Chapter 193
Chapter 193
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Tracked to Kaolack
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Seo Shin-cheol, who had been soaking in the bath, cut off the music he was listening to and called out toward the door.
"What the hell do you mean, we lost them?"
"I'm sorry. The guy handling Sierra Leone suddenly disobeyed orders..."
He'd released all the hostages and vanished into thin air.
Seo Shin-cheol listened to the report, his temper flaring as he gripped his glass, nearly hurling it—but he held back.
The sound of shattering glass always left a bitter taste.
"At least it's only been three days..."
That was all he could take. Seo Shin-cheol finally chucked the glass. It shattered with a piercing crash, flooding his mouth with intense bitterness.
"You fucking idiot. Three days?"
These were guys in the top ten of Hope's List. His dimwitted underlings had no clue how far they could march in three days.
"We're searching the Guinea area right now."
"Why the hell are you searching Guinea!"
They'd already passed that by now. At the very least, they'd crossed into Senegal. Searching Guinea at this point was a complete waste.
"But in just three days..."
As the man started to protest, Seo Shin-cheol rose from his seat, flung open the door, and placed a hand on his shoulder.
In that instant, the man clutched his own throat with both hands, gasping and choking.
"Just die already."
The man's breathing stopped. He'd suffocate to death. Seo Shin-cheol wiped the water from his body with a towel and got dressed. Meanwhile, the subordinate flopped around on the floor, eyes rolling back as he struggled for air.
"Useless bastards. Everything always comes down to me stepping in."
They strutted around like hotshots during normal times, but when shit hit the fan, not one of them was worth a damn.
"Why the hell did that one-armed freak from Sierra Leone suddenly turn traitor? Spill it."
After changing and stepping out, Seo Shin-cheol immediately barked orders at the waiting executive. The man promptly reported what had happened.
Seo Shin-cheol muttered under his breath as he listened.
"Yoo Chan-seok, huh? That bastard..."
He wasn't like the other hunters strutting around Korea.
"He thinks like one of us."
With hostages in play, he'd flipped the script—using the buzz about wrecking Gonzalo's operation to turn the tables and blackmail them instead.
Human lives versus funding.
No normal person would dare weigh those two on the scales.
Unless they were the kind who wouldn't hesitate to stab someone over a thousand-won bill, like the locals around here.
"How the hell did a guy like that pop up in Korea?"
Even Seo Shin-cheol himself had needed time to adapt to the North African vibe.
But that bastard acted like he'd spent years in a place like this.
"You said they've probably already reached the Senegal border by now. Will they cut through Gambia?"
"Shortest route."
Senegal and Gambia's border was a joke—like the white and yolk of an egg. Senegal wrapped around Gambia.
To get to Dakar, crossing Gambia was the quickest path.
"They'll try to ford the Gambia River."
It was a long river. Once past it, Dakar wasn't far.
"Don't get cocky. Deploy recon drones along the riverbanks and have the guys stationed in Timbuktu keep eyes on the surroundings."
"Right away."
As they continued talking, Seo Shin-cheol added one more thing.
"And station ships in Dakar."
If things went south, escape was the obvious play.
"You seem busy."
Seo Shin-cheol didn't even turn his head.
"Lee Ha-yoon."
The flutter of a fan. He closed his eyes briefly before speaking.
"You're weirdly stronger now. Completely different from last time."
Lee Ha-yoon nodded at his words.
"Some shit went down that warranted it."
"Your voice changed too. Used to sound like a neatly plated pork platter."
Now it was like someone had dumped soybean paste all over that platter. He glanced over, taking in her appearance, and grimaced slightly.
"What the hell happened to your face? Botched plastic surgery?"
Her face was covered in bark-like, hardened scales in patches.
"Don't talk about my looks."
She said that while eyeing the paper-talisman-adorned dagger at her waist.
"And a warning: don't even think about running. We're killing the Headhunter here. And I'm not the only one who's shown up."
"Your boss come too?"
Lee Ha-yoon replied to Seo Shin-cheol's question.
"The leader's isolated and resting right now. Prepping to use that gear you handed over."
Even Dangun's Heirs knew Yoo Chan-seok's abilities were no joke.
Extracting them was one thing; integrating them was risky as hell.
"Our docs swore they could control it. So we're trusting them. Oh, and Seo Shin-cheol—you're from the same Moon Achievement Seo clan, huh."
"Don't care about that crap. Just tell me who's here."
Lee Ha-yoon answered.
"Me and Seok Jo-heum."
"Just two?"
At Seo Shin-cheol's words, Lee Ha-yoon twitched her dagger slightly. Ink spread across the floor around him, forming concentric circles.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Lee Ha-yoon replied.
"You called us 'just two,' so I figured a little demo was in order."
"Last time, you had to chant weird shit like 'sabaha' to pull this off."
Lee Ha-yoon gave a wry smile, patting her stomach.
"Got burned once."
The concentric circles on the floor pulsed with waves, exuding pressure that bore down on Seo Shin-cheol's body.
He brought his hand to the floor. A harsh friction screech echoed as the circles vibrated wildly.
"..."
Seo Shin-cheol and Lee Ha-yoon said nothing, just staring at each other with faint smiles.
"Fine. Sorry for brushing you off."
Seo Shin-cheol lifted his hand, and Lee Ha-yoon immediately erased the circles.
"Apology accepted. So, how can I help first?"
"My idiot subordinates let them slip away."
Lee Ha-yoon made a knowing sound.
"That's how it goes with inferior races. Keep 'em under you, and trouble brews. Anyway, I'll track 'em."
No sooner had she spoken than mana surged from her body. About five minutes later, she opened her mouth.
"Found 'em. And they've noticed us too. What a pain in the ass."
"Where?"
"Kaolack."
Seo Shin-cheol scowled at her answer.
"Already?"
Straight-line distance from Kaolack to Dakar was about 160 km. Not far at all. Too close now for a hostage play—even if they tried, the preps wouldn't finish before they hit Dakar.
"Hurry up and block 'em. This time, we kill them for sure."
Lee Ha-yoon's eyes gleamed murderously. In response, the bark-like scales on her face writhed.
They looked a bit more widespread than before. Seo Shin-cheol thought that as he raised his radio to issue orders.
Suddenly, a burst of mana swept over us from far off.
"Ah, we've been spotted."
I knew it right away. And this mana signature...
"Lee Ha-yoon, right?"
It belonged to that racist shaman poser from Dangun's Heirs.
"I remember. The bitch who ripped out her own guts and ran in Siberia."
I nodded at Han Sang-ah's words.
"Feels like if we beat her once, she's not much of a threat."
I shook my head at Jeong Oh-hoon's comment.
"She's dangerous."
Lee Ha-yoon's mana carried a different energy mixed in.
"This one's got ore embedded in her body too. Top-grade stuff."
Jeong Oh-hoon and Han Sang-ah let out small sighs at my words.
"Not like it's some decorative earring—she just jammed it in."
"We've outgrown them."
Dangun's Heirs couldn't handle us with their innate abilities anymore.
Maybe their bow-wielding army uniform guy, the leader type. But the rest? Even three or four couldn't take one of us.
Still, they couldn't just let us go, so they resorted to whatever means they had—no thought to the aftermath.
"...No, it's not that they don't care about the aftermath."
From what I'd seen, Dangun's Heirs were tight-knit among themselves.
There was that one who'd used black ore before. No way the others didn't know how she ended up. And yet they used it anyway...
High chance they'd found a way to control it. Control meaning they could at least read the contract terms and negotiate now.
"Anyway, we're made."
Better to just book it openly now. Full speed, no interruptions—we could hit Dakar in two hours.
"Hey, incoming artillery. Too many to intercept."
I clicked my tongue at Jeong Oh-hoon's warning.
"What're you waiting for? Run!"
The ground thundered as we bolted like arrows, no need to decide who went first. Shells rained down overhead.
"Cluster munitions."
They didn't give a damn if the whole area turned to scorched earth. Cluster bombs poured down like someone once called it—a steel rain. Iron raindrops hammered from the sky.
Each one exploded on impact. Movies showed rifle-bullet blasts, but these submunitions packed near-grenade punch.
A holographic feed popped up in my vision. Launched missiles tracked, projected danger zones updating in real time.
"Roof's up!"
Jeong Oh-hoon pulled something from his subspace and launched it skyward. A massive disc-shaped device.
The disc hovered with bottom-mounted engines, spinning at high speed. Ten weighted metal fiber strands shot out.
They whipped around with the disc's rotation.
Like those sky swings at an amusement park. Of course, at that speed, riding one would feel like a centrifuge.
The hovering disc moved with us, detonating the cluster munitions mid-air like a giant umbrella shield.
"Expensive?"
"Fucking pricey! Damn it, the broke one out of us three is the wallet warrior!"
He griped, but the disc was doing its job flawlessly.
Damaged fibers from blasts? It severed them instantly and fired replacements, maintaining the barrier.
"Earning its keep. Don't cry too hard."
Amid the barrage, enemy forces approached in the distance.
"Yeah, right on cue."
Ex-con hunters who'd fled to join the Barbary Pirates—plus guys who weren't even hunters to begin with.