novelraw Chapter 61
Chapter 61
Chapter 61
Famille sat alone, staring at the chart projected onto the massive window.
She brushed away the golden hair lightly stuck to her cheek, blinked her blue eyes, and took a sip of warm cocoa instead of the black tea she usually drank.
The sweetness lingered on the tip of her tongue, and she switched her slightly numb thigh to the other side as she sat, curling her lips into a grin.
“Good. Buy.”
[The order has been executed.]
With a single click, the enormous sum of 100 million dollars was gone, but she was not worried in the slightest.
Surely, this stock would rise.
And it did not take long for that confidence to turn into despair.
“Uh. Uh?”
A graph that slid downward rapidly along her gaze, a shrinking balance, and finally, the blaring alarm.
[This stock has been delisted.]
The cocoa she had been holding in her mouth spilled out, soaking her white short-sleeved shirt, and soon she stretched her own cheeks long as she muttered quietly.
“Ha, haha. A dream. It’s a dream.”
“That’s right. It’s a dream.”
“Huh?”
She turned her head at the unfamiliar voice coming from right behind her—cold, and for some reason, terribly ill-omened.
The place she was in was her hometown, and more than that, her room.
Then how could this voice be heard?
She blinked at the sense of discomfort, and in that moment, what filled her eyes as she awoke from the dream was none other than—
“Get up, Famille.”
Along with Baek Hwi-young’s cold voice, one she had never heard before that somehow reminded her of an instructor, came Dokgo Ran’s shriek from outside.
“Ugh, aaah! That hurts!”
Kwaaaaaang!
“It’s live combat.”
And that was a thunderous roar that one could not help but instinctively understand without any need for explanation.
Just before Famille woke up.
“……Is this a kidnapping scene?”
“Seems like it.”
At the sudden scream, Beatus first grabbed the steering wheel and headed the pickup truck toward the direction of the sound. Soon, while staring through the car window at a man who looked like nothing other than a kidnapper caught in the act, he spoke.
“Emergency rescue signal?”
“It’s not working.”
“……Tsk.”
From the moment the option of handing it over to the company disappeared, there was only one path left for them.
No matter how much cadets were supposed to be cautious outside, could they really stay still after witnessing a crime right in front of their eyes?
“Wait—.”
“Hey, mister!”
Baek Hwi-young, who alone sensed something off, tried to stop them, but already everyone except Miel and Famille, who were sitting in the back seat along with Dokgo Ran, had gotten out of the car.
“Haa.”
In the end, there was no other answer for him either.
Perhaps if he had never gotten out of the car at all.
But since things had already started one way or another, he could not just stand by and watch.
“Miel.”
“Uh, y-yes.”
At Baek Hwi-young’s murmur, Miel shook Famille’s shoulder. She was sleeping while wrapped in the pink blanket Miel herself had handed her, mumbling something incoherently.
“N-no…… if I fall…….”
Was she having a nightmare?
But now was not the time to be having such pleasant nightmares.
He motioned Miel back, then shook her shoulder a bit roughly, and before long, he spoke to her as she stared blankly at him with trembling eyelids.
“Get up, Famille.”
“Huh?”
“It’s live combat.”
The atmosphere outside was anything but normal.
Because of that, he entrusted Famille—who looked flustered in a way unlike herself, as though she had not yet fully come to her senses—to Miel and got out of the car. Soon, he saw Dokgo Ran’s back, her eyes clearly gone mad.
“You son of a bitch!”
“Haa.”
The man who seemed to be the source of the screams lay collapsed on the ground, unmoving as if unconscious, but now was not the time to worry about him.
After all, behind the man—who had clearly been alone when they first got out of the car—he could feel a series of presences.
“Dokgo Ran! Stop!”
“Uaaaaaah!”
Despite Baek Hwi-young’s shout, Dokgo Ran did not stop her leaping charge, and Beatus and Hino Kanae also looked as though they intended to follow, spinning their gears while gripping their respective weapons.
It was already too late to stop them.
At that moment, Baek Hwi-young’s gaze reached the enemy.
‘A soldier?’
A black cap pulled low and a mask.
A man wearing black, movement-friendly techwear.
On the surface, he looked like nothing more than a common underworld thug, but he could not fool Baek Hwi-young’s eyes.
‘He supported himself with one leg as a pivot, and relaxed his shoulders so he could respond at any moment.’
It was trivial, but something drilled into soldiers to the point of near brainwashing, said to decide life and death on the battlefield.
‘At least Triple. And a veteran.’
And before long, his prediction revealed itself as reality.
“Keugh!”
“Ran!”
Dokgo Ran’s outstretched punch was blocked far too easily, and immediately after, the man calmly drove his knee into her abdomen.
However, despite being able to subdue her in one go, he instead tilted his head and muttered quietly.
“……What?”
Too straightforward to be a mercenary.
Too clumsy—and too honest—to be a former soldier.
As the man twitched his eyebrows, staring at them with that subtle sense of incongruity, a group emerged from the forest at his back.
“What, you still haven’t finished ye— huh?”
“Try listening to the radio.”
“……Wait.”
Like him, they wore caps and masks that concealed their faces, clad in black clothing.
Five of them, excluding the man who had been standing there already.
In terms of numbers, they were evenly matched, but the problem was that the bastards were battle-hardened veterans, whereas they themselves were nothing more than cadets who had only just begun to walk.
“……Tsk.”
After clicking his tongue, Baek Hwi-young pulled out the special armaments that had been compressed into the form of a small rod at his waist, simultaneously rotating his gear.
Kkigigik-.
Though it was clearly a virtual mechanism from which no sound should have been audible, the vivid meshing noise of the gears rang out as his body was reinforced with psionic energy.
His field of vision widened.
His cognition sharpened.
His muscles tensed.
And just as Baek Hwi-young was about to take a step forward.
“Let’s not complicate this—let’s finish it quickly!”
A woman descended behind the man who had been the first to encounter them, shouting as she thrust out her hand. Soon, the wrist portion of her arm opened, and dozens of wires shot toward Dokgo Ran, who was catching her breath.
“Th-this!”
“Hngh—!”
Naturally, Beatus and Hino Kanae noticed and each drew their pistol and katana, but the wires were not only targeting Dokgo Ran—they were coming for them as well.
‘Fast!’
That was not all.
The wires were not simply extended; they were surging in precisely at their blind spots.
Because of that, just as they grit their teeth and urgently tried to move—
“Move.”
He muttered in a low voice.
Then, Baek Hwi-young stepped forward, his ash-gray hair whipping through the air, and slammed the tip of his now-fully-extended spear into the ground.
Kwa-ddeudeuk!
A deep scar was carved into the hardened earth, and in an instant, dust and a powerful gust of wind swept between them.
The wires twisted in all directions, and Baek Hwi-young, who had torn open an opening, leapt toward them without the slightest hesitation.
“Oh?”
Was she surprised by the movement?
Or was it admiration laced with deception?
The woman who had launched the wires blinked her golden eyes and murmured softly, and soon Baek Hwi-young’s spear tip filled their vision.
‘So this was the real one.’
It was a thought they all shared.
That woman called Ran was probably the lowest-ranking member of the team.
In contrast, the ash-gray-haired man before them was like a machine seasoned in battle.
“Kuh!”
Dodging the spear, he immediately kicked away the blade that extended as it was planted and used as a pivot.
The spear tip he pulled back out drew a long arc, aiming precisely for the woman’s neck, and at that moment, she bit down hard on her lip and reached out, prepared to sacrifice one arm.
But right then.
“Not bad.”
The voice of the man who had descended at the forefront, tinged with interest, brushed past, and as a bolt of lightning grazed his cheek, Baek Hwi-young immediately released the spear and sprang straight up into the air.
Pajijik!
Sparks flew, and the man’s electric strike drew a long line as it slammed into the spot where Baek Hwi-young had been just moments ago.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
An explosion incomparable to anything before roared out, and Miel—who had gotten out of the car with Famille a beat too late, her vision obscured by the flash—cried out with a gasp.
“Hwi, Hwi-young!”
“Back!”
But what came back at that moment was not Baek Hwi-young’s pained groan, but a shout clenched through gritted teeth.
“Huh?”
“Miel!”
Though her fatigue made her a fraction late in grasping the situation, Famille immediately understood his intent and activated the open-finger glove on her hand.
「Space : Isolation」
She forcibly moved unheated psionic energy, momentarily separating herself and Miel from space.
Then, after narrowly avoiding the man’s outstretched hand by a margin of just 0.1 seconds, she turned around.
“Th-this!”
Likewise, Beatus—who had half-instinctively thrown his body aside at Baek Hwi-young’s warning—bit down hard on his lip, and soon Famille and Miel had no choice but to sigh at the same time.
“Ran.”
“K-Kanae.”
Dokgo Ran was stretched out limp, and Hino Kanae stood frozen stiff, a dagger pressed against her throat.
Unable to protect both of them, Beatus bit his lip and muttered quietly.
“……Runner.”
A superhuman who surpassed the speed of sound not through physical training, but through supernatural power.
It was an absurdity beyond reason.
And at that moment, Baek Hwi-young landed in front of Beatus, pulled out a spare spear, and bit down on his lip.
“Red Hand?”
“……Damn.”
At his mutter, the expressions of the bastards wavered for just an instant.
Naturally, they were not stupid enough to not understand what that meant.
Still, that confusion did not last long.
From the moment the joker called a Runner succeeded, they were effectively holding overwhelming superiority.
“…….”
Silence followed, and they faced each other in a tense standoff laced with unease.
And then, right at that moment.
Jiiing.
The watch of the man who appeared to be their leader rang, and when he answered the call, a familiar yet lively voice rang out.
〔Yes. This is Artin. What is it?〕
“An item we were not informed of in advance got mixed in during the harvest. Moreover, it seems they know who we are.”
〔Ah…… damn.〕
Artin seemed flustered for a moment and asked someone beside him, then replied calmly as if nothing had happened.
〔It can’t be helped. You’ll have to pay the price instead.〕
“Understood. I’ll report it upstairs.”
Even hearing that exchange, there was no way not to understand how the situation stood.
“……So they were all in on it.”
Beatus muttered as such, Famille twisted her expression, and Miel could not close her gaping mouth as her eyes darted about.
“Ha, haha…….”
But then.
Only Baek Hwi-young laughed as if dumbfounded and muttered words of unclear meaning.
“Yeah, so that’s why at this timing……. Ha, haha. Hahahahahahaha!”
What began as a low chuckle soon became the laughter of a madman, echoing across the plain, and as even the enemies felt an unconscious chill at the bizarre sight—
Buuuuung!
Suddenly, a rough engine roar cut through the laughter, and a black pickup truck charged forward, plowing into the soldiers of the Red Hand.
Kwaaaaaang!
From inside the car—its bumper crushed after slamming cleanly into the men—others kicked the doors off and poured out.
And at that moment, the purple-haired woman at the front took a sip of alcohol with an arm of poor compatibility and murmured.
“It’s time to pay your debt.”
At her words, without giving any reply, they immediately charged toward the soldiers of the Red Hand.
Meanwhile, at the same time.
“Hm?”
“What is it?”
Tita Genorua, who had just been about to start speaking, asked back at the sight of Jin Crow suddenly narrowing his brow, but he soon shrugged once and replied.
“It’s nothing.”
It was not necessary to mention that the back of his head had inexplicably tightened for a brief moment.
Because of that, he roughly stubbed out the cigarette in his mouth in the ashtray and asked her in return.
“So, have you thought about the terms?”