Chapter 157 - - Unexpected Person (VOLUME 1 END)
The location was the supermarket, deep inside the gigantic building was a huge freezer storage room used to store meats and all kinds of foods that require cold temperatures to remain safe to eat.
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Inside this room, Soomin and Shin-Il were trapped, their hands were tired and their mouths were closed shut with some pieces of cloth. This had been their situation for a few days now during which, they tried everything they could to get rid of their chains and escape.
However, all of their attempts were unsuccessful as the chains were simply too strong to break with mere strength. So, all they could do was stay there, their hearts anxious and their fear only growing with each passing second.
"What should we do, Soomin?! I'm scared!" Shin-Il said as he shook his body.
"Calm down, we can't lose our composure now." The latter replied with a fairly calm voice. However, her expression was far from calm.
'We got completely fucked over! He took everything! Even my secret weapon!' She cursed in her head. Just remembering what happened made her fists tighten from frustration.
"W-What is he going to do to us? Nobody came to talk to us since the moment we were thrown here." Shin-Il murmured as he looked around him. Apart from the guards that brought them food every now and then, nobody spoke to them at all.
Luckily, the room they were trapped in wasn't freezing cold so they weren't struggling in that department.
At that moment, Soomin heard some noise outside and her eyes quickly moved to the door. Then, with her eyes, she gave Shin-Il a sign to remain silent.
A few seconds later, the door to the room suddenly opened as Cha Kwang walked in.
"Oh, if it isn't the little tricky bastards that I caught yesterday. Good evening to you two, how was your day?" He asked with a smile as he pulled a chair and sat down.
Neither of the two replied to his clearly sarcastic question which made the man laugh loudly.
"So cold, you two. Come on, we're friends here, aren't we?" He asked.
"Go to hell, you scumbag," Soomin replied.
"Hey, Soomin!" Shin-Il exclaimed with a terrified look on his face.
"Don't worry, kid, I ain't going to kill both of you. You see, I took quite an interest in the leader of your group. I know for sure that he didn't die out there. Tell me where he is and we might be able to reach a good agreement."
The duo slowly looked at each other for a moment before they turned around to the man.
"We won't say anything!" Shin-Il replied.
"Hmm, why is that?"
However, the two remained silent, not responding to his question. They knew that he was going to try and slowly extract information from them without them realizing. So, their best solution was to just ignore him.
"Hahah, so that's what you want to do? Sure, suit yourselves. After a few weeks of being trapped here, I'm sure your tongues will loosen up to speak." He said as he was about to stand up to leave, only for one of the guards to suddenly barge in.
"Boss!!"
"What? What the fuck do you want?" Cha Kwang growled.
However, the guard didn't immediately talk and instead approached him before he whispered in his ear.
Soomin and Shin-Il watched the scene with confusion as Cha Kwang's expression changed slowly to a huge frown.
"Huh? Now? of all times?"
"Y-Yes sir…"
"They said they were going to come here a few days from now. Tsk! Goddamit! The society is going to ruin my fucking plans!" Cursing loudly, Cha Kwang punched the guard violently, sending him flying back.
The man fell on his back completely unconscious.
Heaving up and down, the leader turned around to Soomin and Shin-Il with a strong glare in his eyes. Then, he walked out of the room quickly.
Meanwhile, the stunned Soomin and Shin-Il looked at the door speechlessly.
***
"That's all that happened. We don't know what that meant. But, we thought that it must've been important so we wanted to tell you two." Soomin explained with a sigh.
This entire time, Talon and Hyun-Jae listened to the entire situation silently without interrupting the girl. However, the moment they heard the word 'Society' their minds immediately went into shambles.
It took them a few seconds after that to collect their thoughts.
"Are you sure he said 'Society', Soomin?"
"Yes, I remember every single word he said. He definitely said that."
"Talon…" Hyun-Jae immediately turned to Talon.
The latter had a stoic expression. It didn't take a genius to know what 'Society' Cha Kwang was referring to.
"So, he has some kind of connection to that society?" He murmured as he crossed his arms in front of him.
From what Talon knew of the bits and pieces of information he gathered, Cha Kwang was a drug lord before the integration happened. He had giant operations across the entirety of South Korea and even China and Japan which made sense as to why he never heard of him and yet he had such a huge army of men and it also explained why his men weren't able to escape his tyranny.
Naturally, because of his influence, he also had deep connections that go as far as the government itself. So, it didn't take Talon long to make the connection.
'Those bastards…' Clenching his fists slightly, he looked up.
"I think it's almost clear now. The human society in Gwangju might not be the safe haven we're looking for." Talon said.
"What? It's not? But… Everyone is there." Shin-Il replied.
"That doesn't mean that whoever controls that place has good intentions. Don't forget that we were almost bombed to death by war jets a few weeks ago." Hyun-Jae shook her head. "At this point, we should be ready to treat them as enemies rather than allies."
Immediately, silence took over the entire place as everyone fell into deep thought. After all the effort they had put into achieving their goal, it might very much turn into a nightmare rather than a dream.
A place where all humans were supposed to have a safe shelter from the dangers of the outside world was slowly showing its true colors… Dark, corrupted, and evil to the core.
However, far worse than that, Talon already knew that it wasn't going to be as simple as taking over that society. After all, even he could do that on his own if he wanted to. The problem lay in the aftermath of said action.
'A base controlled by the government… I doubt nearby countries would let a bunch of university students take over whatever remained of the human population in South Korea. It probably won't help their future plans.' He thought to himself as he sighed.
In the worst-case scenario he could imagine, Talon felt like he might end up fighting a war not only against his own government but the governments of multiple countries. It sounded as much of a ridiculous idea as any other thing he was planning in the future if not worse.
But, the more he tried to imagine the scale of that problem, the more it gave him a headache. So, in the end, he shook those thoughts away and decided to focus on the near future. Whatever happens in the distant future should remain in the distant future.
"Thank you two for telling us. You can rest now. You deserve a few days off. But, after that, we should get back to work, ok? We're going to start expanding our area of control soon." Talon said as he stood up and dusted his clothes off.
Then, he quickly bid them farewell and walked away before they could ask any more questions. Talon didn't want to needlessly worry them about the future when they were still required to get stronger.
"The society can wait. For now, it's time to conquer the entirety of Seoul."
***
Meanwhile, far away from where Talon was, in a different location in South Korea.
*Knock* *Knock*
The place was a particularly huge building. In a world where buildings were either destroyed, ruined, or a mix of both, this particular building looked completely fine. In fact, most of the buildings surrounding this building were completely fine too as if earthquakes had hit them before.
Inside this building, in one of the many rooms, a door was knocked.
"Come in~" A soft and playful voice replied. Its melody was more than enough to flutter the hearts of men the moment they heard it. However, that same voice sounded particularly monotone and devoid of emotions.
The door then slowly opened, revealing a beautiful bedroom.
"Sophie, you're still in your bed? It's already 10 pm… Wake up!"
"I don't want to, there is no reason to wake up. It's only a circle of pain and suffering outside." The girl replied in an oddly poetic tone as she hid herself under the blanket.
The older man who walked inside stared at her with a sigh. "Do you really think your philosophical remarks would make me leave? Come on, we seriously need you. Your power and talent are too precious for the society."
"I do not care. Without seeing him… I lost all will to do anything apart from sleeping." She retorted.
"Sigh, you're still thinking about that boy, Sophie? It has been 5 goddamn years, when are you going to move on?"
"Move on?" A cold voice spoke akin to sharp ice knives poking into the man's skin.
At that moment, the atmosphere inside the room turned a few degrees colder as the older man flinched visibly. Then, he quickly coughed. "Ehem, never mind. Actually, I came here to bring you some really good news."
"... I'm not interested…"
"They're really important to you…"
"I am not interested, old man… Leave it. Don't forget to close the door behind you when you leave."
However, even with her clear warning, the man didn't leave and instead replied. "I have found potential leads to your lover boy. He might very much be alive."
The moment the man finished his words, the girl suddenly sprang from her bed, throwing the blankets off as she dashed toward the older man. Reaching him in a split second, she said with a deadly serious tone.
"Tell me everything… In detail…"
The man couldn't even react in time as he found himself under the intense gaze of two mesmerizing green irises. Not even he could bear the pressure that those eyes put on his shoulders.
'Why did I even say this to her?...' He cried in his head.
Meanwhile, the girl named Sophie was completely focused on the man, waiting for him to speak. Her head only had one thought.
'He's alive.'
A//N: And that's the end of Volume 1: "Flashy Beginnings" Hope you enjoyed the ride so far ?? more crazy stuff is on the way