw dropped as if he'd just witnessed the impossible.
There was a considerable distance between the building and the car.
The only light came from the moon.
Unable to believe such a precise shot could be made from here, Dive stared back at the building, his face frozen.
He was completely unaware that Kanghyeok was watching him through a scope.
Click.
Kanghyeok pulled his face away from the rifle and started toward the main entrance.
*I've blocked his escape.*
The car was disabled, and so was Dive's leg.
Having eliminated any chance of escape, there was no longer any need to rush.
Why hadn't he killed Dive immediately?
There was something he needed to hear from him first.
Dive was connected to the Iron Mask.
On his way to meet the man, he had run into the Iron Mask's subordinates.
His men used high-quality weapons, the kind terrorists couldn't easily get their hands on.
The thought that Dive might be one of the men who destroyed the world in the future stayed his finger on the trigger.
Creeak!
As Kanghyeok pushed the door open, his eyes met Dive's in the darkness.
“Uuuuugh!”
Dive scrambled to his feet and limped away. With every step, a fresh bloodstain on the floor seemed to announce, *Dive is here!*
Click!
At the sound of a gun being cocked right behind him, Dive turned, his face pale.
He saw Kanghyeok raising a shotgun.
BOOM!
His good leg was blown to pieces.
“Aaaargh! Aaaaaargh!”
Clutching what was left of his leg, Dive writhed on the ground.
His mind went white, and his teeth chattered uncontrollably, making a sound like a chainsaw.
Kanghyeok pressed the shotgun against Dive's head and spoke.
“I have some questions.”
“Ugh! Uwaaaah!”
When the delirious Dive showed no sign of answering, Kanghyeok moved the muzzle.
Right next to Dive's ear.
BOOM! *Ssssss*.
The ground erupted. As the debris settled, Dive fell silent.
“Spare me. Please, spare me.”
“The Iron Mask.”
Dive's eyes wavered.
Then, his mouth fell open and the words tumbled out.
“No, I'm not him!”
*So he knows him.*
Kanghyeok stared into Dive's eyes, reading him, before asking his next question.
“Tell me everything you know about him.”
“I-I don't know anything. I just made a deal with him. That's all, I swear!”
*A deal?*
It was hard to believe the Iron Mask would make a deal with someone so insignificant.
In Mexico, men risked their lives for a chance to do business with his organization.
With so many of them, why would he bother with a nameless terrorist like Dive in the far-flung Middle East?
“He asked me to find information on some men in suits. Said he'd give me weapons if I did.... That's really it. I don't even know what he looks like!”
Desperate to save his own skin, Dive had given him the answer.
*So that was it.*
*That's what this was all about.*
*That's why all of this happened.*
Kanghyeok pursed his lips and lowered the shotgun.
“Haa, haaa!”
Dive gasped for breath, relieved that he was going to live.
Then Kanghyeok raised his pistol.
The moment he saw the loaded pistol, Dive froze, sensing his death.
It happened in the next instant.
Bang!
The first shot hit his stomach.
“Gack.”
An agony so intense it made him forget the bullet in his thigh and the pain from his shattered leg slowly washed over him.
“Grrr, grrk.”
The gut-wrenching pain made Dive grind the back of his head into the dirt, his teeth clenched.
“Grrrrr!”
Bang!
The next bullet struck him in the chest.
Dive could hear it clearly.
The hissing sound of air escaping his punctured lung.
The pain was immense, but he couldn't scream.
His lung was collapsing, filling with blood, and he was seized by the terrifying sensation of drowning on dry land.
Dive now abandoned all hope of survival.
He could only pray that Kanghyeok's third bullet would end his life quickly.
But Kanghyeok didn't pull the trigger.
He just watched him in silence, as if content to let him die in agony.
An eternity passed in an agony and terror that felt like being cast into the fires of hell.
Hot tears streamed from Dive's eyes, and a moment later, he lost consciousness.
Bang!
That was when Kanghyeok ended his life with the third bullet.
Whoooosh.
In the darkness, with the wind whistling in his ears, Kanghyeok glanced at Dive's body, then turned back toward the building.
He spoke into the comms device in his ear.
“Situation clear.”
*You did well. You really did.*
Just as Leila's voice faded,
Kanghyeok felt a gaze on him and turned around.
But there was nothing there.
Kanghyeok stopped and stared in the direction the wind was blowing from.
Then, with a soft chuckle, he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his lips.
He cupped his Zippo lighter in his palm to shield the flame from the wind and flicked it open.
Kanghyeok took the lit cigarette from his lips and looked again in the direction of the wind.
There was no building in that direction, no corpse.
Instead, far beyond his sight, was a man's grave.
Kanghyeok found two small stones and rested the cigarette on top of them.
*This one's for you, Aiden.*
*Were you worried about me?*
*Here. Your favorite American brand.*
*It's all over now. Smoke up and rest easy.*
*Go where you belong.*
Kanghyeok stared for a long while in the direction of the wind before turning to walk away.
Whoosh.
The cigarette he left behind smoldered gently, as if someone were smoking it.
When the cherry finally reached the filter and died, the wind stilled, and the feeling of being watched vanished.
Scraaaape!
The iron door scraped open, and Jeff emerged, supported by Leila.
“Take your time.”
“Mmm.”
As Jeff shuffled forward with difficulty, his eyes widened in shock at the sight of Kanghyeok.
“Mr. Kang...”
The bullet holes riddling his suit.
As the man who developed the bulletproof suit, he knew at a glance.
He could imagine the pain Kanghyeok must have endured, the injuries he must have sustained.
For the suit to be that damaged, an ordinary person would have died from shock. Even a highly trained agent would find it difficult to stand.
And Kanghyeok had sustained those injuries coming to rescue him.
Overwhelmed with gratitude and remorse, Jeff's tightly pressed lips trembled.
Understanding how Jeff felt, Kanghyeok spoke softly.
“It was nothing, Jeff.”
He held out his hand and added in the calmest voice he could manage.
“Let's go home. Back to the States.”
Jeff pressed his wrinkled lips together until they turned white and took Kanghyeok's hand.
No other words were exchanged.
None were needed.
***
The air in the room was suffocating.
The company's basement conference room.
This was the monthly executive meeting, attended by directors, department heads, and key managers. William's presence was mandatory.
Seated at the end of the U-shaped table, William took a deep breath and watched the man standing before the screen.
“That concludes the monthly report.”
If no one raised an objection or asked a question, the meeting would end.
*Is this really it?*
The matter of Jeff Black's kidnapping had yet to be mentioned.
*So it's not even worth discussing in a meeting?*
William raised a glass of tea to his lips, his eyes sweeping over the other executives.
A few shared his expression, while others looked like they just wanted the meeting to be over.
“What are you looking at?”
One of the directors who met his gaze spoke up. William set down his glass and looked away.
“Nothing.”
Richard Hennessy.
He was a man who prioritized the company's profits above all else, often enforcing excessive cost-cutting measures, which made him unpopular among the staff.
More than anything, William despised the man because he had been the first to oppose Jeff Black's rescue.
“Hmph.”
As if displeased by William's expression, Richard twitched a corner of his lip and stared straight ahead. The Vice President, Ashton Cohen, then addressed the room.
“Any other business?”
A brief silence.
“Nothing at all?”
His tone was almost accusatory, but no one raised a hand.
Cohen exhaled slowly through his nose and gestured for the meeting to conclude.
The man at the front of the room pressed a button.
“This concludes the meeting.”
With a polite bow, the screen parted down the middle.
It folded into the wall, and another panel rose from the floor to conceal it completely.
And with that, the meeting was over.
Just as everyone was rising from their seats to leave,
Bzzzt, bzzt, bzzt.
the phone in his pocket vibrated in a specific pattern.
*Leila.*
William pretended to gather his belongings, checking his phone's screen under the table.
A single line of text was on the screen.
[Your task has been completed successfully.]
William understood immediately.
His grip on the phone tightened.
*They rescued Jeff.*
It must have been difficult.
Rescuing him from the Middle East with no intel.
He knew Leila had contacted a former colleague to get a map of the target location.
But even so, it couldn't have been easy.
Finding the target location, rescuing the hostage safely.
The company had refused to rescue Jeff Black.
Just two people, with no proper support, had pulled off this difficult mission.
William turned off his phone's screen, put his things in his bag, and stood up.
Just then, Richard grabbed his shoulder.
“Good news? You look relieved.”
Richard asked, his eyes thin like a snake's, but William only smiled calmly.
“An investment I made recently paid off handsomely.”
“Hmm.”
*I wonder what face Richard will make.*
*When he finds out Jeff Black has been rescued.*
William gave Richard a slight, knowing smile.
“Excuse me.”
Then he picked up his bag and left the conference room.
His heart felt incomparably lighter than it had during the meeting.