Chapter 63

I Am Not a Reincarnator Chapter 63

Heavy Rain (5)

Thud, thud.

The sound of footsteps echoing on the floor reverberated softly.

‘Not just one.’

The footsteps coming from the upper floor were not just one.

At least five.

No, maybe more than ten.

‘Should I go out and fight?’

He was confident in his abilities.

Not out of arrogance, but objectively.

The constellation mark of the Lyre, the Black Heaven, and his innate talent in handling the constellation mark.

It was an undeniable fact that he possessed power far beyond that of a typical 4-star Awakened.

But.

‘The feeling is not good.’

Through his highly sensitive sense of smell, enhanced by the constellation mark of the Hunting Dog, the thick scent of magic flowed in.

The scent was so strong it almost numbed his nose, and it was on a different level from the three owls he had just eliminated.

Although his proficiency with the Hunting Dog constellation was not particularly high,

he could clearly tell that the enemy was beyond his current capabilities.

‘Who is it?’

Ashad Khan?

Another official?

If not, then.

‘…No, it can’t be Cheon Do-yun.’

If it were a powerhouse of that level, he wouldn’t even be able to detect them with the Hunting Dog constellation.

His neck would have been severed before he could even sense their presence.

‘I’ll run first.’

Whoever it was,

it was a daunting opponent to face.

“Don’t make a sound and follow me.”

He muttered in a low voice.

He could feel Jang Seok-ho nodding.

-Swish, swish.

They slowly crawled on the floor in a prone position.

They carefully made their way downstairs.

First, they needed to get as far away from them as possible.

‘If the building has three basement levels, there should be a ventilation duct, right?’

He planned to escape through the ventilation duct after reaching the third basement level.

It was a method that seemed to come straight out of an infiltration action movie, but it was the only practical way to slip away without being noticed by them.

“Have you seen where the ventilation duct is on the third floor?”

“Ah, no. I haven’t seen it.”

Of course.

He was too preoccupied with finding his son to have the leisure to check where the ventilation duct was.

“Slowly. Don’t make any noise as you come down.”

Jang Seok-ho nodded and took off his shoes.

He carefully descended the stairs, stepping on the carpet with his socks.

When they arrived at the third basement level, it looked like an abandoned warehouse, filled with old and rusty air conditioning units.

‘Damn.’

They looked like they would collapse if touched.

Tip-toe, tip-toe.

They walked as carefully as possible, searching for the ventilation duct.

Then.

-Rumble, bang!!

‘Damn it!!!’

An air conditioning unit in one corner toppled over.

Neither he nor Jang Seok-ho had touched it.

It just collapsed on its own.

Probably because Jang Seok-ho had disturbed it when he first searched the third floor.

‘Damn, my luck is really bad.’

It was like breaking his nose by falling backward.

“Hide nearby.”

Oh Jin raised his window.

It was too optimistic to think they wouldn’t come down to the third floor after hearing this commotion.

Since he couldn’t run, he had to fight.

But.

“...”

No matter how much time passed, there was no sign of them coming down the stairs.

“...What is it?”

Why aren’t they coming down, these bastards?

“Eh, what’s going on?”

Jang Seok-ho asked as he approached.

There was no way they wouldn’t come down after hearing this commotion, yet they didn’t move from their initial positions.

“...”

A foreboding feeling crept over him.

‘If they’re not coming down even in this situation...’

Could it be.

“Damn it!!!”

Oh Jin grabbed Jang Seok-ho’s shoulder and hurriedly headed for the stairs.

“What, what’s going on?!”

“Shut up and follow me!!!”

They rushed up the stairs.

But before they could even reach the second floor.

-Boom!!!!

The surroundings shook as if an earthquake had struck.

Crack! Crack!

The stairs crumbled and collapsed.

Oh Jin bit his lip hard.

His premonition had come true.

‘These bastards!’

From the beginning, they had no intention of coming down.

Their plan was to collapse the entire factory and bury them alive.

‘I have to get out━’

Before he could finish his thought.

-Boom!!!!

A second explosion occurred.

A gray waterfall of concrete and rebar descended upon Oh Jin and Jang Seok-ho.

“Gasp!”

Crackle!!!

He hastily created a wall of lightning.

Hundreds, thousands of tons of debris were pushed back by the lightning.

But it was only for a moment.

-Boom! Boom!

“Gah!”

Explosions continued to occur in the falling debris.

Third, fourth, fifth.

Uninterrupted, consecutive explosions.

‘Damn it!’

It was as if they had unloaded a truck full of bombs.

And it wasn’t just ordinary bombs.

The shock waves piercing through the debris clearly carried traces of magic.

The power was vastly different from a regular explosion due to the use of magic.

The wall of lightning he created began to crack.

-Boom!!

The wall of lightning shattered, and a gray tidal wave engulfed everything.

His body, losing its footing, plummeted endlessly.

A dizzying shock swept through his entire body.

For about thirty seconds.

The explosions that seemed to go on forever finally ended.

“Gah!!”

Oh Jin pushed through the debris covering his body and crawled out.

The dirt and sand that rushed into his mouth were unpleasant to chew.

“Spit!!!”

He turned his head to survey the surroundings.

‘Crazy.’

The entire area within two hundred meters, including the factory, had collapsed.

A massive crater had formed where the factory once stood, as if a meteor had struck.

“Ah...”

At that moment, a faint groan was heard.

It was Jang Seok-ho’s voice.

“Where are you?!”

Oh Jin hurriedly approached the source of the groan.

Between the concrete slabs.

Jang Seok-ho’s body was visible.

“Gasp!”

Crack!

He lifted a massive concrete slab with his bare hands.

Jang Seok-ho, who had been lying underneath, was revealed.

“Ah...”

His legs were horribly crushed.

A sharp rebar had pierced his abdomen, and his eyes were filled with fragments of stone instead of pupils.

━He can’t be saved.

Even if he was still breathing, it was too late to do anything.

He.

Would.

Die soon.

“Oh, Oh Jin. A-are you... a-alright?”

He asked in a faint, almost broken voice.

Oh Jin looked down at the bracelet on his wrist.

Three knots that had lost their luster.

Before the explosion, only one knot had lost its luster.

“...I’m fine.”

“Haha. That’s... good, cough! ...”

It was a hollow laugh.

There was nothing to be glad about.

“Here... I promised... to give you... the information.”

Jang Seok-ho extended his trembling hand.

In his hand was a small USB drive.

“...”

Why was he giving this to me?

The deal had failed.

None of the promises had been fulfilled.

He hadn’t saved his son, let alone saved him.

Yet.

Why.

“P-please... one... favor.”

Stitching together his broken breath.

Struggling, gasping.

Begging with his forehead pressed to the ground.

Again.

“If... you survive... find... Hyun-woo... our Hyun-woo... and save him.”

“...”

A sensation like bugs crawling on his skin.

His tongue felt scorched.

What should he say?

That there was no need to look.

That his son had already been dead for a long time.

Should he say that?

“Haha. He’s... a bit... mischievous, you see.”

He didn’t know.

Despite countless lies.

Despite deceiving others as easily as eating a meal.

“He might... cause trouble.”

To a father asking to save his already dead child.

He didn’t know what lie would be best.

“Still... a good... boy... Please... save him.”

Was it necessary to care?

He had already gotten everything he wanted.

No, more than he wanted.

He had obtained a useful relic and information for free.

Now, he could simply promise to save his son and then forget about it.

Go home.

Chat with Haeun as if nothing had happened and go out to buy dinner.

He had wanted beef, hadn’t he?

Or a light hamburger since it was late.

It was a simple task.

An easy task.

No need to think.

“...”

Throb, throb.

His head hurt.

It was just a connection from a few hours ago.

No grand epic, no meaningful story.

Just one of countless common tragedies.

Yet why.

Why, why, why.

━Did it feel so damn bad?

“Oh! Mr. Ashad!! That guy is still alive?”

A brash voice was heard.

“Wow... surviving that explosion... the rumors about the Thunder are true, I guess!”

It was noisy.

The most important part of a lie is the finish.

Don’t interfere.

“I’ll take care of it!”

Thud!

The brash voice came closer.

“Gah━ cough?!”

He grabbed the head of the approaching man.

-Crunch!!

He slammed it into the protruding rebar.

The rebar, which had pierced his forehead, shattered and came out the back of his head.

Sticky blood clung to his fingers.

“Shut up for a moment.”

He slowly stood up and looked around at the men surrounding him.

“I’m... thinking right now.”

Deep, dark eyes glowed with blue ghost fire.

“Thinking.”

Thud, thud.

A man with copper-colored skin walked over calmly.

The strong scent of magic he had sensed when they first entered the factory.

The owner of the overwhelming scent of magic.

‘Ashad Khan.’

The mid-level official of the Black Heaven Sect, whom he had heard about endlessly.

“What are you thinking about? Surely not a way to survive this, right?”

“No.”

He answered firmly.

“If it were that easy, I wouldn’t have been thinking about it for so long.”

“Hmm. An easy problem, huh?”

Ashad Khan’s eyes sparkled with interest.

He crossed his arms and scanned Oh Jin from head to toe.

He smirked and asked.

“Then what are you thinking so deeply about?”

“About my mother.”

“...What?”

“When she passed away, she asked me to take good care of our crippled son... I feel like I couldn’t keep that promise.”

“...”

Ashad Khan’s eyebrows furrowed.

Swoosh.

He elegantly drew a curved sword.

“...You are a despicable person.”

I don’t know what he said, but.

I could tell he was quite displeased.

“Hurry... run. Ashad Khan... is dangerous...”

Jang Seok-ho spoke in a strained voice.

Even though he hadn’t given any answer yet.

He was still desperately calling out to a hope that would never be answered, even at the end of his life.

-Hum!

He sprayed healing water from the constellation mark of the Water Bearer onto Jang Seok-ho.

It would only prolong his suffering, but.

“Don’t die yet, wait a moment, sir.”

There was still.

One last lie he had to tell him.