Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: Just Going Back (3)
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“Hhuk, hhuk!”
One of them scrambled to his feet.
His breathing was ragged with terror, his eyes wide with a fear that even his full-face helmet couldn't conceal.
Kanghyeok's gaze fell on him. The man fumbled desperately on the ground before his hand found a pistol.
BLAM!
The shotgun blast aimed at the man struck the ground near him.
Shrapnel and dirt erupted from the earth, and a piercing scream tore from the man's throat.
He clutched his shattered fingers, curling his body into a ball.
Click.
Kanghyeok pressed the shotgun against the man's helmet.
BLAM!
The man's head slammed into the ground as if struck by a sledgehammer.
Kanghyeok turned to the next man, pressing the muzzle against a part of his helmet.
BLAM!
He hadn't been hit by an RIP round, but he convulsed as if the shot had spread through his entire body, then fell silent.
Only one man left.
Thump.
As Kanghyeok walked toward him, the man tried to push himself away, using his broken hand and his heels to scrape along the ground.
All the while, he shook his head frantically.
Please, don't come any closer.
Spare me.
It seemed that was what he wanted to say, but his throat was constricted, his tongue frozen with fear. All that came out was a strangled, “Ugh… uhh…”
Kanghyeok calmly approached and shoved the man's face aside with the muzzle of his gun.
Even as his jaw was forced to the side, Kanghyeok felt the man's eyes still fixed on him. He placed his finger on the trigger.
CRACK!
Kanghyeok quickly scanned the five bodies.
They were all still, their breathing ceased for good.
Kanghyeok exhaled through lips chapped by the dry air and turned his gaze toward Leila and Aiden.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
That familiar sound was the report of a rifle.
Their battle wasn't over yet.
They were circling a car, like a game of cat and mouse. One body already lay on the ground, growing cold.
BLAM!
Kanghyeok fired his shotgun to draw the man's attention, and as expected, his head snapped in their direction.
Seeing Kanghyeok standing among the corpses, the man radiated a palpable panic, even from a distance.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
A series of bullets slammed into the man's joints—his neck, shoulder, and elbow.
It was Leila, who had emerged from the front of the car, firing.
Kanghyeok charged toward the man, whose muzzle wavered between him and Leila.
Then, it settled on Kanghyeok.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Leila's shots hammered into the man's wrist.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
As the man's aim was thrown off, his gun stitching a line in the dirt far away, Kanghyeok slowed his pace and aimed for his head.
CRACK!
The bullet, aimed precisely for the eye, made the man flinch. Leila followed up with a relentless barrage on his knees and elbows.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
“Gggaaaaah!”
Watching the man writhe in agony, Kanghyeok understood how Leila had dealt with the other one.
She had brutally shattered all his joints.
Kanghyeok raised one corner of his mouth in a bitter smile. Now close enough to reach out and touch him, he swung the shotgun.
CRACK!
The man staggered violently.
BLAM!
He smashed the man's head, knocking him to the ground.
Clack!
Before the man could get up, Kanghyeok pressed the shotgun into a small hole in his helmet.
BLAM!
The firefight came to an end, and a sudden silence descended.
Kanghyeok looked up at Leila.
Something was wrong.
The situation was over.
Yet Leila's expression was incredibly complicated, her face grim.
As if some new crisis had erupted.
“Leila?”
Without a word, Leila shifted her gaze to a corner. Kanghyeok followed her line of sight.
The ground was riddled with bullets, looking like a sandpit after a downpour, and stained with red blood.
Lying there, gazing up at the sky, was Aiden.
Click.
Seeing Aiden, Kanghyeok lowered his weapon.
“Hh, hhhk, huuuu.”
Aiden turned his head toward Kanghyeok.
His face was pale, his focus wavering.
An unnatural amount of blood gushed from between the fingers clutching his stomach, a clear sign he didn't have much time left.
“You damn monster.”
Aiden managed to force out the words with a hint of a laugh.
Yet, his eyes held a sense of relief that Kanghyeok was safe.
“Aiden.”
Kanghyeok stared down at him blankly.
He had witnessed countless deaths, but Aiden's felt strangely heavy.
‘Why?’
They'd only exchanged a few words.
He had felt a sense of kinship, a shared resemblance, but not enough to form an attachment.
“Cough, hack.”
Aiden's bloody cough pierced the air.
Kanghyeok watched as the fading sunset stained the earth and Aiden in crimson light.
The sun was opposite Kanghyeok, and he could see it burning red as it sank.
Looking at that sun, an image suddenly surfaced in his mind.
A burning bus.
Himself, dying in front of it.
A scene similar to the one he saw every night in his dreams was unfolding before his very eyes.
Understanding now why Aiden's death felt so heavy, Kanghyeok felt a chill run down his spine.
“Kanghyeok?”
Leila's surprised voice came from behind him, and Kanghyeok realized he had unconsciously raised his pistol and was aiming it at Aiden's head.
Kanghyeok's lips trembled before he spoke.
“He was hit by an RIP round.”
The entry wound was in his abdomen.
It was only a single bullet, but there was no telling how many fragments were now spreading through his body.
Some might have reached his lungs, others might have torn down to his thigh.
His mangled organs would be filling with blood. Even if he underwent surgery right now, his chances of survival were minuscule.
“It's too late to save him.”
His voice was hoarse, though he hadn't intended it to be.
Grit!
Kanghyeok clenched his jaw and tightened his grip on the pistol.
His mind was a mess.
Idiot. He should have just gone back when I told him to.
Insisted on coming along, only to end up like this.
“Huuuk!”
Exhaling a hot breath of roiling emotion, Kanghyeok focused on his index finger.
Even now, he could imagine the sheer agony and despair Aiden must be feeling.
The best thing he could do was end the pain, but a storm of emotions made him hesitate to pull the trigger.
It was then.
“Idiot.”
Aiden, looking at the hesitant muzzle, coughed up blood and spoke.
“Give me… the pistol.”
Aiden's hand, stained red as if dipped in paint, reached for Kanghyeok.
Aiden's eyes spoke to him.
I won't be a coward and ask you to shoot me.
I won't make you dirty your hands.
That was what his gaze clearly conveyed.
A strange, heavy feeling washed over Kanghyeok, and he closed his eyes.
For a moment, as if in mourning, he kept them shut.
When he finally opened them, he placed a pistol on Aiden's chest, as gently as laying a flower on a grave.
Clack.
With a trembling hand, Aiden grasped the pistol and slowly moved the muzzle.
Toward his own chin.
“Just… one favor.”
Pressing the muzzle under his chin, Aiden managed a faint smile.
“Save the hostage. You… you can do it.”
Perhaps because of his past failure to save his comrades, Aiden's voice sounded more desperate than ever.
“Heh, don't… look at me like that.”
Noticing Kanghyeok's expression must have soured, the dying Aiden spoke as if to comfort him.
“It's nothing… special.”
Aiden looked at peace, as if freed from the things that had tormented him for so long.
And in truth, he was.
“I'm just going back.”
Home. To Kamdesh. To my fallen comrades.
To the place I should have gone a year ago.
“Please… give me… some space.”
On the field, bathed in a sunset that seemed to set the world ablaze, Kanghyeok asked Aiden a question in a hoarse voice.
“Did you find your answer?”
Aiden's breathing grew fainter as he closed his eyes.
“Yeah.”
Aiden's voice was utterly serene.
Because in his final moments, he had found the answer he had been searching for all this time.
He had met Kanghyeok and Leila, witnessed their impossible combat prowess, and learned that beings who defied common sense truly existed in this world.
The Avenger of Kamdesh was real.
Understanding this, Aiden knew that the burden that had tormented him was finally lifted.
Kanghyeok closed his eyes and turned away from Aiden, walking away with Leila.
Their footsteps faded until they were too far for Aiden to hear.
And then,
CRACK!
A single gunshot rang out.
There was no second.
The sun was setting.
Day yielded to night, and the moon emerged like a goddess guiding the dead.
Beneath the shattering red sunset, Kanghyeok took out a cigarette.
He looked weary, and there was a bitterness about him that made Leila shorten her stride.
She watched his back in silence as he smoked.
Until he was finished.
Clunk!
They made a makeshift grave for Aiden with a pile of stones, and salvaged a rifle and a few magazines from the enemy corpses.
Kanghyeok sat in the driver's seat, with Leila in the passenger seat. In the trunk, a corpse clad in body armor was crammed.
Vroom.
Starting the engine, Kanghyeok drove toward the road, his face expressionless.
“If you're tired, I can…”
Leila started to say, but swallowed her words after seeing Kanghyeok's face.
No one could understand.
Not Leila in the passenger seat, not the dead Aiden, not the corpse stuffed in the trunk.
No one in this world could understand how Kanghyeok felt.
Vrooooom.
Inside the rattling vehicle, Kanghyeok's mind was filled with thoughts.
He envied Aiden, who was finally free from his nightmare.
At the same time, the fact that the dead man hadn't received a second chance like he had was a stark reminder of the incredible gift he'd been given.
Save Jeff?
I'll do it.
And one day, I too will escape my nightmare.
I will find my peace by killing every last one of those who destroyed the world.
Jolt!
The car lurched as it got onto the paved road.
The sun had set, and night had fallen.
Driving down the road, illuminated only by the headlights, Kanghyeok spoke.
“Leila, could I ask you for a favor?”
Not expecting Kanghyeok to speak, Leila's eyes widened, but she readily answered.
“Of course.”
“We've wasted too much time. I want to speed up Jeff's rescue.”
Leila watched Kanghyeok drive, his eyes fixed on the road, and clenched her fists.
She had a feeling she knew what he was about to say.
“You need a way to move up the timeline.”
“Will it be difficult? All I need is one satellite photo.”
Leila clenched her fists again.
She could find something by scouring the internet, but it wouldn't be the quality Kanghyeok wanted.
What Kanghyeok needed was a high-resolution satellite image, clear enough to pinpoint Jeff's likely location and the deployment of Dive's forces.
That would require the company's resources.
It wouldn't be easy.
Even William had said they couldn't get company support for this particular job.
But she didn't want to say no.
She couldn't understand why, but Kanghyeok seemed to be struggling more than usual, and she didn't want to let him down.
“I have a colleague from when I first joined. If I ask him, he might be able to do something.”
“Are you sure?”
“He's a reliable friend.”
As far as Leila knew, he was the biggest coward in the company.
Which meant he was also the most cautious and never did anything that could be traced back to him.
And if he did, his cleanup was so meticulous that no one would ever find out.
“Thank you.”
A faint smile touched Leila's lips.
“What will you do once you have the map?”
Kanghyeok bit his lower lip, then spoke in a low voice.
“I'll draw their attention. You take a safe route and make contact with Jeff.”
The corners of Leila's mouth, which had been turned up, slowly fell.
With a satellite photo and someone creating a diversion, making contact with Jeff wouldn't be difficult.
But the part after that was the problem.
To safely escape with Jeff, who would have been tortured or at the very least exhausted, they needed to be free of interference.
Vrooom.
As the car picked up speed, Kanghyeok spoke in a voice as low as his sunken spirits.
“I'll take care of the rest.”
Leila looked at Kanghyeok, then gave a short, silent nod.
There was no telling how many of Dive's men there would be.
It was their home base, of all places, so it would be dangerous.
Yet she nodded, because she knew Kanghyeok had made up his mind, and nothing she said would change it.