Chapter 102

The question was a bit awkward in context. Soram's eyelids blinked twice.

"Why, do you want to know the specific location too? In front of Haeundae Station Exit 1?"

―No. Never mind.

"Then where are you?"

―Dormitory.

His head turned towards the glass door. It was the direction where the headquarters was located. As he was looking in that direction, a call came.

―Jin Soram.

"Yeah."

―Do you miss me?

"What?"

What is he saying? Ha. Soram unconsciously rubbed his arm. As if a cold wind had passed, goosebumps slightly rose. He's really like a drama protagonist. That cheesy line from the dream might not be completely impossible.

"If you're going to say a line like that, try adding Soram-ssi."

―Where did you get stuck on that again? Did you only watch dramas after going down to Busan?

"If you don't, I won't answer!"

―Ah, really...

After a long sigh, he opened his mouth.

―...Soram-ssi, do you miss me?

"Ewww, ewww! So cheesy! Ewww!"

Although he tried to keep his voice down as much as possible since there were many people around, he couldn't help but twist his shoulders back and forth and shudder. Tae-un, whose face must have turned bright red, made a hissing sound.

―You're the one who told me to do it!

"Wow... you're really not good at this..."

―I know. It doesn't suit me.

"Yeah, it doesn't suit you. But it's funny."

Soram smiled, leaning the back of his head against the wall.

"So I might miss you a little."

―...

Beep.

"Huh?"

When he looked at the screen, the call had been disconnected.

What? Did he get upset just because I teased him a bit? For someone with such a large build, his pettiness was beyond words.

At that moment, the black screen that had reflected his pouting face lit up again. He thought it was Tae-un calling back after accidentally hanging up, but it was an unknown number.

"Hello?"

―Why aren't you answering the phone! ...Do you know who I am?

This voice was definitely...

"Yes. What's the matter, Director Kang...?"

―D-don't say the name! Anyway, that thing, you did it today, right?

Whichever way it was, it was a conversation that couldn't be recorded, yet he was quite cautious. It was a voice that made his heart, which had barely become comfortable with the call with Tae-un, feel uneasy again. Soram pressed the brim of his hat and lowered his head.

"Is there a problem?"

―Of course there is! If you sweep it all away without any notice like that...!

"Then should I send a notice? Should I tell you that I will come in a tuxedo like the gentleman thief Lupin?"

―No, that's not what I meant!

"I did a good job of not leaving any evidence. So please smooth things over appropriately so it doesn't become a big deal."

―I was going to do that, but it's not as easy as it sounds... There has to be some unavoidable reason, you know. For both of us to be safe.

"A reason?"

Soram's brows furrowed at the nonsensical words.

―Of course, it would be good if we could hide it well, but if it's discovered later, things could get bigger.

"If Director-nim has even the minimum ability, an event like this will be buried before that 'later' comes."

―We can't be sure! Ahem, I also have to be mindful of the officers here with me. So I thought about it, and it would be better to have a scenario where we quickly grasped the damage situation on our side but lost the culprit, and although we were aware of the recent unstable sentiment, we didn't make an announcement, but from then on, we carried out even more thorough security...

"What kind of bullshit are you saying again? ...Ah, don't tell me."

―I did order a search, but the identity of the criminal is top secret, and I also ordered them to do it moderately, so you don't have to worry.

'...Fuck.'

As if the field agents would do it moderately after hearing that.

"Are you telling me to shake off the people chasing me with all their might right now?"

―Can't you fly away and escape without being seen?

"What a great idea. Tomorrow, the two of us will be all over the news. What trick can I use to escape without a trace in the middle of Seoul? I'm not Seo Min-ki."

―Anyway. You just need to create a scene where you inevitably lost them... Then it'll be a bit easier to handle the internal atmosphere...

He was stupidly careless. By the time he realized that expecting him to be able to do the task he was assigned was already an excessive expectation, it was too late.

"The deal is off with this. If it's going to be a situation where I have to run away on my own, why bother requesting cooperation? I should have just stolen it alone and not cared what happened to the military."

―Ah, no. Chief Jin. That's not... If you could just buy some time, that's all.

"Who's Chief Jin? Director Kang Jin-gyun of the Military Executive Office, Head of the Capital Defense Supply Depot."

―Jin...!

Soram abruptly ended the call and walked briskly towards the exit. Indoor and bright places were the worst for hiding one's identity and escaping. The hand gripping the duffel bag handle tightened.

As Soram hurriedly left the station, a group of soldiers searching the surroundings caught his eye. Normally, when searching for an escaped criminal, they would search nearby roads, followed by Seoul Station and the airport.

"Ha..."

Soram lowered his head and walked towards the main road. At that moment, one of the soldiers who had been surveying the surroundings noticed Soram's back.

"Hey, wait a moment―"

He continued forward, pretending not to hear the call. The footsteps following him soon turned into running. Soram, who had been descending the long stairs in front of Seoul Station two steps at a time, soon jumped over the railing.

"Oh, he's running away!"

"I think it's him!"

"He escaped down the stairs!"

The shadows that had run close to the stairs murmured. Soram tightened the hood string to press down his hat and kicked the ground.

Eventually, he turned his body into an alley with no people. Perhaps because it was the first time he had been in a position to hide his identity and be chased, he instinctively ran towards a dark place.

"He went that way!"

Behind him, one group was chasing Soram, while another group ran around the building to block the escape route on the opposite side. Fortunately, with Soram's speed, he could get out of the alley before the other group arrived.

"Stop! I'm warning you, stop right there!"

A shout was heard. He needed to quickly go to a place out of sight and fly up. Even a 1st-grade hunter couldn't shake off the pursuit of soldiers while pretending to be an ordinary person.

Finally, the end of the alley was in sight. The sound of footsteps behind him also grew louder. Soram pulled his mask up over his nose.

"Shoot!!!"

Shoot?

Before Soram could comprehend the meaning, the finger on the trigger had already been pressed.

Pew―

'Ah, fuck.'

Going to a dark and deserted place was a mistake. A bullet fired from a gun with a silencer grazed his arm.

A burning pain, as if scorched by fire, came. If he were an ordinary person, he would have clutched his arm and collapsed, but Soram was not only accustomed to even greater injuries, but he himself didn't recognize it as a serious wound.

However, while he hesitated, the other group of soldiers arrived from the opposite side. Soram found himself trapped between walls, facing soldiers approaching from both directions.

"Stand still right there. If you move, we'll shoot again."

"..."

"Put down the bag you're holding against the wall."

Soram took a step back. The barrels of the soldiers' guns moved along with his steps. Finally, his back touched the cold cement wall. The soldiers with guns surrounded him in a semicircle.

"You're surrounded. Don't resist unnecessarily."

Should he just reveal his identity or whatever and push through? Soram's eyes scanned the situation. Lastly, the night sky reflected in his eyes that looked up was unreasonably bright.

...Ah, this is really annoying.

He already knew, but he acknowledged it again. His mentality, having learned despair through multiple lives, was softer than Aila's paw pads, and in the face of an unfamiliar crisis, it melted into a mushy mess rather than being soft. Like now.

"Put down the bag!"

"Okay."

The arm wrapped in a black jumper stretched out the hand holding the bag. However, instead of putting it down, he swiftly pulled it towards his body.

"But, did I really only steal guns?"

A few soldiers held their breath. Soram glanced up and confirmed the protruding window ledge on the upper right behind him. And he ran a simulation in his head. An ordinary person could probably do this level of movement. Maybe.

Blue mist quietly gathered in the gap between his body and the duffel bag. The soldiers, whose eyes had become even more fierce, narrowed their steps.

The next moment, the duffel bag was thrown towards the window, rotating half a turn.

Crash!

The glass shattered and the window was broken. Then Soram jumped up, grabbed the window frame, and went inside. A few bullets passed behind his back.

"Catch him, he went back inside the station!"

"Yes!"

Tap.

Soram, who lightly landed on the floor, picked up the duffel bag and ran inside.

The place he had entered was presumed to be the staff room of a cafe inside the station. When he opened the door and went out, the part-time workers standing at the counter screamed in surprise.

"Ahhhhh!"

"Be careful of the glass inside."

"What?"

He crossed the cafe without looking back.

"Wh-what, what, ahhhhh!"

The part-time workers who carefully opened the staff room door had to scream once more as they faced the soldiers climbing through the broken window.

Behind the running Soram, the sound of several military boots following him was heard. Now it was all over to quietly disappear to Busan. Then he had to run away somehow without revealing his identity.

At that moment, as a train had just arrived at one of the platforms, people poured out in a crowd. Soram ran in that direction and plunged into the crowd. As he pushed through people and passed by, the bag that bumped into several bodies rattled.

"Ah, fuck, what the hell."

"Watch where you're going!"

As civilians appeared in large numbers, the soldiers' pursuit slowed down a bit. It was because they didn't know what the person who had stolen weapons would do to the citizens.

While the soldiers were in disarray among the gaps between people, Soram ran towards the exit on the opposite side of where he had gone out earlier. Fortunately, he saw a welcome sign. It was the emergency stairs connecting to the parking lot of the shopping mall attached to the station.

"Chase him!"

Oh my, they're so persistent.

But now, just the fact that someone was chasing him was no longer suffocating. Could he get used to this nervousness too?

As he ran with long strides, the emergency exit quickly approached. Just entering through that gray door, the very brief moment the door closed, would be enough. The very brief moment he could use his special ability out of people's sight.

Finally, his hand reached the emergency exit handle. The door was locked as expected. He was going to break it anyway. It had already been confirmed through the dormitory door how weak a door lock was in front of a fleeing 1st-grade hunter.

Clank.

He forcibly turned the locked handle and went inside. There was still some distance from the soldiers following him, and he could cover the top floor within 30 seconds. Blue mist gathered around his feet as he prepared to leap.

At that moment, the door Soram had just closed opened almost immediately.

Already?

"!"

Thud. His elbow was grabbed. Now he had no choice but to shake it off and fly away, even if it meant revealing his identity. Soram roughly shook off his arm.

However, the other person's hand didn't let go of his arm.

'I don't want to attack a non-awakener...!'

Then, suddenly, the thought occurred to him, 'No matter how much of a soldier he is, he's holding onto the arm I shook off?' At that moment,

"Jin Soram."

A familiar voice was heard.