Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: The Third Encounter
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The vibration traveling up the buttstock was heavy.
It was a sensation that churned his stomach and clawed at his brain, making him feel as if his soul was about to detach from his body.
He wanted to take a deep breath.
Yet, the fuel saturating the air, the suffocating pressure that the slightest lapse could trigger an explosion, constricted his airway.
*Haaa.*
Kanghyeok managed a shallow breath and raised the rifle again.
CRACK!
Every time he struck the bulkhead, it felt like disarming an explosive.
CRACK!
Still, the door didn't budge, leaving him no choice but to strike it again and again.
CRACK!
Please, let the door open.
CRACK!
Please.
CRACK!
Please…
‘Please!’
In that moment, desperation saturated Kanghyeok's mind and every cell in his body.
He felt something strange about the rifle in his grip.
As if someone's hand had touched it.
Kanghyeok looked back.
“I-It’s them!”
“They’re coming up!”
*Rat-tat-tat-tat!*
Amos, heading for the upper deck, sprayed his submachine gun.
They were on the emergency stairs. The men at the top, scrambling to raise their weapons, fired uselessly into the air before being torn apart by the submachine gun.
*Click.*
Having used up all his bullets, he picked up one of the men's rifles and handed another to Gabriel as they climbed the stairs.
*Clack, clack.*
Gabriel and Amos checked their rifles as they climbed the stairs.
Their eyes and feet were aimed upwards, but their hearts remained below deck.
Gabriel occasionally glanced back, while Amos, leading the way, aimed his rifle at the men further up the stairs.
*Brrrrt!*
The one looking back and the one looking forward shared the same thought.
‘Oh Lord, though we are two now, let us be three when we leave this ship.’
Please, may your blessing be with Kanghyeok.
*Thud.*
Kanghyeok's gaze couldn't reach behind him.
Because someone behind him had grabbed his head.
He was with someone in this space he had believed he was alone in.
‘Who is it?’
As soon as the question formed, a voice spoke.
“Not there. Here.”
Then, it guided the rifle, making the buttstock point to a spot on the bulkhead.
It was the spot where Amos and Gabriel had unleashed a hail of bullets from the other side, a location where not a single scratch was visible from Kanghyeok's position.
*Whirrrr.*
Amidst the sound of only the ventilation fan operating, Kanghyeok twisted the corner of his lip into a smirk.
He knew this voice.
‘The third time.’
The first was when he died.
The second was when he was caught in the explosion.
And now was the third.
Facing a being whose face he didn't know, but whose distinctly grating voice he remembered all too well.
A being that could only be described as a god.
A being who helped Kanghyeok with something transcendent each time it appeared.
It might be a hallucination.
Especially now, when his consciousness was so clouded.
But Kanghyeok decided to trust it.
THUD!
When the buttstock struck the bulkhead, it made a different sound than before.
Kanghyeok, with his eyes fixed on the bulkhead, passed the rifle back.
“I have a question.”
THUD!
“Who are you?”
THUD!
“Why are you… helping me…”
Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over him.
Leaning on the bulkhead, Kanghyeok spat clear saliva and shut his eyes tight, his breath escaping with a seething gasp.
Even in this state, the presence he felt behind him said nothing.
‘Is it not time yet?’
The being had said Kanghyeok had a job to do.
Did this mean he hadn't finished that job?
Or did it mean he shouldn't die now?
In any case, Kanghyeok had no intention of letting them destroy the world again.
Nor did he have any intention of dying now.
“Kuh…”
Kanghyeok pushed off the bulkhead and leaned back.
At the same time, he swung the rifle back over his shoulder with all his might, putting his full body weight into the strike.
*CRUNCH!*
The spot weakened by Amos and Gabriel's gunfire shattered, and fresh air flooded in.
“Hah… Hah… Hah…”
Kanghyeok pressed his face to the narrow opening and gasped for air. As his mind cleared, strength returned to his body.
‘Now, just one last time.’
Kanghyeok gritted his teeth and slammed the rifle against the door.
*CRASH!*
Struck with desperate force, the rifle completely pierced the bulkhead.
Kanghyeok used the rifle like a crowbar to pry the opening wider.
“Gasp! Haaah!”
Then, as if hatching from an egg, he pushed his body out through the bulkhead, and soon his upper body emerged into the fresh air outside.
*Thud.*
Tumbling out, Kanghyeok gasped for breath and looked back.
Nothing was visible through the hole in the bulkhead.
The presence he had felt just moments ago, the owner of the hand that had guided him, was nowhere to be seen.
‘That damn bastard.’
He would allow himself a sliver of gratitude, for now.
Kanghyeok roughly rubbed his face, put on the jacket he'd wrapped around the buttstock, and, gripping his shotgun, moved as far from the door as possible.
*Rumble.*
The faint vibration and sound of the ventilation system operating.
From beside the stairs, Kanghyeok aimed the muzzle through the hole in the bulkhead and gripped the grenade launcher.
And,
*Thump!*
He fired a grenade into the hole.
The moment he saw the smoothly flying grenade land perfectly inside the hole, Kanghyeok threw himself toward the stairs and slammed the door shut.
And as he leaped up the stairs,
*BOOOOOOM!*
Along with a tremendous sound and a blast of heat,
*WEE-OO! WEE-OO! WEE-OO! WEE-OO!*
The alarm blared,
*RUMBLE!*
He could hear the sound of seawater rushing in through the destroyed outer wall of the cruise ship.
*Groooan.*
Inside the tilting cruise ship, Kanghyeok gripped the handrail.
His hand, gripping the railing as if holding onto hope itself, was filled with strength.
*Whoosh.*
The seawater rushing in through the crack in the door was mixed with the smell of burning and black debris.
To think he could find comfort in something so foul and filthy.
The lower part of the cruise ship was completely destroyed.
The supplies would be gone, and their hopes and plans would have been shattered without a trace.
Kanghyeok headed up.
*Splash! Splash! Sploosh!*
“Heh!”
Then he let out a short laugh.
Because the surging seawater behind him sounded like a round of applause celebrating his effort and success.
It was corny and childish.
But still, it wasn't bad.
“Aaaargh!”
The scream of a man trying to board a lifeboat continued for quite a while before being cut off with a splash.
They were on the deck.
It was a dark sea, nothing but blackness in every direction, a vast, empty ocean without a single glimmer of light.
But if one looked down, there was light to be seen.
It was the light from the fire raging on the cruise ship they were on.
*Groan.*
As more water seeped in, the cruise ship was slowly sinking.
It was also tilting to one side.
The ship's steel frame buckled, and as if the world had turned upside down, people and objects tumbled and rolled across the decks.
Fanning the flames of chaos were the smell, the heat, and the light.
*Bang! Boom! CRACK!*
The sound of something exploding came from the area that was on fire.
It was the sound of fire extinguishers, flammable materials, or machinery exploding.
As embers and smoke continued to billow into the sky, Iron Mask's subordinates, their faces filled with despair, let out voices close to screams.
“Hurry, hurry! Lower the boats!”
“Shut up! The Young Master is coming. He's first!”
“He's not even here yet! So lower the damn boat, you idiot!”
“You son of a bitch!”
*BANG!*
And so, they looked as if they had fallen into hell.
A body was thrown into the sea, and as if mocking them, the cruise ship tilted once more.
*Groan.*
As time passed, the speed of its tilting grew faster.
*Creak!*
The door swung open, and all eyes on the deck focused on it. Seeing Lento surrounded by his subordinates, their faces brightened.
“The Young Master is here! Quick! The lifeboat!”
As Lento, escorted by his men, headed for the lifeboats, other people appeared at the door.
The faces of those who had held onto hope at Lento's appearance twisted in horror.
Amos and Gabriel.
At the worst possible moment, the intruders in black had appeared like grim reapers.
“You bastards!”
One of the men guarding Lento drew his rifle, while others shielded the lifeboat with their bodies, afraid it would get damaged.
‘That's him.’
Amos looked at the fearful Lento and raised his rifle.
*Brrrrrrt!*
But it was Gabriel who started firing first.
Aligning her vengeful gaze with her sights, Gabriel fired at Lento without hesitation.
*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!*
“Kuh-heok!”
But the bullets were blocked by the subordinates guarding him and never reached Lento, who, pale with fright, scrambled toward the lifeboat as if fleeing death itself.
“Protecting the Young Master is the top priority!”
Lento disappeared behind the men who had jumped out to protect him.
*Brrrrrrt!*
“Kill them!”
“Get revenge! For the men they killed!”
“Fire!”
A hail of bullets and furious shouts echoed across the ship.
“Damn it!”
Amos snarled, ducking behind the staircase with Gabriel.
*Ping! Ping! Ping!*
And as soon as they closed the steel door, the enemy's bullets hammered against it.
‘Damn it, this can't be happening.’
Amos and Gabriel exchanged glances, hoping the other would come up with a solution to this situation.
They had found the man who seemed to be their boss.
They had destroyed the target and sunk the cruise ship.
Kanghyeok might have been sacrificed in the process.
And now they were going to let their boss escape right before their eyes?
It was something that would keep them from sleeping peacefully for the rest of their lives.
*Grind.*
Grinding his teeth fiercely, Amos noticed Gabriel's gaze was directed down the stairs.
“What…”
Amos followed Gabriel's gaze and then, with a jolt, looked toward the door.
‘Oh Lord, thank you. Thank you for watching over Kanghyeok. For returning him to us.’
It was nothing short of a miracle.
Amos had so much he wanted to say to Kanghyeok.
So did Gabriel.
But now was not the time.
Their enemy was beyond this door, waiting to be hunted.
And they wanted to show those bastards.
That Kanghyeok was with them.
And they wanted to see it.
The moment when Kanghyeok, their hope, became their enemy's despair.
BAM!
The moment the enemy's fire subsided, Amos kicked the door open.
*Brrrrrrt!*
He laid down covering fire and then stepped aside.
Immediately after, Kanghyeok burst out the door, shotgun in hand.
“Uh…”
Amos let out a faint smile the moment he saw the face of the man who had spotted Kanghyeok.
The man's expression was exactly as he had expected.
BOOM!
The man's head exploded, and Gabriel, following close behind, unleashed a hail of bullets on the others.
BOOM! BOOM! *Brrrrrrt!*
The tables had completely turned.
Only one person had been added.
Yet this was possible because Kanghyeok held a great significance to the enemy.
“R-Run. Run!”
“That Asian bastard is back!”
“Get the Young Master down now!”
Hearing their chatter, Kanghyeok shot Amos a brief glance, asking for an explanation.
In response, Amos, while spraying bullets at the other men, gestured toward Lento with his chin.
That's him.
He's their boss.
Kill him, and this will all be over.
Having received Amos's message, Kanghyeok shifted his gaze to Lento.