Convict Unit: Black Parade-Chapter 135 : Mission 10: The Hunters of Old (8)

December 11, 2050, 12:15 AM.
Cheongnyangni Gate, north wall, just below the surface.
Thud-thud-thud-thud…
A group of convicts tunneled forward like moles, burrowing through the concrete-reinforced earth.
They wore black leather bondage masks with ball gags clamped in their mouths, drool spilling down their chins as they swung abnormally swollen, muscular arms to carve a path underground.
This was the Deck 6 team: Deck Leader “Boss Hwang” and his men.
“Dig! Dig like your lives depend on it!”
While his four subordinates tore through the soil with shovels, pickaxes, drills, and rock breakers, Boss Hwang cracked a whip from behind, barking orders.
His ability was an alchemical drug he called “Superoid.” It not only transformed its user into a muscle-bound behemoth but also amplified their existing Awakened abilities.
It did have the minor side effect of stripping them of all reason and awakening certain masochistic tendencies, but the benefits were so outstanding that the drug was a hot commodity in the criminal underworld.
“Urrggghhh!”
With every crack of Boss Hwang’s whip, his men dug with renewed vigor.
These four had been personally administered a refined version of the drug and were now so loyal they would gladly leap into the fires of hell at his command (accompanied by his exquisite whip work).
“Just a little farther and we’ll be inside the Gate facility…” Boss Hwang grinned, estimating the distance they had covered.
He and his men were experts at tunneling. It was how they had safely transported their drugs between cities, digging networks of tunnels all over the country.
“Once we’re above ground, we’ll circle the perimeter and take out those ‘Knights.’ Just ten of them. Then we escape back through the tunnel. Heh heh…”
Freedom, something he’d thought he would never see, was just around the corner.
He’d been too naive with his business practices the last time he was arrested, distributing his miracle drug through illicit back-alley deals.
This time will be different.
If he could just finish this mission and get back to the outside world, he would establish a legitimate company. He would rebrand Superoid as a legal pharmaceutical and release it to the world.
Once his drug hit the open market, South Korean society would go to shit in an instant, but so what? It was already a mess. He’d just be adding a little more seasoning.
“Hehehehe…”
Boss Hwang chuckled, giddy with the promise of a bright future, and continued to crack his whip.
Just then… the entire tunnel vibrated faintly.
He glanced up, puzzled.
Thud—
The vibration grew stronger.
“What the hell?”
Alarmed, Boss Hwang stopped whipping. His men, oblivious, continued to dig, drool dripping from their mouths.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The interval between the impacts shortened, the sound growing louder, and then—
KRA-KOOM!
The reinforced ceiling they had painstakingly secured collapsed as if a bomb had gone off.
As a torrent of earth rained down, Boss Hwang muttered a single, short phrase.
“Son of a bitch.”
Ruuuumble…!
The tunnel caved in completely, and the Deck 6 team was swept away in the landslide, unable to even let out a proper scream.
***
“Perimeter patrol, ing in.”
Far above the collapsed tunnel, an old soldier holding a detonation switch pulled out his comms unit as the tremors subsided. Another veteran standing beside him switched off a motion detector and nodded.
The soldier on the comms finished his .
“We’ve caught the moles.”
Black Parade, Deck 6 Team.
Infiltration via tunnel. Annihilated by collapse.
***
December 11, 2050, 12:20 AM.
Cheongnyangni Gate, logistics warehouse.
Five convicts dressed in biker gear had successfully infiltrated the facility and were taking a short break.
This was the Deck 7 team, led by Jekyll & Hyde.
The two were identical twins, but their personalities and abilities were polar opposites.
The timid, introverted Jekyll’s ability was Stealth. The violent, extroverted Hyde’s was Explosion.
Once the notorious leaders of a biker gang in Mokpo, the two had committed countless crimes with their crew. They were rounded up together, imprisoned together, and had clawed their way up the prison hierarchy together, all the way to Deck 7.
And now, they were deployed on this mission together, with the same crew they’d ridden with since their Mokpo days.
“Ugh, why the hell are we stuck hunting a bunch of old geezers?” Hyde grumbled, taking a leisurely drag from his cigarette.
Jekyll’s Stealth had made their infiltration of the empty warehouse a breeze.
“It’s what we used to do all the time before we got locked up.”
“You mean like back when we used to ride around, cracking old-timers over the head with a bat and snatching their bags, boss?”
“Man, those were the days. Remember when that one guy clung on, begging for his bag back, so we just dragged him along for a while?”
“First thing we do when we get out is get new bikes. We gotta show Mokpo we ain’t dead yet.”
As his team members cackled, Jekyll, the stealth specialist, spoke up timidly. “Uh…guys. I don’t think this is the time to be smoking…”
“Tch. Enough nagging. You just keep us hidden, big brother.” Hyde took one last puff, flicked his cigarette to the floor, and grinned. “We’ll handle the rest. Just like we always do.”
Hyde led the way, and his men followed, snickering.
The flustered Jekyll called out to his brother’s back. “Hyde, you should put your helmet on! We don’t know how dangerous this place is…”
Their standard gear included motorcycle helmets that doubled as gas masks, but everyone except Jekyll had taken theirs off to smoke and were now carrying them.
“Jesus, stop nagging like a damn mother. I said I’ve got it.”
Hyde snapped back, still helmetless, and was about to step out of the warehouse.
“Huh?”
Suddenly, the strength drained from his hand.
The next thing he knew, he was on his knees. Power was rapidly leaving his body.
“Huh? Wha…”
Collapsing forward, Hyde managed to turn his head and saw his three crew members sprawled grotesquely on the floor behind him. They were all foaming at the mouth and trembling violently, poisoned.
“Hyde?! Everyone, what in the world is…”
Only Jekyll, who had kept his helmet on, was unharmed.
As Jekyll frantically checked on his brother and his men, a gravelly voice echoed from the far side of the warehouse.
“Here at the Cheongnyangni Gate, we have designated smoking areas.”
Startled, Hyde looked over to see a group of old men in armor approaching, their faces obscured by gas masks, smiling pleasantly.
“If you light up anywhere else, an alarm goes off.”
“…!”
“You should have minded your manners, friends. Then you wouldn’t have been taken down so easily by our Knights’ special-issue neurotoxin.”
Hyde desperately reached forward, but his breathing grew labored, and he couldn’t activate his ability.
All five members of the Deck 7 team were AA-Rank Awakened. If they could use their powers, they had enough firepower to level the entire area in an instant.
But that potential was rendered meaningless. A moment of carelessness had left them poisoned.
“Hnngh!”
Jekyll activated his wide-area Stealth, concealing himself and his comrades. He then darted forward, circling around to the old soldiers’ flank for a surprise attack.
However, while Jekyll’s Stealth was a top-tier ability that could completely deceive sight and hearing, it had one fatal flaw.
“I can smell you,” one of the old men said.
The old soldier smiled and aimed his weapon precisely in the direction Jekyll was charging. It was a massive double-barreled shotgun.
“Smells like foreign cigarettes.”
“…?!”
“We only smoke the domestic-issue stuff here.”
BOOM!
The muzzle flashed. Hit point-blank by the shotgun blast, Jekyll was torn to shreds and scattered across the floor.
Simultaneously, the Stealth covering the Deck 7 team vanished. Hyde, tears of blood streaming down his face, screamed his brother’s name.
“Jekyll—!”
Jekyll was already dead.
Hyde glared at the approaching soldiers with bloodshot eyes. “You motherfuckers! You dare attack my brother! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!”
The old soldiers closed in, aiming their guns and swords.
Hyde continued to scream, spitting up blood. “We’re AA-Ranks, you low-rank, geezer-ass motherfuckers! We’re supposed to live, and you’re supposed to die! You!”
“They say the younger generation has a higher chance of possessing superior abilities,” one of the old men said with a placid smile. “But there’s a difference between the
ability
to kill and the
skill
of killing, youngsters.”
“…!”
“Most importantly, you need the patience to stick to the rules, no matter how dull and boring they are.”
If only they had kept their helmets on.
If only they hadn’t done something as stupid as smoking in enemy territory.
Or, if they had never committed crimes and ended up in prison in the first place.
If they hadn’t broken those dull, boring rules, their lives might not have ended here.
“Farewell.”
This was the miserable end to a lifetime spent running wild, arrogant and unrestrained.
Bang! Bangbangbangbang…!
A merciless hail of bullets rained down on the four poisoned convicts. A final round embedded itself in Hyde’s forehead, silencing his roars.
Black Parade, Deck 7 Team.
Caught in a poison gas trap. Annihilated.
***
December 11, 2050, 12:25 AM.
Cheongnyangni Gate, rooftop.
The composition of the Deck 8 team was a little different from the others.
Deck 8 had no official leader. The prison’s highest-grade inmates couldn’t be bothered with such a tedious role. Instead, the “butler” who handled their chores and saw to their daily comforts also acted as the deck leader.
His callsign was “Concierge.”
Acting Deck Leader of Deck 8 and a convict himself, he was distinguished by his immaculate butler uniform and a magnificently curled mustache.
“Ladies and gentlemen.”
After a brilliant flash of magical light, the Deck 8 team stood on the rooftop of the Cheongnyangni Gate.
Confirming that all five members had arrived safely, the Concierge extended a hand to his side. “I do hope you found the transportation provided by our Bellboy to be comfortable.”
A young man in a matching butler uniform bowed to the Deck 8 convicts. His callsign was “Bellboy.”
Like the Concierge, he was a convict who assisted with the daily needs of the Deck 8 inmates. His ability was Mass Teleport.
He usually used it to carry his clients’ luggage, but this time, he had used it on the entire team, allowing for a safe and flawless infiltration of enemy territory.
“…”
Three other convicts had arrived on the rooftop with the Concierge and the Bellboy. As if attending a masquerade ball, all three wore ornate party masks and were dressed in luxurious tuxedos and gowns.
“…Hmph.”
As residents of Deck 8, they were all aces of the Black Parade. And, as befitting aces, all three convicts sensed something was wrong.
“Something’s here.”
FLASH!
Intense floodlights blazed from all directions.
Click! Clack!
Shiiing…!
Simultaneously, dozens of gun muzzles and sword tips were leveled at them with a metallic rasp.
A watertight cordon of Knights, who had been lying in wait, had them completely surrounded.
«Intruders, you are surrounded. Lay down your weapons and surrender immediately.»
“…”
«You have until five seconds, or you will be shot on sight. Five, four, three…»
Listening to the old soldier’s dry, amplified voice, the Concierge let out a hollow laugh.
“Well, well, this is quite the predicament…”
They had teleported directly into the lion’s den.
Stroking his curled mustache, the Concierge murmured, “Not a very auspicious start, is it?”