Ch.47Unknown Villain! (5)

#047

I need to handle this as quickly as possible.

‘I have to clean up and escape before backup arrives.’

I don’t know how many will come for support, but it certainly won’t be just one or two people.

‘If they came in that van, there must be at least five or six of them.’

Dexter kept thinking about his mistake. The most urgent thing wasn’t bringing the silver blaster for subduing targets, but the brass-colored blaster for lethal force.

‘Then I could kill all these bastards.’

Not expecting to be attacked like this on Earth, Dexter had deliberately chosen the silver blaster since prison guards couldn’t go around killing people freely. And he wasn’t some Texan who could carry a gun around all the time.

But now the weak lethality had put Dexter himself in danger.

‘If they’d seen heads getting blown open with one shot, these punks would’ve been too scared to even move.’

Berating himself for his mistake, Dexter carefully sighed again and prepared for the men who would soon swarm in.

The men trying to come from the left and right had all been dealt with, leaving only four who were attempting to enter the building for a frontal assault.

Dexter shifted his body hidden against the wall slightly to check the condition of his side and shoulder. The nanobots seemed to be working hard, as the pain had subsided somewhat.

However, if he moved too vigorously, the wounds the nanobots had been diligently closing would reopen, and he’d have to endure that burning pain all over again.

‘I’ll have to rely on the blaster.’

The building’s structure consisted of broken walls surrounding it, while the inside was an open space like a warehouse with windows, except for the counters and checkout area.

Dexter, pressed against a thick pillar in the building, heard the footsteps of four men cautiously approaching his position and carefully picked up a walnut-sized stone from nearby.

Looking through a crack in the damaged outer wall into the building, he could see four men with menacing faces approaching his position.

‘Phew.’

Dexter took a light deep breath and stroked the building pillar he was leaning against.

‘Please stop some bullets for me.’

Keeping himself hidden from the men, Dexter carefully stood up using the thick pillar as cover.

Then he threw the stone with a spinning motion directly at the window.

-Whizz! Crash!

With the sound of air being cut, the stone Dexter threw broke through the already cracked window and struck the leftmost man directly in the center of his forehead.

-Thud.

It wasn’t a sound that should come from a stone hitting a human head.

As his gaze fell on the man who collapsed to the floor with glazed eyes, Dexter emerged from behind the pillar and aimed his blaster at the rightmost man.

When the projectile, still making that frivolous sound, lodged itself between the rightmost man’s eyebrows, the remaining two men began shooting at Dexter.

Only two people remained.

Hector and another unnamed man.

Dexter pressed himself tightly against the pillar amid the violent impact sounds of bullets from their sawed-off shotgun and submachine gun hitting the wall.

Finger-thick holes were being punched through the walls, except for the pillar where Dexter was standing.

‘This is really brutal.’

Even though Dexter wanted to fire his blaster or pick up and throw another stone from the ground, their continuous fire left him with no options.

‘Should I wait for them to reload?’

If it were Dexter, he would have had them take turns shooting while reloading, but they showed no signs of doing so.

“Hey, will you spare me if I surrender?”

When Dexter casually asked, Hector shouted angrily.

“Bullshit! I’ll shoot you right now!”

“Well, I guess I have no choice then.”

Dexter sighed deeply again, then suddenly thought of another approach.

‘Wait, what about that?’

His combat instincts must have truly deteriorated if he was only now remembering a good method. He lamented that he’d only thought of this technique—one he used to employ regularly—after being shot twice.

‘Well, I’ll be lucky to survive. Please, just don’t get hit by another bullet.’

As the gunfire briefly subsided, Dexter took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the pillar.

“Hey, shit! Shoot that bastard right now!”

“He-Hector! I-I still haven’t…”

“You idiot, reload right…”

Dexter’s sudden appearance startled them, causing one man to fumble with his reloading while Hector, who had finished changing his magazine, was about to aim and fire at Dexter.

“…!”

A heat haze-like shimmer was rising from Dexter’s upper body.

Slowly, he raised his right hand with the blaster and aimed it at the man beside Hector.

To the two men, Dexter was simply aiming some strange weapon at them, yet they felt as if they were standing before an irresistible presence.

Every time Dexter’s pupils moved slightly.

Every time his right hand with the blaster twitched.

Every time he regarded them with that cold expression.

The man found it difficult to speak.

He was afraid.

The feeling that made even the hair on Hector’s arms stand on end was something he had experienced somewhere before.

That person who had made him kneel down instinctively.

That person who had naturally instilled fear in Hector—a man rumored to be without blood or tears, who lived an incredibly cruel life—without using any force or threats.

“B-Boss?”

Without time to think deeply, Hector naturally fell to his knees while staring at Dexter.

Hector was trembling just like the man next to him and talking nonsense.

‘Suddenly calling me Boss?’

Confused, Dexter kept his gaze fixed on Hector while firing his blaster at the man who could become an obstacle.

“Kuhuk.”

As the man collapsed without resistance after being hit by the subduing round, Dexter used his blaster-equipped hand to break the glass window.

-Crash!

Jumping through the completely shattered window, Dexter continued staring at Hector.

Whether the man fell or not, Hector remained kneeling, his entire body trembling defenseless.

Dexter walked up close to Hector, looked down at him, and spoke quietly.

“Tell me everything you know about the Boss.”

Startled by Dexter’s low voice, Hector looked up at him with obvious panic and said:

“I-I don’t really…”

“That’s not the answer I want.”

Dexter grabbed Hector’s neck with his right hand.

And slowly, very slowly, began to apply pressure.

“Let’s see how long you can hold out.”

“I-I really don’t know any—”

“You seem to think I’m an idiot.”

Dexter continued applying pressure while speaking.

As Dexter’s veined hand gradually constricted his airway, Hector began wheezing and struggling to breathe.

“Why would you spout nonsense about me being the Boss?”

“That’s…”

Hector tried to make excuses, but Dexter cut him off.

“Because you’ve already met him.”

“…”

“You’ve seen the Boss face to face, and for whatever reason, you were terrified.”

Dexter said with a smirk.

“In that sense, our Mr. Hector needs to have a serious conversation with me.”

Leaving the unconscious men behind, Dexter loaded only Hector into his pickup truck and quietly headed toward the OSA headquarters.

As if they had anticipated kidnapping Dexter, the van was equipped with cable ties for binding hands and feet.

‘First time using cable ties, and it’s on a person.’

Wondering how his life had come to this, Dexter tied thick cable ties around Hector’s wrists and ankles, letting out a wry laugh.

“What the hell am I doing on my golden day off, dealing with some stinking dick? Shit.”

“I-If you let me go…”

“Shut your mouth. Before I put a cable tie around your neck.”

“Yes, sir.”

Glaring at Hector, Dexter sighed while massaging his shoulder that had been shot earlier.

“I should be able to drive.”

When he carefully touched it, there was no pain, but the wound would still open if he moved too vigorously.

Dexter cautiously gripped the steering wheel with his left hand and began to leave the abandoned building.

“…”

There was still no sign of the support vehicles coming to capture Dexter, and it was still quite a distance to Las Vegas City Hall where the OSA headquarters was located.

After moving from the unpaved road to the paved one, Dexter was holding his mobile phone in his right hand.

At the top of the illuminated phone screen was written “Agent Himena.”

‘Should I? Shouldn’t I?’

Looking at Himena’s contact on the phone screen, Dexter stared at it for a moment, then hesitated as he was about to touch the call icon.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t.’

While he was deliberating:

“Ahead, ahead!”

“Huh? Oh!”

When Hector suddenly shouted while looking forward, a startled Dexter looked ahead.

A mountain goat that should have been in Red Rock Canyon was standing in the middle of the road.

“You scared me, you bastard.”

Dexter cursed at Hector for shouting over nothing and honked the horn, causing the mountain goat to flee quickly.

“You shot at me but you’re this much of a coward?”

“A-An accident would be the end, wouldn’t it?”

“You were already about to meet your end with me. I’m being extremely lenient right now, so keep your mouth shut.”

-…Hello?

Suddenly hearing a familiar voice from the phone he was holding, Dexter looked at it.

‘You son of a bitch, you made it connect.’

As Dexter grimaced with a fierce expression and mouthed words, Hector looked at him with an innocent, wronged expression, not understanding why he was being cursed at.

-Mr. Hughes?

Unable to hang up like a coward, Dexter glared at Hector once more and then pretended nothing had happened as he answered the phone.

“Ah, yes. This is Dexter. Did you get home safely that day?”

-…Yes. But why are you…?

“I think I’ve caught someone who seems to be a minion of the Boss. Also, I’ve been shot, so I was hoping you could find a doctor who can treat gunshot wounds.”

-Wow, you caught a minion… Wait, what did you just say?!

Himena accurately pointed out the issue that she had almost overlooked because Dexter mentioned his injury so casually.

-W-W-Where are you now? Are you badly hurt? Are you bleeding profusely?

Hearing Himena’s urgent, flustered voice, Dexter smiled slightly and said:

“If I were, I wouldn’t be talking to you so calmly, would I? I’m not bleeding that much, just need to get the bullets removed.”

-I-I’ll mobilize all agents right away…

“No, no, I’m fine. Just find me a surgeon somewhere. Or you can take this son of a… I mean, this guy at the front of City Hall.”

Somewhat reassured by Dexter’s still calm response, Himena exclaimed:

-Okay!! I’ll wait for you in front of City Hall!! How long will it take you to get there?!

“A little less than 30 minutes, I think.”

-Got it!!! I’ll summon the best surgeon right away…

“No, I said I’m fine.”

-I’m worried, that’s why!!!

“Ah, I shouldn’t have mentioned it, really. Let’s just meet in front of City Hall.”

-Yes!!! Please arrive safely!!!

Dexter’s right ear was ringing from Himena’s near-shouting.

Rubbing his ear, Dexter glanced at Hector and said:

“You, we’ll deal with you in a bit.”

“But why is that my fault…”

“Shut up.”

At Dexter’s threat, Hector started to mumble something but stopped.

‘I bet he was going to ask why I’m only picking on him.’

Anyway, the atmosphere with Himena seemed to have improved, so Dexter didn’t feel entirely bad.