Chapter 19: Regrets of the Demon King Squadron that Begin to Sprout

“Boss! It’s coming! I smell money!”

“Let’s gooo! Run, run!!”

The bikes kicked up clouds of dust as they sped ahead. Jisehwa, at the front, spotted the target.

A luxury sedan. The license plate matched.

“Fire at will!”

Jisehwa opened fire without hesitation, unleashing her submachine gun on the sedan. As per the intel, it was completely armored. Her aim was the tires.

The mission was to immobilize the vehicle and deliver the occupant alive.

Although they were a gang of bikers, Jisehwa and her crew survived by taking on jobs like this and collecting bounties.

Jisehwa wasn’t special. There were plenty of punks like her in the slums, and such groups were simply called “punks.”

It might seem like only villain organizations would hire punks for jobs, but that wasn’t always the case.

This city was rotten to the core. Whether it was corporations or politics, the filth trickled down to the punks.

“Still holding out? Let me show you the power of ‘Buyerdons’!”

One of her subordinates fired an RPG. The explosion was enormous. Even the armored vehicle couldn’t withstand the blast, as the roof tore off and the body of the car shook.

“Hey, are you out of your mind? The job’s to capture them alive!”

“Oh crap, did the head get blown off?”

“Stick it back on with tape! It might still look like fresh sushi!”

Her subordinates laughed.

Then, the unexpected happened.

“Grrrrrr-!!”

From within the sedan, a green beast suddenly appeared. In an instant, the beast leaped onto one of the bikes.

“What the hell?!”

A subordinate’s body was torn to shreds by the beast’s claws. Jisehwa clicked her tongue.

“F*ck, we’ve been set up! Get the hell out, you idiots!!”

This mission wasn’t just about kidnapping. The person inside the sedan had been using punks like them as bait to awaken their own abilities.

Punks were already at the bottom of society. No one cared when they died.

“Aaaah! It’s chasing us! Boss, help me—Ahhh!!”

Subordinates were torn apart one by one. Jisehwa kept firing her submachine gun, but soon her ammunition ran out.

Kwoooom!

The beast leaped towards her bike. Its claws slashed at the engine, causing an explosion.

Some time later, Jisehwa spat blood mixed with saliva. Her subordinates were all dead. She had only survived by pure luck.

“Today’s just been a nightmare.”

Dragging her twisted ankle, she limped back to her hideout, an abandoned bowling alley.

So much for Buyerdons.

In this business, surviving for over five years was a rare feat. Death was always close by. And today, it caught up.

“Oi, Jisehwa! Get out here!”

The noise outside was filled with engine roars. Jisehwa, clutching her bleeding body, stepped outside the bowling alley. There were twenty bikes and punks gathered.

“Let’s go, as usual! The bowling alley’s on the line, you b*tch! What happened, you look like a beggar?”

Rival punks. A red mohawk shouted insults. Jisehwa wanted to punch his face off right there, but she didn’t have the strength.

‘Yeah. Go out with a bang. I need to make a legend.’

With that thought, Jisehwa mounted a backup bike.

“Bring it, you trash! As usual, we’re heading to Cliff 4.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear!”

The rules of the biker rivalry were simple.

It was a game of chicken.

Both bikers take off at the same time, heading full throttle towards a cliff. The first to hit the brakes loses.

Jisehwa and the mohawk stood at the starting line.

Bang!

With a shot fired, the engines screamed to life. The two bikes raced forward.

“Go!”

“Boss, we’re gonna kill ’em!”

“Buyerdons are done!”

The speedometers rose. 100, 140, 160.

‘What the hell? She’s not braking yet?!’

The mohawk was sweating bullets. The cliff was right ahead. His limit was closing in.

‘Damn!!’

In the end, the mohawk was the first to hit the brakes. But Jisehwa showed no signs of slowing down.

Crash!

Jisehwa’s bike slammed into the guardrail, launching into the air. Below was a bottomless abyss.

With a smirk on her face, she gave the mohawk the middle finger as she fell.

And—

The tension around her neck was strong. Her body was airborne.

Crash!

Zisehwa’s bike exploded as it fell.

“What the hell!”

Zisehwa turned her head. There, a red-clad man was holding onto a tree with one hand, and with the other, gripping her neck.

He had just saved her life.

“What the hell are you doing, you bastard! I was going to make a legend!”

“Legend? Those punk bastards’ life expectancy is five seconds. They’ll be lucky if their story even reaches the next generation.”

The man, Yongin, mocked her as he spoke.

“What the hell do you want me to do? I’ve got nothing! My men are all dead, I don’t have any money, and my bike is gone!”

At that moment, Zisehwa’s stomach let out a loud growl.

Upon hearing it, Yongin relaxed his expression.

For a moment, Zisehwa instinctively closed her mouth, overwhelmed by the attractive man’s face.

“Do you like gukbap (soup with rice)?”

The man, Jeong Yiseok, explained a lot to her.

The power of Leviathan that dwelled within him wasn’t something to waste on punks like them.

He told her that if she had the will, he would teach her how to fight as a hero.

After eating some hot gukbap, she felt warmth spread through her body, and a bit of her will returned.

As they stepped out of the shop, a scuffle broke out.

But Jeong Yiseok didn’t respond with praise or reprimands.

Instead, he took her to a nail salon.

“What is this?”

“Isn’t it pretty? If you punch something, this will get ruined.”

“Are you out of your mind? You bring me here instead of a hospital when my ankle is broken?”

“I was worried the doctor would pick a fight.”

Jeong Yiseok grinned playfully.

Seeing his expression, Zisehwa couldn’t help but laugh.

Her left hand was delicately decorated with blue nail art.

She admired the sparkling nails for a long time.

“Your surgery was successful.”

Zisehwa opened her eyes slightly.

Unconsciously, she raised her left arm and examined it carefully.

The smooth titanium body. It moved exactly as she thought.

However, there were no nails at the fingertips.

“Sehwa, are you okay? I had to secure you to the bed. I know your personality.”

It was Shin Yu-kyung’s voice. Zisehwa responded with a blank expression.

“I’m fine.”

“…Really? I thought you’d be angrier.”

“I’m fine.”

Zisehwa continued to gaze at her left arm while lying against the ceiling.

“Vengeance, you were attacked by Dark Matter, right? Can you tell me what happened in detail? The media hasn’t

reported yet, but they’re sniffing around. Dark Matter has leveled up to SS rank, and five people you were with are in

the hospital, two dead.”

“Hey, Yu-kyung.”

“…What did you call me?”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Jeong Yiseok, he was a good guy at first.”

“I won’t deny it.”

“Why did things turn out like this for us?”

“Well, he became obsessed with money, and after Han Somi died, he got hooked on drugs…”

“No, I mean ‘us’.”

“…Thinking back on it, I’m not sure. The fight with the Dark Kingdom was tough.”

“Jeong Yiseok started getting angry more often.”

“Yeah. At some point, it seemed like he couldn’t control his anger.”

“Even someone like him, it must’ve hurt when he lost his arm, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“…Never mind. I just want to cover up with a blanket. Can you loosen this?”

Zisehwa spoke as though something inside her had drained away.

“Did the foreign countries say they won’t provide support?”

Kang Yerin ground her teeth.

“I told you, didn’t I? There’s not a single one we can trust—whether they’re white or black. All they care about is taking our S-team title. That’s the only way they can get resources under international agreements.”

“Phew. What about the domestic A-class heroes? I asked you to gather them all.”

“Fine, but why are you so impatient?”

“There’s a Galactic Empire above us! The association is full of rookies with no real combat experience!”

“Blue is also a mess, but take it slow. I heard Vengeance is after the Dragon King team for some reason. Be careful.”

“Sigh… The Dragon King team needs to focus on training and stop other activities. Has the new Red broken the contract?”

“What are you talking about? I told you I can’t do it!”

“I’m going crazy! You can never fight with that on!”

“I told you! The contract states that over 70% of the missions must be done together. The domestic debut is the day after tomorrow.”

“Hey, President of the Association!!!”

Finally unable to hold back, Kang Yerin slammed her hands on the table.

“Do you really want to see everyone die? If that’s the case, why did you have Jeong Yiseok killed?!”

“Ugh, but… I didn’t know that such an evil organization would show up again…”

“Then why are you making excuses?! What does that have to do with anything?!”

“That bastard Jeong Yiseok… he went too far! His performance was so strong that the Washington Association was

trying to promote him to SS rank! Once you’re SS rank, even my authority can’t control you! If that happens, who

will own this association? It’ll be in his hands for sure!!”

At those words, Kang Yerin snapped.

The woman in front of her was saying that she had framed Jeong Yiseok because she was afraid of losing her own power.

“You demon!”

Kang Yerin charged at the President of the Association and started slapping her across the face.

“Ah! Y-You crazy woman! A hero hitting a civilian?!”

“Am I a civilian? The things you do are those of a villain!”

“A… villain?! Aaah! You’re an accomplice too, you b*tch! Did I kill him? You four killed him!!”

At those words, Kang Yerin’s hand froze.

She was furious.

The thing that angered her the most was the undeniable guilt she carried.

“Ugh… Ahhhhh!!”

Kang Yerin screamed and collapsed to the floor.

She knew it.

No matter how much she screamed or acted out,

Nothing would change.

“Sigh, sigh…”

Choi Min-seo grabbed her chest and took slow steps forward. She was suffocating—frustrated and unable to breathe.

Her body was fine. Health wasn’t the issue.

What was broken was her heart.

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts…”

She descended the stairs.

Deep inside a dark storage room.

Severe security. A level-zero security area, accessible only by the President of the Association and herself.

Choi Min-seo opened the door.

“Ah, ah ha, hahaha…”

No.

Even if she gathered all the wealth in the world, it wouldn’t amount to this.

In front of the Paradise of Pestam, Choi Min-seo laughed, and laughed, and laughed again.