Teacher took a step toward Lee Young-jin, extending his hand. Lee Young-jin looked up at him. What was he expecting from Lee Young-jin? Did he expect the easy tool he planned to sell off to obediently follow his words again? But that thought was brief. Lee Young-jin glanced back, retreating as much as Teacher had approached.
Teacher’s eyebrows twitched, and his expression cracked.
“Who are you planning to give it to?”
His lips curled up.
“What has been said to you? Huh? Is that it? Because of what happened at the port? Do you think your teacher would harm you?”
Lee Young-jin remained silent, but Teacher continued.
“Come here, Young-jin. Whatever you’ve heard, it’s all lies. If you admit you were wrong now, I’ll forgive you.”
Lee Young-jin’s black eyes blinked several times.
Lies. Forgiveness.
Those meaningless words merely passed through Lee Young-jin’s eardrums, dissipating into nothing. Lee Young-jin neither listened to those smooth words, nor was he curious about the item’s nature or Teacher’s intentions, as had always been the case.
“Who recognized you and showed you a new world? It was your teacher, right? Young-jin. We can do so much more together. The prosecution isn’t a problem right now… For now, I’ll prepare a new identity for you; just go stay in Vietnam or Thailand for a while. Once things are settled, your teacher will call you back……”
That’s when it happened.
“Stop seducing the kid, it’s disgraceful.”
A relaxed voice tinged with a light laugh.
And that was the last voice Lee Young-jin expected to hear in this situation.
Instinctively, Lee Young-jin’s head turned. His heavy eyelids lifted, revealing large pupils. His gaze sharpened as his lips parted.
A faint call escaped between those lips, but no sound came out.
At the end of the path, settled in the dim darkness and the chilly wind, Seo Seung-hyun stood.
Behind him, the wind blew from the dark silhouettes of hills, slightly stirring his hair.
Alpha, standing on the concrete path overgrown with weeds and broken houses around, appeared no different than usual. As if he were on his billion-worth yacht, spending millions per hour in his private jet, or inside a limousine with bulletproof body and aircraft engine. Just like in the center of a penthouse with the Han River surging below, ready to overflow.
His shoes were spotless, his tie pin sparkled like new, and his shirt sleeves and collar were impeccably crisp. Wearing a vest tightly buttoned without a jacket, he had rolled up the sleeves a few times, exposing his thick wrist bone and the weighty watch that matched its value.
Under thick eyebrows, his narrow eyes gleamed with a deep blue light in the darkness.
“CEO……”
Lee Young-jin barely called out to him.
His body instinctively jerked, trying to leap towards Seo Seung-hyun.
What stopped him were the brusque footsteps. The trained, regular steps quickly formed a formation, blocking Seo Seung-hyun. Ten fully armed professionals lined up at precise intervals to create a human wall.
“Ah…”
A short sigh escaped from between the wall.
Teacher was shaking his head in disappointment.
He pressed his forehead with one hand before looking back at Lee Young-jin.
“Did you really betray me by siding with them?”
“Betrayal…”
The word that sprang from Teacher’s mouth felt so awkward and out of place that Lee Young-jin subconsciously chewed over it inside his mouth. Betrayal.
‘Did I betray Teacher?’
That question did not linger for long.
Teacher raised his voice, which wavered with emotion.
“Young-jin! Do you know who that man is, and you’re giving him the item? Do you even know what it is… Do you know what it is, and you’re doing this? If you give it to an extraordinary species, if that thing… Do you know what he might do with it…!”
Teacher asked a very strange question.
It was the same question Seo Seung-hyun had asked before, and Lee Young-jin had only one answer now, as he did then.
“Not really… curious.”
Lee Young-jin answered in a very small voice.
However, because the surroundings were so silent, his voice cut through the darkness and echoed in the air more clearly than he had expected.
“Ha, hahaha…”
Teacher burst into a defeated laugh.
His wrinkled eyes fluttered, and his mouth curved into a peaceful smile once again.
“Sure. Whatever plot those two abominations have concocted… after all, I can just deal with it here.”
Teacher raised one hand.
The ten professionals simultaneously drew their guns. The metallic death machines, with magazines attached, gleamed in the darkness.
“Ah, no…”
Lee Young-jin’s heart thudded painfully.
He thought he needed to do something but didn’t know what that could be.
What Lee Young-jin still didn’t know about Seo Seung-hyun was that he never acts without being prepared.
A red line split the darkness.
One, two, three, in a blink, dozens of laser beams increased, chaotically slicing through the air, targeting the ten professionals and Teacher with dozens of red dots.
All movement ceased.
Frozen like statues, Seo Seung-hyun casually took a step forward through the professionals.
He ignored the trained professionals and Teacher as if they didn’t exist, walking straight towards Lee Young-jin with ease. With each step, the clear red laser beams that sliced through the darkness were interrupted by his body, then scattered again.
Seo Seung-hyun stopped amidst them.
He looked at Lee Young-jin and lightly flicked his finger.
“Come here, Lee Young-jin.”
“Lee Young-jin!”
Teacher’s furious shout overlapped with the call.
Lee Young-jin hesitated.
Click!
The sound of the magazine spring turning was unnaturally clear. Lee Young-jin turned his head. Teacher, gritting his teeth, aiming a semi-automatic pistol at him, came into view. Before Lee Young-jin could fully register the direction of the muzzle, a 7.62mm bullet broke the sound barrier, precisely following the red laser beam through the air. A short sound of the bullet slicing the air layers rang out.
The bullet precisely pierced Teacher’s right shoulder at the same time dozens of red dots converged on his forehead.
“Argh…!”
The gun fell from his hand, and blood spurted out.
“Heugh, hah…”
He gasped, pain marring his breaths, as drops of blood slowly rolled down between the fingers clutching his wounded right shoulder.
Seo Seung-hyun scoffed incredulously.
“Really? Want to die? Do you have any idea how many drones are above us right now?”
He gestured towards the sky with a jerk of his chin. Ten so-called ‘reconnaissance’ drones, capable of sniping a target on the ground from up to 6,233 meters in the air, were silently hidden in the dark clouds above, sending down the threatening red laser beams that were merely for intimidation.
Teacher clenched his teeth and glared at Seo Seung-hyun.
Seo Seung-hyun easily brushed off the fierce glare directed at him.
He walked slowly towards Teacher and picked up the Beretta M9 that had fallen to the ground. The blood that clung to the metal barrel transferred onto Seo Seung-hyun’s hand.
“Hmm.”
He playfully rolled the pistol in his hand. His movements, flipping a combat pistol equipped with an XM9 detachable suppressor like a toy, were skilled and natural.
“Well maintained.”
Muttering to himself, he suddenly spun the pistol by hooking a finger on the trigger guard and pressed the muzzle above Teacher’s face. Silence descended in the darkness, stitched together by red guiding laser beams.
Seo Seung-hyun let his eyes droop slightly and smiled softly.
“What do you think I’m going to do now?”
The cold metal indifferently pressed against the aged man’s cheekbone.
Teacher glared at Seo Seung-hyun with bloodshot eyes.
Seo Seung-hyun nonchalantly tapped Teacher’s cheek with the gun muzzle a few times, then, as if he were a mischievous child, spread his hands wide and laughed, haha.
“No. I don’t do this kind of thing. Despite appearances, I am a law-abiding citizen of a legal state that respects laws and morals.”
As Teacher’s eyes widened in brute surprise, Seo Seung-hyun threw the gun towards him as if to suggest he pick it up. The heavy metal object arced through the air and dropped at Teacher’s feet. Teacher’s breathing grew harsh. He quickly bent down to reach for the gun with his hand.
But before his fingertips could touch the barrel, Seo Seung-hyun kicked him in the ribs.
Teacher rolled on the ground, curling up.
Laser beams painted numerous fleeting red dots over his rolling body.
Seo Seung-hyun kicked the body again as if he were kicking a ball. The light kick made the suit-clad body roll on the ground. Thump. Thump. Thump. Seo Seung-hyun followed the body, kicking it several more times indifferently.
And finally, a polished shoe pressed down precisely on that blood and dust-stained spot.
“Ugh!”
A pained groan escaped.
Teacher convulsed as the shoulder wounded by the bullet was stepped on.
The sound of the waves and the wind mixed with brutal gasps. The panting was followed by a gut-wrenching cough, as if scraping the lungs.
“Phew… Haha!”
Teacher spat bloody saliva on the ground and chuckled.
“It’s useless here. By now, the battery must have run out… The item is finished. It’s all over! It’s all over!”
Indifferent eyes turned towards him.
The irises, shimmering like metal surfaces, merged the dozens of laser beams into a single muddled red glow.
The sharply angled, piercing face slightly tilted, casting shadows over the hollowed eyes and sharp nose. Simultaneously, light pressure was applied to the foot. Crunch!
“Ahh…!”
In an instant, the shoulder bone shattered, muscle fibers tore, and flesh and blood under the skin turned into mush, accompanied by a chilling sound and a boiling scream.
“Ah. This.”
Seo Seung-hyun lightly sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
“My bad.”
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