Chapter 129
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: A Hell of His Own Making
Click.
With a hardened expression, Kanghyeok pressed the touchscreen on the wall.
When his finger touched the pitch-black screen, pale light bloomed with a line of text. He swiped down the screen, finding and pressing the buttons he needed one by one.
Click, click.
When a prompt appeared requesting administrator privileges, he wiped his blood-caked thumb on his pants and pressed it to the screen.
He went through the entire process with a somber face.
Click, click.
A way to completely neutralize the MK2 had come to mind.
A method that occurred to him when he saw the gas stove.
It wasn't a clean method that would yield maximum effect with minimum damage.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
He would have to risk his life.
He would have to endure excruciating pain.
It might be akin to walking into the fires of hell.
But was there a better way?
He didn't know.
Any such method.
The thing wouldn't die no matter how many bullets and grenades it took. To kill a monster like that, the only way he could think of was to enter hell together.
Click.
To the prompt asking if he wanted to shut off the external air supply, Kanghyeok pressed 'YES'.
Simultaneously, a soft noise came from the ceiling.
Now, no outside air could enter the safe house, and no inside air could escape.
Click.
Kanghyeok activated the security system as well.
This time, a noise came from the windows and the front door.
The sound of motors whirring to life.
Soon, the windows would be covered by bulletproof shutters, and the front door would be firmly sealed.
Ten seconds remained until the system was fully activated.
Kanghyeok clenched his jaw, forming deep lines, and swiped the screen to bring up a new button.
The safe house would soon be completely sealed, but one thing remained.
Click. Whoosh!
As he pressed the button, a gust of wind poured from the ceiling vents.
High-density oxygen.
It was a safety feature, originally intended for when the safe house's air was contaminated by an external attack.
It was meant to protect the agents and the safe house, but today, it would be used for a different purpose.
To burn this safe house to the ground.
To turn this place into a hell.
And to protect everything else besides myself.
He took a deep breath.
Perhaps because of the dense oxygen, breathing was easy.
Or perhaps it was because his body had fully recovered.
Whirr, clank, clank.
All the windows in the house began to be blocked off.
As even the faint glimmers of outside light vanished, the safe house was plunged into complete darkness. Still, his pupils had already adjusted, allowing him to discern faint silhouettes.
Kanghyeok turned his eyes in the direction where the MK2 would be.
‘Come.’
I'm all ready.
Are you?
I hope so.
He gritted his teeth.
Biting his lower lip, he pulled a lighter from his pocket.
Whether it was because of the silver lighter glinting in the darkness or because its helmet was equipped with night vision, the MK2 revealed itself and immediately raised its minigun toward Kanghyeok.
Whirrrr!
The barrels of its minigun spun, looking as if they would unleash a hail of bullets at any moment.
Kanghyeok's gaze shifted to the space above its head.
There was a vent there, too.
A vent spewing high-density oxygen.
Click.
Flicking open the lighter's cap with his thumb, he took a deep breath.
Thwump!
The moment the MK2's first bullet flew past his head,
Fwoosh!
the flint sparked a larger-than-usual flame.
In that fleeting instant, Kanghyeok was conscious of the weight of the lighter in his hand.
It was an object he'd had for a long time.
An object he'd used ever since joining the company.
It was the only thing to which he, a man who rarely formed attachments, had grown attached. In the future, it had been with him until his very end.
‘Farewell.’
He threw himself sideways, tossing the lighter over the MK2's head.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
As a torrent of bullets hammered the wall, the lighter spun through the air toward the MK2.
Fwoosh!
As it neared its target, the lighter's flame grew more intense,
BOOM! Whoosh!
and when it reached the spot directly beneath the oxygen vent, it erupted in a violent, explosive blaze.
WHOOOOSH!
The flames burst forth like an explosion, scattering embers in all directions.
Whirr! Whirr!
As the MK2 stopped its minigun and began to move erratically, Kanghyeok saw the embers spreading throughout the living room.
Fanned by the high-density oxygen, the embers became sparks, and the sparks became flames.
Fwoosh!
The fire spreading across the ceiling felt like a monster devouring the darkness, multiplying endlessly. It looked like a demonic dance, summoning hell on earth.
Fwoosh!
Amidst the blackening, melting wallpaper and the intensifying flames, Kanghyeok looked at the MK2.
The black coating that covered its armor plates was shriveling in the fire, melting away grotesquely.
The MK2, its silver armor plates now exposed, looked like a person flailing in a lake of fire.
BANG!
An overheated hydraulic suspension burst, spewing black oil like blood.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
The scream of the person trapped inside the overheating MK2 echoed through the flame-engulfed living room.
A desperate, agonizing scream.
It was a scream so chilling and horrific it felt as though it could drag the listener down to hell.
Fwoosh!
The surging flames reached Kanghyeok as well.
The most delicate fibers of his suit began to burn away first, and an intense pain of being burned alive washed over him.
The air he inhaled was so hot it felt like it was cooking his lungs, and his eyeballs ached as if they were evaporating, making it impossible to open his eyes.
Kanghyeok, too, let out the unbearable pain through a wide-open mouth.
He was being burned alive.
His consciousness began to fade.
But Kanghyeok desperately clung to his consciousness, focusing on a single thought.
‘I have to restore my body.’
I have to live.
To do that, he needed a faster, more intense restorative ability than usual.
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
The shriek of the MK2, being cooked alive inside the superheating armor, viciously struck his eardrums.
In front of it, Kanghyeok desperately focused on his body.
It was then.
Fwoooosh! Crrrackle.
A faint sound mixed with the roar of the flames.
It was the sound of his body regenerating.
His charred skin didn't return to normal, but strength flowed back into his fingers, which had felt like they were melting.
His shriveling muscles relaxed.
His fusing skin separated.
Within the flames consuming his entire body, Kanghyeok clenched his teeth.
Ignore the pain.
Focus on what needs to be done and on surviving.
I will survive today.
With rational thought returning to his eyes, Kanghyeok glared at the MK2.
"Gyaaaaaaaargh!"
The MK2, which had been screaming as if it were losing its mind, also saw Kanghyeok. The protective goggles covering its eyes must have fallen off in the flames, for its eyes were now visible.
Rage, pain, and fear.
And eyes filled with resentment.
Whirrrr!
Its minigun spun and turned toward Kanghyeok.
At the same time, Kanghyeok raised his rifle.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
His bullets, fired a fraction of a second earlier, slammed into the shock absorber connected to the minigun.
CRACK!
As the bullets hit the shock absorber, which had been heated to its limit, the metal gave way and the hydraulic suspension burst.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Unable to control the recoil, the minigun's muzzle pointed toward the ceiling, and the creature's scream, its wrist bones dislocated, pierced through the flames and echoed in the living room.
Its scream did not last long.
KABOOOM!
The battery pack on its back exploded.
Its scream was buried by the explosion as the MK2 crashed to the floor.
The armor plates were crumpled from the internal explosion, and Kanghyeok grimaced from the pain of his ruptured eardrums.
The world went silent, as if it had disappeared.
But it only sounded that way.
The living room, burning intensely with a red glow, and the MK2, writhing in agony, were still there.
His own burning body was still there, too.
His consciousness faded in and out from oxygen deprivation and carbon monoxide poisoning, but he knew one thing for certain: it wasn't over yet.
Whine! Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
The MK2 struggled to raise its upper body and fired its minigun at the nearest wall.
An escape attempt.
Clank!
Kanghyeok raised the shotgun and aimed at the MK2.
BOOM!
When the shotgun fired, a blast so loud it seemed to make the very flames tremble filled the space.
***
Click.
Leila watched the gang members through the scope of her sniper rifle.
Bang! Fwoosh!
The ones throwing Molotov cocktails at the barricade were lurking in a blind spot, their menacing eyes gleaming.
The people in the supermarket were resisting desperately, but it seemed only a matter of time before the gang members breached the barricade.
But that wasn't going to happen.
The counterattack had begun.
Every single person who attacked this city would die, and no more innocents would perish.
"Let's begin."
Leila spoke into her communication device, and an affirmative reply came back.
Then Leila took aim at a man about to fire his rifle at the supermarket.
CRACK!
Blood erupted from the man's head, and the surrounding gang members screamed.
"Fuck, what was that!"
"Who the hell fired that shot!"
Struck by a bullet that came from somewhere other than the supermarket, the gang members panicked, firing wildly in all directions.
Immediately after, another man's head was pierced by a bullet from a different direction.
It was a bullet from the rooftop of the building opposite Leila.
Leila and another supporter who had come as backup had taken positions to the east and west.
Santiago Martis and the Deputy Team Leader who followed him were in charge of the south and north.
CRACK! CRACK!
At the heavy report of the sniper rifles, echoing back and forth, the gang members began to scatter.
"Take cover! Quick! Get inside a building!"
CRAAACK!
Along with a gunshot that split the air like a thunderclap, blood spurted from the neck of the man who had just spoken.
CRAAACK!
A bullet fired from the opposite side pierced the chest of a running man,
CRACK!
and a bullet from Leila's rifle tore through the stomach of another who was trying to flee elsewhere.
"Gack, gurgle."
Clutching a hole much larger than the bullet's entry wound with his palm, the gang member coughed up dark red blood.
The despair in his bloodshot eyes was visible even to the people in the supermarket.
"N-no."
The fallen gang member held up his palm toward the people behind the barricade, but it was meaningless.
Rat-tat-tat!
Riddled by a spray of bullets, the man collapsed. Having completely lost their formation, the remaining gang members ran haphazardly.
CRACK! CRACK!
As she systematically eliminated the stragglers from her position, Leila briefly glanced at the people in the supermarket through her scope.
Courage and hope were once again filling their faces, which had been soaked in despair.
Conversely, the gang members were screaming, suffering, and despairing.
‘This is just the beginning.’
Leila spoke into the communication device hooked to her ear.
"You can make your move, Team Leader Santiago."
(Thud.)
The sound of footsteps coming through the comms served as his reply.
Leila shifted her gaze to the fleeing gang. Driven solely by the will to survive, the gang members suddenly stopped in their tracks.
"Shit, fuck."
"Hooo-!"
Because Santiago, exhaling a long plume of cigarette smoke, was blocking their path.
A sturdy build and a black suit.
It was the moment the gang members instinctively realized that Santiago was the same kind of person as Kanghyeok and Leila.
Tsss!
The cigarette Santiago flicked hit one of the gang members in the face, scattering tiny sparks.
"Ugh!"
The moment the gang member flinched, Santiago shot him right between the eyes,
Shing!
and drew a combat knife, holding it with the blade facing down.
Stab!
After stabbing another man in the nape of the neck with the knife, he shot the others in succession—in the thigh, chest, and head.
Bang, bang!
Then he shot the fleeing men in the head, but he didn't give chase.
He simply aimed his pistol somewhere between their backs and their heads and held his breath.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
As four men fell in quick succession, Santiago spoke.
"Deputy Team Leader, I've herded them your way. Finish them all."
(Yes, sir.)
"Gurgle."
A gang member who hadn't died instantly looked up at Santiago from the ground, spitting out bloody foam.
Bang!
Without even looking at him, Santiago fired, then watched the distant gang members and pressed the comms device in his ear.
"Any word from Kanghyeok?"
(Not yet.)
(How rude. He should be thanking us.)
Hearing the Deputy Team Leader cut into his communication with Leila, Santiago furrowed his brow, forming a deep crease between his eyes.
"Kanghyeok is of Team Leader rank. Speak with the proper respect."
(...Understood.)
(Is there a message you'd like to pass on to Kanghyeok? I can look for another means of communication if you wish.)
"No, that won't be necessary."
Santiago looked toward the rooftop where Leila would be and continued.
"I'll just trust and wait."
Then, he cast a knowing glance in the direction of the safe house.