2. New Mission #4
Then, Taekjoo chucked his jacket at the other man who was pointing the gun at him.
The man flinched when the jacket hit his face, pulling the trigger by reflex.
Taekjoo took advantage of that split second and tugged the sniper’s rifle.
But the sniper held on to his gun and came along with it in resistance.
“ARGH!”
BANG—a loud sound preceded the sniper’s pained moan.
By the time the other man managed to pull the jacket off his face, Taekjoo was already running far away from him.
Thick, red blood spilled from the sniper’s body, taken down by a stray bullet.
The anxious man had been trembling and scared.
His nerves were at breaking point and finally snapped—he started firing everywhere.
Despite the gunfire, not a single bullet found its target. Soon, the man ran out of bullets, and when he did, he picked up the dead sniper’s rifle and began chasing after Taekjoo.
Taekjoo ran as fast as he could, his eyes fixed straight ahead. As someone who was running away, he was lucky that it was dark, but he was also unlucky that it was dark. He couldn’t see any spot where he could seek concealment. One dead end, and he’d find himself in danger.
Even as they were running, the chaser kept shooting.
Most of the bullets fired missed Taekjoo by only a small margin, hitting the walls and windows around him instead.
Every time a new street forked off, Taekjoo didn’t hesitate and went straight ahead.
BANG. With the sound of another gunshot, something shattered to pieces above his head.
A bullet seemed to have found a flower pot by a window.
The broken pieces rained above Taekjoo’s head.
He shook his head to get rid of the earth and broken shards as he turned onto the new street that had appeared beside him.
At that moment, a van popped out of nowhere.
“...!”
Taekjoo rolled over the vehicle’s hood to minimize the impact.
The car had come to a stop, and its four doors opened in a synchronized motion.
Armed men stepped out of the van, and soon after, they were joined by the man who had been tenaciously pursuing Taekjoo.
After talking among themselves for a short while, they decided to point all of their guns at Taekjoo first.
“God damn it.”
He’d take care of one, then another would appear. After handling that, a new one would show up again. How much longer do I have to do this? Taekjoo asked himself. He slowly backtracked, then began sprinting again. Profanities escaped his lips while he was running.
After running for quite some time, his vision suddenly expanded.
He found himself standing before a vast, open space.
A building loomed ahead, seemingly abandoned during its construction.
Only the metal skeleton remained, with no front or back walls.
Cement, steel pipes, and other building materials were scattered around everywhere.
Taekjoo had no time to think. It was the only place he could hide himself at the moment. He went deeper inside the bare building, climbing up the stairs. The steps were laced thick with dust.
His chest heaved with every step, breath catching in his throat.
He flew up the staircase and was on the fourth floor in no time.
He couldn’t stop himself from catching his breath.
His heart was pounding so hard that it was almost painful.
Taekjoo kept swearing. The only thing he had on himself was a thin shirt, but he didn’t have the luxury to feel the cold.
Those who were after Taekjoo had also arrived at the building. Taekjoo counted the heads—there were four of them. One’s missing. Where is he?
Taekjoo took silent steps and quickly moved to the wall right next to the makeshift stairs. He flattened himself against the wall and listened carefully. He could feel someone approaching very carefully, very slowly. Taekjoo discreetly unbuckled his belt and held it in both of his hands.
Soon enough, after climbing up the stairs ever so carefully, one foot after another, one of the chasers appeared, the muzzle of his gun preceding him.
Taekjoo didn’t miss the moment. He swung the buckle of his belt straight ahead.
The stretched leather snapped forward, coiling once around the gun before snapping back to him.
Taekjoo grabbed it instantly and yanked it.
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
The gun, pointed at the ceiling, kept belching bullets.
Taekjoo let go of the other end of the belt he had been pulling on.
As he did, he whipped it, and he whipped it hard.
The belt lashed the back of the gunman’s hand.
He let out a yelp and dropped his weapon, which Taekjoo kicked away before wrapping his belt around the man’s neck.
The man kicked around and struggled, clawing at the belt.
“Argh!”
Taekjoo showed no mercy. He tightened his grip on the belt even further.
The gunman, after thrashing and trembling for a while, slowly went limp.
Taekjoo released the pressure from his hand, letting the man fall, down on his knees first.
He kicked the man on the back, tumbling him forward, making sure he was down.
At last, Taekjoo was able to catch a breath. One down.
In the meantime, it was getting noisy downstairs.
The gunman’s party must have been rushing after hearing the shots fired earlier.
The rifle was lying on the top of the stairs.
If Taekjoo didn’t get it in time, he’d be riddled with bullets before he could even defend himself.
But how was he supposed to fight a group of armed men with only his bare hands?
Taekjoo took a deep breath, then lurched his body forward and rolled over quickly. Just when his hand touched the rifle, his pursuers landed at the top of the stairs as well. The moment they saw Taekjoo, they began firing like there was no tomorrow.
But Taekjoo was quicker in pulling the trigger. Two shots were fired, and two men tumbled back down the stairs while screaming in pain. Meanwhile, the bullets from their guns lodged themselves in the ceiling above.
The two bullets Taekjoo fired were the last in the gun. Without hesitation, he tossed the empty rifle aside and moved forward. Two down, two more left. Taekjoo counted the remaining number of heads, assessing the situation downstairs.
“...?”
His head snapped up. Something had caught his eyes again, but when he looked up, there was nothing for his late eyes to see. What was it that kept flickering past his vision? His breathing felt loud—too loud.
Taekjoo should brush it off and tell himself that he must have seen it wrong, that there was no time to be distracted by such a thing. He knew this, yet the eerie feeling in his gut wouldn’t go away.
“...!”
Again. Taekjoo instantly got to his feet and stared at the building across from where he was. There was quite some distance between the two structures, which made it hard for his eyes to focus. He squinted to see better, but the silhouette he’d glimpsed had already vanished from the rooftop.
Taekjoo didn’t believe in ghosts or spirits. However, there were no other words to describe the figure he had just seen. No human could move like that.
While Taekjoo was distracted by a sudden conundrum, bullets tore through the floor beneath him. The spot where he had just been standing was shredded in seconds, pulverized in no time. He dove for cover, barely escaping the onslaught. Peeking out cautiously, his eyes scanned for the enemy.
The two remaining men came up with a plan. One jumped into the building and pointed his gun upward. Taekjoo glanced around frantically, trying to find a way to deal with the man who was about to bust in. But he couldn’t find anything he could use to conceal himself or use as a weapon.
Just then, a curious gunshot was heard from downstairs. Taekjoo flinched and listened carefully. In the next moment, a blood-curdling scream followed.
“AAAAAAAAAHHHH!”
Or rather, a roar. It wasn’t far from where Taekjoo was, just somewhere right below.
He waited for a bit more, but he could no longer feel any sign of life.
Taekjoo had to find out what was going on.
He looked outside the building. The last man standing seemed to have been shaken by the gunfire and scream he’d just heard.
He glanced around, looking helpless. Then, he spotted Taekjoo and pulled the trigger.
Taekjoo quickly moved to the side to avoid the bullet.
He simply couldn’t understand what was going on.
He was having one hell of a bad luck today.
Finally, the last chaser on standby decided to enter the building himself.
Tap, tap, tap. His steady footsteps echoed rhythmically.
The sound grew louder and closer. Soon, he was going to land on the fourth floor.
Taekjoo had no choice. He snapped off the button on his right sleeve, which came off with a long wire attached to it. It was a miniature bomb. Taekjoo planned to throw it as a last resort to save himself.
He cut off the wire from his sleeve, wrapped his hand around the button, and waited for the man to appear.
“...?”
Taekjoo waited, but even after a while, the man didn’t come. The building had turned quiet as if Taekjoo was the only one in it. He couldn’t hear anyone’s breathing, let alone footsteps.
What had happened? Did the man conceal himself somewhere, waiting for Taekjoo to make the first move? Taekjoo pulled his neck long to check out the open space again. Not a shadow of any human was visible. What on earth... And just then, his confusion broke into full-blown alarm.
“...!”
Right next to his face, something reached out.
Taekjoo turned his eyes to the side to look, and he froze instantly.
That something, reaching out from behind him, was someone’s arm.
And at the end of it, Taekjoo’s last chaser was dangling.
If it weren’t for the attire, Taekjoo wouldn’t have recognized the man, as a huge hand was covering his entire face.
To be precise, long, delicate fingers were lodged in the man’s eye sockets.
The man’s body was pushed completely outside the building.
He was hanging in mid-air, suspended by the fingers in his eyes. His legs spasmed helplessly in the air.
“Ah... Ugh... Argh...”