Chapter 677: It’s been a long time!

“Unit Leader.”

“Yes! Commander-nim.”

The man waiting behind Beomdong answered with a stiffly disciplined posture.

“I’m going to deploy the Snare, so prepare yourselves.”

“…!”

Operation Snare is proceeding.

At Beomdong’s words, the man’s eyes lit up.

‘Snare…?’

What kind of being are they trying to catch with that?

It’s the Flying Dragon Unit Commander’s Snare, which no one has ever escaped.

It was an operation that absolutely no one could escape from unless they were monsters on the level of the Ten Great Masters of the Central Plains.

Just as the middle-aged man was getting tense.

‘Let’s see you taste some bitterness. You unlucky brat.’

Beomdong chuckled, thinking of the eldest son of the Gu family, who would be flustered.

Not long after Beomdong went to find So Yeomra.

Jjyak-!

“Kuh-eok!”

“Lift your head. I told you you’d die if you closed your eyes. Why do you keep closing them? Should I gouge your eyeballs out so you can’t see at all?”

Beomdong realized something had gone wrong.

“Kkeuh-euuuk….”

Every time he vomited blood, fragments of the cup came out with it. His mouth was completely torn up, and the coppery taste of blood filled it.

He tried to move somehow, but right after his neck was grabbed, his whole body wouldn’t muster any strength.

It wasn’t like his pressure points were hit, nor was he in a position where he was subdued and unable to move.

It was simply that he couldn’t muster strength.

“Still, you’re threatening me using people around me, you punk who’s supposed to be a warrior of the Alliance? Are you seriously out of your mind?”

“Keuk… kkeu…. Let go, let go right now…. You’ll regret….”

“Your mouth is still running?”

Jjaenggeurang-!

“Keok!”

A shock hit his head.

Gu Yangcheon grabbed the cup in front of him and struck his head.

The broken fragments didn’t fall to the floor but floated in mid-air.

Gu Yangcheon grabbed one of the larger fragments.

Kwaak-!

“Kkueo-ak!”

He drove it straight into the man’s hand.

Instinctively, he coated his body with protective energy, but Gu Yangcheon effortlessly tore through Beomdong’s defensive energy.

Pfft! The fragment embedded in his hand was immediately pulled out.

Afterward, blood started to well up on the wound.

Chiiiyik-!

“…!!!”

Due to the intense pain felt in his hand, Beomdong couldn’t even scream this time.

Gu Yangcheon cauterized the deep wound with fire.

“Keok… kkeo-eok…. Kkeu-euu-eoa….”

As Beomdong writhed, making choking sounds, Gu Yangcheon grabbed Beomdong by the crown of his head and lifted him up.

Then, he met Beomdong’s eyes with his shining clear blue eyes.

“Why didn’t you just behave yourself when I was letting you live? Why do you keep acting like a fucking asshole? If you act like that, I have no choice but to become a fucking asshole too. Right?”

He was smiling.

Gu Yangcheon smiled as he burned Beomdong’s hand.

Seeing that smile sent shivers down Beomdong’s spine.

‘…I made a mistake.’

The threat of using the Alliance’s location and power to pressure those around him.

Of course, it was possible this wouldn’t work.

However.

‘He’s this strong…’

The crucial part of this operation was making the opponent enraged when the words were spoken.

If the opponent couldn’t stand it and tried to subdue or threaten him.

It was an operation designed to easily secure investigative authority by establishing grounds for threatening an Alliance member.

‘Damn it all.’

Beomdong’s miscalculation was not anticipating Gu Yangcheon would act so aggressively.

He never imagined someone would resort to such violence and torture against an Alliance Commander in the middle of Hanam.

Chiiiyik-!

Feeling his hand burning, Beomdong trembled along with a scream.

“Heu-eu-aaaah!”

The situation was gradually turning for the worse.

This was something Beomdong had decided to handle personally after judging the opponent to be strong.

He never imagined he’d be subdued like this.

He knew he was a master, but this strong…!

Beomdong thought amidst the pain.

‘My energy isn’t moving properly. Could it be… poison…?’

Beomdong wasn’t the type to be defeated so miserably.

He himself was a martial artist of considerable attainment, someone who had secured the position of Alliance Commander, no less.

Yet, to be unable to use his energy just because his neck was grabbed? It made no sense.

‘Damn it. When exactly?’

Was poison put in the tea he just drank? If so, when was it added? Was it from the start? No.

‘Just in case, I finished checking everything…?’

He had already checked thoroughly, wondering if someone had tampered with the tea he’d prepared beforehand.

When on earth did they put the poison in?

With his torn-up mouth and the pain constricting his throat, Beomdong rolled his eyes.

Even if that were the case, he had to endure somehow.

No matter how much pain they inflicted now, they wouldn’t kill him.

So he had to endure.

Outside, the members of the Flying Dragon Unit were waiting.

A crucial aspect of carrying out the Snare operation is personnel deployment.

The plan was for them to rush in if the agent sent a signal or if they didn’t appear for a certain amount of time.

In a few seconds, the agreed-upon time would pass.

Then, the members of the Flying Dragon Unit would appear to rescue Beomdong.

Let’s just hold on until then. Just as Beomdong was thinking this.

“Master.”

Nari approached Gu Yangcheon, who was continuously burning Beomdong’s wound, and asked.

“…!”

At Nari’s words, Beomdong’s back went cold.

Rats? Could she possibly mean the Flying Dragon Unit?

If so, they’d be using stealth techniques from a distance. How did she possibly know?

“Should I get rid of them?”

Ignoring Beomdong’s shock, Nari asked calmly.

Gu Yangcheon suddenly stopped burning Beomdong’s hand and nodded.

“Mm.”

“No, leave them be.”

Gu Yangcheon replied lightly.

“I was about to tell you to go clean them up. But just in time.”

He cast his gaze out the closed window.

“He’s here.”

A presence could be felt from afar.

A very familiar and fucking annoying presence.

---

It had been about half an hour since Beomdong approached the target.

A man approached in the tense atmosphere and asked.

“Unit Leader-nim, there isn’t much time left until the scheduled time.”

“…Yes.”

Jeong Jin, one of the Flying Dragon Unit’s unit leaders, nodded at his subordinate’s words.

Suddenly, the door closed after Commander Beomdong approached the target.

Although they were all taken aback by the unplanned situation.

“We proceed as planned. Prepare yourselves.”

Jeong Jin managed his subordinates, merely following the mission assigned by Beomdong.

Half an hour had passed since the anomaly occurred.

Once that time passed, they would enter the target, invoking the Alliance’s name.

That was the core of the operation, and recalling this, Jeong Jin bit his lip.

‘Is this really okay?’

They said there wouldn’t be much danger. Yet the windows and doors were blocked the moment they entered.

Furthermore, they could tell that a barrier was set up inside the building.

Something had definitely happened.

Seeing that, Jeong Jin deeply considered whether they should enter immediately, but…

‘It’s the Commander himself. He must have anticipated this.’

This must also be part of some plan.

Jeong Jin took a breath, believing so.

The target was said to be barely over twenty years old.

Although the Commander was referred to as a considerable master.

‘Even so, he probably wouldn’t be Commander-level.’

Since he’s a Commander from the Intelligence Division, his combat power might be relatively lacking, but…

He’s still a Commander.

Beomdong was by no means a weak martial artist. Let’s trust him and prepare.

As Jeong Jin made that judgment.

“Unit Leader. It’s time.”

The subordinate delivered the message, and only then did Jeong Jin nod and draw his sword.

Seureung.

Jeong Jin, having drawn his sword, spoke to those around him.

“Flying Dragon Unit. Combat readiness.”

The moment Jeong Jin moved, the surrounding warriors began to shift their stances one by one.

“The target is right over there…”

“It’s a sword.”

“Towards the sword… No. Huh…?”

Hearing the words from the side, he stiffened.

Goosebumps ran down Jeong Jin’s spine.

So his head turned to look sideways.

Someone was standing where there had been no one just moments before.

‘What the…?’

Jeong Jin’s eyes widened as he looked at the opponent.

It was a woman of small stature.

A woman with a small frame, carrying a club larger than her body on her shoulder.

However, her hair was unusually short for a woman.

Barely covering her ears, perhaps?

“It’s a sword, a sword. Right? This is a sword?”

The woman, with somewhat creepy eyes, kept showing a look of wonder as she stared at Jeong Jin’s sword.

“It’s a sword, a sword!”

“…What the…!

The bizarre reaction made Jeong Jin try to raise his guard the moment…

“But why are you holding a sword? Mister, why are you holding a sword? What are you trying to do? What is it? Around here there’s a chu… Ah, I shouldn’t say. Right, thanks for telling me.”

The woman started talking to herself.

“Isn’t it wrong to hold a sword? They told me to come here, and it’s strange if mister here is holding a sword. You think so too, right? Yeah, I think so too.”

The woman, who had been repeating questions and answers to herself for a while.

Seeing her, Jeong Jin frowned.

It was because he couldn’t afford to be held back. Unable to help it, he tried to ignore the woman and move forward, but…

“Damn it! I’ll ignore her and proceed with entry…!”

“Then, is it okay to kill?”

Hwa-ahwak-!!

“…!”

Suddenly, immense killing intent brushed against Jeong Jin’s skin.

Instinctively, Jeong Jin moved his sword in response, but…

Even before that.

“Yeah. That should be fine.”

The woman moved first.

Swi-rik.

The club on her shoulder was grabbed by the woman’s hand and swung.

At that moment.

Kwaaaaaaaak—!!!

A violent explosion swept through the Flying Dragon Unit.