The Weight of Power
Tang! Tang! Tang! Tang—! (4)
Swish—! Swish—!
Cho Cheol-woong shifted his hands and circled with light, measured steps. The Sheriff stood rooted in place, staring him down without the slightest movement.
'Left-handed……?'
Seeing the Sheriff’s right foot forward, Cho thought it over. It didn’t matter. Left or right, the vital points on a human body never changed, and a solid hit to any of them would drop even the most heavily trained physique.
Tat—!
Cho adjusted the distance one last time, then exploded forward with his left foot, snapping a jab straight at the Sheriff’s eyes. His plan was to follow up with a low kick, hook, and elbow if the man flinched or leaned back. Instead—Ta-ak—!
The Sheriff didn’t weave. He simply slapped the punch aside with his right hand and, in the same instant, drove a monstrous left uppercut upward.
Whoooosh—!
The air cracked like a swung baseball bat. Cho had never felt such raw, terrifying force before.
“Ugh!”
Startled, Cho arched backward and raised his left arm to shield his chin, confident the block would hold. But—Baga-ak—!
A sickening crack rang out. The Sheriff’s fist smashed Cho’s forearm upward, driving the back of his own hand into his jaw with brutal force.
Deo-ok—!
Cho’s body reeled. The pain was blinding, yet the sheer, overwhelming power behind the blow shocked him far more.
'A punch with that kind of weight…… There are people who can throw something like that?'
Still, he refused to stay on the defensive.
Baa-ak—!
Even as his torso tilted, Cho lashed out with a low kick that slammed into the Sheriff’s shin. It wasn’t a clean strike, but it should have been enough to numb the man’s leg for a couple of seconds. Cho backpedaled, already planning his next move—regain balance, knee the leg again, and when it buckled, palm-strike the temple. His calculation was wrong.
“Augh, you son of a bitch!”
The Sheriff cursed, brow furrowed, yet charged like a locomotive, closing the gap with terrifying speed. Anyone watching would have sworn he’d only been lightly switched rather than kicked by a combat boot.
Whoooosh—!
The Sheriff’s left straight whistled past Cho’s cheekbone.
Jji-ik—!
Cho twisted away, but the Kevlar glove still carved a thin line across his face. Immediately the left hook followed.
Tat—!
Cho sidestepped right, letting the hook sail past, and drove his knee into the Sheriff’s exposed flank.
Baa-ak—!
He felt the impact connect—yet the Sheriff dropped his elbow like a guillotine, blocking the knee before it could land.
Hwicheong—!
Protected knee met bare elbow. The Sheriff didn’t budge; Cho’s body pitched forward.
'Now…… a right punch from the blind side. Face? Or ribs?'
Cho raised his left arm to cover temple and jaw while simultaneously slicing a knife-hand toward the Sheriff’s throat. If the man dodged left again, Cho would hook the back of his neck and drive a knee into the exposed solar plexus. But—Ta-at—!
Instead of the expected right, the Sheriff knocked the knife-hand aside with his right palm, spun, and launched a spinning heel kick.
Whooo-uk—!
A foot the size of a cannonball rocketed toward him. Dodging or blocking was impossible. Cho dropped into a crouch, head snapping back, and flattened himself to the ground.
Baga-ak—!
The kick tore through empty air and snapped a thick tree branch clean off. The power and speed were monstrous. If Cho had tried to block with an arm…… the bone would have shattered. There was no time to marvel.
Whoong—!
Still low, Cho planted his right hand on the ground and spun a capoeira-style left roundhouse to keep the Sheriff at bay, using the momentum to rise while swinging his arm wide. The loss of his left eye meant he would be blind for half the rotation, but it was the fastest way back into a proper striking stance.
Teok—!
Contrary to Cho’s fear, the Sheriff simply took a step back, refusing to press the attack. Only then did Cho realize what was happening. He clenched his teeth and glared.
“You bastard…… Are you going easy on me?”
Ever since the fight began, the big man had never once stepped to his right. He stayed strictly inside Cho’s remaining right-eye vision, never slipping into the blind left side, and attacked only from angles Cho could see. It was as if he had deliberately given himself a massive handicap.
“What the hell are you talking about? Going easy? On what?”
The Sheriff snapped back, blunt as ever. But Cho was already certain.
“A right-hander pretending to be a lefty, yet still refusing to use the blind side?”
“Ah, for fuck’s sake, now you’re gonna lecture me on how I fight too? Annoying as hell!”
“I’ll make you go all out!”
Cho drove a furious punch straight at the Sheriff’s face.
Teok—!
Again the Sheriff simply swatted it aside instead of circling right.
'Just as I thought. You complacent bastard!'
Cho spun, leading with his elbow, and drove it toward the Sheriff’s chest. Even without his left eye, at this range he could feel the man’s presence through his body. The elbow landed solidly—Baa-ak—! Cho followed with a knife-hand to the throat. If it connected, he would immediately target the vitals; if the Sheriff dodged left again, Cho would yank him by the nape and knee the now-exposed solar plexus. Instead—Buuu-ung—!
Cho felt a heavy impact on his left elbow and shoulder, then his feet left the ground.
“Ugh—!”
A short, startled grunt escaped him. Before he could react, the Sheriff had wrapped both arms around his torso and hoisted him high, legs kicking at a seventy-degree angle like a wrestler caught in a vertical suplex.
Cho thrashed with everything he had, but it was useless. The Sheriff’s grip around his waist handled Cho’s seventy-five-plus kilograms like a child’s toy, and his trapped left arm was pinned uselessly behind his back.
'How is this even possible? I’m still choking his neck downward……'
Floating for that brief moment, curiosity outweighed fear. Cho was still pouring every ounce of strength into crushing the man’s throat, yet the Sheriff’s head remained upright, staring calmly at the sky.
Whooo-uk—!
The throw finally came. Cho released his grip and braced for impact.
U-jik—! Koong—!
The wooden performance stage cracked beneath them. Cho’s right shoulder, arm, and back absorbed a tremendous shock. Even though he had twisted mid-air to break the fall, the sheer force the giant had generated was impossible to fully dissipate.
“Kuhk—!”
Cho lay on his back, gasping. The defeat was total; continuing would be pointless. Once again, the big man had shown mercy. If he had slammed Cho head-first onto hard tile instead of this springy wooden floor, Cho’s neck would have snapped.
“Kuk! Khkhkh! Khahahaha!”
Even through the searing pain in his back, Cho burst into bright, genuine laughter. There really are monsters like this…… and he’s still so young!
He had rarely been surprised by another man’s skill in his life, yet here he was again, awestruck for the second time today. Just what were these people, that such absurdly powerful beings traveled together?
“Haa……! Right before the end, my elbow…… Did it land?”
Cho asked while still sprawled on his back, arms outstretched. The Sheriff, looking down at him with mild concern, flexed a forearm thicker than most men’s thighs.
“Nah, I blocked it with this. Let’s call it here, old man.”
“Khkhkh! You…… You’re really something, you little shit. No wonder you act cocky. I don’t know who trained you, but they did one hell of a job.”
Cho laughed again, warm and unforced. He had no desire to make excuses—about how different the fight would have been with his left eye intact, or how a real knife might have changed everything. He was simply glad to have met such a monster at all.
“But…… you’re not ruthless enough, are you? Khk…… Well, I suppose you’ve never needed to be until now.”
Cho forced his still-tingling arm to move, pushed off the floor, and sat up. Sensing another lecture coming, the Sheriff frowned irritably.
“Ah, here we go again with the old-man speech. What does it matter how ruthless other people are? Stop with the unnecessary crap and just leave cleanly, yeah? No tailing us, no bullshit. We talked like you wanted, we fought like you wanted—now we’re done.”
Even while grumbling, the Sheriff extended a hand to help him up.
“Would’ve looked cooler if I’d said this after winning, but whatever. You people don’t have the luxury of time right now. Think I’m lying? Khng……!”
Cho took the offered hand and stood, continuing.
“The deal’s scheduled for a few days from now, right? And the meeting spot is probably somewhere near the old Konkuk University shelter. Am I wrong?”
'Nope. Not a single thing right. You’re spectacularly wrong about everything.'
The Sheriff kept the thought to himself. There was no deal in a few days, and the location was nowhere near Konkuk University. Still, he saw no reason to correct the man. The more firmly Cho believed his false information, the safer Yubin’s group would be.
“Keeping your mouth shut won’t improve the situation. Right now, troops are already infiltrated near that negotiation site.”
“You’ll say anything, won’t you?”
The Sheriff’s lack of reaction didn’t stop Cho.
“You don’t have to believe me, but it’s true. Operators with their unit patches removed have been tearing up Ttukseom Park all day, and some of them slipped into Children’s Grand Park……”
“What did you say?”
That detail finally drew a reaction. Removing unit patches and mentioning Children’s Grand Park was too specific to be coincidence. This old man had actually seen something real.
Either way, the Sheriff had no desire to get further entangled. If Cho’s words were true, he needed to return to Gunja Station immediately instead of wasting time here.
Better yet, he wanted to radio Yubin first and confirm he was safe. Children’s Grand Park and Yubin’s hiding place were less than a kilometer apart.
While the Sheriff’s mind raced, Jinwoo and Master Sergeant Hong shouted at the same time.
“Sheriff! Zombies!”
“Major! You need to move! Zombie horde incoming!”
“Huh?”
Both Cho and the Sheriff whipped their heads around, eyes wide. Zombies? Why so suddenly—!
Geuraaa-aa—!
A roar announced their arrival before the creatures themselves appeared. Moments later, dozens of zombies burst from the intersection.
“Damn it!”
Cho pressed his lips together and snatched up his tactical vest, eyes darting toward the car roof where he had left his pistol. The weapon suddenly felt impossibly far away, sitting right between him and the oncoming horde. He had gotten too caught up in the conversation and shown off. If he had kept the gun closer……
'Can I even reach it first?'
He wasn’t sure. A few seconds’ head start might be possible, but simply grabbing the pistol wouldn’t solve the problem of facing dozens of zombies. Reloading would be the real issue……
Cho rated his odds at fifty-fifty and started running anyway. Without the gun he had no way to fight.
Ta-at—!
He had barely taken two sprinting strides when the Sheriff grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and roared.
“What the hell are you doing, old man? Are you crazy? Why are you going that way?!”
With terrifying strength, the Sheriff yanked Cho backward and dragged him straight into the stairwell of the Korean medicine clinic.
“Wh-what the—?”
Master Sergeant Hong, who had witnessed the entire sequence, muttered in a dazed voice, his face drained of color. An unprecedented event had just unfolded before his eyes. The commander of the 707 Special Mission Group—the nation’s premier counter-terrorism force—had just been kidnapped.