NOVEL NEXT 34.
34.
“Yes. We’re currently reassigning personnel.”
―…Understood.
Had it gone smoothly? There were no more radio messages after that, but he felt uneasy for some reason. Jian hurriedly tried to communicate with Leo.
“I think we’ve been discovered. I’m currently on the first basement floor. Everyone, please come this way.”
―Got it!
Just in case, he grabbed the radio and went inside. He took comfort in the fact that his stealth skill made him invisible to others.
He walked down the long corridor, quickly searching places where Sehun might be.
He passed the bathroom, supply room, and the room used as a break area for cleaning staff. There were only messy traces left, not even a shadow of a person. His mouth dried up with anxiety.
There were various event halls on the first basement floor. Ruby Hall, Diamond Hall, Sapphire Hall. However, these halls, as glamorous as their names, were also empty.
He had thought Sehun would surely be here.
Just as his anxiety peaked due to the lack of any presence, Jian finally discovered a door guarded by two suspiciously dressed men. It was in the innermost part, which is why it took so long to find.
He approached carefully, even being cautious about swallowing. The hunters here also wore black head masks covering their entire face except for the eyes, like the man Jian had first encountered.
One held daggers in both hands, while electricity crackled from the fingertips of the other.
Jian pondered what the best course of action would be. If he used his attack skill on these men now, there would be a cooldown time. But he wasn’t confident about subduing them 2-on-1 like before.
As he was deliberating, he happened to notice a fire extinguisher placed to one side.
‘How do you use a fire extinguisher again…’
Recalling the fire drill from his high school days, Jian approached the fire extinguisher. He crouched in front of it, pulled out the safety pin, and aimed the hose towards the men.
From that position, he moved while holding the fire extinguisher as inconspicuously as possible. This was possible because when using the stealth skill, objects touched by his hands and body also disappeared.
When he was just one step away from the men, he pressed the handle hard.
Whoosh―
“Aagh!”
“W-what’s this?”
As the pale smoke sprayed out, covering the men’s faces, Jian took advantage of their confusion from the sudden attack to open the door and leap inside. The thrown fire extinguisher clattered as it rolled away.
The scene revealed when the door opened was similar yet different from the halls he had passed before. There were seats arranged in a fan shape along the slope, with a semicircular stage below. Up to this point, it was the same as the other halls.
However, on the stage was a bed just big enough for one person to lie on, along with various machines. It looked as if an entire laboratory had been transplanted there.
And Sehun lay motionless on the bed. Jian barely swallowed the saliva that flowed out.
Round patches covered the child’s temples and chest. The wires connected to the patches led to a machine placed nearby.
The moment he saw the gauze and bandages stained with red blood strewn on the floor below, sparks flew before his eyes.
Without time to think, he rushed down towards the stage. The man standing next to the bed sensed his presence and lifted his head from the chart he had been burying it in.
His face looked haggard as he pushed up his horn-rimmed glasses that had slid down. His shaggy hair and the area around his mouth were covered in messy beard.
“Hmm…”
Despite the commotion nearby, the man didn’t seem particularly surprised. As Jian got closer, the man’s face became clearer.
Beyond the thick lenses, round eyes gleamed with curiosity. Jian clenched his fist. His rounded nails dug into his soft flesh.
A throbbing pain arose from his palm, along with the injuries he had sustained while facing the Giant Wolf.
However, the pain was overwhelmed by the furiously boiling anger. He felt as if his vision was turning bright red. His instinct told him that this man was the researcher Heather that Hyunwoo had mentioned.
The man who had brutally violated young children was standing right in front of him. With a face that showed no guilt, he was experimenting again on Sehun, the only survivor.
It hadn’t been long since Sehun was kidnapped. What on earth had he done in such a short time? His breath caught at the sight of numerous syringes on the metal tray. A drop of blood, not yet dry, clung to one scalpel. Seeing the healing potion bottle showing its bottom, his reason snapped.
Jian’s lips moved silently. And the next moment, the face of the man who had been curiously staring at the empty space began to contort gradually.
“Kuhk…! Ugh, aaagh…!”
The chart slipped from the man’s hands and rolled on the floor. A cold gaze fell upon the back of the man who had fallen to his knees, his whole body trembling.
“Doctor!”
Almost simultaneously, the closed door burst open with a bang, and people clad entirely in black poured in. Jian passed by the man writhing like an insect and embraced the child sprawled on the bed.
Sehun, who had seemed to be floating in mid-air alone, disappeared in an instant. The men who had rushed in rubbed their eyes, unable to believe what they had just seen.
“He’s still in here! Find him at all costs! We can’t let him escape!”
A gruff voice awakened the stunned men. It belonged to a man with a head taller than the average person, wearing a shoulder patch with a roaring tiger.
What was peculiar was the Chinese character for “correct” (正) engraved on the tiger’s forehead. Jian stepped aside and carefully observed the emblem. Judging by how he was giving orders, this man must be in a high position. If so, that emblem would surely help in revealing their identity.
The men were closing in from all directions, but it was okay. The cooldown time for the attack skill was 10 minutes. He just needed to hold out for 10 minutes.
If necessary, he could use the barrier skill and wait until the cooldown was over. His reddened eyes fell on the man who was now twitching his limbs.
With bloody foam in his mouth and the whites of his eyes showing, he looked like he was about to die. His pristine white lab coat was being soiled by the substances he had vomited. Jian’s heart was pounding furiously.
It was the first time he had used his skill on a person. He might face severe punishment if this became known, but he had no regrets.
He had almost lost Sehun. The child’s breathing was so weak, it seemed like it might stop at any moment. What had they done to him?
The blood on the gauze rolling on the floor had come from the child, as evident from the traces left on his skin.
The wounds had healed, but there were dried blood marks on his temples, nape, both forearms, and even on his chest.
“Cough, cough…”
“Doctor, are you alright?”
However, contrary to Jian’s wishes, the man with the tiger shoulder patch managed to save the researcher. Jian gritted his teeth and glared at the two.
The 3-minute duration of the attack skill had already passed. Until now, monsters attacked by the skill had perished within 3 minutes. The attack had worked on A-rank monsters, so a researcher who wasn’t even a hunter should have died quickly.
It seemed the potion that the man had hurriedly taken out and fed to the researcher had saved him.
Jian grew anxious, knowing that if left alive, the researcher would surely target Sehun again.
As Jian anxiously bit his lip, waiting for the cooldown time of his attack skill to end, the door exploded open with a bang.
“Jian! Where are you?”
“Hey, move aside in front.”
“Can’t you aim properly?”
The Dark Net Guild members who had entered upon receiving Jian’s signal began to quickly dispatch the remaining men using their individual abilities.
Amidst the chaos, the man with the tiger shoulder patch stood up, supporting the limp researcher.
“When will the teleport be activated?”
“About 5 minutes left!”
“Damn it.”
The man slung the researcher over his shoulder and headed for a corner of the stage. A faint blue light was emanating from an area with complex circular patterns drawn on it.
A fierce battle broke out between those trying to escape and those trying to stop them. A gust of wind from somewhere lifted one hunter who had been emitting electricity from both hands into the air.
“Aaaagh…!”
“So noisy.”
Jungsu frowned as he covered the hunter’s mouth. Every time he dodged attacks that struck like lightning, chairs shattered and flew in all directions.
“You’re just getting in the way, so stay out of it.”
Jihwan nocked three arrows, pitch black from tip to fletching, simultaneously on his bowstring and nodded at Leo. Leo, who had no aptitude for combat, nodded and used his skill to search for Jian, who could be anywhere.
‘Ah, I think his stealth skill rank is higher than mine.’
But even after scanning the entire hall, he couldn’t pick up Jian’s trace. Given that Sehun wasn’t visible either, it seemed they were still inside, but with attack skills flying everywhere, it was difficult to move carelessly.
‘Are those people the main culprits of the kidnapping?’
Although Leo wasn’t part of the team guarding Jian’s house, he had heard a rough outline of what had happened from Jihwan on the way here.
To summarize briefly, the child Jian had been taking care of was kidnapped, and that child was also extremely important to the Guild Master.
Feeling that Jian might be near the stage, he moved stealthily, using the broken chairs as cover.
Hyunwoo had only ordered them to rescue the kidnapped child, not to incapacitate all the opponents. Nevertheless, the reason the battle had turned brutal was that the other side had attacked first with killing intent.
Due to their abilities, the laws governing hunters were much stricter than those for ordinary people. Unless facing monsters, using abilities against humans was subject to sanctions.
The fact that they were acting like this despite knowing that made it seem like they intended to destroy evidence even if it meant killing everyone here.