Chapter 122

Chapter 122
## Chapter 122: Aerial Bayonet Assault

Jeong Oh-hoon caught my eye and immediately looked troubled, his expression souring as he read my face.

“You have that look again—like you’re about to dump a job on me that I’m going to absolutely hate.”

“It isn’t even that difficult,” I countered.

Jeong Oh-hoon pulled a face at my dismissal.

“If my part is so vital, then I expect a bump in pay.”

“You greedy bastard.”

He was the sort of person who openly admitted to everyone that he only stayed in this line of work for the paycheck. Hearing a demand like that was just a typical Tuesday.

“Fine, whatever. Do you recall that specific maneuver you used to pull with the bayonet?”

“A maneuver? That’s my signature finishing move.”

Whether he called it a finishing move or a party trick didn’t change the facts.

“With your current growth, you could probably hurl it seven or eight kilometers without breaking a sweat, right?”

“Yeah, that’s doable.”

My strategy was simple and direct.

“We’re going to requisition a helicopter from the local military outpost.”

The plan was to fly in, get a clear line of sight on the fortress, and have Jeong Oh-hoon discharge a bayonet infused with my Paradox Flame.

There was only one real distinction between a standard mortar shell and Jeong Oh-hoon’s blade: a mortar follows a fixed arc, but his bayonet could be steered mid-flight.

As he listened, Jeong Oh-hoon looked like he was developing a migraine.

“Let me get this straight. You want me to fire the bayonet and then manually weave it through every single point of defense that fortress has?”

“That’s the long and short of it.”

He hit play on the monitor again. The screen displayed the fortress effortlessly swatting away a test volley meant to probe its defensive grid.

Even from my perspective, it looked like a nightmare. The stronghold’s reaction time was terrifying, and its interception projectiles moved with incredible velocity.

“…”

“You’ve got this. Probably.”

Jeong Oh-hoon let out a sharp, “Holy shit!” and slumped against the wall, giving me a long stare.

“Fine, let’s give it a whirl. It’s not like we have much to lose!”

Han Sang-ah scratched her head as she chimed in.

“Actually, we do. We lose the bayonet. And if this fails, we’ve just confirmed that piercing the barrier of that Unique Trait is going to be a monumental task.”

She always was the voice of cold logic. If she was right and the attack was neutralized, I’d have to get within arm’s reach to manually shatter the barrier myself.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sang-ah.”

“Always happy to provide a reality check.”

After their brief exchange, Jeong Oh-hoon looked back at me.

“Okay, let’s say we actually crack the shell. What then?”

“We dive in and wreck the place. We hit them like a swarm of hornets hitting a nest.”

Both Han Sang-ah and Jeong Oh-hoon gave me looks that suggested they thought I’d lost my mind.

“What? Why are you both looking at me like that?”

“Just the three of us?”

I finally realized what was bothering them.

“What, you don’t think we’re enough?”

They both nodded in unison. I had to sigh.

“Overconfidence is dangerous, but selling yourself short is just as bad.”

These two weren’t just names on Hope’s List; they weren’t hanging around the bottom ranks either. Both of them had fought their way into the top 30.

“Seriously, with your resumes, any major corporation would sell their soul to sign you. Why are you acting so timid?”

They had survived the hell of Cheorwon, yet they still looked unconvinced.

“But still, there are only three of us.”

“Drop it. At our level, sheer numbers stop being a deciding factor.”

We would infiltrate, cause maximum chaos, retreat if things got too hot to handle, and then strike again immediately.

“Kaesong isn’t the Three Blood Caverns.”

Kaesong was merely a stop on our route, not the epicenter of a Rank-1 Erosion Core.

While some monsters from the Three Blood Caverns might have fortified the area, the bulk of the forces in Kaesong were likely stragglers from the surrounding Rank-2 and Rank-3 Erosion Zones.

“Besides, the way the undead organize is different from humans.”

An undead army functions as a direct extension of its commander. However, that coin has two sides.

“Sever the connection at the top, and the rank-and-file become mindless. You witnessed that back in Harbin.”

I sat on the edge of the desk and pressed my point.

“Three elite hunters, an undead force that collapses without leadership, and the authority I took from the Association.”

I counted the points off on my fingers, looking at Han Sang-ah and Jeong Oh-hoon with total sincerity.

“The odds are in our favor. Let’s move before other hunters try to jump in.”

I wasn’t the type of person to bet everything on blind optimism or “fighting spirit.”

“We might not level the entire Kaesong fortress, but the three of us are more than capable of dealing a devastating blow.”

Lee Hee-sun, who had been quietly observing, let out a soft breath of surprise.

“Wow, that actually sounds like a feasible plan.”

I hadn’t even intended to convince her.

“If I wasn’t tied down by separate directives, I would have committed my own hunters to this mission.”

I gave her a lopsided smile. Taebaek had offered backup, not a full partnership. To be honest, I preferred it that way.

What reason did I have to trust a joint operation with Taebaek? They weren’t like Zanabi. Having an unreliable ally at your back was just as suicidal as underestimating the enemy.

“On a personal note, I have a lot of respect for the three Headhunters.”

“Respect? Don’t start.”

Lee Hee-sun continued regardless.

“You’re all incredibly powerful. Even if Yoo Chan-seok Hunter and Taebaek have their friction… many of our hunters still look up to the three of you.”

Han Sang-ah opened her mouth to speak, but I sensed the mood and cut her off before she could say something biting.

I knew exactly what she was thinking: that Taebaek’s “might makes right” philosophy, championed by their leader Sung Si-hoon, was just a cynical way to keep their members in line.

“…”

She caught my look and went quiet. Good. If you can’t manage a polite lie, silence is the next best thing.

“Alright, let’s get ready. We can pull a military bird from the Paju Airfield, right?”

Han Sang-ah nodded.

“I’ll coordinate with them.”

A short while later, the response came back.

“They declined.”

Declined? I stared at Han Sang-ah, stunned.

“They claimed their operational schedule is overbooked, so they can’t offer any logistical support.”

We were off to a stellar start. The refusal felt intentional.

The military ultimately answered to the state. Taebaek had pledged support, but the government hadn’t signed off on anything.

It was clear that an order had come from higher up to freeze us out.

“No way to bypass it?”

Han Sang-ah paused to consider.

“Maybe we could try to borrow a news chopper from one of the Ilsan stations?”

“Be realistic. If the military is blocking us, do you really think a civilian station will stick their necks out?”

The shift in public perception against us was largely fueled by the media anyway.

To put it bluntly, President Jo Won-hoon was effectively a dictator at this point. He had held onto power without interruption since the first Erosion Zones appeared.

Having sat across from him, I knew he had no plans to ever let go.

And where there is a dictatorship, media manipulation follows close behind.

“Great. And even if we did find a helicopter, we can’t even clear the Paju airspace without military authorization.”

The military, currently stonewalling us, wasn’t about to grant us flight clearance. It was a dead end.

Left with no other choice, I pulled out my phone and dialed a specific number.

— Hello? What’s this? Calling me out of the blue?

“I need a favor.”

I had called Lee Se-eun. Whether she was in the top 10 of Hope’s List or not didn’t matter right now.

What mattered was her influence. She wasn’t necessarily the single strongest hunter, but with the No. 1 hunter missing in action, she was the most revered figure in the community.

Very few hunters would dream of saying no to her. That was her power.

I had seen that influence in action while traveling through Siberia. And that kind of social capital didn’t just stop at the hunter community.

I explained the current predicament to Lee Se-eun with a calm voice.

— So, you need air transport, but the authorities are giving you the cold shoulder?

“That’s the situation.”

There was a brief silence on the other end, followed by a faint sigh.

— I’m not some genie who can just manifest whatever you want with a snap of my fingers.

She complained for a second before giving me an answer.

— I can’t exactly frame this as a personal request. Just wait a moment.

She ended the call. Roughly thirty minutes later, the very same base that had rejected us called Han Sang-ah back.

When she hung up, she looked at me with wide eyes.

“They said they can accommodate us.”

“…I guess she really is a genie.”

The reality was simple: saying no to Lee Se-eun was too big a risk, even for the military. It was a testament to her standing.

Even with orders from the top to ignore us, the aviation wing couldn’t bring themselves to refuse her.

But she had put herself on the line for us, likely drawing unwanted attention.

“I’m in her debt.”

This was something I would have to pay back. She would likely catch some heat for this move. It wouldn’t topple her from her pedestal, but still…

We hadn’t contributed to her success, so acting as if she owed us a favor would be a low move.

My phone vibrated with a text.

[You’re in contact with Sa Seung-hee, the owner of Oduak, right? Set up a meeting for me later. I want to talk shop, but even famous hunters like me don’t get an audience with her easily.]

Lee Se-eun could have forced a meeting, but if she bullied people into submission like that, she wouldn’t have the reputation she enjoyed.

I replied instantly, agreeing to the terms. It was the perfect way to square the ledger.

“The helicopter is set. Let’s get going.”

Jeong Oh-hoon grumbled under his breath.

“Fine, fine. Let’s do this.”

We climbed into the military transport they provided. Since Han Sang-ah didn’t need to be in the air, she stayed behind to wait.

The plan was for the bayonet, coated in Paradox Flame, to punch through the shield. Once the way was clear, Jeong Oh-hoon and I would bail out, regroup with her, and storm Kaesong together.

The helicopter’s engine roared as we took off. Eventually, the pilot’s voice came over the comms.

— This is the limit. Any further and we’re within range of their anti-air defenses.

It was time for Jeong Oh-hoon to shine.

“Can you see the target?”

“As clear as a bell.”

The distance was significant, but his vision was unmatched. He could look down from the sky and map out the terrain like he was looking at a high-res satellite feed.

“The bayonet.”

He held out his hand. I passed the blade over, wrapping it in Paradox Flame that I had compressed to its absolute limit. The fire burned so intensely it looked as though the metal itself might liquefy.

“Is this even safe to hold?”

“Don’t be a wimp.”

Jeong Oh-hoon took the flaming blade and snapped it into the mounting of his rifle.

“Ready when you are.”

He braced the weapon against his shoulder, centering his sights on the distant outline of Kaesong, and began to channel his mana.

I was done. My role was over. Now, I just had to watch him work.