Chapter 124 : Isn't This Common Sense?
Isn't This Common Sense?
The entire Areum Cleaning building, set on a mountain slope in Okcheon-myeon, yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi Province, was without power.
Everyone was flustered, shining their phones or flashes around to illuminate their surroundings.
Meanwhile, Kim Hyo-jun stuck close to Jung Yoon-ju, staying alert to their surroundings.
"Has there been any instance of a power outage here recently?"
He asked Lee Bong-soo.
"Ah, no! That has never happened before!"
"Then it must be the enemy. Shojo, I think it's best for you to get out of here for now. Everyone, arm yourselves!"
Even now, agents were shining their flashes around.
As soon as Kim Hyo-jun's order was given, they drew pistols and knives from their inner pockets.
Jung Yoon-ju sensed the atmosphere had turned very bad.
"Can we get out from here?"
"From now on, we'll act prioritizing Shojo's safety. And since it seems this place has been exposed to the enemy, I think it's necessary to initiate lockdown."
Lee Bong-soo, listening to the two speak, was bewildered.
"Huh? By lockdown, you mean..."
Pussyyuk—
Before he could finish, Kim Hyo-jun drew a silenced pistol and fired.
A bullet hole appeared in the center of Lee Bong-soo's head, and he collapsed to the floor.
"What should we do about Prosecutor Jo?"
As the question was asked, in the darkness, the trembling Jo Moo-yeol flinched.
Originally, the plan was to extract more about his connections to Kim Seong-tae and other necessary information here, then dispose of the body through Areum Cleaning.
However, in this sudden darkness, and with the enemy possibly appearing at any moment, he would only be a burden.
"Take care of him."
"Understood."
Kim Hyo-jun pointed his gun at Jo Moo-yeol's head, which was tucked in a sack.
Without the slightest hesitation, he pulled the trigger.
Shuaaak— Puk, pak!
At that moment, something flew in from somewhere and struck his wrist, causing the pistol to fire into the floor.
"Kuh... It seems the enemy has appeared."
Meanwhile, other agents calculated the source and shone their flashes, but no one was there.
"Team C, proceed with the search!"
With the new order, four agents moved out.
Kim Hyo-jun felt throbbing pain from his wrist. There was no blood, but pain surged all the way to his forearm, heightening his tension.
Shuuuuk— Pewpak, pak!
As if waiting for that moment, something else flew in, striking the C Team agents who had split off.
"Keurgh—!"
"Keup!"
They heard bodies hit the ground in the darkness, but confirmation was difficult.
Judging from the fact nothing had pierced his wrist, it was certainly not a silenced pistol or anything similar.
The remaining agents heard their colleagues' sharp screams, and their faces turned grim.
"I'll take Prosecutor Jo with me."
Kim Hyo-jun grabbed Jo Moo-yeol and retreated with Jung Yoon-ju.
The fact that someone had just tried to stop him from being killed meant he could be used as a hostage for now.
It was still pitch black, but Kim Hyo-jun knew the layout of the Areum Cleaning building well, so he managed to find and descend the stairs.
The other agents followed. With the enemy possibly lurking anywhere, no one dared relax their guard.
They moved from the third to the first floor. All that was left was to make their way to the parking lot where the car was.
"It might be best to call for backup, just in case."
"... Alright."
Jung Yoon-ju took out her phone.
But at the very top of the screen, the signal icon displayed an 'X'.
"What is this..."
Kim Hyo-jun's expression hardened when he saw it, and he tried activating his radio.
But all he got was noise.
"They seem to be using a communication jammer. I'll get you to the car as safely as possible for now. If they came after us with the jammer, the range probably isn't large. Once we get out of here, we should be able to contact help."
It was a straight 50 meters to the parking lot—but if they followed the pathway, it was at least 100 meters.
Ordinarily, that wouldn't be much, but with the unknown number of enemies, even that distance was dangerous.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, on the still-dark third floor of the Areum Cleaning building, someone slowly appeared.
A man wearing a black full-face skull mask, combat attire, and military boots—it was In-hyuk.
He had just neutralized all the C Team agents by Jung Yoon-ju's side following Kim Hyo-jun's orders.
He knew Jung Yoon-ju would be nearby from the start.
Of course, he had heard so from Noah Vantrail, who had tailed her.
"Are they already down on the first floor?"
A voice, altered by the mask, leaked out softly.
In-hyuk pulled a phone from the corpse of Lee Bong-soo lying on the floor.
He connected a USB, automatically deactivated the lock, and transferred all files to Go Mi-ah's server.
He did the same for the other phones from the agents he'd knocked out earlier.
"Not much jamming time left, so I need to wrap this up quickly."
A jammer with a strong effect drains its battery quickly unless powered externally.
In-hyuk checked the timer on his wristwatch and walked to the window.
He saw a group heading for the car in the darkness.
In the mountain forest encircling the building, he also noticed a small light blinking in a regular pattern.
It was Van Hester, his companion, giving him a sign.
[Jammer Time Five M]
The Morse code meant there were five minutes left before the jammer stopped.
With communications disabled, they used this method instead.
"That'll be enough."
He replied with an 'understood' signal using the flash hanging from his neck, then opened the window.
Without hesitation, he raised a pistol he had taken from the agents and pulled the trigger.
The target was about 60 meters away. Hitting it in the dark with a pistol took skill.
Pufushuk— Pfshuk—
The rear members of the group heading toward the parking lot fell to the ground with sharp gusts of wind.
Since returning to the past, In-hyuk's senses were several times sharper than an ordinary person, letting him land his shots with ease.
Papapak— Pak— Papak—
As return fire started, the area around the window where In-hyuk was shattered.
"These guys aren't amateurs, that's for sure."
Even though his silenced shots only flashed for an instant, the enemy had tracked the impact points and pinpointed his location.
Naturally, In-hyuk had already ducked and was moving away from the window toward the stairs.
At the same time, heading for the vehicle, Kim Hyo-jun noticed the sudden silence from the third-floor window and shouted,
"Cease fire!"
The gunfire slicing through the air stopped, and silence returned to the darkness.
Jung Yoon-ju asked carefully.
"What just happened?"
"The enemy fired at us from inside the building."
"From there—where you couldn't even see us properly?"
It was a night without even moonlight. The building itself was barely visible through the gloom.
Kim Hyo-jun and the other agents had only made rough guesses at the shooter's location to fire back.
"The enemies' skills seem much higher than expected."
"So what do we do now?"
"Our only option is to detour to the next building and get out of here."
"The car?"
"In our current situation, the car is dangerous too."
If the enemy had attacked them head-on, they could have at least fought back.
But this was an ambush, not a frontal assault.
With the enemy's numbers and positions unknown, retreat was the only way to survive.
Having decided, Kim Hyo-jun took Jung Yoon-ju and Jo Moo-yeol (hands tied, a hood over his head) and moved toward the adjacent warehouse.
"My phone is picking up a signal again."
"Looks like the jamming's stopped."
Papak— Pak— Papak—
Almost simultaneously, power was restored—streetlights and building lights all came on.
Wincing at the sudden brightness, Kim Hyo-jun pressed against the warehouse wall, moving into the shadows to avoid being seen.
Kwaang—
Suddenly, a tremendous explosion shattered the warehouse windows and weak walls, sending fire surging out.
Everyone pressed against the wall was thrown by the blast.
"Kuheuk..."
Kim Hyo-jun groaned, fighting to remain conscious as he checked his surroundings.
Jung Yoon-ju and Jo Moo-yeol appeared to have fainted, lying motionless on the ground. Other nearby agents staggered from the shock, too.
Pufshuk— Pufufshuk—
From the Areum Cleaning building, the skull-masked man approached slowly, putting down agents with his pistol.
Kim Hyo-jun looked around desperately for the gun he'd dropped during the explosion.
But In-hyuk, in the skull mask, closed in before he could find it.
"So this was as far as you got, after all that running?"
"You... did you predict we'd escape this way and even plant a bomb?"
"If you've had any military training, setting up booby traps on escape routes is just common sense, isn't it?"
With the question, In-hyuk grabbed Kim Hyo-jun's left palm and opened it.
Kim Hyo-jun's face hardened.
"Why are you targeting us?"
"Is that important?"
"Is AMK behind you?"
"What, did I have some grudge against them?"
No true answers came—only more questions.
"Why the hell—!"
Click—
Before he could finish, In-hyuk aimed the pistol at him. Then, with his left hand, he gently took off the skull mask.
Seeing the face beneath, Kim Hyo-jun's eyes went wide.
"... Kim Seong-tae?"
In-hyuk had disguised himself inside the mask.
"You'll never know who I really am. And thanks for leading me here."
Pufshuk—
As the trigger was pulled, Kim Hyo-jun's head dropped to the floor.
In-hyuk turned his attention to the unconscious Jung Yoon-ju.
"Did you really think I'd just leave you behind quietly?"
Jung Yoon-ju's body twitched. She had just come to and had quietly listened to the conversation between In-hyuk and Kim Hyo-jun.
Of course, In-hyuk had already noticed her breathing had changed.
"You do understand your situation? After all, you're the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's deputy general manager."
This time, In-hyuk pressed the pistol to her head.
Startled, Jung Yoon-ju slowly lifted her head, gritting her teeth as she saw In-hyuk's face—now looking like Kim Seong-tae.
"... Was this whole thing a trap to lure me in?"
In-hyuk smirked.
"I had no idea the catch would be this big. So if possible, I'd like you to answer my questions honestly."
Jung Yoon-ju's eyes trembled faintly.
"Don't expect anyone to save you. A firetruck is on its way, but I intend to deal with you and disappear before they arrive."
"If you're just going to kill me anyway, what sort of answer do you expect?"
"You might resent dying alone. Aren't you angry at Baek Ji-woong, Kwon So-jeong, and Im Deok-chang, too?"
Jung Yoon-ju's mind spun in confusion. The enemy clearly knew more about their side than she had anticipated.
"If you know that much already, what do you want to hear from me?"
"The name and location of your leader."
At In-hyuk's icy words, Jung Yoon-ju's lips trembled. Lines of tension deepened on her face as she thought.
"I don't know their identity! Low-ranking staff like me aren't told those things!"
"...'Their'? So there's more than one?"
"T-That's..."
Pufshuk—
The pistol aimed at her head fired.
Sirens wailed in the distance. The warehouse continued to burn after the explosion.
"Unfortunately, time's up."
In-hyuk muttered quietly, taking Jung Yoon-ju's phone.