Against the Clock: The Team Leader’s Pursuit of Glory

"Whoa! Boss, drive more carefully!"

Choi Mi-ran shouted, but her plea fell on deaf ears as Kang Mu-hyuk was unresponsive.

Kim Seong-hyun, puzzled by the Guild Leader's behavior, turned to Gong Du-ri.

"Why is the boss driving like a madman?" he asked.

"A bomb hasn't exploded... I mean---Ah, my tongue..."

Gong Du-ri bit his tongue as the vehicle swayed violently. He couldn't finish his sentence, but the two Hunters gathered enough to get a vague understanding of the situation.

'Something's gone wrong with the plan, hasn't it?'

'Is this dangerous? Should we grab the boss and bail out now? Or should I just go for it? Ah, this feels really bad.'

As soon as their command vehicle arrived at the floodgate entrance, Kang Mu-hyuk bolted out without even turning off the engine. The two Hunters assigned to escort him had no choice but to follow suit.

The floodgate looked like a small dam, stretching only 51 meters in length, and the entire structure was visible at a glance.

Kang Mu-hyuk immediately inspected the closest locations where mana stone bombs should have been placed.

"Gone... Here too... And here too..."

Frantic, he scoured every nook and cranny of the floodgate. The spots where the mana stone bombs should have been were all empty.

Catching up to him, Choi Mi-ran glanced over his shoulder at the supposed locations of the bombs.

"What's the matter? Are the bombs missing? Why would they be missing? Did someone take them?"

Her casual question was a lightning bolt to Kang Mu-hyuk's consciousness. A reel of possibilities related to the current situation played quickly in his mind.

'Someone... Took them?'

This was a hastily prepared operation; there was no time for outsiders to interfere. That meant it had to be an inside job. Someone discontented within their ranks was the most likely suspect, someone who would benefit by putting the guild in jeopardy---or rather, someone who had to avoid losses at all costs.

A face instantly popped into his mind.

'Cho Chung-hyun.'

He was the most suspicious candidate. But even then, questions remained.

'That's still not a good enough motive. Would he really risk lives just because he's about to be marginalized? There's no gain in inheriting a guild that's left as a mere shell. Executive Tae wants to own the guild, not destroy it. Cho Chung-hyun isn't reckless enough to defy him. Damn, that's not the point right now. I need to set aside these issues and fix the immediate problem.'

Shaking off his thoughts, Kang Mu-hyuk addressed the two Hunters.

"It looks like someone's stolen the mana stone bombs. Let's head to the waterfall for now. It's within the line of sight of the Hunter Na Dongpa and his party, so they wouldn't have been able to remove the bombs so easily."

"Do we have to blow up the waterfall too?"

"If the waterfall remains intact, the power of the water attack will be diminished. But we don't have the luxury to worry about that now. We need to put out the immediate fire."

"At least there's a way. A silver lining amid the bad news."

Just as Choi Mi-ran sighed in relief, the sound of clapping echoed from somewhere.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Who's there?!"

A sense of dread washed over Kim Seong-hyun as he drew his sword and stepped in front of Kang Mu-hyuk. A moment later, Choi Mi-ran also unsheathed her weapon.

"I knew it. You're not fazed at all, and you come up with a solution right away. The more I see, the more I'm impressed."

It was a familiar voice.

From behind a pillar, a shadow stretched out, and Cho Chung-hyun walked into view.

"Team Leader Cho?"

Choi Mi-ran stared at him, her eyes filled with disbelief. Kim Seong-hyun swallowed nervously.

'The situation suggests that Team Leader Cho is the culprit... What was his rank again?'

He was already mentally preparing for a fight.

"It was you after all, wasn't it? I was hoping it wouldn't be."

"So, you already identified the culprit? This is why I dislike you. You keep stealing my thunder."

"Hunter Cho Chung-hyun, there's still a chance for you. Hand over the mana stone bomb. You'll only face expulsion."

Upon hearing Kang Mu-hyuk's words, Choi Mi-ran felt a chilling aura. She had never felt such a sinister energy from someone who wasn't even a Hunter.

"If I was going to hand it over easily, I wouldn't be here, now would I? Guild Leader."

"True, if you were going to do that, you wouldn't have committed the act in the first place. I never expected you to either, you bastard."

"Ah, Guild Leader, you swore. You must be flustered. Haha. Does that mean I've hit a nerve?"

"Where is the mana stone bomb?"

Cho Chung-hyun rummaged in his pockets and threw a small object the size of a palm in front of Kang Mu-hyuk.

"I've destroyed the rest. One left, huh? Take it as a souvenir for your journey up there."

Pointing skyward, Cho Chung-hyun sneered at Kang Mu-hyuk. Leaving one bomb was his way of mocking him, a testament to the long-standing grudge he held.

Kang Mu-hyuk slowly bent over and picked up the remaining bomb. He stared at it intently, as if making a resolution.

"Hunter Kim Seong-hyun. Hunter Choi Mi-ran."

"Yes."

"Huh? Yes."

"Keep him restrained here."

"Us?"

Choi Mi-ran questioned with shaky eyes, whereas Kim Seong-hyun calmly accepted the order.

"Our ranks are similar, but... He has a slight edge."

"With the two of you, it should be doable. If you find it hard to subdue him, feel free to kill him."

"!!"

"Oh my God... How scary."

At Kang Mu-hyuk's stern command, Kim Seong-hyun was taken aback, and Choi Mi-ran shuddered, letting out an ambiguous moan.

Both were Hunters who had little to do with killing. In fact, Hunters who had actually experienced killing were rare in the industry.

Unless you were a Hunter from an A-rank or front-line guild, facing various conflicts, or belonged to a villain or an illegal guild, killing was not a subject to be discussed lightly.

"Very well, do me the favor."

The moment Kang Mu-hyuk turned his back, Cho Chung-hyun unsheathed his sword and charged.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Clang!

"Sorry, Mr. Cho Chung-hyun. It's an order from the Guild Leader."

"Kim Seong-hyun, you little---!"

"I don't know! I don't know!"

Choi Mi-ran reached out nervously. Her hand was aimed at Cho Chung-hyun's face.

Cho Chung-hyun thought he could easily fend off Choi Mi-ran's attack with his body and paid her no mind.

Suddenly, his vision flashed. Light swallowed up all forms in front of him. Kim Seong-hyun's figure blurred and then went dark.

"Damn it! What trickery---!"

Thud!

Taking advantage of Cho Chung-hyun's hesitation, Kim Seong-hyun's kick struck his abdomen. It was fortunate that he had closed his eyes in sync with Choi Mi-ran.

Blinded, Cho Chung-hyun wildly swung his sword as he retreated, trying to keep Kim Seong-hyun at bay.

'I should've attacked while he couldn't see...'

Kim Seong-hyun regretted his lack of resolve to kill. It was his shortfall that he hadn't landed a fatal blow when he had the chance.

But it was already too late. Considering who his opponent was, he quickly let go of his regrets. He readjusted his stance cautiously.

'I've been out of the field for a while, but he's a Hunter with much more experience than me. I can't be reckless.'

Cho Chung-hyun, who had regained his vision quickly, was seething with anger over the cheap trick.

"You damn C+ ranker."

"A solid C+!"

Ignoring Choi Mi-ran's snark, Cho Chung-hyun checked behind them. Meanwhile, Kang Mu-hyuk had turned the car and was heading toward the waterfall.

Grinding his teeth, he tried to feign composure.

"As expected. I'm prepared. The Guild Leader will come back here anyway. I just need to deal with you two first."

"I wonder... Can you handle us two-on-one?"

"If you were going to say that, you should've stabbed me earlier!"

Cho Chung-hyun lunged at Kim Seong-hyun, roaring.

...

Kang Mu-hyuk drove roughly on the unpaved road. The vehicle swayed as if it would flip over any second. From behind, he could hear the screams of someone rolling on the floor.

'If it's just the two of them, they can hold their own. Just hold out a little longer. The waterfall is near...'

Just then, three figures appeared in his field of vision, blocking the narrow path to the waterfall.

Kang Mu-hyuk's focus intensified to an extreme level. His thoughts raced, disassociated from reality.

The cursed blessing of mana addiction.

In that instant, he saw every wrinkle and fuzz on their faces, even capturing them talking from an astonishing distance. He quickly read their lips.

'Here he comes. Get ready.'

'Isn't this dangerous? If we mess with the Guild Leader and get caught, we're screwed...'

'Team Leader Cho will cover our back. Dead men tell no tales.'

'Did we finalize things with the group? Is it really okay to go through with this?'

'Damn it! We've come this far; there's no turning back now! We've been promised a spot; we have to trust the team leader.'

'Cho Chung-hyun's faction!'

The reason why Cho Chung-hyun had been so composed, even as the situation escalated, became clear. He had strategically blocked the path in advance.

'Those who are supposed to fight against the Orcs are here unarmed.... They didn't intend to fight from the beginning. He was planning on betraying me from the start.'

Kang Mu-hyuk pondered his options. In roughly ten seconds, they would make contact. There was no way an ordinary person could overpower a Hunter. Winning was out of the question; even breaking through seemed impossible.

'The only chance lies in...'

Being a member of the Strategy and Tactics team, Cho Chung-hyun was generally weaker in the field. He belonged to the weakest of the three main factions in the old Taesung guild.

Kang Mu-hyuk quickly analyzed the composition of the Hunters. The moment he saw their faces, information about them popped into his head.

[Yu Jung-geol, C-]

[Park Ho-chan, C]

[Choi Hae-min, C-]

As expected, there was no one with a B-rank. In that case...

'Ram them with the car!'

If he couldn't kill them, could he at least force his way through?

He had no choice but to bet everything on this slim chance.

Kang Mu-hyuk floored the accelerator. The RPM soared, and the command vehicle roared as it accelerated.

Gong Du-ri hurriedly fastened his seatbelt and screamed, "Find a safe place!!"

Boom! Crash!

Their bodies jolted with the sound of the collision. For a moment, it seemed like he saw a Hunter flying toward the lake through the car window. The sky flipped, and the ground sank beneath them.

Kang Mu-hyuk realized the car had been overturned.

'Idiots. They tried to stop the car with their bodies?'

Choke!

He gasped for air, overcome by a crushing pain in his chest.

"Haa...haa...ugh!"

With trembling hands, Kang Mu-hyuk managed to unfasten his seatbelt and fell onto the overturned roof of the car. Looking back, he saw Gong Du-ri hanging upside-down, his arm elongated by the force. His chest area was swelling and deflating; it looked like he had passed out.

Kang Mu-hyuk tried to exit the car, but the door wouldn't budge.

Just then.

Creak! Rip! Screech---Bang!

The sound of warping metal filled the air as the door was ripped off its hinges.

"Our Guild Leader is tougher than he looks. Thanks to you, some of my guys got hurt. One even fell into the water. Does workers' comp cover this?"

"If you want workers' comp, go get a job somewhere."

"An unscrupulous employer, even at death's door. Just stay put; this will be over soon."

A menacing hand gripped Kang Mu-hyuk by the collar.

Bang!

A mana bullet fired from the revolver Kang Mu-hyuk had just drawn.

"Argh! Ahhh!"

The price of complacency was steep. A point-blank shot aimed at the eye was not merely painful. The Hunter experienced both intense agony and a world that had gone half-dark.

"Choke, choke. That, you can claim as workers' comp."

"Gah... You... Bastard..."

Although he was a Hunter, he was an inexperienced C-rank Hunter from a C-rank guild.

Lacking any significant skills other than being awakened, and thus having a grim future, he had neither the ability nor the determination to rise through the ranks without succumbing to the temptation offered by Cho Chung-hyun.

Endurance to withstand physical defects and pain was, from the get-go, an unlikely resource for him.

His vision, along with his future, had grown dark. Fear crept into his mind, overshadowing his anger.

In the end, the injured Hunter had no energy left to even think about Kang Mu-hyuk due to physical and emotional pain.

"Pathetic bastards. It's embarrassing enough to get beaten by a non-Hunter, let alone whining about being in pain."

From behind, Park Ho-chan, a C-rank Hunter who had been silently observing the situation, kicked away the revolver aimed by Kang Mu-hyuk.

The sound of a wrist snapping and bone breaking filled the air. He grabbed the back of Kang Mu-hyuk's head and dragged him outside. Then, gripping his throat with one hand, he lifted him up.

Dangling in the air, Kang Mu-hyuk's face flushed red as he gasped for air; his vision blurred.

'So, now I'm seeing all sorts of nonsense.'

As his brain was starved of oxygen, he even began to see imaginary objects flying in the sky.

"Guild Leader, I won't listen to any last words. Sorry, but I need you to die for my advancement."

The moment Park Ho-chan's grip tightened, Kang Mu-hyuk mustered the last of his strength and mumbled hoarsely.

"Enough... Enough talk. Forget the last words, just... Just eat this, you son of a... "

"What?"

Suddenly, something 'thudded' into the chest pocket of Park Ho-chan's shirt.

Instinctively, Park Ho-chan lowered his head. Something was flashing through the gap in his pocket.

"What is this...?"

Click!

At the same moment, he heard a sound, as if a switch had been flipped overhead, Park Ho-chan's gaze shot upward.

He saw it clearly.

He saw the firing pin cover on the device in Kang Mu-hyuk's hand flip open.

"Hey, you sh---"

Just as Park Ho-chan was shaking Kang Mu-hyuk in an attempt to hastily pull out the object from his pocket---

"This is a gift from your boss."

Boom!

An explosion erupted from Park Ho-chan's chest.