I Picked Up the Greatest Villain in the Story

33.

“The biggest person should use it.”

“No, how does that logic work?”

Leo objected to Jihwan’s words, but Jihwan was quicker in using the item. The feather dissolved into a blue light and disappeared, and a pair of pure white wings sprouted on his broad back.

Flap, flap.

After testing the wings, Jihwan wore a satisfied expression.

“It’s not bad for the first time. Come on, everyone stick to me. We need to move at once.”

“Seriously, Jihwan hyung, you need to stop making decisions and acting on your own. Why are we moving as a team if you’re going to do this? Just do solo play.”

Despite grumbling, Leo grabbed one of Jihwan’s arms. Jian, watching the situation, clung to the other arm.

Left alone, Jungsu sighed deeply and gestured to Jihwan with his chin. As Jihwan’s body lifted about 1 meter off the ground, he clung to his right thigh.

“Hey, are you sure there’s no weight limit on this? If we fall halfway, we’re all screwed.”

“What’s the point of worrying now after we’ve already used it? Let’s just go quickly!”

As Jihwan belatedly expressed concern, Leo urged him. Jian tightly closed his eyes as he watched the ground getting farther away.

He desperately clung to the thick arm as if it were his only lifeline. The feeling of nothing touching his feet was chilling.

Moreover, Jihwan would occasionally dip downwards while flying.

“Aah, why does this keep happening?”

Leo, whose ankles had dipped into the water, shuddered. Jihwan, sweating profusely, pretended not to notice.

“It’s hot today.”

Jian had pulled up his legs as soon as he felt his body sinking, so he managed to save his sneakers.

Feeling nauseous, he squinted and tried to gauge the remaining distance. Fortunately, the artificial island that had looked as small as a pinky nail was rapidly approaching.

“There’s 1 minute left on the duration. Can we make it in time? It seems we’re not getting much speed due to the weight.”

“Stop talking and move!”

Leo shouted at the casual remark. Jihwan responded that he understood and flapped his wings more vigorously, but the item’s duration ended just as they were about to reach the island.

“Oh.”

With Jihwan’s surprised voice, four adult men, clustered together, plunged into the water with a splash. Sunlight reflected off the water spray that shot up above the surface.

Jian, who couldn’t swim, lost his senses as water rushed into his nose and mouth. The more he flailed his arms and legs, the deeper he sank.

Just when he thought he might really die, someone grabbed him by the nape of his neck.

“Huk, heuk…”

Pulled onto land, Jian placed his hands on the ground and gasped for breath, which had risen up to his chin. The fishy taste in his mouth made him feel nauseous.

“Are you okay?”

Leo asked while patting Jian’s back. His touch was kind, but his sharp eyes were glaring at Jihwan, who looked just as much like a drowned rat as Jian.

“The distance was farther than I thought. But we still got here faster thanks to me.”

Jihwan tried to defend himself while wringing out his wet clothes. At that moment, Jungsu used his skill to dry everyone’s wet hair and clothes with wind.

“Everyone get up. I think we’ve found the right place.”

He had been the first to come ashore after falling into the water and used his detection skill inside the building. He sensed at least ten presences. And they weren’t ordinary people, but hunters.

It wasn’t a branch under the Hunter Management Bureau, nor a hunter guild office, and no dungeon had opened nearby.

There were a few popular dungeons nearby, but there was no reason to wait here, floating on the Han River. Unless they had levitation skills, it took too long to come and go.

‘Open skill window.’

Jian stood up, his body much drier thanks to Jungsu, and opened his skill window. He suppressed the tension that had risen to his chin with a breath.

The cooldown time for all skills had finished. The longest was the barrier skill, which was activated in blue.

The cooldown time for the attack skill was 10 minutes.

With only one attack skill, he had to use it carefully. Ten minutes during combat was longer than one might think.

“How many are inside?”

“Two civilians. Ten hunters. They all seem to be in the basement area.”

Jungsu answered Leo’s question while preparing for battle. A small vortex appeared on his palm.

“Let’s enter as quietly as possible.”

“They probably already know we’re approaching.”

“That doesn’t mean we should go in banging gongs.”

Although Leo was the youngest, both Jihwan and Jungsu seemed to agree with what he said.

“I’ll go in first. I have an invisibility skill.”

Jian, who had been quiet, stepped forward. Thinking that Sehun might be inside that building made him feel urgent.

“Put this in your ear. It’s a communication artifact we use among our guild members.”

Leo took out an artifact that looked like an earphone from his inventory and handed it to Jian. After Jian put it on, Leo explained how to use it.

—Can you hear me well?

“Yes.”

It sounded as if he was talking on the phone with the person standing in front of him, hearing sounds from both sides simultaneously.

Jian’s figure disappeared without a trace as he used his skill. While the Dark Net guild members, including Leo, marveled at the flawless skill, Jian carefully took one step at a time towards the building.

The transparent glass door was covered with messy palm prints. When he grasped the handle and pushed gently, the door opened silently.

The first-floor lobby was quiet. There was no one at the horseshoe-shaped information desk inside. As evident from the fingerprints all over the glass door, it seemed that the people who had been here had also left in a hurry. The place was a mess.

Jian looked around, careful not to step on the objects scattered on the floor. There was an elevator nearby, but he searched for stairs leading to the basement.

As soon as he spotted the emergency staircase sign, he headed in that direction. He walked on tiptoe, treading lightly.

When he grabbed the round metal doorknob, his palm was completely damp with cold sweat. The tension was immense, as if he had stepped into the middle of a spy movie.

Unlike the glass door at the main entrance, the emergency door made a creaking sound no matter how careful he was. Even after opening the door, he held his breath for a while.

Only after confirming that there was no particular sign of movement did Jian open the door and go out. Although it wasn’t sunset yet, the emergency staircase was dark with no windows.

Only the green light flowing from the guide lights attached to the wall at each floor change illuminated the enclosed space.

He carefully descended the stairs one by one. As he approached the door leading to the first basement level, a faint sound could be heard.

He stood at the door and listened. The sound of busy footsteps leaked through the gap in the door. As his brow furrowed, he could hear someone’s conversation quite clearly.

“The intruders?”

“They still seem to be at the main entrance.”

“How many?”

“A total of four, but we just received a report that one disappeared.”

Damn it. So they were watching everything after all.

Flying through the sky and then falling into the water, sneaking in might have been impossible from the start.

Should he have come using the invisibility skill? But if he had, he wouldn’t have been able to sneak in like this due to the cooldown time, so it was better to think it was unavoidable.

Still, it seemed they didn’t know he had come inside yet, which brought a small sense of relief.

“How long until the teleport activation?”

“About 20 minutes left.”

“Block the main entrance and prevent them from coming in. Also, deploy team members in front of the emergency exit and elevators.”

“Yes, team leader.”

Along with the sound of footsteps moving away, there was a clicking sound from the doorknob.

He had no choice but to open the door first. Seeing the man’s eyes widen as he faced empty air, Jian wrapped his arm around the man’s neck and dragged him into the emergency stairwell.

“Ugh…!”

The man struggled, hitting Jian’s side and stomach with his elbow. Despite the considerable pain, Jian gritted his teeth and endured.

Without a skill to subdue the man silently, he could only rely on the physical abilities of an S-rank hunter.

‘Mr. Hwang, thank you.’

He never thought there would come a day when he’d use the chokehold technique taught by the ajusshi assigned to the same team at the logistics center where he had commuted for over a year before being incarnated into this world.

The jovial ajusshi, worried about the scrawny-looking Jian, insisted he should know at least one self-defense technique and taught him whenever they had a break.

The struggling body soon went limp. Jian laid the man on the floor, searched his body to find a walkie-talkie which he attached to his waist, and also took out something that looked like a string to tie the man’s hands and feet.

“You brought this on yourself.”

Finally, he took off the man’s socks. Rolling them into a ball, he stuffed them into the man’s mouth. Jian wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

This person had cooperated in kidnapping Sehun. Ignoring the pungent smell from the socks, he got up.

—Alpha One, respond.

A familiar voice flowed from the walkie-talkie. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was the voice that had been talking to the man he had just taken down.

What should he do?

He’d be suspicious whether he answered or not. But if he had to choose one, answering might be slightly better.

Jian cleared his throat and opened his lips. Lowering his voice, he managed to produce a voice quite similar to the fallen man’s. He pressed the protruding button on the side and improvised a response.