Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Welcome to My Home
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Two more days passed.
The weather had grown colder, and the snow from the other day had melted without a trace. The time was approaching 10 p.m., and the moonlight was trapped behind the clouds, unable to show its face.
As a result, the world was shrouded in a silence as if covered by a dark violet canopy.
Kanghyeok’s eyes narrowed as he gazed out the large bedroom window.
*A good day to attack.*
The cozy yet calm air, unique to this season and this time of night, drastically lowered a person’s guard.
But Kanghyeok couldn’t afford the same peace of mind as the other people in this city.
No snow meant no footprints, and no moonlight meant no shadows.
If Kanghyeok had to attack someone, he would have chosen today.
The atmosphere was perfectly ripe for something that would reek of blood.
*Rustle.*
Kanghyeok half-covered the window with the curtain and turned off the light.
A rustling sound came from the bed as the covers puffed up.
And just then, there were men confirming that the room’s light had gone out.
On the rooftop of an abandoned building, about 230 meters from Kanghyeok’s house.
“The light’s out.”
They were clad head to toe in black.
Twenty-five men in total.
They were some of Iron Mask’s most well-trained subordinates.
Armed with rifles, pistols, and bulletproof vests, the only part of their bodies visible were their eyes.
One of them rolled up his sleeve and checked his watch.
“We wait one hour.”
They waited for Kanghyeok to fall into a deep sleep.
During this time, they used thermal imaging equipment to reconfirm that there were only two people in the safe house and exchanged real-time reports via radio.
After an hour of patient waiting, feeling like hunters stalking their prey, they performed a final equipment check.
Then, two men propped their feet on the railing and aimed a gun-like device at the safe house’s rooftop.
*Thwump!*
A harpoon with a wire attached shot fiercely toward the safe house.
*Zing!*
Once the line was secure, they fastened the other end, attached a handle with a rail to the wire, and launched themselves toward the safe house.
*Whoosh.*
The twenty-five intruders crossed the night sky using the wire.
Upon reaching the safe house rooftop, they shook the line loose and released the safeties on their rifles.
*Swish, swish.*
They didn’t speak aloud.
Using hand signals and eye contact, they split into three teams and moved out.
Ten went for Kanghyeok.
Five went for Leila.
The remaining ten headed to the main entrance to cut off any escape routes.
After setting up wires on the rooftop railing, they descended to the ground.
Then, they flipped down their night-vision goggles and cautiously peered inside Kanghyeok’s room through the glass window.
With the lights off, the room was steeped in deep darkness.
However, through the night-vision goggles, they could see the interior as if looking through dark green sunglasses.
The bed was occupied.
The lack of movement suggested the person was fast asleep.
The men exchanged thoughts with hand signals.
Swift entry.
Then, kill the target, Kanghyeok.
They attached a glass cutter to the massive, wall-like window. With its suction cups firmly attached to the pane, it traced a circle along the surface.
With a faint sound, a hand-sized circle of glass fell away.
*Click.*
Reaching a hand through the hole, they unlocked the sash and slipped through the narrow opening, careful to let in as little wind as possible.
And then they surrounded the bed.
*Clack.*
With everyone’s attention focused on the bed, one of them raised his rifle and aimed at the head of the bed.
But another man gestured for him to wait and pulled a camera from his jacket.
It was then that Kanghyeok, standing silently by the bunched-up curtains, raised his pistol.
He was still in his suit and had no night-vision goggles, but after waiting an hour in the dark, his eyes had fully adjusted.
Iron Mask’s men weren’t the only ones who had been waiting with the heart of a hunter.
Kanghyeok, too, had set a trap and was waiting for them.
*Shhh.*
The man with the camera gently pulled back the blanket, then flinched.
It wasn’t Kanghyeok under the covers.
It was another blanket, bundled and tied with string to resemble a human form.
*Gasp.*
The moment one of them gasped in shock,
*BANG!*
Kanghyeok’s gun spit fire.
One man’s head exploded, splattering its foul contents onto the bed, and the startled gazes of the others whipped toward Kanghyeok.
And Kanghyeok’s gun was already turning toward them.
*Bang, bang, bang!*
He sprinted for the door, spraying bullets as he went.
And just as the men regained their composure and retook their aim, Kanghyeok flipped the room’s light switch.
*Flick!*
A harsh light flooded down from the ceiling, starkly revealing the figures that had been cloaked in darkness.
“Ugh!”
“Gah!”
Seeing their night-vision goggles, Kanghyeok twisted one corner of his mouth into a smirk.
*New model.*
*Those sons of bitches! At least their gear is top-notch.*
If they’d been older models, this would have been easier.
The sudden light would have blinded them, or done something close to it, like searing their eyeballs with a magnifying glass.
But their night-vision goggles were new, so there was no risk of blindness.
Still, the glare would be unavoidable.
At least far more so than for Kanghyeok, whose own eyes ached as if being squeezed.
*Bang, bang! BANG!*
As one man ripped off his goggles and raised his weapon, Kanghyeok put two in his chest and one in his head before diving into the hallway and slamming the door.
*Rat-a-tat-tat!*
Bullets from inside the room tore through the door, passing right where his head would have been if he had remained standing.
With his back to the door, Kanghyeok crawled toward a decorative cabinet in the hallway.
*Click.*
He retrieved the rifle he had stashed there earlier, placed his finger on the trigger, and turned back toward the door.
*BOOM!*
Kicked open from the inside, the door flew wide, and the men in black burst out.
*RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!*
Kanghyeok pulled the trigger, and the rifle, already set to full auto, unleashed a terrifying storm of bullets.
A long, narrow hallway.
An open door.
Tightly packed enemies.
And bullets concentrated at head level.
He’d noticed they were wearing bulletproof vests when they were milling around the bed.
*Clack, RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!*
Ejecting the empty magazine and slamming in a fresh one from his jacket in one fluid motion, Kanghyeok kept firing.
The narrow hallway filled with the sound of gunfire and the smell of cordite.
A thick mist of blood sprayed into the air, and a river of it flowed across the floor, spreading to where Kanghyeok was positioned.
“Scatter!”
As the men began to disperse, Kanghyeok stopped pulling the trigger.
Feeling the heat from the scorching barrel tickle his fingers, Kanghyeok got to his feet.
*How many are dead?*
*Two in the room, five bodies slumped in the doorway.*
*That means three are left, either wounded or in shock, hiding inside the room.*
They must be pretty panicked.
The infiltration was probably easy.
But you wouldn’t know.
It wasn’t that you were skilled enough to get in so easily, but that I took measures to make it easy for you.
The reason was simple.
To gather you all in one place and kill you.
*Thud, thud.*
Walking toward the room, Kanghyeok reached into his jacket.
And pulled out a grenade.
*Ssshhhhh.*
In front of the bathroom, Iron Mask’s men scanned their surroundings.
Through the tiny crack in the door, they could feel heat, see light, and hear the sound of a running shower.
The only thing in front of them was a laundry basket.
Seeing that the clothes were a woman’s, the men relaxed the tight grip of their tension.
A woman showering.
Her identity hadn’t been fully confirmed yet.
But she didn’t seem like a major threat, and even if she were, there was nothing easier than ambushing someone in the shower.
*What’s her relationship with Kanghyeok?*
*A lover or a wife?*
The men, already entertaining thoughts of violating the person inside, hoped it was so as they slowly turned the doorknob.
Unaware that a string connected to the knob was being pulled taut.
*Click.*
As soon as the knob turned, they threw the door open, but they weren’t greeted by a naked woman.
*KABOOM!*
Along with the explosion came a spray of steel balls, aimed precisely at head level.
*BOOM! Splat!*
Three of the men, their faces riddled with holes, collapsed dead on the spot. The two survivors, who had been standing to the side of the door, shoved their guns and gazes into the bathroom, despite their shock.
And they saw it.
*Ssshhhhh.*
The showerhead, broken and fallen to the floor, gushing hot water, and a black mass attached to the wall.
A directional shotgun mine with adjustable firepower.
There was no one there.
“This…”
Just then.
They sensed a presence behind them, and before the two men could react,
*RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!*
A hail of bullets fired by Leila engulfed them.
“Aaargh!”
Seeing that the men didn’t fall despite the bullets in their backs, Leila immediately shifted her aim to their legs.
*Th-th-th-thwack!*
Red drops of blood spattering from their legs were clearly visible under the bathroom light.
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
After destroying both men’s legs to the point they would never walk again, Leila reloaded with a blank expression.
“Ugh, uuuugh!”
“Gaaaaah!”
Then she aimed the gun at their faces.
*RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!*
It didn’t take long for silence to fall.
Leila shifted her gaze and her gun toward the open bedroom door and slowly walked toward the men.
After confirming there were no reinforcements, she turned off the still-gushing showerhead and checked if any of the fallen men were still breathing.
*None.*
Leila looked down at the bodies sprawled in front of the bathroom with contempt, then tapped the wall-mounted monitor to wake it.
Seeing the status of the safe house on the CCTV feed, Leila’s brow furrowed, and she let out a hot breath.
*There are more intruders.*
Not many.
But the fact that these bastards had dared to invade a safe house—a company-owned safe house, where she and Kanghyeok were staying—was deeply unpleasant.
Leila raised a hand to the communication device in her ear and spoke.
“Intruders at the kitchen window. Should I engage?”
(Hold on.)
Immediately after.
*KABOOOOM.*
An explosion erupted near Kanghyeok’s room, and the entire house shuddered as if from an earthquake.
Kanghyeok’s reply came soon after, having just eliminated the remnants hiding in the room with a grenade.
(I’m on my way.)
“I’ll join you.”
*Click-clack!*
Leila reloaded her magazine and started toward the kitchen.
*Chkk! Pssshht.*
The men in the kitchen, fiddling with their radios, sensed that something was seriously wrong.
The continuous gunfire and explosions from inside the house.
They had expected it to be over quickly, but instead, they were met with a counterattack. When they tried to radio the teams sent to eliminate the targets, all they got was static.
*Everyone’s dead? Impossible.*
Could they have ever imagined, even in their dreams?
That they, the ones who came to block the escape route, would be the last ones standing.
*Damn it, the intel was leaked.*
Unwilling to believe that Kanghyeok had been prepared for their attack, these men moved much more cautiously than the first two teams.
One took cover by the sink.
Another hid beside the refrigerator.
The others pressed their backs flat against the wall as they approached the hallway.
They had believed that once they got inside, everything would be easy.
But now that they knew otherwise, they breathed cautiously, as if carrying out a mission in the middle of a war zone.
*Zzzing.*
So tense they didn’t even notice the CCTV camera watching them, they swallowed dryly and leaned against the corner leading to the hallway.
For some reason, it felt as though someone was right behind the corner.
They barely managed to dismiss it as a trick of their fear, but that wasn’t the case.
Behind the ninety-degree corner, out of their line of sight, stood Kanghyeok, his rifle slung over his body, a pistol in his hand.
Kanghyeok silently pressed the muzzle of his gun against the wall.