Chapter 240: Artificial Ending


    The streets, once teeming with tanks, now watched as each one either came to a halt or was destroyed.


    “Uooooo!!”


    A female student, d in a uniform reminiscent of Sejong Academy, dashed down the street.


    The tank, previously menacing people by moving its wheels, seemed to sense the girl’s approach and swiveled its long cannon toward her.


    “Cr, crazy!! You’re not seriously going to shoot that—”


    Kwaaang!


    Before anyone on the street could react, the cannon fired.


    Itunched a shell, unmistakably from a tank.


    Firing in the middle of the street, even if aimed at an enemy, would cause unimaginable destruction.And at a single person?


    “These crazy bastards!!”


    “Come on—!”


    The high school girl soared into the sky, striking the iing shell with precision.


    Kwaaang!


    The impact resonated like the collision of two dump trucks, sending light shooting upwards.


    Those who looked up witnessed the shell suspended awkwardly in mid-air.


    Those who looked down saw the girlnding gracefully on her feet after her high leap.


    At that moment, the gazes of the onlookers converged, and they beheld the girl perched on the cannon’s long barrel, her shoes still on.


    Thunk.


    As the girl extended her hand to the side, something dropped into it.


    It was a crumpled shell, still emitting white smoke, which she grasped with both hands like a basketball and immediately crushed.


    Even a tank, having just fired a shell, required time to reload.


    With no threat from the enemy, standing atop the cannon she had just neutralized was a terrifying sight in itself.


    Step, step.


    The girl advanced along the cannon, then climbed onto the front of the tank.


    She then delivered a powerful kick to the middle of the tank, causing it to sway significantly.


    A several-ton tank rocked by the kick of a single person?


    Even dismantling the cannon?


    Despite defying thews of physics, this was not considered an anomaly but rather ‘normal’ in this context.


    Those immune to cold weapons.


    Those immune to modern gunpowder weapons.


    Beings born blessed with an unknown substance called mana, controble only by those with the ability.


    Ability users.


    A high school girl, an ability user herself, quickly neutralized the tank—no, the coup army’s tank.


    The wheels burst, ck smoke billowed from inside, and she forcibly ripped apart the cannon, destroying the tank.


    How much money would it have cost to build just one tank?


    Certainly, more than what it cost to raise this high school girl.


    Kwaaang!


    Explosions urred elsewhere too.


    Though explosions urred in civilian areas, and rioting soldiers fired guns and set off explosives, the chaos was easily subdued.


    Bullets aimed at civilians were stopped by des of wind.


    A young child appeared next to the tank, which had abruptly changed direction, and delivered a dropkick, pushing it sideways and stripping its wheels.


    The moment an officer jumped out of the tank and drew a pistol, aiming at the high school girl who had climbed atop the cannon, she didn’t dodge but received the bullet with her forehead, snatched the officer’s gun, gripped it upside down, and knocked him out with a blow to his helmet.


    Step, step.


    Boys and girls, the ability users, subdued and neutralized the soldiers who were older and more numerous than themselves, one by one.


    They took weapons from the soldiers, knocked them unconscious, and civilians rushed in with ropes or whatever they could find to tie them up.


    There must have been some who were hurt or killed somewhere.


    But even if they are soldiers, they are still people.


    For soldiers to fire guns at civilians or shoot cannons down the street is an act that even they themselves would hesitate to perform.


    “Retreat—! Return to your unit!!”


    Tanks fled the streets, and soldiers ran away with their guns pointed skyward.


    Some officers were shouting with veins bulging on their necks, but they could no longer make a sound in the face of the attacking ability users and buried their heads in the dirt.


    One by one.


    Ability users began to gather in one ce.


    The person responsible for leading the military and plunging this street into chaos.


    The person who fired missiles at the ind known as ‘God’s resting ce.’


    And the one who, along with Lace, had taken control of the entire country.


    “General Jeokrang, listen!!”


    Boys and girls in various clothes boldly approached the small army upying the center of the square and shouted.


    “The dead ability users were turned into mana powder and sold off. Is that true?”


    “How can you secretly raise children on an ind! Ability users are not weapons for you to use at will!”


    Tudududududu!


    Gunshots rang out from inside the square.


    It was a random shooting aimed at the ability users gathering from all directions, but the bullets caused no bloodshed.


    Tududuk.


    The bullets simply fell to the ground.


    Ability users who were hit by live bullets merely paused for a moment when hit; the bullets could not inflict any wounds on them.


    “General Jeokrang,e out—!”


    At that moment, the furious screams of the ability users resounded.


    “Listen up, you monstrous bastards.”


    Along with foul curses, General Jeokrang’s angry voice boomed throughout the city.


    “I fervently hope you all turn into demons and die.”


    Taang.


    The indiscriminate curse ended with a single gunshot.<hr>


    [The star of the old era has set.]


    General Jeokrang, identified through the inte, was approximately 60 years old.


    Naturally, he would have children, and those children would have grandchildren old enough to be in kindergarten.


    Having lived a traditional life and then 25 years through a great upheaval, he wouldn’t have epted it easily.


    That the military, the organization he had been part of since his youth, could no longer function properly.


    Someone might say, after seeing it for 25 years, how could you not know, but because he hadn’t changed his thinking for 25 years, the military coup took ce.


    Now, this country would fall into chaos.


    How could one sinctly describe the vast chaos that was about to unfold, and the monumental task of managing that chaos?


    [It’s not the role of a secret society.]


    Hwaruk!


    The Crimson me died down.


    Simultaneously, those who had been waiting beyond the barrier of mes quickly surrounded us.


    “Stop, Goblin! Hold!”


    Heroes pointed their weapons at us.


    And among them, now the number one hero of Thand, stood Nguyen.


    [Does anyone stop just because they are told to?]


    “How did Lace die?!”


    [What do you mean ‘how?’ I killed him. Once he bore the name Lace, when I tried to crack his head open, he turned into a demon and waspletely annihted.]


    “What….”


    I gestured towards the soot scattered across the ground.


    [It may seem an inadequate end for someone who spent his life turning other ability users into bone dust and sucking them dry, but it’s better than letting him live, at least.]


    “That is….”


    [Remember, hero. We are viins. Whatever the target, if we deem them ‘evil enough to kill,’ we show no mercy.]


    p!


    Gunggi swung her hand next to him, and a crimson me spread through the air.


    “Is that…teleportation?!”


    [Farewell. Don’t expect anything. Don’t expect us to stand idly if Nguyen, who has taken up the mantle after Lace, bes just like Lace.]


    I ced my hand on Gunggi’s waist and pointed usingly at Nguyen.


    [Next, it’s you.]


    Hwaruk!


    mes engulfed us in an instant.


    Opening my eyes again while still embracing Gunggi, I surveyed the new space around us and immediately took off my mask.


    “…I feel this every time, but isn’t it a bit much to drop a line like that and just leave?”


    “What is?”


    Gunggi also changed her outfit and sat at the table.


    The ce Gunggi, who had learned the ability of teleportation from Yumir, took me to was one of the underground bunkers in Bangkok, Thand.


    “After all, to others, it would seem like we just vanished, so what does it matter if we went to the bathroom, a motel, or even home?”


    It was designed like a wine bar, and she gripped the smartphone lying next to her, grinning.


    “Oppa. It’s not just you; it’s the creed of the secret society, isn’t it?”


    “…Yes.”


    The secret society always did its best.


    Being quick and decisive was their motto. They handled everything swiftly and urately for world peace, no matter what.


    “14 nights, 15 days. You weren’t nning to use all this time for the mission, were you?”


    “…where Lace’s demon disappeared to.”


    “Oh. Was that part of the mission?”


    “No.”


    I sat next to Gunggi, filled our sses with wine, and lightly clinked sses with her.


    “That’s forter.”


    “Right. So, you know what we have to do now, right? Brother.”


    “I’ll leave the investigation of Hyangdan to the brewers.”


    The rest was.


    “…until we return to Korea, I won’t let you sleep.”


    Just replenishing the spent magic power.


    “Oppa. Shall I make you a cocktail?”


    “I only know two cocktails.”


    I clinked sses with Gunggi once more.


    “Sex on the Beach.”


    “…and the other one?”


    “Quick Fuck.”


    To the end of the old era.


    To the future of this country moving into a new era, cheers.


    And.


    For the day we killed the devil of Lace somewhere.


    All for the peace of the world.