Old Blood (1)
The extremist armed organization Old Blood had long been condemned by the international community for committing various kinds of heinous terrorist acts.
The World Gate Administration had even placed a bounty of 100 million dollars on the head of Old Blood’s leader, Jacques Rocard, but because he had so many forces protecting him, there were no signs of him being captured at all.
Meanwhile, he continued to carry out terrorist attacks while forcibly making the world aware of their claims.
He had even bribed several Hyper-Ranker–level mana users with enormous sums of money, so the mana users who tried to claim his bounty would often disappear without a trace.
The terrorist method most frequently used by Old Blood, led by Jacques Rocard, was to take a large number of hostages, then present their demands or release statements.
During the process, they would not hesitate to commit hostage massacres or suicide bombing attacks.
Because of this, it was not easy to attempt to suppress the Old Blood terrorists who had currently occupied L Tower and were holding over 1,000 hostages.
L Tower had already been seized.
And surrounding it was the Korean Gate Administration.
If it had been an ordinary terrorist incident, the Counter-Terrorism Bureau would have stepped in, but since the perpetrators were Old Blood, the Administration itself had taken charge.
***
“They’re still demanding that AbsoluteSafetyFirst be brought here.”
Strike Team Leader Go Won Tae was giving a brief report to Director Jeong Yeon Woo, who had rushed to the scene.
“They must know that’s a demand we can absolutely never grant… Are they just trying to build justification before killing the hostages?”
“That’s highly likely. Because of that, we are considering a forced suppression… but according to the report, the suits worn by the ten terrorists don’t seem ordinary.”
“Suits?”
“Yes. It seems very likely that Old Blood was the group that raided the Japanese secret research lab a month ago.”
“You’re saying the Mana Suits that Japan was developing are in Old Blood’s hands? And the terrorists are wearing them?”
“Yes.”
“…Damn. Then a forced suppression won’t be easy, will it?”
Even if the terrorists were just specially trained ordinary people, suppressing them by force would not be easy.
If those people were wearing something special like Mana Suits, forced suppression became almost impossible.
“There are too many hostages, and since all ten terrorists are wearing Mana Suits… forced suppression… seems difficult for now.”
Go Won Tae spoke honestly.
The elite strike team members he led were all hunter-level or higher mana users with outstanding abilities, but even with such personnel, forced suppression was difficult.
“This is driving me crazy.”
Director Jeong shook his head repeatedly.
“What about contacting AbsoluteSafetyFirst… ”
“No. Absolutely not. No matter what happens, absolutely not. Even if AbsoluteSafetyFirst contacts us first, saying he’ll step in, it’s still no.”
Director Jeong cut off Go Won Tae and firmly rejected the idea.
He felt deeply sorry for the hostages trapped in L Tower, but by now AbsoluteSafetyFirst had become an irreplaceable asset to the Korean Gate Administration.
The value of life should naturally be equal.
But sometimes, there came moments when this obvious principle could not be upheld.
And this was exactly that moment.
If it meant protecting the future of Korea, Director Jeong was prepared to become the worst villain in the world.
‘I’m sorry. But… to prevent a greater sacrifice, there’s no other choice.’
Looking toward L Tower, Director Jeong sincerely apologized to the people who had been taken hostage.
Right now, there truly was no solution.
“For now… We’ll have to keep negotiating while searching for a way.”
Director Jeong muttered bitterly.
Go Won Tae could read his feelings, so he said nothing further.
If the hostages died, there would naturally be massive social backlash.
Some of the hostages were foreigners.
Which meant it could even become an international issue.
But even so, AbsoluteSafetyFirst could never be called here.
That was the Administration’s basic policy.
***
Creak.
Seon Yul slowly stepped out after opening the inner door of an empty restroom located around the middle of L Tower.
The news about the L Tower terrorist attack had already been reported before the Administration imposed media control, so Seon Yul naturally knew that a terrorist incident had occurred.
But by chance, he had entered an online community where someone had posted that the terrorists were Old Blood and that they were currently demanding that AbsoluteSafetyFirst be brought to them.
After seeing that post, Seon Yul was able to understand the situation much more clearly.
The post was deleted very quickly by the original poster.
But the problem was that Seon Yul had already read it in that short time.
After learning all the facts, Seon Yul first felt grateful toward the Administration for not contacting him at all despite the situation.
But gratitude was separate from the issue itself.
Now that he knew everything, he couldn’t just sit still.
So Seon Yul contacted Cha Seong Hyeon, the person he usually communicated with.
Cha Seong Hyeon strongly denied everything at first.
But after Seon Yul quietly threatened(?) him, he was able to obtain more detailed information.
After learning all the details regarding the L Tower terrorist attack, Seon Yul immediately asked Cha Seong Hyeon to obtain and send the tower’s blueprints and detailed photos of each floor within ten minutes, without telling anyone.
Of course, Cha Seong Hyeon insisted that if Seon Yul was thinking of going to L Tower, he absolutely must not.
But Seon Yul lightly threatened him again and successfully obtained all the information he wanted.
To be honest, Seon Yul had no complaints at all toward Cha Seong Hyeon or the Korean Administration.
On the contrary, he was grateful for their desire to protect him.
But Seon Yul could not abandon the basic duty of being human.
Just as his aunt Lee Hyun Ah had once told him, even if he couldn’t become a hero, he still wanted to try to be a good person.
Because of that, he could not simply stand by and watch.
‘The terrorists are currently gathered near the top observatory floor, right?’
Using the information he had received from Cha Seong Hyeon, Seon Yul calmly planned to resolve this matter personally.
Of course, he hadn’t come here to become a hero.
Now that he was confident he could protect his own life, he had come here simply as a good person fulfilling his duty as a human being, not as a hero.
‘Let’s solve this step by step.’
The information Cha Seong Hyeon had sent included detailed explanations about Old Blood’s special operatives.
He had even told him that they were currently wearing Mana Suits developed in Japan.
‘First, there are two guys near the entrance leading to the observatory floor, right?’
Since Seon Yul had saved the blueprints and photos on his phone, he checked the exact locations of the terrorists once more.
Then he immediately engraved Absolute Space [Tatto] and took out his Mana Brush, beginning to draw another door in midair.
***
Jang was mixed in among the hostages.
Fortunately, since there were quite a few foreigners among the tourists visiting L Tower, Jang’s presence did not appear strange.
He was observing the ten puppets under his management from within the hostages.
‘The Korean Administration’s reaction is pretty lukewarm… I suppose it’s about time we hold a little hostage execution ceremony.’
He already knew that they would never bring AbsoluteSafetyFirst.
In that case, the best way to make the situation even more troublesome was to set a schedule and execute hostages one by one.
This method was extremely provocative, making it highly effective not only against the Administration confronting them outside but also against the hostages themselves.
He quietly took out a portable terminal from inside his clothes and began inputting commands without anyone noticing.
This terminal was definitely not a mobile phone.
The Korean Administration outside was undoubtedly monitoring all communication networks, so he had no intention of foolishly using a phone.
This terminal was a short-range communication device developed by Old Blood.
By simply pressing numbers, he could instantly transmit various pre-programmed commands to the puppets.
‘Starting in 30 minutes, begin the hostage execution ceremony at 15-minute intervals.’
That was the order Jang sent to the leader of the puppets.
After transmitting the command, Jang calmly stayed still while acting frightened like the other hostages.
‘Heh heh… executing about 100 people should be enough before we finish with the grand finale.’
The final grand finale after the stimulating execution ceremony was, of course, self-detonation.
Jang believed that this would be enough to deal Korea a serious blow and deliver a clear warning.
However…
There was one thing he didn’t know.
At the exact moment Jang issued the command for the hostage executions…
The two puppets guarding the entrance at the very bottom, who had been ordered to block the entrance…
had disappeared without a trace.
***
Shrrrk—crack!
Seon Yul tightly bound the two terrorists’ corpses with Arachne’s threads, then threw them into Absolute Space.
The method he used to kill them was extremely simple.
The biggest reason the White Tiger, the original owner of Real Painting, had succeeded in countless assassination requests without ever failing was naturally because of Real Painting [The Door], which allowed him to secretly infiltrate anywhere.
But that ability alone was not what allowed him to achieve a 100% success rate.
There was a second reason the White Tiger had been called a master assassin on the dark web.
That ability was Real Painting [Protective Color].
By painting camouflage on his body, he could perfectly blend into the surrounding environment for 15 seconds.
After infiltrating with The Door, the White Tiger would hide his body with Protective Color and approach his assassination target as closely as possible.
‘The dead tell no tales.’
Since Seon Yul had gained access to all of Real Painting’s basic abilities through that skill, he could naturally also use Protective Color.
Therefore, just like the White Tiger had done, Seon Yul used Real Painting [Protective Color] to conceal his body and approached the two terrorists guarding the entrance as closely as possible.
Protective Color was classified as a Grade-1 ‘Stealth’ ability, meaning it didn’t merely deceive sight… it could also hide one’s presence.
Unless the opponent was a highly skilled mana user, the Old Blood terrorists… whose senses were close to those of ordinary people, naturally could not detect Seon Yul even when he approached right in front of them.
Thanks to that, Seon Yul was able to get extremely close to the two of them.
Then he shot out two strands of Arachne’s thread, wrapping them around the terrorists’ necks.
The two terrorists couldn’t even scream properly before their necks were snapped by the tremendous force of the Arachne thread, killing them instantly.
Seon Yul threw the two corpses into Absolute Space for the time being and then sent out Spike Crow to find the next target.
Naturally, he sent it outside L Tower, not inside.
Flying as close as possible along the tower, Spike Crow relayed the locations of the terrorists on the upper floors to Seon Yul.
All the hostages were gathered on the top observatory floor, with five terrorists guarding them.
Two had already been dealt with by Seon Yul.
The remaining three were patrolling below the top floor.
‘Let’s eliminate the three below first.’
After selecting his next targets, Seon Yul began drawing another door in midair, quietly making his way toward the upper floors.
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