10. You should have listened when I said let's end this here.
Sun Chunlan flung open the office door and stepped outside, her face twisting into an expression of utter disbelief at the sight before her.
The corridor, its floor covered by a red carpet, had become a scene of carnage—an Asura field, in short.
“Uwaack!”
“Krugh.”
“Stop him! Stop that bastard!”
Minseong and O Suyeon had tangled with over twenty gang members, going toe-to-toe and turning the place into a chaotic mess.
Among them, what caught Sun Chunlan's attention was Minseong.
O Suyeon was impressive, swinging her three-section staff against hulking men, but Minseong was truly a wild beast.
Like a tiger that had leapt into a wolf pack, he tore through the gang members in every direction; the word overwhelming failed to do it justice.
Even watching with her own eyes as he toyed with and knocked down gang members known for their strength like children, she couldn't believe it.
*How can a guy like that exist!*
Every time he moved, blood sprayed in all directions.
Was that what an Asura, said to battle demons in a world of chaos, looked like?
Even in that moment she watched, a gang member wielding a gruesomely sharp curved blade tried to stab him, only to take a fist to the face and fall backward.
A subordinate trying to swing a wooden bat from behind—as if he had eyes on the back of his head—let out a scream at a spinning back kick and crashed to the side.
Several gang members already lay on the corridor floor, groaning from the beatings they had taken.
Even considering that the narrow corridor was blocked on both sides and they couldn't rush all at once, it was unbelievable that over twenty men couldn't subdue two people.
Unable to leverage their numerical advantage at all and instead being pushed back, Sun Chunlan was speechless with disbelief and fury.
“Aaaack!”
Another scream burst out, accompanied by the sound of bones breaking.
The arm of a gang member caught by Minseong was bent backward and dangled limply.
Sun Chunlan, biting down hard, called for Helong.
“Give me the gun!”
“Yes.”
Along with his answer, Helong pulled a black pistol from inside his clothes and handed it over.
The pistol grasped in Sun Chunlan's hand was a Type 54, a copy of the Soviet Tokarev made by the Chinese military.
Sun Chunlan pointed the muzzle forward, but when Minseong was tangled up with her subordinates, making it difficult to aim, she scowled.
“Damn it.”
She raised the pistol upward and pulled the trigger.
BANG!
At the loud gunshot echoing through the corridor, everyone stopped fighting and looked at Sun Chunlan.
Sun Chunlan, aiming the gun at Minseong, lifted her chin arrogantly.
“That's far enough.”
Taking advantage of the brief lull in fighting, the gang members still in one piece supported their beaten and sprawled comrades, retreating to both sides.
“What are we going to do now?”
O Suyeon, three-section staff in hand, pressed close to Minseong with a stiff face.
Though she had been swinging her three-section staff like a fish in water, tearing through gang members, no matter how agile she was, going up against a gun was too much.
But Minseong faced Sun Chunlan, who held the pistol, with calm eyes and no sign of panic.
“When I move, drop to the floor immediately.”
At his whispered words, spoken with barely moving lips, O Suyeon slightly furrowed her brows.
Her expression asked if he really intended to fight an opponent with a gun, but Minseong ignored it, pretending not to see.
“Pulling out a gun on our first meeting—your hospitality is terrible.”
“I have no generosity to show manners to uninvited guests.”
Sun Chunlan replied with a cold face.
“Coming here without a shred of fear—you've got guts spilling out of your belly.”
“Because I'm confident I can win.”
How did this guy exist? Even with a gun in his face, his arrogance pierced the sky.
“You madman...! Soon you'll be grabbing my pant legs and begging for your life.”
“Well, will I really?”
Before his words even finished, Minseong's hand quickly moved toward the small of his back.
Seeing that, Sun Chunlan pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang!
The moment the gunshot rang out, time began to flow slowly.
*As expected...!*
Minseong smiled, baring his fangs.
It was still a hypothesis, but the condition that his supernatural ability activated the moment he was in danger was now almost certain.
The reason Minseong could act boldly in front of Sun Chunlan with a gun was because he believed in this.
Minseong watched the incoming bullet and dodged to the side, then pulled out a Glock pistol with a suppressor attached from behind his waist.
And in a posture with one knee to the floor, he fired the pistol.
Thwip!
In that instant, as if by a lie, time returned to normal.
“Kuk!”
Sun Chunlan was hit in the shoulder by the bullet, spraying blood as she fell backward.
“Boss!”
Helong shouted loudly, startled by the sudden situation.
As he tried to pull out another pistol he had on him, he was hit by a bullet and collapsed.
“Y-you bastard!”
Even with her shoulder covered in blood, Sun Chunlan tried to raise her body and aim her gun.
Minseong confirmed this with a sidelong glance, then grabbed the scruff of a gang member who had been trembling and frozen stiff the moment the gunfight broke out, holding him up like a shield.
“Die, you son of a bitch!”
Ba-bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets fired wildly without proper aim lodged messily into the gang member's body.
Splat!
A bursting sound rang out as blood sprayed in all directions.
“Stop that bastard!”
Sun Chunlan pressed one hand against her flowing blood, glared at the gang members, then slowly began to retreat backward.
Seeing she was about to flee into the office alone, Minseong threw the gang member—riddled with over four bullets and torn to shreds—to the floor and immediately headed forward.
“Ugh!”
“Kuk!”
Every time Minseong pulled the trigger while running, two gang members blocking the way, including Hua Ziyuan, flailed their arms and fell.
The other gang members were too terrified, lying face-down on the floor, not even daring to think of rushing him.
As the situation unfolded exactly as Minseong had said, O Suyeon, who had immediately crouched down, could only stare blankly at his back with a surprised face.
BAM!
Taking a large stride, Minseong kicked the half-open office door.
The moment he stepped inside, gunshots rang out.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
It was a moment where he nearly became a beehive.
Having anticipated the attack and quickly taken cover behind the wall, Minseong didn't miss his chance when he heard the metallic click of an empty pistol magazine.
Gripping the pistol with both hands and entering like lightning, he found Sun Chunlan standing there with an empty pistol and a panicked expression.
“N-no!”
“It does.”
Minseong spat, pulling the trigger.
Thwip!
Sun Chunlan, taking two shots to the chest, crashed into a table with a scream and then fell toward the floor.
Minseong approached slowly, keeping the muzzle trained on her.
“Y-you... bastard...”
Blood trickled from between her clenched teeth in a thin stream.
Glaring fiercely with wide eyes, Sun Chunlan rasped with a metallic wheeze, gasping roughly.
Even though she was wheezing as if her breath would stop at any moment, the desperate effort to raise her empty pistol revealed a tenacious determination.
Walking forward, Minseong firmly stepped on Sun Chunlan's trembling hand, which still gripped the pistol, with the sole of his shoe.
“Kuh... you think you'll get away with this?”
Sun Chunlan spat out with bloodshot eyes.
“That doesn't sound like something you should say in your condition.”
Meanwhile, Minseong still had an indifferent expression.
“See, you should have listened when I said let's end this here.”
“Heh... heheh...”
Sun Chunlan opened her blood-covered mouth and laughed like a demon.
“Fuck you, bastard.”
“I knew you'd say that.”
The black muzzle aimed precisely at Sun Chunlan's head.
“It's all your own doing, so don't blame me.”
Phut!
A low gunshot, like air escaping, rang out, and Sun Chunlan's body, a hole drilled in her head, went limp.
The bright red blood that flowed out dyed the carpet crimson.
Minseong put one more shot into her chest to finish the coup de grâce, then tried to turn around.
As he casually swept his gaze around, a dazzling golden glint flashed in Minseong's vision.
A silver aluminum briefcase that had been on the table had fallen to the floor when Sun Chunlan collapsed earlier, and from the slightly opened gap of the case, one gold bar poked its end out.
“Hoo. Look at this.”
Minseong picked up the bag, checked its contents, and held the bag up toward Sun Chunlan's corpse.
“Consider this payment for the trouble of making me come all the way here.”
Since she had been a nuisance to him, it was only right that he received compensation.
So it was that Minseong, holding the pistol in one hand and the bag in the other, emerged from the office, and all eyes flew to him at once.
In the strange atmosphere, O Suyeon, who had been facing off against the gang members, was visibly letting out a sigh of relief.
On the other hand, the gang members flinched with each step Minseong took, retreating backward step by step.
The reactions on both sides made it clear who had won.
“Hey.”
At the calling voice, Hua Ziyuan raised his head.
He was pressing hard on his stomach to stop the bleeding, but blood was still flowing from the gunshot wound there.
Even now, if a gang member wasn't supporting him from the side, he wouldn't be standing—he'd be lying down gasping for breath at best.
“If I see your face again, it won't end at this level. If you're fine with that, feel free to come at me anytime.”
He'd crush them over and over again.
Hua Ziyuan, weighed down by the pressure in Minseong's eyes, unknowingly lowered his gaze.
He ought to avenge Sun Chunlan, but who would dare charge at such overwhelming force?
Completely intimidated, the pale-faced Hua Ziyuan stepped aside.
“Is there anything left to do?”
O Suyeon glanced at Sun Chunlan dead inside the room and shook her head.
“No. I'm good.”
“Then let's go.”
As Minseong took the first large step, O Suyeon followed behind, holding her three-section staff and watching the gang members with wary eyes.
The two who came out got into an SUV parked in the alley across the road.
Once the car got onto the main road, Minseong stepped on the accelerator and glanced at O Suyeon sitting beside him.
“We're done with our business here. We should go our separate ways too.”
“...”
But there was no answer.
Minseong furrowed his brow at the sight of O Suyeon buried in the seat, leaning her head against the window as if asleep.
“Hey.”
Only then did her pale, bloodless profile catch his eyes.
Sensing something was off, Minseong lightly shook her shoulder, and her head dropped limply to the side.
“Damn it.”
She had been fine when they left the nightclub; just when had she lost consciousness?
Minseong clicked his tongue and quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road.
Reaching out and lifting her outer clothes, he saw that they were torn as if from a knife during the fight, and thick blood was oozing from her side.
Minseong wrinkled his brow at the thick smell of blood assaulting his nostrils.
It was one thing that her black clothes had hidden it, but he wondered how she had shown absolutely no sign at all despite such a wound.
“Ruthless. Absolutely ruthless.”
Her first impression had been the same; truly, she was no ordinary hardass.
Minseong quickly opened the glove box in front of the passenger seat and took out the first-aid kit he had kept there for emergencies.
He sprinkled hemostatic powder on the wound first, covered it with disinfectant gauze, and taped it up in a hurry to stop the bleeding, but this was merely first aid.
Above all, she had lost too much blood and needed a transfusion immediately.
“Uhn...”
Beads of sweat trickled down her slender jawline.
Before long, she would start groaning, alternating between chills and fever.
Minseong pondered what to do for a moment, then clicked his tongue briefly and spoke.
“Tch. You really are a woman who makes things difficult in every possible way.”
Minseong adjusted the seat to a somewhat more comfortable position, started the engine again, and urgently drove off.