Chapter 63.2

Chapter 63.2

The outcome of a battle is determined not by casualties but by those who are terrified. Spreading fear was thus very effective.

Adding to the eerie atmosphere, snow was falling heavily enough to obscure visibility.

“Don’t say creepy stuff like that, man!”

“Damn, don’t you have any guts?!”

“That’s the kind of resolve you show when you’re holding a gun!”

“I’m telling you, there’s something else in these woods beside us! Whether it’s a madman or something else!”

Jingle—. Jingle—.

At that moment, both the team members administering first aid and Seoryeong, lying in ambush, froze simultaneously.

Through the blizzard, a large figure suddenly began to approach from the edge of their vision.

Feeling a chill run down her spine, she held her breath.

Thud, thud. The slow, arrogant footsteps already conveyed a sense of irritation and annoyance.

Seoryeong instinctively realized that the person she had been waiting for had finally arrived. However, when he actually appeared, her mouth went dry for some reason. She felt an unprecedented tension, making her hands tremble slightly.

“Who— dares to call the instructor out this early in the morning?”

Lee Wooshin made no attempt to hide his deep annoyance at having his morning sleep disturbed.

Wherever he had been, he wore a camouflage-patterned coat perfect for blending into the rocky terrain, with a thick camouflage cover made of branches and straw draped over him like a blanket.

This made his already large frame look even bigger, making him resemble a yeti.

*A yeti, also known as the “Abominable Snowman,” is a mythical creature purported to inhabit the Himalayan mountains.

Furthermore, with a white mask hat covering his head and neck and his pale skin, he looked more like a moving statue than a person.

When he noticed Seong Wookchan, he removed his sunglasses. Lee Wooshin’s sharp gaze swept over the unconscious team member’s face, and the blood-stained snow furrowed his brow. He looked as if all traces of sleep had vanished.

“Who dares to treat an instructor like this, pulling stunts only trash would?”

“Instructor!”

As the team members called out desperately, Seoryeong stood up, deliberately making her neatly tied hair disheveled.

Her pre-prepared face would be dried up with Seong Wookchan’s blood anyway. She panted as she emerged from the snow.

“Ugh…”

She staggered as if she might collapse at any moment.

“Please, help me…”

“Oh, damn! What the hell is that?”

“Over– over there.”

“Wait… could you be Han Seoryeong?”

A cold wind blew, and silence fell. The team members stuttered in shock at the sight of their comrade’s gruesome appearance.

They said victory depends on how much you can lower your opponent’s guard, didn’t they, Instructor?

Seoryeong pointed with a trembling, seemingly fragile wrist at the path she had taken, tears streaming down her face. Her hand was covered in blood.

“There’s a man bleeding. The killer got away.”

She collapsed into the snow, and the team members quickly ran to support her. They then sprinted in the direction she had pointed. They would likely search the area, following the trail of blood for a while.

Seoryeong then turned her teary eyes to Lee Wooshin, who had been standing motionless the entire time.

Snow was falling on his shoulders from the branches of the camouflage cover he wore. The branches, which had barely moved as he approached, were now dropping clumps of snow as he stood still.

“You.”

Lee Wooshin finally pulled back his balaclava* as if his limbs had suddenly loosened. His black hair, flattened under the knit cap, got tousled in the cold wind.

*Balaclava is a close-fitting garment covering the whole head and neck except for parts of the face, typically made of wool.

“That blood…”

He furrowed his brows as he slowly approached her.

In the midst of this snowy landscape, with everything blindingly white, Seoryeong found it hard to take her eyes off Lee Wooshin, who stood out starkly with his dark and grayish aura.

Even though the other team members had the same hair color, he was uniquely different.

Seeing him standing there like a painting against the white backdrop made her heart race and her breath quicken.

A man who seemed like the master of a winter castle—

“I had such a hard time getting here…” However, she pushed aside the fleeting sentiment and reached into her pocket.

Quickly, joyfully, and in the shortest way possible.

She erased the pitiful expression from her face and leaped at him.

“It was really tough dragging that bastard here!” Seoryeong threw the matchbox bomb she had prepared with all her might at his shoulder.

This tiny matchbox was perfect for creating a sudden, ear-shattering explosion.

“――!”

She had fixed the igniter strip of the matchbox to the heads of the matches with medical tape.

When thrown onto a hard surface, the match heads would strike the igniter strip, causing a spark and a small explosion from the igniting matches and the gas they released.

Though it looked like a silly toy, it was a powerful improvised weapon that produced a tremendous noise.

Bang—!

As expected, the branches Lee Wooshin carried caught fire immediately.