Chapter 18 : Overdose (1) (Part-2)

He had changed his clothes and everything, so there was no place for it to stick.

If there was anything that had been with him since the first day, it was his gun, but he had disassembled and inspected it many times, so no tracking device could be attached.

His stomach growled again, sending a wave of pain through him.

‘Wait? Could it be?’

The car was steadily approaching the hotel, the building looming larger in the windshield as they navigated the winding road.

The sensation of being drawn into a murky swamp intensified with each fleeting moment, wrapping around him like an inescapable grip.

His eyesight became increasingly clouded and hazy, while sharp, jarring pains coursed through his body, triggering urgent warnings in the depths of his mind.

Cheol-woo inhaled sharply, struggling to catch his breath as he maneuvered the vehicle to a complete halt.

“Ugh!”

A loud honk reverberated through the air as a heavy truck rumbled past right in front of him.

Just as he thought he had narrowly avoided a close call, the unmistakable sound of glass shattering pierced the ambiance, reaching his ears with alarming clarity, and Cheol-woo felt an unexpected sting in his shoulder.

A gunshot!?

This disconcerting realization coursed through his mind, spurring him into immediate action.

The shot had come from the direction of the driver’s side, compelling him to swiftly reposition himself to the opposite side of the vehicle.

In a flash, Cheol-woo ducked low, quickly yanked open the passenger side door, and fled the car with urgency.

Had he been hit? Heart racing, he quickly checked his shoulder and was alarmed to discover a syringe needle firmly embedded in it.

With a swift motion, he extracted the needle, only to find that the syringe was already devoid of any contents.

‘An anesthetic dart!’

It wasn’t a tailing car.

It was an ambush.

And the fact that they used an anesthetic dart right off the bat?

That meant they were planning to capture him alive.

Why were the people who had been trying to kill him suddenly pulling back?

If they hadn’t predicted he would come this way and set up an ambush, this was an unexplainable turn of events.

“Shit…!”

Cheol-woo’s body started to feel increasingly heavy, and he could sense his eyelids beginning to droop heavily, as if they were weighed down by an unseen force.

His legs lost their strength and ultimately gave out beneath him, causing him to collapse to the ground.

Cars halted all around him, creating a circle of stillness, while armed soldiers quickly surrounded him from all sides.

The soldiers began to approach him slowly and cautiously, not opening fire, but maintaining a vigilant watch over Cheol-woo’s every movement.

Damn, in that moment he realized that he couldn’t feel the hand that was meant to be gripping his pistol with a firm hold.

Now that he took a proper look, he noticed his gun was lying on the ground a short distance away, no longer in his grasp.

The only limb that he was able to move was his left hand, which unfortunately remained too far from reaching his pistol.

“Yes, Director. We’ve captured Min Cheol-woo.”

“Open the trunk. Ugh… What’s this?”

“Get rid of the gun! Get rid of it! If this bastard grabs the gun, we’re in trouble!”

“Bring the handcuffs and put them on. What are you doing? Put them on!”

“Uh, uh… But he’s still awake, sir…”

“Who the hell cares about a drunk bastard? Give me the handcuffs! I’ll put them on myself!”

The sole object that Cheol-woo’s left hand came into contact with on the ground was a blue pill packet.

Considering the behavior exhibited by the drugged individuals alongside Manager Jeong, it became evident that the substance in question was definitely some variant associated with the “up” series.

The awakening effect of this drug was assured and confirmed.

However, the pivotal concern arose regarding what transpired after consumption of the substance.

If the outcome mirrored that of Manager Jeong, where he managed to retain his mental faculties and sanity, it would certainly be acceptable. But the alarming question was, what if he ended up transforming into a zombie?

What if he descended into madness, his mouth turned a ghastly black, and he began to emit an overwhelming stench of decay?

No, that was terrifying.

“Quickly, the handcuffs…”

“Huh?! Hey! Hey, hey! This bastard’s doing drugs!”

“Shoot! Shoot, shoot, shoot! Shoot him in the head!”

Sssssss-

‘Is everything going well? It must be, right?’

The sniper peered through the scope, watching the road.

The ambush was a success.

The sniper was confident that someone as sensitive as Cheol-woo would easily avoid a cargo truck charging at him in an intersection without stopping for the light.

That meant the place to stop had been determined, and all the sniper had to do was shoot the fixed target, an easy job.

‘Well, all this effort paid off.’

Before shooting, the sniper had to make sure not to even look at the target.

The sniper strictly adhered to this self-imposed rule, then opened the window and fired just one second before the shot.

After all, Cheol-woo was the kind of insane person who could spot a hidden sniper from over 400 meters away — without meticulous planning, he wouldn’t have been caught.

The dart fired was an anesthetic one, but it had to be subsonic.

If the target had a monstrous reaction speed, he might dodge it if he heard the sound first, right?

It might sound absurd, but the terrifying thing was, with that guy, it felt like he could actually dodge it.

So, despite using an anesthetic dart, the sniper insisted on using a gun that could fire at supersonic speed, a rare firearm not found easily in the country.

Bang! The sound was irrelevant.

The anesthetic dart would hit before the sound reached him anyway.

The first shot flew through the window and struck Cheol-woo’s shoulder.

With enough anesthetic to put down two elephants, there was no way someone could keep moving after being hit.

Shock or unconsciousness.

One or the other.

The sniper sighed in relief as he watched armed personnel rush to the vehicle on the opposite side of the car.

One of them was heading to the back of the car with handcuffs.

The target had been secured. Clear.

He had done it, so now could he finally escape from Yuri’s control and join Director Park’s side? The sniper’s heart raced.

And then—

“Hurry up with the handcuffs… huh?! Hey! Hey, hey, hey! This bastard’s on drugs!”

“Fire! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot him in the head!”

“Eh…?”

Suddenly, the chaos started. The staff member holding the handcuffs flew into the air, as if something had grabbed them, and then fell, their arm bent in midair before crashing to the ground.

Gunfire erupted from the staff’s weapons, filling the street with loud bangs.

Rat-a-tat-tat! Boom, boom! The sound was deafening.

The sniper was certain he had hit the target.

With enough anesthetic to take down an elephant, there was no way that Cheol-woo could still be moving.

So why? Why was he still moving? How? The sniper had no idea.

The target was hidden behind the car and out of sight, and the anesthetic dart couldn’t penetrate the car, so shooting now was pointless.

“Ah, damn. What the hell…?”

The staff members, who had been shooting at the car’s rear, started collapsing one by one, their heads jerking back before they slumped to the ground.

One by one, they fell without any resistance.

It didn’t make sense.

He had hit them with the anesthetic darts, surrounded them, and yet they were getting wiped out.

Finally, Cheol-woo appeared from behind the vehicle, carrying a bloodied staff member in one hand, his bulletproof vest barely holding up.

He continued advancing, firing his gun.

The sniper, now in shock, could only watch as Cheol-woo tore through his enemies.

Cheol-woo was picking up the bodies of soldiers who weighed almost 100 kilograms, even with their bulletproof vests, and swinging them like ragdolls.

There was no time to question the absurdity of it.

‘Two shots won’t be enough to take him down.’

Calmly loading a new round into his rifle, the sniper aimed at Cheol-woo’s neck.

Under 100 meters, close-range shots.

Even though the target was moving, hitting him at this distance was a simple task.

Bang! The shot rang out, and the anesthetic dart flew toward Cheol-woo’s neck.

It hit… perfectly.

…

‘It hit?’

“…?”

The dart… was caught?