Chapter 296
Chapter 296: The Ending He Wanted
The smile, chilling to look upon, was like nothing so much as the killing intent of a hunter gazing down at prey caught in a trap—bewildered and thrashing.
Now that the moment he had calmly endured and waited for had finally arrived, he moved faster than before to claim the fruit he had sought.
Rat-tat-tat!
"Wh-WHOA?!"
The Awakener man's reaction to the fresh hail of bullets was entirely different from before. He screamed in a decidedly ungainly fashion and fled in search of cover.
The moment when he had strutted about with the attitude of "Go ahead, shoot all you want—I'll just kill you in return!" while hiding behind the invincible shield that was the Particle Barrier felt like a lie from another lifetime.
It would be quite difficult to find any trace of his earlier, perpetually confident and arrogant self in the face now marred by confusion, fear, and shock.
Yet even in this vastly more favorable situation, Baek Woohyun did not rush. He simply continued to apply pressure, closing in step by step—like a bog with no escape.
For him, this was entirely natural. Even with the Particle Barrier gone, the man could still use his supernatural ability just fine.
The common wisdom that a wounded beast is more dangerous exists for good reason. Since there was no predicting how the Awakener man, his survival instinct roused, would lash out, greater caution was warranted.
BOOM!
Rat-tat-tat!
"Stop! Stop it! I lost, so just stop!"
"……"
As bombs continued to detonate and a torrent of bullets rained down to finish off even the last remnants of his Particle Barrier, the Awakener man screamed desperately, terror written across his face.
He was saying he had lost—begging to be let go, swearing he would never come back. The arrogance unique to Awakeners that he had displayed while dealing with the armed guards had vanished completely into pleading.
Of course, Baek Woohyun was not the sort to simply comply. If the situation had been equal, perhaps—but why would he release someone when he held an overwhelming advantage?
It was all too obvious that however much that man begged right now, once time passed and the emotion faded, he would be seething with anger and swearing revenge.
He's about to blow.
"……U-uu-UAAAGH!"
SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!
His face draining white at the realization that the accumulated damage had completely shattered his Particle Barrier, the Awakener man unleashed his supernatural ability in a wild frenzy.
The razor-sharp wind that howled in every direction was beyond the output of even the lethal art he had used earlier when his stress boiled over at Baek Woohyun's nibbling.
Surely it was the extreme stress of the fear of death—incomparable to anything else—that had driven his supernatural ability output to its absolute limit, or perhaps even beyond it.
The Awakener man's misfortune was that even that failed to elude Baek Woohyun's eyes. The moment he sensed a flare-up coming, Baek Woohyun had already stepped well back.
The supernatural ability art at an output that had even startled the man himself—more desperate than at any moment since his awakening—once again did nothing but shred empty air.
As for the Awakener man, who seemed to think "Maybe I killed him this time?" given the color returning to his face—unfortunately for him, Baek Woohyun was without so much as a scratch.
Good. That's enough.
Bang!
"—!"
As a rehearsal and as teaching material alike, the Awakener man had played his role faithfully. Baek Woohyun, willing to acknowledge that fact, put him at ease.
The round fired from the assault rifle's muzzle pierced squarely between the Awakener man's eyes. To free him from fear through death.
With his Particle Barrier gone, the Awakener man had no means of stopping it, and he crumpled to the ground, the brightened look still on his face.
It was the completion of the "Awakener Hunting" teaching material—material that would later be shown to PMC members in "Reverse City" and serve to paint Baek Woohyun as an even more terrifying existence.
The fact that he himself would never think of it as a particularly frightening video is said to make it all the more frightening—but that was a matter for later.
As was the grief of the members who would hear "just do it like the teaching material says" and respond with: "This? Us? For real?"
"It's gone quiet—are you done—SON OF A—! Sir! The Awakener, this bastard is dead!" "What? What the hell are you talking about?"
"It's real! I think we need to report to HQ!"
"Damn it. He's actually dead. HQ. This is the logistics center entry team. The Awakener you sent is dead."
["…Did the other side have an Awakener?"]
"If they did, we'd all be dead too! From the look of it, he let his guard down and got taken out."
"……"
Click.
Watching the armed guards re-entering the logistics center, Baek Woohyun swapped out the assault rifle's magazine. He was prepared to keep fighting them if it came to it.
Skeptical as he might have felt about whether they would really do so with even the Awakener they had counted on now dead—armed guards have orders to follow when orders are given.
Fortunately for the armed guards, however, the HQ at the other end of the radio was not so foolish either. It issued the order: ["Fall back for now."]
Whatever was lurking in that logistics center had the power to kill an Awakener—which meant they needed more preparation, or so they had judged.
Well, that suits me fine.
Once even the armed guards had withdrawn, there was no further interference. Manmulsang seemed to have resolved to cut its losses on the warehouse entirely.
That was understandable. The detailed reports from the armed guards who had fled the logistics center, combined with the disturbing death of the Awakener, were more than enough grounds to abandon the warehouse.
On top of that, terror attacks targeting Manmulsang from every direction had been ongoing, seemingly taking the raid as their cue—so it was hardly an unreasonable decision.
I was planning to wrap things up around here anyway.
Baek Woohyun moved throughout the logistics center, methodically planting bombs—meticulously, so that a chain of explosions would maximize their combined destructive force.
He entered the secret passage leading to the basement level and planted bombs there just as thoroughly. The moment they went off, the logistics center itself would collapse inward underground.
In the process, he did not touch the goods belonging to Manmulsang that he discovered. His gut told him Deus would definitely try to use those to pull something underhanded.
There was also the fact that nothing among them was valuable enough to appeal to him. The [Soul Eater] was already in his hands.
"……"
"What's happening?"
"I feel like it's not safe to be here."
"Let's go to the shelter now!"
Murmur, murmur!
Baek Woohyun, cloaked in [Curtain], quietly slipped out of the logistics center and walked past even the people nearby who could not bring themselves to approach but were talking among themselves regardless.
Having lost his motorcycle as a means of transport, he had been on foot for some time. As the voices around him faded to a murmur, he drew out the detonator switch.
In a deserted back alley, there would be no one to spot him even if [Curtain] disappeared—so he detonated the bombs without hesitation.
KABOOOOM—!
"…Wh…ah…ugh…!"
"Ru…run…!"
"Told you…this place…was dan……!"
Even though he had walked a considerable distance at a brisk pace, the sound of the bombs detonating inside the logistics center struck his ears with a thunderous boom.
If it sounded this loud at this distance, then those who had been nearby must have been left with their eardrums on the verge of rupturing.
On top of that, the logistics center—a large building—would come crashing down into the basement level in a cascading collapse, so a chaos far beyond simple noise must have erupted.
They won't even think about chasing after this.
Baek Woohyun moved at a leisurely pace, as though nothing had happened, and checked his smartphone. The smartphone, which he had switched off in advance, had messages waiting.
The sender was, naturally, Kim Youngjun—1 missed call and 1 message saying there was an urgent mission, and to contact him if he was willing to take part.
The contents of the urgent mission were obvious without even being told. A request to lend a hand in simultaneously raiding Manmulsang to rescue the hostages.
Thinking that it would not be a bad idea to join if it was still ongoing, Baek Woohyun worked the smartphone and placed the call.
This time, unlike before, Kim Youngjun's voice came through from beyond the phone before the basic ringtone had even sounded once.
It was less that he had been waiting for Baek Woohyun's call and more that he had been busy with calls left and right—communication would be essential for leading a raid.
["Yo, brother!"]
"Sorry for the late response. You said there was an urgent mission?"
["Ah, that? Too bad—it's done. Mostly."]
"I see."
["Still, just in case—you coming? We're treating it as basically wrapped up for now, but we're not sure how they're going to respond from their side."]
"…I'll come."
["Okay! I'll send you the address!"]
He seemed quite busy—the call was cut abruptly along with the sound of someone calling for Kim Youngjun in the distance. Still, he had reliably sent the address, so there was no real problem.
To verify whether his intuition had been correct, and to see how the battle between Manmulsang and the Avengers had turned out, Baek Woohyun made his way to the address.
In his complete transformation as Lee Jun—Avengers member—he possessed the supernatural ability to fly, so arriving did not take long.
"Oh, brother! You got here fast!"
"…You're injured."
Baek Woohyun spoke upon noticing the bandage wrapped around the arm of Kim Youngjun, who greeted him warmly. The pristine white bandage was gradually turning red—the wound was apparently quite deep.
Come to think of it, the Avengers members around them were much the same. Everyone seemed to have been through quite a fierce battle—they were either bandaged up or lying flat on the ground entirely.
That spoke to how fierce Manmulsang's resistance had been when the raid hit them. It was also proof that those people had not survived in the underworld for so long without reason.
"This? It's nothing. Just a scratch."
"……"
Even as he waved his arm, the bandage soaking through with blood looked anything but "just a scratch"—but if he said he was fine, there was no need to press the matter.
As he had done "over there," Baek Woohyun said nothing further, and Kim Youngjun said "Come on, let's go inside!" and led him deeper in.
Unlike outside, where Avengers members were resting, the inside still seemed busy. That much was clear just from what could be heard within a few steps.
"Is the retreat from Point D-1 complete?"
"Not yet! The armed guards keep latching on and they can't shake them!"
"Available forces for support right now—"
"Seo Dain says she'll go herself!"
"Seo Dain—that's Point D-3, isn't it? Fine. Let's send her for now then."
Bustle, bustle!
"…Didn't you say it was basically wrapped up?"
"It's done once that side retreats. As far as I know."
Baek Woohyun shifted his gaze from Kim Youngjun, who gave a shrug, and looked at Commander Jeong Beomu—who was issuing rapid instructions while looking over a spread-out map.
Even as he gave orders without a tremor, he was cradling a small girl with care. As though she were a treasure he would not trade for anything in the world.
Perhaps quite exhausted, the little girl was sleeping soundly, clutching tightly to his shirt at the chest.
Over the face of Jeong Beomu, which had softened far more than before, there flashed for a brief moment the image of his face from the time the Hellhound badge had been driven into his heart—then it was gone.
The Jeong Beomu struggling now seemed more alive than the one from those days—when he had betrayed the Avengers, joined the Hellhound, and reveled in wealth and glory.
At least to Baek Woohyun's eyes. He did not know what lay ahead, but at minimum, he would not die stained in pain and regret at the hands of his former comrades.
"……"
This was the ending that had been wanted "over there."
Baek Woohyun felt something that had been tightly coiled in a hard knot somewhere in his chest slowly, quietly come undone.
It felt as though he had finally taken a single step forward from "over there" into reality.