Chapter 140

Chapter 140. Grudges, and More Grudges (3)

It had been nearly four hours since Yun Jihye took Lee Junmo and fled.

Park Chanyoung, who had been waiting in the Jangsan area with the Special Duty Team (SDT), ground his teeth in frustration.

The personnel surrounding the Jangsan area numbered nearly a hundred. Yet, all those hundred had been merely watching the situation unfold for four hours.

Park Chanyoung stared intently at the video being captured by a drone.

On the monitor, through the evergreen trees, a peculiar refracted section of light appeared. It was a barrier, roughly two to three meters in size.

This was the main reason they had excluded regular police and deployed special forces in large numbers.

It was also the culprit for why they had to waste time without being able to rescue the hostage.

“Fortunately, the hostage is still alive.”

A barrier couldn’t escape the heat-detecting cameras. Thanks to that, they knew Lee Junmo was alive. Why did they kill everyone else brutally but spared Lee Junmo?

“Are they trying to negotiate with the hostage’s life?”

They ruined a peaceful household and then used another’s life to pave their way to safety.

Truly cowardly and vicious. Park Chanyoung was furious at the player’s barbaric behavior.

‘They all must be killed.’

His resentment towards the group called players was stronger than he realized.

He even believed that shooting Yun Jihye wouldn’t be a big issue if it meant the hostage could return alive. He had come to weigh lives differently.

Of course, he maintained his minimum rationality and waited for reinforcements. But even that forcibly held patience shattered.

“Aaaagh!”

For the first time in the four hours of stand-off, a desperate scream rang out. Park Chanyoung clenched his fists so tightly that they turned white.

Meanwhile, the on-site chief reported to the headquarters via radio.

“Yes, the scream continues.”

They asked about entering the premises, but the answer was negative.

“Do not enter, just standby.”

“Yes.”

The SDT continued to remain in position.

The expression on Park Chanyoung’s face, who observed all these processes, was distorted.

“With a hostage’s life at risk!”

The higher-ups kept repeating not to provoke the player and left the hostage neglected. Was this truly the right decision?

Shouldn’t they prioritize the safety of their citizens? Doubting and distrusting the higher-up’s judgment, the rest was obvious.

If they entered like this, not only would he die meaninglessly, but others would too. Only players could capture players anyway.

Every memory and experience he had collapsed under past emotions, leaving only foolish repetition.

“I’m just going to the restroom for a bit.”

Feigning going aside, Chanyoung skillfully circumvented the wooded path and headed to where another unit was on guard.

His appearance prompted SDT members to immediately adopt a defensive posture. But Chanyoung offered them a sheepish smile while displaying a badge to verify his identity.

“Our drone dropped. I’ll retrieve it.”

Confirming Chanyoung’s affiliation, the SDT members nodded and cleared the way.

“I’ll escort you.”

Of course, they didn’t let him pass unhindered, but it was not a significant problem.

“Grrk!”

He had strangled and knocked out the escorting SDT member. His intensive training—compounded by anger—during his leave, meant for fieldwork, had paid off.

The SDT member, caught off guard by an unexpected attack from an ally, quickly went limp. Subsequently, Chanyoung began to strip the unconscious member of their equipment.

Originally, he was authorized only a single pistol.

“Not enough.”

Dangerous for civilians, but insufficient to kill a player. So he looted all of the equipment from the site member. Firearm, magazines, smoke grenades, and grenades too.

After thoroughly equipping himself with everything he had stripped from the unconscious member, Chanyoung bolted forward.

A clear disobeying of orders and insubordination.

But Chanyoung didn’t think he was doing anything wrong. He wasn’t in a state to make sensible judgments.

The gunshots of the past echoed in his ears, and the blood he couldn’t stop no matter what flashed before him.

“They must die.”

Before another victim emerged, the player had to be killed. Sprinting towards where Yun Jihye was, Chanyoung’s eyes glowed red with anger.

Haste hastened his arrival at the destination.

Yet, what he witnessed upon reaching the place and seeing within the barrier caused him to freeze in place.

“Arrrgh!”

Lee Junmo was strapped to a tree trunk, and Yun Jihye had severed all his fingers. What unfolded inside the opaque barrier was clearly torture.

However, Chanyoung froze not because of that. The reason he hesitated was due to the emptiness emanating from Yun Jihye.

“Her eyes…….”

They were empty, just like his had been when he lost his wife.

“P-please stop! I was wrong! Spare me!”

“Don’t worry, you won’t die.”

Yun Jihye’s voice was so composed it didn’t match the bloodstained scene.

“Living on to see hell is essential, can’t have you dying. Not at all.”

She even caressed Lee Junmo’s cheek as if soothing a crying child.

“Stay still, that way it’ll end quickly.”

She lamented the wasted time because he had fainted.

To wrap up quickly, so both she and he could rest.

Yun Jihye quietly mumbled, raising her right hand.

This sight had Lee Junmo, who was gasping, become horrified.

“Stop it, please, don’t!”

A transparent awl began to form from Yun Jihye’s raised index finger.

“Fingers were cut, now it’s time to erase your eyes.”

Finally snapping out of it, Chanyoung aimed the rifle and shouted.

“Stop now!”

But Yun Jihye didn’t even glance his way.

Instead, she grabbed Lee Junmo’s chin with her left hand, bringing the unknown awl close.

A perfect dismissal.

A player believed to be of Silver rank couldn’t possibly have missed Chanyoung’s arrival.

She must have disregarded it because it didn’t matter.

To Yun Jihye, Chanyoung was a presence so insignificant that he might as well not exist, unable to make any impact whatsoever.

The mortification brought blushes of rage to Chanyoung’s face, and as he took another step forward, gun aloft.

The barrier’s opacity started to wane at a perfect timing.

Only then did Yun Jihye’s gaze, fixed on Lee Junmo, shift.

“Ah… has it been four hours already?”

Her muttering was casual and languid, a contrast to her bloodstained fingertips.

“Ugh, ugh….”

In the time Lee Junmo whimpered, unable to scream, Yun Jihye calmly advised.

“Don’t cause unnecessary bloodshed, stay down there. I will turn myself in lat—.”

“Save me, save me…….”

Someone interrupted Yun Jihye, breaking into the conversation.

Lee Junmo, whose eye was gouged out, shedding bloody tears.

Seeing his blood-smeared cheek, memories of the past replayed automatically.

– I-I’m scared; I don’t want to die… Save me……

His wife’s voice, growing fainter, and those eyes, ending in darkness.

Fully absorbed in past moments, Han Changshik’s face—his wife’s killer—superimposed over Yun Jihye’s.

No further thought transpired. Chanyoung pressed the trigger.

“You demon!!!”

But it was futile.

As the air froze, ping, ping, ping; all the bullets ricocheted and fell harmlessly.

Because of a pointed ice cluster that grew at Yun Jihye and Lee Junmo’s feet.

『What’s with the gunfire?! Who’s shooting!?』

『Find out what’s happening immediately!』

A commotion erupted from the radio in his ear, but Chanyoung paid no heed. He was reaching out to pull the pin from the grenade strapped to his vest.

Of course, that too was pointless.

Before Chanyoung could pull the pin, an ice blade flew from thin air.

“Uwaah!”

As a result, the hand Chanyoung used to hold the grenade was severed entirely.

Amidst this, a crumbling ice block cleared, revealing Yun Jihye, her expression twisted with annoyance.

“This is becoming a bother.”

For the first time since Chanyoung appeared, Yun Jihye’s expression changed as she reached out and murmured.

“Well… killing one more won’t change anything, will it?”

A chilling breeze swept in, and small ice crystals formed in the air.

No, small wouldn’t do it justice. The ice rapidly grew in size.

Only a few seconds.

It took that short span for sharp ice, the size of human limbs, to encircle Chanyoung completely.

Everywhere he looked, he saw ice. There was nowhere to escape.

– I-I’m scared.

The last whispered plea of his wife, fearing death, profoundly resonated.

Death that loomed without allowing any means to avoid it was terrifying.

Yet staring at the ice, set to pierce him, the only thing he could do was remain frozen.

“Ugh…….”

Bound as if shackled, his body finally moved after a brief moment.

The forehead, cheek, neck, chest, abdomen, flank, back, and thigh.

Only when the approaching ice grazed his skin did his long-frozen body spring to life, struggling desperately.

“Aaaargh!”

It was pitiful that the desperate effort amounted to nothing more than a death throe.

Yet, for someone who foolishly walked into this on their own, that was all that was allowed.

‘I’m going to die.’

As the seconds that felt like minutes passed, that certainty fully enveloped Chanyoung.

Then, there was a sparking crackle, and a boom!

The sparks that formed a cluster in front of Chanyoung’s forehead, cheek, neck, chest, abdomen, flank, back, and thigh exploded.

The ice enlarging towards Chanyoung was either knocked away or shattered from the impact.

“Urk!”

Naturally, Chanyoung wasn’t spared from the explosion’s shock.

His skin tore, and he was burned from the searing heat.

But it was preferable to being shredded by a dozen ice shards.

He was alive, albeit injured, but otherwise would have died.

‘Alive, I’m alive…….’

Chanyoung, having been knocked to the ground by the explosive force, fumbled over his trembling body.

The realization that he was still alive was hard to grasp.

As he repeatedly confirmed his survival by examining himself, albeit for a brief moment.

“Hoo.”

A sigh of relief behind him indicated someone’s presence.

Chanyoung turned his creaking neck, devoid of command, and looked back.

There, clad in a black padded jacket and jeans, stood a white man.

Despite his thick clothing, his muscular physique was evident, appearing highly intimidating.

Even Chanyoung, trained in military tactics, felt momentarily daunted.

He sported a surly expression, with one leg casually resting upon the other and arms crossed, making it hard for any ordinary person to approach.

While Chanyoung looked up at him, almost dazed.

The man ran his fingers through his curly brown hair, and after a deep, earth-shaking sigh, muttered in a voice filled with irritation.

“You just can’t do anything right, can you?”

Then, with a beckoning motion of his fingers, he commanded.

“Drop it now while I’m asking nicely.”

The cold and firm voice caused Chanyoung’s shoulders to shrink instinctively.

Soon he realized those words weren’t directed at him.

Only then did he recall what had transpired just moments ago.

Chanyoung turned his still stiff neck again.

There was Yun Jihye, embracing Lee Junmo by the neck, pressing a dagger against him.

Damn System