Sinhyeok shuddered at the scene he had just witnessed.
“Those bastards….”
At the crisp curse, the two made expressions of disbelief.
“Hyung, are you a Mine?”
“Mister, are you really a Mine?”
Sinhyeok let out a deep sigh at his mana, which had frozen up again.
“One person who looks like a black magician, four hostages held captive, and roughly thirty people inside the building who look like guild members.”
At the mention of hostages, Ichan and Arin’s expressions changed.
“Those pieces of trash….”
*Crack.*
She gripped the building’s cement tight in her fist.
Dusting off the crushed debris, she looked at Sinhyeok.
“Mister, what are you going to do?”
“I was going to call it in, but let’s take some measures first.”
Sinhyeok opened his smartphone to report it, then paused.
‘Will they let themselves get caught obediently?’
If a Mine had learned black magic, running away would be as easy as pie.
So he put his smartphone away again.
“Let’s go with action before report. I don’t think reporting will cut it.”
At the words that they’d take action first, the two’s expressions changed.
“Hyung, what’s the plan?”
Naturally, the two looked at Sinhyeok.
“Let’s smoke them out of their burrow. Baek Arin, you go quietly take care of those guys guarding the entrance over there.”
Arin glanced over and asked,
“What about the cameras?”
“Leave them. That’s the point.”
Sinhyeok recalled the interior and structure of the building he had scanned just moments ago.
‘There was only one entrance. No other passages. Then, it’s perfect.’
The three moved, approaching the building.
Two bear-like men were guarding the entrance of the old low-rise building.
Baek Arin glanced at Sinhyeok.
‘Go.’
Sinhyeok immediately signaled her.
She walked slowly.
The two brutes grinned lecherously upon spotting Baek Arin at the end of the alley.
“Hey, hey, Chunsik. Look at that. That military chick’s body is killer.”
“Who?”
At those words, the man called Chunsik checked the alley.
Baek Arin, with her short bob cut, was slowly approaching the building.
“Damn, she really is something. Look at that face. Sangik, should I try hitting on her?”
“Pfft, with your face?”
Sangik ridiculed his friend to his heart’s content. Chunsik punched his friend’s forearm.
“Kekek, hey, did that sting?”
“Shut up. Don’t you think about your own face?”
“It’s different when I step up. But why is she coming this way?”
Baek Arin approached with a stiff expression and asked,
“May I ask just one thing?”
“Yeeah~ this oppa’s number is—”
“Are the hostages inside unharmed?”
At the word hostages, the two sprang up and glanced toward the car.
“Chunsik, the knife!”
The man called Chunsik headed for the car.
Baek Arin immediately moved and attacked with a faint white-light aura.
“Kuk!”
Arin’s hand, shooting out like lightning, fiercely struck Sangik’s Adam’s apple.
“Ggeok.”
She struck the side of the brute clutching his throat in agony.
“Kkeup.”
He collapsed with a thud right before her.
Park Chunsik, who had run to the car, hurriedly opened the trunk.
“G-gun!”
Sinhyeok, who had quietly approached behind Arin, swung down on his head with a 6.25 canteen blessed by the World Tree.
*Klang!*
With a clear, crisp sound, Park Chunsik’s head turned.
“Huh?”
He collapsed with a thud right then and there.
“Wow, this thing is solid.”
Inside the open trunk was a single knife.
Sinhyeok took out the blade and threw it to Arin.
“There’s a knife here.”
*Shing.*
*Chwak!*
She caught the sword and immediately drew it from its scabbard.
“Hmm, it’s nothing special.”
“Just use it.”
Ignoring her grumbling that the edge was dull, he rummaged further through the trunk.
‘There are two of them, so there should be another.’
When he dug to the bottom of the trunk, he saw a familiar gun.
‘M16!’
Seeing that it even had a scope mounted on top, it seemed to have been used quite frequently.
“This is just perfect.”
He took out the magazine and stuffed it into his pocket.
“Hyung? What about me?”
Ichan was looking at the two with a blank expression.
“You’re rear support.”
“Ah.”
“Wait here for now.”
Sinhyeok loaded the M16 and gathered the two fallen men, arranging them before the camera.
“Are they showing up well?”
After positioning the two neatly, Sinhyeok inspected the suppressor attached to the front.
“Let’s put some distance and wait. From here on, it’s my turn to play.”
He went up to the rooftop of a nearby building and waited.
Sinhyeok urgently took out the magazine and checked it.
“Ball ammo.”
He gathered mana from the air with great effort.
When he waved his hand about to collect it, he saw one very tiny grain of mana.
*Tuk.*
He pushed it smoothly into the bullet tip.
[Crafting a Magic Bullet.]
He repeated this action while checking the building periodically.
When a mana grain is pushed into the bullet tip, it gains the effect of repelling mana.
Then, even an ordinary bullet gains the power to oppose and resist techniques or magic utilizing mana.
“That should do.”
*Tak.*
He reloaded and aimed at the building entrance.
But it was quiet.
“Hyung, isn’t that CCTV fake?”
At Ichan’s logical question, Sinhyeok sighed.
“Ah, this is annoying. Baek Arin, go wake him up and send him inside.”
Arin immediately moved.
She woke the fatter of the men collapsed in front of the building entrance.
“Aaack!”
When she gently stomped his groin, Chunsik’s eyes opened.
“Kiyoooot!”
His scream gradually grew weaker.
She removed her foot and commanded him with a cold face.
“Go bring everyone out. If you can’t—”
She mercilessly stomped the groin of Sangik, who was quietly passed out beside him.
“Kiaaack!”
Both testicles collapsed.
Park Chunsik’s eyes shot wide open at the pain of the world flipping and being reborn.
“B-b….”
*Thud.*
He closed his eyes again from the excessive pain.
“Go.”
At Baek Arin’s brutal warning, Sangik grabbed his groin and scrambled up.
She turned around and looked up at the building.
Sinhyeok’s instructions came through the wireless earphone in her ear.
“Good. Come up and wait.”
“Yes.”
She glanced back and headed up the building.
Sinhyeok, who had been waiting on the rooftop, checked the surroundings.
‘Strangely quiet….’
There were unusually no people in the alley.
Since it was a remote and run-down area, people were rare to begin with even if there were houses, but today there were unusually none.
“Is it magic?”
“Hyung, why?”
“No, I was wondering if it was magic because there are unusually few people.”
“Ah, it’s just a black mana passive or something. Black mana, derived and processed from dark mana, is instinctively avoided by people.”
Ichan, who actually knew a thing or two, looked somewhat different in a new light.
Ichan felt a bit proud upon seeing Sinhyeok’s expression.
“You know some things too?”
“Come on, Hyung. I know a lot of things too.”
Baek Arin came up to the rooftop and pointed at the entrance.
“I definitely messed them up, so they’ll come rushing out like crazy.”
Seeing her smile, which looked somehow refreshed and invigorated, Sinhyeok and Ichan subtly squeezed their legs together.
“Y-yeah. Okay, rest for a bit.”
* * *
Chunsik grabbed his groin with his left hand and, leaning heavily against the wall, headed to the first-floor office.
“H-hyung-nims….”
Everyone looked at him strangely at his unusually weak voice.
When they saw Chunsik with blood flowing from his groin, they sprang up.
“H-Hyung-nims, ambush.”
“Everyone grab your tools!”
News of the ambush spread throughout the entire Samgang Guild.
These men, no different from gangsters, swarmed out.
This noisy news reached the black magician and the guild leader in the basement.
The black magician, who had been inspecting herbs in the basement, glanced upward.
The particularly thin, red-haired man spoke to the guild leader, who was lying on the sofa looking at his smartphone.
“Hyeongyu. It’s noisy upstairs.”
He set his phone down beside him and glanced upward.
“They’re probably fighting over a bet among themselves.”
“They all swarmed out together, I tell you.”
“Kkeugh.”
Eventually, the Samgang Guild leader got up.
When he twisted his waist and stretched, faint embers flickered like sparks and vanished.
“No, it’s annoying. Tell the kids to go check.”
“Haah. Do as you please.”
Samgang Guild Leader Do Hyeongyu picked up his phone again and texted instructions to the team leaders.
‘Go kill them. Don’t play around.’
Then he opened his game again.
* * *
“Hyung, hyung, they’re coming. Wow!”
Sinhyeok, who had been waiting on the rooftop, aimed at the rushing brutes.
“Baek Arin, get ready to jump out if things go wrong. Ichan, can you summon phantoms?”
“Hmm, I think I can summon a few.”
“Okay, you wait too for now.”
Sinhyeok watched the throng of rushing brutes through his scope.
They looked around at the empty alley.
“Chunsik, who did you say ambushed you!”
Chunsik, who had crawled up clutching his groin, looked around with a bewildered face.
“No, it was definitely that bitch!”
*Puk!*
Another guild member kicked Chunsik’s solar plexus.
“You worthless bastard.”
Chunsik collapsed backward, writhing.
Then he saw a familiar gun barrel on top of the building.
“Hyung-nim! Up, up!”
At the word “up,” everyone looked upward.
Sinhyeok smirked and brought his finger to the trigger.
‘Nice stance.’
*Sseuk.*
Then, gunshots rang out.
*Bang!*
One brute dropped with a thud.
Seeing this, the Samgang guild members panicked.
“Damn it! Hey! Go catch him!”
They all seemed to be Awakened, their physical abilities far superior to ordinary criminals.
One gathered flames in his hand.
“You’re dead! Fire!”
*Bang!*
The following gunshot pierced the thigh of the one who had gathered flames.
Beautifully coiled flames scattered into the air.
*Hwareureu.*
“You crazy bastard!”
The magic came undone during casting and spread wildly through the alley.
*Bang bang!*
Sinhyeok calmly sniped.
“Arin, two are coming up.”
“Yes.”
Baek Arin headed down toward the stairs with an excited face.
She spoke to the brute coming up with his sword drawn.
“Your flesh is so plump. Mind if I slice off some pork belly?”
The Samgang guild member coming up flew into a rage and rushed at her.
Faint mana flickered across their bodies.
“What the—!”
“You bitch!”
*Slash!*
She shallowly cut his arm, lowered her stance, and sliced the back of his ankle.
“Ack!”
“My foot!”
Having severed his tendon, she held her blade upright and stabbed deep into his shoulder and thigh, saying,
“Lie down quietly. Don’t come up any further.”
*Puk puk puk.*
“Aaaack!”
“S-spare me!”
Thinking she had stabbed him enough, she headed outside.
She tapped her wireless earphone and spoke.
“Mister, can I play some more?”
“Do as you please.”
Baek Arin smiled and stepped out into the alley.
She drew her sword in front of the chaotic Samgang Guild entrance.
*Shring.*
“Let’s play with me.”
At those words, the brutes rushed at her with fire in their eyes.
“Kill that wench first!”
*Bang!*
The charging leader’s calf was pierced by Sinhyeok’s bullet.
“Aaack!”
*Slash!*
She followed up by cutting his arm and pointed her sword at the rest.
When one magazine was spent and her rampage died down, no one else came charging out.
“Mister, they’re not coming anymore.”
“I’ll head down for now. Ichan, wait here.”
He took out a dark mana potion in a canteen from his subspace.
“You should have enough even holding onto this.”
Ichan held the canteen dearly and waved at his hyung.
Sinhyeok came down and clicked his tongue at the groans coming from all around.
“Tch, making such a fuss just because you got a few holes in you.”
At those words, the brutes spat out curses.
“Mister, these guys are too weak.”
“I think there might be more inside.”
He tried to use Mapping but had no potion.
‘Ah, I gave it to Ichan.’
Then, for now, he needed to find a substitute.
Sinhyeok secretly siphoned the residual mana of the Awakened scattered around him.
After checking the mana smeared on his hands, he slapped their backs.
“Hey, spit out more.”
“W-what are you talking about?!”
“Mana.”
*Smack!*
“Ack!”
Checking the brutes strewn about, he meticulously gathered crystallized mana in his hands.
Arin frowned as she watched.
“Ugh, gross.”
“Hey, are you the one eating it, or am I?”
‘Tch, I’ll bring plenty of potions next time.’
He immediately poured it into his mouth.
As another person’s mana entered his body, his body reacted violently.
“Kup.”
The mana was throwing a tantrum, raging with all sorts of properties.
Thanks to that, it activated more intensely than usual.
“Whew. Making a huge fuss just because I ate something dirty.”
[Initiating Mapping.]
He scanned the building immediately.
Checking with his senses as far as the mana reached, it was empty.
“What, these guys are it?”
“Huh? Mister, these guys are the end?”
*Bzzzt.*
Just then, one of the guys’ phones rang. Sinhyeok answered it in his stead.
“Hey, Joru, what’s going on outside?”
He checked who the caller was.
“Guild Master.”
“Hey, answer already, you bastard.”
Sinhyeok held out the phone to the guild member playing dead beside him.
“Joru, your Guild Master’s looking for you?”
The man called Joru—team leader of the Samgang Guild—forced an awkward smile and took the phone from Sinhyeok.
“G-Guild Master.”
“You dumb bastard, did you get wiped out?”
“I-I’m sorr—”
Click.
The call cut off.
He forced an awkward smile and quickly held the phone back out.
“You need to grow up too.”
Slap!
He swung the phone down on the man’s head.
“Mister, is this the last boss now?”
At Baek Arin’s question, Sinhyeok stared at the building.
Someone was coming up from the basement.
“No, the gatekeeper right before the boss.”
He shook out the empty magazine and loaded a new one.
Soon after, a stout man came up through the entrance.
He wore short shorts with a single shirt thrown over his shoulders, all the buttons undone.
Baek Arin scrunched up her face.
“My eyes.”
Do Hyeon-gyu let out a hollow laugh, flabbergasted by the mess in the alley in front of the guild.
“What are you?”
Sinhyeok sized him up at a glance. The opponent’s visible depth of power was no trivial matter.
“From what I can tell, you’re above C-rank but below B-rank?”
Do Hyeon-gyu frowned at his precisely gauged assessment and stretched out his hand.
“A C-rank that’s practically a B, you bastard!”
Flames brimming with mana poured out in front of him.
Sinhyeok didn’t move and fired first.
Bang bang bang!
At the same time the flames drew near, bullets shot out.
Do Hyeon-gyu dodged to the side and sneered.
“Die!”
Sinhyeok simply let the mana-infused blaze wash over him.
Fwoosh.
The moment the flames touched him, they died down.
Sinhyeok opened his eyes and dusted off his palm.
Red crystalline mana flowed down.
“Wh-what?!”
“It’s my constitution. It’s a bit fucked up, so most abilities don’t work on me.”
Of course, there was a limit.
If it exceeded the threshold Sinhyeok could handle, it would work.
Or if you hit me directly with physical attacks, I get hurt too.
“Ha, shit.”
Do Hyeon-gyu looked at Sinhyeok with an expression like he’d eaten shit.
“Now dance, mutt.”
Sinhyeok smiled and fired indiscriminately.
Bang bang bang bang!
“Agh! Shit! Hey! Hey!”
He danced frantically to dodge, but bullets embedded themselves all over his body.
But perhaps because he was fairly strong, the bullets couldn’t pierce through.
“Argh! Damn it!”
Do Hyeon-gyu ignited intense flames all over his body and slammed his fist into the ground.
Fwoooosh, boom!
The flames spreading across the floor expanded outward and caused an explosion.
“Kuh.”
The aftermath of the floor bursting obscured his vision.
Sinhyeok closed his eyes, discarded the empty M16, and ran.
Do Hyeon-gyu glanced behind him and headed somewhere other than the building.
“Son of a bitch!”
He abandoned the contract and fled to survive on his own.
Thwack!
“Gck!”
Someone struck the back of his head hard.
Do Hyeon-gyu toppled forward, spewing curses and mindlessly unleashing flame-tinged mana, but it meant little.
Fwoosh.
The flames that reached Sinhyeok died down just like that.
“Hey, if it’s not the real deal, I don’t burn.”
Do Hyeon-gyu let out a hollow laugh and recalled Sinhyeok’s identity.
“Yu, Yu Sinhyeok, ha, that damned bastard….”
The Awakener affiliated with the military who had appeared suddenly five years ago—the alias he’d earned after destroying a guild back then was Natural Enemy.
“Of all people… yoooou!”
Flames erupted like mad, but Sinhyeok didn’t bat an eye and brought his fist down.
“Ugh!”
Do Hyeon-gyu collapsed on the ground, and Sinhyeok stood up and stared at the building.
“One left.”
Sinhyeok called the police first to report the incident.
He set the phone down on the floor with a clack and gathered the kids.
“Only the last boss is left. Ready?”
Nod.
The two nodded at the same time.
Sinhyeok let out a hollow laugh at the situation that had unfolded.
Screech.
A skinny man in a robe came out, opening the completely shattered door.
“What a mess.”