Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Arrival
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The sun was setting.
The moon was rising.
It was a time when the clouds were stained violet, and even the direction of the wind was changing.
The world, submerged in night, had a different feel than it did during the day.
As if it had become another being entirely.
This feeling was especially strong in places with a view of the sea.
*Ssk.*
Amos pushed back his sleeve and checked the time on his digital watch.
To his left, the vast, dark sea stretched out; to his right, an abandoned, dark port lay before him.
It was a port that would have normally been used as a dock and loading area.
But now it was a port no one visited, home only to dust, barnacles, and gulls.
*The appointed time has come.*
Amos looked at the road, his face tinged with lingering hope.
The meeting time had passed.
And yet, Kanghyeok hadn't arrived.
*Is he late?*
*Or is this as far as we go together?*
"He will come."
Gabriel spoke beside him in a calm voice, as if telling him not to worry, but Amos just shook his head briefly.
"Don't get your hopes up."
If Kanghyeok joined them, he would be more reassuring than anyone else in the world.
One could say that Kanghyeok was the person they desperately needed right now.
But what if Kanghyeok didn't come?
The two of them would have to manage somehow.
Even if their ominous premonitions came true and they lost their lives to the enemy's fierce resistance, they couldn't blame Kanghyeok.
He wasn't involved in this matter.
He was someone they had met at the perfect time, as if guided by God, but in the end, he was still a stranger.
They shouldn't feel regret even if they parted without a goodbye.
Rather, they should be grateful that the warehouse raid had gone so smoothly thanks to him.
Amos decided to assume Kanghyeok wasn't coming at all and tapped the shoulder of Gabriel, who was still looking at the road.
"Nothing changes. We proceed as planned."
"...Alright."
"More importantly, how are you feeling?"
"I can move."
Amos looked into Gabriel's eyes.
They were not the eyes of someone who was truly okay.
Gabriel had the eyes of a person holding up a body on the verge of collapse with sheer willpower.
Gabriel's physical condition was far from normal.
Massive blood loss and fractures.
She had fought Kanghyeok once and had been hit by several bullets at the warehouse.
She was in a state where she should have been rushed to a hospital, but she was holding on through sheer sense of duty.
*Grip.*
That was why Amos squeezed Gabriel's shoulder firmly.
"Just hold on a little longer. We just need to get through tonight."
Gabriel looked away from the road and nodded. Amos gritted his teeth and turned his gaze to the neatly dressed men.
"Wha-what."
The man who met his gaze flinched in surprise.
"How are the preparations?"
"As you can see."
The man stepped aside, gesturing to his subordinates behind him.
A large number of boxes.
And the man's subordinates, mobilized to move this cargo.
At a glance, they looked like a group gathered to hand over goods to a cruise ship that would soon arrive at the port.
Their boss, with an anxious face, pulled out a cigarette and fiddled with a lighter.
"But is this really related to Iron Mask?"
"I guarantee it."
The man frowned as he lit his cigarette.
When he'd stopped by the warehouse to pick up the goods, he'd seen the place swarming with corpses.
He felt like he'd gotten involved in something dangerous, but it was too late to back out now. That, and his desire to connect with Iron Mask, kept him from leaving.
"More importantly, what about the thing I mentioned?"
At Amos's question, the man flinched and pointed toward the sea.
"It's there. I've prepared it for sure."
"I don't see it."
"It's nighttime. And we gave it a fresh coat of paint, so it's even harder to see."
Amos glared at the man and walked toward the water. The man hurriedly followed, pulled out a flashlight, and shone it on the sea.
*Swaa, swaa.*
A jet-black boat swaying on the gentle waves and a harpoon gun with a rope attached were revealed in the flashlight's beam.
"Why did you have me prepare something like this..."
Amos turned away without a word.
*Everything is ready.*
The men to lure them in, and the goods.
And even a boat to approach the cruise ship in case of an emergency.
All that was left was to wait for them to approach this desolate port.
Amos closed his eyes, then slowly opened them and gazed at the dark sea.
From the sea, submerged in a perfect darkness as if abandoned by God, only the eerie sound of waves could be heard.
The thought of whether any living creature could exist in such a place crossed his mind, as did the question of whether *they* would really appear in this darkness.
*No, they will come. They have to.*
So there were only two things to worry about.
That they would move as planned.
And that Gabriel's body would hold out.
There would be more than ten or twenty of them on the cruise ship, and since they were connected to Iron Mask, they would surely be armed.
They desperately needed someone skilled.
Amos gave a brief glance to Gabriel, who was resting in a corner, then looked back at the sea and saw a faint light moving along the coastline.
It was a small dot, like a star in the night sky.
But the dot grew larger as it approached, and soon Amos realized it was their target: the cruise ship.
"The guests are arriving. Everyone, move!"
The man behind Amos had also spotted the cruise ship and raised his voice.
"Don't show even a hint of insincerity. No slouching. Act respectfully. Got it?"
"Yes."
"Understood, boss."
"When the guests arrive, call them 'sir'."
The man straightened his clothes, his face taut with tension, while Amos walked over to Gabriel.
"The ship is coming in. Let's get ready."
Gabriel placed her hands on her knees and pushed herself up.
Her movements were so fragile and precarious that it wouldn't have been strange if she had collapsed right then and there.
"*Huu, huu.*"
But when she pulled an auto-injector from a pocket on her bulletproof vest and jabbed it into her thigh, life began to return to her body.
"I'm ready."
"The boat is ready over there. Wait there."
Gabriel said she understood and moved toward the boat.
Amos shifted his gaze from her back to the ship.
The large ship was moving fast.
It had already drawn significantly closer, and Amos hid himself in the shadows.
A spot not far from the pier.
It was also close to the boat where Gabriel was waiting, just in case.
*First, I'll observe the situation, then I'll act.*
The plan was to check their level of armament, their numbers, and whether they would comply with the deal before boarding the cruise ship.
If they were lucky, they could board without any trouble. If not, they could use the boat to get on.
Amidst the anxiety and tension, the cruise ship pulled into the port.
A man with a snake-like impression disembarked first, followed by three others.
The man, with his narrow, slit-like eyes, surveyed the cargo filling the port and the men gathered there, then pulled a claw hammer from his coat.
*Crack!*
He pried open the lid of a box and used his phone's flashlight to inspect the contents.
Hazmat suits and masks.
*Crack! Crack!*
After checking the contents of other boxes, the man put the hammer back in his coat. The boss approached him with a servile smile.
"Welcome. I am..."
"Move the cargo first."
The man didn't even glance at him, simply putting a cigarette in his mouth. The boss exhaled a hot breath through his nose and jerked his chin toward the boxes for his men to see.
*Drrrk.*
The boxes, loaded onto industrial carts, began to be moved onto the cruise ship one by one.
"Um, more importantly..."
The boss tried to speak to the man, but he didn't respond, only bringing the cigarette to his lips.
"*Ahem.*"
The boss grew anxious. Amos, relieved that nothing unexpected had happened, started moving in Gabriel's direction.
Then, the man spoke.
"Is this the last of the cargo?"
"Yes, that's right."
"You've worked hard. Now you can rest."
As soon as he finished speaking, the man pulled a pistol from his coat and pressed the muzzle to the boss's forehead before he could react.
*Bang!*
An unexpected development.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
His face contorted, the man pulled the trigger several more times into the boss's head.
"Wh-what is this!"
"What the hell are you doing! You bastards!"
Just as the boss's subordinates began to shout.
*Damn it!*
Amos ducked even lower and ran toward Gabriel.
*Chik!*
"We've secured the supplies."
As the man sent a signal over his radio, gunshots and screams began to erupt from inside the cruise ship.
Simultaneously, the man and those who appeared to be his bodyguards raised their guns and aimed them at the boss's subordinates.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!*
The subordinates were definitely screaming.
But their screams were swallowed by the fierce gunfire, and flashes of light spread through the pitch-black port.
The light of muzzle flashes.
*Rat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat-tat!*
Men fell.
Others delivered kill shots to their heads.
Men fled, and others fired bullets into their backs.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!*
It felt as if they had prepared for everything meticulously.
Muzzles even extended from the cruise ship's cabin windows, steadily targeting the backs and heads of the fleeing men.
*Thud!*
Amos leaped onto the small boat, and the recoil sent it rocking violently.
Amos and Gabriel gripped the boat, looking up at the cruise ship to see if they had been spotted.
Fortunately, that wasn't the case.
Just then, the man took out his phone, made a call, and then shouted toward the cruise ship.
"It's an order from the Young Master! Find anyone hiding in the area!"
Dozens of people began to disembark from the cruise ship.
They roamed the area with menacing eyes, like hunting dogs.
*Fwoosh!*
A flashlight beam swept the area where Amos and Gabriel were, moving away from them and then back again, over and over.
At this rate, they wouldn't be able to get on the cruise ship.
Gabriel looked at Amos with panicked eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to meet her gaze.
*Why are they being so damn thorough?*
He would have been grateful if they'd made things even a little easier, but they seemed determined to find and kill every last ant in the port.
*Fwoosh!*
The flashlight beam swept perilously close to the boat again, and Amos clenched his jaw.
Then, he raised the harpoon gun toward one of the cruise ship's windows.
The risk of being discovered was high, and if they were, they could be torn to shreds by bullets, but they couldn't delay any longer.
He placed a trembling finger on the trigger.
It was at that very moment.
*Vrooooom!*
The sound of a car engine roared through the darkness, heading for the port at full speed.
It was an engine roar so intense it drew everyone's attention.
*Vroooooaaaaar!*
The light from the cruise ship perfectly illuminated the car's exterior.
A bright red SUV.
It was a vehicle that stood out too much, completely out of place in a location like this.
But the fact that its headlights were trained on the cruise ship and it wasn't slowing down at all made some feel a rising sense of dread, and others, a glimmer of hope.
"Kanghyeok?"
Just as Amos muttered the name in disbelief, the snake-like man aimed his pistol at the SUV.
*Ping! Crack!*
A crack appeared on the windshield, but the SUV only accelerated more fiercely.
It looked as if it intended to kill every single person there.
"That's him."
Realizing that the man in the SUV was the one who had attacked the warehouse, the man twisted his lips.
"Fire!"
The moment the man shouted, a hail of bullets rained down on the SUV.
*Thud-thud-thud! Ping! Piiing!*
Bullets stripped the car's paint and punched holes in its frame.
Some bullets even went through to the driver's side.
Because of that, they expected the SUV to stop, or at least swerve like a drunk and plunge into the sea.
But that didn't happen.
*Vrooooom!*
The man, startled by the SUV hurtling straight toward him, realized it was too late to dodge.
"Fuck."
*CRASH! Screeeech!*
The SUV sent the man flying and ran him over, only coming to a stop after slamming into the cruise ship.
The impact was intense.
*Grrrrl.*
The front of the SUV was crumpled, its rear wheels lifted into the air, spinning uselessly. There was no other movement.
It looked like the driver had been killed instantly.
Still, just in case, the men at the port began to approach the vehicle. One of them shone his phone's flashlight toward the driver's side.
"How is it?"
A man behind him, holding a rifle, asked in a low voice. The one inspecting the driver's seat answered in a confused tone.
"He's not here."
Only the mangled driver's seat, crushed against the steering wheel and dashboard, was visible. There was no one in the driver's or passenger's seat.
"What are you talking ab—"
*BOOM!*
Before the man could finish his sentence, a blast of pellets erupted from the back seat and tore into his head.
Then, the crumpled car door was kicked open from the inside, and Kanghyeok stepped out, holding a shotgun.
Kanghyeok, dressed in a suit.