Chapter 3: Hope (5)
Jin-woo clenched his fist while looking at the man.
Jin-woo knew the laws that penetrated all martial arts.
He had established and formulated them. If one knew the laws, following them was easy.
The combat magic techniques were manifested.
The 1st and 2nd techniques were manifested, increasing his strength and speed.
They compensated for Jin-woo’s still lacking physical abilities.
Jin-woo’s figure momentarily blurred.
“What…?”
The man was startled and quickly took a defensive stance. It was to prepare for a magic attack. He expected a mage to attack from a distance.
However, breaking his expectations, Jin-woo appeared right in front of him.
Swoosh!
Jin-woo’s fist swiftly extended.
A mage getting close to a martial artist?
It was a suicidal act.
However, Jin-woo’s fist penetrated the man’s guard and reached his abdomen.
“Ugh!”
Mana pierced through his skin and muscles, shaking his insides.
The man spat blood and staggered, then knelt down.
“…How… did you… cough… Hancheon’s penetration technique… M-mage? At that age… a martial artist?”
“No, as I said, I’m a mage.”
Jin-woo knew the laws that penetrated all martial arts and was training to manifest those laws. Copying such low-level martial arts was simple.
Jin-woo looked down at the kneeling man.
It was the face of a boy with a clear youthful appearance, but to the man, such an outer appearance didn’t matter.
The eyes.
The eyes that seemed to ooze thick blood.
The eyes that resembled the sunset, which only those who had killed countless people could possess.
Jin-woo raised his hand.
“You were curious about the feeling of burning? I’m curious too…”
Snap!
As Jin-woo flicked his fingers, flames shot up from inside the man’s body. He had applied the penetration technique of Hancheon to embed an ignition magic circle inside his body.
“Aaaargh! Ugh!”
The man screamed in agony, clawing at his chest.
The fire slowly ignited in his lungs and internal organs, burning his blood and muscles very slowly.
“How does it feel? Can you tell me?”
“Ugh! S-stop! Stop!! Aaaargh!”
The man struggled and then jumped out the window. He intentionally fell head-first and lost consciousness. Perhaps it was too difficult to endure while conscious.
Jin-woo nodded.
“Hmm, I heard you well.”
His curiosity was resolved.
As expected, directly experimenting was the right answer.
Jin-woo approached Harmu.
He placed his hand on her shoulder and extracted the mana that had penetrated her body.
The martial arts of Hancheon Corporation.
They were a bit troublesome.
“Cough!”
Harmu coughed up black blood and staggered to her feet. She wasn’t fatally injured, but she wasn’t in a condition to move right away.
“Young master… Aina… Aina… If we don’t find her soon…!”
Harmu frantically forced out her mana.
It was to track the bracelet Aina was wearing. The tracking magic circle was drawn, but there was no response.
“Why…? This can’t be…”
Harmu used the tracking magic several times.
But again, it didn’t activate.
Harmu tried to rush outside. She didn’t know where Aina was, but she moved desperately.
“Hurry, we have to find her quickly. Aina…”
Jin-woo quietly looked at her and poked her shoulder with his finger.
“Ugh!”
“Don’t get excited.”
Thud!
Harmu plopped down on the spot.
Just a slight impact was enough to make her unable to move properly.
Harmu glared at Jin-woo.
Many emotions were contained in her eyes. There was no trace of reason. Her mana was on the verge of going out of control. The forcibly activated mana affected her brain, and she could go crazy if she wasn’t careful.
It was like looking at the serial killer Harmu that Jin-woo had killed before.
“Harmu, aren’t you a mage?”
“…What…”
“Save that emotion for later. Maintain your reason.”
“But, ugh…”
Harmu resented Jin-woo, who seemed too cold. Merciless anger and sadness were piercing herself and losing direction.
“If that’s difficult, just collapse right there. It would be much better.”
Jin-woo turned his back.
A mage who lost reason would only be a burden.
Bam!
Harmu swallowed her tears and slammed her head hard on the ground.
Blood flowed from her forehead along with the pain, but her eyes became clearer instead.
Silence descended.
Harmu raised her head and looked at Jin-woo.
“…Please help me.”
It was a desperate and earnest voice.
“That’s what I should say.”
“What?”
“In my current state, it seems a bit challenging. I need an assistant. A real mage who can be of help.”
Jin-woo turned his head and looked at Harmu.
“Are you ready to become a real mage?”
“Yes, of course.”
Harmu staggered to her feet.
She was suppressing all her emotions. She compressed them in her mana core, ready to fire at any time.
In front of her was Jin-woo.
The hope that Jin-woo would help her kept her reason intact.
It was strange.
Even now, she felt like she would go crazy with worry for Aina, but her mind became extremely calm.
Jin-woo rummaged through the body of the man collapsed by the door.
He took out a single stick from the man’s inner pocket. The mark of Hancheon Group was drawn on it.
“That’s…”
“An awakening drug used by martial artists. It will make you forget the pain for about a day. Of course, it will be quite difficult afterward.”
Harmu took the stick and stabbed it directly into her thigh. The needle hidden in the stick pierced her skin and administered the awakening drug.
Harmu exhaled a long breath.
Her staggering and swaying body returned to normal.
“Young master, do you know… where Aina was taken?”
“No.”
“Then how…”
Jin-woo looked at Harmu.
“The bracelet with your tracking magic was quite a good item. It had a wide enough range to cover a small city. It was also well-disguised, so unless someone knew its identity, it wouldn’t be interfered with.”
“But it’s not working. The culprit must be someone who knows the information about the bracelet.”
“Yeah.”
“…It seems it will take too long to track everyone right now.”
Jin-woo nodded and reached out his hand.
Then, a magic circle was drawn in the air, and a red dot appeared.
It was a tracking magic.
Harmu’s eyes widened.
“How…?”
“Your skills looked too clumsy, so I used a trick. Tracking devices should be made with the possibility of being destroyed in mind. That’s the basic.”
“Grabbing Aina’s arm… was because of this.”
“You were watching?”
“Of course.”
Wee-woo! Wee-woo!
The sound of sirens could be heard.
The residents must have reported it. As Jin-woo jumped out the window, Harmu followed him.
The collapsed man could be seen.
As a martial artist, he didn’t seem to be dead, but his condition looked extremely serious.
“You used an ignition magic inside his body? It’s still ongoing.”
“It was quite good. Remember it.”
Harmu took a good look at the man and turned her head.
Jin-woo approached the car he had brought.
“…Don’t tell me you drove it yourself?”
“It’s an emergency. And it’s perfect for the antics of a chaebol’s third-generation troublemaker.”
“I’ll drive. Then this vehicle…”
“I borrowed it for a bit.”
“It seems to be a car related to the Magic Association… Impressive. Did you break through the mana pattern?”
The Magic Association’s vehicles were set to start with a mana pattern.
It was as safe as a fingerprint, but for Jin-woo, who had learned various skills in the destroyed world, it was an easy task.
“Let’s go. I’m curious about what kind of people are behind this.”
“…We’ll make sure to save Aina and make them pay the price.”
It seemed the night would be long indeed.
The vehicle started moving.
Perhaps because it was a new car with the plastic wrap not even removed, it was quite pleasant.
Following the red dot, they quickly began tracking.
Judging from the lack of movement, she seemed to have already been transported to a designated location.
Jin-woo’s tracking magic was so subtle that no one could detect it. It was a magic he had created while doing various illegal activities in the past. It was hidden under Harmu’s technique, so there was no way it would be discovered.
The red dot was stopped on the outskirts of Seoul.
Quickly driving the car there, a single white building came into view.
“It’s Ferme Pharmaceutical of Hancheon Corporation.”
It was as Harmu said.
It was the research lab of Ferme Pharmaceutical. The scale itself wasn’t very large, but a big fence surrounded it, and security personnel patrolled frequently.
Was there a need for that many security personnel in a research lab? If it wasn’t to hide something shady, there was no other way to explain it.
Ferme Pharmaceutical.
Thanks to Dr. Kim Jin-han introducing unified medicine, they had made a lot of money.
The vaccine that worked for all species gave hope to many people. Although it was a monopoly, they didn’t engage in profiteering, so Ferme Pharmaceutical had a very good image.
Currently, it wasn’t such a famous pharmaceutical company in the country. It was slightly behind Sunhwa Pharmaceutical of Ilshin Group, which had a short history.
“Aina is there…”
“She’s in that research lab. Judging from the irregularly distorted wavelength, it’s underground.”
The red dot was slightly shaking.
Harmu gripped the steering wheel tightly. She wanted to charge in right away, but she suppressed that desire. There were quite a lot of armed personnel on the research lab side.
They weren’t carrying firearms, but they were equipped with weapons for security personnel.
“There are too many people. There are also martial artists.”
Jin-woo examined the research lab.
“There’s a security magic circle on the fence. It will take some time to dismantle it now.”
“…I see.”
If they delayed any longer, they didn’t know what would happen to Aina.
Harmu bit her lip and exhaled.
“We don’t have time. Can’t be helped. Let’s go with Plan D.”
“Plan D?”
“It’s a tactic where you think on the spot.”
Jin-woo and Harmu got out of the car.
They surveyed the research facility. Beyond the fence, a power supply facility was visible. It was quite large, as it required a large amount of electricity.
It was a power supply facility of a company Jin-woo knew well.
He had experience destroying it a few times during past operations.
“1 minute and 32 seconds until the emergency power kicks in, get ready.”
Jin-woo reached out his hand towards the car they had ridden.
A magic circle was drawn on the hood of the car, and blue lightning flickered.
Vroom! Boom!
The car accelerated rapidly, breaking through the fence and accelerating even faster.
“Aah!?”
“Wh-what!?”
As the car suddenly charged at them with a crazy speed, the security personnel were startled and dodged.
The car collided with the power supply facility and,
Boom!
It exploded and caught fire.
It took 1 minute and 32 seconds for the emergency power supply to activate.
The security personnel ran over with fire extinguishers.
Jin-woo jumped over the fence and ran straight to the research facility. Harmu quickly followed behind.
Clatter!
They encountered a researcher who had opened the door and come out.
“What…”
Bam!
Jin-woo punched him in the abdomen, knocking him unconscious, and took his access card.
Jin-woo nodded.
Not only had he acquired the access card, but the door that was difficult to open from the outside was also opened.
“Lucky.”
They were able to smoothly enter the research facility.
“We’ll infiltrate like this and secure Aina.”
“Do you have an escape plan?”
“No, it’s Plan D. The charm of Plan D is a bit of luck.”
Harmu nodded with a stiff expression.
They had to quickly rescue Aina. How would they escape after rescuing her?
Her mind became complicated.
“Well, I still have insurance though.”
“What?”
“Let’s go.”
Jin-woo started moving fast.
