Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: First Kill
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Chapter 36. Be Careful. Use Everything You Can (4)
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Three more bullets slammed into the corpse.
Blood spread out, the inside of the shattered head exposed.
Juan, who had looked into the corpse's eyes, froze. The others let out gasps of "Uh... uh."
Immediately after, two men came up the stairs.
Their clothes were drenched in blood, and they held guns.
"Oh."
The men spotted Juan.
Their eyes glinted as if they'd found a new toy. They turned their muzzles, and the guys slumped over from drugs scrambled to flee.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Because of that, they were shot before Juan, who was closer.
Juan, his legs frozen, managed to look behind him.
The guys he had just been talking to were dead, their eyes wide open.
Indiscriminate murder.
Something that rarely happened even when security was at its worst was unfolding before his eyes, and he was caught right in the middle of it.
*Click-clack!*
As one man changed his magazine and pulled back the bolt, the other fixed his gaze on Juan.
"Wait, I know this bastard."
"A gang member? Which crew was he with?"
"No, no. He's one of those guys who was hanging around, wanting to join a gang. You know me, right? You saw me when you came to pay tribute before."
The murderers were talking to him.
But they didn't look at him like one person looking at another.
It wasn't a look of hostility, either.
If anything, it was closer to favor.
Similar to the look someone might have upon finding a useful knife or scissors while shopping.
"Right, if he were in a gang, there's no way I wouldn't know him."
*Clank.*
One of them lowered his gun, while the other, still looking at Juan, pulled a pistol from his waistband and offered it.
"Take it. You're with us now."
Juan stared at the murderer with wide eyes.
The man gestured with his hand as if to say, "Hurry up and take it," looking Juan straight in the eye.
"You wanted to be a gangster, didn't you?"
*Let's go around killing people together.*
*Then we'll accept you as one of us.*
Understanding the man's meaning, Juan felt the strength drain from his legs, like he was about to collapse.
He'd vaguely wanted to become a gangster and live a cool life, but he had never expected this.
"Not taking it?"
the man asked again in a somewhat sinister tone, while the other one fiddled with his gun.
*If I refuse this offer, I'll die.*
These guys were former gang members. He didn't know why they'd returned, but they were on a killing spree.
As if trying to erase past humiliations and reclaim their old glory.
*Would people like this spare me?*
Just as Juan, his face pale, raised a trembling hand toward the pistol...
*Thump, thump, thump!*
The sound of someone coming down the stairs was heard, and Yohan appeared in a tracksuit, panting for breath.
"Juan!"
"Uh... uhh."
The men quickly exchanged glances.
*Do you know that guy?*
*No, never seen him.*
*Then we can just kill him.*
One of them shoved his rifle toward Yohan.
*Bang!*
The man's rifle spat fire and a bullet.
*Crack!*
But Yohan immediately ducked under the railing to dodge the bullet. The men muttered curses and moved toward him.
As the gangsters and Yohan moved away, Juan's mind went blank.
"Uh... uhh."
He wanted to tell Yohan to run, but his mouth was frozen, and the words wouldn't come out.
*Bang! Thud!*
The man who fired another shot leaned forward over the stairs to kill Yohan, who wasn't showing himself.
It was right after that.
*Whoosh!*
Yohan, who had been waiting crouched for the man to approach, launched himself forward, tackling the man and sending them both tumbling to the floor.
*Crack!*
He slammed his elbow into the man's temple, knocking him unconscious.
"What the—you son of a—!"
The other man aimed his gun at Yohan.
With no time for his mind to react, no time to think, Yohan moved reflexively.
"Yohan!"
As Juan cried out urgently, Yohan grabbed the unconscious man's shoulder and twisted his body.
*Bang!*
A bullet struck the man covering Yohan's body.
The first thing he felt was a shock, as if someone had hit a water bag he was hugging with a claw hammer. Then, the blood flowing from the man's body stained Yohan's hands and clothes.
The sensation of someone dying in his arms was horrifying.
But there was no time to dwell on the feeling.
*That man is trying to kill me.*
The instinct to survive and the experience ingrained in his body from training.
The moment his mind was filled with this, Yohan flipped the safety off with his thumb, placed his index finger on the trigger, and pushed the corpse aside.
And he aimed precisely at the chest of the man about two meters away.
*Bang!*
Before the recoil in his hand had even settled, Yohan reflexively pulled the trigger a second time.
*Bang!*
After shooting the man in the head, Yohan felt as if he had been erased from the world.
His first kill.
His hands trembled, and the pistol felt heavy.
Just as a wave of nausea rose and an unfamiliar sensation of dizziness threatened to overwhelm him...
"Yo-Yohan."
Juan's voice reached Yohan.
And then,
*Bang! Bang!*
More gunshots from below the apartment building urged him to snap out of it.
Nothing was over.
Nothing was settled.
Yohan's face twitched. He pushed the corpse off him and walked over to Juan, who was staring at him like a stranger.
"Get up."
His voice hoarse and low, Yohan hooked his arm under Juan's elbow and pulled him to his feet.
Then, he led the stumbling Juan toward the stairs.
He spotted more gang members coming up from below and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
*Crack!*
Even though he had intentionally shot the wall, the men retreated in a panic.
*Bang! Bang!*
Firing two more warning shots, Yohan led Juan up the stairs.
"Wh-where, where are we going?"
"Home."
Yohan took Juan to his apartment and pushed him inside.
"I'll come back for you later. Don't open the door for anyone until then. Don't go anywhere."
As Yohan tried to close the door, Juan pushed back from inside.
"Wh-where are you going! You stay here, too! That's all you have to do."
*Bang! Bang!*
Gunshots, both near and far, rang in his ears again.
It had been like this on the day Yohan's mother died.
The memory of that day surfaced, and Yohan clenched his jaw before speaking with a strained expression.
"There's somewhere I have to go."
To where Kanghyeok was.
He believed that only Kanghyeok could end this situation, just as he had before.
"Wh-where?"
"I'll tell you later."
Yohan tried to close the door again, but just before it shut, Juan asked sharply.
"Why did you help me?"
Yohan, feeling impatient, answered with a look that said, *Why are you asking something so obvious?*
"We're friends."
At the sight of Yohan calling him a friend without hesitation, even though he thought they had grown distant, the strength left Juan's hand.
*Click.*
After closing the door, Yohan dug his nails into his trembling thigh and headed for the stairs.
The shock of his first kill hadn't completely subsided.
But other people were dying.
Someone's mother or father was dying, creating more people like him.
Knowing that now was the time to fight, Yohan ran with all his might toward Kanghyeok's location.
*Tap, tap.*
In the living room, where the bodies had not yet been cleared, Kanghyeok and Leila were looking at a laptop.
They had requested support from the company, and the request was approved with surprising speed.
It was an abnormally fast response, even considering that a company-owned safe house had been attacked.
Kanghyeok surmised that William must have pulled some strings, and he watched the screen of the laptop Leila was operating.
An update on the entire city, sent by satellite.
*Click, click.*
Each time Leila tapped the touchpad, a new layer appeared, showing the extent of the damage.
"The situation isn't good. The city is isolated, and riots have broken out everywhere."
Indiscriminate slaughter.
Arson and looting.
People living on the outskirts of the city had tried to escape, but the roads were destroyed, and they were being killed by those guarding them.
But there were two things that truly bothered him.
"What about Yohan's location?"
"The damage isn't severe there. It was time for him to be home, and he would have heard the gunshots, so he probably isn't wandering outside."
Kanghyeok nodded, looking relieved, and then mentioned the second thing that was bothering him to Leila.
"They're creating a smokescreen."
Leila took her hands off the laptop and turned her gaze to Kanghyeok.
"A smokescreen?"
Kanghyeok answered with a nod, his eyes still on the laptop.
It seemed they were using an unavoidable distraction to scatter attention while pursuing their true goal.
He had experienced it once before.
They had done the same thing while attacking this very safe house.
So, was what they were doing now Plan B, or was this their real objective?
"A smokescreen for what?"
Kanghyeok rubbed his lip with his thumbnail.
*Am I feeling anxious?*
It felt rough.
He couldn't be sure, but he had a feeling that whatever they were up to was far more severe than what was immediately apparent.
*Could it be...*
Just as Kanghyeok was about to point at the monitor and speak...
*Bang, bang, bang!*
As soon as the door was pounded on, Leila raised her gun, but Kanghyeok grabbed her hand and lowered it.
"It's not them."
There was no way they would come knocking so politely.
But you never knew, so Kanghyeok moved to the wall with the built-in touchscreen and brought up the display.
The camera at the main gate showed who was knocking.
"Crazy..."
Yohan.
Behind him, Leila's eyes widened when she confirmed it was Yohan.
The path here was crawling with gangsters; she couldn't understand what he was thinking, coming all this way.
*Click! Beep!*
Kanghyeok pressed a button to unlock the door, and it opened, letting Yohan into the living room.
Hair soaked with sweat, a damp face.
Blood splattered on his body and a pistol in his right hand.
Dirtied shoes.
Kanghyeok's face hardened at the evidence that the journey to the safe house had not been easy.
"Why are you here?"
Yohan answered, panting.
"Outside... people are dying."
That wasn't reason enough for Yohan to risk his life coming here.
"So?"
"Help me."
Yohan raised the pistol near his face and continued.
"I'll fight, too. Please."
"No."
Leila spoke before Kanghyeok could open his mouth.
"This isn't for you to get involved in. There's a shelter in the basement, go there."
It was a calm and realistic judgment.
No matter how short-handed they were, Leila's thinking was that they couldn't ask for help from Yohan, who wasn't a company employee, a mercenary, or a soldier—and wasn't even an adult.
"Please."
But Yohan looked at Leila with desperate eyes. Seeing that look up close, Kanghyeok bit his lip to compose his complicated feelings.
*'This kid...'*
Only Kanghyeok, who had kept Yohan by his side and even mentored him, could understand.
What Yohan was thinking.
He had the same look in his eyes as on the day his mother died.
The same expression he wore when he asked to be taught how to fight.
*But is it okay?*
*To give in to Yohan's stubbornness.*
Kanghyeok thought long and hard for a short moment, then looked at Leila and spoke.
"Arm Yohan."
"What?"
"There's a spare suit. Have him wear that, and give him one of these guys' bulletproof vests."
Leila's gaze shifted from the corpses of the intruders wearing bulletproof vests to Kanghyeok.
"Are you serious?"
Kanghyeok gripped Yohan's shoulder and frowned.
"Listen carefully, Yohan."
The force and emotion conveyed through the grip were intense, and Yohan focused on Kanghyeok with a hardened expression.
"I understand how you feel, so I'm granting your absurd request. But don't you die. Ever."
"...I understand."
Kanghyeok shook Yohan's shoulders roughly.
"Answer me properly!"
Yohan was taken aback for a moment, then answered with the face of an adult.
"I'll come back alive. No—I *will* come back alive."
Kanghyeok looked at Yohan's face and nodded, as if to say, *You'd better keep that promise.*
Then he looked at Leila and pointed to the monitor.
"Combine all the layers."
Leila glanced between Kanghyeok and Yohan before reluctantly touching the touchpad.
*Click.*
Now, the entire situation in the city could be seen at a glance on the monitor.
Staring at the dots moving in real-time, Kanghyeok sucked in his lips.
The enemies were divided into three main groups.
Those on the outskirts of the city, eliminating escapees.
Those rampaging inside the city.
And the bastards who were gathering and moving as one.
The location of this group was suspicious.
"Zoom in here."
*Click.*
When Leila zoomed in on the area Kanghyeok indicated, familiar drum barrels and men carrying bombs came into view.
He had finally figured out their objective.
They intended to destroy Kanghyeok and this city.
The drug that had destroyed the world.
To test that still-incomplete drug on this city.