Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: The Heart of the Bereaved (3)
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Familiar gazes were fixed on Kanghyeok.
There was the shock that an intruder, Kanghyeok, had made it past the iron gate, and the encroaching fear from seeing their comrade dead.
And beneath it all, a subtle arrogance that questioned how he could possibly handle their numbers alone.
The men stood about two meters away from Kanghyeok, armed with rifles.
Kanghyeok, on the other hand, was armed with only a single pistol.
And it was a pistol whose magazine wasn't even full, having been used to shoot the lock.
So what?
Thud.
He let go of the corpse he was holding, and it slumped from the iron bars. As the men flinched, Kanghyeok’s eyes darted about.
He scanned them.
Noting the position of their muzzles, their lines of sight, who had their finger on the trigger, and where their selector switches were set, he decisively raised his pistol.
CRACK!
After blowing off the head of the one who seemed to be the biggest threat, he lunged toward another whose selector was on safe.
Click!
The man hastily pulled the trigger, but no bullet fired.
THWACK!
Kanghyeok grabbed his wrist, spun around behind him, and flipped the selector switch near the trigger to full auto.
SNAP! Click.
The sound of the man's joint popping.
And the sound of the selector switch turning.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Using the man as a shield, Kanghyeok sprayed the others with his rifle. It wasn't his gun, so he had no reason to conserve ammo, generously showering them with bullets.
THWACK-THWACK-THWACK-THWACK!
Blood erupted from their bodies and heads in a gruesome display.
Their eyes and mouths were wide open, as if they were screaming.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT! THWACK-THWACK-THWACK-THWACK!
But between the gunfire Kanghyeok unleashed and the thuds of bullets hitting his human shield, no screams could be heard.
Click.
Firing on full auto, the rifle quickly ran out of ammunition.
It was right after that.
“Now! Get him!”
Hearing their shouts at last, Kanghyeok unbuckled the gun sling.
Clink, slide.
The sling fell to the floor, and the rifle settled perfectly into Kanghyeok's hands.
The body of his human shield slumped to the ground, just as the others turned their muzzles toward Kanghyeok.
WHOOSH! CRACK!
The thrown rifle smashed into one man’s face.
CRACK, CRACK!
Bullets embedded themselves in another’s chest and head.
WHIP!
He grabbed the arm of a charging man and twisted it behind his back.
“Aaargh!”
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
The man’s own trigger pull sent a spray of bullets into the ground, kicking up dirt.
Two men left.
Kanghyeok pressed the pistol to the back of the head of the man whose arm he held.
“Don’t interfere.”
For a moment, the man froze, seized by the fear of death.
CRACK!
Hot blood splattered across his face.
When Kanghyeok let go, the man with a hole in his head crumpled to the ground.
Now only one remained.
Without wiping the blood from his face, Kanghyeok looked at the groaning man.
“Ugh. Uuugh.”
It was the one he’d hit with the thrown rifle.
Peeking through the fingers covering his face, the man tried to grab his gun, but his movements were sluggish, whether from fear or the severe blow to his face.
Click.
Kanghyeok ejected the pistol’s magazine, slapped in a new one, and aimed at the man’s head.
CRACK!
Suddenly, a bullet from above zipped past, between the pistol and Kanghyeok’s face.
“Damn it! There, there!”
Looking up, he saw a man with a rifle on the building’s exterior staircase.
The man frantically waved his hand, pointing at Kanghyeok, and others with shotguns began tumbling down the stairs.
Kanghyeok looked at them and pulled the trigger.
The man in front of him fell like a log, and Kanghyeok, gripping his pistol with both hands, charged toward the stairs.
Pfft! Ping! Thwack!
Bullets rained down around him like a light drizzle.
The difference from raindrops?
A bullet to the head wouldn't just knock out a few hairs, it would snuff out a life.
Just as he neared the staircase built onto the exterior wall of the building.
BOOM!
Kanghyeok ducked behind the stairs, avoiding the spray of shotgun pellets. Before the thunderous blast had even faded, he popped back out and pulled the trigger.
CRACK, CRACK!
Then he snatched the shotgun from the hands of a falling man.
“Stop him!”
“He took a gun!”
The men, clustered at the landing where the first flight of stairs ended and the second began, yelled out.
As always, those with the high ground seemed to have the advantage.
In times like these, only speed and deeply ingrained experience could help.
BOOM! BOOM!
Firing a wide spray of pellets, Kanghyeok bounded up the stairs, taking them three at a time.
“Gaaah!”
The faces of those who survived a shotgun blast always looked like this.
The whites of his eyes were stained red, and blood gushed from the holes in his face. Yet he was still alive, looking for all the world like a zombie.
Click!
As if to return the favor of a shotgun blast, the man raised his muzzle. But just before he could fire,
CRACK!
Kanghyeok smashed him across the face.
Holding the shotgun by the stock, he swung it with murderous intent.
The man's face caved in where the barrel hit, and he tumbled over the railing. The others retreated up the stairs, firing wildly.
“Ughhh!”
Holding the pistol and shotgun, Kanghyeok shielded his face and head as he sprinted up the stairs in one breath.
THWACK-THWACK-THWACK!
On the narrow staircase, their bullets peppered his body.
The taste of blood filled his clenched mouth, and pain flared from where the bullets had struck him hard.
THUMP!
But Kanghyeok grabbed the railing and continued his ascent.
“M-Monster…”
It was just for a moment.
For the briefest of moments when their firing stopped, Kanghyeok lowered the arm that had been shielding his face.
The stunned faces of his enemies, their lowered muzzles, and their trembling eyes were so close he could almost touch them.
“D-Don’t come any closer!”
The man at the very back yelled desperately and raised his rifle, but he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger.
His comrades were all clustered on the stairs in front of him, pushed back by Kanghyeok.
Thunk.
Kanghyeok leaned against the railing, steadying his back, and raised the shotgun.
BOOM! BOOM!
Unlike before, the shotgun pellets engulfed them from a much closer range.
Clack!
He dropped the shotgun and immediately fired the pistol. With his left hand now free, he used it to steady the pistol, gripping it under the magazine, and took precise aim at their chests and heads.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! THUD!
A man slid off the railing and fell with a heavy thud.
“Huu, huu.”
Kanghyeok gripped the railing, his eyes fixed on the only one left standing.
The arrogant look they had first shown him was nowhere to be seen.
A face that wanted to believe this was all a dream.
Eyelids, lips, and fingers trembling like an aspen leaf.
Ragged breaths and glistening eyes.
“Haa.”
Catching his breath, Kanghyeok let go of the railing and walked toward the man.
“Stay back.”
The man pleaded, pressing himself against the door leading to the second floor. As Kanghyeok drew closer, he continued in a voice thick with tears.
“P-Please. Don’t.”
“No.”
Kanghyeok stepped over the corpses as he approached.
Click.
He then removed the empty magazine from his pistol and held it with the sharp end facing down.
“Stay baaack!”
The man screamed and raised his muzzle at Kanghyeok, who was now right in front of him, but he couldn't pull the trigger.
CRUNCH!
A piercing scream tore from the man's lips as the magazine stabbed into the back of his hand.
WHIP! CRUNCH!
With the hand holding the magazine, Kanghyeok twisted the man's arm, forcing him to drop his gun, then drove the magazine up under his chin.
“Gurgle, gurgle.”
Kanghyeok watched with a placid expression as the man died.
A thought always occurred to him at times like this.
These men were no different from the gangsters he had grown so sick of seeing over the past year. They even acted the same in their final moments.
Fear and indignation.
Their eyes always conveyed the same question: Why is this happening to me?
Find out in the afterlife.
You were Rashid’s man, and for a non-soldier, you were far too comfortable with a gun, which means you’ve used one plenty of times.
You can’t rule a region as its king just by threatening people with guns.
Making an example. A warning. Punishment.
It’s only possible by killing innocent people under various pretexts.
So go ask the people you killed.
Ask them if you deserve to feel wronged by your own death.
Squish.
When Kanghyeok pulled the magazine out, the man tilted toward the railing and fell headfirst.
Clink.
Kanghyeok tossed the bloody magazine aside, took out a fresh one, and inserted it into his pistol.
Before him was a door.
The door leading inside.
And the door that led to Rashid.
Click.
Kanghyeok twisted the doorknob open and stepped into the mansion, where the faint scent of perfume lingered.
Clomp, clomp.
His shoes made loud sounds each time they struck the smooth floor.
And at that moment, someone was listening to Kanghyeok’s footsteps.
Rashid.
Having watched his men die from between the curtains, Rashid was now frantically stuffing money into a large bag.
Just as he was about to zip it up, he whipped his head toward the door, from which the sound of footsteps was approaching.
‘He’s already here?’
What the hell were my men doing?
Sons of bitches! I paid them good money, fed them, gave them a place to sleep, and they couldn’t even handle one man? They let him get all the way into the mansion.
‘Useless bastards! A waste of money!’
Cursing internally, Rashid cautiously approached the window.
But the iron bars installed to prevent intruders now blocked his escape.
Thump, thump!
Feeling his heart pound violently, Rashid crept toward the door, muffling his footsteps.
Clank.
He locked the door as quietly and quickly as he could.
BANG!
The door to another room burst open.
Clomp, clomp.
The footsteps resumed, followed by the sound of another door opening. Rashid felt as if his heart would leap out of his mouth.
‘A place to hide, a place to hide!’
The table was antique, but not suitable for hiding.
Should I throw the Persian carpet over it?
Bullshit! This isn't a five-year-old's game of hide-and-seek. There's no way I wouldn't be found.
The cabinets and wardrobe were also unsuitable for hiding, making Rashid even more desperate.
Thump, thump.
The footsteps approaching from beyond the locked door grew louder.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Rashid’s lips trembled. Then he saw the desk and felt a glimmer of hope.
‘The shotgun.’
He had hidden a shotgun under that desk.
When he first took over this area, the local residents had fiercely resisted.
The shotgun he had hidden for self-defense back then came to mind at the perfect moment.
“Oh, Allah.”
With a face full of elation, Rashid approached the desk and pulled out the shotgun and shells.
CLICK!
Just then, the doorknob turned, then stopped.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
With trembling hands, Rashid broke open the shotgun and loaded the shells.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Gunshots rang out, and the doorknob fell away.
Through the hole where the doorknob used to be, Rashid saw Kanghyeok standing behind the door.
‘Son of a bitch!’
CLANK!
Having loaded the shotgun, Rashid raised the muzzle toward the opening door.
And the moment Kanghyeok came into view, he pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
There was some distance between the desk and the door.
But it wasn't so far that the blast would lose its stopping power. He was certain he would hear Kanghyeok collapse, gasping for his last breath.
But that didn’t happen.