Chapter 43: Teaching a Lesson
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 43: Teaching a Lesson
One thing I’d learned from scouring the Deep Web was simple: an Ability User must never, under any circumstances, stand out to ordinary people.
—Thud!
Before the thought could even settle, a heavy impact rattled the building.
Did they jump over to this roof now?
A surge of intense curiosity and a desire to see what was happening welled up inside me, but I had absolutely no intention of stepping outside. People were already trickling out of their homes in their pajamas, sensing something was wrong. I had moved here specifically to avoid prying eyes; I couldn't afford to have my location compromised after only a single day.
"What is all this chaos?"
Deciding to ignore it, I lay back down and pulled out my laptop. Before long, the flashing red lights of police cars filtered through the window. I tried my best to ignore them, wanting nothing to do with the situation.
—K-Boom!
The building shook once more. To cause such a ruckus with the police already outside—it was absurd. Soon after, a sharp knock sounded at the door, followed by the insistent ringing of the doorbell. When I opened it, a police officer was standing there.
"I'm sorry to wake you. We're evacuating all residents due to reports of explosions on the roof. Please take only your essential belongings and head outside immediately."
As the officer finished speaking, the wail of sirens grew closer.
"Alright, let's go."
Feigning a look of panicked confusion, Seo-un followed the officer out. Two fire trucks had already arrived, and a large crowd of neighbors had gathered, staring up at the top of the villa with bewildered expressions.
"Are you sure it's not a gas explosion?"
"I don't see any flames. Did a meteor fall or something?"
"I heard someone say they heard fighting. Shouting, then the sound of explosions."
Seo-un shook his head inwardly at the neighbors' chatter. As firefighters began entering the building, he had no choice but to watch the situation unfold. As he looked up along with the other residents, his eyes suddenly narrowed.
The presence he had felt on the roof had vanished in an instant. Then again, if they were still fighting after causing this much of a scene, they would have to be completely insane.
Even though it was past midnight, nearly a hundred residents were gathered outside, rubbing their eyes amidst the commotion. The flashing emergency lights illuminated the crowd. Amidst the red strobes, a small-statured figure caught his eye, pushing through the throng.
To be precise, Seo-un had only turned his gaze because he reacted to a sudden surge of energy. As the figure, hunched over and clutching their chest, disappeared into the crowd, several other presences were felt nearby.
Turning his head, he saw two men in casual clothes and three in suits scanning the area, clearly searching for someone.
Why does this kind of incident always have to happen around me?
Seo-un held his breath, suppressing his energy as much as possible. From the moment the commotion began, he had been hiding his Internal Qi just as he had practiced during his training, fearing he might get dragged into the mess. Unless he intentionally drew out his energy or started spamming magic, there was no way his presence would be detected.
Just then, the movements of the men looking around converged on a single point. Seeing that they had found their target, Seo-un let out a quiet sigh and slipped away into the shadows of the crowd.
*
Dark shadows moved swiftly, scaling the outer walls of the densely packed buildings. The shadow in the lead began to move erratically, wavering before finally dropping to the ground after a short distance. The shadows following behind instantly surrounded the figure.
"Give it up. You've caused enough damage as it is. It's better not to do something you'll regret later. Cleaning up the mess you've made so far is already a massive headache."
The small figure wearing a hood exhaled raggedly and coughed, dripping thick blood onto the pavement.
"The Central Bureau... I'd rather die than go with you lot."
Surprisingly, the voice was that of a woman.
It's a woman.
Seo-un’s eyes narrowed as he watched from a distance, hidden under his Cloak of Stealth. In the end, his curiosity had won out, and he had followed them to assess the situation.
"She's a key figure. We must capture her alive."
At the leader's command, the men surrounding her simultaneously pulled black rods that looked like wooden swords out of their Subspace. A sharp tension hung in the air of the dark residential area.
"We don't particularly like that tacky nickname, 'Central Bureau,' either."
As soon as the man finished speaking, all five of them lunged at the woman at once.
—Swish!
The hooded woman charged back, targeting the one whose movements seemed the most sluggish. In her hand, a spear—the kind one might see in a movie—had appeared out of nowhere. The moment she swung the sharp-bladed weapon, a keen energy shot forth.
—Crunch! Beep-beep-beep! Wee-woo!
The energy missed the man but slammed into a parked car behind him, crumpling the metal and setting off a loud alarm. The men flinched and glared at the woman. As she tried to break through the encirclement, the leader shouted.
"Just grab her!"
The woman grit her teeth, sensing her end. But just as she tightened her grip on her spear, a frigid chill filled the air.
"Agh!"
Everyone present stared wide-eyed as the legs of the two men in suits rapidly froze over, rendering them unable to move.
"A Mage in ambush...!"
The man couldn't even finish his sentence before he collapsed on the spot. As Seo-un appeared where the man had fallen, draped in a pitch-black cloak, a flash of conflict crossed the eyes of the remaining two men. However, they too collapsed instantly after feeling a heavy impact on the back of their necks.
Only the two men in suits with frozen legs remained, watching the scene with wide, trembling eyes. Seo-un grabbed the woman's hand and sprinted away from the scene. After running for a long time and scaling the wall of a dilapidated villa to reach the roof, he finally let go of her.
"Cough! Hack!"
She looked to be in terrible shape, coughing and vomiting blood.
"Th-thank you. Are you from the Front?"
Seo-un silently shook his head.
"Then... could it be... from Command?!"
Again, he silently shook his head. At that, the woman quickly backed away and drew the spear she had stored in her Subspace.
"You're not from the Resistance?!"
For the first time, Seo-un nodded.
"Who are you? You're clearly not from the Pro-China Alliance."
Seo-un nodded again, then channeled Internal Power into his vocal cords before speaking.
"Just someone passing by. Consider yourself lucky and go."
His voice sounded muffled and distorted, as if it had been electronically altered. Leaving only those words behind, Seo-un leaped off the roof. The woman belatedly looked down from the rooftop railing, but Seo-un was nowhere to be found.
*
He could have just watched as the woman was dragged away. His curiosity had been satisfied once he confirmed it was a chase between an Ability User and the Central Bureau, just as he had suspected.
However, the stories about the Central Bureau's interrogation rooms circulating in the communities weighed on his mind. Besides, if he thought about it, hadn't he been forced to move and take on unnecessary debt because of those Central Bureau bastards? Watching them go about their business in a way that rubbed him the wrong way was simply unpleasant.
So, in the end, he had stepped in to sabotage them. An ambush using the Cloak of Stealth was something he had done many times before; taking down distracted enemies was child's play.
Returning home, Seo-un slumped onto the floor and let out a long sigh.
"Sigh. What a mess."
In the neighborhood, the red lights of emergency vehicles were still visible as firefighters continued inspecting buildings. In particular, the residents of the building across the street, where the initial fight exploded, were still unable to return to their homes. It was only natural. The traces of the battle would be clearly visible on the roof, and the meticulous firefighters wouldn't let anyone back into a potentially dangerous building until they found the "cause."
Just then, his phone rang.
—Young Breadwinner—
Seeing the name on the screen, he answered.
"What's up?"
—I should be asking you that! What happened?
"Huh? Something did happen, but how did you know?"
—'Mysterious Explosion in Bupyeong' is trending on the real-time search rankings right now!
"Already?"
—Articles are coming out too. This isn't normal, is it?
"Don't even get me started. The Central Bureau guys and someone from the Resistance had a massive showdown while playing cat and mouse."
A sigh of relief could be heard from the other end of the line.
—You didn't get involved, did you? It's best to just let it pass quietly.
"Gi-chan."
—Yes?
As Seo-un’s voice suddenly turned serious, he could feel Gi-chan’s tension through the phone.
"Do you know what they say about 'what if'?"
—...That it can kill a person?
"Exactly. I got involved."
—Hyung!!! What were you thinking?!
"I did it because I was confident I wouldn't get caught."
—Are you sure you weren't caught?
"I only stepped in because I knew I could pull it off. I didn't like the way those guys were acting. And I hated seeing them cause such a ruckus in the middle of the night."
—Phew. If something goes wrong, all that effort we put into moving will be for nothing.
"That's true, but I couldn't just ignore a bunch of guys ganging up on one woman."
—What, are you some kind of knight in shining armor now? And what about that time you shot an arrow through a cornered woman's head!
"Hey! That was in Cloyd. You think reality is the same?"
—Anyway, be careful! You might be able to mess with the Pro-China Alliance, but if you get on the Central Bureau's bad side, nothing good will come of it.
"I know. Anyway, let's hang up. I'm tired after that midnight exercise."
—Sigh. You really have to be careful.
"I said I got it."
After hanging up, he collapsed onto his bed. The tension of actual combat, which he hadn't felt in a long time, began to fade, and exhaustion washed over him. Skipping his energy circulation for the first time in a while, Seo-un closed his eyes and fell fast asleep.
*
Jeong Su-hwa entered a cramped hospital room illuminated by harsh white fluorescent lights.
"What happened?"
At her sharp voice, the two men whose legs were wrapped thick in bandages remained silent, their heads bowed.
"I believe I asked what happened."
At her chilling tone, one of the men finally spoke up, albeit reluctantly.
"We were ambushed during the operation. The other agents are still unconscious, and we... have frostbite..."
"Did I ask who was hurt and how badly? I'm asking why I wasn't informed of a field operation to catch a lead on the Resistance. I'm asking who gave you the authority to execute an operation without permission. And I'm asking how you plan to take responsibility for this operation that ended up on the real-time search rankings without any results."
At the mention of the search rankings, both men turned pale.
"Who was the commander who authorized this operation?"
"That is..."
Just as Jeong Su-hwa was about to explode, a young man entered the room. The man, tall and dressed in a sophisticated navy suit, spoke.
"I authorized the operation. Is there a problem?"
"By what authority did Team Leader Kim authorize an operation for my team?"
"I had no choice. The manager had already clocked out, and we received intelligence. I had to authorize it. We had a lead on a high-ranking Resistance member; I couldn't just ignore it."
"Then I assume your side will take full responsibility for the failure of the operation."
"Oh, don't worry about that. The cleanup is finished. The higher-ups have smoothed things over, and the report has been filed. When you work in the field, can you really expect a good result every time? Failure is just part of the job. It seems Team Leader Jeong still hasn't adjusted to field work."
After throwing out the blatant sarcasm, the man glanced at the injured agents and walked out. The two men struggled to stand on their injured legs and saluted him. Seeing this, Jeong Su-hwa glared at them before storming out, gritting her teeth.
*
How did things end up like this?
He had only stepped out to buy some daily necessities, but he could sense numerous presences. Even from the street sweeper cleaning the road, he could feel a faint energy, and small ripples of Mana were felt constantly from all directions. Even from a disheveled drunkard dozing off at a convenience store table in broad daylight, he could sense Internal Qi.
They're crawling all over the neighborhood. Gi-chan would have a fit if he saw this.
Ignoring them, Seo-un entered the convenience store, bought some bottled water and a few simple lunch boxes, and shook his head at the energies he felt everywhere as he stepped back outside.
Just then, his phone rang.
—Young Breadwinner—
"Yeah."
—Hyung. You're at home, right? I'm coming over now.
"No. Don't come here. I'll go to you."
—I don't mind, but is something wrong?
"Let's talk when I see you."