Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Powerless People Attacking the Powerless (2)
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Near the destroyed road, a man with narrow eyes brought a pair of binoculars to his face.
He was on the roof of the car they had arrived in.
Beside him, men armed with rifles kept a menacing watch on the surroundings, their eyes grim. A little farther from them, corpses with pierced heads were strewn about carelessly.
Civilians who had failed to escape.
The subordinates who had hunted them down looked up at the man with the binoculars. After a long moment of observing the city, he lowered the binoculars with a slight tilt of his head.
“What is it?”
A red-bearded man standing by the car spoke, but he didn't answer.
He just shook his head, pressing his lips together as he slowly mulled over what he had seen.
‘Why is it going this way?’
Everything was failing.
Detonating the bombs, and even the revised plan of planting bombs throughout the city.
The only thing showing any results was the civilian massacre.
But that had been a ploy to draw Kanghyeok’s attention in the first place, and its effectiveness was rapidly diminishing with time.
“How annoying.”
He muttered under his breath, his eyes sharp as he ground his molars.
Then he raised his gaze to the sky.
Only the cloud-covered night sky was visible, but he scanned it meticulously, as if searching for a predator hidden in the jungle.
“Is there something up there?”
“I think so.”
The men surrounding the car also looked up, but they couldn't see anything.
As they exchanged puzzled glances, the man leaped down from the car and pulled a cigarette from his pocket.
“There’s a hitch in the plan. They’re staying ahead of us to a degree that can’t be explained by coincidence or a skill gap.”
The man looking at him glanced back at the sky with a sense of disbelief. The man with the narrow eyes put the cigarette to his lips and lit it with a lighter.
Taking a rough drag, he watched the city, his lips twisting.
“Just in case, prepare Protocol 8.”
“That…”
“Hurry. You don't want to take responsibility for failure, do you?”
Everyone’s face hardened.
The punishment for failing this mission hadn't been announced.
But it was easy enough to imagine.
They knew all too well how those who had failed on the cruise ship had been killed.
“Move. Now!”
“Get the word out.”
Amidst his bustling subordinates, the man pulled out the radio on his shoulder.
*Ksshk!*
He turned on the radio and spoke in a low, grim voice.
“Broadcasting to all units. Protocol 8 commences in three minutes.”
*Click! Crackle!*
After lighting his cigarette, Kanghyeok pulled the slide on his pistol and checked the chamber.
He was in his sports car. Next to the passenger seat, a car with a crumpled front end had its alarm blaring loudly.
Seeing the unmoving man inside, he tucked the pistol away.
Then he picked up his phone.
[Protocol 8 commences in three minutes.]
The moment he saw the radio transmission, his brow furrowed.
‘Protocol 8?’
The unfamiliar term made Kanghyeok instinctively glance at the dead man in the other car.
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
“Tsk.”
Forget it. It’s not like the bastard would answer if I asked.
He’d dealt with these guys for more than a day or two; he knew they wouldn't talk even with a gun to their head.
*Crackle.*
Kanghyeok inhaled the smoke, waiting for another transmission to come through, but his phone remained silent even as the cigarette burned down to the filter.
It was as if their previously active radio traffic had been a lie; the enemy had gone completely quiet.
*Fwooo.*
Exhaling a long stream of smoke, Kanghyeok checked the time on his wristwatch.
The transmission had come in a minute and a half ago, which meant Protocol 8 would begin soon.
He had a bad feeling.
He didn't know what it was, but it was something they were trying to execute while their plans were steadily failing.
It obviously wouldn't be a surrender or retreat, so it had to be something aggressive, but he couldn't get a read on what it might be.
*Tick, tock.*
One minute left.
He should have been heading to the next destination, but Kanghyeok reached for his communication device instead.
“Leila, did you see their transmission?”
(Confirmed.)
Faint gunshots could be heard in the background of her voice.
“Any ideas?”
(Sorry. It seems headquarters is trying to figure it out, but there’s no word yet.)
“Stay vigilant. I have a bad feeling about this.”
Thirty seconds left.
Kanghyeok pursed his lips and manipulated his phone screen.
It displayed information sent from headquarters via satellite, allowing him to see the entire city.
If the enemy was up to something, it would definitely show up here.
*Tap, tap.*
He switched between filters, trying to find any suspicious movements, but he couldn't see any fast-moving vehicles or groups of people.
*So it’s static, not dynamic.*
That would explain the lack of obvious movement if they were activating something they’d already set up, or if they were requesting support.
Ten seconds now.
“Speed up the civilian rescue. Something’s about to happen.”
Leila replied, but her words were mostly drowned out by gunfire in the heat of the moment.
“I’ll hurry, too. If they try anything, I’ll stop them.”
He said this while checking the time on his watch.
With two seconds remaining, Leila’s reply came through.
(Understood.)
Leila’s calm yet forceful voice came through the radio, a stark contrast to the chaos around her. And then…
[Protocol 8 initiated.]
A single line of text appeared on his phone.
Kanghyeok watched the phone, his lips pursed.
“Protocol 8 has been initiated.”
Upon receiving the report, Iron Mask gave a silent nod.
He already knew his subordinates were struggling.
Destroying a mere slum.
And after such thorough preparation.
They say a lion gives its all even when hunting a rabbit, and they had put in even more effort than that, yet this was the result.
Because of this, his subordinates were even breathing cautiously, but Iron Mask himself was not swept up in anger.
‘Within expectations.’
It wasn't an ordinary city.
Not where Kanghyeok was.
No matter how much they had prepared, Iron Mask might have been disappointed if Kanghyeok had been helpless against this attack.
“Hah!”
Iron Mask scoffed at the contradiction within himself—wanting Kanghyeok eliminated, yet also hoping he wouldn't be eliminated so easily. He opened his mouth to speak.
“Prepare support. We must lend some strength to those incompetents.”
“Understood.”
As his subordinates moved about busily, Iron Mask rose to his feet.
The enemy’s transmissions weren't visible only to Kanghyeok and Leila.
They were also displayed on the company’s monitors, where executives and situation room staff could see them.
‘Protocol 8?’
William glanced at Gary Chang, but saw no noticeable reaction.
No one here knew what it was.
William rubbed the stubble that had grown thick enough to feel and focused on the monitor.
Just as all the executives' and staff's attention was fixed on the screen…
A white dot appeared on the outskirts of the city and began to move.
*Beep.*
“Zoom in.”
At the command delivered through the microphone, a staff member quickly replied.
(Understood.)
The white dot moved at high speed toward the city center.
On the flat map, it moved as if passing through buildings, and even when the screen was magnified, the moving object couldn't be clearly identified.
All that was discernible was that something small was moving.
In an instant, the white dots spread out, blanketing the city at regular intervals.
‘What in the world is…’
Just as William narrowed his eyes…
*Zzzzzzt!*
With a burst of static, gray noise engulfed the monitor.
The staff frantically typed on their keyboards, but the monitor screen did not return to normal.
*Beep.*
“The screen is out. What’s the cause?”
In response to Cohen's question, a staff member looked at the glass wall and shook his head.
(The system is normal. But for some reason, observation is being blocked.)
No sooner had he finished speaking than a line of text appeared on the screen.
[System Error Analysis 0.0%]
While the percentage bar filled, the executives and staff focused their attention on the monitor.
Among them, William, who knew about the enemy attacking Kanghyeok's city, had a particularly heavy and tense expression.
The company's system had encountered a problem right after the enemy initiated Protocol 8.
He didn't know what it was, but the enemy had definitely done something.
Something that had attacked the company's system.
“Tsk.”
A wave of displeasure rose in him, so strong that he clicked his tongue without thinking.
(Analysis complete.)
The staff member quickly scanned the diagnostic log and spoke.
(It's a type of jamming signal. Observation, radio interception, and communications are all affected.)
*Beep.*
“Jamming signal?”
(Yes, that’s correct.)
A heavy atmosphere settled in at the staff member's answer to Cohen's question.
It meant they had blocked the satellite's view as if covering the entire city with a giant umbrella.
*Beep.*
William pressed the microphone button and immediately fired off a sharp question.
“The solution?”
(There are two options. We can wait for the jamming devices' batteries to run out, deactivating them naturally, or a field agent can destroy the source of the jamming signal.)
“What’s the estimated battery life?”
(There’s no precedent in our database, so I can't say for sure, but it’s estimated to be a minimum of thirty minutes to a maximum of three hours.)
The range was too wide.
What if it lasted for three hours?
What if it was even longer?
William stared at the static-filled monitor, his face frighteningly rigid.
‘This can't be all there is to Protocol 8.’
Usually, a smokescreen is created to hide something happening underneath.
He needed to convey this, but the enemy's equipment was jamming all means of communication, leaving him no way to contact Kanghyeok and Leila.
‘The advantage has shifted.’
It was highly likely that the enemy's own communications were still working normally.
The situation had been reversed, like the flip of a coin.
*Grind.*
Rage flickered across the faces of William and several other executives.
That they dared to pull such a stunt against the company.
And the fact that they possessed such equipment sparked an intolerable sense of displeasure.
But there was nothing they could do right now.
Nothing but trust Kanghyeok on the ground.
The problem, however, was whether Kanghyeok could even realize what was happening.
*Beeeeep.*
Kanghyeok removed the hissing communication device from his ear and turned off his phone, which was displaying nothing but static.
Even so, he mulled over the last image he had seen on the screen.
White dots spreading across the city.
He had a good idea of what they were.
‘Drones?’
It was equipment that wasn't properly operational at this point in time.
It was experimental gear, a bundle of flaws with numerous problems that made it unsuitable for field deployment.
But for a mission as simple as broadcasting a jamming signal, it was more than sufficient.
‘The battery life must be short.’
Drones equipped with jamming devices would be hovering in the air.
Even with high-capacity battery packs, with current technology, they surely couldn't last longer than thirty minutes at most.
There was no way the enemy didn't know this.
‘They will definitely make a move within thirty minutes.’
To pull off their scheme more effectively, they would take additional action.
Kanghyeok subconsciously started to raise a hand to his ear, then let out a breath.
Perhaps—no, they would definitely contact the gangs and have them focus more on the civilian massacre.
Purely to create a diversion.
And then they would certainly make their move.
‘The civilians are for Leila and Yohan. I’ll take out the remaining cars.’
There was a car circling the area with the hazardous materials.
Rather than wait for some uncertainty, he would eliminate the definite threat first. Kanghyeok cranked the steering wheel hard.