#075
His heart suddenly welled up with emotion.
Eunseok realized that the reason he hadn’t felt a strong sense of crisis until now was because of that man. Knowing that Choi Hanseo would surely come, he hadn’t even considered the possibility of ending up in Russia.
Perhaps sensing his gaze, Choi Hanseo turned around.
Their eyes met. Eunseok struggled to hide the emotions swirling inside him and looked at Choi Hanseo with a calm gaze. As Choi Hanseo slowly scanned Eunseok’s disheveled appearance, the relaxed expression on his face gradually faded. Eunseok felt a slight chill as he watched all emotion disappear completely from Choi Hanseo’s face.
“Choi Hanseo,” Yuri called out, seemingly recognizing his face. Yuri and Ivan took positions diagonally to Choi Hanseo’s left and right, entering combat stances.
“Don’t tell me you came alone?” Yuri asked incredulously. Choi Hanseo, who had been staring blankly at Eunseok with an expressionless face regardless of the two S-rank Hunters in front of him, finally spoke.
“Ji Taeuk!” Choi Hanseo shouted. Soon after, with a scream of “Aaargh!”, two people fell into the water next to the rubber boat with a splash.
“Eunseok!” The worried voice belonged to Moon Bora. And on Moon Bora’s shoulder, Ji Taeuk was clinging and trembling.
“N-noona. You should’ve said something before jumping,” Ji Taeuk said, shaking as he lay face down in the knee-deep water.
“Hey, look at Eunseok’s condition. Hurry up and heal him,” Moon Bora said, hitting Ji Taeuk on the head as if completely oblivious to the current situation.
“Oh, Eunseok!” Ji Taeuk exclaimed in shock, finally noticing Eunseok lying against the rubber boat. He crawled onto the rubber boat and placed his hands on Eunseok’s upper body. Moon Bora removed the leather glove bundle covering her mouth and drew her knife to cut the ropes binding Eunseok’s body. As his limbs, which had been tightly bound for a long time, were freed, they tingled and twitched with minor spasms.
“Ah, your whole body is covered in blood,” Ji Taeuk said, almost sobbing as he poured healing energy into Eunseok. There were no major injuries, but after being thoroughly beaten, Eunseok’s appearance was quite gruesome, covered in blood.
Even in this situation, Eunseok didn’t take his eyes off Choi Hanseo.
On one side, there were two S-rank Hunters. On their side, there were only Choi Hanseo and Moon Bora.
As far as Eunseok knew, even a dozen A-rank Hunters would struggle to handle a single S-rank. So it was best to exclude Moon Bora from the combat equation entirely. In the end, it was a situation where Choi Hanseo alone had to face two S-rank Hunters.
“Will you be alright?” Eunseok asked in a hoarse voice. At that question, a faint expression finally appeared on Choi Hanseo’s face. However, Eunseok couldn’t hear Choi Hanseo’s answer. Yuri and Ivan, no longer waiting, simultaneously lunged at Choi Hanseo.
Bang! Boom!
The three silhouettes clashed with each other. Consecutive explosions echoed, sending shockwaves around them.
Moon Bora protectively embraced Eunseok and Ji Taeuk. Eunseok tried to capture the scene visible over Moon Bora’s shoulder with his eyes. But even with his trained dynamic vision, it was impossible to follow the movements of the three.
Every time the three silhouettes separated and collided, there was a sound like bombs exploding. The three were fighting barehanded, without any weapons. Yet such thunderous sounds were occurring, so the power they wielded was beyond description.
“Will he be okay?” Ji Taeuk muttered worriedly. Instead of answering, Moon Bora checked Eunseok’s condition.
“Is the healing done?”
“Yeah. All the fractured bones should be mended now. The wounds have all healed too,” Ji Taeuk replied, turning his gaze back to Eunseok. As he said, breathing was no longer painful. It was an impressive healing ability indeed.
“Thank you, hyung,” Eunseok said. Ji Taeuk’s face twisted slightly.
“I’m sorry. I should have stayed by your side.”
Ji Taeuk seemed to genuinely feel guilty. Eunseok patted Ji Taeuk’s shoulder with his hand that had just become movable.
Bang! Boom! Pop!
The movements of the three became even faster and more intense. Now, only blurred afterimages of the three were painting the darkness erratically.
“Let’s get out of here now. Just in case… you never know,” Moon Bora said as she supported Eunseok to stand up. Then she looked up at the helicopter and waved her hand widely.
Receiving the signal, the helicopter began to lower a rescue cable. Perhaps seeing this, one of the three violently clashing silhouettes leaped towards the helicopter as if flying.
Bang!
But the dark silhouette that looked like Choi Hanseo immediately chased after and slammed that figure into the ground. For a moment, Choi Hanseo’s form suspended in the air was visible. His usually immaculate suit was torn in various places. With his perfectly expressionless face, he seemed almost inhuman.
Yuri and Ivan attempted several times to jump up and damage the helicopter, but Choi Hanseo thwarted their attempts each time. The cable lowered from the helicopter finally reached the rubber boat.
Moon Bora grabbed and pulled the cable. Then she tried to put the life belt attached to its end on Eunseok.
“No. I’m not going,” Eunseok said, pushing away Moon Bora’s hands. He snatched the life belt Moon Bora was holding and put it on Ji Taeuk instead.
“You and Taeuk hyung go first. I’ll stay here and return with the Guild Master later.”
“That’s not possible. No matter how much of a monster the Guild Master is, he’s facing two S-ranks. It’s too much to protect you too,” Moon Bora said with a stern face.
“If the Guild Master loses, do you think we can escape from two S-rank Hunters chasing us in that helicopter?” Eunseok asked. Moon Bora couldn’t answer hastily. It seemed that for S-ranks, it wasn’t impossible to chase down and destroy the helicopter to recapture Eunseok.
“If we leave this place unnecessarily and get chased later, civilians might get involved. It’s better to wait for the outcome here.”
“But…”
“Let’s send Taeuk hyung first. They won’t chase after him. And… you’ll protect me, right, noona?”
As Eunseok said with a slight smile, Moon Bora nodded with a smirk.
“Right. No matter how I think about it, that monster doesn’t seem like he’ll lose anyway.”
“Then I’ll stay too!” Ji Taeuk quickly exclaimed. Moon Bora silently checked if Ji Taeuk’s life belt was properly secured and then pulled on the cable. Receiving the signal, the helicopter started to pull up the cable.
“Damn it. Leaving me out! How mean!” Ji Taeuk shouted as he floated up into the air.
The helicopter carrying Ji Taeuk moved away. Moon Bora and Eunseok watched the ongoing clash that didn’t stop even for a moment. It was truly an inhuman speed and strength. Every time two or three of them collided, the surrounding ground exploded and fierce winds swept through from the shockwaves.
“Damn. There’s not even a chance to intervene,” Moon Bora muttered in a voice tinged with defeat.
Bang!
An exceptionally loud explosion rang out, and suddenly one of the silhouettes shot towards Moon Bora and Eunseok like lightning.
“Watch out!” Moon Bora shouted in a tense voice as she sprang forward.
Thud!
As the silhouette and Moon Bora collided, there was a sound like bones breaking. Then Moon Bora fell into the middle of the sea with a splash, spraying blood.
Grab!
The moment Moon Bora fell, the silhouette grabbed Eunseok’s neck and lifted him up. The one with eyes rolling like a beast was none other than Ivan. Unlike before, his whole body was covered in blood. Half of his face was almost crushed, and his left arm hung limply with white bone protruding through the flesh.
“Ugh…”
The grip on his neck completely cut off his airway. It felt like his neck bones were about to break. As the blood flow to his neck was blocked, his whole body instantly went limp.
“Surrender now before I kill you like this!” Ivan shouted, holding up the limp Eunseok in the air.
Bang!
The two colliding silhouettes landed far apart on the ground. Only then could Choi Hanseo and Yuri be clearly seen. In Eunseok’s fading vision, the two, like Ivan, were covered in blood from head to toe.
“If we can’t take him, we’ll kill him instead,” Ivan warned in a vicious voice. He applied even more force to his grip. There was a faint cracking sound, as if neck bones were about to crumble.
Choi Hanseo’s face twisted slightly. Their eyes met. Choi Hanseo’s pupils moved minutely behind Eunseok. And in the next moment,
Thwack!
Moon Bora, who had flown in instantaneously, stabbed her sword into Ivan’s side.
Ivan swung his broken arm. Moon Bora, hit in the head by the arm, collapsed inside the rubber boat. Eunseok didn’t miss that momentary opening created by Moon Bora and moved his hand, which he had deliberately kept limp, with lightning speed.
