Chapter 86
Bomber, the villain, was quite pleased with this operation.
There was only one reason for this—it was thrilling. If the target, a descendant of a chaebol family, was eliminated, a fairly dangerous figure would become an enemy,
Naturally, he had to do everything stealthily and go completely unnoticed, so much so that he wouldn’t even linger in their memories. Bomber could lose his life if he was caught, but in the first place, he was a terrorist. If he had been afraid of risking his life, he wouldn’t have become a terrorist.
‘I won’t be making a loss if I lend a hand in the fight of this major family. I can profit from this.’
For Bomber, this was a relaxing start. He had once been a U.S. soldier. He had learned Korean while he had been stationed in Korea, so he could communicate in the language quite easily. For Bomber, this operation was something that would end rather easily and pleasantly.
However, as soon as Jin Do-Yoon ran, grabbed his wrist, and dislocated his shoulder, Bomber recognized that he was in danger and cursed inside. He couldn’t help but scream, "Ahhhhhh-!"
“I asked, who are you?” Jin Do-Yoon repeated his question amidst the chaos taking place in the small room.
Byung-Chan frowned as he was sitting down and eating food. He muttered, “How loud… Can’t you see that your masters are eating?”
Then, with a yawn, Byung-Chan stood up and seemingly disappeared.
At that moment, Yu-Seong, who was organizing what had happened in his head, jumped out of his seat somewhat instinctively. He converted the Pharaoh’s Caprice into a spear. Then, he activated Insight and followed his brother’s invisible movement, catching him at the last second with a side blocking technique.
All of these actions took place during a mere instant.
An explosion rang out in the room. Jin Do-Yoon was kicked by Byung-Chan and flew through the building, breaking several walls. Then, he fell and collapsed even more walls.
"Oh. Something was blocking the way, so I couldn’t put in enough power. I meant to kill him,” said Byung-Chan in an irked tone.
Then, he suddenly noticed Yu-Seong's spear and his eyes twinkled. He asked, "It's an ancient artifact, isn't it? Did Father give it to you?"
“...” Instead of answering, Yu-Seong widened the distance.
"Why aren't you answering me? I asked you a question.” Byung-Chan smiled at Yu-Seong.
"Who is that?" asked Yu-Seong as he looked sideways at the Bomber, who lay on the floor.
Byung-Chan tilted his head at Yu-Seong’s question. He stated, "Hey, I think I asked a question first.”
"I have no obligation to answer," said Yu-Seong.
"Then I'm not obliged to answer your question either. And there's no reason why I have to humor a brother who's disrespectful to me."
Byung-Chan laughed and disappeared once again.
Yu-Seong read the movement with Insight and created an illusion by using Wind Control. However, accompanied by Byung-Chan's roar, his forceful fist punched through the illusion and the wall behind it.
The cold wind of early February blasted in from the outside. Byung-Chan’s eyebrows shot up, and he smiled. "Interesting.”
Once again, Yu-Seong widened the distance between them by using Wind Control. Then, he used a spear technique once more.
‘Wind attribute!’
As Yu-Seong quickly pierced the air, sharp wind was projected forward from the tip of his spear, surrounding Byung-Chan. No, it seemed to surround him. Before Yu-Seong knew it, Byung-Chan had disappeared from the place where he was standing.
An instant later, Byung-Chan's voice came from behind Yu-Seong. “What’s up with you? Yu-Seong, are you really a D-rank?"
Yu-Seong once again tried to widen the distance by creating another illusion. However, this time, Byung-Chan was not fooled. He passed through the illusion and smiled at Yu-Seong from right in front of his nose.
‘He’s so fast.’
After all, Byung-Chan was an A-rank player who was even called an inborn fighter. No matter how great Yu-Seong's talent was, the opponent was also an overwhelmingly talented hunter.
Byung-Chan grabbed him at once. Yu-Seong groaned. "Gugh…!"
There was no place to escape to, and Yu-Seong was not powerful enough to shake off an A-rank hunter who was trying his best to catch him.
'Darn…it...'
Yu-Seong gritted his teeth and glanced around. He had to find a way. Just because Byung-Chan had caught him didn’t mean he would be killed immediately; rather, there was a high possibility that their conversation would go on for a bit longer. Just as Yu-Seong was planning on taking that time as an opportunity to strike back, Byung-Chan tightened his grip threateningly.
"Kahh…!" As he choked, Yu-Seong's mind slowly became blank. He couldn’t breathe.
"Yu-Seong, you're more dangerous than I thought. What the hell are you? Your skill just now looks similar to Choi Ji-Ho’s Wind Control."
More questions from Byung-Chan followed, but he wasn’t actually looking for an answer. He was a natural fighter, after all, so he had no need to truly understand his opponents.
It had only been a brief exchange, but Byung-Chan was sure about one thing.
‘This guy will become really dangerous when he gets older.’
There was even a possibility that Yu-Seong would become stronger than himself once Yu-Seong reached the A rank—no, even just the B rank. It was objectively nonsensical, but Byung-Chan’s instinct raised Yu-Seong’s risk evaluation to the highest possible level. It was like seeing Choi Ji-Ho, the man that had once overshadowed the entire family in a different way from Choi Woo-Jae.
If he could do it, Byung-Chan wanted to break Yu-Seong’s neck before Yu-Seong became stronger. However, he couldn’t do it.
'Killing him is too much for me… Father is paying attention to him because he knows that this guy is strong.’
Byung-Chan's instinctive fear and logical reasoning clashed, preventing him from making the final decision. At that moment, he could see the groaning Bomber struggling to stand up.
‘He was beaten stupid, but…’
Bomber's ability could quite covertly injure Yu-Seong to a point that was beyond recovery. Above all, Byung-Chan did not have to personally harm Yu-Seong, so it was easy to shrug off the blame.
Byung-Chan made his decision, smiled coldly, and approached Bomber while still holding onto Yu-Seong’s neck. He asked, "Hey, you can speak Korean, right?”
"Ugh..." groaned Bomber. He raised his head to see Byung-Chan, and nodded.
“Good. I don't like English very much. Speaking of which…”
Before Byung-Chan could complete his sentence, a wolf’s howl rose from the ground. A werewolf flew over from the exterior wall, his massive shape appearing clear in the moonlight behind him.
"Damn those beasts. I should have killed him with one shot earlier..." Muttering to himself, Byung-Chan activated his skill and punched out. A strong wind soared into the air. As far as he knew, most of the physical players of his rank couldn’t endure this attack.
However, Jin Do-Yoon, who had turned into a werewolf, broke through the attack head-on.
‘What?’
Thanks to Byung-Chan’s momentary shock, Do-Yoon was able to reach him and grab his wrist. When Byung-Chan tried to pull his wrist free, Jin Do-Yoon kicked him in the temple.
Boom-!
This time, Byung-Chan flew away, with no choice but to let go of Yu-Seong. Jin Do-Yoon did not miss the opportunity and immediately picked up Yu-Seong.
"Kaugh-!" Yu-Seong suddenly started breathing, coughing several times.
‘Fortunately, he’s okay.’
Do-Yoon looked at Yu-Seong with a sense of relief.
"Damn you, werewolf. Fuck you!".
At some point, Bomber had approached them and grabbed Jin Do-Yoon's ankle!
Jin Do-Yoon stepped away and shook off Bomber’s hand easily, and just like Byung-Chan, Bomber flew through the air. However, Bomber kept smiling, even as he was flying through the air. His lips slightly moved, and Do-Yoon could read what he was saying.
‘Bang…?’
At the same time, there was a large explosion. As his ankle was blasted apart, Do-Yoon screamed in anguish.
"Khaaaaa-!"
Blood, flesh, and fur flew all over the place. Even in the midst of that, Do-Yoon used his own back as a shield, falling to the ground while trying to protect Yu-Seong from the explosion.
The tremendous uproar made Yu-Seong recover from his stupor. He called out in surprise, "Jin Do-Yoon..."
"I'm fine, young master..."
Even before Do-Yoon’s bestial cry ended, a rough wind swept across Yu-Seong and struck Do-Yoon on the head.
"Awooo-!"
Do-Yoon yelped and rolled on the floor several times, smashing against the corner of the room.
Kurrrr-!
Do-Yoon was in a heap in the corner of the collapsed walls when Byung-Chan flew through the air to land on his chest, trampling him.
Bang-!
Do-Yoon couldn't even scream as he spewed blood. He fell down the stairs.
"Jin Do-Yoon!" yelled Yu-Seong as he clenched his fists. He could feel his fury quickly overcoming his reason.
‘Byung-Chan, you bastard!’
"How dare the dog of the house bite its owner!" Byung-Chan looked equally angry as he swept his hair back, wiping the blood off of his forehead. He then smiled at Yu-Seong. "If the dog does something wrong, the owner should punish it accordingly. Too bad, I cannot stand it anymore. At least, father won't kill me for this."
‘Thud-, thud-.’
Byung-Chan approached Yu-Seong with heavy footsteps, cracking his neck left and right.
Yu-Seong remained standing, using his spear to support himself. He looked at Byung-Chan with a cold gaze.
‘Just once…’
If given the chance, Yu-Seong would destroy Byung-Chan's heart. There was no reason for Yu-Seong to hesitate just because they were brothers. After all, his opponent was heading towards him with the intent to kill.
"Oh, Yu-Seong. I really don't like that look in your eyes. Well, that's probably the last one. Now, it’s time for you to die." Byung-Chan clenched his fists.
Yu-Seong and Byung-Chan were less than 10 steps away from each other.
‘Not yet. Just a little closer…’
Yu-Seong wouldn’t be able to get the chance at such a distance.
Byung-Chan smiled brutally and stretched his arms, as if he could read Yu-Seong’s mind. He sent a punch flying toward Yu-Seong’s heart. There was nowhere to escape.
‘If I block that… Would I be able to stand up again?’
While Yu-Seong was thinking, his vision was blocked by someone's back.
‘A waitress?’
The one hit by Byung-Chan's wind punch was not Yu-Seong, but the Bomber, who—for some reason—had suddenly appeared between them. He flew toward Yu-Seong, vomiting blood. He basically tackled Yu-Seong, then rolled on the floor together with him.
‘Why?’
Yu-Seong had no idea why Bomber had shielded him from the attack. However, before his doubts cleared up, he realized that Bomber had already died.
‘He’s not breathing.’
Someone had killed Bomber and had thrown him out as a shield.
"I’m done watching~ That cute kid is mine."
Before Yu-Seong could make sense of the situation, he heard a woman’s voice ringing out. That voice made him instinctively shudder.
‘No way!’
An image of madness flashed across Yu-Seong’s mind. As he got rid of the Bomber’s body, Yu-Seong could hear Byung-Chan's fearless voice.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Me?"
Flaming red wavy hair flew through the air. A woman holding a short ax with her right hand pointed to herself with her left index finger and tilted her head. Then, she smiled and turned to look at Yu-Seong with her blood-colored eyes. She said in a creepy fashion, "Will you answer that for me, gold nugget?”
Yu-Seong answered with a shiver, "...Rachel."
Rachel, the Slaughter Queen.
Above the city center shrouded in darkness, disaster had finally descended.