Episode 27
The second leader of Jayumin.
She hurriedly tried to activate her Space Dia.
Shhk—
Nam Gyuil swung his dagger and severed the bastard’s finger.
The finger that wore the ring.
The Space Dia fell onto the desk with a clack and rolled toward him.
Nam Gyuil quickly snatched it up.
With this, the second Space Dia had come into his hands.
“Captain Jeong Haram.”
Her subordinates drew their firearms.
The second leader’s name was Jeong Haram.
Nam Gyuil quickly drew his pistol and aimed it at her.
“Don’t move. Do anything stupid, and your leader dies.”
Had Nam Gyuil’s threat worked?
The subordinates flinched as Jeong Haram was taken hostage.
They couldn’t fire their pistols recklessly.
It was a situation where she could die at any moment.
Moreover, since Jeong Haram and Nam Gyuil were close, if they fired poorly, they might end up hitting her instead.
Jeong Haram, whose finger had been severed, glared at Nam Gyuil with a look that could kill.
“You bastard, who the hell are you!!”
Nam Gyuil snickered.
He answered with a relaxed expression.
“What does it matter who I am? You’re all going to be arrested anyway.”
“Damn it, so it was HA!”
Jeong Haram pressed her severed hand with her other hand to stop the bleeding.
She ground her molars.
Nam Gyuil gave them one last chance.
“If you stay still, you won’t get hurt. Surrender quietly. This is your last chance.”
Jeong Haram’s group hesitated.
They wore expressions of not knowing what to do.
Nam Gyuil pressed the muzzle even closer to Jeong Haram and relayed his demands to the organization members.
“Hand over all the smartphones you have.”
The members pulled smartphones from their pockets and threw them to Nam Gyuil.
They were probably all burner phones.
‘So the hideout only has Jayumin’s core members.’
Low-ranking members can’t make smartphones.
These guys probably obtained burner phones through the cooperative organization.
Nam Gyuil stomped on and smashed all the smartphones.
With this, the entire communication network between the cooperative organization and Jayumin was severed.
Moreover, since he had a tracker on him, the police and HA should be rushing over by now.
‘Well, it won’t matter even if they arrive.’
This place was an underground secret room buried beneath the earth. With no entrances or exits, it was impossible for them to get here.
Jeong Haram spat out a curse.
“You damned bastard, I’ll definitely kill you.”
She shouted at her subordinates.
“You fools, what are you doing? Pull the trigger already! Kill him!!”
Jeong Haram’s eyes rolled wildly.
It was a gaze filled with the resolve to kill him no matter what.
She thought it was better to die than be captured and taken to prison like this.
Because once her imprisonment ended, she would have to enter the Gate again.
She never wanted to go back there.
Rather than being eaten alive by monsters, it was better to die painlessly by a bullet.
The subordinates’ expressions turned fierce, as if they had steeled their resolve.
Nam Gyuil noticed their expressions.
‘These guys are going to shoot.’
If it came to this, a battle would eventually break out.
Well, he was confident he could take them all down if he wanted, but he didn’t want to waste his strength.
Nam Gyuil smirked.
“You guys forgot something very important? I don’t need to fight you at all.”
He showed the Space Dia to everyone.
Then the people there opened their eyes wide in panic.
In the urgent situation, they had missed an important point.
This place was impossible to enter or exit without a Space Dia.
And among them, Nam Gyuil was the only one with a Space Dia.
Jeong Haram’s group couldn’t leave this place.
“You’re trapped. This place is already a prison where escape is impossible.”
Nam Gyuil activated the Space Dia.
Jeong Haram’s subordinates hurriedly pulled their triggers, but the bullets only embedded themselves in the wall.
Nam Gyuil had already teleported elsewhere.
Their faces turned pale.
“W-what do we do now?”
One of them asked Jeong Haram.
She couldn’t say anything either.
The safe hideout that no one had been able to find… had become an inescapable prison, suffocating them.
“It’s over.”
Sensing her end, Jeong Haram slumped down.
***
Nam Gyuil arrived at another location.
This time, it wasn’t a place buried underground, but the interior of an ordinary building.
There were windows, computers, and various electronic devices.
There were people too.
There were quite a lot of them.
There looked to be easily fifty of them. Moreover, they were all carrying pistols or knives.
They weren’t wary of Nam Gyuil, who was disguised as Bae Jeongmin.
“Hey, Bae Jeongmin. What brings you here? Is something wrong? Today’s the day we handle Im Yeongsu. You cleaned up after, right?”
In Jayumin he had been spoken to with honorifics, but here they used casual speech.
It meant Bae Jeongmin’s position in the cooperative organization wasn’t high.
“Yes, of course.”
Nam Gyuil immediately answered in a humble manner.
The Space Dia only moved to places where another Space Dia existed.
And all the Space Dias were gathered in one location.
‘In other words, even if I try to move to a different space, I’ll eventually end up here.’
This time, escaping using the Space Dia was impossible.
He had to act like Bae Jeongmin and get out.
Swoosh—
Just then, he saw a member coming out of the restroom.
“Ah, that was refreshing.”
Having confirmed the restroom’s location, Nam Gyuil immediately headed there.
He sat on the toilet.
‘Taking on fifty armed men with pistols alone would be tough.’
The one fortunate thing was that thanks to the location tracker, HA and the police were on their way here.
‘Well, since contact with Jayumin has been cut off, they have no way of finding out about this. They’ll be ambushed without knowing anything.’
Nam Gyuil opened the toilet tank lid.
The inner mechanisms of the toilet were visible.
He attached the location tracker to the flush lever and closed the tank lid.
‘My work is done.’
Since he had hidden the location tracker, the police and HA would soon burst in.
Nam Gyuil reported the armed status and number of organization members here to Jo Huiyeong via a messenger app.
He came out of the restroom and left the building just like that.
‘Well then, the trap operation is over. Shall I carry out the operation to become the top contributor?’
A faint smile formed on his lips.
***
Bang!
Someone kicked down the door to the cooperative organization’s hideout.
“What the hell, what’s going on!!”
The members shouted in surprise. Soon after, armed police special forces and HA entered the building.
They were even equipped with ballistic shields.
“What the hell!! Who are you people? How dare you cause trouble where honest citizens are working!”
Jang Yuncheol, the boss of the cooperative organization, roared.
Jo Huiyeong quickly shouted.
“We know you’re related to Jayumin. Surrender peacefully.”
“Damn it. Boys! Fight!”
Jang Yuncheol spewed curses and drew his pistol.
Bang, bang.
The bastards fired their guns.
HA and the police special forces blocked all the bullets with their ballistic shields.
Crash!
More police special forces appeared through the broken windows.
Their sudden appearance instantly neutralized the organization members.
Gunshots rained inside the building, and the pungent smell of gunpowder permeated the air.
It was impossible for the organization members to defeat the fully armed police special forces and HA, and they fell one by one.
Jang Yuncheol hid under the desk with a terrified face.
‘Damn it, I’m going to get arrested.’
An organization member hit by a bullet collapsed beside him.
Soon, a terrible silence descended.
All the organization members were dead, and only Jang Yuncheol remained.
Jo Huiyeong gave a final warning.
“Surrender peacefully. Don’t do anything foolish.”
Jang Yuncheol gritted his teeth. If he surrendered like this and went to prison, he didn’t know when he’d get out.
Possession of firearms carried a heavy sentence.
And considering that organized crime was punished more severely than individual crimes….
‘I might get life imprisonment.’
Jang Yuncheol looked at the Space Dia on his finger.
This was the only thing he could rely on now.
‘Let’s escape to Jayumin first and plan for later.’
The bastard activated the Space Dia.
***
Jang Yuncheol blinked.
He had planned to escape to Jayumin using the Space Dia.
‘Where is this?!’
He had come to a random place, not Jayumin.
Wondering if it was where Bae Jeongmin was, he looked around, but saw nothing.
At that moment, utterly bewildered as to what was going on—
A man slowly walked out of the dark shadows. Two Space Dias were on his hand.
“Who are you? Where the hell is this? And more importantly, why do you have those!!”
The man snickered at Jang Yuncheol’s question.
“My name is Nam Gyuil. This is the Hunter Association’s underground training ground. I took these rings from Bae Jeongmin and Jeong Haram.”
“Sh-shit.”
Jang Yuncheol understood the situation.
He had tried to escape using the Space Dia, but had been used against him and ended up in the heart of enemy territory.
Bang, bang, bang.
The bastard fired his pistol.
Nam Gyuil moved quickly left and right.
Enhanced by the Arnia Mana Body Strengthening Technique, he was faster than a cheetah.
Jang Yuncheol pulled the trigger blindly without even aiming properly. Because of that, not a single shot hit him.
Clack, clack.
Whether he had run out of bullets, the pistol no longer spat fire.
“Damn it, do I look like I’ll fall like this!!”
Jang Yuncheol threw his pistol on the floor and drew his dagger.
Nam Gyuil gave him one last chance.
“Surrender.”
“Have I gone crazy!”
Hearing that, Nam Gyuil let out a sigh.
The time to beat him senseless had come.
He slowly approached Jang Yuncheol.
***
Jang Yuncheol rolled across the gray floor.
Several of his teeth were broken, and he was unconscious with his eyes rolled back.
Nam Gyuil hadn’t killed him.
Instead, he had beaten him thoroughly until he couldn’t move, rendering him unable to counterattack.
Soon, Team 01 members entered the training ground.
“Wow, he really beat someone with a gun.”
I Chanu showed a fascinated reaction.
Just in case Jang Yuncheol ran for the entrance, all of Team 01 had been positioned there.
Hong Sinu’s eyes sparkled.
“As expected of Sergeant Nam! To think you beat someone wielding a gun. You are truly amazing.”
Nam Gyuil waved his hands.
“How many times have I told you? Flattery will get you nowhere.”
Soon, HA arrived here as well.
Jo Huiyeong looked at Jang Yuncheol who had collapsed in a miserable state.
Then she turned her gaze to Nam Gyuil.
‘He’s really amazing. He solved a case no one else could in one go. And he led it himself, at that.’
She had felt he was no ordinary person, but he was truly amazing.
‘Now I know why Team 01 has been avoiding accidents. It’s all thanks to this man’s contributions.’
Jo Huiyeong approached Nam Gyuil.
“Good work.”
“Thank you. By the way, I’m the top contributor this time, right?”
“Excuse me?!”
Jo Huiyeong blinked her eyes at Nam Gyuil’s sudden question.
She recalled that the President had said he would give a reward to the top contributor of this case.
She fell silent for a moment, then hid her bewilderment and asked.
“Don’t tell me, you took on all the dangerous tasks alone because of that…?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“Do you usually solve cases by yourself like that? For the credit?”
“I only acted alone this time. Normally, I show fantastic teamwork with my team members.”
Nam Gyuil answered jokingly.
Jo Huiyeong snickered.
“Yes. I’ll report to the higher-ups that you are the top contributor. Because that’s actually what happened.”
“Thank you.”
“But what on earth are you planning to ask for as a reward that you went this far? The President said he would grant you whatever you wish.”
“Let’s keep that a secret.”
Nam Gyuil smiled and brought his index finger to his lips.