The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 384



Only Noblemtl

Episode 384

#384. You will be reborn into a new world.

Seodaechi got off at the old Taesung Guild building by helicopter. After changing the sign to Iron Will, it was where the mid-sized affiliates of Taesung Group had unpacked their belongings.

There was no one to stop him, as if Team Leader Kang Mu-hyeok had already taken action. Instead, Taesung’s security guards waited for him by holding the elevator. They silently guided the Seodaechi party without saying a word.

The party consisted of Seo Dae-chi, Gyeong Su-hyeok, and Baek Sol.

In terms of the party leader hierarchy, Kyung Soo-hyuk had the priority for order, but this time, Seo Dae-chi was in charge of the party. Since Seo Dae-chi became the party leader, the remaining three members of Kyung Soo-hyuk’s party had all moved, so Kyung Soo-hyuk’s party had not yet been formed.

Because of that, Kyung Soo-hyuk was temporarily assigned to the Seodaechi party on the surface, and according to the expedition team rules, the party leader had the authority to command regardless of the chain of command.

Upon reaching the first floor, an SUV appeared outside the lobby. It was heavier, sturdier, and larger than a regular vehicle, a hunter-specific vehicle that required cumbersome equipment to be installed.

Basically, it was a vehicle so expensive that even supercars couldn’t even afford to hand out business cards because of the gate resources.

The party members, including Seo Dae-chi, loaded their personal equipment into the trunk and tightened their loose armor.

As they were ready to leave, one of the bodyguards approached and handed Seo Dae-chi the car keys.

“There is a smartphone in the glove box. You can shred it after the operation is over. There is an additional emergency ampoule kit prepared in each seat. In case of emergency, if you press the emergency call button under the driver’s seat, the Taesung Hospital medical team will be dispatched. Since there is a GPS, unless the vehicle is completely destroyed, it will find its way on its own.”

The bodyguard said what he wanted to say and then turned away.

Seo Dae-chi also tried to get into the driver’s seat without saying anything. Then he stopped when he saw a passenger already behind the wheel.

“Come out, Baeksol.”

“I’ll drive. Don’t you know I have a hunting driver’s license?”

Seodaechi also knew Baeksol’s previous job.

Hunting driver.

Since the advent of the so-called superhuman Hunters, all sports have changed, but it is difficult to find a field that has changed as drastically as motorsports.

The thrill and instinct to race that tests the limits of cars and humans in Formula One racing has become a very loose part of everyday life compared to the battle between hunters and monsters.

F1’s popularity was declining and it was on the verge of extinction, so a groundbreaking new sport was created to overcome this.

That was ‘Formula H1’.

A race between hunters, monsters, and special vehicles. It was like a modern-day version of the ancient Colosseum, where the hunters would use their superhuman reflexes and weaponized vehicles to fight monsters and race against other drivers.

Baek Sol was a driver who aspired to stand on this H1 stage.

Unfortunately, he was eliminated in the narrow final gate and returned to his original form as a hunter, but his skills did not go anywhere.

But Seodaechi did not give her the key.

“Come out.”

“Why? I told you I’m a really good driver.”

“It’s not about catching monsters.”

“If a guy attacks and kills a fellow hunter, then what is he if not a monster?”

As Baeksol glared at him and confronted him, Seodaechi grabbed her by the collar and tried to drag her out.

“Hey, party host. This is too rough. Hey, this handle is coming off. Let go. Let go. Oh my! Hey, do you think I don’t use my fists because I don’t have any? Are you really going to do this?”

Baeksol, who was finally dragged out of the driver’s seat, bared his teeth and grabbed Seo Daechi’s arm.

As sparks flew between the two hunters, Kyung Soo-hyuk, who was riding in the backseat, sighed and intervened.

“Hey, Baeksol. Listen to what Seodaechi says. I know you’re upset because Daeshik got hurt. That’s why you can’t drive anymore. If you look away, I’ll hit you right away. If you get into an accident, you’ll be a nuisance to everyone around you. That’s why Seodaechi dragged you out.”

“If hunters fight each other in the city center with full equipment, it’ll be a major accident anyway. Why are you bringing this up again?”

Baek Sol was excited about the Woo Dae Sik incident. Her eyes were filled with revenge after Woo Dae Sik was evacuated with a fatal injury that threatened his life.

So, before departure, Seodaechi carefully suggested to Gwanhong that he exclude Baeksol.

‘I told you that you’d need to fight with a higher level of tension than usual to deal with the healing factor. Did I tell you to use Baek Sol’s desire for revenge?’

Could it be said that this is indeed the person that Kang Mu-hyeok brought?

To Seo Dae-chi, it seemed like Guan Hong was someone who used everything he could.

‘I don’t like it.’

Since it was an order from Kwanhong to replace Kang Mu-hyeok, he couldn’t refuse, but he had no intention of being pushed into taking on the mission.

Seo Dae-chi lightly patted Baek Sol’s shoulder while he was struggling with Gyeong Su-hyeok and tried to calm him down.

“Don’t get excited. Take out your anger on Baek Seong-bin. I’ll leave it up to you to break that bastard’s head. But I’ll drive.”

“Weren’t you supposed to capture him?”

“If he was someone who would listen to what you say, he wouldn’t have done that and run away. And how can you capture someone with a healing factor? To be honest, he’s just not in his right mind in front of monsters. None of us have as much fighting power as he does. It’s hard if you don’t fight with the determination to kill before you can decide whether to take him alive. At the very least, you’ll have to cut off all his limbs to feel safe.”

“Oh, really? I’ll break that kid’s spine.”

Baeksol returned to the passenger seat with a much more relaxed tone of voice.

Kyung Soo-hyuk spoke softly.

“Seodaechi. Are you really going to kill Baek Seongbin?”

“If you don’t have time.”

“Why don’t you find out why that happened?”

“If you answer, I will understand.”

“Are you going to ask?”

“As a former colleague, I will show you that much kindness.”

“Ha, I don’t know anymore. I was so happy when you brought all the problem children and threw a party. How did things turn out like this, huh?”

Kyung Soo-hyuk put his hand on his forehead, complaining of a headache. Baek Sol, who was sitting in the passenger seat, banged on the car door and shouted.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you driving fast? Shouldn’t you be going to catch that Baek Seong-bin dog?!”

Seo Dae-chi spoke to Gyeong Su-hyeok in passing and got into the driver’s seat.

“Whatever. Baek Seong-bin is no longer a hunter. He’s a villain.”

Kyung Soo-hyuk could feel Seo Dae-chi’s determination in those few words.

‘Villain…? Baek Seong-bin, how did you end up like this, In-ma?’

If you hate it to the point of affection, then it is affection. I wished it would disappear every time I had an accident, but I didn’t wish for it to disappear like this.

Moreover, he was a member of his party not long ago. He had a sense of camaraderie as a comrade while fighting in the Northeast Defense War.

Although Seo Dae-chi and Baek Seong-bin had a bad relationship, they considered it to be a difference in personality rather than personal feelings, and tried to separate personal feelings from public affairs. In fact, Baek Seong-bin was more emotional.

All those efforts were now in vain. All that was left was to cross swords.

Amidst the complex judging process, the SUV raced toward the darkest dawn.

* * *

Kang Moo-hyuk had already categorized the gates in Seoul that Mirage might target.

‘As with the Bukhansan and Yeoju bases, Mirage targets gates that cause the greatest damage to civilians when breaking out or contain monsters that are difficult to subdue in a short period of time.’

The Bukhansan Gate was mainly populated by flying monsters.

At the time, Slayer was able to quickly block the gate entrance and Thomas was able to quickly resolve the problem, but if even one of them had been lacking, the damage could have been as shocking as a wyvern nesting in a tall building.

Fortunately, the situation did not escalate to that point due to Goeulji hunting the wyvern, but considering that the New York Times Building in the past collapsed due to a wyvern, resulting in thousands of casualties, it was indeed fortunate.

The same was true for the gate hidden in Miraju’s female protagonist’s base.

The main monster at Yeoju Gate was Ghost.

They were the ones that not only gave Hunters a hard time when attacking, but also instilled fear in humans that could cause fatal psychological damage.

‘In other countries, too, terrorism has been committed in a way that causes the most harm to people and is difficult for hunters to respond to. In any case, it is impossible to identify all the gates. In that case, we have no choice but to filter out the disclosed gate information based on these criteria.’

The only silver lining was that the number was reduced from seven to two.

Some of the gates that Guan Hong had anticipated were used in other regional gates to cause confusion, but these were quickly suppressed with the cooperation of the Tier Guild and each regional guild that had prepared in advance.

Now all that remained were two switches expected to be used in Seoul.

Kang Mu-hyeok and Seong Seon-je agreed to use this switch at dawn.

‘Outbreaks cause the most damage when the monsters from the gate are as far apart as possible. During the day, there are a lot of people, so the monsters tend to attack humans, which narrows their range of activity. In fact, outbreaks that occur late at night are dangerous. They quickly disperse in all directions because the streets are empty.’

As morning came and people started to get active, the damage increased exponentially.

That’s why Kang Mu-hyeok and Seong Seon-je chose dawn as the time to counterattack.

When Mirage tries to attack, your defenses will be weakened, giving you a perfect opportunity to counterattack.

‘From here on out, doubts still remain. Is Mirage really satisfied with just opening two gates in Seoul? Will the illusion end there?’

Although the biggest problem was the threat of S-rank, Kang Moo-hyuk considered it to be lukewarm for a terrorist attack by the worst terrorist group in history.

Of course, the outbreak itself was a disaster, and the actual casualties were by no means small.

“There’s definitely something else going on.”

Kang Moo-hyuk couldn’t help but feel that figuring that out was perhaps more important than fighting the illusion.

* * *

Illusion was sitting alone on the floor of the room with his eyes closed, meditating.

I could feel the fight coming. Goosebumps appeared on my skin. It was more thrill than fear.

‘Juseah… Will we really fight?’

Battles with S-ranks were always exciting.

Now in the US, so did Bertrand Lefebvre from France, as well as S-ranks from the European Hunter Association (EHA).

What kind of joy will Joo Se Ah give?

Illusion opened his eyes, forcing himself to calm his tremors.

“Hoo, let’s not get carried away with the fight. What’s more important is getting our way.”

Illusion got up from his seat and pulled back the curtain.

Outside the window, dazzling streetlights illuminated the road.

It was a night in Seoul.

This place is always amazing no matter how many times I see it.

Even now, there are countless gates that have been opened and cannot be conquered all over the world. Except for the powerful countries or some middle-income countries that have the support of their circumstances, most countries are suffering from monsters.

Even advanced countries like the United States, which have large land areas, are unable to completely guarantee monster security.

But Korea, Seoul, was different.

Although there had been recent invasions from the Demon Realm, this was also an incident that occurred because the Chinese guild had artificially carried out the work, and domestic threats were overwhelmingly more stable than those from other countries.

Illusion was both appealing and distasteful at the same time.

‘They admire the Hunters because they don’t know the misfortune of humanity. They see the Gate as a treasure trove of resources.’

If you don’t know, I have no choice but to tell you.

Illusion recited the words solemnly, as if reading a scripture.

“The Gate is not misfortune or bad luck. It is the last chance given to humanity. With this opportunity given by God, we will repent and be reborn into a new world.”