Chapter 10.
Bang-
A single gunshot rang out.
"Fuck, where are you! Where the hell are you hiding, you son of a bitch!"
The thug holding a Glock spewed curses.
I could see it.
What was dominating him right now was extreme fear.
Why wouldn't it be?
He might not have been afraid even if someone with a knife or gun stood right before his eyes, but right now, I was invisible to them.
Like a reaper, I was tightening the noose around their necks from where they couldn't see.
‘The cultist bastards showed this kind of reaction too.’
Before the regression, despite Yuhyeon’s attempts to dissuade me, I had entered the cultists’ den.
A lonely, absurd fight where I had to face thousands alone.
But I won.
Because I had waged guerrilla warfare using the cloak of the one called the Hermit.
I had greatly enhanced that item called the Hermit’s Cloak with my Trait.
Dozens of days since I began facing them.
Finally, I was victorious, and I had contributed greatly to dismantling the forces of the cultists who tried to hasten the apocalypse.
‘Compared to that, these thugs are nothing.’
Countless crisis situations where it felt like I would be discovered if I even breathed.
Soaked in sweat from tension, and there were even times I had stayed still in one spot for days.
All those experiences taught me ‘how to move stealthily.’
Thwack!
"Kagh!"
A stone embedded itself deeply in the arm of the thug firing his gun.
Clack.
The thug whose arm muscles were damaged dropped the Glock he was holding.
And that was the catalyst.
"Shit!"
They began to flee.
Dozens were taken down without being able to do anything.
And with serious injuries—ruptured muscles at that.
Even if they were thugs who lived by the blade, how could they not be afraid?
Especially when facing an unknown terror, an opponent they couldn’t see, they chose to flee.
"Fuck!"
Of course, Gang Cheoljun was no different.
The infamy he once had was gone.
He was merely a second-generation chaebol who had played to his heart’s content in a well.
‘But…’
That didn’t mean there could be forgiveness.
Kindness for kindness, hostility for even greater hostility.
That rule was still valid.
Twanggg-
I pulled the string much tighter than before.
I released the rubber band pulled taut, as if it would snap.
Peee-ew!
A stone—no, a boulder I had carefully selected—struck the right thigh of Gang Cheoljun, who was fleeing in a hurry.
Thud!
"Kuaaaaack!"
A second-generation chaebol unfamiliar with pain.
Screaming as if he would die at any moment, he collapsed on the spot.
"Kkueek… S-save me!"
Barely holding back the screams leaking from his mouth, he called for help.
Before him, a thug who had been fawning over him just moments ago came into view.
A small but sturdy build.
Just by looking at him, you could tell he was the boss of the organization.
Even in a thug’s world ruled by strength, brains were necessary.
In the end, the one who became the head was someone who didn’t look particularly special.
"…"
Conflict surfaced on the face of the thug who had stopped.
The aftermath of leaving Gang Cheoljun behind.
Immediate survival.
But the decision came quickly.
Tap-tap!
The thug who turned around fled quickly.
"Kkuek, you bastard—"
He was cursing, but if the situation had been reversed, he would have made the same choice.
Because the human desire for life isn’t something that can be suppressed.
Having lived through the apocalypse, I knew that better than anyone.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
He had tried to shoot at the fleeing thugs, but the pain in his thigh prevented him from aiming properly.
Bang, bang-
Judging it was no good, he fired wildly in all directions.
If he went berserk like that, a stray bullet might come my way.
Thwack!
"Kagh! Fuck, shit!"
A stone piercing through the back of his hand made him drop the gun.
All the gun-wielding bastards had been neutralized.
I had pierced their thighs and feet, eliminating all their mobility.
Sswiik-
Finally, I moved.
"…"
With the movement of the pile of fallen leaves, gazes gathered on me.
"Wh-how?"
He must have been curious why he couldn’t find me when I was hiding so close by.
But did he look like I’d tell him?
"People are truly foolish."
I approached him.
He flinched.
He flinched in surprise and trembled, as if I were about to do something.
"To think you’d blow the chance Chairman Gang gave you like this."
I didn’t know what kind of punishment had befallen him.
But since he was a parent with love for his child, he must have been given one more chance.
But this guy wasted even that chance.
He had fallen off right when he should have curled up his body and taken the leap.
And I intended to push the fallen guy into the abyss.
"Y-you’d better stop if you’re planning to do something to me. My father will use any means necessary…"
"Will he really?"
He still seemed to believe in his father; I supposed I’d have to make him face reality.
I took out the smartphone from my pocket and made a call.
Beep-beep-beep…
The ringing tone.
「What is it?」
A voice heard before even a few rings had passed.
"F-Father!?"
Startled by that familiar voice, he shouted.
「Cheoljun?」
It seemed he had heard his son’s voice because I had set it to speaker.
"Yes. I’m currently with your beloved youngest son."
「…」
Chairman Gang was no fool.
He would have realized immediately what it meant for Gang Cheoljun and me to be together.
「…To think he was that much of a fool.」
From the fact that I had called, Chairman Gang, who had already sensed the outcome, let out a deep sigh.
But wasn’t it my duty to inform him of his son’s evil deeds in detail?
"Our youngest son brought over a hundred thugs and tried to kill me."
「A hundred?」
"Yes, yes. And he was even armed with illegal firearms. If my luck had been bad, I wouldn’t have even been able to make this call."
「…Just how lucky do you have to be to face over a hundred people with guns?」
"Not all of them. About seven or so? Of course, including our youngest son."
I glanced subtly at the guy.
"Father, Father! Save me! This bastard is…"
「I’ll say this clearly.」
He brushed aside his son’s desperate plea.
「Dispose of him as you wish. I won’t interfere.」
"Father!"
A voice like the howl of a beast.
Words of abandonment for his child came from a parent’s mouth.
No one could know how that felt except the person themselves.
"Father! Father!"
Click-
But despite his son’s desperate cries, Chairman Gang coldly hung up.
"…"
A face as if his soul had left him.
But soon that face contorted like an evil spirit.
"Fuck, what have you ever done for me as a parent! Ordering me around when you haven’t done shit for me! Bastard! I’ll curse you even after I die! I’ll curse you!"
Tsk-tsk.
He was no different from a complete brat.
Who did he think he had lived in luxury thanks to all this time?
With that shit personality, how much trouble must he have caused, and who did he think had cleaned up after him?
He still hadn’t realized that he was the one who had kicked away the opportunity.
Ding-dong!
A text arrived while I was looking at him with contempt.
【Please spare his life. I will repay that debt until the day I die.】
Sigh, I’m practically in tears.
"Shit!"
The heart of a father trying to save the life of a guy who just blamed others and threw tantrums like a child.
Thud!
I stepped on the wound of the unsightly bastard—his right thigh.
"Kkueaagh!"
Holding his thigh, he let out a groan filled with pain.
"Listen well."
A low voice.
"…"
The flustered guy couldn’t even dare open his mouth.
No.
Rattle-rattle-rattle.
He trembled as if a chill had come over him.
Because of a single beating?
As if.
The aura bursting forth.
Right now, I wasn’t Shin Yuchan living in modern times, but the one who had slaughtered tens of thousands before the regression.
Just as dogs instinctively tuck their tails when they meet a dog butcher, the same went for this guy.
That aura was not something an ordinary person could endure.
"Consider yourself lucky."
If it weren’t for Chairman Gang’s last words, about repaying the debt, I would have had absolutely no intention of keeping him alive.
Thud!
Right into his jaw—I drove my fist there.
"Ughk!"
Along with a groan that seemed to squeeze the breath from his lungs.
Thud-
He collapsed.
Having studied human vital points for 20 years, I had attained mastery in knocking someone out by striking the jaw.
After looking at the collapsed guy for a moment, I brought my hand to his chest.
Flash!
Just as I had done to Gang Jihwan and Gang Jieun, I attempted to strengthen his heart.
Before long, the blue of failure appeared.
He flinched!
His body jolted once, perhaps sensing the change in his organ.
But that wasn’t the end.
Flash, flash!
Not just the heart, but his internal organs one by one.
Of course, failure, and failure, and failure again.
"You look fine on the outside, but you’re rotten inside."
The twin siblings didn’t have much power, so I stopped at their hearts, but this guy was different.
All Chairman Gang wanted was to preserve his life.
I destroyed all his internal organs so that he could never function as a proper human being again.
"You guys are the same."
The same went for the other fallen thugs.
It was audacious enough that they charged at me, but guys who came in a group to bury a high schooler would hardly be active in the apocalypse.
It would be better to clean up this human trash so they could never act like humans again.
I finished sorting the trash, including Gang Cheoljun.
Tap-tap-
I opened my smartphone and sent a reply to the earlier text.
【You owe me a massive debt, Chairman.】
I only kept him alive.
The profit gained from that was Chairman Gang’s debt.
This was truly nothing but a profitable deal.
*
At the foot of the mountain.
"What on earth happened?"
Choi Deokgu and the organization members, having fled panting and finally arrived at the foot, were shrouded in questions.
The target was at most a high schooler.
An orphan with no connections or background.
Yet the full force of the Gangsan Faction had been taken down.
They didn’t even know who had attacked the members.
It felt as if they had been possessed by a dokkaebi.
"If this fact reaches Chairman Gang’s ears…"
At the words of the executive filled with worry.
Ppahgak!
A flying fist struck the bridge of his nose.
"Kup!"
Holding his wobbling nose, possibly with a broken nasal bone, he stepped back.
"Bastard, who doesn’t know that?"
Gang Cheoljun wasn’t the problem.
If the fact that they had abandoned him reached Chairman Gang’s ears.
‘It’s over.’
The Tiger of Taewang.
Dozens of organizations had disappeared after offending him.
Hadn’t there been precedent of them vanishing without a trace, as if cleaning up bugs?
Gnaw.
He chewed his nails and thought of the best method.
"…How much time has passed?"
To his question.
"I think roughly 30 minutes have passed."
Thirty minutes had passed while they were fleeing frantically.
"By now, they should have cleaned everything up and disappeared, right?"
"That is…"
No one could be sure.
Because they didn’t know who was targeting them, not even their identity.
"If that bastard kept Gang Cheoljun alive, we’re in danger."
Choi Deokgu was a man who had tasted both the bitter and the sweet of the underworld.
Therefore, he knew that the worst-case scenario was Gang Cheoljun surviving.
"If that bastard is alive…"
He swallowed the rest, but no one present didn’t know what he meant.
"Let’s go."
Something of unknown identity was frightening, but they had to go.
To definitely finish off Gang Cheoljun, who might be alive.
But just before they moved.
Fwee-woong!
With a sonic boom that seemed like it could only come from a dream.
"Aaack!"
A scream burst out.
An organization member collapsed, bleeding.
"Fucking hell!"
Choi Deokgu let out a cry like a scream upon witnessing the sight.
The pursuit of the unknown entity wasn’t over yet.