019. Vagabonds (4) The bullets from the minigun poured out in a horizontal barrage. Underground, the space was used as a warehouse, packed with iron crates. Those were shredded to pieces as if they were mere sheets of paper. KA-KA-KA-KANG! Hyunseo and Via exchanged glances and then threw themselves in opposite directions. The hail of bullets pursued Hyunseo, who was the easier target. He ran between the wall and the crates. Then, a strange sense of dissonance brushed past him. 'I can't hear any gunshots.' It had been the same when they were ambushed earlier. Bullets had poured down, but there was no sound of gunfire. He only responded thanks to hazard detection—had it been otherwise, it would have been dangerous. 'It's not like there's a suppressor attached to that minigun...' Hyunseo hid himself while watching Moon-sik. He was holding a minigun with both hands, firing in bursts. A pistol in a holster at his waist, an assault rifle with a folding stock slung across his chest, a mysterious black rod strapped to his back. Besides that, various pieces of equipment hung from his vest. 'They said he's a retired hunter, but in what way does he look retired?' At some point, the muzzle flare of the minigun stopped. The ammo had run out. Just as Moon-sik was about to swap out the magazine— Shwack! Via sprang in from the rear in a surprise attack. Her ambush was sharp, perfectly timed. But Moon-sik was already aware. He activated a device on his tactical vest and, simultaneously, drew his pistol. Via was a step faster than he was at aiming. At this rate, Moon-sik wouldn't even have time to pull the trigger. But then— Tung! "Ugh...!" Via's spear abruptly bounced away in midair. A faintly blue, transparent shield intercepted the surprise attack. The device Moon-sik had just activated was none other than a magitech tool. Seizing the opening, Moon-sik switched off the magitech tool and fired. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Left arm, right arm, right thigh, left shin— Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Via swung her spear in the air, deflecting the bullets. As soon as she landed, she hid behind cover. Boom! A grenade thrown by Moon-sik exploded just as she hid. So, he had managed to throw a grenade in the meantime. 'Is he using high-performance bioware or something...?' Moon-sik was somewhat surprised by Via's spear technique. Deflecting bullets isn't easy. Moreover, Moon-sik had deliberately targeted the limbs first. Maybe the body was protected by body armor. That's why he aimed for the relatively less protected limbs. The bullets came from all directions. To deflect them all was beyond simple skill. 'Thought she was a petty thief, but they're not ordinary at all.' Clicking his tongue, Moon-sik checked the shield magitech tool. Confirming it had broken, his face clouded. Via's attack just now had pushed it to its limit. 'Guess it's inevitable—a mere apprentice workshop product.' He pressed the red button on the broken device. Then, he immediately threw it toward where Hyunseo was hiding. Right then, Hyunseo was just about to fire BeastShot. Whish! As soon as he saw the flying device, he twisted his body to dodge it. Then he adjusted his aim again. 'Can't kill him. Aim for the leg.' Via had created this opening for him. If they didn't subdue the enemy now, they'd be relentlessly pursued even if they escaped. He pulled the trigger— Ping! The bullet suddenly bounced off a newly appeared shield. "What?" The deflected bullet ricocheted inside the spherical shield. He managed to block it with the flat of his sword before it finally stopped. He looked down at the magitech tool that had fallen at his feet and realized. 'He used the shield like this?' The shield magitech tool creates a solid, spherical barrier that protects its interior. It blocks not only gunfire but also all kinds of physical attacks. In this case, Moon-sik exploited the fact that "attacks from inside" would also be blocked. Moon-sik had used it to trap Hyunseo. 'Didn't even think of that...!' Hyunseo stomped on the magitech tool and smashed it. He aimed BeastShot at Moon-sik again. At that moment— Bzzzzt— His hazard detection sent out a warning. Hyunseo immediately rolled aside. Gunfire swept through where he'd just been. Sometime during the chaos, Moon-sik had pulled out his assault rifle and started laying down fire. Only then did Hyunseo realize what had been bothering him. 'No gunshots...? Is it a magitech tool that blocks sound!' A sound-blocking magitech tool mainly used for secret conversations. Hyunseo had seen it countless times. Moon-sik had used it to erase the sound of gunfire. Hiding behind cover, Hyunseo made up his mind. 'The enemy's too experienced. I can't keep letting them take the initiative.' He cloaked himself in the black dust clouds of Night Howler. As soon as his vision was obscured, he sprang from cover. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Sprinting full-speed at Moon-sik, he fired BeastShot with one hand and readied his sword with the other. Return fire came, but none struck Hyunseo. The dust cloud effectively concealed him from view. 'Are there bioware systems that generate smoke screens...' Moon-sik stopped firing and ducked behind cover. As he let go with one hand to retrieve a grenade— Sreung! "!" Via's spear bore down on him before he knew it. She had silenced her approach and closed the gap in that short moment. Moon-sik rolled backward to evade the spear, drawing his pistol. Then he activated his second shield magitech tool. Vmmm— As the spear flew in, the shield spread out once more. "It won't work twice." Via instantly pulled back her spear. She knew Moon-sik would have to disable the shield to attack. Therefore, she waited for the moment he switched the shield off. "Tch..." Moon-sik sensed things had gotten bad. An apprentice workshop's shield can only block a single attack. Until now, he had always used that single opportunity to counterattack. If the opponent had been alone, he could've subdued them easily. But now, things were different. He wasn't up against just one person. 'If that guy arrives, it's over.' Looking at the charging Hyunseo, he made a decision. Pin— Moon-sik pulled the pin on a grenade and dropped it at his own feet. For a moment, it looked like he might be going for suicide bombing— Flash!! A blinding flash exploded outwards. He had thrown a flashbang instead. Having closed his eyes beforehand, Moon-sik prepared to counterattack. 'No one's ever gotten through this trick.' He opened his eyes and disabled the shield, pistol at the ready. First the woman nearby—then the man. Aim for the head. Two shots would be enough. Just as he aimed the gun at Via's head— Sreung! The spear sliced through both pistol and assault rifle, and the sword split the magitech tool in two. Moon-sik's eyes widened in shock. 'How can they move like that after being hit by a flashbang...?' But that was a misconception. The moment he saw Moon-sik drop the grenade at his feet, Hyunseo recalled a moment from his past. That time in the grasslands rifts, when he nearly caught an E-class green-antlered deer, only for it to escape after detonating a flashbang. The memory flashed across his mind and Hyunseo shouted to Via. "It's a flashbang!" Just before the flashbang went off, the two of them immediately closed their eyes and turned their heads. As a result, they weren't blinded. The reason Moon-sik hadn't heard the warning was, ironically, that the sound-blocking magitech tool was in operation at that very moment. Hyunseo knew that and had exploited it. Only now did Moon-sik understand everything. "They're active hunters...!" "You're already too late." Whack-whack-whack! Via's spear struck Moon-sik's arms and legs in the blink of an eye. When it came to subduing him, there was no mercy in her hands. As Moon-sik pitched forward, Hyunseo was about to knock him out, when— "Now! Attack!!" Moon-sik's sudden shout caught Hyunseo off guard. Come to think of it, this was the heart of enemy territory. Their position had already been compromised. It wouldn't be strange if security or drones arrived at any moment. As Hyunseo's thoughts reached that point and he tensed his vigilance— "So green still, youngsters." THOOM! A massive recoil exploded outward, slamming into Hyunseo and Via. Unprepared, the two of them were knocked backward. In an instant, Moon-sik had swung the rod slung on his back. At the same time, enormous physical force erupted in all directions. Hurled backward, Hyunseo and Via quickly regained their footing. "Didn't you break his limbs?" "I tried to, but he was tougher than expected." "Is he using skeleton-enhancement demonic beast prosthetics...?" He was the one who had wielded a minigun like it was nothing. It would have been unsurprising for him to use such bioware. However, the real problem was something else. Bvvvmmm— The rod in his hand. The mystery black rod was a magi-weapon. Such a powerful force was being condensed inside it that it was visible to the naked eye. Just a single swing a moment ago had sent their bodies flying. If he started using it in earnest, things could get dangerous. "Hey, how about we let this go?" Amidst the standoff, Moon-sik spoke first. "This is payback for you holding back earlier. If you surrender quietly, I'll spare your lives. If the foreman tells me to kill you, I'll just beat him up myself." He sounded gentler than before. "Sure, you probably won't believe me. But I'd rather not use 'this' unless I have to. The maintenance cost is no joke. I've already caused enough trouble—if my retirement fund is at risk, I'm in real trouble." "How about you just let us go peacefully instead?" "Then I'd lose my job. My relationship with the subordinates is already bad, and the foreman's pissed about all the expenses. I still have a mortgage left..." Whir-whir-whir—tap. Moon-sik spun the rod naturally, then leveled it at them. At that moment, a strange wave of power radiated in all directions. Now his voice was even more serious. "This is your final warning. Security and drones will arrive soon. Surrender before then. I guarantee humane treatment. No deaths—at worst, just a fine." "'Humane guarantee'? That's a shabby joke." "Don't even think about escaping through the emergency exit. If Code Red is triggered, it'll be locked down automatically. Even outside, armed drones are standing guard." Viiiin— Power started concentrating at the tip of the rod. "There's nowhere left to run." "..." "Your answer?" Hyunseo fell silent for a moment. He exhaled sharply through his nose, then opened his eyes again. His answer was already decided. WHOOOOOM—!! A tremendous cloud of dust whirled toward Moon-sik. As he watched the attack fly at him instead of an answer, Moon-sik let out a wry smile. "What a gutsy kid." The power compressed at the tip of the rod surpassed its limit. KA-KA-KA-KANG! Enormous pressure blasted forward in an explosion. This was a magi-weapon that fired compressed, overwhelming physical force. The instant anything touched that force, it was savagely smashed and twisted. Walls in its path, iron crates, even the dust cloud were mercilessly crushed. Nothing was exempt from its reckless destruction. All that remained was Baek Moon-sik, the man who had wielded that force. Kiiiiiiing— "If I have to recharge this, it'll cost a fortune..." Moon-sik looked down at the overheated magi-weapon and sighed. He seemed unmoved by the catastrophic scene before him. After all, no human could survive taking a hit like that from the front. "Well, I caught them, so I probably won't get fired—" Then, Moon-sik's brows furrowed. A section of the underground wall. The direction of the emergency exit. The red steel door was neatly sliced through. Moon-sik checked the place where the dust cloud had been. 'No bloodstains. I don't smell any blood either.' Moon-sik realized what had happened. "They tricked me... I got played..." Hyunseo had only feigned a charge, sending the dust cloud instead. In the meantime, the two had headed for the emergency exit, and Hyunseo had cut down the sealed door with his sword and escaped. The line about armed drones outside was just bluff. The stingy foreman would never set up such thorough security. "This is bad, really bad." Worst of all, he didn't even know their faces or names. He hadn't even caught them, yet he'd destroyed the underground warehouse. He'd even brought a minigun without authorization. "... Guess I'll have to look for a new job." It was a day of deep sighs for Moon-sik. * Hyunseo and Via escaped through the emergency exit. Outside, the river lay before them and no pursuers were in sight. They had successfully escaped according to their planned route. VROOOOM-! Now, they were on the open sea. Speeding across the water in a high-speed boat. The pilot of the boat was Mise. "It's a huge success! An incredibly successful mission!" Mise shouted gleefully with an excited voice. The data extracted via hacking was a complete jackpot. With this, not only could they sue for a huge payout, but they could also wring every last penny in damages. Plus, they had all the evidence of Shinmyeong Matech's corruption and wrongdoing. Now, they could topple Shinmyeong Matech at any time. "Shinmyeong Matech, get ready to wash your neck! I'll put you out of business!!" In contrast to the ecstatic Mise, Hyunseo and Via, who had just survived a near-death ordeal, were utterly exhausted. "Yeah... Let's hope all our suffering was worth it..." "Hyunseo, I never want to do something like this again." "Me neither." Still, at least it wasn't a victory with nothing but wounds. Calming herself, Mise spoke again. "As promised, I'll be your sponsor. With this, both Jang Jaejoong and I have recommended you. Congratulations, you're now officially members of the Vagabonds. Welcome to the team, newbies!" "So much for no hierarchy—already acting like our superior..." "I'll explain the guild rules and such once we're back." "I'd appreciate that. Right now, I just want to rest." "If you're bored, look at that tablet over there. It's got the data we got? There's a ton of interesting stuff." "May I take a look?" "Of course. You brought it, and we're guildmates now. If you're curious about magitech tools or magi-weapons, check it out." They'd just been overwhelmed by magitech tools and magi-weapons. He was just thinking that it was time to find out more about magitech. 'To hunt stronger demonic beasts, you need stronger gear.' Hyunseo picked up the tablet and skimmed through the files. Some parts were hard to understand—they weren't his specialty—but experiment reports and such were interesting to read. 'Field design, magitech engines, mana reactors... They make all sorts of magitech tools.... What's this?' As he flipped through documents, a certain message caught his eye. 「VIP request. Request to share contact info of master magitech engineers at Special Grade or higher possessed by the main office. Promise of suitable compensation upon confirmation. Emphatically requests information regarding 'Song Mise' or her master....」 At first, he thought it was just one of those standard headhunting competitions between magitech firms. The more magitech engineers a company has under contract, and the higher their skills, the more money it makes. Headhunting other firms' magitech engineers was commonplace. It was only the final sentence that seemed odd. 「Alive or dead, doesn't matter. However, the head must be intact.」 The word "headhunting" started to sound far more sinister. -------------= Clacky's Corner -------------= I have a feeling Moon-sik will reappear in the future... 【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】