AAGULT Ch 100

Chapter 100

“……”

A sense of distance washed over him. The Black Dragon Gang. The place he had been ordered to infiltrate for his very first mission at the age of twenty, only to be discovered within a day, rescued by the boss himself, and utterly fail.

From the brief bit of information that man had just shared, it seemed that the infiltration itself had been a fake mission. Jaeha had been deceived by the boss so many times that he no longer had the mental clarity to distinguish truth from lies.

But as always, there was no time for Jaeha to process the shock. In a situation where he was pointing a gun at them, any distraction could get him captured immediately. Moreover, unlike him, they were likely seasoned veterans with ample field experience.

“……”

He needed to buy time. No matter how much of a spy someone was, if they had used Eun-yul’s ability—which was officially registered with the Association—then there was no way they had come here quietly. Other Association members must have arrived as well, and these two were probably trying to rush the data to their organization before being caught.

“Why did you agree to help the boss? The Black Dragon Gang is… um… not quite as strong as Baeksan, but…”

“Ouch.”

“But it’s still a major organization.”

He wasn’t defending it out of sentiment for the organization he’d once belonged to—factually speaking, that was the truth. The Baeksan Group led by the boss was quite large, while the rest—such as the Black Dragon or White Tiger groups—were more like organizations that followed in Baeksan’s footsteps. …Could that be the reason? Pressure? But what did they trust in?

They—at least Taegun, whom he was meeting for the first time—had clearly noticed Jaeha was stalling for time, yet they didn’t seem to care at all. Perhaps they were simply humoring him.

It was meant to be a simple question to buy time, but the response that came was like a bomb, far exceeding the weight of his intention.

“You really didn’t know, huh? Both the Black Dragon and White Tiger were created by Beom-woo.”

“Seo Taegun.”

“Do you know how shocked I was when they suddenly put me in the boss’s seat? Haha. I guess I’ve got a knack for gangster stuff, so it worked out okay.”

“Seo Taegun!”

Ido, who had been watching, issued a quiet warning in a subdued tone, but the man had no intention of listening. He even turned his gaze from the tense Jaeha holding the gun to look at Ido with a sheepish expression.

“So what.”

“……”

“It’s all been exposed anyway. That we’re all from the Black Magpie unit.”

“…Jaeha doesn’t know that yet.”

“Oh.”

What was this, a comedy skit? It wasn’t the kind of conversation to have in such a serious situation, but the way they were treating it so lightly made Jaeha open his mouth in disbelief. What was the Black Magpie unit? He didn’t fully understand it, but he could tell it was something deeply significant.

As Taegun and Ido chatted casually, Taegun suddenly turned his head toward Jaeha. With a playful smile, he tilted his head.

“Sorry, but could you pretend you didn’t hear that?”

“…If I pretend I didn’t, will you let me go?”

“Nope.”

“Then I don’t think I can.”

Jaeha realized that the time-buying phase was over. Taegun, who had been chatting lightheartedly, raised a hand to his neck and started cracking it—crack, crack. As he lazily muttered something, the laughter completely vanished from his voice.

“Then I guess there’s no helping it.”

The atmosphere plummeted.

Bang!

The chill that ran down his spine prompted Jaeha to fire his gun immediately.

The man didn’t even flinch, but the bullet that had been flying swiftly toward his head stopped abruptly mid-air, releasing a screeching, hair-raising noise. The bullet, which twisted and writhed in the air, fell straight to the ground.

“Brutal.”

“……”

The bullet hadn’t worked, but it was immediately clear that the man possessed telekinetic powers. Jaeha quickly shifted the gun’s aim from Taegun to Ido and fired. The smooth shift in target caught Ido noticeably off guard, while Taegun looked genuinely impressed.

“Well, now.”

And while Taegun was momentarily distracted trying to intercept the bullet flying at Ido, Jaeha made a sudden move toward him. He fired again at Ido and then hurled his gun into the air. While the gun floated momentarily, Jaeha’s fist drew a heavy arc and aimed straight at Taegun’s jaw.

The man, who had casually intercepted the bullet flying toward Ido with a strange, grating noise, raised an elbow to block the punch. Simultaneously, his knee rose in a fluid motion, the confidence never leaving his face. Startled, Jaeha twisted his body to dodge, but the knee skimmed past his side and ribs with painful force.

“Ugh…!”

The shock made his body tense, and unintentionally, his ability activated. Crap.

In many forms of media, characters read their opponent’s thoughts to anticipate their next move in combat—but in reality, that was nearly impossible. With the brief activation of his power, Jaeha could tell that they had no intention of killing him.

[In moments like this, you shouldn’t dodge—you should exploit the opening and strike a vital spot. Oh dear, he’s too young, lacks experience. His legs are weak too. He should shift his weight like this—]

How was he supposed to apply this kind of commentary in the middle of a fight?

The thoughts appeared like faint overlays on the fast-paced action, as if a translucent sheet had been placed on top of reality—more of a distraction than a help.

And why was this man offering mental play-by-play in the middle of a fight? His ideal next steps, combined with his nitpicky criticisms of Jaeha’s fighting style, only made everything more chaotic. It also made it painfully clear how lightly he regarded this whole fight. It was infuriating and humiliating.

“—That’s how you should do it.”

With that, he swung his weighted leg. The wind-cutting sound it made as it flew toward the space between Jaeha’s neck and head made it clear that one hit would shatter his spine. Jaeha panicked and jerked backward. The gust of wind brushed his hair back and stung his eyeballs.

His vision blurred for a moment, and he frowned. Worse still, he had one arm extended to catch the gun he’d thrown earlier, which likely threw off his balance.

Thanks to reading the man’s thoughts just in time, he narrowly dodged the punch. The fist, filled with immense force and slicing the air, grazed past the tip of his nose.

“Ugh…”

That was something he never wanted to do again. As he consciously deactivated his ability, the nausea and skull-splitting sensation in his head lessened a bit. Compared to when his power was leaking, it actually felt like he might survive—an oddly pointless thought.

Thud!

Momentarily staggering from the recoil, Jaeha used the momentum to roll backward. As he did, he swung his leg to strike Taegun’s, hoping to knock him off balance. The man didn’t try to resist the hit; instead, he braced his hand against the floor and spun in a wide, graceful arc like a lithe black panther. Despite the forceful and crude martial art style, his movements traced elegant lines.

That was when it happened. His body moved in an abnormal way.

“…!”

Though the momentum of his spin was heading left, his muscles and bones twisted in the opposite direction. His joints bent at impossible angles with a sickening crack and then swung with terrifying power.

Insane.

Jaeha, having seen the man stop bullets with telekinesis, instantly realized that he was using that same force to control his own body. A normal human would have torn ligaments and shattered bones. Did he not even feel pain?

Caught off guard by the unexpected movement, Jaeha hesitated.

And Taegun didn’t miss that opening. He extended his bent leg in a powerful kick, then smoothly dropped it to hook behind Jaeha’s knee. As Jaeha’s balance tipped forward, Taegun drove his other foot hard into Jaeha’s solar plexus. A dull thud rang out as his body buckled. Air wheezed from his lungs, and something inside cracked audibly. Probably a broken rib.

“Gah…!”

“Shouldn’t you give up now?”

Jaeha lay pinned beneath his foot. Just one boot, yet it felt as though the weight of a mountain was crushing him. The sharp pain, like a blade stabbing into his lungs, left him completely immobilized.

“Huff, hngh, ha…”

His breath came in rapid gasps like a fish pulled from water. It hurt so much that drawing in a deep breath brought tears to his eyes. Jaeha clawed frantically at the boot pressing into his solar plexus. The broken rib jabbed even deeper into his lungs.

“Still, you’ve got decent strength for an esper.”

“Stop tormenting him.”

“You getting attached?”

A snide laugh echoed dully in his ears. It was at least some relief that Ido hadn’t joined the fight. After all, he was a field guide.

The fact that they had the luxury to turn their eyes from him and make small talk filled Jaeha’s mind with seething rage. He even considered biting his ankle, but instead, he pressed the gun he still held to Taegun’s ankle.

“Hmm?”

Then, aiming for the Achilles tendon, he pulled the trigger. A stark contrast to the way he used to tremble just holding a gun.

Bang!

Hot blood splattered across his face.