Chapter 132.1: The Hidden Things (1)
Kang Chan’s eyes flashed the moment he heard the sound of the breechblock being pulled. Time seemed to have slowed down.
Haah. Haah.?
Even the sound of his breathing felt elongated.
The man standing near the entrance tilted his head as the man with the C-4 hanging from his body lowered his jacket to its original position. The barrel of the gun touching the back of Kang Chan’s ear slightly recoiled, then touched him again.
Did these punks think he was an easy target just because he obediently sat down when they instructed him to? How dared they pull the breechblock behind him? Were they agents or members of the special forces or something?
Could these bastards take him on in a fight?
Using his thumb and middle finger, Kang Chan held in place the cigarette in his mouth. He then bent his elbow as if he was flicking off a spark.
Idiot! If you pull the breechblock, it will fire two hundred milliseconds faster when you click the trigger!
KC watched the cigarette go by from the corner of his right eye as he threw it backward.
Kang Chan reached behind, swiftly gripped the barrel of the gun behind his ear, and pushed it up.
Bang!
As an ear-splitting sound almost tore his eardrums apart, he felt scorching heat near his right eye. The bullet flew by, the acrid smell of gunpowder heightening his senses.
Kang Chan adjusted the gun barrel and pushed his thumb, which he had placed onto the gun’s trigger.
Bang!
Another bullet was fired.
The enemy with the C-4 hanging on his body clutched his chest as he fell to the floor with a thud.
Kang Chan kept pulling the trigger, firing bullets in merciless succession.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
People were quickly approaching him.
Still seated, Kang Chan twisted his body and threw a left punch into the right gut of the enemy standing behind him. In return, he sustained a blow between his right jaw and neck.
Thump!
The two crashed to the floor, their right hands still holding onto the gun tightly.
Wrapping his left hand around his right hand, Kang Chan forcefully rotated to the right.
The enemy’s right arm cracked. Broken at the joints, it was twisted at an odd angle.
Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!
Kang Chan jabbed the enemy’s neck with his right elbow four times, causing the enemy’s broken arm to jolt each time.
At the same time, the sounds of glass shattering from the balcony noisily rang out, announcing the entrance of masked agents.
“Shoot the bastard next to the table! Now!” Kang Chan gritted out.
As ordered, two agents quickly dashed forward.
Barely managing to get up, Kang Chan frowned when he saw his thumb stuck in the barrel of the gun. He didn’t realize it during the fight, but his thumb had almost gotten twisted. He couldn’t even pull it out now because of how swollen it was.
Kang Chan removed the magazine and the bullets inside the chamber with repetitive clicks, then pulled the trigger all the way to make space for his thumb to come out.
Bam!
Seok Kang-Ho and Choi Jong-Il frantically rushed in through the front door as soon as the masked agents unlocked it for them.
“Daye! That punk has a C-4 around his body. Tell them to keep the jamming device running and get the bomb disposal team to hurry in.”
Kang Chan smacked his head with his right palm. His ear was still ringing from the gunshot, and he couldn’t see properly because his right eye was throbbing.
Choi Jong-Il quickly ran back out. An agent untied Smithen’s binds.
“Captain!” Smithen shouted.
“Smithen, head outside! Quick!” Kang Chan ordered.
Two agents supported Smithen outside.
“Come on, let’s get you up, Cap.” Seok Kang-Ho frowned as he helped Kang Chan stand up. Seeing the blood staining his shirt, it seemed his injury had split open again most likely because he rushed inside so quickly earlier.
The agents tightly tied up and gagged the enemy whom Kang Chan had punched.
The area was hectic. Over ten agents busily ran around inside Smithen’s house.
“What about the guy on the rooftop?” Kang Chan asked.
“We shot him the moment we heard gunshots. Let’s get out of here,” Seok Kang-Ho urged, looking at the enemy who had fallen near the dining table.
Not long after, Choi Jong-Il came running over.
“The jamming device is now operational,” he said as he helped pull Kang Chan up to his feet.
“We should get out of here first,” Choi Jong-Il continued.
Kang Chan lightly shook his head. His senses were still disoriented, preventing him from measuring the distance of objects surrounding him. As a result, his steps were unsteady.
Choi Jong-Il tightly held onto Kang Chan’s upper body and quickly led him outside Smithen’s house.
Ambulances, police cars, and black vans had been parked on the road to block off any civilians from coming close to the scene, but they none of them blared sirens.
Once he had gone outside, Kang Chan did his best to collect even just some of his bearings.
“Get me to Bang Ji Hospital,” Kang Chan said. He and Seok Kang-Ho hopped into the back of an ambulance, which had a bed waiting for them.
The doors closed shut, and they heard Choi Jong-Il give curt orders to drive to Bang Ji Hospital from the front.
Kang Chan lightly tapped his head with his hand again.
“What is it?” Seok Kang-Ho asked.
“Everything feels so numb it seems as if I’m drunk. I think it’s because the gun was shot right next to my ear. ”
“It’s still a relief, though. At least that’s all the damage we sustained,” Seok Kang-Ho replied. Soon after, he headed toward the front of the ambulance and asked, “What about Smithen?”
.
“He’s already on the way to the Bang Ji Hospital!” Choi Jong-Il shouted through the barrier.
It hadn’t even been a week since Kang Chan was discharged, but he was already going back to the hospital again.
When they arrived at the hospital, Kang Chan’s senses finally returned, eliminating his numbness.
Kang Chan’s neck was throbbing where it had been punched, and he could still hear monotonous ringing in his ears. However, the tipsy, drunk-like feeling had at least mostly disappeared.
His thumb was fixed straight with a cast, then he got an MRI scan of his head, Fortunately, they found no noticeable abnormalities, which meant there was no reason for Kang Chan to be hospitalized.
Meanwhile, Seok Kang-Ho had his wound disinfected and got new bandages wrapped around it.
After getting themselves treated, Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho headed for the hospital room where Smithen was hospitalized.
Kang Chan felt some of his worry ease when he saw four agents guarding the door to Smithen’s room.
“Captain,” Smithen greeted as he sat up from the bed.
“Do you want some coffee?” Kang Chan asked.
“Yes, please,” Smithen replied in his feminine Korean.
Kang Chan told Seok Kang-Ho to sit down while he prepared coffee for the three of them. He also opened the windows.
Smoking and drinking a cup of coffee made Kang Chan feel a lot better.
“So, what happened?” Kang Chan asked.
“They knew the password to my house, sir,” Smithen replied.
Kang Chan let out a low sigh.
“Did you bring girls into your home again?” he asked admonishingly.
Smithen’s gaze dropped to the floor.
“Damn it, you son of a bitch! You still haven’t come to your senses after the last incident?” Seok Kang-Ho swore at Smithen.
Smithen couldn’t bring himself to retort back at him.
“Smithen.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If something like this happens again, I’m turning a blind eye to you,” Kang Chan declared.
“I sincerely apologize,” Smithen apologized in his feminine Korean again.
Kang Chan left it at that and pulled out another cigarette. What exactly was going on?
“Did the bastards not say anything else?”
“Not at all, sir.”
Kang Chan couldn’t learn what the enemies were going to demand because they had been killed so quickly.
“We have agents standing by outside your room, so have some peace of mind, okay?” Kang Chan sympathetically said.
“Agents?” Smithen repeated, unsure what the word meant.
Kang Chan quickly gave an explanation in French.
“Oh! I see now. Agents.”
“Once you get discharged and go home after this, start being more careful in the future. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” Smithen replied.
Kang Chan glanced at Smithen one more time before leaving the hospital room.
Smithen had the sturdy and buff build that was characteristic of Caucasian men and still had strong-looking shoulders and forearms. However, he could no longer properly use his strength. Smithen’s pride had probably been quite hurt in this incident, likely making him feel even more pathetic about himself.
“Manager Kim is waiting for you inside,” an agent informed Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho as soon as they headed outside the hospital.
Kang Chan and Seok Kang-Ho stepped into the van in the parking lot. They immediately drove off.
“Let’s go to the office in Samseong-Dong,” Kim Hyung-Jung suggested.
“You look like you need to be hospitalized again too, Mr. Kim. If it’s because hospitals are too stuffy, why don’t you get hospitalized at the Bang Ji Hospital as well?” Kang Chan asked.
“Things are not looking so good right now. It’s better that we speak in the office,” Kim Hyung-Jung replied.
Kang Chan took off the watch and handed it to Kim Hyung-Jung before he could forget to give it back.
“We have defused the bomb. It seems like the enemy had no chance to set it off because the button-shaped detonator was kept at his waist. They weren’t expecting to get shot like that either, and the bomb was most likely just used for intimidation than to actually cause damage,” Kim Hyung-Jung briefed them.
The enemy wasn’t holding the button in his hand, so Kim Hyung-Jung was probably right that the purpose of the bomb was merely to intimidate.
“The enemy who had the bomb was killed on site, and the one with the gunshot wound died a few moments ago. We captured the man whom you fought and took measures to prevent him from killing himself, but haven’t done anything else to him yet.”
As Kim Hyung-Jung spoke, the van arrived in Samseong-Dong and drove down to the underground parking area. When they entered the garage, an agent rolled over a wheelchair and assisted Kim Hyung-Jung into it.
When they ascended to the office on the fifth floor, a doctor came inside to examine Kim Hyung-Jung’s injuries, administer a shot, and connect him to an IV.
It made Kang Chan feel as if he was back at the hospital again.
“You haven’t had dinner yet, have you?” Kim Hyung-Jung asked.
To be frank, Kang Chan wasn’t that hungry, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn Kim Hyung-Jung down, so they ordered hot stone bibimbap to be delivered to the office.
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