Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Stop Me By Any Means Necessary (3)
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The subordinate’s gun was trembling faintly.
His hand shook as he held the weapon, and ragged breaths escaped his lips.
“Hand over the detonator.”
And yet, his voice was grim.
The city-wide bombing was not Nobody’s mission alone.
It was a task for all his direct subordinates, a duty that had to be fulfilled.
But Nobody had not been faithful to this mission.
Despite having planted bombs throughout the city, he kept delaying their detonation, sacrificing his men in the process.
He hadn’t even given them a reason.
The simmering anger had finally boiled over, becoming a threat to Nobody’s life.
“Ssssss.”
The breath that hissed through Nobody’s teeth was as thin and chilling as a snake’s.
“You should have pulled the trigger first.”
“Just give me the detonator. Then I’ll let you live.”
Nobody tilted his head to the side and spoke to the men behind him.
“Do the rest of you feel the same?”
A silence thick with fear descended.
And silence, more often than not, means yes.
Nobody’s chest heaved with a silent laugh as he reached into his coat.
The subordinate kept the gun aimed, his focus fixed on Nobody’s shoulder and arm.
Finally, his hand emerged from his coat, and in that instant, Nobody’s subordinate gritted his teeth.
A flash of gleaming metal.
It was definitely not the detonator.
The subordinate immediately pulled the trigger.
*BANG!*
A gunshot rang out, but no blood splattered.
The subordinate was stunned to find his arm suddenly jerked upward, the bullet fired into the ceiling.
An instant later, excruciating pain shot through him, and his mouth flew open in a scream.
“Aaargh!”
The large knife that had dug deep enough to hit bone resembled a combat knife.
Having spun and driven the oversized blade up into the subordinate’s arm, Nobody cast a shimmering gaze upon his other men.
“Remember this.”
“Aaaaaargh!”
As the man shrieked from the pain of his nearly severed arm, Nobody continued in a cold voice from behind him.
“This is what happens when an unworthy fool oversteps his bounds.”
He then grabbed the subordinate’s wrist and elbow, the knife still embedded in the arm.
“Ghh! Guhhh!”
The subordinate struggled with all his might to break free, but he was overwhelmed by superior strength.
He couldn’t pull the trigger, either.
Among the muscles severed by the blade was the tendon connected to his index finger.
Nobody lifted the captured arm high, and just as the subordinate let out a torrent of tears and screams,
*CRACK!*
He slammed the arm down with all his might, simultaneously driving his knee up into the spot where the knife was lodged.
*Thud.*
The knife fell impassively from the mangled arm.
“Gyaaaaaaaah!”
Nobody picked up the knife and swung it wide.
*Squelch.*
A heavy silence fell, as if the room had never been filled with noise.
Nobody, knife dripping with blood, turned his gaze to his remaining men.
As his eyes met theirs, they flinched back warily. Nobody spoke in a tone that suggested he couldn’t understand their hesitation.
“What are you doing? You were going to continue, weren’t you?”
Nobody’s eyes looked as if he was about to slaughter them all.
The subordinates swallowed dryly, shaking their heads slightly or pulling weapons from their coats and placing them on the floor.
They felt they might stand a chance if they all rushed him at once.
But in that process, someone would surely die.
Each of them felt that someone would be him. Seeing the man dead on the floor with his arm twisted at a grotesque angle, they completely lost their will to fight.
“Hah.”
His face drained of energy, Nobody folded his left arm.
He placed the spine of the knife against the inside of his elbow, wiping the blood off as he drew it back, and then spoke to his men.
“The bombs will go off. That much, I promise.”
Seeing the change in his subordinates’ eyes, Nobody continued.
“I will do my job. So you must do yours.”
Absolute obedience.
That was what Nobody wanted from his men.
“Prepare to greet him. As soon as he’s dead, radio me. The bombs will detonate then. Do you understand what I mean?”
The subordinates bit their lips and nodded.
“Understood.”
As one of them managed to reply, Nobody bared his teeth and nodded back.
“Then get moving. Now.”
The men moved out, each with a different expression.
One felt humiliated.
Another, relieved to be alive.
Mixed among them was one who desperately wished for the bombs to go off.
And another, who would now try to eliminate Kanghyeok with all his might, just to make the bombs detonate.
Once his men had scattered and he was left alone, Nobody put a cigarette to his lips.
*Click.*
“Hooo-!”
Nobody looked up at the night sky through the glassless window frame.
Dark clouds, thick enough to swallow the moon, looked down on him and began to spit rain with irritation.
The downpour quickly intensified, engulfing the entire city as if a curtain had been drawn.
Nobody took the cigarette from his lips and exhaled a plume of smoke.
A good day to die.
Though the words were lost in the sound of the rain, they were surely what Nobody had uttered with the smoke.
*Swoooosh! Swish, swish.*
Inside the sports car, its wipers pushing aside the deluge, Kanghyeok lit a cigarette.
The rain poured down as if a hole had been torn in the sky.
Kanghyeok slowed the car, but Leila, looking at her laptop beside him, said nothing.
They were very close to their destination.
There had been no further interference from the enemy.
Had they given up?
Or were they planning something else?
As Leila chewed her thumbnail, lost in thought, Kanghyeok spoke while driving.
“I’m going in alone.”
Leila’s head snapped toward him, her face shocked. Kanghyeok continued, his eyes on the rain-streaked windshield.
“You wait here.”
“It’s too dangerous to go alone.”
The company now knew that Nobody was no mere gang.
The initial simple mission of cleaning up a gang had vanished like a mirage, and the company had reassessed the risk of this operation.
Now, that mission was nearing its end, with only the raid on Nobody’s headquarters remaining.
He was bound to have more than a few men.
He might have planted bombs everywhere.
Dangers capable of tearing through the suit’s bulletproofing could spring from all sides.
Going in alone was a clear suicide mission.
“Let me accompany you.”
Her voice was closer to a plea than a suggestion.
But Kanghyeok just shook his head silently and pressed the brake.
Inside the slowing car, Leila watched Kanghyeok with a tense expression as he unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Leila.”
“Yes.”
“You have another job to do.”
Leila stared at Kanghyeok for a moment before dropping her gaze to the laptop on her knees.
“I’m aware.”
Nobody’s bombs, planted throughout the city.
Her job was to send a jamming frequency to them.
Sending it in advance might be the safest option. But what if Nobody found out?
His men stationed near the bombs could take up their guns and start killing indiscriminately.
A chaos that one person could never stop would spread across the entire city.
“I’ll give you the signal when it’s time.”
“…Yes.”
Leaving Leila, who nodded heavily, Kanghyeok stepped out of the car.
*Swoooosh!*
The rain was so fierce it was almost painful on his shoulders.
*Hoo.*
Kanghyeok exhaled and started walking.
Nobody’s headquarters was just two turns around the corner.
The area was full of abandoned buildings, a desolate place that even gangs avoided.
With no sign of life and not even a single streetlight, it felt like returning to a world that had already ended.
*Clank, clank.*
Even the sound of his rifles clashing against each other as he walked, the familiar weight of the weapons, felt just like back then.
The only difference was that he was younger now.
‘Or is it?’
A lot had changed.
His relationship with Leila hadn't been like this.
He had only known that such an employee existed, and he hadn’t been tied to the company through the strange arrangement of a subcontractor.
He had never received a sports car.
He had never faced an enemy like Nobody.
Not even a week had passed since he’d picked up a gun again, but so much was different.
The future would change too.
To make that happen, he had to survive today.
No matter what.
And by any means necessary.
*Click.*
Kanghyeok switched the rifle’s safety to fire and rounded the corner.
*Swoooooosh!*
He was greeted only by deep darkness and pouring rain. With his finger on the trigger, Kanghyeok walked along the road.
Just one more corner to turn.
*Splish, splash.*
Muddy water that had seeped through the cracked asphalt soaked his pant cuffs before being washed away by the rain.
With his rifle shouldered, Kanghyeok rounded the final corner.
And he saw it.
The naked building, its frame and concrete hideously exposed.
The many cars parked nearby and the sense of presence emanating from the entire building seemed to warn him to turn back now.
But there was no turning back.
Kanghyeok had a job to do here.
‘Kill Nobody.’
Just as Kanghyeok began to slowly approach the building,
*Flash!*
An LED flashlight flared from a hallway, illuminating him for a moment before vanishing. But no shots followed.
It felt like they were just confirming his arrival.
Kanghyeok looked up at the spot where the light had appeared and clenched his jaw.
He didn’t like that they hadn’t fired.
It felt like a taunt, as if they were absolutely certain of their overwhelming advantage.
*Whoosh!*
Clutching his rifle, Kanghyeok sprinted toward the building’s entrance.
*Flash!*
Perhaps caught off guard by his unexpected move, the light flashed again, and this time, bullets followed.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat! Thwip! Thwack! Thwack! Whizz!*
Bullets swarmed around him.
*CRASH!*
Kanghyeok kicked the door in and immediately swung his muzzle toward the presence he felt to his left.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!*
The muzzle flash from his rifle lit up the narrow, dark corridor.
These bastards were dead serious.
They were dug in right from the first-floor entrance, and though it looked hastily made, they had even created cover from construction materials.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat!*
Kanghyeok fired, spraying bullets as he backpedaled.
The enemy returned fire, sticking only their guns over their cover, but that kind of shooting rarely hit its mark.
*Thump.*
Even after Kanghyeok took cover behind a corner, their firing continued.
Kanghyeok calmly reached back, pulled out a magazine, and reloaded.
Then he waited.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat!*
The chaotic roar of their gunfire became calmer.
That was because only two guns were firing now, instead of the five that had been firing in sequence.
Kanghyeok kicked off the ground and burst into the corridor, taking careful aim at one of the men peeking out from between the barricades.
*Thwack!*
One down.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!*
Kanghyeok fired threateningly as he charged toward them.
He would close the distance before they could finish reloading.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat!*
Panicked shots flew his way, but again, they were the shots of cowards hiding behind cover.
Staring straight at the muzzle flashes spitting from the enemy’s gun, Kanghyeok approached from a blind spot and thrust a hand into his coat.
When his hand emerged, it was holding a kukri.