Rat-a-tat-tat!

Juliet’s rifle rounds tore through the seat toward Jae-hee.

Whoosh!

Simultaneously, the Boy’s world slowed to a crawl.

A blue arrow burst from his chest—the Wind’s Trail, revealing the only path to survival. Without hesitation, he followed its azure trajectory.

He kicked off the car floor, launched himself upward, and pressed his body flush against the ceiling in one fluid motion.

Thump-thump-thump!

The volley of bullets hammered into the now-empty back seat, and bits of stuffing and shredded leather filled the air.

With a sharp grunt, Jae-hee snapped his arms inward, crossing them forcefully in an X over his chest. The motion yanked Oberon and Titania, cuffed to his wrists, stumbling toward him.

“Tch!”

Seeing her partners would be caught in the crossfire, Juliet cursed under her breath and held her fire.

Jae-hee dropped back onto the seat, thinking he was safe for a moment now that the shooting had stopped.

He was not.

Shing!

Oberon and Titania, their faces still smiling benevolently, drew daggers and lunged.

The old couple wore the faces of saints, but their blades moved like demons. They swarmed him, stabbing wildly in the tight space.

He was pinned in a narrow car, his wrists bound to an enemy on either side. Even with his speed, there was a limit to how many attacks he could dodge.

Wh-what do I do?!

In a flash of panic, his mind went back to his fight with the Rose Princess. The Gate Lord had blocked only the critical hits, allowing the shallower attacks to land.

Recalling her combat style, Jae-hee gritted his teeth, and his eyes snapped open.

I can’t dodge the scratches… just avoid the fatal hits!

Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!

The old couple’s daggers repeatedly sank into the already tattered back seat, shredding it to pieces.

Jae-hee dodged only the strikes he had to, trusting the defensive power of his windbreaker to absorb the rest. In an instant, the jacket was covered in nicks and cuts.

A normal jacket would have left him a bloody mess, but this one was crafted from the hide of a Foghowler, tough enough to stop a bullet. He endured without serious injury.

Gear is king!

But he couldn’t relax yet.

“Junior~”

Juliet, having swapped her rifle for a pistol, opened fire again. She was willing to risk hitting her allies to join the fray.

“How about I get you some malatang?”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Her pistol shots, perfectly timed with the couple’s knife thrusts, found their marks.

Small wounds began to accumulate. Still, Jae-hee twisted his body with superhuman speed, narrowly avoiding a fatal hit.

Annoyed, Juliet drew another pistol from a holster on her belt.

“Oh? Maybe you like tanghulu, too?”

Bang-bang-bang-bang!

She unleashed a torrent of fire from her dual pistols.

It looked like she was spraying bullets randomly, but each shot expertly avoided Oberon and Titania, relentlessly targeting only Jae-hee.

He was certain now: she was a shooter-class Awakened.

Screech!

Even Romeo joined the assault.

He swerved the car sharply, throwing Jae-hee to one side. The other three, as if they had trained for this exact maneuver, adjusted their attacks in perfect sync with the vehicle’s lurch.

But their single-minded focus on offense left an opening.

Thump!

The sedan’s tires on one side ran over a piece of debris on the road, causing the car to bounce violently.

“…!”

Finally, Jae-hee saw it—a sliver of an opportunity to turn the tables.

He held up his cuffed hands, aligning the chain with the path of Juliet’s next shots.

Ping! Ping!

Sparks flew as the bullets struck the chain between the cuffs, snapping it.

“Huh?”

The moment a grunt of surprise escaped Juliet’s lips, Jae-hee was already moving, driving an elbow into Oberon’s jaw and a knee into Titania’s solar plexus.

Thwack! Crack!

“Gah!”

“Urgh—”

The old couple flew backward, slamming into the car doors on either side.

Juliet quickly tossed her pistols aside and grabbed the rifle she’d been using earlier, aiming it at Jae-hee.

Thump.

But his foot was already planted on the back of the passenger seat.

Boom!

Jae-hee activated the hidden function in his boots—the Jump Booster.

Crack!

“Khh?!”

The incredible force sent the passenger seat flying forward. The rifle fired a fraction of a second too late, punching a hole in the car’s ceiling.

Juliet let out a pained groan, pinned between the dashboard and the seat.

Watching the scene in his rearview mirror, Romeo was impressed.

“Wow.”

In the confines of a cramped car, Jae-hee had survived a coordinated assault by four professionally trained underworld killers with little more than a few scratches.

His eyes met Jae-hee’s in the mirror. Jae-hee was panting, completely drained. 

Romeo grinned. “Damn. No wonder you’re called that monster woman’s disciple. You really are something else.”

“Why… why would you betray us?!”

Jae-hee had used up every last bit of stamina he had left after the initial search.

Panting heavily, he frowned and asked, “I mean, you guys were acting suspicious, but why actually do it?”

To his surprise, Romeo answered readily.

“We were double-booked.”

“What?”

“We got an offer from another party. They wanted us to bring them the doll. In exchange, they promised to wipe our records clean and end this god-awful prison life.”

Click.

Steering with his left hand, Romeo pulled a weapon from his pocket with his right.

“Would you rather keep getting thrown into life-or-death missions with no end in sight… or seize an opportunity like this? It’s the smart play, don’t you think?”

It was a collapsible baton. With a flick of his wrist, it extended, crackling with blue electricity.

A cold sweat trickled down Jae-hee’s back.

His stamina was completely gone. He knew he stood no chance in a head-on fight against Romeo, who was clearly the strongest of the team—especially not armed with a weapon like that.

“Screw this!” Jae-hee kicked backward.

Crash!

The sedan’s rear window, already riddled with holes, shattered and fell away. Jae-hee dove through the empty frame and out of the car.

“Gack! K-hack! Ugh!”

He squeezed out the last of his strength, alternating bursts of speed with sudden stops to break his fall as safely as possible. After tumbling down the road, he scrambled to his feet and started running.

“Darn it, Commander! Team Shakespeare betrayed us!” he yelled into his comms. “But I still have the mission objective, the monster’s Core…”

But the lion doll was no longer in his arms.

“Huh?”

He frantically patted himself down.

It wasn’t in his windbreaker pockets, his inner pockets, or his pants pockets. The lion doll was gone.

The old couple had swiped it during the chaos.

“When the hell did they—?!”

Horrified, Jae-hee reported again, his voice deflated.

“Never mind, correcting my report. The monster’s Core has been stolen… huh?”

He stopped mid-sentence, an odd feeling making him reach for his ear. His earpiece was gone, too.

“Are you kidding me?! When did they take this?!”

He’d fancied himself a seasoned petty thief, but the skills of an old couple who had spent their entire lives on the front lines of pickpocketing were on another level.

Even in the middle of that frantic brawl, they had cleanly lifted the mission objective and his communication device.

He felt like a rube who’d been played by a master cardsharp. He’d been robbed blind.

“Hah…”

Jae-hee slowly came to a stop and looked back. The sedan wasn’t chasing him; it was speeding off into the distance.

The mission objective was gone, his comms were gone, and he had no energy left to run.

Standing on a corner in a city of fleeing people, swirling flames, and dust, Jae-hee muttered in a drained voice, “Now what…?”

He was so exhausted he just wanted to collapse.

But then, a voice echoed in his mind.

“…like you said: become the strongest. Don’t stop until you’re stronger than anyone else.”

It was his master’s reply to his childish vow to become the strongest person in the world.

“…Hah.”

The Boy closed his eyes and took a deep, steadying breath.

“What am I asking the obvious for…”

He opened his round eyes again.

“How could they swipe my stuff with no regard for professional courtesy…”

To become the strongest, he had to overcome a small trial like this.

Of course he did.

“I’m coming to kick your asses right now!”

Jae-hee started running again.

He forced his legs into a clumsy jog, chasing the sedan that had long since disappeared into the distance.

***

At the temporary command post.

Shylock lowered his voice and spoke into his comms to Romeo.

“What about the boy?”

«He escaped,» Romeo reported, his tone flat. «He was no ordinary kid. We tried to take him out with our usual ‘execution,’ but he withstood the four of us and got away.»

“He’s that Ghost’s disciple, isn’t he? Of course he’s not ordinary.”

He was the student of the sword demon who had single-handedly subdued them all and thrown them into that floating prison. It would be strange if he were weak.

«Still, we took the mission objective and his comms. Drained his stamina, too. He won’t be able to follow us for a while.»

“Good work. I’ll delay our report to Hae-eun Seo. You close the deal. Quickly.”

«Yes, boss.»

“I’ll join you shortly.”

Click.

After ending the transmission, Shylock turned to his side.

“Now then, your callsign… Status Window, was it?”

A pistol was in Shylock’s hand, its muzzle pressed against the side of the boy who had been brought along as support—Status Window.

“You’re coming with me.”

“…”

“I’m old, and it’s a bit hard for me to get around. You can drive for me, carry my things. And be a hostage, while you’re at it.”

Feeling the cold metal against his side, Status Window began to sweat profusely. He stammered, “Wh-where are you going desu…?”

“That’s none of your business. Just do as I say.”

“Ah, I overheard your entire conversation just now desu.”

Despite the gun pointed at him, Status Window spoke with surprising composure.

“You’re planning to betray our unit, aren’t you desu?”

“…”

“You’re not going to deliver the ‘product’ as ordered. You’re planning to divert it somewhere else. Am I wrong desu?”

“Ho.”

Shylock’s eyes flickered with interest at the boy’s unexpected display of courage.

Thump!

Status Window collapsed to the floor.

“Sorry, but I can’t let that happen desu! I will honor my loyalty to Boy-kun desu! I won’t yield to your demands one bit desu!”

“Quite the spirit.”

Shylock nodded, seemingly pleased that Status Window wouldn’t bend, even at gunpoint.

“I was just going to use you and toss you aside, but you’ve got more potential than I thought.”

“…?”

“Listen here, little piggy. You come with me, and…” Shylock grinned, his wrinkles creasing. “You get released. Immediately.”

“Eh?”

“I’m saying you won’t have to rot in that filthy prison any longer.”

Shylock spoke with emphasis as he stared into Status Window’s trembling, bewildered eyes.

“Team Shakespeare received an offer. If we betray the Convict Unit and secretly deliver the monster’s Core to ‘someone,’ they’ll grant us our freedom through a plea bargain.”

“…!”

“You come with me, piggy… and I’ll let you join Team Shakespeare.”

“Y-you mean…?!”

“So? What do you say? Will you join us?”

Faced with such a massive temptation, Status Window barely managed to collect himself. He gritted his teeth and shook his head.

Then, in an unwavering voice, he declared: “I will serve only you, Boss Shylock, with lifelong loyalty desu!”

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