novelraw Chapter 114 : Kidnapping (1)
Chapter 114 : Kidnapping (1)
There are nights like this.
When the body is so tired it feels like it might collapse at any moment, and the head is as heavy as if it were soaked in water, but sleep won't come easily—that kind of night.
"...I don't know why my heart is so restless."
Park Min-cheol, who had been lying in bed, checked the time and jumped up from his place.
10:30 PM.
He had just cleaned up and lain down after barely making it home from work, having stayed up almost all night working the day before.
"Ah, damn it. Did I drink too much coffee?"
Perhaps this situation was caused by drinking caffeine like water because he was tired.
"I was hoping to get to bed early, at least today."
Park Min-cheol, who sighed, walked to the table with the turntable.
Click.
"Hehehe."
He took out an LP record that was wiped clean without a speck of dust and set it on the turntable.
"On days like this, it's old songs."
LP records that were widely distributed over a hundred years ago.
Collecting them was an expensive hobby, but these days there were several companies that offered cheap copies.
"Even if it's a fake, the sound quality is quite usable."
The golden age that can never be returned to.
The period from the late 20th century to the early 21st century, when neither Ma-in nor demonic beasts existed, and people only enjoyed prosperity amid infinite material abundance.
Among people who harbored infinite admiration and formless longing for that era, which they had never been born into, buying such items from that time had become a trend.
'Retro always has its charm.'
Click.
The LP placed on the turntable spun around, filling the room with a nostalgic yet cheerful melody.
"Sometimes I find this kind of analog even more fascinating. How does a song come out just by placing a needle on this black plate and spinning it?"
The revival of LP records and popular music that had emerged after the Second World War, a time of enormous chaos and destruction.
After passing through the great period of turmoil known as the Gate Era, although there have been attempts to restore that era in many fields...
In music, at least, they simply can't keep up with the romance and brilliance of that time...
'Here I am, not even fully grown yet, already sounding like an old fogey.'
Park Min-cheol, who chuckled self-deprecatingly, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and surrendered to the music.
"Mmm-hmm."
In a daily life lived fiercely, with his neck half on the line, listening to such old songs was one of his few pleasures.
In the 22nd century, where even the old folks who desperately longed for that most brilliant era were fading away one by one as their lives ended.
Now, only a few monsters like the Sword God, who could overcome even bodily aging with their mighty power, remained.
'If I had been born in that era, what kind of life would I have lived? Would I have collected and listened to LP records alone like this back then too?'
As Park Min-cheol was taking a break from his exhaustion and fatigue through such imagination, his ears caught:
-Bang! Rattattang!
-Aack!
-Who are you people!
Sounds of discord that broke the peace of the night faintly reached him.
"...I'm screwed."
Indeed, night in this city isn't a particularly peaceful time.
'Ma-in, gangs, thugs. It's the time for all kinds of trash.'
And now.
Park Min-cheol realized that the threat old man Jang had warned him about early on, and which he had been preparing for, had approached close to his lifeline.
"Damn it."
The safe house he had bought cheaply from Director Kim's acquaintance, and even the guards protecting its front.
By the time he realized his preparations had been too lax, it was already too late.
'Let's run first.'
After hiding two pistols in his chest, Park Min-cheol pushed the bookshelf to the side, entered the secret passage, and took out his phone while closing the bookshelf.
-Su-hyeon I'm being chased right now
-Don't panic if I suddenly lose contact
-If there's no contact by tomorrow morning don't try to find me
-I'll make sure you don't get caught up in this so don't try anything stupid like revenge
-Sorry about this
"Phew."
Park Min-cheol, who sent the messages while walking quickly through the underground passage, sighed as he saw the iron door at the bottom of the stairs.
"I didn't want to come here."
The underground bunker prepared inside the safe house.
It was virtually a fortress, blocked by a solid and thick steel door, stocked with emergency rations that could last about two weeks, and connected with communication lines to allow contact with the outside in case of emergency.
'I don't know how long I can hold out, though.'
Creak.
Deliberately ignoring the footsteps heard from afar, Park Min-cheol opened the steel door and entered the bunker.
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[A quest has been generated!]
[Urgent Quest: Rescue Park Min-cheol]
[Park Min-cheol is in danger of being kidnapped by hostage-takers!]
[Rescue Park Min-cheol.]
[If you fail to rescue him within 24 hours, Park Min-cheol will die.]
'Kidnapping?'
I couldn't hide my confusion at the urgent quest window that suddenly appeared right after roll call ended.
'There's never been a case where such a quest appeared so early at this point.'
I don't know where the variable started from right now, but.
'One possibility I can guess is that it's a random event quest that occurs with a certain probability when a gamer's achievement points accumulate too quickly.'
I had experienced this kind of quest a few times during numerous playthroughs.
'Park Min-cheol is in danger.'
That's why my heart became even more anxious.
'The perpetrators are probably those guys. Reckless bastards. Lowlifes who easily commit murder when things go wrong.'
The underworld of Edge of Gate was a far more dangerous and deeper world than that of the original world where drug cartels, gangsters, and mafia fought with guns.
There were also many awakened ones who had awakened characteristics, powers far more dangerous than guns and knives.
Above all, because Ma-in corrupted by demonic nature each formed their own forces and built power, there were several organizations so powerful that they could be called warlords.
Organizations like the 'Sword of Belphegor,' which is called the most dangerous organization, as well as organizations like 'Night Goblins' or 'MK-1,' which recently made a big stir in the public, were precisely that.
'The most fearsome ones are organizations of high-ranking Ma-in with intelligence, but gangs with awakened ones who didn't join the Hunters or Execution Force and relied on the underworld are just as dangerous.'
Moreover, what was really dangerous was "that guy" behind the curtain who used those trash as his pawns.
'Damn it.'
It was right then that the consecutive text messages from Park Min-cheol arrived.
"......"
My head cooled down as I read the messages saying not to look for him and that he was sorry.
"What? What kind of texts made you look so serious?"
Nam Tae-hoon, who sensed the unusual atmosphere, asked.
"Nam Tae-hoon."
"Yeah."
"It looks like Min-cheol hyung is going to be kidnapped."
"...What?"
Nam Tae-hoon looked perplexed, as if I was talking nonsense out of nowhere.
"Suddenly?"
"Yes. There's no time."
"Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute!"
Nam Tae-hoon hurriedly blocked me.
"Get out of the way."
"No, calm down a bit."
Nam Tae-hoon pointed at the clock and asked.
"When are you planning to come back if you leave now? Do you even know where that hyung has been taken?"
"I have some ideas. It must be the underworld guys who control that area."
"And? Roll call starts in a few hours. If you disappear, they'll start tracking where you went. Do you think the Instructors won't find out that you've been trading items with that hyung behind the academy's back?"
Nam Tae-hoon pounded his chest with a frustrated face and said.
"If this becomes a big issue, it's all over, whether you're the top student or whatever. Is this why you went through all that trouble to get first place in the midterms? To get first in the finals too, and go on an internship practice? Huh? Is that why you're doing all this?"
I nodded at Nam Tae-hoon's rapid-fire words.
"Yes. As you said, leaving now without a plan has many problems."
"So, man, let's first figure out the situation and find some countermeasures..."
"No. That would be too late."
I cut off his words.
"Nam Tae-hoon. I need your help."
"...Huh!"
"That's better than all of us going down, right?"
"Are you threatening me right now?"
"Of course not."
Having quickly regained my composure, I smirked.
"One fortunate thing is that tomorrow is Saturday. If we get through roll call, we can buy time during the weekday hours."
"Oh my."
"Before tomorrow's evening roll call ends."
I said.
"I'll end everything and return."
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Mmph mmph mmph!
"Stay still, you bastard."
Whack!
Park Min-cheol, who got hit hard in the solar plexus, slumped down.
'Ah, damn it.'
His siege didn't even last 30 minutes.
It took 20 minutes to find the secret passage hidden behind the bookshelf.
7 minutes for the thick steel wall to be breached by some awakened one.
Only 1 minute to resist by shooting his gun, get caught, beaten, and restrained.
'What kind of monster did these crazy bastards bring just to catch me?'
The one who broke the iron door was undoubtedly at least C-rank level.
'This definitely isn't targeting me. Is it because of old man Jang? Or Su-hyeon?'
Judging from the shaking state of the vehicle, Park Min-cheol swallowed as he guessed they were going somewhere on a rough road.
'I thought the Big Bear Gang were just small-timers who used their fists in the entertainment district.'
But the level of those kidnappers who came to catch him was by no means that of mere neighborhood thugs.
The security personnel he had hired were awakened ones who actually worked as freelance hunters.
They were people who were well-versed in weapons and had properly trained their characteristics.
But from the circumstances, it seemed they had been instantly killed by masked intruders.
'Who the hell is behind these guys?'
He felt cold sweat at the premonition that he seemed to be entangled with someone bigger than expected.
"Gentlemen, where are we going?"
"......"
"I'm currently bound incorrectly, so if you could just adjust the rope a bit..."
"Stop wasting your breath, kid."
Whack!
Park Min-cheol, who got hit for no reason, physically understood that they were not interlocutors who could be reasoned with.
'This is going to be a complete disaster.'
But if what they wanted was information about Su-hyeon,
They would never hear that answer.
Huhk. Huhk.
In the premonition of the terrible torture and interrogation to come,
Park Min-cheol was trying to suppress his fear and imagine any scenario to escape.
'Damn it, don't come, Su-hyeon.'
He didn't want to be a stumbling block holding him back.
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Around 11:30 PM, when all the lights in the dormitory had been turned off,
Su-hyeon and Nam Tae-hoon escaped from the academy through a hole in the fence and descended along the mountain ridge.
"Are you sure you don't need to bring a sword?"
To Nam Tae-hoon's question, Su-hyeon answered.
"Carrying a blade would make us too conspicuous."
"Well, that's true, but."
"And in this situation, it's better to fight empty-handed than with a long sword. It attracts less suspicion."
"Well, it's not like you can't fight without a sword anyway."
Nam Tae-hoon, who was well aware of Su-hyeon's combat ability, licked his lips.
"I don't know. Hopefully, as you said, the kidnappers are just small-time underworld thugs."
"We can't let our guard down. We don't know what kind of trap they might have prepared."
"How many guys like that do you think I've dealt with?"
"Right. That's why I brought you."
Su-hyeon, who knew Nam Tae-hoon's background, said.
'Damn it, how much does this guy really know?'
Nam Tae-hoon narrowed his eyes as he looked at Su-hyeon's back.
Information about his background was top secret among top secrets, known to no one.
It's a place whose existence isn't even properly known yet.
'If this kidnapping is someone's ploy to learn about his background?'
Then the only option would be to extract himself, at least.
"Let's hurry."
"Yeah."
The two, harboring different thoughts, were running through the night forest.