Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

135 – Knockout Master

“Argh! You monster! Die! Just die!!!”

Kim Young-wook, an Awakener affiliated with the EDA, shouted as he swung his beloved weapon, the ‘Scissor Knife.’

The massive single-bladed sword, shaped like a pair of scissors, had saved his life countless times in various gate subjugation operations.

However, the halo flying towards him sliced through the sturdy sword as if it were tofu, and then proceeded to cut it into multiple pieces with a back-and-forth motion.

Seeing his beloved weapon so easily destroyed, Kim Young-wook tried to hurl curses at Soo-bin, but before he could open his mouth, another halo flew towards him and struck the back of his neck hard.

“Argh!”

Kim Young-wook’s face hit the ground instantly, and he rolled on the floor in agony, clutching his neck with both hands.

“Huh? In movies, people pass out as soon as you hit the back of their neck.”

“That’s because it’s a movie, isn’t it?”

“Ugh, how annoying.”

Soo-bin’s sentiment of ‘annoyance’ was genuine.

In fact, out of her eight halos that could cut through anything, four had been modified to ‘striking type’ to prevent casualties.

This was a modification part that Soo-bin had asked Soo-jeong to create after Myung-jun requested her to minimize casualties.

– Slice! Slice! Clang! Thud! Thump!! –

Having modified four of her halos to be striking types, Soo-bin abandoned her usual style of slicing through everything with sleepy eyes and adopted a completely different combat style.

She would ‘shred’ the weapons held by her opponents with the cutting-type halos and knock out the disarmed Awakeners with the striking-type halos.

Naturally, this method required much more concentration than her usual combat style, causing Soo-bin to become increasingly frustrated.

“Ah, seriously! Why won’t you just pass out?!”

Soo-bin threw a halo, hooking the fixed hook on the halo around Kim Young-wook’s neck.

She then lifted his body into the air and began to mercilessly beat him with the remaining three striking halos until he passed out.

Kim Young-wook, screaming in pain and covering his face with his arms, cried out in agony.

“Argh!!! Aaaaargh!”

With each strike of the halo, the horrifying sound of bones breaking and his agonized screams filled the air, causing the EDA Awakeners watching to wear expressions of terror.

Kim Young-wook, his arms broken, shouted at Soo-bin.

“I’ve passed out! I’ll pass out!! Please, stop!”

“People who have passed out can’t answer.”

“Please, just consider me passed out! I’ll just lie on the ground and do nothing!!!”

“Fine.”

“Argh!!!”

As Soo-bin waved her hand in annoyance, the halo that was holding Kim Young-wook’s neck moved violently from side to side.

His body flew away like a ragdoll, looking like a corpse being flung.

With an emotionless face, Soo-bin looked at the other Awakeners and said,

“I hope you pass out more easily.”

The other EDA members surrounding Soo-jeong dropped their weapons to the ground, raised their hands, and shouted.

“We’ll consider ourselves passed out too.”

Missions and orders were, of course, important.

However, that only held true if the ‘battle’ with the opponent was at a feasible level. In a situation like this, where the disparity was absurd, it held no meaning.

Whether they surrendered after being beaten like dogs and left half-paralyzed or surrendered as quickly as possible, the result would be the same.

Seeing the surrendering EDA members, Soo-bin spoke to them.

“Aren’t you supposed to be soldiers or something? If you surrender so easily, you’ll get an earful later.”

“But the result would be the same even if we fought.”

“Hmm, then let’s do it this way. You fought hard against me, but you all lost. You fought desperately, but you couldn’t help losing because you were outmatched. Since the recording system has been completely hacked, as long as you match your story with mine, the secret won’t get out. You won’t be reprimanded later.”

“But how can we do that…?”

“Like this.”

As Soo-bin waved her hand, the four cutting-type halos shredded the weapons of the EDA members lying on the ground.

After destroying all their equipment, she lined up the remaining EDA members and said,

“During the fight, I destroyed all your weapons and knocked you out with a single blow to the back of your neck.”

“But earlier, Kim Young-wook didn’t pass out even after being hit…”

“That’s why I need to test how hard I have to hit to make someone pass out without breaking their neck.”

As she spoke, the four striking-type halos floated into the air.

They then began to mercilessly strike the back of the necks of the EDA members standing in line.

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***

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“Ugh!”

After countless practice repetitions, Soo-bin finally understood the intensity required to knock out a well-built special agent with a single blow as she watched the last EDA member fall.

Kei, who had been observing her ‘practice,’ approached Soo-bin and said,

“Is it all over?”

“Yeah! I’ve learned that the position of the strike is more important than speed or power. From now on, you can call me the Knockout Master.”

“Knockout Noona. I know you’re happy about succeeding, but more are coming over there.”

“It’s Knockout Master Noona. Watch closely. I’ll show you the results of my painstaking practice.”

‘That blood probably isn’t hers,’ Kei muttered to himself.

Not wanting to become Soo-bin’s practice target himself, Kei refrained from provoking her while she was having so much fun.

And whether it was due to the effectiveness of her practice, Soo-bin managed to knock out all 20 EDA members in just one minute.

Kei clapped vigorously and gave Soo-bin a thumbs-up.

“Wow! We really should call you the Knockout Master.”

“I told you, I’m the kind of person who can do it if I set my mind to it.”

“The idol of the knockout world! The rising star of the knockout world! The goddess of the knockout world! Long live Soo-bin Noona!”

“Yay! Keep praising me! Keep lifting me up!”

“With that amazing ability, please knock out all 327 civilians inside the base too!”

“Alright! Leave it to meee… Huh? There are still 327 left?”

“There are regular staff, soldiers, and research employees. Since we launched a surprise attack, the Awakeners are all knocked out, but there are still plenty of civilians inside.”

Upon hearing Kei’s words, Soo-bin suddenly wore a serious expression.

She turned to Kei and spoke in a sincere voice.

“If I hit civilians like I hit the awakened ones…”

“Their heads would probably separate from their necks, even with the striking-type halos.”

“I need more practice…”

Seeing Soo-bin mention ‘practice’ with a serious face, Kei sincerely prayed for the souls of the Gate Research Institute staff.

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***

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Despite it being his first time in the building, Kei led Soo-bin swiftly to their destination without getting lost even once.

Although the research institute staff tried to block the corridors or desperately resisted by deploying security turrets, such measures posed no problem for the two of them.

The doors made of special materials containing alien substances couldn’t withstand Soo-bin’s halos for even a second and turned into metal scraps, while the turrets guarding the corridors were hacked and rendered useless by Soo-jeong’s jammers.

Upon reaching their target location, Soo-bin looked at the enclosed storage area with a bewildered expression and asked Kei,

“Is this the place?”

“My sense of smell says it is.”

“But there’s nothing here.”

“That’s how it looks on the surface.”

Kei walked to a corner and sniffed around.

Then, while touching the floor, he said to Soo-bin,

“It’s here.”

Soo-bin also inspected the floor thoroughly but couldn’t find anything unusual.

If there was a door, there should have been some sort of boundary, but she saw none.

“I don’t see anything like a door.”

“That’s because it’s not a door. The passage is one meter below this floor. When they need to enter, they break through the cement floor, and after they’re done, they completely redo the flooring.”

“They break and remake the floor every time they need to go in? Why would they do something so crazy?”

“No matter how much you want to find a door, if there is no door, it’s impossible to find one.”

“Are you sure?”

“The cement smell is different here. It smells like a mix of various people, as if the construction workers were replaced each time. It’s the smell of breaking and remaking the floor multiple times.”

To prevent any casualties, Soo-bin removed the striking parts attached to her halos.

Then, floating all eight halos, she said to Kei,

“Step back. I’ll make sure they never need to redo the construction again.”

As she spoke, the eight halos around her began to spin at high speed.

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***

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“What’s that noise?”

Corporal Park Tae-il, who was rummaging through a frying pan to make lunch, turned his head at the unfamiliar sound.

He had often heard the noise of breaking through the entrance to retrieve items made inside, but the sound he was hearing now was very different.

Turning off the gas stove, he slung the rifle next to him over his shoulder and stepped into the corridor.

The rifle, loaded with chemical rounds capable of penetrating the hide of a Grade 7 alien creature, was specially issued to protect soldiers managing the interior.

‘I’ll have plenty of stories to tell once I get discharged.’

Park Tae-il had originally been an ordinary soldier serving near the ceasefire line.

However, in the middle of his service, he was suddenly reassigned and informed that he had been appointed to the special security unit of the Gate Research Institute.

The condition was to work for six months in an underground special facility with absolute security compliance—no leave, no outings, no overnight stays, and no internet access.

At first glance, these conditions seemed extremely harsh, but they came with very attractive perks.

An additional allowance of 3 million won per month and immediate discharge upon completion of the assignment.

Park Tae-il immediately accepted the crazy condition that would cut his remaining one year of military service in half, and he started working at the underground special facility of the Gate Research Institute.

However, there was a hidden condition he was unaware of, for security reasons, his life would end the moment his six-month assignment was over.

Unaware of this fact, Park Tae-il was diligently carrying out his assigned duties.

His most critical mission was to kill the ‘inmate’ to conceal information if the security system of the research institute collapsed and the location of the underground facility was exposed.

Park Tae-il was now attempting to carry out that mission.

‘Your mission is not to fight. If the facility’s location is exposed, it means the entire security system of the Gate Research Institute has collapsed. You, as a regular soldier, wouldn’t be able to handle such a formidable threat. So, remember just one thing.’

This was a direct order given to him by Moon Hee-cheol, the director overseeing all Awakeners and a hero of South Korea.

It was one of the last-resort measures Moon Hee-cheol had prepared to deal with the worst-case scenario.

However, unfortunately, Myung-jun had already anticipated that Moon Hee-cheol would prepare such measures.

All the plans Hee-cheol had prepared were things Myung-jun had experienced in his previous life.

Myung-jun had already prepared countermeasures for all three of the cards Hee-cheol had prepared.

‘If it’s Hee-cheol, he would have installed a self-destruct device connected to the security system in the cell of the imprisoned Awakener.’

‘That can be disabled with the jammer. If we cut off the entire security system, the self-destruct device won’t function either.’

‘And he would station a regular soldier to kill the prisoner and silence them if a problem arises.’

‘I’ll handle that. If it’s a regular person, no matter how fast they are, they won’t be faster than my halos.’

‘Lastly, the Moon Hee-cheol I know would have prepared a system to blow up the entire research institute from the outside.’

‘Then let’s set up a barrier to cut off all external connections. No communication means, not even radio waves, should be able to connect inside.’

‘Additionally, he would likely use some bizarre method to hide the location of the Awakener, making it nearly impossible to find. He might hide them at the end of a natural cave maze stretching tens of meters, or in a space with no passage or door at all.’

‘I can handle that. No matter how complex the ventilation system is, if they need to breathe, there must be an air hole. My sense of smell can track it down.’

Ito Kei’s abilities, enhanced by the special suit made by Soo-jeong, were truly remarkable.

With just a single molecule of scent floating in the air, he could gather information about everything happening inside a space.

Using this ability, Kei detected the presence of Park Tae-il, who was approaching the rescue target with a weapon, and immediately relayed the information to Soo-bin.

Soo-bin then inserted her halo into a barely visible gap and said to Kei,

“Lead the way!”

“Ten meters straight, then 3.2 meters to the left, turn right and go ten meters, then five meters to the left!”

“The height?”

Soo-bin quickly calculated the position of her halo based on the height of the corridor and sent it flying.

Moments later, a horrifying scream echoed through the hole Soo-bin had created.

“Argh!!! What the hell is this!!!”

Hearing the scream, Kei looked at Soo-bin with a worried expression.

The halo Soo-bin had inserted into the hole was not the striking-type halo she had used for subduing so far.

“What… what did you do?”

“What do you think? It was dangerous to go further, so I cut off his ankle.”

“But the boss said to avoid hurting civilians as much as possible…”

“It’s fine.”

Soo-bin spoke with a voice full of confidence.

“We can reattach it.”

With that, Soo-bin’s halo began to dig through the hole in front of her with a ferocity incomparable to before.

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