Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: A New Purpose
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*Click.*
The three gang members who approached the fallen Kanghyeok radiated a vicious killing intent as they loaded their guns.
Their intention was clearly not to grant him a clean death. Leila, witnessing all this from the club's exit, furrowed her brow.
*It's over.*
Kanghyeok was dead.
Even if he were alive, he might as well be dead.
William would be disappointed, and all of Leila's efforts to help Kanghyeok would have been for nothing.
Leila truly believed this.
The grenade had exploded at too close a range, and while the suit Kanghyeok wore might stop shrapnel, it couldn't possibly negate the shockwave.
No agent could survive a situation like this.
If there was an agent who could…
*No, that's impossible.*
Recalling a rumor circulating at the company, Leila shook her head slightly.
The rumor was that if Kanghyeok had stayed with the company, he would have become a legend. But the legend had ended here before it could even begin.
Feeling a sense of pity, Leila let the hand holding the submachine gun fall limply to her side.
Unable to bear the sight of bullets riddling Kanghyeok's body, she was about to leave the club when a gang member pressed a rifle to Kanghyeok's temple.
*Screech.*
The very moment the gang member's finger began to squeeze the trigger, Kanghyeok moved.
Just before the startled gang member could pull the trigger, Kanghyeok slapped the barrel aside.
*Bang!*
A bullet hit the floor. Kanghyeok's hand gripped the gun barrel.
"Th-this bastard...!"
At the gang member's flustered voice, Leila turned her gaze, and the other gang members hastily aimed their guns at Kanghyeok.
Time now flowed properly.
His body had completely recovered from the shock of the grenade.
He knew he had to move quickly, yet strangely, he felt no sense of urgency.
Was it because he had died and come back to life?
Or was it because he had heard that strange, unidentified voice?
With eyes far more lonely and desolate than usual, Kanghyeok watched the gang member about to pull the trigger.
And Leila, too, saw it all.
"How is he alive?"
As Leila muttered softly, as if possessed, Kanghyeok moved.
*Whoosh!*
He lifted his leg, coiling it around the gang member's arm and gun like a snake, and used the rolling momentum to bring the man down.
*Bang! Bang!*
Then he used the gang member's body as a shield against the incoming bullets.
"Guuh!"
The gang member let out a groan from his wide-open mouth as Kanghyeok reached out to the side and picked up a dropped pistol.
*Crack!*
He fired into the temple of the gang member in his arms, then shot at the feet of the others who were aiming their guns again.
*Crack, crack!*
"Aaargh!"
"F-fucking son of a bitch!"
Kanghyeok pushed the corpse aside and got to his feet. Despite writhing in pain, the gang members aimed their guns at him.
But they had gotten too close.
*Bang!*
He dodged a bullet from one of them by twisting his body,
*Grab.*
grabbed the man's wrist,
*Snap!*
and as he twisted and broke it, he fired into the man's armpit and head.
Only one gang member remained, but the magazine was empty.
Without hesitation, Kanghyeok threw the pistol at the last man standing.
*Crack!*
"Kaak."
As a scream erupted from the gang member, whose eyeball had been crushed by the heavy piece of metal, Kanghyeok lunged at him.
The closest gun between Kanghyeok and the gang member was the one in the gang member's hand.
Kanghyeok tried to turn the gun, along with the man's hand, toward his chest. The gang member, blood streaming from his eye, struggled desperately to stop him.
It became a struggle for control over a single pistol.
"Grnnngh."
The gang member desperately tried to turn the gun on Kanghyeok, but the pain shooting up from his bullet-ridden foot prevented him from mustering his full strength.
The trembling barrel moved slowly, but surely, toward the gang member.
The moment the gang member's face contorted in terror, the barrel was pointing at his chest.
*Bang!*
Strength instantly drained from the gang member's hand.
But Kanghyeok always aimed for the chest and the head.
He twisted the wrist again, this time pointing the barrel upward.
*Bang!*
Another gunshot rang out, and the bullet pierced the gang member's chin, exiting through the top of his head.
Blood splattered up to the ceiling.
The pungent smell of gunpowder filled the air.
The gunshot, after echoing, seemed to be absorbed by the corpses and vanished.
Then, a thick silence completely filled the club.
Leila had watched it all without blinking even once.
"Unbelievable."
Kanghyeok's movements were too fast and powerful for someone who had just been caught in a grenade blast.
Superhuman willpower? Or a constitution sturdier than others?
She couldn't tell what allowed Kanghyeok to move like that, but it sent a shiver down her spine that was close to a thrill.
Leila had seen the profiles of many agents and knew their records inside and out.
But there had never been anyone like Kanghyeok.
Now beginning to understand why William was so desperate for Kanghyeok's reinstatement, Leila bit her lip gently.
*Clack.*
The sound of the pistol slipping from Kanghyeok's hand and hitting the floor seemed unusually loud. Kanghyeok turned his head and met Leila's gaze.
"Take me to the next destination."
At his deep, deep gaze and subdued voice, like someone who had died and come back to life, Leila reflexively nodded.
*Vrooom!*
Leila was in the driver's seat, and Kanghyeok was in the seat behind the passenger's.
The light from the rapidly passing streetlights illuminated the car's interior at regular intervals.
As if trying to chase the moon visible through the windshield, Leila sped up, occasionally glancing at Kanghyeok in the back seat through the rearview mirror.
Her gaze on Kanghyeok, who was looking down and inspecting the pistol and rifle, felt different than before.
Kanghyeok had been more like a client.
But now…
It was hard to put a finger on it, but he was definitely a little harder to approach than before.
*It feels like I'm driving William, no, a team-leader-level operative.*
Leila didn't know why she felt this way.
It might as well have been instinct.
The movements and gaze she had seen from Kanghyeok in the club were hard to attribute to a deputy team leader, so she subconsciously regarded him as someone of a higher rank.
*Tsk.*
Leila shook her head briefly, looked straight ahead, and spoke to Kanghyeok.
"According to a message from headquarters, unusual activity was detected at the abandoned Valvano Hospital."
After confirming through the rearview mirror that Kanghyeok was looking her way, Leila continued her briefing in a polite tone.
"A vehicle that was there has left the city. It appears Yohan has fled with the laptop. We are currently in pursuit of that vehicle."
Yohan would never guess.
The message from headquarters said there was only one person in the car, so he probably thought no one knew his whereabouts.
But that was a huge miscalculation.
From the moment Yohan left the abandoned hospital, he was being watched.
The vehicle's coordinates were being transmitted to Leila in real-time, and people at headquarters were watching him too.
This was possible because of a company-owned satellite.
If he knew he was under the surveillance of a satellite he could never shake, no matter what he did, he would feel like he'd fallen into a sewer.
*I didn't expect they'd even authorize satellite surveillance.*
It must mean that headquarters strongly desires Kanghyeok's reinstatement.
But would Kanghyeok really come back?
Leila glanced at Kanghyeok in the rearview mirror.
His expression and gaze were completely unreadable.
The face of a man who seemed to have transcended something.
It also looked as if his consciousness wasn't here but somewhere else entirely.
"Kanghyeok? Are you listening?"
"Yes."
A half-hearted reply came back, followed by a thick silence.
Then, Leila spoke up, her tone extremely cautious.
"May I ask a personal question?"
She met Kanghyeok's eyes in the rearview mirror.
"Do you really want to get the laptop back?"
The journey to retrieve the laptop.
A lot of effort and resources were being poured into reinstating Kanghyeok.
If Kanghyeok didn't truly want the laptop back, then headquarters and Leila were engaged in a meaningless task.
Leila's attention was fixed on Kanghyeok's lips, but no answer came.
Silently, Kanghyeok placed the newly maintained gun on his lap and shifted his gaze out the window.
*Do I want to get the laptop back?*
Since leaving the club, he hadn't thought about the laptop even once.
Even now, as its whereabouts became clear and they were chasing Yohan, who had fled with it.
He couldn't help it.
Kanghyeok's mind was filled with his second experience of death and his second encounter with the mysterious man.
This meant Kanghyeok had now returned from death twice.
*'It was your power from the beginning.'*
Coming back from death.
An unnatural healing ability.
If the man was right, it meant that Kanghyeok himself was the one who had saved him. The thought that he possessed such power, something he'd never even dreamed of, was unsettling.
But the words that shook Kanghyeok the most were these.
*'A task that only you can do.'*
Kanghyeok brought his clenched fist to his forehead.
The man hadn't given any hints, but Kanghyeok felt he knew what he was talking about.
He was trying to find a stolen laptop.
Then what about the stolen future?
Kanghyeok slowly closed and opened his eyes, silently watching the passing streetlights.
The future 12 years from now, which could only be described as annihilated.
Kanghyeok was the only one in the entire world who knew about it.
Perhaps what that man expected of Kanghyeok was...
"Leila."
"Yes."
It was right after Leila answered.
With a newfound life in his eyes, Kanghyeok spoke in a clear voice.
"I will get it back. Absolutely."
Understanding that he meant the laptop, Leila nodded. Then she stepped hard on the accelerator.
*Vroooooom!*
The black SUV shot forward, racing down the road.
*Vroom.*
Yohan picked up his phone while driving.
He had already left the city and entered another area. The sea was on his left, and the salty smell coming through the window filled the car's interior.
*Tap, tap.*
Yohan's face twisted as he checked his messages.
There were photos of the black SUV and a report about spotting someone who looked like Kanghyeok at the club.
The problem was that there were no follow-up reports.
"Useless bastards."
No report had come in yet confirming Kanghyeok's elimination.
He wanted to see a picture of Kanghyeok's head blown open like a blooming flower, but his subordinates hadn't sent a single text, let alone a photo.
*Are they still fighting?*
It was frustrating, but Yohan had no one left to give him information.
He had no intention of turning the car around and visiting the club, so Yohan irritably put a cigarette in his mouth.
*Just die, all of you.*
They were a hastily assembled crew, and Kanghyeok was someone who absolutely should not be alive.
Wishing everyone but himself would just drop dead, Yohan lit his cigarette and exhaled a heavy sigh along with a plume of smoke.
*Tap-tap-tap-tap.*
His fingers, which had been nervously drumming on the steering wheel, grew still the moment Yohan saw the laptop.
"Hoo!"
*Yeah, I have that!*
I have the laptop filled with Kanghyeok's cryptocurrency.
It was the hope that would illuminate Yohan's future like a lighthouse, a treasure that would satisfy his dark greed.
What if I just get to my destination and hand over just 10 percent of the crypto in exchange for an executive position?
Just the thought of it made him feel so good that a tingling sensation ran down his spine.
"Hah!"
He felt that he didn't care about Kanghyeok, the gang, or anything else. Endorphins rushed through him as if he were high on meth.
It was then.
*Flash!*
"Fuck!"
Yohan cursed as the light of high beams suddenly flooded in through his rear window.
Gripping the steering wheel tightly, he turned his contorted face to look back, only to have his expression falter.
"Oh, for fuck's sake."
The black SUV from the text his men had just sent.
That black SUV, carrying Kanghyeok's accomplice, was chasing him like a demon intent on taking his life.