# Chapter 132
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a large flame erupted behind Taesung. At the same time, Lee Hwan jumped in front of him and moved away from the heat.
Fortunately, Taesung served as a good shield; otherwise, Lee Hwan’s back would have been nicely roasted. A quick glance behind showed that everything was engulfed in flames.
He wondered if it was okay to set fire to the mountain like this, but he figured that at least one or two of Taesung’s pursuers might be ice-type Awakened. It was a fairly common ability, and since it was the opposite nature of fire, they could probably avoid serious burns if they used their powers.
If they didn’t want to be noticed, they’d probably extinguish the fire with their abilities. They must have followed them to this mountain path with that in mind.
It was a perfect method to shake off pursuers, but since using it immediately pinpointed their location, Lee Hwan couldn’t keep starting fires everywhere.
Taesung slowed down and turned around to use a whirlwind. When the remaining flames rose again and rushed toward them, the enemies who were about to charge hesitated for a moment.
Not missing the opportunity, Lee Hwan’s eyes flashed. Two figures who had emerged from the fire rolled heavily on the ground. One even tumbled endlessly down the mountain, making even Lee Hwan slightly grimace.
‘That’s gotta hurt.’
When fighting among those with good endurance, things needed to get rough. Those guys were charging at them with killing intent, so there was no need to go easy on them either.
While Lee Hwan was buying time, Taesung pulled out a short-barreled gun. Its unique design and color made it look like a weapon used in Gates.
Fighting among humans with weapons designed to hunt monsters and protect humans—it was ironic, but without weapons of this caliber, Awakened people couldn’t inflict fatal damage on each other.
Bang!
The gun without any silencer let out a thundering noise. With all the commotion, they needed to reduce the number of pursuers as quickly as possible and leave.
The man who had been injured by the flames earlier and then rolled down from Lee Hwan’s ability let out a short scream as he clutched his leg and collapsed.
Unless his leg was made of steel, he wouldn’t be able to chase them through the rough mountain terrain.
Now there were only two left. One of them was, as expected, hurriedly putting out the fire that had spread to the mountain.
At a glance, it seemed like Lee Hwan and Taesung had the advantage in this almost 2-vs-1 situation, especially with an S-class on their side. However, the enemy was too aggressive to feel at ease.
‘Well, even tranquilizer guns can be debilitating with just a graze…’
There was also a high probability that other groups of pursuers were heading their way. Since they had already reduced the numbers, Lee Hwan thought it might be better to get away from this area first.
When Lee Hwan turned his head and made eye contact, Taesung nodded briefly again. It felt like someone who never spoke had better comprehension when it came to unspoken communication.
When bullets suddenly started raining down, Taesung ignited another flame. The hot sensation scorched his arm, and he turned his body first, stamped the ground hard, and leaped forward.
Lee Hwan also cast a large shield behind him and followed closely at a rapid pace. The sound of whistling wind brushed past his ears.
In an instant, the burning ground faded into the distance, and they disappeared with the sound of rustling grass.
* * *
“Hah… huff…”
They stopped after climbing the mountain for almost an hour without rest. The surroundings were a dense mountainous area where only wild animals would normally roam.
There was no sign of pursuers, and the terrain was so rugged that even herb gatherers would struggle to pass through. However, there was a relatively flat spot on one side that seemed like it could comfortably accommodate three or four people lying down.
This seemed like a good place to rest. Taesung, who had been running ahead the whole time, put down his bag. As Lee Hwan sat down with rough breaths, Taesung looked down at him while regulating his own breathing.
‘Somehow, we survived.’
Lee Hwan leaned against a tree with a faint smile. Perhaps from running so much, his vision was slightly dizzy.
Even in this situation, he remembered that Taesung had been injured the night before and checked his side first. There didn’t seem to be any fresh blood, so it appeared that the wound hadn’t reopened despite all the movement.
But perhaps Taesung didn’t like that Lee Hwan was examining him, even in this situation. Taesung wore a somewhat dissatisfied expression. No, it seemed like his face had become even more shadowed.
He must be worried about what lay ahead. After all, they had moved too far from the safe house. Returning to Busan was now practically an abandoned plan.
“Maybe we should just blend into any area and stay at an inn or something…”
Blink.
“…what do you think?”
When he opened his eyes after suggesting a future plan, Taesung’s face was right in front of him. Lee Hwan wondered when he had lowered his body to approach, then realized from Taesung’s more serious expression that he himself had been closing his eyes.
“…When night falls, the pursuit will slow down…”
While continuing to speak, he stared blankly at Taesung, unable to comprehend the situation. Then, as the ominous gaze slowly shifted toward his arm, Lee Hwan naturally followed his gaze.
His left sleeve that came into view was soaked with blood. Lee Hwan grabbed his arm with a startled expression, eyes wide.
“What is this, when did I get hurt… ugh.”
Only then did the pain rush in, and he let out a short groan.
He had felt uncomfortable somewhere all along, but he never imagined he’d been injured. He hadn’t even been aware of it. Having been so tense throughout their escape, he hadn’t properly felt the pain.
He tried to look at the wounded area, but it was awkwardly located just above the shoulder, making it difficult to roll up the sleeve. As Lee Hwan grimaced and tried to move his uncooperative arm, Taesung grabbed him and stopped him with a stern face.
“…Let’s treat it first.”
Then, before Lee Hwan could say anything, he tore off the bloodied sleeve entirely.
‘Now I have no clothes to change into.’
Why was that the first thought that came to mind? Lee Hwan was bewildered even in this chaotic moment.
With a ripping sound from the torn seam, bare skin with a deep puncture wound was revealed. When Lee Hwan tensed his arm, blood gushed out from inside the wound.
“The bleeding… still hasn’t stopped.”
A unusually small bullet was lodged in his arm. Even though the wound didn’t look deep, Lee Hwan’s first thought was that something was strange rather than feeling relieved.
Even for an Awakened person, not having their arm penetrated after being shot with an anti-monster gun?
Moreover, it was also strange that blood was still flowing despite the bullet being lodged so shallowly that only its tip was visible. The amount of bleeding wasn’t severe, but like clothes getting wet in a drizzle, the slow but steady flow had already soaked his entire arm.
The dizziness he’d been feeling since sitting down was apparently due to that.
“…It’s not an ordinary gun. Judging by how it’s embedded, it doesn’t seem designed to enlarge the wound or penetrate.”
If the wound wasn’t deep, it would start healing soon after removing the bullet. That was somewhat fortunate.
Taesung seemed to have made the same judgment, as he rummaged through his bag for medical patches and individually packaged alcohol swabs, as if preparing for emergency treatment.
He tore open one patch and placed it over the wound, giving a brief warning.
“I’ll treat it for now. It’s going to hurt a little.”
‘Hmm.’
He’d be terribly disappointed if he knew, but Lee Hwan didn’t believe him this time either.
‘It’s going to hurt like hell.’
Thinking that instead, he gritted his teeth.
For all bleeding injuries, stopping the bleeding comes first. Taesung attached the patch without even touching the bullet, probably because he didn’t have a clean cloth to press against it.
Now Lee Hwan was destined to struggle in the grip of those rough hands until the pressure stopped.
However, as Lee Hwan squeezed his eyes shut, imagining the impending pain, something unexpected happened.
Suddenly, Taesung grabbed Lee Hwan’s other shoulder and pulled him into his arms.
In an instant, Lee Hwan felt as if the air had heated up, and Taesung’s breath brushed against his cheek. Confused about what was happening, he remained dazed until a large hand pressed against his back, urging him to lean on Taesung.
Soon, Lee Hwan’s head touched the solid chest.
The warmth touching his forehead. The familiar scent slowly approaching. Lee Hwan was so surprised that his thoughts stopped.
‘…What.’
His face was about to flush, and he almost pushed Taesung away hastily. The only reason he didn’t was purely because of the pain. As Taesung applied pressure with his hand, the pain from the compressed wound immediately rushed in.
“Urgh… Ah!”
Ah. It’s so fucking painful that he wants me to lean on him rather than thrash around. With this belated realization, Lee Hwan stared with wide eyes and gaped.
‘Shit, I wondered why he suddenly got close!’
It hurt. It hurt like hell. Enough to make him want to turn around right now and punch one of their pursuers in the face.
But for some reason, it was less painful than he had worried. Lee Hwan felt something strange again.
When his side had been injured before, he had even fainted during the hemostasis. His vision had turned white, and his body had trembled. Of course, the wound had been aggravated then, so that might explain it…
This time was quite different. It hurt, but it was bearable. Groans escaped through his teeth, but not enough to scream, and though his body squirmed, he didn’t struggle wildly.
“…Let’s do it again.”
“Huff… huff… What?”
Unfortunately, the bleeding wouldn’t stop, so they had to repeat the same process three times. The blood strangely wouldn’t clot. Lee Hwan almost cursed without realizing it.
In the end, Taesung changed his approach to emergency treatment.
“…This isn’t working. Anyway, the gunshot is shallow and the bleeding isn’t severe, so let’s remove the bullet first.”
“Yes, please. Please do that.”
As Lee Hwan moaned, drenched in sweat, Taesung tore off the patch he had applied. Then he sterilized a pair of tweezers from the small medical kit with fire and shook them several times to lower the temperature.
‘!’
Suddenly, a sharp pain traveled up his arm as it dug into his flesh. He could roughly feel Taesung probing inside the wound. However, Lee Hwan only frowned slightly without making a sound.
‘This too… doesn’t hurt as much as expected. Strange.’
Come to think of it, it had been uncomfortable to move his arm even though the wound wasn’t severe. Unless the bullet had dug deep enough to sever nerves or shatter bone, it was quite incomprehensible to have such symptoms with only torn flesh.
‘What on earth is going on?’
Meanwhile, with a clink, the small extracted bullet hit against a rock. Even as Taesung disinfected the wound as much as possible and applied a patch, Lee Hwan briefly wondered if he had lost his sense of feeling.
“This doesn’t seem like an ordinary bullet.”
At that moment, Taesung muttered while looking at the rolling bullet on the ground, as if telling him not to think strange thoughts. Lee Hwan, with his head feeling heavy, had no choice but to lean on him and asked in a weak voice.
“…Does it look more vicious?”
“It has spikes, but it doesn’t seem designed to enlarge the wound… Basically, it looks like a hollow shotgun pellet. Something like a drug seems to be leaking from inside.”
“…Drug…?”
Lee Hwan murmured, repeating the words he had clearly heard, asking once more because he couldn’t understand what this meant.
‘Those Naru bastards, no wonder they had four research wings.’
It seemed those crazy pursuers had used another strange weapon that had never even been announced.
