The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess - Chapter 141



141 – Declaration of War! # 3

141 – Declaration of War! # 3

Awakened individuals were physically different from regular people.

Their five senses – hearing, sight, smell, and so on – were fundamentally more sensitive.

That’s why there were so many gourmands among the Awakened.

These heightened senses were an advantage in most situations, but for newbies who hadn’t been Awakened long, they were a crippling weakness.

“Ugh! My eyes are burning!”

“The smell is unbearable!”

The explosion, caused by a grenade detonating a gas canister.

It must have hit a nearby logistics warehouse because an incredibly noxious stench was unleashed.

Was there tear gas in there or something?

Even I, who had grown accustomed to my heightened senses over time, was tearing up in the eyes and nose. It must have been hell for those newbies who hadn’t been Awakened for long.

“Namjin Slash!”

*Thwack, shlrrrk!*

My senses, overwhelmed by the pungent smell, caused those who were already losing their fighting spirit to stumble around. I stabbed them with my dagger, “Fang.”

Even if they were stabbed with a blade, it wouldn’t kill them unless it hit a vital point like the heart or brain; it would just temporarily incapacitate them.

Of course, prolonged bleeding could still be fatal.

“Hey, you there.”

“Yes, Boss! Did you call for me?”

I called out to the guy who had been kicked in the groin.

[lol Kim Young-il’s such a loser]

[Calling a dude 20 years younger ‘Boss’ kekeke]

[Good job teaching that showoff a lesson lol]

Judging by the chat flooding the screen on his phone, he was probably live-streaming.

Whatever.

“Kim Young-il, if you don’t want to die today, get everyone out of here. This place is about to become a battlefield. And get everyone else who can still stand up out of here, too!”

There were about 20 or so pseudo-Awakened individuals stationed in this unit.

If they had taken up arms, they could have easily razed a decent-sized city.

What the hell was Old Man Heogi thinking, gathering all these thugs and gangsters and stationing them here?

I asked Kim Young-il, who was gathering up the fallen, while he was still broadcasting.

“Hey, you there, do you even know what people were trying to do gathering here?”

“I, uh, I don’t know. They just said they’d make me an Awakened, so I came. Got a shot, then a few days of groaning and when I came to, I was an Awakened.”

Useless info.

Did he sense the disappointment on my face?

This Kim Young-il, even if ignorant of law and morality, seemed quick on the uptake.

“But! They did say this to me. That I’d lived with lots of discrimination because of my crimes and priors, and didn’t I want to turn that around? Said they sympathized because they’d been discriminated against too.”

“Who said that?”

“Some young guy, must be the commander of this unit. I only saw his face once when I got the shot.”

A young guy.

If he’s commanding this unit, he must be pretty skilled.

If he and that old man Heo Gi tag-teamed me, even I’d be in a world of trouble.

*Whish-!*

So, I snatched the phone from Kim Young-il.

A live broadcast with tons of viewers.

I’d use that as my weapon.

“This is Ha Nam-jin. I’m giving you the coordinates, so anyone who can contact the police or military, do it and have them collect these illegal terrorists over here.”

[Is he gonna fight the commander now?]

[This is insane ㅋㅋ]

[I think it’s too brutal for me to watch]

[Please win, my mom’s in the hospital because of the holy water terror at L-mart ㅅㅂ]

[My family also got hurt because of the Creationist Temple’s terror at L-mart]

*Click*, *Pshhh-!*

“Ugh! What’s that smell!”

“It burns, aah!”

I subdued the newbies remaining inside with tear gas while looking for old man Heo Gi. I reached the second floor after going up the stairs.

I saw a line, as thin as fishing line or piano wire, near my ankle. If I didn’t have 「Sense」, I would’ve missed it.

[Wtf, that’s a tripwire]

[What’s that, you nerd?]

[It’s a wire connected to a triggering device for mines or booby traps]

Just like someone said in the chat.

I carefully followed the tripwire with my gaze, and wouldn’t you know it, C4 was attached to the wall, along with some clay?

*Beep, beep-*

The moment the signal tone sounded, the hair on my head stood on end.

“The tripwire was a decoy.”

It was a remote-detonation type, right from the start.

So, I threw myself forward in a flash and *BOOM-* a massive shockwave rippled, and the building shuddered.

If I hadn’t moved so quickly, I would have been caught in the explosion and suffered severe injuries.

*Thud-thud-*

Pushing through the crumbling concrete and swirling dust, I made it to the second floor.

Every doorway on the second floor was rigged with traps.

*KWAANG-*!

*BANG-*!

One explosion would set off a chain reaction behind it, from the force.

Thanks to that, my body was already a mess.

I wasn’t critically injured, but the clothes I was wearing were torn, and blood was trickling from minor cuts.

[If it were me, I’d be dead already]

[So, this is the Awakened world]

[Hanamjin, you can do it! Avenge our mother! Even though she’s still alive!]

With that kind of support, I’m feeling the power.

Finally, I arrived on the third floor.

Surprisingly, there were no traps at all on the third floor.

Just clear signs that someone had been living here.

Pictures of men in military uniforms were hung on every wall, and underneath, there were piles upon piles of ammunition boxes, hand grenades, and anti-tank weapons.

If illegal Awakened individuals armed with this kind of firepower went out into the city, it would be all-out war.

*Fffftt-*

At that moment, I heard a sound like air hissing from somewhere.

I covered my nose with my sleeve, which turned out to be a great decision.

「Which onion grows well?」

「The praised onion」

「The criticized onion」

The unidentified onion in the third-floor hallway had rotted away at an alarming rate, like it was corroding.

Toxic gas, probably.

*Tadat-*

Then, a presence stirred within the suspicious purple smoke.

I turned my head to see a man in a gas mask. The blade in his hand was lunging for me.

If I hadn’t taken a step back, it would have pierced my heart.

*Shwoom-*!

The blade cut through the air.

I grabbed his hand and tried to pull him, to topple him in the direction he was attacking.

But I was met with unexpected strength, and we were locked in a stalemate.

“Clumsy. You fail.”

*Gyauttung-*

My body was lifted into the air.

He’d hooked my leg.

“Ack!”

*Koong-*!

I hit the floor, and for a moment, lost my fighting stance.

And then, a hail of bullets rained down on my body.

*Tududadada-*!

The man was firing a machine gun at me.

If I hadn’t rolled away quickly after falling, I’d be a human honeycomb.

But sometimes, a crisis becomes an opportunity.

I stayed low, curled into a ball, and dashed forward, maintaining the momentum of my roll.

Mankind’s fastest cockroach dash!

“Namjin Tackle!”

“Your trajectory is predictable. If I know the direction, I can even dodge bullets.”

He dodged my attack by a hair’s breadth.

My linear movement was clearly too easy to read.

But, my strategy was a bullseye.

*Kkaddeudeuk-*

I crushed the filter in my hand with a tight grip.

“You’d have trouble breathing here without this, wouldn’t you?”

“How…!?”

The man, realizing the filter was gone from his gas mask, looked panicked.

He turned and fled, just like that.

Up the stairs, to the next floor.

“The rooftop, is it.”

The 4th floor of this building is the roof.

I had the feeling he was leading me into a trap, but there was no turning back now.

# # #

The worn concrete floor of the 4th floor stretched out like a field.

There were no obstacles here. Not even a trick, nor the traps or booby traps I was most wary of.

Just the blue skies of Korea and the majestic mountain ranges of Gangwon Province, stretching out endlessly, almost beautiful.

Still, I couldn’t let my guard down.

The man standing in front of me.

He was a more dangerous presence than all the traps and grenades combined.

The man had taken off his gas mask.

A diamond rank insignia, shining gold, was pinned to his chest.

“Old Man Heogi, enjoying your youth?”

A young, sleek face that looked to be in his mid- to late-thirties.

The Old Man Heogi I knew was a wrinkled old man, sometimes forgetting even his own name due to dementia.

The man standing before me was completely different.

“Youth is good.”

He grinned, revealing his fangs.

“Awakening changes everything.”

“So you teamed up with terrorists just to awaken? To get your youth back?”

My voice was laced with force.

“Old man, didn’t you say becoming a cool old man was the privilege of a man?”

“I never said that.”

He said, putting his hand in his pocket.

“But I’ll say this. A man shouldn’t forget his comrades.”

*Clink—.*

What came out of his pocket was an old, faded dog tag.

He looked at the piece of metal he dropped on the floor and said quietly,

“Staff Sergeant Oh Il-hae, Staff Sergeant Kim Bum-gon, Lieutenant Bae Dal-sung, Sergeant First Class Park Byung-soo… they were all my comrades. Soldiers of the advance unit that took on the Great Labyrinth exploration mission. They all died or went mad… and now no one remembers their names.”

“……”

“We gave everything for the country, but all we got in return was poverty for our families. The country abandoned us, once, twice. As a man, I couldn’t stand by and watch those politicians any longer.”

“So, you attacked L-Mart?”

My voice trembled.

“Old man, was calling up thugs and gangsters and handing them guns the only way? Didn’t you know how many people would get hurt or die?”

“Boy, nothing changes with peaceful methods. Power… only overwhelming power can move this world. A man *is* power.”

*A man is responsibility—.* It was Old Man Heogi who taught me that.

The Old Man now was different from the old man who had walked through the post-apocalyptic world.

The one before my eyes was simply a man I didn’t know in the past.

He declared triumphantly,

“In five days, soldiers from all the veteran’s association branches nationwide will rise up in arms. Then no one will be able to stop us. That’s the only way to open an era where those who sacrificed for the country won’t be forgotten.”

“That era won’t come.”

I took a breath and stared straight at him.

“Because I’m here.”

*Shing—.*

I drew my blade and took my stance.

Left foot forward, right hand drawing the blade up to my chin.

The warrant officer still stared at me, expressionless.

Then, he assumed his own stance.

*Whap—!*

There was no more conversation.

A man speaks with action.

I was simply following that teaching.

*Clang—!*

*Clang, thud—!*

Blades met at each other’s throats, clashing again and again. But neither drew blood from the other.

A stalemate persisted, and the panting— *huff- huff-* —of Sergeant Major Hagihoon grew more ragged.

“The youth gained through misguided awakening doesn’t last long, does it?”

“You little shit!”

He reached for the holster at his waist.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Fire spat from the automatic pistol.

With reflexes like lightning, I dodged the first two, but couldn’t evade the last—it tore into my thigh.

“…Ugh….”

*Throb-*

I swear, lately my legs are taking a beating.

Isn’t this the second time I’ve been shot?

“That leg’s useless now too. What will you do now, you brat? I’ve still got plenty of bullets.”

“Old man, do you know what the most fatal weakness in this ruined world is?”

Slowly, I reached into my pocket.

My fingers tightened around the object within, and I spoke.

“A peanut allergy.”

*Whoosh-*

The fragrant dust, scattered from the handful of peanuts.

Sergeant Major Hagihoon’s face froze.

From noble mtl dot com

“Ugh… this—!”

Sergeant Major Hagihoon suffered from a 「peanut allergy」.

For some reason, peanuts, of all things, grew well in the land devastated by the black rain, so anyone could eat them.

But the old geezer was so allergic to them, his eating habits were incredibly fussy.

And that’s why, in this ruined world, a peanut allergy was the deadliest weakness.

That gap, created from it.

I mustered my strength.

Omnipotence surged through my entire being, the world around me became as if frozen clay.

One eternal second.

In this stopped world, the only thing that shimmered was the dagger in my hand.

Hitting a stationary target wasn’t that hard for me right now.