Chapter 97

He had never been in love before.

That was simply how life was when you lived as a mercenary overseas.

In a life busier than most, spent earning money and just trying to survive, there had never been any time to share love with someone.

And then, unexpectedly, a woman appeared in Jang Bokdong’s life.

A woman who, from the very first moment they met, had asked him to kill her.

“So this is why they say first love is so important.”

“Why?”

Beneath the moonlight, the beautiful woman answered the words he had muttered to himself.

A laugh escaped him.

“Hahaha, because they say it’s so intense that you can’t easily forget it or let it go.”

“I’ll admit that. I’m thinking the exact same thing right now.”

But that wasn’t true only for Jang Bokdong. It was true for Elina as well.

It was the meeting of two people who had never once been in love.

Their first button had been fastened wrong, but that very mismatch had created a strange situation, which turned into a powerful attraction between them, a peculiar kind of love.

That was why, even in this bleak situation with nothing to eat, they couldn’t help smiling at each other.

“Elina.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to live with me in Korea?”

“Hmm… Then will you stay with me forever?”

“I will. I’m sick and tired of war.”

“I want to live in a country without war too.”

“Then let’s go back to Korea together, build a house in the countryside, and live there. I’ll buy a small family burial hill behind it too.”

“A hill?”

With a bittersweet smile, Jang Bokdong stroked Elina’s hair and said,

“I’m going to build a memorial for Mike and your mother.”

At that moment, the meaning in Elina’s smile changed.

Sadness and longing were added to her once-happy smile, and with bliss mixed in as well, it turned almost ecstatic.

“Jang Bokdong…”

“We’ll commemorate that day every year. We’ll never forget them. Even if I can’t bring back their bodies.”

“No, that’s more than enough. They’ll live on in our hearts forever.”

“Are you crying?”

“Because I’m so grateful.”

He wiped away the tears streaming down Elina’s face once more.

The tears that had slowly welled up soon turned into unrestrained sobs.

Quietly, he pulled her into his arms and patted her back.

“Go on, cry. It’s okay to cry your heart out.”

The sorrow Elina had gone through was incomparable even to the grief of losing Mike.

It wasn’t just anyone. It was her mother, her only family, who had passed away.

And as if that weren’t enough, their situation had only grown more desperate, likely not even giving Elina the time to properly mourn her mother’s death.

She hadn’t even been able to hold a funeral.

Perhaps this moment, as she sobbed her heart out, was the first time she had truly been able to grieve.

Sniffle. Sniffle.

She seemed to cry for over ten minutes.

As her sorrow gradually subsided, as though her thoughts of her mother were finally settling, Elina was the first to pull away from Jang Bokdong’s embrace.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

She was still in tears even as she thanked him.

Then again, how could the grief of losing a parent be washed away in such a short time?

Having never had parents, Jang Bokdong couldn’t fully empathize, but he silently comforted Elina, drawing on the grief he himself felt from losing Mike.

A quiet stillness settled, broken only by the sound of the wind.

A silent funeral beneath the moonlight, honoring those who had departed.

Vroooooom.

It happened then, as they leaned on each other’s shoulders, gazing at the moonlight and missing the dead.

Flinch.

For a moment, he heard a sound so faint he thought he had misheard it, like the exhaust of an engine.

But he wasn’t the only one who had heard it. Elina flinched too and looked at Jang Bokdong.

The moment their eyes met in midair.

‘…..?!’

A chill ran down their spines, and just as they had done before, they quickly scanned their surroundings.

“Over here.”

He grabbed Elina’s hand and laid her down in a small hollow in the sand nearby, the perfect place to hide.

Then the two of them hurriedly swept sand over themselves with their hands, burying their prone bodies.

VROOOOOM!

So he hadn’t misheard it after all.

The sound of the vehicle’s exhaust, once distant, grew closer and clearer until it was right on top of them.

‘Just pass by… Just pass by…’

This had happened about twice before.

Shiver.

Each time, Elina had trembled beneath the sand, and their pursuers had failed to find them before moving on.

He prayed it would be the same this time.

Thud.

However…

It seemed God wasn’t listening this time.

The sound of an engine shutting off rang out.

“Is this the spot?”

For the first time, from close by, they heard the sound of people getting out of a vehicle.

“Where? Over to the side?”

As he listened closely to the voices, Jang Bokdong’s brows twitched.

“Explain clearly! Where are they?”

It felt as if someone were looking down on this spot and directing the others, which made Jang Bokdong look up toward the one high sand dune from which this place could be seen.

It was then.

Glint.

He saw moonlight flash from the top of the dune.

There were only a few things that could catch enough light to glint beneath the moon at this hour.

Binoculars or a scope.

‘Dammit.’

Whichever it was…

Their luck had run out.

It meant those bastards were watching them right now.

Swoosh.

Jang Bokdong’s eyes hardened.

He couldn’t just stay here.

Unarmed as he was, a preemptive strike was his only chance of gaining even the slightest advantage.

‘A little closer, just a little.’

As the sound of footsteps drew nearer, Jang Bokdong slowly tried to loosen his grip on Elina’s hand.

Grip.

But Elina squeezed his hand even tighter.

Her silent, strained expression and her eyes were screaming at him not to do it.

‘It’s okay.’

All he could do was mouth those words of reassurance to her.

He couldn’t just stay hidden as Elina wanted.

He turned his head again, his eyes colder than ever, and listened to the sound of someone slowly approaching.

And when the perfect moment came.

Then.

Whoosh! Thwack!

“Ugh!”

He shot up from the sand, drove his fist into the man’s abdomen, and followed it with an open-palm strike to the chin.

Something cracked, whether teeth or bone, and the man flew through the air and crashed onto the sand.

“There he is!”

Clank.

He quickly snatched up the fallen rifle and rolled to the side.

Was it because the ambush had been so sudden?

Or were his enemies simply that incompetent?

Bang! Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

Even as he threw himself behind a nearby sand dune he had already scouted out, not a single round from the hail of bullets so much as grazed him.

Dozens of bullets slammed uselessly into the sand, kicking it up in sharp bursts.

Wincing at the sand spraying everywhere, Jang Bokdong waited for an opening, then reached down, grabbed a handful of sand, and flung it to the side.

Swish!

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

As expected, at even that tiny movement, the bullets immediately changed course and rained down as though they had been waiting for it.

He threw a second handful of sand, and just as the bullets shifted again, Jang Bokdong rose from the opposite side and launched a counterattack.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

“Aaargh!”

“Gack! Gack-gack!”

“Aaaaargh! My leg! My leg!!”

The brief counterattack, lasting less than three seconds, dealt heavy damage to Gani Habah’s formation.

Out of nearly ten men, three were shot down and left unable to fight, but there were still many soldiers left.

The remaining soldiers quickly tried to aim at Jang Bokdong, but he had already vanished behind another sand dune, and their bullets rained down uselessly onto the sandy ground.

“Dammit.”

Gani Habah, who had been waiting inside the vehicle, scowled.

A Qudus soldier standing nearby spoke.

“He’s like a ghost. I heard he’s the one who killed the former commander.”

“Ha! I’m the one who killed my father. I killed him with my own two hands.”

“At this rate, we’ll run out of bullets first.”

At the soldier’s anxious words, Gani Habah quietly handed him a weapon he had hidden inside the vehicle.

“Use this.”

“That’s…”

“It’s American. Can you finish him?”

“Without a doubt.”

The soldier who received it from Gani Habah set down the rifle he had been holding and moved toward Jang Bokdong.

Though he was already within firing range, he approached from an awkward angle, swallowed dryly, and tightened his grip on the object Gani Habah had given him.

Then he hurled it with all his might behind the sand dune where Jang Bokdong was hiding and shouted,

“Everyone, get clear!”

‘….!!’

At that incomprehensible shout, the object landed with a thud.

The instant he saw it, Jang Bokdong’s eyes widened more than ever before and he threw himself sideways.

‘A grenade!?’

His body reacted on instinct.

He didn’t think. He simply moved the moment he recognized it.

But the Qudus soldiers, who had been waiting for exactly that moment, opened fire from their prepared positions.

Thwack! Thwack-thwack!

As Jang Bokdong threw himself through the air, bullets mercilessly slammed into his thigh, calf, and foot.

‘Kugh!’

Boom!!!

Before he could even register the pain, the powerful explosion went off, and his mind turned blank.

A high-pitched ringing, beeeep, and a wavering blur of vision struck Jang Bokdong and the Qudus Army alike.

“Aaaaargh.”

“My eyes! My eyes!!!”

On top of that, the grains of sand flung up by the explosion embedded themselves in the eyes of the Qudus soldiers, leaving some of them unable to even hold their guns.

But naturally, the one who suffered the greatest damage was not the Qudus Army, but Jang Bokdong, who had been closest to the grenade.

‘Haa…’

Judging the severity of the damage, Jang Bokdong pressed a trembling hand to his chest.

His gaze, fixed on the thick blood coating it, turned toward the sand hollow where Elina was hiding.

He smiled in relief when he saw that she seemed unharmed.

Then, with a look more resolute than ever, he gripped the rifle.

“Hoo!”

He let out one deep breath.

“Uwaaaaaaaargh!!!!”

Then, with a thunderous roar, he rose fully to his feet and, dragging his injured leg, charged over the sand dune toward the Qudus soldiers and Gani Habah.

Bang! Rat-tat-tat! Bang-bang!

He began firing according to his highest priority.

At what he did best.

Startled, the Qudus soldiers tried to raise their guns, but the ones who aimed first were the first to fall.

His accuracy had dropped significantly because his vision had not fully recovered, but it was no problem for him to kill one man with every three to five shots.

“Gurgle!”

“W-Wait…!”

Thud.

“Uwaaaaaaaargh!!!”

The charge, together with that roar, continued even after he ran out of bullets.

He snatched up weapons dropped on the ground and kept firing as he killed the soldiers.

He killed every one of them until only Gani Habah, hiding inside the vehicle, remained.

“Shoot!! I said shoot!!!”

It was at the exact moment he approached the vehicle and raised the muzzle to kill that bastard.

Whizz!

Bang!

So it wasn’t binoculars, but the scope of a sniper rifle.

A single bullet, fired from so far away that the sound arrived late, blew away the arm holding the gun.

The impact was so great that it staggered his whole body, blowing off one of Jang Bokdong’s arms in a single shot.

“Khahahaha! Yes! It worked!!”

With both hands gone, Gani Habah rejoiced so wildly that his fat shook.

Sitting in the passenger seat, bouncing up and down as he celebrated through the window, he made Jang Bokdong grind his teeth.

Thud!

The sight of Gani Habah’s disgusting figure reignited Jang Bokdong’s will to live.

His injured leg slammed into the sand, bracing the body that was about to collapse.

Then Gani Habah’s eyes fell on Jang Bokdong’s blood-soaked chest.

“You… how are you still standing…?”

His abdomen, torn apart by grenade fragments, made Gani Habah’s face twist in disbelief.

But only for a moment.

Jang Bokdong staggered as he painstakingly made his way to the back door.

Then he bit down hard on the handle of a jackknife tucked into the jacket of a soldier who had died leaning against the car, and with all his strength, twisted his head to the side.

“You… you…”

The jackknife came free cleanly, and a murderous glint flashed in Jang Bokdong’s eyes as he held it between his teeth.

“Hieeeek!”

Startled, Gani Habah didn’t even think to get out of the vehicle. His face turned into a mask of terror as he watched Jang Bokdong approach.

Jang Bokdong barely made it to the passenger side where Gani Habah was sitting.

He looked at the passenger door handle.

He wanted to break it open, but with no hands, he couldn’t open the door.

Even so, the murderous light in Jang Bokdong’s eyes didn’t dim in the slightest as he looked at the terrified Gani Habah and silently tilted his head back.

“You can’t beat me… It’s already over! Khahahaha!”

Just as Gani Habah was about to grin at what looked like surrender.

Thud!!

“H-Heek!!”

Jang Bokdong’s head, thrown back, slammed mercilessly into the passenger-side window.

Thud! Thud!

Not once.

Twice, three times.

Blood from his split forehead ran down his nose and soaked both cheeks.

Then came the fourth headbutt.

Thud!

C-crack!

By the time the blood pouring from his torn forehead had soaked the front of his shirt, cracks finally spread across the passenger window.

Grin.

Now the passenger window was weak enough to shatter with one more hit.

And if he could just kill that bastard with this jackknife…

‘I can save Elina, who’s hiding.’

That was enough.

He had to finish this quickly.

Before Elina found out about what had happened here.

After briefly glancing toward the sand hollow where Elina was hiding, Jang Bokdong, like a man with not even a shred of attachment left to life, threw one final headbutt with all his strength.

Crash!

At last, the passenger window he had been waiting to break shattered into pieces.

Flick!

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

He flung his severed arm toward Gani Habah’s eyes, splattering blood across his face to stop him from doing anything.

“Ugh, uwaaaah!!”

As Gani Habah flailed about with his vision obscured, Jang Bokdong threw himself into the passenger seat without hesitation.

And just as he was about to slash Gani Habah’s throat with the jackknife.

Whizz!

“Ha…”

Bang!

This time too…

God did not side with Jang Bokdong.

The force of the sniper shot from far away sent the body he had thrown forward flying sideways.

The large hole torn into his side made it impossible for him to even breathe, much less scream in pain.

With sniping skill like that, they could have killed him the moment they found him.

He had wondered why they hadn’t, but he soon understood the reason.

Screech. Thump!

“Phew, you really scared me. That’s a compliment, you son of a bitch!”

As if he had never been afraid at all, Gani Habah got out of the car, ran over, and kicked Jang Bokdong hard in the stomach.

Now unable to even breathe.

There was nothing he could do but quietly wait for death.

“Ha, hahaha! Ah! I should hurry. If he dies, he won’t get to see the best part.”

With his fat jiggling and his feet prancing, Gani Habah ran off somewhere.

Quietly waiting for death, Jang Bokdong looked in that direction, and the moment he realized it was where Elina was hiding, strength returned to his dying eyes.

‘No! N-no!!!!’

But.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

“Heeheehee! Found you! Let’s go! He won’t be able to see if he dies~”

This was the reason the sniper hadn’t ended his life with a single shot.

But there was nothing he could do.

He wanted to move his body, but it wouldn’t respond.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

As death crept closer and closer, the last thing he saw before darkness covered his eyes was Elina being dragged out of the sand hollow by her hair.

‘Ah, ahh… Aaaaaah!!! P-please!! Please!!!! Stop! Stop it!!’

He couldn’t see anything anymore.

But unlike his sight, which was gone, his hearing remained unnervingly sharp.

“Ah… ahhh… Aaaaaah!! Jang Bokdong, why… why is Jang Bokdong…”

Elina’s voice drew closer.

Had she seen him dying? Her voice trembled violently.

And then came Gani Habah’s voice.

“I hear the last thing to go is your hearing. You can hear me, right?”

‘….!!’

That voice, which he least wanted to hear, reached him clearly.

At the devil’s laughter, dripping with amusement, he screamed into the Abyss where no one could hear him.

‘I was wrong! I’ll get on my knees and beg! I! I was wrong! I was wrong, you bastard!!!!’

But that desperate plea was never heard…

“Listen closely. This is the sound of the beautiful Elina enjoying herself.”

Uwaaaaaaaaaargh!!

Tears and blood mingled into a corner of hell, shattering every last piece of Jang Bokdong’s soul.

(T/N : I know its just a flashback but fuck! I hate this guy. )