BIE 117

Chapter 117…

Independence Day

“…Tsk, that must be it. Hey, grab him first. Check around too—celebrities don’t usually come alone, right?”
“Got it!”

Ah, this guy’s got good instincts.
Should I just run?

I hesitated for a moment.
If I ran, they wouldn’t be able to do much right away.
But my legs were shaking—
and it wasn’t from fear, or something like a phone vibrating.

“……”

When I looked down, I saw the little guy pressed tightly against my leg, his big eyes glistening with tears that didn’t suit his size.

“Uh… feeling suffocated?”

I undid the muzzle first.

Awh…
$I’mscared\dots$
“…Ah, damn.”

Shouldn’t have untied it.
Hearing something like that…

“Now it’s even harder to run.”

Let’s see… besides that boss-looking guy—Bumcheon, or whatever his name was—there were seven of them.
Four came with the group that kidnapped the dogs.
Three looked like they were already here, including the one holding a stick.
Two of them split off to search the area.
So, five left.

“Is that all of you?”

Oops—my mouth moved on its own.

“Why? Not enough? Feeling heroic all of a sudden?”
“Boss, that guy’s the one who took on ten men at once…”

Apparently one of them knew my “legendary” story and started whispering it to the stick-guy.
Now he’d flinch, right?

He’d think, ‘Wait, ten guys? This dude’s not easy…’
Then he’d try to bargain.
If I was lucky, maybe even hand over the dogs while crying, ‘We were wrong!’
That’d be nice.

“You believe that crap? You trust YouTube shorts now? Ten-to-one? What, were the other guys all idiots?”
“Sorry, boss.”
“Hmph…”

Why’s there so much distrust in that tone?
If he keeps talking like that, Bonghan-hyung and Director Jang would be rolling in their graves—well, prison cells.

“What a faithless world this is.”
“Get him!”

Damn it.

Before I could think, they all rushed at me.
What do I do? I can’t just fight here…
As I was about to retreat, another voice inside me started raging.

“Can you even take responsibility for what’s about to happen?”
“What’s he saying?”
“Are you gonna cry like little girls after I knock your teeth out—ah, crap!”

Wait—what? Did I just get possessed by some middle-aged uncle from the north?
Was that… Pyongan-do dialect?

While I was thinking that, the guys came at me from all directions.
Right, they don’t take turns like in the movies—this is the real deal.

So what’s the move?
Use all four limbs?
No.
Just fight them in order.

I followed my instincts and charged straight at the two coming head-on.

“Hup!”
“W-watch out!”

When I suddenly ran at them, the ones flanking me panicked and stumbled.

“Ha!”

I let out a sharp battle cry and sped up.

“Wah!”

The shout made them flinch, and I dashed straight through the gap like Messi or Ronaldo in their prime.

“Wha—!”
“Ah!”

Behind me, the trembling constipated mutt managed to keep up.
Only five left—should be doable.
One was the “boss,” just watching smugly anyway.

“Yah!”

Clang! Clang!

I swung open the biggest cage I’d seen earlier.
Inside was a large dog, barely breathing, its eyes dull and lifeless.
Then I opened the rest in a row.

“You idiot. Think there’s a way out that way? You think opening them will make the dogs run?”

The electric-stick guy sneered.
Figures—no wonder they just stood there watching while I opened four cages.

“…Poor things.”

Even with the doors open, the dogs just trembled.

Whine…
$Wehavetogo\dots$
Whimper… whine…
$Thatmanwillhurtuswiththestick.$

“…Hey, guys.”

At my voice, they looked at me with shaking eyes.

“Freedom’s something you have to fight for.”

They hesitated—then slowly took a step forward.

Clang clang clang!

“Get back in there, you filthy mutts!”

The man banged the empty cages with his stick, barking orders.
The dogs froze mid-step.

Didn’t matter.
I kept opening the cages one by one.

Then the constipated dog barked toward the others inside.

Woof! Woof woof! Woof woof woof!
$Guys!Trustthisman!Hecametosaveus!$

The little guy who’d been trembling against my leg was now standing tall.

Growl! Woof!
$Bettertodieoncethanliveinchains!$
Bark! Bark bark!
$Let’sgo!$

Encouraged, the dogs began pouring out of the cages.
Soon, a dozen of them gathered behind me.

“Now we outnumber you.”
“Tsk. I didn’t wanna make a mess of this…”

The stick guy reached for something at his waist—a knife.

“We were gonna bag them all anyway.”

Crackle crackle!

With a shock stick in one hand and a knife in the other, he stepped forward, smirking.
Where the hell did that confidence come from—wait, what’s that rumble?
An earthquake?

I turned around reflexively.

“Hey… weren’t you the one who said you only die once?”
Whimper…
$Ithink\dots thatonceistoday.$
Whine…
$MaybeIshouldn’thavecomeout.$

So they were all gentle giants after all.
Where were the fierce beasts from those dog-rescue shows?
Guess not here.

Well, I got it—dogs rarely attack dog dealers.
That faint grayish aura I saw from the “nice guy” earlier? This one had it too.
Even the ghost dogs in the van were flinching at it.

“Guys, I’ll take the stick man and that old guy. You four—get those others in the back.”

Woof!
Arf arf!

They barked in unison.

“Just bite their pants or something, don’t go too far. I’ll handle the rest.”

The dogs looked at each other, nervous but ready.

“Huh? Are you seriously talking to dogs?”

Funny, huh?
I gave him the universal truth of every story.

“You know why villains always lose?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“They die because they stop to listen when the hero talks, stall for time, or wait for him to finish transforming.”
“What nonsense…”
“Today’s your Independence Day!”

AwooOOOO!

The dogs howled for freedom.

“Charge!”

Bark bark bark bark!

As I shouted, a dozen dogs surged forward.
The stick guy’s eyes went wide.

The dogs spread out left and right, attacking their targets.

Woof woof woof!
Bark! Bark bark!

“You little sh—!”
“Kill them all!”

The tables turned in an instant.
The once-proud thugs were now swinging sticks wildly, trying to keep the dogs away—
but they looked terrified.

Of course—they weren’t fighting pets anymore. They were facing a wolf pack.

“Three per guy!”

Woof woof!

At my command, the barking chaos became organized—three dogs per man.

“What the—?”

I scooped up dirt from the ground and flung it at the nearest one.

“Gah!”

As he rubbed his eyes, I shouted:

“One for the leg, one for the arm with the stick, and one—anywhere but the neck!”

The dogs obeyed instantly—one bit his wrist, another his leg, and the last one—
“AAAGH! H-help me!”

Grrr! Grrr! Woof!

The third dog lunged for his crotch—
“Hey! Not there! As a fellow man—”
Bark?
$I’magirl.$
“Oh. My bad. Still—aim elsewhere!”

The female dog obediently switched targets and bit the guy’s arm instead.

“You…!”
“What, you can’t talk to dogs?”

The shock-stick guy stared at me, dumbfounded.
Then his face twisted in rage and he stepped toward his fallen friend.

“Where you going? You think I’m just gonna let you?”
“You… I can’t take this anymore. Bumcheon hyung, sorry. I’m killing this bastard and disappearing!”
“Damn it.”

The “boss” looked furious now—guess his true face finally showed.
At the same time, the stick guy swung the electric rod at me.

Crackle crackle crackle!

Sparks flew as the rod sliced through the air.
I dodged by stepping back, then lunged forward.

“Where do you think you’re—”

He swung the knife in his other hand.
But I didn’t stop—I charged in faster.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

I grabbed his sleeve mid-swing and pulled him toward me, using his own force against him.
Just like in judo, I hooked his lower body with my hip and thigh—

CRACK!

“Huuh!”

He flipped beautifully through the air and slammed into the ground.

SMASH!
Crackle crackle crackle!

“Guaaaah!”
“Ahahaha!”

The shock rod sparked under his arm, zapping him over and over.
I could almost feel it too—ouch.

“Ow, damn!”

Even holding his sleeve, some of the current jumped to me.

Zzt zzt!

The man convulsed violently.
So much for his confidence—he was twitching on the floor, steam literally rising from his pants.

“Gross…”

I brushed myself off and looked around.
One guy was spinning in circles, dogs biting his pants and stick.

“You idiots…”
“Boss!”
“Boss! What happened?!”

The two who’d gone to scout came running back.
Guess they didn’t get caught.

They rushed in, beating the dogs with batons and turning toward me.

“Tsk.”

Fine. Guess I’ll use my hands now.

I ran straight at them—
well, at the space between them.

“You bastard!”

This time, I couldn’t just dash through—they swung at the same time.
I kicked up the arm of the one with the baton—

Snap! Crack!

“AAAAH!”
“Just using my toes for emphasis.”

The baton hit his own teammate’s arm instead.
While they screamed, I stepped forward and slapped the second guy square in the philtrum—between nose and mouth.

SMACK!

His head jerked down, and he fell face-first like a log.
Then I grabbed the first guy by the ear.

“AAH!”

When he tried to pull back, I tripped his leg.
He flew up and landed right on top of his unconscious buddy.

“Guh!”

Just then, red and blue lights flashed in the distance.

“Finally… the cops.”

Guess movies do get some things right.