Chapter 132
"Cough, cough...! Ugh, dust. Puh-choo!"
Yoo Hye-joo flapped her arms wildly, as if she could brush away the sand and dust with a few furious swings.
But even with those slender arms, the haze wouldn’t settle.
If anything, it seemed to be pressing in on her.
In the end, it wasn’t her arms that made the dust settle, but time and gravity.
"Ha...!"
A sound of disbelief slipped from Gong Woo-jae’s mouth.
His men, who had been thrown into confusion after the wall came down, slowly gathered their wits as well.
Once they did, they all started talking at once to the woman who had just smashed through the wall.
Each voice carried relief, joy, and a little disbelief.
"Big sis!"
"How did you...?"
"Why are you riding a bear...? No, is that a monster?"
"What exactly are you riding?"
Yoo Hye-joo looked at the men through the dust, coughing once or twice.
Unlike them, there was no warmth at all in her face.
Only annoyance showed in her furrowed eyes.
"Could you not call me big sis? I’ve never had younger brothers who were older than me."
Her tone was sharp enough to sting.
Gong Woo-jae’s men were naturally taken aback.
"Ah..."
"Uh, um..."
"...Sorry."
Watching his subordinates apologize so obediently, Gong Woo-jae gave a low chuckle.
Yoo Hye-joo and the others turned their eyes to him.
"Yoo Hye-joo."
"......?"
His voice came out soft.
It was almost tender, as if he were calling the name of a lover.
The unusual tone made Yoo Hye-joo crease her brow again.
"What’s with that disgusting voice? Are you really that happy to see me?"
"I love you."
"...What?"
Yoo Hye-joo’s eyes went wide.
So did his men’s.
Thinking they must have misheard, they glanced at the comrades beside them.
No one was there to confirm it for them, but the stunned, slack-jawed looks on everyone else’s faces told them they had heard correctly.
Nine men and women fell headfirst into confusion, while Gong Woo-jae smiled brightly.
He looked exactly like a young man gazing at the woman he loved with his whole heart.
The sight of a handsome man looking at a beautiful woman should have made for a lovely, almost youthful-drama kind of scene, but...
"...Ha!"
Yoo Hye-joo let out only a short, forceful sigh.
The absurdity she felt hardened into a displeased stare aimed straight at him.
"I guess this place wasn’t so bad after all? Only someone uncharacteristically foolish would start spouting nonsense like that."
"Well, I wasn’t all that uncomfortable."
"Sure. You look it."
"There were a few troublesome matters, though."
With every line they exchanged, his men’s heads swiveled back and forth.
They were shocked all over again.
Gong Woo-jae had just confessed his love.
Yoo Hye-joo had waved the confession away as though it were nothing.
Watching the two of them speak to each other like this, as casually as if nothing had happened, was almost too much to process.
"Haa..."
Yoo Hye-joo shook her head and sighed.
Then she looked down beneath Gong Woo-jae.
He was sitting on top of two unconscious men like they were chairs.
"Is that Sung Jun-hyeon?"
"Yes."
"And the other one is... Lee Jeong-geun."
"That’s how he introduced himself."
"Sung Jun-hyeon of Busan. Lee Jeong-geun of Seoul.... So now you’re the king of the junkies?"
"Hardly. My body that day was-"
"Enough."
Yoo Hye-joo cut him off.
Gong Woo-jae closed his mouth and looked at her.
"We’re short on time, so hurry up."
"Ah. There’s no need to hurry."
"What?"
"Tonight, the guards won’t bother themselves with much of anything."
"...It does look that way."
Yoo Hye-joo glanced around and agreed.
Even after she had smashed the building’s outer wall with all that noise, Chudo Prison remained quiet.
The guards hadn’t come running in a swarm.
Normally, alarms would have been screaming loud enough to wake the dead, and guards would have been pouring in from everywhere.
They wouldn’t have even been able to have a conversation like this.
Gong Woo-jae pointed at the beast with his chin and asked, "Is that what I think it is?"
His men’s eyes naturally shifted toward it.
They were curious what it really was.
Its size was bear-like, but its shape was nothing like a bear’s.
Round, oversized ears.
Small eyes for the size of its head.
And a little snout that stuck out just enough.
It looked more like a hamster or a rabbit than a bear.
Yoo Hye-joo stroked the beast’s head as she answered, "Yes, that."
"Hmm..."
"......"
As his subordinates listened to the exchange, the same thought surfaced in all their minds.
No, seriously, what is it?
Could you explain it out loud instead of just understanding each other by yourselves?
It was Gong Woo-jae who answered their question.
"A guinea pig got as big as a grizzly bear. And..."
His voice trailed off as he looked at the collapsed wall.
He was admiring the power that had brought it down so easily.
Once they learned the beast’s identity, the men’s mouths fell open.
That animal over two meters long was a guinea pig?
Not some newly discovered bear?
And not only was it huge, it was strong enough to break through a prison wall?
It was not an easy claim to believe.
And yet, once they heard it, the beast really did look like a guinea pig.
Its cute little face, utterly unsuited to its bulk, suddenly stood out to them.
“Pweeeng.”
"Gong Woo-jae."
"Hm?"
"Even if the guards won’t pay much attention to things tonight, this isn’t the time to linger."
She spoke while nervously scanning her surroundings.
Her anxiety wasn’t because she was worried about when the guards might come.
What bothered her was the complete lack of symmetry.
That was what made her want to get out of here as fast as possible.
"As you can see, the experiment has made some progress. I wouldn’t call it a success yet, but..."
Mid-sentence, Yoo Hye-joo patted the guinea pig’s head.
“Pweeeng...”
The enormous animal let out a pleased little sound, as if the touch made it happy.
It was proof that the experiment had worked.
Gong Woo-jae looked down at the guinea pig and nodded.
So far, the animals they had tested had shown no movement at all.
They had simply stood in place, not budging an inch.
Like machines waiting for someone’s command.
But the guinea pig she was riding was snuffling and looking around.
"If we keep experimenting, I think we can manufacture the drug we wanted."
"Seems likely."
"So hurry up and get on."
"......"
But Gong Woo-jae still did not move.
She tilted her head, wondering why he was hesitating.
Even if this wasn’t a situation where they needed to rush, it was certainly not one where they should dawdle.
He was looking at his men.
The men who met his eyes looked back at their leader, then suddenly broke into smiles, as if something about the scene amused them.
"What are you standing there for?"
"Don’t worry about us."
"The one who made the deal with big sis was the boss, not the whole Dazol Guild."
"That’s right. Go on."
"......"
Only after hearing his men’s words did Gong Woo-jae stand.
He stepped over to the guinea pig, climbed on its back, then looked at them again.
"I will definitely come back."
"Yes. We’ll be waiting."
Yoo Hye-joo, who had been watching silently, let out a sigh.
Only then did Gong Woo-jae’s men begin greeting her as well.
"Big sis, please take good care of our boss."
"He can be a little suffocating, so just bear with it."
"He makes stupid jokes sometimes, so you can just ignore him when that happens."
"I said I’m not big sis. You’re all older than me, so why do you keep calling me that?"
She shot them a glare and snapped at them, but they only laughed, "Ahaha."
Yoo Hye-joo let out a short sigh.
Then, in a suddenly serious voice, she answered their farewell.
"...You all stay safe too. I hope this isn’t the last time I see you like this."
"Take care."
"Bye-bye."
After the brief goodbyes, Yoo Hye-joo tapped the guinea pig’s head.
“Pweeeng!”
The guinea pig immediately turned its body smoothly around.
Then, despite its size, it started running on its short, stubby legs.
It didn’t seem strained at all, even with two people on its back.
Soon they reached the end of the island, and the rough sea came into view.
Splash!
The guinea pig leapt into the water.
"...Do guinea pigs normally swim?"
"Pretty well, apparently."
"Hmm..."
Gong Woo-jae watched the guinea pig paddling hard.
It didn’t look particularly strained.
Then, in a casual tone, he said to her, "Ah, right. There’s something I need to tell you."
"Later, later. Controlling this thing isn’t easy, so-"
"I can no longer keep the promise I made with you."
"...What? What are you talking about?"
Yoo Hye-joo tilted her head.
Still clinging to the guinea pig’s neck, she slowly turned to look at Gong Woo-jae.
When her eyes met his, he smiled faintly.
I can no longer keep the promise I made with you.
His words kept echoing in her head.
Again and again.
As they repeated, she finally understood what he meant.
"You... don’t tell me, when they caught you, your heart...?"
"That’s right."
"Y-You...! Then you can’t even turn into that monster anymore...?"
"That’s right too."
Each time she asked, he answered as though it were nothing.
With every reply, her fists clenched tighter.
Both of her hands curled into tight little fists, trembling with anger.
"So.... You’re saying you tricked me?"
"Hm. I suppose you could put it that way."
"Gong Woo-jae!"
"You don’t need to shout that loudly, I can hear you."
"I’m going to kill you! I’m going to kill you right now, you fraud!"
A fierce rage burst out of her.
She even forgot to keep controlling the guinea pig.
Half-turning her body, she grabbed him by the collar.
Because of that, she ended up in a dangerous position, one slip away from falling off the guinea pig as it bucked and surged through the water.
Gong Woo-jae wrapped an arm gently around her waist to keep her from falling.
"Careful now."
"What do you mean, careful! Die! Just die already!"
Yoo Hye-joo used both hands to strangle his neck with all her strength.
The murderous intent in her hands was obvious, but...
With her slender fingers, she simply couldn’t strangle the throat of a former A-class Hunter.
"Tch! Why won’t you choke? You said your heart was broken! Why are you acting like a normal person now, you idiot!"
"I know. What a pity."
"What?"
"I can’t be strangled to death by the woman I love. That’s a real shame."
"Y-You bastard! Why do you keep spouting bullshit like that!"
"Because I love you."
"I hate you!"
Yoo Hye-joo screamed at the top of her lungs.
Sadly, her tearful cry was swallowed by the dark sea and carried nowhere.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Inside the collapsed wall, Gong Woo-jae’s men spoke up just as Yoo Hye-joo’s guinea pig finally shrank back to something that looked more like a normal guinea pig.
"The boss is gone."
"He is."
"So what do we do now?"
The eight men looked at one another.
What should they do?
"First."
"First?"
"We survive. Until the boss comes back to rescue us."
"That much is obvious. How?"
"Well..."
"If we’re going to survive on our own..."
The eight men turned their heads at the same time.
There, where Gong Woo-jae had just been sitting, was the human chair.
The human chair they had made by stacking Sung Jun-hyeon and Lee Jeong-geun on top of each other.
One of the men picked up a chunk of rubble from the broken wall.
Then he brought it down without hesitation.
Thud!
He smashed in the head of the unconscious Lee Jeong-geun.
Lee Jeong-geun’s body went limp.
He was dead.
"We eat this place."
"Right."
"We should do it as safely as possible."
"Yeah. That makes sense too."
Thud!
Next, he smashed in the head of Sung Jun-hyeon, who had been pinned beneath Lee Jeong-geun.
Then...
......
The eight men all turned at once to face the former kingpin.
The only witness who had seen all of this.
The former kingpin recoiled in horror and stumbled backward.
"N-No...! Please, spare me!"
He begged them.
But they had no intention of listening.
Just as they had said.
To survive as safely as possible.
"Don’t worry."
"We’ll make it quick."
"Why did you mess with us in the first place?"
"Exactly. You should’ve known better than to take on something you couldn’t handle."
One of the men tossed the former kingpin’s own words back at him.
"N-No—!"
Thwack!
A heavy sound rang out.
And with it, the laughter of the villains spread through the air.