Chapter 53
“Aaaahhh!!”
“What the hell?! What happened?!”
“A-an explosion just went off in the Ferris wheel!”
The three of them panicked at the sudden roar and the ground shaking beneath them.
As Kim Isabel had said, the central bearing of Neverland Amusement Park’s Ferris wheel had collapsed in the explosion.
‘…So it’s begun.’
I had thought it would be starting around now.
After having thoroughly enjoyed myself with three girls, it was time to get to work. There were three main objectives I needed to keep in mind for this event.
One: protect Kim Isabel, the target of the ‘Black Moon,’ and Han Sora, the target of ‘Scissorhand Kang Kaljin.’
Two: cooperate with and build a rapport with Park Cheon-ho and Park Hana—often called the ‘Park siblings’—who would be useful to me later, once I entered Cheonmu Hunter Academy.
Three: restrain or kill the underlings of the villain organization ‘Black Moon.’
All three were important objectives, and I couldn’t afford to neglect any one of them. If I had to assign priorities, the first one was certainly the most important.
-Kraaack!!
“……”
As I thought that and looked toward the Ferris wheel, Park Cheon-ho and Park Hana came bursting out of the door of the topmost car.
After confirming that everyone from the original story except Seo Woojin had gathered, I hurried back toward the three of them.
“Looks like a villain attack! Let’s evacuate somewhere safe first!”
“Uh, okay…!”
“Damn it, seriously! Why did this have to happen today of all days?!”
“W-we should go to the shelter…? S-since this is an amusement park, there’s probably a shelter….”
“Will that be all right? The Ferris wheel just exploded, so I don’t think we can assume another location will be safe just because it’s somewhere else!”
“…Yeah. If their goal is a terrorist attack targeting civilians, a shelter packed with people might actually be more dangerous.”
In reality, a shelter was no more dangerous—or safer—than anywhere else. I knew better than anyone that Kim Isabel and Han Sora were Black Moon’s targets.
If we entered the shelter and mixed in with the civilians, we’d actually be at a disadvantage in battle. It didn’t matter much to me as long as I protected my girls, but Kim Isabel and Han Sora weren’t the sort to think only of saving themselves.
There was no need to deliberately step onto a battlefield laid out to their liking. Besides, the original story had a way to ‘win for certain,’ so there was no reason to do things differently.
“Let’s head for the exit first! We should get out of the amusement park as quickly as possible and report this to the authorities!”
“Yeah…! O-okay…!”
“…Yeah, I think Lee Seonho’s right. We’re still academy students… No, strictly speaking, we aren’t even academy students yet.”
“……”
Though Han Sora looked troubled as she agreed with me, Kim Isabel hesitated as if her conscience were pricking her, then nodded.
There must have been a dozen or so people killed or injured beneath the collapsing Ferris wheel, and both of them must have been troubled by the thought of fleeing alone and leaving those people behind.
‘Still, before long, they’ll realize that this decision is actually the best way to save even more people.’
Taking Cha Eun-joo, who always did as I said, along with the two girls whose steps were heavy, I hurried toward the amusement park entrance.
And there, we saw that members of the Black Moon had already dug in and were holding the line.
“G-get out of the way! We’re leaving, so move!”
“Aaaahhh!! It’s a terrorist attack!!”
Amid the panic and screams, ordinary people desperately fled in search of an escape route. Before long, several gunshots from the amusement park entrance reached our ears.
-Bang, bang-bang, ba-bang!!
“Huh…?”
“Aaaagh!”
“Aaaahhh!! Somebody save meee!!!”
Some people collapsed without even knowing what had happened after being shot in vital spots, while others screamed in agony after taking bullets to the shoulder or calf.
A hellish scene unfolded before the eyes of gentle-hearted Cha Eun-joo and Kim Isabel.
“H-hic?!”
“What the hell are those guys…?”
“H-how can they commit such a cruel, barbaric act…?”
「Suggestion : Potion of Courage ※ Target : Cha Eun-joo」
Taking advantage of the confusion, I first used Suggestion on Cha Eun-joo. For someone as gentle-natured as her, a scene this extreme was more than enough to send her into a panic the instant she saw it.
Once I confirmed that Cha Eun-joo’s tearful expression had steadied somewhat, I explained our current situation to the others as though I had only just finished assessing it.
“Those guys are probably the terrorists who blew up the Ferris wheel. They’re probably planning to occupy the amusement park and take everyone left inside hostage.”
“Th-that’s impossible! Are they insane?!”
“Sane people wouldn’t be terrorists in the first place. Besides, they’ve already used bombs and guns to kill people. I don’t know what their goal is, but they’re definitely our enemies.”
“How can people who look human commit such a cruel, barbaric act…?”
Meanwhile, after seeing Kim Isabel appear, the Black Moon members exchanged words among themselves over what sounded like radios.
“Yeah, either way, that means they’re people we can kill!”
In that brief opening, Han Sora suddenly ran toward the souvenir shop in the building beside us.
“Sora…!”
“Ms. Han Sora…!”
“…Let’s wait for now. Sora probably has something in mind. And…”
-Click.
“…we don’t exactly look safe here, either.”
The Black Moon members didn’t seem particularly concerned that Han Sora had fled somewhere else alone; instead, they raised their guns toward Cha Eun-joo, Kim Isabel, and me.
With ten hooded men surrounding us from the front and both sides, I couldn’t help feeling tense even though I already knew what would happen next.
“Hey, you with the black hair.”
“…Are you talking to me?”
“Yeah, you.”
“…Why did you call me?”
The reason they had called me was obvious, of course.
Pretending to nod at their question, I pressed my fingers against Cha Eun-joo’s back behind me and sent her a signal.
Once in the shape of a ㄷ. Then the number 5. It was a signaling method we had occasionally used while training at the practice grounds for the practical exam, so she would probably understand me well enough.
“Hand over the priestess beside you.”
“……Pardon?”
“Hand over that priestess and we’ll let you go. She’s the only one we have business with.”
“Are you saying you planned this terrorist attack to target Kim Isabel?”
“…Hmph, what are you talking about? We’re only trying to get rid of the healer and hunter because they’re a nuisance. Our greater cause mustn’t be ruined by unnecessary variables.”
Though they had in fact carried out the attack to target Kim Isabel, they pretended not to know and changed the subject.
They were speaking that way because their orders prohibited them from revealing that the organization was targeting her, but she was obviously the reason behind the attack.
The reason they had guns trained on us but couldn’t fire was also because of her. If even one ricochet went awry and killed her, it would interfere with the plan they had devised.
When I put on a hesitant expression, the hooded man urged me again.
“I’ll say it one more time. Hand that woman over and we’ll let you go. Refuse, and every one of you dies. Is there really anything to think about?”
“…Mr. Lee Seonho, as expected, I…”
-Squeeze.
“…If I really hand Kim Isabel over, will you let us go unharmed?”
“Yes, of course.”
A lie.
They would unleash a merciless hail of bullets the instant they received Kim Isabel.
I acted as though I might hand Kim Isabel over at any moment, while gripping her hand tightly with my right, expressing in this way that I had absolutely no intention of handing her over.
“I understand. In that case…”
As I gauged their reactions, I grabbed Kim Isabel by the shoulder as though I were about to push her toward them—
“……”
“……”
…three arrowheads poking slightly out from a second-floor window of the souvenir shop caught my eye.
“Cha Eun-joo, now!!”
“D-Dark Spear!!!”
-Thrust, thrust, thrust!!
“Ghk…!!”
“Gheee?!”
At my shout, five streams of dark mana shot from Cha Eun-joo’s fingertips.
The five members facing Cha Eun-joo were each pierced through in different directions.
“What…!”
“Kim Isabel, bind that leader-looking guy!”
“…Bind him with light!!”
-Clang!
“Y-you fucking bitch…!”
Kim Isabel’s binding spell followed immediately.
Befitting her status as a candidate for sainthood, she could quickly recite a binding incantation unless the target was a massive monster around the size of an Owlbear. It had only taken her so long last time because she had needed to bind a monster nearly three meters tall.
The man who appeared to be the leader, standing directly in front of Kim Isabel, was bound in restraints of light, and while the others stood frozen, unable to grasp what was happening, three arrows fell toward them from the second floor.
-Thrust! Thrust, thrust!
“Aaaagh!!”
“Aaaahhh!!”
Three members collapsed with arrows piercing the places where their eyes or ears should have been.
It was Han Sora’s skill. She wasn’t very good at predicting the movements of monsters and hitting them, but she was unquestionably skilled at hitting stationary targets.
Even her awakened ability, ‘Piercing Arrow,’ could produce enough killing power with toy arrows like these. She had probably expected to find something like this, which was why she had hurried into the souvenir shop.
“Are you guys all right?!”
“Nice sniping, Han Sora!”
Immediately after finishing her sniping, Han Sora jumped down from the second floor holding an adorable toy bow and arrows.
Once Han Sora had taken out three of them, only one member remained.
“Uaaah, uaaaaagh!!”
Realizing the situation had been reversed, the man desperately fled toward the amusement park entrance.
If I let him go, troublesome reinforcements might arrive, so I picked up a gun from the nearest corpse and used self-suggestion.
「Suggestion : One Careful Shot ※ Target : Lee Seonho」
…Guns were often difficult to use against monsters, but things were different when the target was human.
I aimed a loaded rifle at him—one that might have discharged at any moment—and pulled the trigger.
-Bang!
“Ghk……!!”
He collapsed with a bullet through the back of his head, unable even to scream properly.
I immediately chambered another round, then aimed at the side of the head of the man bound by the chains of light and lying on the ground.
“Where is your leader? How many members do you have left, and the one who planted the bombs…”
“Y-you think I’d tell you that?! I won’t do what you want…!”
-Clamp!
“Ughk?!”
“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d tell me willingly.”
He must have seen something like this before, because he tried to bite his tongue and kill himself, so I blocked his mouth with my shoe and forcibly poured my specialty into the crown of his head.
「Suggestion : Mirror of Truth ※ Target : Jeong Byeok-hyeon」
…I’m a little tired. Not counting the Suggestions I used on Kim Isabel and Cha Eun-joo, this was already the third forced Suggestion I’d used today, including this man.
I could feel that I had enough mana left for perhaps one more Suggestion at most, and even that would be difficult to use if the other side resisted, so I interrogated this executive, Jeong Byeok-hyeon, once again.
“Say it again. Where are your leader and the remaining members? How many executives are there among them, and where is the bomber who planted the bomb in the Ferris wheel?”