Dirty Sweet Baby Chapter 29

Heeheon stared at Cha Moogyul with a tormented, resentful, and desperate gaze. It was a silent urging and a plea.

Their tormented gazes clashed for a long time.

At the end of the silent tug-of-war, Cha Moogyul, having finally regained his judgment, muttered a low curse.

“Fuck…”

He let Baek Heeheon go. If it had not been for the page, he did not know what he would have suffered next. He did not even want to imagine it. But now was not the time to think about such what-ifs. The top priority was to check the emergency page.

Heeheon picked up the pager he had left on the desk and checked it.

It was not good news.

“…A gate has opened.”

The location coordinates were very close to here. Creatures would soon come pouring out of the gate.

“This is a real battle. Go and change into your combat uniform.”

“…”

“Quickly!”

*

After quickly changing into their combat uniforms and finishing their preparations to move out, midnight was already approaching.

A deep night with a drizzling rainy season. The surroundings were dark, and the high temperature and humidity completed the worst possible environment. Heeheon, in his combat uniform, led Cha Moogyul, who had come out into the yard. This was because no matter how much of an S-class Esper and a Brigadier General, a general-officer rank, he was, he had no practical combat experience.

‘Combat is out of the question, Cha Moogyul has probably never even seen a creature in person.’

Heeheon pulled the goggles down over his throbbing head. His whole body felt heavy as if it would collapse due to his completely depleted and empty core. His heart ached. He was barely managing to stay upright, teetering precariously. If he had his way, he would want to fall face down on the bare ground and get a deep sleep right now, but that was not an option with the news of a gate appearing.

“Operate your goggles first. Change to night mode.”

“Okay.”

At Heeheon’s command, Cha Moogyul obediently followed and activated his goggles. The sight of him properly dressed in a combat uniform was quite refreshing. Even though it was an emergency, he honestly could not help but look.

The combat uniform, also called a black suit, was black on both the top and bottom, and was stiff as it was made of waterproof material. It had many pockets, making it easy to store various items, including the healing factors that were essential supplies for the Awakened.

Normally, only a pager was attached to the belt, but in combat, a harness was worn on the chest and thighs to carry magazines and a pistol. Once you put on the HMD military special goggles, combat boots, and the combat rifle shoulder strap, you could consider your preparations for deployment complete.

He had only ever seen Cha Moogyul in casual clothes and suits, but seeing him dressed in a combat uniform like this really made the fact that he was an officially manifested Awakened sink in. The black suit suited him well, as if he had always worn it. Then again, there was probably nothing that did not suit Cha Moogyul.

On a dark, rainy night, with the dim moonlight as a backdrop, he, having finished his preparations for deployment, looked relaxed and experienced enough to face a creature at any moment. His cool eyes, visible through the transparent goggles, were burning quietly. He did not seem particularly agitated even though a gate had suddenly opened.

‘That kind of composure is hard for even a seasoned veteran to have.’

Anyway, Cha Moogyul. He is a damn unlucky bastard.

Of course, no matter how good he was, it would be impossible for him, who had just manifested, to engage in direct combat. If it were not for an emergency like this, it was normal for a late-manifested Awakened to train for at least a year and an average of three years before being deployed in a real battle. Even that was an incredibly short time. Since Awakened who were judged to be Awakened from birth trained for a good twenty years, from infancy to adulthood.

“Good. Let’s move.”

Heeheon checked the rifle’s magazine one last time and started walking ahead towards the gate’s coordinates. The rain pouring down on his shoulders was heavy.

“Cha Moogyul, you just watch from behind. I’ll do the shooting.”

“You’re telling me to just watch?”

“Yes. Training and real battles are completely different. It’s extremely rare for a soldier to be able to calmly kill a creature charging at them on their first deployment.”

“Hmm…”

“Besides, your training period is extremely short. It’s right for you to follow my orders now.”

“I don’t know about that. I’m a higher rank… isn’t it right for Second Lieutenant Baek to follow my orders.”

“Cut the crap. Do as you’re told.”

Support troops would soon arrive from the center, but it was necessary to head to the gate as quickly as possible. This was because when a gate opened, a swarm of β-creatures would emerge from it. As time passed and the gate entrance widened, the number of creatures coming out would increase and the surrounding damage would grow, so an initial response was very important.

Before the gate entrance fully opens, he had to kill as many creatures as possible.

If he failed to do so, this area would be devastated in an instant. The residence of Baek Heeheon and Cha Moogyul, which was very close in location, would also not be safe. It would not be strange for the building to collapse, swept away by a swarm of creatures.

“Haha, are you really going to be okay?”

Cha Moogyul asked back with a light laugh. Heeheon glanced back.

“You were staggering, hyung. Earlier.”

He was definitely smiling, yet his expression looked gruesome. This was because, unlike his curved lips, his eyes were distorted.

“You seemed completely drained from the guiding… even now your steps are dragging.”

At those words, Heeheon frowned in annoyance.

“…Whose fault do you think that is, you bastard.”

In fact, he was walking and talking with Cha Moogyul like this because of the situation, but if the gate had not opened, Baek Heeheon would have completely ignored him by now without exchanging a single word. Heeheon could not hide his troubled heart.

‘Crazy psycho bastard…’

He had barely forgotten, but now that Cha Moogyul had mentioned it, the situation from a little while ago came vividly to his mind.

‘Why did you do that, you perverted bastard.’

Because of guiding. Because he is an Esper. Because he could not overcome his instincts?

<Let’s just, be shitty to each other. Baek Heeheon.>

<I will be the son of a bitch who acts like a fucking dog… so you hate me as you please.>

‘Or, did he really suck my dick and poke my hole to see me get fucked over…?’

I do not know, really…

If he could just analyze and understand what on earth Cha Moogyul was thinking, what the principle of his actions was, he felt like he would not regret giving him a fortune. In fact, even though he did not have a fortune, he felt like he would not really regret paying the entire hundred-million won-level danger pay he had saved up while living as a guide.

‘Ha, even if it’s a hundred million, it’s only a large sum to me. A hundred million is probably not even money to Cha Moogyul.’

Why does that bastard have everything? The world is so unfair.

‘It’s annoying. I feel so wronged…’

Heeheon tried his best to collect his scattered anger. It was not the time to be getting hot-headed right now. He could get angry after dealing with the gate.

Heeheon led Cha Moogyul down the gentle ridge. He did not know whether to call it fortunate or unfortunate, but it seemed the two of them were the only residents in this area. There were no other buildings in sight, only dense trees and bushes. Puddles had formed here and there on the ground, which was damp from the rain, and mud clung stickily to the toes and heels of his combat boots.

Then, in an instant, Heeheon reacted sharply.

“Stop.”

Movement was detected ahead. In the 11 o’clock direction, at a distance of about 82 meters. Although it was a rainy night, the goggles he was wearing automatically corrected his vision, so he could see it relatively clearly.

Behind a large rock was a black beast, lying flat on its four legs.

It was watching this way from between the bushes, its two yellow eyes shining. The β-creature, which looked exactly like a wolf, raised its hips as if it were about to charge at any moment. He could see its tail, which was swaying slowly behind it. It was not a tail with abundant fur like a normal wolf’s, but one that was split into two and stretched out smoothly like a snake. And the two tails were moving freely and independently, like tentacles.

Heeheon immediately raised his rifle and shouldered it. His fatigue was extreme and his body was a mess, but there was no hesitation in his movement of putting his finger on the trigger.

The moment he aimed for the core in its chest, it leaped high and shot forward. It charged through the bushes at a speed that a human could not possibly match. Its large, sharp teeth glinted in its wide-open maw. Its dental structure was different from that of a normal beast. Hundreds of sharp teeth, like a shark’s, were arranged in rows, forming steps. The moment one was bitten by that, it would dig in like a hook and a chunk of flesh would be torn out.

The creature closed the distance in an instant.

Each time it kicked off the ground, its body came closer, looking bigger and bigger.

Bang!

A gunshot erupted, piercing through the sound of the rain. The bullet accurately embedded itself in the chest of the charging creature, and its massive body slammed into the ground in the same posture it had been charging in. The creature’s corpse, its core shattered and life extinguished, slid, pushing the mud. Heeheon immediately fired in succession.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Behind it, four more of the same wolf-type β-creatures were charging. Heeheon, overcoming various adverse conditions, swiftly and accurately killed the monsters one by one. Each time a bullet hit, black blood flowed from the jet-black creatures.