Chapter 106 – The Assault (Part Six)

An alarm blared throughout the facility, and a swarm of syndicate members rushed to confront Cha Yeon-hee.

Their movements suggested they knew her exact location, thanks to the surveillance cameras installed everywhere.

But this caused no significant disruption to Cha Yeon-hee’s plan.

She had already nearly reached the unidentified research team she needed to secure.

Only the door right in front of her remained.

*It’s almost too easy, which is unsettling…*

Considering how long she’d been tracking them, things were resolving with anticlimactic ease.

Even with the crucial clues from Il-hyeon and Seo Jeong-hwa, the lax security left her feeling uneasy.

In her time with Raven, she’d found that long, drawn-out investigations or major cases often ended anticlimactically.

Still, her intuition couldn’t shake the foreboding feeling.

*Thwack!*

In the blink of an eye, Cha Yeon-hee drew a dagger from within her coat and threw it, embedding it in a man’s forehead.

Seeing that everyone but the dead man was wielding an Ether Sword, she concluded they were all Awakened and lunged at them before more could arrive.

Cha Yeon-hee ducked low to evade the swords swinging at her from multiple directions, then slid forward, slashing at the legs of two men with her longsword.

“Aargh!”

The members seemed to have rushed out, as they weren’t even wearing Defensive Coats. To Cha Yeon-hee, such opponents were no more troublesome than paper dolls.

From her low stance, she twisted her body fluidly, swinging her sword and cutting a woman in half at the waist.

Next was to once again dodge the swords swinging along predictable paths.

She gracefully dodged and deflected the blades coming from all directions, not allowing even a single minor attack to land.

With every swing of her opponents’ swords, another of their bodies fell. When the fight was over, she was the only one left standing.

Cha Yeon-hee wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve and stood before the heavily locked door.

She tried to wrench it open in one go, but it was made of some special material and wouldn’t break easily, even with her strength.

The thick door, however, couldn’t buy them much time.

After two or three powerful kicks from Cha Yeon-hee, the mangled door fell away with a loud clang.

Four researchers in white lab coats stared at her, their faces filled with terror.

“D-Don’t come any closer!”

The white-haired researcher at the front squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the trigger of his pistol.

His aim was terrible; only two or three bullets from the entire magazine hit Cha Yeon-hee, and even those were useless, being standard ammunition.

They bounced harmlessly off her high-grade Defensive Coat.

Knowing this, Cha Yeon-hee hadn’t even bothered to dodge.

But then she recognized the face of the middle-aged man pointing the gun at her and froze.

“Wait… I know you.”

At her words of recognition, the middle-aged man flinched.

“You’re Professor Kim Do-hoon, right…? But you’re supposed to be…”

Cha Yeon-hee trailed off, hesitating in her confusion.

According to the data she had reviewed, he should have been serving a life sentence in an international prison for his involvement in large-scale Awakened augmentation research.

There had been no news of an escape, so his presence here made no sense.

“How… are you out here?”

Cha Yeon-hee asked, but he remained silent, offering no real answer.

Instead, it was Kim Do-hoon who questioned her, his voice trembling slightly.

“Are you here to kill me?”

“No.”

“Then are you going to torture me for information?”

“Not at all. That won’t happen.”

Cha Yeon-hee shook her head and said firmly.

Of course, she was only saying that to reassure him. If necessary, she would use any and all means at her disposal.

Especially for someone who had committed such horrific acts.

But Kim Do-hoon was neither reassured nor swayed by her words.

“We didn’t even know you were in a place like this. What are you doing, locked up in here?”

“I’m not locked up. I continued my research because I wanted to.”

“Perhaps you’re mistaken about cooperating of your own free will.”

“Do you think I’ve been brainwashed like those test subjects out there? I’m sorry, but you’re wrong.”

Her expression twisted slightly at his confident tone.

“Right, I knew you were always that kind of person. That’s why you did those things in the past.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m completely different from my past self.”

“You don’t seem different at all.”

“You may condemn me now. It doesn’t matter. But this is the only way to save humanity.”

“I think you’re gravely mistaken. You people are the ones plunging humanity into its greatest crisis.”

Since their appearance, the terror attacks erupting everywhere had made it difficult to even properly deal with the Gates.

The amount of damage occurring across the globe was incomparable to the past.

But Kim Do-hoon paid her no mind and continued with his own argument.

“How long are you going to fight the monsters pouring out of the Gates? The rate of Gate generation is increasing even as we speak, isn’t it? Have you ever considered what you’ll do when a monster of an unprecedented grade appears?”

“So you think turning everyone in the world into an Awakened will solve everything? Do you think such sophistry can justify the terror attacks happening right now?”

“No, that’s not our solution either. We need to address a more fundamental cause.”

Kim Do-hoon pushed up his slightly lowered glasses.

Then, he left her with a cryptic remark.

“This is merely a process. And a very small part of it at that.”

Facing him, Cha Yeon-hee noticed Kim Do-hoon’s eyes darting around constantly, a clear sign of his anxiety.

From her experience, she could tell he was stalling for time, waiting for his comrades to come and rescue him.

Cha Yeon-hee took a step closer to him.

“It’s useless to wait for someone to come. This facility being overrun is just a matter of time… Wait!”

The moment he heard the facility would be overrun, Kim Do-hoon’s face went white as a sheet. He moved the gun from her to under his own chin.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger without hesitation, Cha Yeon-hee instantly closed the distance, knocking his arm away and grabbing him.

The pistol was sent flying, spinning through the air before clattering to the floor some distance away.

Even while caught by Cha Yeon-hee, Kim Do-hoon screamed and struggled violently.

“Let me go!”

“What on earth…! What are you so afraid of?”

“Our plan being interfered with!”

Kim Do-hoon bit her arm with all his might.

But it was his own front teeth that broke, and he screamed in pain.

Cha Yeon-hee’s face showed sheer disgust at his completely frenzied behavior.

At that moment, just as Kim Do-hoon had hoped, syndicate members swarmed the doorway.

As soon as she heard the presence behind her, Cha Yeon-hee slid behind a desk, pulling the struggling Kim Do-hoon with her for cover.

*Rat-tat-tat!*

An indiscriminate hail of bullets rained down, and the researchers still standing were instantly turned into honeycombs and collapsed to the floor.

“Tch, are they trying to silence them?”

Cha Yeon-hee muttered, pulling the struggling Kim Do-hoon closer so he couldn’t escape.

It was as if they didn’t care if the research team died. No, considering they used standard bullets that were useless against her, it seemed their sole purpose was to kill the researchers.

Once all the researchers except Kim Do-hoon were dead, they switched to special anti-Awakened ammunition.

A huge number of EMP rounds poured in from all directions.

Thanks to the protection of her special Defensive Coat, she didn’t lose her ability or suffer any physical harm.

However, so many bullets were fired that even without a direct hit, her head was spinning.

Amidst the chaos, Cha Yeon-hee returned suppressing fire to keep them from entering while staring intently into Kim Do-hoon’s eyes, activating her charm ability.

Kim Do-hoon’s eyes immediately glazed over; the ability had clearly taken effect.

“Now, tell me who broke you out of prison and how.”

“Ughhh…”

Kim Do-hoon clutched his head tightly, as if in agony from the overwhelming noise and extreme stress filling the room.

Cha Yeon-hee spoke to him gently.

“Don’t be scared. Just speak slowly.”

“My head…”

“Your head?”

“My head… it hurts! Aaaargh…!”

“What are you talking about…”

He cried out in extreme pain, and Cha Yeon-hee was flustered by the unexpected development.

Then, as Kim Do-hoon’s head began to slowly swell like a balloon, she realized something was terribly wrong and scrambled to get away from him.

But she was a step too late.

*BOOM!*

A crimson flame erupted with a tremendous roar, engulfing the surroundings.

***

*Screee!*

Giant insects filled the hallway, hunting the syndicate members in swarms.

The ironclad insects, with their hard carapaces, couldn’t be fatally wounded by firearms or even by the power of weapon-wielding Awakened, leaving their victims to be slaughtered helplessly.

An alarm was blaring throughout the facility, but on the floor overrun by the insects, no one could get out, and no one dared to enter, blocked by the creatures.

And in the middle of this blood-soaked scene stood Il-hyeon.

*CRASH!*

A man kicked by Il-hyeon flew through the air and slammed into a wall.

The concrete wall cracked and shattered. The man fell to the floor, groaning and clutching his battered abdomen.

Il-hyeon approached him and looked down with icy eyes.

“W-Wait! Spare me… Gak!”

Il-hyeon kicked the man again just as he started to beg on his knees.

Struck twice in the abdomen, the man writhed on the floor, gasping for breath.

“Devour him.”

“Gyaaaah!”

At Il-hyeon’s gesture, two ironclad insects that had been waiting at his sides lunged forward.

Blood splattered everywhere, but Il-hyeon, with a numb expression, simply rested his arm on the railing and surveyed the area.

The surgical equipment and the site had all been secured without any damage.

The mission was proceeding smoothly.

*BOOM!*

Just then, a massive explosion erupted from above, shaking the entire floor.

The sound of groans leaking from his communicator and a distress signal from the upper floor rang in Il-hyeon’s ears.