CH 420

Ka-ka-kaaang!

Metal crashing into another metal would obviously produce a metallic noise. Even if that was the case, the sight of one metal cleanly slicing through the other like a hot knife through butter would still be quite shocking to see.

And that bizarre event was unfortunately occurring right above the amusement park ride Kang Jin-Ho was in.

After the railing got cleanly sliced apart and began drooping lower, the bearings and pulleys attached to the ride started following the influence of gravity, causing the hot-air balloon-shaped ride to rapidly accelerate toward the ground.

Jo Mi-Hye bit down hard on her lip to draw blood. Of course she knew what was happening right now. They were falling. Falling to the ground far below! She wanted to drop her jaw wide open and scream as loudly as possible.

After all, she didn't want to die. She didn't want to die like this!

However, Jo Mi-Hye endured it. Kang Jin-Ho said everything would be fine, didn't he?

Kang Jin-Ho would definitely do something to save Jo Mi-Hye and her orphanage siblings. That was why she must not hinder or distract him. So, Jo Mi-Hye didn't scream and instead chose to hold onto him even tighter than before.

Blood nearly stopped circulating in her arms from how tightly she clung to him, but Jo Mi-Hye didn't care and buried her head deep into Kang Jin-Ho's chest.

'Dear Lord in Heaven, please...!'

Jo Mi-Hye sensed Choi Seon-Hui's hand holding hers also tightened desperately. Everyone here was deathly scared, but they clung to their faith in Kang Jin-Ho and endured the terror.

As for the subject of their faith, Kang Jin-Ho, he was coldly maintaining an objective state of mind throughout this sudden change in the situation. So cold was he that he might be even colder than a block of ice!

'Come on, think!'

Kang Jin-Ho experienced countless dangers throughout his life. It certainly felt like incidents were happening more often lately, but compared to what happened to him back in Zhongyuan, most of these events couldn't really be called dangerous.

However, the 'danger' of this event wasn't the situation itself but the people involved in it. Kang Jin-Ho never had to protect someone else while trying to break through crises before back in Zhongyuan. This lack of particular experience meant that trying to solve this situation without harming a single hair on these girls was a headache-inducing affair for Kang Jin-Ho.

For one, he couldn't even estimate how much impact force these children could absorb on their own.

“Fuu-woo...”

The light in Kang Jin-Ho's eyes transformed.

'Get a move on, Kang Jin-Ho!'

Kang Jin-Ho finished his calculations and speedily tore off two seat belts from the ride's seats. With even faster movements, he tied the belts to produce a long strap. Then, he wrapped the strap around the midriff of the girls hugging him from the front as well as himself and tightened it until it nearly cut off their blood circulation.

He now eliminated the off-chance of the girls separating from him, although doing so would hinder his movements greatly. He might have already set up a safety net of sorts by securing the girls' safety belts to his arm, but that alone wasn't enough to assuage his worries.

After confirming that the belts were still securely wrapped around his arm, Kang Jin-Ho unhesitantly pulled the girls closer and lightly jumped up. Perhaps due to the ride falling to the ground, the children's bodies floated up much easier than expected. Kang Jin-Ho hardened his expression and looked up toward the exit. “Everyone, hold on tight!”

The gondola had lost its equilibrium while falling, causing the exit to point upward, which was hundreds of times more preferable than it pointing the other way. However...!

'...Dammit!'

Only then did Kang Jin-Ho realize his mistake. With the girls securely strapped to his body, there was no way they would fit through the exit!

Wuooong!

Suddenly, Kang Jin-Ho's right hand was wrapped in a black aura. His body automatically resorted to the most optimum solution when his brain recognized the challenge of using that exit. The blade of Kang Jin-Ho's hand, now dyed in pitch-black darkness, powerfully sliced the air horizontally, cutting through the metal walls of the gondola with consummate ease.

Craaaack, split!

The sliced-open walls of the gondola split apart even further until the whole ride almost became two separate pieces. Still not satisfied by this result, Kang Jin-Ho fired a gust of palm energy at the ceiling, causing the upper half of the gondola still attached to the hot-air balloon above to shoot up.

That led to the lower half to fall even faster, but Kang Jin-Ho had to do this. And now, he and the girls 'rode' on the sliced-up gondola with walls about as tall as their waist.

'Where is it?!'

Kang Jin-Ho's eyes rapidly scanned the surroundings. If they fell like this, Kang Jin-Ho would offset enough impact force for himself, but doing so for all four girls would be a tall order even for him. It wouldn't be strange for them to instantly die even if Kang Jin-Ho landed first and dispersed the impact force as much as possible.

In that case, he urgently needed to find something else to help him disperse even more force. Kang Jin-Ho rapidly scanned the world below, then his eyes began gleaming sharply. He spotted the spires and triangular rooftops designed to imitate Medieval European architecture in various places.

“Everyone, hold on tight! You'll be getting a proper amusement ride real soon!”

The girls had no idea what Kang Jin-Ho was even talking about but still clung to him with every fiber of their being.

“Let's go!” Kang Jin-Ho cried out before kicking the floor to shoot up. He could leap up almost thirty meters with only a leaf serving as a foothold, and in that sense, the bottom half of the ride proved to be an excellent foundation. Even if it was falling to the ground.

“Uwaaaaah!”

Kang Jin-Ho flew up with all the strength he could muster in that instant, but something still felt somewhat lacking. His initial target, the rooftop of a spire nearby, was still out of reach despite his spirited leap.

There could be only one reason for that.

'I'm going to tell these girls to lose weight when we get out of here...!'

For some weird reason, these children were heavier than he thought. Sure, the combined weight of four youngsters should be quite heavy, but this was still a bit too...

“Keuk!”

Kang Jin-Ho spun around mid-air and placed the children above him. Then, he pulled his knees as close as possible to his chest before kicking the air while firing an incredible amount of demonic qi from his feet. Their falling bodies rose back up again into the air.

'I did it!'

Kang Jin-Ho gritted his teeth. From this moment on, he needed delicate touches. He must control his movement as delicately as possible to disperse the impact force.

He twisted around to land on the tall spire's roof with his back, then manipulated the landing in such a way that he and the girls could smoothly glide off the tiles. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to use the spire's surface as a landing cushion.

While taking extra precautions to prevent the girls from coming in contact with the spire, Kang Jin-Ho cautiously slid down the steep side of the structure. And he didn't forget to press his back to the spire every few meters to slow down the descent, too. All the while making sure that the roof wouldn't collapse because of his strength!

“Kyaaaaaahk!”

The kids couldn't hold back anymore and screamed loudly. Their bodies suddenly seemed to go weightless for a second or two, only to slam into a spire's slanted roof and rapidly slide down its surface.

It felt like they had fallen quite far, but when they glanced down, they were still over four floors above ground. And below this spire's slanted roof was... literally nothing. It was a tower with smooth sides and no other distinguishing features!

“We're jumping again!” Kang Jin-Ho cried out.

Their sliding figures eventually reached the slightly-arched edge of the roof before flying up in the air like a sled on a snowy cliff. And then, their flight direction bizarrely contorted toward a pyramid-shaped roof of another building nearby.

“Uh-huuuuuuuhng?!”

Even the kids stopped screaming at this point. Their faces were a mess of tears and snot. This was like experiencing a roller coaster ride without the safety bars securing them into their seats!

Up until now, these kids thought they were pretty good at enduring scary rides. However, the sheer terror and the bone-shaking speed were more than enough to eject their reasoning straight out of their minds!

Meanwhile, Kang Jin-Ho was fiercely gritting his teeth as he continued to control their slide down the rooftop. A burning pain shot up from his back, but now wasn't the time to care about that.

This was still not enough. Not enough!

Kang Jin-Ho's plan was to thrust his arm through a structure's wall once their falling speed had been scrubbed sufficiently enough. However, none of these fake walls were strong enough to withstand Kang Jin-Ho's current momentum.

'In that case, what next?'

What could he rely on to offset the impact force in this place...?

That was when Kang Jin-Ho's eyes gleamed sharply again.

'And here I was, wondering why the park designers would do something so weird...!'

He spotted the twisting track of the indoor roller coaster snaking its way between the buildings. When Kang Jin-Ho first saw those things, he had to wonder why anyone would build an indoor roller coaster, as that seemed awfully counter-intuitive. But now, that very same roller coaster track was about to become Kang Jin-Ho's lifeline.

“Do you like roller coasters, everyone?” Kang Jin-Ho spiritedly cried out.

“No, we doooooon't!”

Kang Jin-Ho unhesitantly flung himself and the girls off the roof to soar through the air once more.

“Ah...!”

The orphanage children shuddered at yet another feeling of weightlessness. Experiencing such things in an everyday setting would be impossible, but in an amusement park, going weightless for a moment or two was a common-enough occurrence. And when the potential energy instantly transformed into kinetic energy...!

That signified their rapid descent!

“Kywaaaaaahk!”

Kang Jin-Ho and the four girls, who had become an extension of his body at this point, accurately fell toward the roller coaster track. However, right at that moment...!

Three daggers boasting ultra-sharp blades flew out from the nearby darkness and headed straight at Kang Jin-Ho.

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“You...!”

Pitch-black demonic qi suddenly extended from Kang Jin-Ho's right hand like tendrils of a monster.

“Uraaaaht!”

Kang Jin-Ho thrust his right arm forward, causing the demonic qi to stretch before ballooning in size. The qi given substance split open its maw, then swallowed up all three incoming daggers. The weapons collided with the demonic qi and shattered into million pieces, their bits flying away in all directions.

“Cheap little tricks...!” Kang Jin-Ho gritted his teeth. He knew that now wasn't the right time. It was too early to lose his cool!

Kang Jin-Ho kicked the empty air several more times to fix his trajectory, which had gone out of whack slightly while shooting his qi blast. To other people, it might look like he was doggy-pedaling in the air, but Kang Jin-Ho couldn't afford to care about such things in the current situation.

'I did it!'

Kang Jin-Ho finally achieved the optimal angle as he and the girls rapidly fell toward the roller coaster track. But that was when he noticed a new problem.

'Huh?'

So... Does every roller coaster track look like that?

'I don't think it's possible to slide down that thing?'

Maybe calling it a pedestrian overpass might be more accurate by the look of that thing! If a person landed on that track while hoping to slide down its surface, that individual might start screaming for mercy! Or they might even beg to get slammed straight into the ground instead!

Kang Jin-Ho's expression crumpled ever so slightly. “Hah-ah...”

How unlucky could he get?! Kang Jin-Ho clenched his teeth and drove demonic qi to his back. Since he couldn't avoid what was coming, he might as well... enjoy the ride!

Wuoooong!

Demonic qi gathered and coalesced on Kang Jin-Ho's back until materializing into an actual substance. If he had gathered this much demonic qi into his sword, Kang Jin-Ho would've created the famed sword aura. Or fist aura if he had been gathering it into his hand. Since it was his back this time, should it be called 'back aura'?

The important thing with this aura was that his aim wasn't to destroy. He needed to be extra careful not to destroy or damage the track during the landing since this... 'new technique' possessed immense destructive power. Indeed, his focus needed to be 100% on protecting his back.

And it'd be great if the back aura helped him become a bit more slippery, too!

“Hold on tight!”

Kang Jin-Ho's back accurately landed on the track. And he succeeded in landing on the downward slope part of the track, too! However, his expression contorted almost immediately.

Slam, bang, slam, clang, bang, clang!

It felt like Kang Jin-Ho's hip bones and waist were mercilessly slamming into the track dozens of times every second as he slid down.

“Kyaaaaaahk!”

And that meant the girls ended up inadvertently 'enjoying' a roller coaster ride. To minimize the impact as much as possible, Kang Jin-Ho had to decrease their speed gradually while sliding down this roller coaster track.

He gritted his teeth and endured the pain shooting up from his back and hips. Transforming into an impromptu human train was a pain in the backside, as it turned out!

The human train continued to slide down at the rate of knots, slowing down only after speeding past the 360-degree section in the track first. Eventually, they trickled down to a stop, and Kang Jin-Ho sagged limply on the track with his arms dangling out from the sides.

“T-that was way too scary!” Choi Seon-Hui gasped.

“I'll never come back to this amusement park ever again! I swear...!”

Girls and their tear-stained faces hurriedly looked up at Kang Jin-Ho. They held onto him and shook him around.

“Oppa! Say something! Are you okay?”

“Oppa!”

Kang Jin-Ho didn't reply them and just frowned deeply.

'...Feels like my back is totally ruined.'

Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of time to relax like this. Kang Jin-Ho quickly stood up, held the girls close and lightly leaped off the track. After landing on the solid ground, he undid all the safety belts and finally breathed a lengthy sigh of relief.

“Everyone, listen. It's not over yet, so evacuate from this building immediately. Once outside, search for your older siblings and head straight to the nearest hospital, okay?” Kang Jin-Ho stared at the girls and squeezed their shoulders reassuringly.

“W-what about you, oppa?”

Kang Jin-Ho raised his head and glared at the ceiling. “I... still have some business to take care of.”

“What?! It's too dangerous here, oppa! What business are you even...!”

Kang Jin-Ho's voice suddenly grew cold and flat as he answered the girls. “I'm... going on a hunt.”