I’M A Max-Level Regressor [EN]: Chapter 104

Chapter 104

A little while later.

“Isn’t this pretty easy?”

“I expected it since Shin-hwa paved the way, but this is completely deserted.”

“It seems the KSA [Korean Special forces Association] is pushing in using various routes and requesting support from the guilds. Many have fled.”

“They were ready to be buried here when they announced their statement, like Moonlight or the Black Cross Society, but I guess not.”

“It’s not like they only have one base. That’s what makes the Black Zone scary. They’re all over the country.”

“When will we be able to purify the numerous Black Zones across the country, no, the world, back to their former state?”

“Who knows?”

At Jin Bo-mi’s words, Shin-hwa tilted his head. It wasn’t that he knew but was pretending not to; he genuinely didn’t know.

What was certain was that Black Zones definitely existed in 2052 when Shin-hwa regressed.

The only time a Black Zone has ever disappeared is in one specific case.

When an outbreak occurs within it, and the dimensional energy forcibly removes the obstructing factors.

A prime example was the Black Zone near the ‘Instant Death Mist’ area of Jije Station, where Shin-hwa had bought up all the surrounding land early on.

March 1, 2020.

On the 101st anniversary of the March 1st Movement [a Korean independence movement against Japanese rule], Jije Station will transform into a place completely different from what it was 10 years ago.

The Instant Death Mist area, designated as a Black Zone, will disappear without a trace, and within a week, this place will also be designated as a Red Zone like the surrounding areas.

Shin-hwa first scanned the area below the building once more.

There are two main ways to exit the interior of the 7th Black Tower to the outside.

He had Jeong-hoon and Yoon Tae-ho stationed in advance, in case they needed to escape with hostages.

He had also brought a short-range radio device, so if the distance allowed, he could immediately relay any sudden situations.

“Let’s quickly scan and go down. Elevators are dangerous in any form, so the emergency stairs would be better.”

Seo Ye-hee and Jin Bo-mi nodded at Shin-hwa’s words.

Usually, Seo Ye-hee, as the master, would give such orders, but she entrusted the lead to Shin-hwa.

Apart from being a senior member within the guild, there was nothing she was better at than Shin-hwa in this situation.

Seo Ye-hee valued efficiency and practicality, so she entrusted everything to Shin-hwa without hesitation.

Just then.

Creak.

A group of Moonlight members appeared, seemingly unaware of Shin-hwa’s group’s presence.

Judging by how cautiously they were looking around, they seemed to be searching for an escape route.

The next moment.

Shin-hwa signaled an attack, and immediately burst from his spot and charged forward.

Swish! Slash! Swoosh!

“Ugh!”

“Eugh!”

Start, attack, end.

This entire series of actions ended in less than a second.

He simply swung his right hand, filled with sharp energy, and the enemies helplessly lost their lives.

“…….”

Seo Ye-hee and Jin Bo-mi held their breath.

Of course, they seemed to be Awakened of E-rank or lower, whom they could easily subdue as well.

However, they weren’t confident they could eliminate them as quickly as Shin-hwa.

Even though there were eight of them, it seemed like an easy target for Shin-hwa.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, let’s.”

Shin-hwa indifferently looked at the fallen members and quickly entered the building.

“We have to escape quickly! Those damn Black Cross Society bastards! Helping us was a lie from the start! Sniff!”

The emergency stairs were already full of Moonlight members hurriedly abandoning the building.

‘Joo Cheon-ho seems to have used the entire Moonlight organization.’

They could fully grasp the current situation from their words.

Just as Awakened guilds in South Korea merge with each other or secretly plot internal divisions to absorb some, such trends of absorption and merger have long existed among criminal organizations.

That’s what made it even scarier.

Revengers, known as a globally influential criminal organization, is such an organization.

They were known to be much larger in scale than the three major corrupt organizations in China, which were famous for their overwhelming size and influence.

“Follow closely and come down. We’ll take care of these guys as we go down.”

“Okay.”

No sooner had Shin-hwa instructed the two than he began sprinting down the stair railing.

With each kick off the stairs, Shin-hwa’s body descended several floors at a time.

“What the… Keuhuk!”

The Moonlight member, startled by Shin-hwa’s sudden appearance from behind, couldn’t even finish his sentence before his facial bones were shattered.

As Awakened, they were skilled enough to show their faces anywhere as D and E-rank, but.

Unfortunately, they were nothing more than a snack, no, a bite-sized morsel in front of Shin-hwa.

In cases where they were caught completely off guard and took Shin-hwa’s punch to the side of the face, their necks twisted around twice before they died.

Facial bones caved in.

Necks twisted around a lot.

Or a tragic event occurred where the jawbone was completely shattered from below, leaving the area below the nose dangling.

They each met their end in innovative(?) ways or fell into a state of shock.

The scattered remnants were all eliminated by Seo Ye-hee and Jin Bo-mi’s teamwork.

Krrr! Krr!

Seo Ye-hee used her magic to summon a wolf, which relentlessly tore at the enemies.

“Fire Eater, Hellfire.”

“Kuaaaaak!”

Jin Bo-mi burned them all without exception in flames of hellfire.

Moonlight was a group that frequently committed terrorism and murder against innocent civilians.

There was no hesitation in eliminating those stained with evil.

“Hmm…….”

Shin-hwa continued to descend, confirming that only ‘small fries’ were appearing, and concluded his assessment of the situation.

Except for when he met Park Hyung-san and Jeilgeon in the beginning, seeing that no executive-level figures had come forward even once.

It seemed that the main forces had already abandoned the North Daejeon Black Zone and escaped.

It was easy to deduce who made that decision by identifying who died at Shin-hwa’s hands.

‘It’s definitely Joo Cheon-ho.’

Once the reasoning about cause and effect was somewhat complete, his steps became lighter.

It seemed he could just head straight down to the basement. The hostages would definitely be there.

* * *

2 minutes later.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

“Block it so they can’t open it! Block it!”

Moonlight members Kim Young-wan and Park Ho-yong, who had failed to escape the basement, were pushing against the door with all their might.

It seemed the enemy had arrived while they were hesitating, failing to grasp the situation in time.

According to someone who shouted as they died outside, the person outside the iron door was Kang Shin-hwa.

“Kueueueue!”

“Even if we buy time like this, can we survive?”

“Hey, the boss is here! Since there are hostages here, he’ll definitely come to save us!”

Kim Young-wan shouted.

They still didn’t know about Park Hyung-san’s death.

Black Zones have strategic advantages, but on the other hand, they have critical shortcomings in terms of information transmission.

“You die if you don’t move.”

At that moment, Shin-hwa’s cold voice was heard from beyond the iron door.

Kim Young-wan and Park Ho-yong seemed startled and held their breath, but soon Kim Young-wan yelled.

“Screw you! Even if we don’t move, we die…….”

Unfortunately, Kim Young-wan’s words were cut short.

Koo-oong!

The iron door, collapsing from the opposite side due to Shin-hwa’s strength, crushed the two in an instant.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

The iron door, which seemed so solid and sturdy, collapsed forward with full acceleration.

“…….”

Kim Young-wan and Park Ho-yong were crushed to death by the iron door without even having time to scream.

There are many ways to meet one’s end, but this was one of the most miserable.

“I told you you’d die.”

Shin-hwa shook off the heat rising from his entire body and spoke to the two who were crushed under the iron door.

Of course, they had no answer, having taken the Yodan River Express [a euphemism for death].

Only the blood flowing out from the gap in the crushed door allowed one to infer the situation.

“I found the right place.”

Shin-hwa nodded as he looked at the triple-structured iron door in front of him.

It was definitely an iron door for hostage confinement, on a different level from these thin iron doors.

Looking around, there were traces of everyone escaping with all their might before Shin-hwa arrived.

They were in such a hurry that some even dropped their main weapon, their artifact.

“I might have to use it if necessary.”

Shin-hwa picked up the artifact.

It was a dagger.

[Keldia Dagger]

[Judgment Grade: E]

[A dagger made of ‘Keldia,’ a mineral that does not exist on Earth.]

There were no other special options.

‘It’s light enough to use for self-defense in an emergency.’

Shin-hwa indifferently threw the dagger into his subspace.

He could use it himself, or give it to Yoon-byeol as a spare if necessary.

“To think the hostages would be trapped there of all places.”

“Shin-hwa, that iron door… just looking at the security level, it’s at least SS-rank.”

“I know.”

Seo Ye-hee and Jin Bo-mi, who arrived afterward, bit their lips tightly as they looked at the iron door welcoming them from the front.

Jin Bo-mi, who was particularly interested in security construction and devices, saw through the essence even faster.

“You can’t open it without the password. We need a special device to forcibly disable the internal opening mechanism.”

But just then.

Eeee- Eee- Eee-.

An alarm sounded.

At the same time, a hissing sound was heard. The source of the sound was none other than inside the iron door.

“Outside! Is anyone out there?”

Thump thump thump! Thump!

Soon, a desperate voice seeking someone outside was heard from within.

Shin-hwa asked.

“Who is inside?”

“This is Han Seung-taek, the head of the KSA Daejeon branch!”

He called the right number.

The problem was the internal situation.

“What is this sound?”

“Air is constantly being sucked into the upper inner part. Since it’s a sealed space, it seems like…….”

“Induced suffocation, huh.”

Shin-hwa’s expression darkened.

He thought they had just hastily left him behind, but it seemed they intended to kill Han Seung-taek after escaping.

“What, what should we do?”

“I’ll catch the guys who escaped outside! If we can’t crack the password, the branch manager will be in danger!”

Seo Ye-hee and Jin Bo-mi, who rarely panicked, were flustered and didn’t know what to do.

It was because their hearts were racing in this time-attack situation.

“It’s no use. The password for such facilities is often only known by the person in charge.”

Shin-hwa said calmly.

“……I’m fine! Before you all get into danger, please leave this place quickly!”

Unlike Shin-hwa, who was silently staring coldly at the iron door, Jin Bo-mi said with tears welling up in her eyes.

“But……!”

“I’m fine! It’s all my fault. Please leave before it’s too late!”

Then.

“Both of you, step back.”

Shin-hwa gestured for the two to step back.

‘3 minutes at most.’

He didn’t know what the structure of the exhaust device inside was, but considering even holding his breath, he estimated the remaining time to be 3 minutes.

However, finding out the password, which no one knew who had it, within 3 minutes was practically impossible.

Seo Ye-hee asked.

“What are you going to do?”

Then, the entire smooth 강화 [enhanced] suit of Shin-hwa began to become bumpy along the grain of his muscles.

And.

Shin-hwa stared at the triple-structured iron door and answered concisely.

“I have to open it. The firmly closed door.”

“There’s no password, is there? There’s no forced opening device either?”

“There’s a definite key, isn’t there? A living key.”

Shin-hwa pointed to himself with his thumb.