Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Guide Me to Hancock
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Chapter 6, Part 2. It Suits You Well (3)
BANG!
The pot-bellied man, sprawled on the floor, touched his ear with a trembling hand. His fingers came away slick with blood, and his mind, drained of all color, spun.
He'd barely dodged it, but his right ear was mangled. The world sounded completely different in each ear.
“Ghk! Ugh! My ear! My ear!”
A piercing scream.
The acrid smell of gunpowder.
The abnormally wide spread of the shot from the sawed-off barrel.
The shock of a shotgun blast in a gang-backed pub. The humiliation that it was Kanghyeok, a man who normally couldn't even raise his voice, who'd pulled the trigger.
All these things tangled together, filling the pub with a thick, cloying chaos.
Scrape!
Men shot to their feet, chairs scraping across the floor. Kanghyeok gripped the shotgun's stock with both hands.
Crack!
He swung the shotgun like a baseball bat.
The man to Kanghyeok's left took the blow. His head snapped back, teeth flying from his mouth.
Click-clack!
Kanghyeok racked the shotgun, spun to his right, and fired.
KA-BOOM!
One man’s face.
Another’s arm and shoulder.
The man behind them screamed, blood pouring from his eyes.
“Aaargh!”
“Kill him! Kill that bastard!”
Thump! Thump!
Feeling the heat of his own blood pumping through him, Kanghyeok rapidly scanned the room.
‘Guns.’
The men, though panicked, started to draw their weapons.
“Aaaargh!”
Kanghyeok grabbed the screaming man by the hair, yanked him forward, and repositioned the shotgun in one hand. Resting the barrel on the man's shoulder, he fired at the others who were raising their weapons.
KA-BOOM!
“Aaaaaargh!”
The man shrieked, his throat raw, as the shotgun roared right beside his ear.
BANG! BANG!
Others in the room started firing their pistols at Kanghyeok. He turned to face them. Naturally, he brought his human shield with him.
Thwack! Thud! Thwack!
The man taking the bullets convulsed before slumping forward. Kanghyeok fired at those ducking for cover and aiming their guns.
KA-BOOM!
Among those hit by the wide spray of the sawed-off shotgun, the lucky ones were the dead.
“My, my eyes!”
“Aaargh!”
The ones who didn't die screamed as if they were in hell itself.
Clack, clack.
Each time, Kanghyeok racked the slide and fired.
Click.
The shotgun clicked empty. As if waiting for that very sound, the remaining men either charged him or leveled their guns.
Kanghyeok readjusted his grip on the shotgun with one hand and brought it down on the crown of a charging man's head.
CRACK!
The shotgun split in half, and the man's head caved in.
(Should I provide support?)
“Just block the exit.”
Kanghyeok threw the now-ragged body in his arms to the floor and kicked over a nearby table.
CRASH!
The table crashed down with a heavy thud, and Kanghyeok dove behind it. Simultaneously, the men opened fire, spraying bullets wildly.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Splinters flew from the wooden table as it began to crack.
Leila, who had watched the whole thing unfold, gave a slight nod and shifted her car into reverse.
Then she shifted to Drive and cranked the wheel.
VROOOM! CRUNCH!
With a gratifying crunch, Leila's SUV completely blocked the entrance.
“What the, what the hell!”
“What's with that car!”
The men's gazes were drawn to the black SUV blocking the door.
BANG! BANG!
One man fired at the vehicle, but it only managed to chip the paint.
It was a vehicle used by agents.
Naturally, it was bulletproof.
As Leila drew her pistol, just in case, Kanghyeok was feeling his own back behind the table.
Unlike Leila’s SUV, the table wasn't bulletproof, and a couple of rounds had gotten through to him.
‘I'm fine.’
The synthetic Kevlar fibers between the lining and the outer fabric had stopped the bullets.
However, Kanghyeok clenched his jaw and swallowed a groan.
The bulletproof fibers stopped the rounds from entering his body, but they didn't negate the impact.
Battered by the hits, Kanghyeok had to catch his breath and swallow the pain. Even so, he drew a pistol from his jacket.
Click, shhhk!
Kanghyeok released the safety, removed the magazine to check the remaining rounds, and let out a long breath between his lips.
Thwack!
A splinter from the table flew past his head.
Ducking his head, Kanghyeok gently pressed his chest.
Ironically, he could feel his heart beating.
For the past year, his heart had been so quiet he'd wondered if it had stopped.
Could it be that I missed all this?
Or is there some other reason?
Surely I wasn't feeling a thrill just from pumping lead into these assholes who'd looked down on me?
Why didn't I try to solve this with words in the first place?
They're not the type to listen, but I could have at least tried.
Kanghyeok's eyes flickered in thought for a moment before he dismissed it. He placed his index finger on the trigger.
‘Think later.’
Right now, dealing with the living came first.
Kanghyeok reached through a hole in the table and tore away a splinter. Through the now-widened hole, he could see men creeping closer. He stuck the muzzle of his gun through the gap.
CRACK!
The man hit in the knee screamed and dropped low. A second bullet immediately pierced the crown of his head.
CRACK! CRACK!
Kanghyeok's usual method was two bullets per man.
One in the chest, one in the head.
It was the most efficient way.
But with about twenty men to deal with, he settled for one to the head.
Rat-tat-tat!
The men's bullets rained down on the table. Kanghyeok responded by pulling the trigger, gradually moving away from the disintegrating table.
“What are you doing, you can't even kill that one bastard!”
The pot-bellied man, holding a towel to his ear, spat out venomously. But seeing Kanghyeok's muzzle turn towards him, he quickly ducked his head and held his breath.
‘Crazy! He's crazy!’
Kanghyeok had killed at least fifteen men.
How could this be that idiot Kanghyeok?
The pot-bellied man felt like he was staring at a man-eating monster as he peeked toward Kanghyeok's position behind the counter.
CRUNCH!
Finally, the shattered table collapsed, and Kanghyeok began to move in earnest.
Click.
He slammed a full magazine into his pistol and knocked aside a gun shoved in his face.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
The explosive burst of gunfire went wide.
CRACK!
Kanghyeok put a bullet in the man's chest.
SNAP!
He twisted his arm, making him drop the gun, and moved behind him.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
He used the man's body to absorb the hail of bullets from the other gangsters.
Thud! Thud! Thwack!
Using the man who jerked with each impact as a shield, Kanghyeok aimed at the head of a charging attacker.
CRACK!
Like a water balloon bursting, the man sprayed blood everywhere as he fell.
CRACK! BANG! CRACK! Rat-tat-tat-tat!
The sounds of gunfire tangled together once more.
Thud! Thwack!
Occasionally, bullets hammered Kanghyeok's body.
“He's hit! That bastard's hit!”
CRACK!
The man, excited at having hit Kanghyeok, collapsed with a dark hole appearing between his eyebrows. More and more men were falling, but Kanghyeok was still alive.
They probably wouldn't know why even if they died and came back to life.
Rat-tat-tat-tat! Click.
Click!
Some of the men started running out of bullets.
At that, they approached, wielding chairs or guns like clubs.
CRACK!
Kanghyeok blocked a chair coming down on his head with his forearm, grabbed the man by the collar, and slammed his head into a table. Then he pressed the gun to the man's temple and pulled the trigger.
Click!
The pistol couldn't fire; the round was jammed.
“Uwaaaargh!”
Still, the man screamed under Kanghyeok's hand, sensing his imminent death. Another goon came up from behind, swinging his gun like a club at Kanghyeok's head.
As Kanghyeok dodged to the side, the gun struck the head of the man splayed on the table.
The panicked attacker and the man with the smashed face.
Next to them, Kanghyeok ejected the magazine from his pistol. Then he swung it at the throat of the man who had swung the gun.
Crunch!
The soft cartilage of his windpipe shattered as the magazine drove deep.
Kanghyeok pulled the magazine free, then racked the slide to eject the jammed round. He wiped the magazine on his pants, slotted it back into the pistol, and fired the bullet he hadn't been able to before at the man slumped on the table.
CRACK! CRACK!
Kanghyeok put bullets into the man in front of him, the one behind him, and the one next to him.
Click!
The gun clicked empty. A man charged from the side with all his strength. Kanghyeok met him, smashing the butt of his pistol into the man's skull with equal force.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
As if determined to eliminate Kanghyeok this time, two men relentlessly poured out bullets. But they didn't have much ammo left, and their gunfire soon stopped.
Kanghyeok, who had rolled on the floor to dodge the bullets, glared at the men and ejected his magazine.
Click, clack.
Quickly loading just a few rounds, Kanghyeok turned his gun on the remaining men.
“This yellow bastard!”
One man lifted his foot to kick Kanghyeok. Kanghyeok grabbed the man's foot and rolled once more.
SNAP!
A gruesome sound came from the man's knee as Kanghyeok ended up on top of him.
“Ughhh! W-wait!”
CRACK!
Kanghyeok shot the man from that position and immediately turned his gun on the others.
CRACK! CRACK!
‘Six left.’
Corpses littered the floor.
In front of them was Kanghyeok; behind them, the SUV blocked the exit.
The men, having lost their will to fight, hesitated and backed away. Kanghyeok got to his feet. Keeping his eyes fixed on them, he ejected the magazine from his pistol.
Click, click, click.
Had the sound of loading rounds ever sounded so gruesome in their lives?
With every minor movement from Kanghyeok, fear spread in the men's eyes.
Click.
Kanghyeok slotted the reloaded magazine into the pistol and racked the slide.
The men, their faces pale, frantically looked for anything to hide behind, but there was nothing suitable.
The tables were too far, and the only escape route was blocked by the SUV.
“You, son of a…”
Before the man could finish, Kanghyeok took a perfect shooter's stance and aimed for his head.
CRACK!
Then, with sharp, staccato movements, Kanghyeok put bullets into the other men.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
When the shooting stopped, a terrible silence enveloped the pub.
In its place, a complex and awful smell, hard to describe in words, assaulted the nose.
The usual foul odors of the place, mixed with the coppery tang of blood and the smell of fluids and waste spilling from the corpses, created a stench that was nearly impossible to bear.
(Looks like it's all over.)
“Not yet.”
Kanghyeok picked up an unopened bottle of liquor from a nearby table.
It was cheap liquor, but that's why it was good.
After dealing with cheap bastards, this kind of drink was better.
Pouring the liquor into a cracked glass and taking a sip, Kanghyeok approached the counter.
Step, step.
The pot-bellied man who had sneered at Kanghyeok from the counter.
This one was still alive.
To be precise, he had been kept alive until now.
Scrape, scrape, scrape.
From behind the counter came the sound of the pot-bellied man crawling, trying to escape. Kanghyeok stepped over the counter and stomped on the man's thigh.
“Uwaaaaaaaargh!”
It was just that.
And yet, the pot-bellied man screamed, pissing himself.
Kanghyeok kicked the pot-bellied man's leg to flip him over.
“H-hee, h-heeik, hee.”
Clasping his hands to his chest and trembling violently, the pot-bellied man looked up at Kanghyeok.
Looking down at the man, whose attitude had changed drastically, Kanghyeok took a cigarette from his pocket, put it between his lips, and flicked his lighter.
Click! Fwoosh!
Kanghyeok spoke, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
“Guide me to Hancock.”
The pot-bellied man nodded frantically, his jowls shaking.