episode_0047

“You! It felt like you were going to stop being you! *Sob*…”

“……”

I was flustered by the old memory that surfaced, unfitting for the situation. And I was flustered by Shia in front of me.

Seeing her eyes well up as she spoke so softly, my brain froze for a moment.

Was it because it was truly the first time in a long while that I felt someone’s concern solely for me?

For a moment, my murderous intent almost faded.

Without realizing it, the strength in my hand loosened.

I felt bad for that guy over there who looked relieved at this sight, but it was only a brief reprieve.

The warm, fuzzy feeling tickling my chest was nice, but,

‘What’s so special about assassination?’

If no one sees it, it’s an assassination.

Anyway…

‘She has this side to her.’

I thought she was stopping me because she felt sorry for those thugs and survivors, but that wasn’t it.

The surrounding gazes were just an excuse; she stepped forward because she was worried about me. She was even crying now.

Like a former idol, her emotions were conveyed even through her tears.

A beautiful woman’s real tears.

A man wouldn’t dare be stubborn in the face of these tears.

As proof, my mood, which had been at rock bottom, completely vanished.

I wanted to elegantly wipe away her tears with my hand, but my hands were dirty.

While I was stuck, unable to do anything, Dong-woo signaled from behind.

“Hyung-nim! What are you doing! Hug her and comfort her!”

Wondering if this was really the right thing to do, I gently stroked Shia’s shoulder.

My current appearance was a mess to hug her.

As soon as my hand touched her shoulder, Shia threw herself into my arms.

“Hey, I’m dirty right now. You’ll get everything on you.”

“……”

Instead, she tightened her arms around my waist and burrowed into my embrace. The softness and warm scent of her body pressed against me were intoxicating.

…Behind me, Dong-woo was giving a sly thumbs-up.

It seemed he liked that sly side of me.

However, my expression soured at the groans that broke the atmosphere.

I had been dealing with the bugs until now.

These bugs couldn’t even read the room and were groaning.

Well, stopping a fight to have a romantic moment was funny too.

Thanks to the softness pressed against my body, my head started to clear a bit.

‘I’ll have to get them out first…’

I just needed to kick all these guys out.

Before that, I gently soothed Shia and said,

“As you know, I can’t just leave those guys be.”

“Yes. Do as you wish, Oppa.”

“You just tried to stop me, though?”

“W-well, now… you seem okay…”

“…Really?”

I felt like I understood what Shia was feeling and why she was doing this.

It was rather amazing that she could feel my emotions so deeply, even though it had only been a few days.

Perhaps it was due to her unique condition as an entertainer, delving into people’s emotions.

Anyway, I knew she genuinely cared for me.

I probably didn’t need to recklessly do whatever I wanted anymore.

I hardened my heart and spoke coldly to the thugs.

“Pick up your fallen bastards. And get out of my sight.”

The uninjured members of the gang just blinked and stared.

Their expressions were like, ‘Did I hear that wrong?’

“Why? Should I make you crawl out?”

Only then did they startle awake and began to help up the fallen thugs one by one.

Amidst the brief commotion, two lieutenants approached.

“We cannot be in the same space as these men.”

“No. We are of the same mind as Seonghan.”

I stared blankly at Lieutenant Park’s words.

“If that was the case, why didn’t you kick them out from the start?”

“…I have no excuse. We truly didn’t know it would come to this.”

“Kick out all those thieving bastards. No exceptions.”

The two lieutenants nodded without hesitation at my firm words. Still, a bad impression, once made, doesn’t easily fade.

As I watched the writhing thugs with cold eyes, Lee Deokgyu, clutching his knee, pleaded in a pathetic voice.

“I-I’m truly sorry. Never! I’ll never do that again!”

“……”

“J-just treatment! If we leave like this, we’ll all die!”

I spoke quietly to Lee Deokgyu, who was pleading in a desperate tone.

“Get out. Before I chop off your limbs.”

“*Gasp*!!”

“Why? Do you think I won’t do it?”

It’s not that I can’t do it, but that I won’t.

As I glared at him, my eyes tinged with murderous intent, Lee Deokgyu trembled for a moment.

And soon, as if giving up everything, he began to shout at the top of his lungs.

“*C-cackle*…. *Cwahahaha*!”

“What? Has he gone crazy?”

“Do you think anything will change if you kick me out? Do you think those incompetent fools can protect this place?!”

“What the hell are you babbling about, you old man?”

“*Snicker*~ That’s why you can’t talk to ignorant commoners who know nothing.”

“This bastard…?”

Was this his last struggle, or was he just starting to rage?

I slowly approached, intending to personally deal with him.

“Do you think rescue or support will come?”

“Hmm? They won’t come quickly, will they?”

“No, they won’t come. They won’t!”

*Thwack*!

I kicked Lee Deokgyu, who was sprawled on the ground, rolling.

It’s ridiculous how he’s struggling when he could just leave quietly.

“…What Assemblyman Lee said is true.”

“What?”

The thug boss, writhing with holes in his hands and feet, interjected.

At his words, Lieutenant Kim, who was nearby, asked seriously.

“What do you mean by that?”

“It means that the key figures of the government and military have already left Seoul.”

“What nonsense are you-”

“You soldiers. Your communication with central command has been cut, hasn’t it?”

“?!”

“Don’t you know? You’ve all been abandoned!! *Hehehe*~”

“Nonsense!!”

The two lieutenants reacted vehemently.

Come to think of it, I did hear that communication had been cut.

“Someone went south and someone boarded a battleship, right? I have my own connections, so I overheard it, *hehehe*.”

“Seoul ended long ago! You’re isolated! *Cwahaha*!”

“Stop your bullshit! Do you think the military is a joke?!”

The two vermin, babbling as if they knew something, seemed to have completely given up.

“Then why aren’t the troops stationed in Gangwon-do coming to support? Hm?”

“……What?”

“That’s why you can’t talk to the lower ranks. This is why the country-”

*Smack*!!

“*Ugh*….”

“Just because you have a mouth, you shouldn’t use it so carelessly, don’t you think?”

The two pieces of trash, their faces contorted, burst into laughter even after my kick.

I had intended to kick them out first, but my mind was starting to change.

Perhaps humans who have emptied their minds become this powerful. Seeing this damn old man, it was clear.

“So? Is that all you know?”

“*Hehe*. Fine. You’re all going to die anyway. I’ll tell you a little. Listen up, rub those vulgar ears. Underst- What, what are you doing?!”

I placed the loaded pistol against Lee Deokgyu’s crotch.

“I don’t have many bullets, so I need to use them efficiently. If you don’t want to become a woman before you die, you’d better speak with utmost sincerity. Understood?”

“This m-madman!!”

“Wrong.”

*Click*-

“Ah, I get it! I get it! I don’t know the details either! I just received a message to evacuate quickly!”

“What’s this about Gangwon-do and isolation?”

“Th-that’s because the original starting point wasn’t Gangnam, but Gangwon-do!”

“…What do you mean?”

“I really don’t know anything beyond that! But I only know that this incident first occurred somewhere in Gangwon-do!”

“Then Gangnam?”

“…I-I heard that someone from Gangwon-do was transported by helicopter to Gangnam Taesung Hospital.”

“It was someone high-ranking. No one knows exactly.”

The thug boss, who had been silent beside him, interjected.

When I looked at him with curious eyes, he kindly answered.

“My business partner was hospitalized. Well, I heard there was an emergency because of some high-ranking individual, and then the hospital was immediately sealed off. So, doesn’t that roughly paint a picture?”

I glared at the thug boss, who was smiling slyly even while on the verge of death, and he immediately wiped the smile off his face.

Anyway, those thug bastards’ bluffing never ends.

“Not long after the hospital was sealed, an assemblyman who used to back me contacted me. He told me to evacuate quickly. To flee to a place where there were no people.”

“And?”

“And that was it. The rest, well, was meeting Assemblyman Lee here, and that was the end.”

‘Not Seoul, but Gangwon-do…’

“What’s in Gangwon-do?”

““We don’t know.””

The humans, blurting it out simultaneously as if they had conspired.

“Do you want to get beaten again?”

“N-no! We really don’t know!”

“W-we really don’t know! There’s nothing more than this!”

“Then why were you sticking around here?”

Hesitating briefly at my question, the two pieces of trash answered slowly.

“W-we didn’t know the seriousness of the situation at first…”

“We missed the timing because we were busy gathering things.”

“It was the same in other regions. Evacuating was pointless. In the end, we had to hold out in Seoul, and these incompetent soldiers caught our eye.”

After that, I averted my gaze from the two people who had been chattering on for a long time.

Since it was the words of thugs, the reliability was close to zero, but…

‘It seems like they really were abandoned…’

As I was thinking that, Lieutenant Kim said in a low voice.

“It seems somewhat correct.”

“Somewhat?”

“Communication was cut off quickly. And the content just kept repeating the same message.”

“What was the message?”

“Hold your current position and endure.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes. Originally, we would have protected a suitable stronghold and rescued civilians, but…”

“Ha…”

I didn’t want to believe it, but if those words were true, it was simply dizzying.

There was one thing that struck me.

The supply materials were fewer than expected.

If they were a discard card from the start, it roughly made sense.

They wouldn’t waste precious money on a sacrificial pawn.

The government’s response wasn’t slow.

It was incredibly fast.

They were too busy saving their own lives.

I don’t know what excuse the leadership will make later, but they threw the citizens away to buy time and fled. Even this old man, who was an assemblyman, didn’t know their whereabouts.

There was nothing more to hear or ask.

I decided to worry about the future later and deal with what was in front of me now.

“Alright. I’ve heard enough. Now, get out.”

“Wha-?!”

“Why? You were just about to leave, weren’t you?”

“B-but I told you everything I know!”

“Who asked you to tell us? Lieutenant Kim, Lieutenant Park. Did you ask?”

At my question, the two lieutenants shook their heads.

“Th-this!”

“Farewell.”

“You can’t do this! You damned bastard! You can’t do this!!”

“Oh, really?”

I quietly watched Lee Deokgyu making his last desperate struggle.

I slowly aimed the pistol at the old man’s johnson.

“W-what are you doing! No! No!”

“Yes.”

“*Aaaaargh*!!”

*Bang*!!

The men nearby squeezed their eyes shut.

Lee Deokgyu, the target, lost all color from his face and trembled.

But nothing happened.

“Huh? Huh?”

“Wow~ How small must it be if I can’t even hit that?”

“*Gasp*! *Gasp*! *Gasp*!”

“…If you don’t want to become eunuchs yourselves, get out now.”

Lee Deokgyu, breathing heavily, had wet his pants.

He was carried by the remaining thugs and began to be driven out with them.

The thug boss, despite having holes in his hands and feet, hadn’t given up on life and urged his subordinates in a dying voice to head somewhere.

“Wait.”

“W-what is it?”

I called out to the thug boss who was being carried on a subordinate’s back.

“This gun. Where did you get it?”

“…I had a supplier, but they’re gone now.”

“Then the rest of the bullets?”

“……”

“The rest?”

Under my threat, he finally revealed the location of the remaining bullets and quickly disappeared.

There was nothing for them to take.

And they couldn’t hope for treatment either.

They were going to die soon anyway.

I spoke to the men, who were shuffling their feet, as if admonishing them.

“Don’t let me see you again. I will kill you, no matter the reason. Remember that.”

I made myself clear.

My sincere threat and the murderous gazes of the young soldiers.

All they could do was shut their mouths and flee the school.

‘How far will they get?’

I didn’t just let them go out into the night for nothing.

There’s a high probability they’ll die and collapse on the streets.

This wasn’t normal times, but a disaster.

From the moment they stepped out the main gate, suicidal impulses would never cease.

Anyway.

Once the instigators and thugs were all gone, it became incredibly quiet.

To the point of emptiness.

The survivors all had grim expressions.

Since they heard everything, unless they were idiots, they must have grasped the situation.

I wanted to break all their necks, but I decided not to bother anymore.

‘Die or not, I don’t care.’

The soldiers were also out of my concern.

I averted my gaze from them and returned to my group.

‘Just check their condition…’

I was about to go out again as soon as I came back, but it wasn’t bad.

Hunting is a fun sport.

And I’m confident in tracking.

Moreover, winter nights are longer than one might think.

I quietly stared at the entrance from which the thugs had left.

*Grin*-