Obsession (4)

Around that time.

“Hyeong-seok. I heard Kang Dong-hyun got stabbed by Shin Kang-hoo and is being taken to the ER right now?”

“What? Shin Kang-hoo?”

“Yeah. Looks like he ran into him near Daejeon Station.”

“Kang Dong-hyun, that fucking idiot. Now he’s getting wrecked even by Shin Kang-hoo? He’s not the old Kang Dong-hyun anymore.”

After hearing news about Kang-hoo from the Eclipse side, Gwak Hyeong-su relayed it to his younger brother Gwak Hyeong-seok as well.

The two brothers and their main force, who were fiercely pursuing Lee Ye-rin, had already killed or captured quite a few Cheong-an Mercenary Corps hunters who had fallen behind along the way.

From a certain point onward, it had become a one-sided pursuit, so the tension had loosened quite a bit.

Lee Ye-rin had always planted insiders only to expose and eliminate them early, and even when others tried to provoke conflict, she had always slipped away cleverly.

But now, after they had waited for the right chance and launched a surprise attack, the sight of her floundering and running away was quite satisfying.

It felt like finally having an aching tooth pulled, like years of indigestion had finally gone down.

Once they caught Lee Ye-rin and somehow finished things off, it seemed there would be no further need to worry about control over Daejeon.

“In any case, there’s nothing Shin Kang-hoo can do by himself. It’d be absurd for him to break through here in the first place.”

Gwak Hyeong-su shook his head.

If he had thought a single Shin Kang-hoo could change the tide of battle, he would never have started the all-out war to begin with.

He thought Kang Dong-hyun was a moron for stupidly getting done in by Shin Kang-hoo despite having such good skills.

“We’ve already properly taken the advantage. We’ve occupied quite a few of the dungeon buildings those Cheong-an bastards had. And Lee Ye-rin’s bitch still couldn’t get into the Cheong-an Building, right?”

“The strategy was excellent. You waiting until Lee Ye-rin went into the dungeon before making your move was a divine stroke.”

“Hyung! You know, I think I’m a born strategist. I wonder why I didn’t think of a strategy like this earlier and left it to the subordinates.”

“You’re absolutely right, kihkihkih!”

Not only Gwak Hyeong-su and Gwak Hyeong-seok, but the main force with them as well was intoxicated with the joy of victory.

For starters, simply preventing Lee Ye-rin from reaching the Cheong-an Building, her core stronghold, was already a huge success.

Of course, the direction she was currently fleeing toward was where her second stronghold was located. That was why they had to keep chasing her.

Once she got inside, they had to consider the possibility that it would turn into a long, drawn-out stalemate.

In other words, the more that happened, the more the dungeons and mana stone mines Lee Ye-rin possessed would simply be disarmed one after another.

It was a loss for her if she just holed up inside, and also a loss if she came outside.

Still, having the all-out war drag on needlessly was troublesome in many ways, so they were targeting the core, Lee Ye-rin.

Gwak Hyeong-su and Gwak Hyeong-seok wanted to eliminate Lee Ye-rin for certain when the opportunity had come.

If left alive, the clever woman could strike them from behind at any time. Tough weeds had to be pulled out from the roots.

“Hyung.”

“Hm?”

“Let’s split the pursuit squads. If we keep chasing in a straight line like this, we’ll just keep following their tail.”

“And then?”

“How about giving part of them orders to keep going straight for about seven more blocks, then turn there and rejoin us?”

“Since Lee Ye-rin keeps trying to buy time on the escape route, we make a separate unit that won’t be interfered with?”

“She’ll definitely keep throwing her subordinates at us to stall for time. So I’m saying we send a separate unit on a route that can block her from the side or the front.”

“Captain! If you do that, the pursuit force gets split, and our escort strength will weaken too!”

At that moment, one of the subordinates tried to stop Gwak Hyeong-seok with worried eyes.

He was usually the subordinate who played the role of Gwak Hyeong-seok’s strategist, but today he had stayed quiet the whole time and was only now opening his mouth for the first time.

When Gwak Hyeong-seok was in a good mood, he was the kind of superior who listened to advice, but when he was not, he beat people with terrifying violence.

So speaking was difficult, but he thought this had to be said, and so he pressed the point with force.

“You idiot. They’re bastards who don’t even look behind them, so what are you worried about? And they split first anyway. Lee Ye-rin’s side is already making separate squads to confuse our sightline, isn’t it?”

“What if they strike from another direction and catch you off guard?”

“There isn’t anyone there to catch us off guard in the first place, you dumb fuck.”

“…….”

Seeing Gwak Hyeong-seok’s already twisted expression, the subordinate hurriedly shut his mouth, feeling that if he said even one more word, he would not come away with his bones intact.

Offer advice, but never repeat the same thing twice. That was Heuksaja’s unwritten rule.

Among subordinates who repeated the same advice more than once, none had ever ended well. Some had died.

“Squads 4 and 5 break off from the main force and keep going straight! Turn right at the intersection in front of Somang Building and rejoin us there!”

“Yes!”

“Pick up the speed! If needed, you can take whatever you want! That’s what we supplied it for!”

“Yes, understood!”

At Gwak Hyeong-seok’s order, the hunters belonging to Squads 4 and 5 broke away onto another path in perfect order.

None of them forgot to pop white pills they took out from their clothes into their mouths.

They were the “good” drugs sent from Russia by the Kashimar Guild…… drugs that let one far surpass the limits of the body.

“Haa. Haa. Haa.”

At some point, Lee Ye-rin’s mouth, gasping for breath, was no longer properly closing.

She was not someone who neglected stamina training, but that did not mean she could run infinitely.

If this had been a marathon where she could regulate her pace, maybe. But now she was being pursued.

Because of that, she had no time to control her rhythm, and even she, famed for her iron stamina, was tiring quickly.

After talking with Kang-hoo earlier, she had carefully devised a strategy and thrown down her decisive move.

She could not tell whether the current flow was good or bad.

But because she thought a drawn-out war of attrition would put the Cheong-an Mercenary Corps at a disadvantage with 9-to-1 odds.

She had set up a board that could reverse everything in one stroke, and that was what this was now.

According to reports, the Heuksaja hunters, blinded by greed for dungeons, were staying in considerable numbers at the buildings they had taken.

Probably because they did not want them stolen back again by either the Cheong-an Mercenary Corps or Eclipse, and so they were sitting tight.

What would happen once the traps planted in advance exploded was obvious. Total annihilation! There was no other outcome.

“If only we had vehicles…….”

Since this was not a pursuit using cars or bikes but one fought relying only on two legs, there were many difficulties.

If there was any consolation, it was that neither side was able to use transport.

In truth, cars would be more dangerous right now.

If a fleeing car or bike took even one sniper shot and got caught in an explosion or crash?

Then escaping would no longer be the problem. It would become a direct threat to life itself.

For a high-level sniper, blowing out a car tire was child’s play. Better not to ride at all.

‘Running into Kang Dong-hyun in that short span was impressive enough, but the fact that he neutralized even Kang Dong-hyun is even more impressive.’

Even while fleeing, Lee Ye-rin had heard the news about Kang Dong-hyun as well.

She had already secretly secured Eclipse’s internal security channel, which was how she was able to hear it.

Lee Ye-rin believed that with Kang-hoo’s methods, he would surely be able to strike Gwak Hyeong-su and Gwak Hyeong-seok as well.

It was not a vain hope.

Because she knew Kang-hoo’s ability always far exceeded the bounds of common sense and prediction.

Because of security issues, she was not in real-time contact with Kang-hoo right now.

But she was certain Kang-hoo was already following not far away.

The only reason there had been no word yet was because Kang-hoo had not yet found his “opportunity.”

For that reason.

‘I need to make their eyes burn for me even more.’

Lee Ye-rin decided to pile an even more dangerous second decisive move on top of the first one she had already thrown.

The more appetizing a sacrifice she made herself appear, the more openings would appear in the Gwak Hyeong-su–Gwak Hyeong-seok brothers.

“Everyone! Don’t worry about me, just move as fast as you can! Don’t slow down under any circumstances, and even if something happens to me, don’t pay attention to it!”

There was no spoken reply, but she could feel the silent resolve of her subordinates gritting their teeth.

This strategy had already all been discussed.

When the time came to throw down the decisive move.

They had talked about how Lee Ye-rin would intentionally appear to “fall behind.”

From Heuksaja’s point of view, chasing her, it was a fatal temptation that could do nothing but blind them with greed.

The fleeing and the chasing.

As the pursuit by both sides, each determined to finish the other somehow, entered the slum district, Kang-hoo’s eyes deepened further.

‘The flow is good.’

Within the natural pattern of the chase, Lee Ye-rin had thrown down her decisive move. He could see her falling behind.

It was true that she should be getting tired by now, but there was no way she had failed to pace herself so badly that it would show this obviously.

Kang-hoo could feel that Lee Ye-rin had dressed herself up as a tempting bait and thrown herself into the game.

It was a strategy he could recognize because they had communicated a great deal beforehand. And because Kang-hoo knew her well too.

The Cheong-an Mercenary Corps’ sacrifices were not few.

Even among the Cheong-an Mercenary Corps hunters who had died in this chase alone, there had already been more than twenty by the time Kang-hoo caught up.

But he did not think there were too many casualties. A battle with zero deaths could not exist.

Nor had the sacrifices been in vain.

As the pursuit lengthened, the vigilance around Heuksaja’s main force had also grown lax.

And even when they showed signs of staying alert, it did not last long. Presumably because they did not want to lose the momentum of pursuit.

Moreover, just a moment ago, Heuksaja had made one more fatal choice. They had split the pursuit force in two.

Of course, it was an expression of their determination to block Lee Ye-rin’s path and kill her for certain…….

But that only worked if Lee Ye-rin were fleeing without knowing anything, and right now, he was watching the whole situation.

Perhaps because he had been consistently using Shadowless, Stealth, and the Suppression option.

Even though he had been following continuously from a fairly close rooftop distance, there did not seem to be any Heuksaja members who had discovered him.

The rain that had started a few minutes ago was also helping quite a bit. The sound of the rain masked other noises.

Right then.

Kuuuuung!

With a massive blast, flames shot upward.

And flames were not rising only in front, but simultaneously from the rear as well.

The sounds of explosion reached them with slight differences in timing, but the sites of visible blasts were not just one or two places.

‘Now.’

Kang-hoo was certain.

That the detonation time of Lee Go-su’s traps installed earlier inside the buildings connected to the dungeons was precisely now.

Whether this explosion was calculated for this moment, or whether it had been set to this time from the beginning, he could not know.

But for Kang-hoo, who had been waiting for the moment of assassination, it was the best timing possible.

The pursuit main force led by Gwak Hyeong-su and Gwak Hyeong-seok had been properly caught up in the explosions!

And in the midst of that, because Gwak Hyeong-seok had been sending his subordinates much farther ahead than themselves in pursuit, supposedly to prepare for variables like trap placement or sniping.

The subordinates at the very front became sacrificial victims and were caught in the explosions and died.

As a result, Gwak Hyeong-su and Gwak Hyeong-seok survived, but they lost the momentum of the pursuit for an instant.

Needless to say, with their minds stolen by the explosions, their surrounding vigilance had completely collapsed.

Flash!

Gulp—.

The moment Kang-hoo, who had suddenly leapt from the rooftop into the air, reached the peak of his jump, he swallowed Gaksinhwan.

It was a leap from quite a high place, but he was confident in the landing. In fact, it was even better for putting force into the descent.

The next instant.

The surrounding background collapsed like melting ice cream.

And Kang-hoo’s eyes widened at the surreal sensation that a fleeting moment was stretching into eternity.

The effect of Gaksinhwan was wrapping around his entire body.

And.

He could clearly see the head of Gwak Hyeong-su, whom he had set as his target.