Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: I Thought It Was a Fleeting Dream (2)
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“I'll go in through the front.”
“There's a window at the three o'clock position. I'll enter through there.”
“The light's flickering. Eight to ten men inside? Fifteen at most.”
“This will be over quickly.”
“Leave two of them alive, just in case.”
“For cross-referencing intel?”
“Yes.”
Aiden watched Kanghyeok and Leila converse so casually, as if they were from another planet.
What kind of conversation was this?
This was their discussion right before storming the enemy's temporary hideout.
People could die, including themselves.
Even with guns in their hands, they were still civilians.
For untrained people, a conversation in this situation would naturally be grim or heavy.
But Kanghyeok and Leila spoke in a business-like manner, as if they were in a meeting.
Not even the most seasoned mercenaries in this line of work could talk like that.
“Are you two really employees of a weapons company?”
Before Kanghyeok could even speak, Leila answered first.
“As you can see.”
It was too unconvincing to be serious and too grim to be a joke. A bitter smile spread across Aiden's lips.
“Moving in.”
*Click.*
“Yes.”
Leila loaded her pistol, tucked her elbows in, and slightly lowered her upper body.
It was a perfectly trained assault stance.
Kanghyeok took the lead, with Leila moving a meter behind him at a diagonal.
‘My God.’
Aiden felt like he wanted to collapse right where he stood.
The moonlight was soft, and a dry wind blew silently through the night.
At a glance, the atmosphere was peaceful.
But it was a night with terrorists, injured people, and firearms.
A time and place from hell where any civilian would be frozen in fear, desperate to escape.
Yet those two moved through it without hesitation.
Minimal sound.
Black fabric that melted into the night.
And high mobility.
Watching their backs, Aiden started to wonder if suits weren't actually developed for the battlefield.
It was right after that.
*Creek.*
A man opened the door, came out, and pulled off his hood.
He looked up at the moon, put a cigarette in his mouth, and flicked the flint of a cheap lighter.
*Flick, flick. Fwoosh!*
Who could have imagined that this small flame would become a target?
*BANG!*
A bullet shot through the darkness and pierced the man's neck.
*Thud!*
The man, who had been leaning against the wall, clutched his throat.
“Gack, gack!”
“What the hell was that?”
Two more men burst through the door and checked on the one who'd been shot in the neck.
“Bilal! Bilal, stay with me! Bilal!”
“We're under attack!”
They frantically scanned the area around the abandoned building.
The two had already vanished into the darkness.
*Tap, tap, tap.*
Leila moved with the building on her left, pistol held close to her body, while Kanghyeok charged toward the building from a slight angle to the front door.
*Fwoosh!*
Their flashlights illuminated the spot where Kanghyeok had just been.
Shine it there all you want.
I'm not there anymore.
*Scrape.*
Reaching the outer wall of the building, Kanghyeok pressed his shoulder against it and watched the men scanning the distance.
He was about two meters away from them.
The corpse with the pierced neck had completely distracted them, and their gazes were fixed only on where the light was shining, so they didn't notice Kanghyeok.
Kanghyeok raised his gun toward their heads.
He waited for their heads to line up,
*CRACK!*
and the two men fell together.
“Hoo!”
Kanghyeok exhaled, looking at the open door and the three bodies lying in front of it.
There was a window between Kanghyeok and the door, and a flickering shadow was visible through it.
They were right by the door.
He could feel them hiding their presence, guns in hand.
Kanghyeok glanced to the right side of the building.
By now, Leila should be on the other side of that corner, ready to move in.
He trusted it, believed it, and acted on it.
Kanghyeok stuck the muzzle of his gun through the window and pulled the trigger.
*CRACK!*
The face of the man standing there anxiously exploded,
“H-He's over here!”
and just as their attention focused on Kanghyeok outside the window,
*CRACK!*
a bullet fired by Leila, who had come through the window on the right, threw them into chaos.
“There's another one!”
The muzzles that had been aimed at Kanghyeok momentarily lost their way, wavering between him and Leila.
*Click!*
Kanghyeok switched the selector to full auto and sprayed bullets indiscriminately at them.
“Aaaaargh!”
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!*
He was firing with only a single window between them.
The gunshots swallowed their screams as flesh splattered and blood sprayed to the ceiling.
The light from a crude bulb connected to a shabby generator flickered erratically, making the shadows dance. Witnessing this, Aiden felt his blood run cold.
“Crazy bastards.”
At first glance, it looked like a reckless charge.
But if you looked closely?
If you could understand the intent behind their movements?
Aiden watched Kanghyeok's back, pressing his lips together with his good hand.
‘They weren't civilians.’
No civilian could ever move like that.
They were professionally trained, and only those with extensive combat experience could move with such precision.
Ex-military or mercenaries?
Or maybe something like the head of security for a military weapons company?
Whatever the case, one thing was certain.
They weren't some softies who would just drag Aiden down.
Realizing that he might be the one to slow them down, Aiden flipped the safety off his rifle.
He had just seen one of them dart out from behind the abandoned building and run toward a parked car.
‘One runner.’
Kanghyeok, having climbed through the window frame into the building, also noticed him.
But he looked away.
If the man was escaping by car, he'd have to go past where Aiden was.
Right now, the men inside this building were the priority.
*CRACK! CRACK!*
Hearing the sounds of Leila engaging the enemy, Kanghyeok saw a distant door rattle.
There were no windows, so it wasn't a place where the wind could get in.
*Rat-tat-tat! Squeak.*
He pulled the trigger, and a body fell through the shattered door. Kanghyeok lowered his muzzle and glanced at Leila.
“I'm heading deeper inside.”
“I suppose we should be more selective about who we kill now.”
Leila said it so calmly, it would have made the dead men's stomachs turn.
“One should be enough.”
“Aiden will prepare the other one for us.”
It seemed Leila had also noticed the runner.
Kanghyeok lengthened the strap on his rifle, slung it over his body, and picked up a pistol from among the corpses.
Indoors.
A pistol was more convenient than a long rifle.
Kanghyeok grabbed one extra magazine, just in case, and started moving.
It was a single-story building with multiple doors.
But searching it wouldn't be difficult.
Because of the dust.
Kanghyeok checked the clear footprints in the dust and headed deeper into the building.
‘Five left.’
The footprints in the dust were all different sizes and shapes.
That's because they were terrorists, not regular soldiers.
Thanks to that, counting them was easy. Kanghyeok headed toward their hiding spot, racking the pistol's slide.
*Click-clack.*
The intentional noise broke the silence and surely reached their ears.
He could feel their fear spreading through the air.
If he listened closely, he felt like he could even hear their heartbeats.
*Step.*
Kanghyeok stood before a door covered in footprints, while Leila stood beside him, her gaze and muzzle fixed on the doorknob.
*Jiggle, creak.*
Just after he twisted the knob and carefully opened the door.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat!*
The men sprayed their rifles in what felt like a final, desperate struggle.
*Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!*
Bullets slammed into the wall behind Kanghyeok, sending debris flying like popcorn, as Leila fired at the man in the doorway.
*THWACK!*
The man was thrown back so hard it looked like his spine might snap.
Kanghyeok, who had taken cover beside the door, kicked it open.
*WHAM!*
The door slammed into the man behind it and stopped,
*Dash!*
and Kanghyeok leaped inside, striking down on the nearest man's wrist.
*CRACK!*
The man's wrist, struck squarely by the metal butt of the pistol, broke.
“Ugh!”
Before the man's scream could fully escape, Kanghyeok raised the muzzle.
*CRACK!*
Blood erupted from the top of his head along with the bullet, splattering the ceiling.
“Aaaaargh!”
Another man, filled with fear, aimed his rifle at Kanghyeok from an awkward stance.
Are you scared?
Of course you are.
You attacked, trusting in your numbers and your guns, only to be wiped out instead.
I'll admit, your rifles are better than the other terrorists'.
But in a tight space like this, a rifle isn't very efficient.
*CRACK!*
Before the man's index finger could even touch the trigger, Kanghyeok blew his head apart.
Clear fluid and blood streamed from his shattered eyeball, while his intact eye poured out fear as he collapsed.
‘Three left.’
Only one of them will survive.
The other two can die.
“Die, you son of a bitch!”
One man charged at Kanghyeok, while another aimed a rifle at his torso.
‘The charger first.’
Kanghyeok grabbed the charging man by the scruff of his neck and his sleeve, then threw him directly at the one holding the rifle.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!*
The other man pulled the trigger reflexively, and all the bullets slammed into his fellow terrorist.
“Ah!”
As the gunman stared in shock and confusion, Kanghyeok turned his pistol on him.
*CRACK!*
“Gaaahk!”
The first shot was to the knee.
*CRACK!*
The second to the chest,
*CRACK!*
and the last to the head, completely extinguishing his life. Kanghyeok then shifted his gaze to the only one left standing.
Leila was standing at the door, but she was only aiming as a deterrent.
‘It's over.’
Kanghyeok held a pistol.
The man was terrified, his legs trembling like a newborn fawn.
Leila saw no need to intervene, and Kanghyeok felt the same.
“D-Don't come any closer.”
The man did turn his gun on Kanghyeok.
But the muzzle was shaking so badly it was doubtful he could hit anything. Kanghyeok aimed his pistol at the man as if he were a shooting target.
“D-Don't move! Dammit!”
Kanghyeok calmly squeezed the trigger with his index finger.
*CRACK!*
The man's finger exploded, and before his mouth could open wide in a scream, Kanghyeok closed the distance between them.
He grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck and slammed him against the wall.
“Keuk, ugh! Heuk.”
*Hiss...*
As the sound of the man pissing himself filled the air, soaking the floor, Kanghyeok drove his elbow squarely into the man's jaw.
*CRACK!*
The man's consciousness faded, and his head slumped forward limply.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat! BANG!*
Gunfire and a loud noise erupted from where Aiden was.
It was the sound of a tire bursting.
“Hoo, hoo!”
The recoil sent a jolt of pain through his broken arm. Aiden grimaced, then slowly opened his eyes.
In his line of sight, a car riddled with bullet holes had come to a stop.
A burst tire and shattered windows.
And inside, a terrorist clutching his stomach, gasping for breath.
Aiden moved toward him as quickly as he could and pressed the muzzle of his gun to the terrorist's head.
“Get your hands off the wheel and get the hell out! Before I blow your head off!”
The man gave Aiden a look that pleaded not to be shot as he turned off the ignition.
As the terrorist unlocked the door to get out, Aiden shifted his gaze back to the building.
Shit, why is the moon so bright?
The moonlight had been hazy, trapped behind the clouds.
But now it had broken free completely, casting a brilliant glow. Thanks to it, he could clearly see Kanghyeok and Leila emerging from the abandoned building with a captured terrorist in tow.