Matan’s Shooter

TL: xLordFifth

ED: 

[Where are you?! Do you know where you are?]

Everything around was pitch dark, making it impossible to see anything. When Leeha regained consciousness, he was already abandoned here alone.

“Huff, I don’t know where I am. There’s a strong smell of the sea, but I don’t know Hong Kong well.”

He was restrained and couldn’t move properly.

To operate the walkie-talkie, Leeha had to press his face against it on the floor.

[You smell the sea? Can you hear any other sounds around? Where are the kidnappers? Did you hear anything? What about Hwayeon?]

“If there was something – cough – I’d have told you. Ah! They were Westerners, five of them. Quite large. Ram Hwayeon-ssi isn’t nearby. It seems they left me here because I’m not needed… They might seem like amateur kidnappers, but Ram Hwajung-ssi could still be in danger.”

He certainly had no enemies among Westerners.

Moreover, the treatment was too rough.

‘They left the translator in my ear, didn’t check my belongings. Did they think I’d just wither away if locked up here? Or maybe…

They might not intend to kill at all.

The kidnappers wanted Ram Hwajung. No, for such a situation, it wasn’t just about wanting Ram Hwajung.

They were using Ram Hwajung as a pretext to get something from the Ram Long Group.

With just his ability to look around and communicate with Ram Hwayeon, he had deduced these facts.

It was a situation analysis based on rational suspicion.

[We have a rough idea of what type of people the culprits are. First, we’ll secure your safety, okay? We’re going to start tracking your location by analyzing the frequency.]

“Huff, alright. Got it. I better hang up for now. If they catch me talking, it could be dangerous. I’ll contact you if I learn anything new.”

Leeha detached his face from the walkie-talkie. They’re going to track his location by analyzing the frequency?

‘Impressive. They’re doing what even the police can’t. And to think this is my first trip abroad, and it turns into such a mess.’

Leeha blinked, trying to adjust to the darkness around him.

His eyes, beginning to adapt to the darkness, started to make out his surroundings. It was empty.

Literally ‘nothing’ there.

The room was quite spacious, but completely empty… no windows… there seemed to be a light, though…

If it’s above ground, it was likely a warehouse storing something that must not be exposed to light, otherwise it was definitely underground. But it was too barren around here.

‘This smell, dust…’

It’s likely an underground floor still under construction.

‘It’s not a ground-level warehouse. If it were, there’d be some gaps, no matter how well sealed. Here, I can’t see anything. It doesn’t seem like my eyes will adapt any further.’ Then, this place must be a basement.

Leeha closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds. Any footsteps approaching? Any conversations?

‘Just left here. Or is it even confinement?’ Leeha checked the restraints on his arms and legs. They were too thin to be ropes, probably cable ties.

‘I should play dead for now. It’s safest to wait here, as they left me, until Ram Hwayeon finds my location-’

Suddenly, Leeha’s body jolted.

A faint, long scream of a woman pierced through several layers of soundproofing.

‘Ram Hwajung?’

He couldn’t be certain it was Ram Hwayeon’s voice. But in this situation, assuming the scream came from another woman seemed cowardly.

“Damn!”

Leeha frantically scanned his surroundings.

But with ‘nothing’ around and no sharp objects, he couldn’t cut the cable ties himself.

‘Damn, damn, damn. If something happens to Ram Hwayeon-’

No, he had to make a decision.

Staying quiet might be the safest option, but he couldn’t just sit still now. Leeha pressed his face against the walkie-talkie again.

“Ram Hwayeon-ssi! I need to get rid of the walkie-talkie.”

[What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?]

“I heard what sounded like Ram Hwajung-ssi’s scream. I need something sharp to cut these ties. Even if I smash the walkie-talkie, you can still track my location, right?”

[Wait, wait, Ha Leeha! What are you trying to do!? Do you think this is Middle Earth? You’re a patient, for heaven’s sake. Those guys could have anything, and if you move rashly-]

“Sorry!”

Leeha took a deep breath and slammed his head against the small walkie-talkie on the floor.

A hot sensation spread from his temple, and with a crackling sound, the walkie-talkie shattered.

“Argh…”

Biting his lower lip to endure the pain, Leeha searched for sharp fragments. Luckily, there were quite a few plastic pieces with sharp edges on the floor.

“Huff, huff, huff.”

Groaning, Leeha picked up a piece and struggled to move his fingers while still bound from behind.

It wasn’t easy to cut the cable tie without making large ‘sawing’ motions. It was something beyond typical thinking, but Leeha had experience.

During his military service, he had tested the strength of cable ties by trying to cut them with various objects.

‘I can do it. I’ve done it with smaller things than this. It will definitely work!’

After about 10 minutes of sweaty effort, Leeha finally cut the ties binding his arms.

And when he managed to cut the ties on his legs, Leeha realized.

“…Now what?” His lower body was still too weak to stand. He could barely stand for more than 15 minutes, let alone fight.

And his only ‘weapons’ were a couple of plastic pieces?

Leeha had to face five burly Dutchmen with just these.

‘Think. It’s not about fighting.’

He just needed to get Ram Hwajung out. Just needed to reach the main road somehow. Just had to get a message to someone in Hong Kong.

“Huff… If it wasn’t for the scream.”

Leeha sighed and shook his head.

Then, to save strength in his lower body, he started crawling on the floor, looking for an exit.

“Damn it! What can he possibly do! He can’t even stand properly yet!”

Ram Hwayeon angrily threw the walkie-talkie to the ground.

Her harsh words were not just out of anger but also out of greater worry and frustration.

As Ram Hwayeon fumed, Ram Peng and the others nearby flinched. Both experts brought by Ram Peng and those accompanying Ram Hwayeon were sweating profusely.

“How long will the location tracking take?”

“Th-the frequency has been identified, but it will take some time for backtracking.”

“What’s taking so long?! Isn’t this just a direct walkie-talkie?”

“Well, yes, but- with the currently recorded information, it’s not easy to-”

“Hurry up. Finish within 10 minutes.”

“Just to confirm within a 500m radius, it will take at least 30 minutes…”

Ram Hwayeon walked towards the ‘expert’ seated there.

“10 minutes. Finish it within that. Whether it’s a 1km radius or 700m. Once confirmed, we can handle the rest with manpower.”

The exact location wasn’t necessary.

Even within a 1km radius, they could flood the area with people.

And the expert could read the intense anger in Ram Hwayeon’s voice. There was only one response to give.

“Alright, understood.”

The expert’s Adam’s apple bobbed under Ram Hwayeon’s commanding presence. Her face was contorted with emotion.

‘Please just wait and don’t do anything stupid, Halihali. You’re less than an ordinary person in this situation…’

Leeha had no time to consider her worries.

He was too busy finding a door in the darkness, focusing on the sounds beyond it, and concentrating all his efforts until he could safely open it.

‘Definitely underground. Is this their hideout? Seems quiet outside…’

It was extremely fortunate that the door was not locked.

Leeha could predict what they were thinking.

The adversary was the Ram Long Group. This was not something that could be planned and executed in just a day or two.

They must have collected information about Leeha and several others near the hospital. The fact that they moved as soon as Nara, Bobae, and Kijung, who had been close to Leeha and Ram Hwayeon, left Korea was evidence of this.

They wouldn’t have cared about Leeha.

‘They must have known I can’t properly use my lower body.’ Wasn’t he sitting in a wheelchair even at the moment of kidnapping?

Therefore, they were lax about the confinement space, only roughly tying him up.

The end room of the basement corridor was where Leeha had been confined. Even as he crawled, he did not forget to observe his surroundings.

‘The finishing isn’t complete. It’s still under construction. There isn’t even proper lighting.’

The haphazardly arranged pipes on the ceiling were a giveaway.

The doors and the building itself were barely finished. Not just the basement, but the entire building likely lacked proper interior finishing.

There would be gaps on the ground floor as well.

Leeha crawled up the stairs using the least amount of leg strength and as much arm strength as possible.

It was then that he faintly heard voices.

Carefully rounding the stairwell, he saw light entering from a distance. There were only silhouettes, but he could make out the figures of two people.

‘That’s the main entrance on the ground floor. Two people are guarding it.’

If the kidnappers were confirmed to be the same five individuals Leeha had seen that day, then at least three people would be guarding Ram Hwajung.

Leeha wanted to rush out and shout, but it was not only impossible, he also had no idea what the situation outside was.

In the worst case, there might be no one outside.

Crawling quickly and cautiously up the stairs, Leeha kept an eye on the two distracted guards by the entrance.

Turning from the first floor to the second-floor staircase, Leeha could see a distinct light.

It wasn’t the dim sunlight from outside seeping in.

It was completely artificial light. Not beaming from the ceiling but rather shooting up from the floor and reflecting off the ceiling, creating dim indirect lighting.

‘There.’

The second floor was an open space, with just pillars standing starkly. The outer wall was constructed, but the entire second floor looked like one big room.

In that darkness, illuminated by the indirect lighting, Leeha saw writhing silhouettes.

“I’ll kill you! You, remember your face.”

“Haha, I find the accents of Asian women charming.”

The strained voice came from a small shadow struggling.

Another large shadow trying to press down on the small struggling figure was also visible.

“Cool it. If you leave any DNA, we could be wanted by Chinese police. Might even get an Interpol cooperation request.”

“Pfft, as if we could live in this country anyway. After this job, we’re heading straight back home. Who cares? Can Interpol catch us in our country? This girl won’t even know which country we’re from. She can’t understand us!”

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