episode_0027

Clang clang clang clang clang

“Spade Senior-nim!”

Following Spade, who had subdued Number 13, Club also ran up the escalator and arrived on the floor where Number 13 was.

On the unnervingly silent floor, Number 13 lay pinned to the ground, Spade’s hand gripping his neck.

He was completely subdued, unable to move a single limb.

As soon as Club spotted Number 13, she drew two pistols from the holsters on her thighs and aimed them.

However, Number 13 merely lay pinned, utterly motionless, not appearing to attempt any action.

As expected, it seems he can’t use his escape ability while in contact.

‘Just as Apple-nim predicted…’

For Spade to latch onto Number 13 as quickly as possible and subdue him before he could react.

That had been Apple’s suggestion, and her prediction seemed to have been accurate.

“I’ve taken care of all the remaining dolls just now. Following Apple’s control, the police will also be swarming in.”

“Just try to detonate the bomb. If you even attempt anything suspicious, I’ll snap your neck.”

Furthermore, thanks to Apple’s measures, external communication would be blocked.

A complete checkmate.

This villain has no more escape routes or means of resistance.

Other than being quietly escorted away like this.

“Villain Number 13. Your mischief has gone too far. This time, it’s truly over!”

Squeeze…!

“Ugh…!”

Number 13, whose eyes were still rolling and who hadn’t recovered from the shock he’d just received, groaned under the pressure on his neck.

Spade’s hand, encased in a black glove, could shatter even a boulder with just its grip strength.

Crushing a person’s neck would be no problem at all.

Moreover, the unusual pressure on his neck, combined with the palpable killing intent emanating from Spade at close range, clearly demonstrated that her threat was no bluff.

“Hoo… hoo… Ah… that hurts…”

‘……? What is this guy?’

Yet, despite that.

Spade felt a strange sensation from Number 13, who lay pinned beneath her.

How to describe it? Even though it was clearly a desperate situation, he seemed strangely at ease.

And for some unknown reason, a peculiar uneasiness stirred within Spade’s chest.

What on earth was this? She was clearly in absolute control right now.

But why this strange unease…?

“Seriously, it hurts like hell… No, I can’t believe you lunged like that… without even giving me a chance to speak… I’m surprised…”

“Shut up, Number 13.”

“Ugh… That really was unexpected… Should I have turned them into dolls beforehand… No, then Club might have noticed…”

“I told you to shut up!”

Number 13 had a Bluetooth earphone in his ear.

Seeing it blink, it must be connected to something… Perhaps he’s on a call?

That’s strange. That can’t be.

Apple, who was below, should be controlling all radio waves and communication in this area. It wouldn’t matter how much Number 13 spoke into it.

Is it a bluff? Or is he confused by the situation?

Does he not know that the other party can’t hear him? Is he so flustered he can’t grasp the situation?

“Well, it’s fine. It’s fine. If I do it from now on. Yes. No problem. This much is within the acceptable range. It won’t disrupt the operation.”

Number 13 was still muttering.

What on earth was he saying? It was completely incomprehensible.

More importantly, how could he appear so nonchalant while being subdued like this? As if he had something to rely on. As if he knew Spade couldn’t do anything.

And Number 13, completely unfazed by Spade’s threat, looked directly into her eyes and spoke.

“Now then, Spade. You listen carefully to my words too.”

“『The Jack of Spades is――”

***

Crunching and snapping!

“Senior-nim?!”

It happened in an instant.

The very moment Number 13 was about to say something to Spade.

The hand Spade had on Number 13’s neck tightened with full force.

Her grip instantly compressed and tore Number 13’s neck muscles, crushing them along with the bones.

“………!!!!”

Number 13’s jaw lifted, his eyes bulged as if to rupture, and his face became utterly ghastly in every way.

Blood gushed from his mouth, splattering onto Spade’s face.

The spade emblem etched onto her beautiful face was stained with Number 13’s blood.

Gasp… Gasp… Sigh….

Without releasing her hand from Number 13’s crushed neck, Spade took deep, calming breaths, trying to quiet her pounding heart.

She had to keep him alive. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to question him about the rest of the villain organization, [Abyss].

She had threatened him, but at the very least, she had intended to only block his airway and render him unconscious.

She hadn’t meant for this to happen.

She hadn’t meant for this to happen.

‘Just now, something… chilling…’

She couldn’t understand it, but a feeling had overcome her that she absolutely could not let Number 13 finish speaking.

It was a chilling, gut-like intuition that warned Spade that if she let him finish, she would be rendered utterly helpless.

What on earth was it…?

“Senior-nim? Are you okay?”

“…I’m fine. More importantly, I ended up killing him. I had a dangerous feeling, so I couldn’t help it.”

“If Senior-nim judged it that way, then it must be so. Should we take the corpse with us for now?”

“We should. We can’t just leave a corpse we created like this.”

Club, who had been holding her guns at the ready, carefully lowered them.

Spade remained hunched over Number 13, who was now a gruesome sight, dead with his neck crushed, and quietly looked down at him.

They weren’t close enough for her to be sentimental, but she had been entangled with Number 13 in many ways.

It wasn’t quite fate, but seeing such a hollow end for someone she had persistently clashed with and struggled against, she felt a strange sense of emotion.

She felt an emptiness, as if her heart had been hollowed out.

It was absurd to feel such emotions for a mere villain, and it was wrong to feel this way only for him, given how many villains she had buried with her own hands.

She had felt uneasy about what Number 13 was trying to do at the end, but now that he was dead, it probably didn’t matter.

…But seriously, what was he trying to say just now?

‘He was definitely trying to say something like, “The Jack of Spades…”’

As Spade thought that, she was about to get up from Number 13’s corpse.

Clang—k!

“……?!”

A metallic sound echoed from somewhere far away.

At the same time, the heavy clanging of something falling began to resound simultaneously from all directions.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

“Fuck…?! This is…”

“The villain terror prevention firewalls… Why are they coming down only now…?”

Recently, buildings have been mandated to install thick, explosion-proof barriers as a countermeasure against villain attacks.

These firewalls, descending both inside and outside the building, serve to block villain attacks from the outside,

and sometimes act like a cage, trapping villains inside to prevent them from escaping.

However, it seems the system malfunctioned, and the barriers are only now descending…

It’s meaningless now that the villain has been subdued. Of course, it would be even more useless against Number 13, who uses spatial evasion abilities.

‘The lights are out too. Honestly, what’s the point of this happening after everything is over?’

It’s good that terror countermeasures are in place, but if the system has problems, it’s completely useless.

In today’s world, where villain attacks frequently occur, this concerns human lives, so they should pay more attention.

She decided she would file a report later and request an audit team for terror countermeasures to be dispatched here.

Just as Spade was about to think so nonchalantly.

“That hurts…! You damn bitch…!”

“Huh…?”

Squeeze…!

As Spade was rising, someone’s hand firmly grabbed her arm.

It made no sense. It couldn’t be.

“Have you ever died? Do you know how painful and terrifying dying is, you damn hero…!”

Why.

Why is he alive?!

Number 13, whose neck should have been broken, was still alive. The neck that she had clearly broken and twisted was perfectly restored.

He grasped Spade’s arm, and this time, without delay, he continued the words he couldn’t finish earlier.

“『Hanged the Spade Jack』!!”

The unknown sentence Spade had interrupted earlier. This time, she heard it clearly. She heard it all the way through.

‘My body…!’

What on earth was happening.

After hearing that sentence, after hearing those words, Spade’s body became unable to move.

Her consciousness instantly faded. She sank into darkness. She could no longer think. Counterattacks and resistance were useless now.

And so, the light faded from Spade’s eyes.

***

“Sen… Senior-nim? Spade Senior-nim!”

Club’s urgent cries could be heard.

Amidst her shouts, Spade, who had been pinning Number 13 down, slowly stood up, swaying like a puppet on strings.

Beneath her, Number 13 was also rising, stroking his neck.

For some reason, Spade seemed to be neglecting him.

She had even removed the hand that had deliberately maintained contact to prevent his escape using his strategist ability.

Something was wrong.

Aside from the fact that this would prevent her from stopping Number 13’s escape, Spade herself was acting strangely to begin with…

Furthermore, the barriers that had just descended around the shopping mall, given their timing, felt less like they were there to stop Villain Number 13 and more like a cage to trap her.

“Senior-nim! Get out of the way!”

Club aimed her gun at Number 13, who was slowly rising, but Spade stood in the line of fire, blocking her shot.

In that brief moment earlier, when her consciousness had been drawn to the barriers, she must have been affected by something.

Her mind couldn’t keep up with the situation.

Her mind simply warned her that Villain Number 13 was far more dangerous than she had imagined.

“Apple! Apple! Can you hear me?! Spade Senior-nim’s condition is strange! I request support based on your judgment! Apple? Apple!!”

There was no response from the in-ear communicator, which should have been connected to Apple.

Apple had said she would cut off communication waves, but this line should have been active just a moment ago.

“Fuck……! What on earth is happening……!”

While Club was flustered, unable to understand the situation.

“Go, Spade. Subdue Club.”

Spade, just as she had lunged to subdue Number 13 earlier… charged at Club.