Chapter 135
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 135
Chapter Title: My People
Kanghyeok watched the second hand sweep across the face of his wristwatch.
The lapis lazuli dial, a deep, dark blue, was traversed by a golden second hand as it passed over the silver minute and hour hands.
A new fabric had been created.
A fabric that would be a great asset to Kanghyeok.
Using this fabric would result in performance far superior to his existing suits.
Its greatest advantage was its independence.
Being unrelated to the company, it offered more freedom than the suits he currently used. So much so that he could even have things made for others.
“You’re late.”
The appointed time had passed.
Yet the person he was meeting had not appeared. Kanghyeok frowned, his eyes scanning the airport.
He had visited this airport, which connected Italy and the United States, just recently.
Kanghyeok pulled a cigarette from his pocket, placed it between his lips, and held a lighter he'd bought at a convenience store.
Just as he was about to light it, a hand tapped him on the back.
Few could sneak up on Kanghyeok.
*Who?*
Kanghyeok whipped his head around, his eyes landing on a young woman.
“S-sorry. Did I startle you?”
Kanghyeok's expression was so rigid that it flustered the woman who had been trying to be playful. He sighed and took the cigarette from his lips.
“No. You’re later than I expected.”
“Sorry. I’m not familiar with this place.”
“In any case, it’s good to see you, Gabriel.”
Gabriel smiled, the corners of her lips lifting.
Just like when they'd last met, she was dressed in casual clothes and a padded jacket, with only a beanie on her head. She didn't look like a soldier at all.
Who would know?
That this woman, if she chose, was skilled enough to subdue everyone in this airport before the police could even arrive.
“Did you come alone?”
“No, I’m here too.”
A man of about the same age as Gabriel, who had been standing blankly three paces away, spoke in a flat voice.
He had been there the whole time, but he'd blended into the crowd like air.
Kanghyeok looked at the man, who was wearing a baseball jacket, jeans, and sneakers, and spoke his name as if letting it slip from his lips.
“Amos?”
“It’s been a while.”
Amos raised a hand and gave a slight wave.
Seeing him, Kanghyeok let out a soft laugh.
Out of his combat gear, Amos looked just as out of place as Gabriel. He had the overall feel of a college student majoring in physical education, and his delicate features even gave him a gentle impression.
“I couldn’t make it last time because something came up. Still, it’s good to see you like this.”
A passerby glanced over, drawn by Amos's peculiar way of speaking and the aura he exuded.
The balding middle-aged man reading a newspaper on a bench, the white-haired old man selling hot dogs nearby—none of them showed it, but they were probably all thinking something similar.
An older Asian man with a young Italian man and woman.
At a glance, it was a combination as hard to mix as oil and water.
“We’ll take my car.”
“You have a car?”
The question came from Amos, who remembered Kanghyeok's car being half-destroyed during the attack on Iron Mask's cruise ship.
“Ah.”
Gabriel looked at Kanghyeok, flustered.
She had been in Kanghyeok's car before.
It was a sports car, a two-seater.
Since she hadn't told him Amos was coming, she worried there wouldn't be room for him. But Kanghyeok just laughed, a soft exhalation of breath, and gestured with his chin toward a car parked on the street.
“It’s a different car today. There’s plenty of room.”
“A different... car?”
Gabriel repeated the words, her expression showing she found them very strange.
Different clothes, a different watch, a different gun—those things were easy to understand.
But for Gabriel, who had grown up in the church learning to restrain her desires as much as possible, the idea of applying "different" to things like a house or a car—things difficult to own even one of—was hard to grasp. Yet, Kanghyeok's car was indeed different from before.
“…A new car?”
“Bought it on the way here. It was a floor model, but it’s clean.”
Gabriel's face showed she was dumbfounded, while Amos flinched slightly and watched Kanghyeok with wary eyes.
*Was Gabriel right?*
He had heard from her, in painstaking detail, about what kind of person Kanghyeok was.
She had chattered on, her eyes sparkling as if she'd visited another world, but he had thought she must be seriously mistaken about something.
However, the moment he saw Kanghyeok's attire and the brand of the car he was approaching, it occurred to him that perhaps every one of her stories was true.
“It’s German.”
“Not bad, right?”
The fact that it was a black SUV heavily reflected Kanghyeok's tastes.
But its refined exterior and delicate design made it clear, even to someone ignorant about cars, that it was a very expensive vehicle.
Kanghyeok got into the driver's seat, Amos took the passenger seat, and Gabriel sat directly behind him.
The interior was more spacious than he'd expected, and despite it being a floor model, the fresh scent of a new car was so strong that Amos felt a little overwhelmed.
Kanghyeok released the parking brake, started the engine, and began to speak.
“You know why I called you.”
“Ah.”
The personal emotion vanished from Amos's eyes, replaced by seriousness.
“I know. That’s why I came too.”
“I’m surprised the Father didn’t come.”
“He’s still wary of you. If that disappoints you, I hope you’ll understand.”
“Not really.”
Kanghyeok turned the steering wheel and drove the car toward the main road.
He had made a promise to the Father, the leader of their organization.
That one day, he would provide them with clothes made from the same bulletproof material he wore.
No one could have known.
Not the Father, not Amos, not even Gabriel.
Not even the company or the organizations, including Iron Mask's, that had destroyed the world.
How momentous and meaningful this day was.
Kanghyeok's eyes met Gabriel's in the rearview mirror, then he turned his gaze back to the road ahead.
*Today, the Errant Priests will be complete.*
Gabriel and Amos were different from the Errant Priests he remembered.
The Errant Priests he remembered wore priestly vestments made of bulletproof material, just like the company's suits.
*At first, I thought I was going crazy.*
Figures in priestly garb appearing on the battlefield like ghosts, guns blazing.
The company was also a group that defied common sense, but he didn't think they were quite on the same level as the Errant Priests.
“Pfft.”
His sudden burst of laughter drew puzzled glances from Gabriel and Amos.
“Why are you laughing?”
“It’s just…”
He swallowed the rest of the sentence—that it was funny.
They say no one knows the future, but he had never imagined, not even in his wildest dreams, that he would be the one to complete the Errant Priests—a group that had even clashed with the company.
As he drove toward Jeff Black's place, Kanghyeok checked the time on his watch.
The warm sun, a rare treat, and a pleasant breeze.
The bright sun in the cloudless sky lifted his spirits.
Kanghyeok, who had been occasionally scanning the side of the road, took his foot off the accelerator.
As the car slowed, Amos was the first to look at Kanghyeok, who pulled over to the shoulder and spoke.
“We’ve still got a ways to go. Let’s grab a quick bite here.”
Gabriel looked out the window, her eyes widening.
It wasn't because she'd spotted a nice or intimidatingly fancy restaurant.
It was an ordinary sandwich stand on the side of the road.
She remembered a promise she'd made when she last met Kanghyeok.
That she would buy him a meal next time they met.
That she could at least afford to buy him a sandwich.
Wondering if he remembered her casual promise, she looked at him just as he unbuckled his seatbelt and spoke.
“Today, you’re buying.”
Gabriel gave a faint, deep smile and nodded.
Afterward, they drove for half a day without stopping, the SUV filled with the smell of sandwiches.
After passing through a large city and entering the country roads, Amos narrowed his eyes.
*This is very different from what I imagined.*
He had expected to go to some lavish or lab-like facility, not drive down a country road lined with vast fields of corn and wheat.
“Are you having doubts? Because of the road?”
Amos shook his head in response to Kanghyeok's question.
“No, I trust you.”
“Even though I might be handing you over to the company?”
Amos laughed heartily at the playful question.
“As if. I trust you.”
A faint smile played on Kanghyeok's lips as he looked straight ahead.
“We’re almost there. Don’t say anything, and ignore anyone who tries to talk to you.”
“Almost?”
Gabriel, sitting in the back, leaned forward between the driver and passenger seats to look ahead, but all she could see was a small, ordinary-looking gun shop.
“Don’t tell me it’s there.”
“That’s the place.”
“I guess it’s not what it looks like?”
The company Kanghyeok belonged to was as secretive an organization as Gabriel's church.
No amount of investigation had yielded any information about it.
There was no way Kanghyeok, a member of such a company, would take them to an ordinary gun shop.
When Kanghyeok's car pulled to a stop, a group of men with sunburnt necks loitering in front of the gun shop shot them unpleasant looks.
They were wary of outsiders, but when Kanghyeok got out of the car, their faces went pale.
“Well, damn, that’s…”
“Ahem, I forgot to feed the goats.”
“W-well, see you tomorrow. I’ll call you.”
As the men, who had looked as if they feared nothing in the world, retreated in fear of Kanghyeok, Amos looked at him with an expression that said he understood the situation.
“Don’t tell me you’ve dealt with them before?”
“That was a long time ago.”
Kanghyeok opened the door to the gun shop and stepped inside.
He could feel Amos and Gabriel right behind him, craning their necks to get a look inside.
And he could also sense their immediate disappointment.
“Welcome.”
But when the gun shop owner, who looked anything but polite, greeted Kanghyeok with a serious demeanor, they began to think that this place might not be as ordinary as it seemed.
“I’m here to see the Master. I have an appointment.”
“I know. I’ll open the door for you now.”
The owner grabbed a shotgun hanging on the wall and pulled it down. With a click, a hidden door was revealed.
“Whoa.”
Hearing Gabriel's voice, filled with childlike wonder, Kanghyeok started toward the entrance when the owner approached and whispered in a very low voice.
“Are you sure about this?”
This gun shop was not part of the company.
But it was a place only those in the know could visit. A place where secrets and confidentiality were paramount. He was asking if it was okay to bring complete outsiders like Gabriel and Amos.
Hearing the owner's voice, Amos and Gabriel held their breath, their eyes darting toward them. Kanghyeok met the owner's gaze and nodded.
“It’s fine. They’re my people.”
“If you say so…”
The owner stepped aside as if to say he wouldn't interfere any further, allowing Kanghyeok and the other two to descend the stairs.
And so, with Amos and Gabriel following him like shadows, Kanghyeok headed to the place where Jeff Black and the Master were waiting.
When the door opened, it was as if they had entered another world.
The very air was different from upstairs, where the smells of alcohol and sweat had lingered.
Inside were the Master and Jeff Black, impeccably dressed and radiating professionalism. An entire wall was filled with firearms the likes of which they had never even seen.
It created a strange sense of pressure.
It was the kind of atmosphere that overwhelmed a person, like stepping into the VIP room of a luxury boutique.