Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Turning the Tables
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CRASH!
The driverless car slammed into a lamppost, and Leila pulled her upper body back inside.
Click, ping!
Reloading the sniper rifle, Leila saw a car charging toward Kanghyeok.
From the passenger seat, Leila didn't have a clear shot.
Still, she wasn't worried.
After all, she knew who the man beside her was.
Leila turned her attention back to her rifle as Kanghyeok rolled down the driver's side window.
He then tucked the hand holding the pistol under the armpit of the arm gripping the steering wheel.
The muzzle, of course, was pointed out the window.
It was a large-caliber pistol.
If he were standing on two feet, it would be different, but while driving, he had to brace his shooting arm this way to have any hope of a stable shot.
VROOOOM!
The distance between the two cars closed as if they were about to collide, and Kanghyeok swerved the wheel to the side.
It was the moment the two cars brushed past each other.
CRACK!
From a distance so close he could have reached out and touched them, Kanghyeok's pistol spat a bullet. It pierced the driver's face and lodged itself in the passenger.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!
The man in the back seat pulled the trigger, but Kanghyeok's car had already passed.
CRASH!
The loud noise of the car slamming into a lamppost echoed.
Kanghyeok placed the pistol on his lap, and Leila opened her laptop again to look at the screen.
“Three are approaching simultaneously.”
“Their speed?”
“Slow.”
Kanghyeok narrowed his eyes and bit his lower lip.
“Is something wrong?”
Kanghyeok answered Leila's puzzled look with a slight tilt of his head.
“Something's not right.”
“They must be scared.”
Two of their vehicles had been taken out so easily.
It was enough to shatter their morale, so it was reasonable to assume they were scared, just as Leila said.
But something was bothering him.
The gang members he'd seen just before pulling the trigger.
The men in the car weren't Nobody's subordinates, but the kind of petty gangsters commonly seen in this city.
‘Does he think I'm easy?’
Easy enough to send untrained thugs after me?
Kanghyeok smirked and watched the headlights approaching from the distance.
That can't be it.
Kanghyeok knew what he represented to Nobody. And he knew what kind of man Nobody was.
He wasn't the type to send such pathetic grunts to their deaths for no reason.
“Why is there only one…”
Leila frowned, looking back at the laptop she'd glanced away from.
“They've split up. One has stopped completely, and the other is approaching from the side. Their movements are strange.”
Internal conflict?
Leila added in a mumble, but Kanghyeok didn't agree.
SCREECH!
Kanghyeok slammed on the brakes and cranked the wheel hard.
The car's body sank heavily as they were thrown to the right. Leila, having hit her head on the door, grimaced and looked at Kanghyeok.
“This isn't the right way.”
“I know.”
After a sharp U-turn, Kanghyeok immediately stomped on the accelerator.
VROOOOOM!
With a heavy roar, the car shot forward, and the car that had been approaching head-on also sped up and began to follow.
Watching the gang's car recede in the rearview mirror, Kanghyeok twisted his lips.
“Damn it.”
Just as Leila had done, one of them stuck his upper body and a weapon out of the car window.
An anti-tank rocket.
A weapon with insane cost-effectiveness.
An illegally produced one costs less than two thousand dollars, yet it can easily destroy a tank worth over six million.
Kanghyeok shifted his gaze to Leila, asking a question with his eyes.
*Just in case, can this car withstand that?*
Leila answered by shaking her head.
“Tsk!”
Just as Kanghyeok clicked his tongue.
BOOM!
The man fired the rocket. The backblast and shock caused the gang's car to lurch violently, while Kanghyeok veered into a side street.
It was a hair's breadth.
The rocket flew past where Kanghyeok's car had been and slammed into the ground, causing a massive explosion.
KABOOOOM!
For a moment, a flash of light as bright as day was accompanied by a tremor in the air.
Perhaps it was because of the unexpected weapon.
With narrowed eyes filled with bewilderment, Leila looked at Kanghyeok.
Her eyes asked what he was going to do.
Kanghyeok bit his lower lip, hit the brakes, and turned the wheel.
SCREECH!
The car spun 180 degrees and came to a stop.
“What are you…”
Leila's bewildered gaze followed Kanghyeok as he unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Stay here.”
Kanghyeok grabbed a rifle and got out of the car, leaving Leila alone to watch his back, speechless.
Click.
Feeling Leila's stare on his back, Kanghyeok switched the rifle's safety off.
He pressed the stock to his shoulder, placed his index finger on the trigger, ready to fire at any moment, and aligned his sights.
VROOOOOM!
The sound of their car approaching grew louder.
It felt as if he could even hear the sound of them loading the anti-tank rocket, and the sound of their eyes darting around, searching for him.
Hsssss.
Exhaling through his teeth, Kanghyeok focused all his senses on his hearing.
He knew they were reckless and violent, but he hadn't expected them to bring an anti-tank rocket.
But now that he knew, it wasn't a problem.
VROOOM!
The sound grew closer.
His senses sharpened.
He could feel the texture of the night air being crushed by the car charging at him like a mad beast.
And even the emotion in Leila's gaze on his back.
*You don't understand, do you?*
*Why I'm about to do something so damn inefficient.*
VROOOM!
Listening to the approaching vehicle, Kanghyeok sucked in his lips.
He knew. Hiding behind the car's one-way bulletproof glass and firing the rifle would be safer and more efficient.
But this was the right way.
Even if the enemy was charging like a mad bull with an anti-tank rocket, even if he knew his rifle was feeble compared to their weapon, this was the right thing to do right now.
Because he didn't think an anti-tank rocket was all they had.
He didn't know what else they had, but he would end it before they could use it.
‘I can do this.’
In the past, the Kanghyeok of his current age would have found this impossible.
But now, it was possible.
For the man he was now—the one who had transcended death and returned to the past—it was possible.
‘Now.’
His intuition, honed by countless battles and experiences, gave the signal.
RAT-TAT-TAT!
Just before the car came into view, Kanghyeok pulled the trigger.
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!
Bullets slammed into the vehicle as if it had appeared just to be shot. Blood splattered across the punctured glass, and the car swerved violently.
CRASH!
The car crashed to a halt near the side street.
Kanghyeok stared at the stopped vehicle, and the moment he saw a faint movement inside, he squeezed the trigger again.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Leaving no room for doubt, Kanghyeok turned back to the sports car where Leila was.
It was night, and the car had dark tinted windows.
Even so, they couldn't hide Leila's expression.
He met the eyes of a shocked and bewildered Leila through the window, then opened the driver's door.
“How…”
“I was lucky.”
Kanghyeok said calmly, pressing a hand to his chest.
He had only pulled the trigger twice, but his heart was pounding as if the intense focus had drained him of all his blood.
“Hoo, hooo.”
Just as Kanghyeok exhaled and gripped the steering wheel again.
KABOOOOOM!
The gang's car, which had crashed into a lamppost, exploded, sending up a plume of black smoke.
Creeeak, thud!
The blast knocked over several nearby lampposts. Leila, who had reflexively covered her face, lowered her arm, a deep furrow forming on the bridge of her nose.
“What…”
“Check the frequency.”
Leila turned to Kanghyeok, who stared at the burning car and put a cigarette in his mouth.
“That wasn't the rocket.”
He knew the power of an anti-tank rocket well.
That explosion was more powerful than a simple anti-tank rocket. If this car hadn't been armored, they would have been caught in the blast.
“Understood.”
Vrooom.
As the car reversed, Leila checked her laptop for any recently detected frequencies.
“Hmm.”
Leila let out a soft sound before speaking.
“You're right. A detonation frequency was just detected. It's a bit different from the one used to blow up the building, though.”
“Source?”
“The car that was handling communications.”
The car that was coordinating the others.
Nobody's men must be in that car.
And the other cars were filled with regular gangsters.
“He's insane.”
Leila said with disgust, and Kanghyeok nodded as he lit his cigarette.
Sending a detonation frequency doesn't magically create a bomb.
The bombs must have been planted from the start, a secret kept from the gangsters.
And they were detonated when needed.
He now understood why they hadn't sent all the cars at once.
If the men knew their own cars were rigged with explosives, anyone would have fled.
They probably assumed the explosion of the last car was from the anti-tank rocket.
“What about the other cars?”
First, he needed to know where the other two cars were.
“They're approaching from different routes.”
Unlike Kanghyeok, they couldn't pinpoint his location.
“What's the plan?”
Leila asked, a hint of anticipation in her voice.
“When I give the word.”
Kanghyeok continued as he entered the main road.
“Blow them up.”
GRRRRRR!
On the road, Kanghyeok revved the engine loudly.
The roar, like that of an enraged beast, pierced the silent night, echoing as if it would reach the ends of the earth.
Watching the two vehicles begin to move faster after hearing the engine, Leila spoke.
“Understood.”
Grrrr! Grrrr!
Kanghyeok silently watched the intersection ahead and the headlights charging toward him.
What must they be feeling?
Like they're fighting someone who won't die even when killed?
If so, they're half right.
Because they're up against me, a man that even death couldn't stop.
Grrrr!
The engine roared again, and the headlights of the other gang's car appeared at the intersection.
The two vehicles slowly approached each other.
In the silence, Kanghyeok waited for the moment they would meet.
And finally, that moment arrived.
“Blow it.”
Click.
Leila pressed the enter key on her laptop, and a message was sent to headquarters at the speed of light.
Headquarters, which had been waiting for Leila's signal, immediately sent a frequency to Kanghyeok's location via satellite.
The entire process took three seconds.
The detonation frequency rained down on the two cars driving side-by-side.
KABOOOOM!
The car carrying the gangsters exploded spectacularly, catching the car with Nobody's men in the blast.
CRASH! THUD, THUD, THUD!
The two cars were thrown past either side of Kanghyeok's vehicle.
Black smoke trailed the half-demolished vehicles like a shadow, and the nauseating, acrid smell of burning filled the air.
The smell of death.
It was the stench emanating from their vehicles, destroyed to the point that their frames were exposed.
FWOOSH! BANG! POP!
Watching the overturned, burning vehicles in his side mirror, Kanghyeok turned his gaze forward.
The small fry were dealt with. Now it was time to cut off the head of the snake.
Grrrr!
Kanghyeok's car began to race through the deep darkness toward Nobody's location.
“I can't reach them.”
Nobody's subordinate said, lowering the phone from his ear.
His face was pale, and his voice was laced with bewilderment. The feeling spread to the other subordinates around him.
The only one who reacted differently was Nobody.
“Boss?”
Looking down at the darkness outside, Nobody didn't answer, his face twitching faintly.
It wasn't from fear.
It was intense joy and pleasure.
‘Yes, of course. This is how it should be.’
Like his subordinates, Nobody assumed that all the men he had sent were dead.
Of course. He knew what kind of man his target was.
They were sent to die from the start, and he was certain his target had killed them spectacularly.
Was he injured?
There was a report of a bomb exploding, so if he was human, he couldn't be unscathed.
If he was unharmed, then he wasn't human.
He was a god of war.
‘Hurry, please, hurry.’
Feeling an intense impatience, Nobody began to chew on his fingernails. Soon, a nail broke, and blood seeped onto his teeth.
It was then.
Click.
He felt something foreign against the back of his head.
The cool metal touching his scalp was unmistakably the muzzle of a gun.
“You crazy bastard.”
The voice from behind him was trembling but firm.
One of his subordinates, fed up with Nobody's incomprehensible actions, had pointed a gun at him.