CH 184

“Uwaaaaaaaah?!” Jo Sang-Pil screamed.

Two of the four wires supporting the tray from its corners were now severed, causing it to suddenly swing away from the building's side. Getting blown around by gusts of winds two hundred meters up in the air without a place to stabilize oneself… It would be pretty easy to imagine Jo Sang-Pil's level of terror right about now.

“Uwaaah?! Uwaaaahk! F*ck! What is going on?! What the f*ck?!”

Kang Jin-Ho grabbed Jo Sang-Pil's shoulder.

“W-what now?! What?!”

“Calm down, senior.”

“...Argh, bloody hell!” Jo Sang-Pil managed to sober up a bit, although his pride was responsible for it rather than his judgment. A newbie riding on a tray for the first time in his life somehow maintained his cool, so Jo Sang-Pil's pride as a veteran didn't allow him to freak out like some little kid. He sucked in several deep breaths and with his complexion still deathly pale, he quickly looked up.

'Right, we're still okay. For now.'

A single supporting wire could withstand a load of over one ton. Even if all the weight of Kang Jin-Ho, Jo Sang-Pil, the tray, and the cleaning tools were combined, it wouldn’t go over half a ton. In other words, a lone supporting wire would be enough to keep them alive.

“...Talking is cheap, though!!!”

However, who could stay level-headed when stuck in a situation like this?! Especially when the tray was rocking and blowing about from the winds!

“Keep your head down,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“W-what was that?”

“I said, keep your head down, senior.” Kang Jin-Ho pushed Jo Sang-Pil down by the latter's shoulder, then craned his head to look up at the rooftop.

'Who was that?'

He had clearly seen 'it' as the safety wire came down. If the wire came loose through regular wear and tear, the cross-section of the severed part should be uneven and coarse. Yet, the tips were undoubtedly smooth. That should be impossible—unless someone had deliberately cut the wires.

Kang Jin-Ho continued to scan the rooftop above. But then, the wind direction suddenly reversed, and the wayward tray began charging straight at the glass wall.

“Hiiiiiieeeek?!” Jo Sang-Pil freaked out and grabbed the tray's grab handle as tightly as he could.

Baaaaang-!

The tray slammed into the glass like a cannonball before bouncing off.

“...Quite sturdy, aren't they?” Kang Jin-Ho ruefully licked his lips.

If the glass had shattered just then, he could have tried to enter the building through the newly-created opening. Unfortunately, the thickness of a skyscraper's window panes had to be considerable, as only a tiny little knick could be seen on the surface after such a collision.

Kang Jin-Ho looked up again to scan the rooftop while gently squeezing Jo Sang-Pil’s shoulder, who was currently trembling pitifully from fear.

'Who dares to...!'

Jo Sang-Pil couldn't be the target here. That would make no logical sense. Which meant Kang Jin-Ho had to be the aim of the unknown assailant. And judging from how cleanly the wires had been severed—something a wire cutter would have trouble doing so—the assailant couldn't be an ordinary person.

Kang Jin-Ho continued to scan the rooftop. Eventually, a person's head peeked over the side. The assailant waved nonchalantly at Kang Jin-Ho down below. And...

Boooom-!

“Kkyaaaaaaahk!”

Another wire came tumbling down, causing the tray to nearly tumble upside down. The office workers watching this scene from inside the building screamed in alarm and freaked out. And while hurriedly backing away from the windows, they began yelling and shouting urgently.

“W-what should we do?”

“S-someone, go up to the roof, now! Hurry!”

“It's no use! Deputy Chief Choi has already run upstairs, but he said the roof access door is locked!”

“Son of a b*tch! Then, what are we supposed to do?!”

Just one slip-up and two people would fall two hundred meters to their deaths! Obviously, no sane person would want to see that happening.

“Did you call 119[1] yet?!”

“Yes, it has been reported already!”

“But, uh... Can the emergency services even do anything about this situation?”

How could people dangling on the side of a building be rescued? This building was a skyscraper, and those people were hanging pretty high up in the air as well!

“W-will they be alright?”

Kang Jin-Ho couldn't really hear the panicked, worried mutterings of the office workers. He was too busy pondering his next course of action to care.

'Do I need to disconnect the safety harnesses?'

These harnesses were meant to protect the workers' lives, but in a situation like this, they would pose serious danger instead. When the inevitable happened, and the tray fell, these harnesses still connected to the tray would only end up dragging Kang Jin-Ho and Jo Sang-Pil down. In a 'normal' emergency situation, waiting for a rescue team would be one of the options on the table. However, waiting for help when someone was clearly out to harm Kang Jin-Ho by severing the wires would be tantamount to suicide.

Kang Jin-Ho decided on what to do and glanced at Jo Sang-Pil. “...Senior, can you bring that thing this way?”

“Uh? Eh? U-uh??” Unfortunately, Jo Sang-Pil was in a panicked state. His face was a mess of tears and snot.

Kang Jin-Ho quietly patted Jo Sang-Pil's back. A man behaving like this would have been called a weakling in any other situation. However, their current situation was an obvious exception.

“Senior, can you push your body that way for a bit?”

“Eh? Uh?”

Kang Jin-Ho quickly realized that Jo Sang-Pil's mental state was too chaotic to process anything, so he forcibly pushed the older man aside and grabbed the safety harness hooked to the latter's waist.

“Huh?! ...U-uwaaaah?! W-what are you doing?! What?! What are you doiiiiiing?!” Jo Sang-Pil freaked out and hurriedly grabbed Kang Jin-Ho's arm. From his perspective, it looked like Kang Jin-Ho was removing his only lifeline in this situation. It was no wonder he was freaking out.

“Senior, this thing poses more danger in our current situation.”

“N-no! You bastard! Hey, stop! Uwaaaah!” Jo Sang-Pil desperately resisted, but he wasn't strong enough to win against Kang Jin-Ho's physical strength.

Kang Jin-Ho unhooked Jo Sang-Pil's safety harness from the tray, then reconnected it to his own by his waist. With this, Jo Sang-Pil shouldn't fall to his death even if he did something stupid on his own.

Jo Sang-Pil continued to yell in panic, “H-hey! What are you doing?! Let me go!”

'How bothersome...'

Kang Jin-Ho slightly furrowed his brows. Maybe knocking this noisy man out could make things easier for Kang Jin-Ho. A sudden urge to hit the back of Jo Sang-Pil's head to knock him out reared its head in Kang Jin-Ho's mind.

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'No. Too many eyes are watching...'

He decided not to go through with it. After all, a huge crowd of onlookers could be seen beyond the window panes. Knocking out Jo Sang-Pil now could cause a bit of a backlash later on with so many eyewitnesses present.

Kang Jin-Ho sucked in a deep breath, then looked up at the rooftop again. The assailant was still there, his lips moving. Due to the distance, Kang Jin-Ho couldn't hear what that bastard up there was saying. But it wasn't that difficult to guess the contents, though.

Most likely, he was saying, “have a nice trip.” The way he flippantly waved his hand was enough evidence Kang Jin-Ho needed.

The assailant raised his hand before slowly bringing it down. He was pressing something long and reflective against the last remaining wire. That man had been severing the wires from out of sight until now, but for the final act, he had to have thought of letting Kang Jin-Ho witness everything.

Kang Jin-Ho watched on while pulling Jo Sang-Pil very close to his side. “Fine. Laugh all you want for now.”

‘Because... In a little while, you will never get to laugh again.’

Snap...!

Kang Jin-Ho's hearing caught the sound of the last wire getting severed. And then, it fell. The tray lost to gravity and began falling. Kang Jin-Ho swiftly climbed up on the tray's guardrail, then propelled himself toward the building by powerfully kicking the tray back.

“Aaaah?!”

Jo Sang-Pil's terrified scream tearing out of his throat threatened to disorient Kang Jin-Ho. However, he had no leeway to care about that. Even he would suffer the gruesome fate of his body going splat after falling two hundred meters. Even top martial art experts would have a hard time surviving such an impact. Unless—Kang Jin-Ho had his former strength as Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor back.

Bang!

The momentum from kicking the tray allowed Kang Jin-Ho to press his body against the building. So far, so good... Unfortunately, the sleek glass surface meant he couldn't grab on to anything. Not even a small protrusion was present on this monolithic skyscraper seemingly wrapped in nothing but sleek glass.

Sliiiiiide! Whooooosh!

Cold winds madly rushed past Kang Jin-Ho's ears. One might feel refreshed by such gusts of winds blowing past them, but not Kang Jin-Ho, at least not this time. The winds were coming from below him on their way above, after all!

They were now in freefall. Kang Jin-Ho was holding Jo Sang-Pil with one arm as he fell lower and lower.

“Fuu-huup!”

There was no time to ponder too long. Kang Jin-Ho sucked in a quick breath, then gathered his origin energy into his right arm. He may have only one chance to pull this off.

'I don't have any desire to die here.'

He had earned this precious life after going through so much, after all!

After concentrating his origin energy into his right arm, Kang Jin-Ho immediately started circulating Asura Qi. His right hand instantly turned black when the violent demonic energy circulated through his meridians.

“Ha-aht!” Kang Jin-Ho let out an almighty roar as he stabbed his right hand into the building's glass.

SHATTER!

The glass pane shattered while issuing a sharp noise. The broken shards scattered all around Kang Jin-Ho. The falling glass bits sparkled like early morning dew as they surrounded him. A rather pretty spectacle indeed... But Kang Jin-Ho had no time to enjoy this sight. His eyes gleamed sharply as he grabbed on to the edge of the floor, now laid bare after the window pane had shattered.

Rrriiiiip!

A bizarre sound came out of his strained right arm. Kang Jin-Ho's muscles seemed to have suffered a tear after bearing the brunt of stopping the momentum of two grown men quickly falling to earth. However, he was still none other than Kang Jin-Ho, so despite the pain shooting up from his arm, he continued to hold on.

“Uwaaaah?!” Jo Sang-Pil's figure bounced around from the inertia and dangled. Kang Jin-Ho quickly reached down and grabbed Jo Sang-Pil's flailing arm. Even though their safety harnesses were connected, Kang Jin-Ho didn't feel like trusting that flimsy thing to stop a person from falling to death.

“L-look at that!”

“He's done it! He grabbed it! He, he's not gonna fall!”

The office workers on the floor cried out in relief as they continued to watch the unfolding situation. Unfortunately, none of them dared to rush to Kang Jin-Ho's aid. The floor was still high up in the air, and the difference in air pressure meant the winds were rushing powerfully outside through the broken window pane. No one wanted to get closer risking losing balance and falling out of the window themselves.

'Now, I just need to climb inside, and...'

If it had been Kang Jin-Ho alone, pulling himself up would have been easy. But one of his arms was basically unusable right now. Using only one arm to pull himself up proved to be harder, although the problem wasn't with his strength but his current awkward posture.

Kang Jin-Ho quickly made up his mind, then strengthened his grip. However—

Shhwwiiiing-!

An ear-piercingly sharp sound of air splitting rapidly approached Kang Jin-Ho. He clenched his teeth, then urgently pulled his head back to look up.

Swiiiiish-!

An object reflecting sunlight was rapidly descending toward Kang Jin-Ho's position. He quickly guessed what that thing could be and instantly gave up on climbing up, as he let go of the ledge.

“Kkyaaaaah?!”

The crowd of onlookers screamed in horror when Kang Jin-Ho let go and hurriedly twisted his body out of the way. The high-pitched shrill noise belonging to a woman's scream dug painfully into Kang Jin-Ho's heightened hearing.

Having lost his 'footing' again, Kang Jin-Ho resumed his freefall. Jo Sang-Pil continued to struggle and freak out, so he smacked the older man in the back of the throat. Jo Sang-Pil instantly went limp. Kang Jin-Ho hoisted his unconscious passenger under his arm, then gathered more origin energy, this time into his legs.

Wuooooong...!

He roused up all the usable origin energy and gathered it into his legs. The energy buzzed and responded to his will.

Whoosh! Swish! Piiing!

More reflective objects descended rapidly toward Kang Jin-Ho. They turned out to be a trio of daggers gleaming under the sunlight. Their handles were carved to resemble a coiling dragon. Kang Jin-Ho's discerning eyes quickly realized that each of those falling blades contained an extraordinary amount of origin energy.

Griiit.

Kang Jin-Ho gritted his teeth while taking in this sight. “So, you want to dance, huh?”

He could deduce the other party’s intention from this attack—he didn’t want him to walk away alive today!

Kang Jin-Ho used the foundation of the origin energy gathered in his legs to lightly kick the empty air.

Bang!

Despite kicking the empty air, the sound produced was eerily similar to hitting a leather-bound drum. Almost at the same time, Kang Jin-Ho's falling figure shifted a little to the side.

The rapidly-falling daggers passed by Kang Jin-Ho's original position mere moments later. And right at that moment—

Kang Jin-Ho kicked the surface of one of the falling blades with all his might.

1. 119 is South Korea's emergency number, like 911 in the USA. ☜