Chapter 65 : The Talk of the Town, Taebaek Lee (2)
Chapter 65: The Talk of the Town, Taebaek Lee (2)
The ninjas stared in utter disbelief.
As the broom lowered, the face of the one wielding it was finally revealed.
“U-Um?”
The boy let out a low murmur.
Despite his young age, life had weathered him so thoroughly that he looked far older than he should have.
Had it not been for the baby fat barely clinging to his cheeks, they might have called him hyung based on his face alone.
But the important thing here was that he was still just a green kid.
The ninjas' gazes shifted sideways.
Their leader's head was embedded in the brick wall.
He had led this reconnaissance squad and possessed the most experience among them.
Yet a single swing of a broom had left him in that pathetic state.
The sight was so ridiculous that, despite him being their leader, they almost burst out laughing.
Even slapstick comedy wasn't this contrived.
The real problem...
Was that their leader had been the strongest member of the reconnaissance squad.
And he'd been taken out in a single hit.
Not by a baseball bat...
But by a broom.
An empty gust of wind swept across their black hoods.
As the cold sweat cooled against their skin, the ninjas felt chills creeping through their bodies.
While the attackers swallowed nervously...
Ban stared awkwardly at his own broom.
He was just as confused.
It honestly felt as though he'd stumbled upon some miraculous opportunity.
The broom he'd handled every day suddenly looked completely different.
“What the heck is this?”
While sweeping the courtyard, he'd sensed several presences approaching.
Presence detection.
Had Ban, who was still unimaginably far from learning Presence Concealment, somehow mastered presence detection?
Of course not.
This phenomenon was simply the result of the area becoming a Save Point, combined with the effects of the patch notes.
Naturally, Ban had no way of knowing that.
Though puzzled, he'd followed the direction indicated by his instincts...
And found several men in black hoods plotting something.
Seriously.
What era was this?
Who covered their faces with cloths before committing theft these days?
He'd barely had time to scoff at the two petty thieves who looked as though they'd stepped out of a comic—
When the one standing in front suddenly lunged at him.
So Ban had simply swung his broom.
And now...
“Could this be... a +99 enhanced broom?”
“……!!”
When Ban muttered suspiciously to himself, the ninjas interpreted it as a battle cry.
In an instant, they spread out into a fan formation, surrounding him.
Whoosh!
Shuriken sliced through the air.
Only then did Ban finally notice the incoming projectiles.
“Hm.”
That was strange too.
Why are those things moving so slowly?
It felt as though someone had slowed down the speed of the entire world.
Thinking he'd imagined it, he rubbed his eyes and looked again.
There was still plenty of time.
Maybe my eyesight got better because I've been eating well lately...
“Well, that's beside the point.”
Thieves were still thieves.
One was unconscious.
That left three.
Back when he was a delinquent, fighting one against a hundred had been routine.
One against three was child's play.
Especially with his SR-grade broom.
Whoosh.
The broom traced a smooth arc.
A sudden gale erupted.
The shuriken vanished into the curtain of wind.
That single sight struck the ninjas like a thunderbolt.
It completely shattered their sanity.
“Kono yarō (You bastard)!!”
One ninja charged with his katana raised overhead.
Ban reversed his grip on the broom.
Two quick thrusts.
So fast that afterimages lingered behind them.
The end of the broom crushed the ninja's Adam's apple.
As the ninja clutched his throat and choked, Ban casually slapped him across the face.
Smack!
The ninja slammed into the brick wall.
Right beside the one who had gone down earlier.
“……!”
The remaining two ninjas turned deathly pale.
The sight of two comrades retiring so effortlessly...
So meaninglessly...
Completely froze their brains.
Without thinking, they instinctively turned to flee.
It was the worst possible mistake they could have made.
Ban quickly picked up a fallen shuriken and threw it.
It was his first time ever throwing one, so his posture was clumsy.
But the flow of his movements was astonishingly natural.
Because of that, the shuriken leaving his hand flew far more sharply than the ones the ninjas themselves had thrown.
“Aaaagh!”
The low-flying shuriken split both pairs of Achilles tendons.
Ban immediately launched himself forward.
The ground beneath his feet cracked apart from the force of his leap.
The two fallen ninjas hurriedly twisted their upper bodies around.
But what filled their vision...
Was Ban's calloused palm.
They desperately reached out.
But Ban, who had survived the Bottommost District since childhood, had never learned such a thing as mercy.
Smack!
After the events of the previous night...
A Battalion Commanders' Meeting was convened.
Unlike the previous Emergency Summons, this was an official meeting.
Attendance far exceeded half.
The Supreme Commander even insisted that absent Battalion Commanders participate through video conference if necessary.
It was an unusually forceful move for someone who opposed authority and cherished freedom.
The Battalion Commanders naturally assumed it was because of the Gang Alliance's destruction.
Surely the Supreme Commander intended to announce something of great importance before launching the full-scale War on Crime.
Furthermore...
Dojon, who had originally planned to join the Gang Alliance, had suddenly signed with the Daeseong Group instead.
The Supreme Commander had probably already learned the whole story and intended to inform everyone.
At least, that was Tang Ji-hye's assumption.
The severity of the situation led to a historic achievement.
For the first time since the Resistance's founding...
Every single Battalion Commander attended.
Even Dr. Pepper, who remained hospitalized after clashing with Tang Ji-hye, showed up while still attached to an IV drip.
Thus, the regular meeting began.
Not long after the Supreme Commander opened his mouth...
The room exploded with shock.
The conference hall descended into absolute chaos.
Shouts echoed all the way to the ceiling.
It became so loud that the doors shook violently.
The two Resistance members standing guard outside were startled.
“What the hell is happening in there?”
“Don't tell me they're actually fighting?”
“No way. The Supreme Commander is in there.”
“Why not? Just a few days ago, the 3rd Battalion Commander put the 8th Battalion Commander in the hospital. This must be round two. We call ourselves the Resistance, but honestly, each Battalion is practically its own organization. Maybe they're finally settling the hierarchy. Or splitting apart altogether. This definitely feels like that kind of situation.”
“…Now that you mention it, that actually makes sense.”
He glanced toward the conference room door.
“Should we listen in?”
“Why not?”
Unable to contain their curiosity, the two leaned toward the door—
Just then...
Bang!!
The doors burst open.
The Battalion Commanders poured out in a flood.
They briefly glanced at the two gatekeepers who had fallen flat on their backs...
Then continued on their separate ways.
“……”
“……”
Among them all...
Tang Ji-hye naturally stood out the most.
She pushed through the narrow crowd with her shoulder and took the lead.
Her destination...
Went without saying.
The Baekbaek Order First Branch.
By the time Lee Taebaek arrived at the branch...
Ban had already finished cleaning up the half-dead bodies.
Not as a joke.
He had literally been doing exactly that.
While standing with his weight on one leg and casually poking the unconscious ninjas...
He heard an engine.
Ban quickly turned around.
Red Hare came into view, pulling the wind behind it.
Lee Taebaek touched the side of his face and deactivated his mask.
“Master!”
Throwing his broom aside, Ban rushed over barefoot to greet him.
As Lee Taebaek climbed off Red Hare, he gestured toward the figures behind Ban with his chin.
“What's with those guys?”
“Oh, those thieves?”
Lee Taebaek narrowed his eyes.
Ban had beaten them into such a mess that identifying them wasn't easy.
Still...
Their clothing looked strangely familiar.
“They were thieves?”
“Uh... now that you mention it, I never actually checked. I just assumed they were thieves because of the way they were dressed... But thinking about it now... they didn't steal anything, did they? Then maybe they weren't thieves but robbers. They pulled out katanas without any warning.”
“They drew katanas?”
“Ah... yes.”
Their heads had been driven into the wall.
Foam dribbled from their mouths.
Anyway...
Lee Taebaek walked over to the half-dead men.
After examining them closely...
His expression immediately darkened.
Seeing that, Ban—who had been so confident moments ago—began to panic.
“A-Are they perhaps your guests, Master...?”
“They are guests.”
“Gasp!”
Ban covered his mouth with both hands.
That wording could definitely be misunderstood.
Changing his expression, Lee Taebaek looked at the horrified Ban.
“Well done, Ban.”
“…Huh? But... you just said they were your guests... I think I've made a terrible mistake.”
More than a mistake.
“They're ninjas.”
“N-Ninjas?”
Ban's eyes widened.
Then he casually added,
“Those guys? They were total pushovers...”
“That's exactly why I'm surprised. As you know, ninjas are considered one of the most troublesome groups in the City. Yet four of them lost to you. Ban, I'm not looking down on you. But honestly speaking... no matter how weak they were, they shouldn't have lost to you.”
Wondering if they might be pretending, Lee Taebaek even pulled back their masks.
Every one of them had rolled-back eyes and had completely blacked out.
Disguise was one of a ninja's basic skills.
But if this was an act...
It would have been a waste of talent.
“They were ridiculously weak. Honestly, even Angela could've beaten them.”
“Tell me everything from the beginning.”
“Yes.”
There wasn't much to explain.
Some ninjas had suddenly appeared.
Ban beat them all up.
That was the entire story.
It was so straightforward it didn't even require a summary.
A headache surged through him.
One impossible event after another...
Nothing made sense anymore.
It felt as though one of the gears holding this world together had come loose.
The Lilith Order alone is already giving me enough of a headache.
Lee Taebaek quickly cleared his thoughts.
Whatever the reason...
Ban had solved one of his immediate problems.
Even if it was only a temporary solution...
It was still something.
Considering the amount of stress he was under, he was genuinely grateful.
Lee Taebaek even felt proud of his past self for rehabilitating Ban.
“Let's head inside first. Bring them too.”
“Should I tie them up?”
Lee Taebaek slowly shook his head.
He reached down and touched the ninjas.
The veins around their eyes bulged.
He nerfed every one of their stats.
They had gone from half-dead...
To two-thirds dead.
Lee Taebaek and Ban each grabbed two ninjas and dragged them like sacks.
Thanks to the nerf, they tossed them inside the building without using much strength.
Only after wheeling Red Hare into the branch did Lee Taebaek finally relax.
He plopped down onto the floor.
Ban fetched some rope from the storage room and tied the ninjas into human pretzels.
Then he awkwardly lingered nearby.
“Why are you just standing there? Sit.”
“How could I possibly sit beside you, Master?”
“Says the guy who punched me the first time we met.”
“Th-That was...!”
Lee Taebaek patted the stone floor.
“Quit wasting your energy. Sit.”
“…Understood.”
The branch was quiet.
According to Ban, all the believers had already been sent home before four in the afternoon.
There was no guarantee another incident like the Monterrey Gang attack wouldn't happen again.
Even though public safety had improved considerably...
The Baekbaek Order branch still stood on the border between several smaller organizations.
It wouldn't be long before another group set its sights on such a valuable location.
“Why are you still here?”
“Someone has to lock up.”
A foolish question.
A wise answer.
“So you stayed because you're the oldest.”
“Yes... that's part of it. But I also like this place. Not just me. Everyone does. It feels like this is my real home. Like... a place where my heart can finally rest.”
“I've benefited quite a bit myself.”
Saying that, Lee Taebaek stretched out flat on his back.
His chest rose and fell as he stared up at the ceiling.
“Sorry, Ban.”
“Huh?”
Ban tilted his head.
“You're going to get dragged into a lot of trouble from now on. Things like today could happen every day... no, every hour. You'll have to worry about your safety and keep looking over your shoulder every time you walk at night. And every single reason for that... is me.”
“It's fine.”
Ban lay down beside him.
“A religion can't exist without a holy war, can it? I'm just excited that even these tiny hands of mine can help in the struggle.”
“You little bastard... you're a real fanatic.”
“Baekbaek.”
Chuckling quietly, Lee Taebaek slowly closed his eyes.
It had been an incredibly long two days.
Yesterday...
Today...
And these past few months...
They had all been unbelievably eventful.
Compared to his life on Earth...
The past two months alone contained more substance than decades over there.
His life had become that much fuller.
He had finally realized that each ordinary day he'd once let slip away on Earth had been worth a fortune.
And that sleep...
The very skin of life itself...
Could be this wonderfully sweet.