Chapter 179
She couldn't understand how that guy was there in the first place. It was possible to jump up to the third floor with the power of blessings. The part that she couldn't understand was how he had thought of going up there.
Sun-Woo was currently on the third floor of the building on the right. Min-Seo had placed the most personnel there. Before Dae-Man sent the negotiation request to them, they had been the best fighters on the team and had been used as combatants for obtaining tokens. Min-Seo handed them grenade launchers and instructed them to aim at Sun-Woo and pull the trigger when given the signal.
In other words, that place had the most grenade launchers and ammunition, and at the same time, it was also where the most tokens were stored. From Min-Seo's perspective, it was the place where she would suffer the greatest loss if attacked. It was her Achilles heel.
Within the smokescreen that made it impossible to clearly see even a step ahead, how did Sun-Woo realize this fact and act on it? Did he realize it in a fleeting moment when the wind blew and cleared up the smoke? Did that even make any logical sense? Just what did that crazy bastard do for a living?
She had no idea. At the moment, she had to...
"Hey, don't hesitate, hurry up and shoot!" Min-Seo urgently pointed at Sun-Woo.
The snipers hidden behind various rocks and buildings all aimed their grenade launchers at Sun-Woo. However, they were unable to pull the trigger in time. Although the wind had died down, it was still blowing strong.
While they were hesitating to pull the trigger, Sun-Woo disappeared once again. The grenade launcher barrels aimed at Sun-Woo lost their target and wandered aimlessly. Someone looked at Min-Seo with their eyes shining as if waiting for the next order.
But now was not the time to leisurely give out orders.
"Oh shit, that son of a bitch...!"
After cursing in a husky voice, she drew her bow, and before the light of blessing could even reach her legs, she started running toward the stairs. It was because she was the only one who saw Sun-Woo jumping over the window and entering the building. Sun-Woo was someone who was impossible for her to predict. She had to stop him before the situation spiraled completely out of control.
***
Whoosh—!
The wind blew. No, the wind helped me.
A gust of wind was relatively natural. It was far more natural than a lightning strike in a clear sky, a pillar of fire shooting out from nowhere, a snake appearing, or a gigantified plant moving...
If I just added a blessing to be used as a cover-up and added an appropriate amount of smoke, Bade's power could be utilized in a variety of different situations.
I practiced using the power of the Loa for a while, and I especially focused on mastering Bade's power. Bade's wind was strong, but delicate control was impossible. I practiced narrowing the range of the wind and concentrating its power into a single point.
Unlike my skills in manipulating blessings, which didn’t improve no matter how much I practiced, the method of practicing the power of the Loa was simple but difficult. I just had to offer a large amount of sacrifices, use their power a lot, and at the same time, I just had to maintain a strong bond with the Loa.
Fortunately, the method of forming a bond with Bade was simple.
[How was Bade's elevator service? Please give me a review!]
"Good! It was the best!" I said while hanging on the third-floor railing and looking down at Min-Seo.
If I wanted to make Bade happy, all I had to do was flatter him. There was no need to be sincere. If I praised him with an excited tone, as if I couldn't contain my happiness, Bade would jump for joy.
Crash!
I smashed the window swaying from the wind with my fist and climbed inside. It felt like a few shards of glass were stuck in my fist, but it didn't seem necessary to remove them right away. It didn't hurt much, so I could deal with it later. Now was not the time to worry about a few fragments of glass stuck in my fist.
One of the Department of Crusaders members hiding on the third floor of the building spotted me and exclaimed in surprise, "Huh...? It's Sun-Woo!"
He quickly moved the barrel of his grenade launcher that was pointing outside the window in my direction. Along with his shout, all the students from the Department of Crusaders that were on the same floor looked at me, and their numerous grenade launchers were aimed at me.
[If you need help, shout out the name of the technique! This is the moment where we need to use the technique that we practiced in the underground chapel earlier!] Bade exclaimed excitedly.
I ran toward the closest opponent aiming his grenade launcher at me and nodded.
While mastering Bade's power, I had many conversations with him. Most of these conversations involved me going along with the flow. Through these conversations, we created something called a technique. When I signaled to Bade by extending my fist, condensed wind would be released in the direction of my extended fist, making it appear as if I had struck the opponent with my fist.
The moment the opponent was about to pull the trigger, I extended my fist and shouted the name of the technique.
"Wi-Wind Punch!"
[Wind Punch! Bam, bam!]
I felt embarrassed to say the name of the technique out loud, so I lowered the volume of my voice and stuttered a bit, but it seemed like Bade was extremely delighted.
Woosh—smack!
My fist extended out along with the wind and struck the opponent’s jaw. In reality, it was not my fist that had made contact with the jaw, but rather, it was condensed wind. But to an observer, it would not appear much different.
The opponent lost consciousness and collapsed before dropping the grenade launcher that they were carrying. With a loud thud, the area fell into silence. nove(l)bi(n.)com
Although numerous students from the Department of Crusaders were aiming their grenade launchers at me, none of them could easily pull the trigger. It was probably because I suddenly appeared and caught them off guard.
At that moment, someone muttered in a terrified, helpless tone, “Oh my god...”
"I couldn’t even see his fist...!"
"You crazy bastard! Stop admiring and shoot!"
The sharp voice of a female student broke the silence. The students belatedly regained their senses at that voice before clumsily aiming at me and pulling the trigger.
Bang! Bang!
I was familiar with the sound of a grenade launcher, and I felt uncomfortable. For some reason, my heart beat violently even though I hadn’t used Bossou's power. The sounds of screams overlapped with the sound of the grenade launcher. It was an auditory hallucination. It was definitely an auditory hallucination.
I ignored the sound and ran toward the nearest enemy. I closed the distance and extended my fist before shouting the name of the technique once again.
"Wind Punch! Wind Punch!"
[Oh, nice! That's it! Bam, bam!]
Whoosh─!
"Don't come any closer. I'll break another one," Sun-Woo threatened while pulling out another token.
Min-Seo reflexively stopped moving toward him. Each and every token was precious to Min-Seo. She had a reason to do well on this practical exam. She had saved Gabriel from dying in the previous incident and entered into a contract with him to receive substantial financial support. However, if Gabriel suddenly announced that he would offer a large amount of financial support, both Gabriel and Min-Seo would be in a difficult position.
Thus, Gabriel came up with a plan. He decided to support her through a foundation, under the guise of a scholarship. In order for that plan to work, Min-Seo first had to be selected as a scholarship student. That was why Min-Seo was so desperate. In order to be selected as a scholarship student, her overall ranking based on the combination of the written and practical exams had to be within the top ten.
Min-Seo forced herself to calm her boiling emotions and said, "Yeah, okay. Just calm down for now, and, uh, put the tokens down first."
She tried to not appear agitated, but she couldn't hide the trembling in her voice. Sun-Woo gently placed the tokens on the floor before wiping the blood off his fist.
"Does that mean you accept the offer or not?” he asked.
“...Sure, do whatever the fuck you want. I’ll pay seven for each of them, you motherfucker.”
Sun-Woo silently handed over the keys to the two hostages, and Min-Seo also transferred ownership of fourteen tokens over to him. She felt like she was continuously sustaining losses, so Min-Seo felt bitter inside. If only her ankle was okay... She would have fought back, but because her condition was like this, she couldn’t even think about engaging in a one-on-one fight.
"Now, next is Su-Ryeon, right? So how much are you going to ask for Su-Ryeon, you fucking asshole? Around one hundred tokens?"
"I don't expect that much. How about fifty?"
Min-Seo let out a sigh. The asking price was so absurd, but more importantly, she didn’t have fifty tokens at the moment. However, that didn’t mean that she could give up on Su-Ryeon. She had wasted fourteen tokens in order to save two useless hostages, all for the sake of Su-Ryeon. It was even harder to give up on Su-Ryeon because of the sunk cost.
"...I think I can pay about half of it."
"Half. Half..."
Sun-Woo pretended to contemplate, but displeasure was clearly written on his face. His silence created a strangely tense atmosphere because it was long and heavy. Min-Seo subconsciously gulped loudly.
"Then let's roughly make it half, to around twenty tokens. Since I received fourteen tokens earlier."
"...Hmm, if you can do that, that’d be great for me.”
Min-Seo made an effort not to show her satisfaction, because she didn't want to give Sun-Woo a reason to change his mind. Sun-Woo briefly checked Min-Seo's expression before slowly nodding.
"Okay, twenty tokens."
He handed over the key to Su-Ryeon's handcuffs. Min-Seo also handed him the ownership of twenty tokens and secretly smiled, but her mood suddenly turned sour when she watched Sun-Woo turn away. She couldn't explain it exactly, but she instinctively felt like she had suffered a loss.
However, the negotiation was already over.
***
"Well, that was a profit."
Honestly, at first, I had entered the negotiation with the thought of only getting twenty tokens, but somehow the situation turned around and I was able to get more tokens than expected. Anyway, it worked out well.
After finishing the negotiation on the third floor of the eerie-looking cement building, we came down. We handed Su-Ryeon, who was in Dae-Man's arms, and the other two hostages over to Min-Seo.
"Su-Ryeon, you bitch. How much do I have to spend to save you?"
"You crazy hag. If you hadn't betrayed me, none of this would have happened!"
"If I hadn't betrayed you, both of us would have been caught. It's better than the worst-case scenario," Min-Seo shamelessly said while releasing Su-Ryeon from her handcuffs.
While releasing the handcuffs of the other two hostages, the students from the Department of Crusaders waiting in ambush nearby began to creep out. At just a rough glance, it was possible to tell that there were more than thirty of them. They must have combined four teams together.
"Hey, get lost already. I don't want to see your face. Before we beat you up black and blue and handcuff you after ten minutes.”
I just stood still without responding, but Dae-Man stepped forward and said, "Min-Seo, you have too much of a foul mouth! How about toning down on the swearing?"
Min-Seo frowned.
"Are you going to give me money if I speak nicely?”
"No, I don't have that much money."
"Then why are you being so nosy? Should I tear your muscles apart with my muscle destruction technique?"
Dae-Man confidently thumped his chest.
"You won’t be able to tear my muscles with just any technique!”
Perhaps due to her nerves getting tense due to the negotiation, Min-Seo's tone of voice was even more aggressive than usual.
"Looks like you have overly inflated pride just because you fiddled around with some exercise, you son of an anchovy.”
"I can't endure what you said just now. Come at me."
While the two were quarreling, I surveyed the terrain. I wanted to examine the surroundings and plan ahead, just in case we ended up in another battle. In doing so, my eyes met with a female student. It seemed like she was a member of the Department of Crusaders, but even after the negotiation was over, she continued to hide and watch over me. When our eyes met, she widened her eyes in surprise and crouched down before escaping.
I pointed at her and asked Min-Seo, "...Is she your teammate?"
Min-Seo narrowed her eyes and carefully examined her face. She shook her head.
"No? I don't know her."
"Oh, she's my friend!" Su-Ryeon said with a delighted face as she stood next to me. But then she tilted her head as if she found it strange.
"But she's from the Department of Priests... Why is she here?"
At the mention of the Department of Priests, everyone's expression stiffened. The atmosphere hadn’t exactly been lively, but it had been rowdy to a certain extent. However, such an atmosphere turned cold instantly.
The girl from the Department of Priests noticed our gaze and took a few steps back, before eventually banging her watch like crazy and wildly running in the direction of where the students from the Department of Priests were located.
The gesture she made was her manipulating the digital watch to inform her team members of her location.
