DM Chapter 97
It was the gun she had given Sarin in the underground storage.
As she untied the rope, Sarin slid the gun from the bottom of the boat into Karlena’s hand, passing through the blind spot in his vision. That was why she pulled at her skirt.
The huge body jerked for a moment.
Seeing blood spurting from his neck, Karlena quickly turned her back and drove the already-started boat at full speed.
Brrrrrr.
With a splash, the boat took off.
It was a wide river. The waves rocked the boat violently, as if it would capsize.
She felt dizzy and nauseous. As the urge to vomit overwhelmed her, Sarin’s upper body spilled halfway out of the boat. Even though she tried to vomit out what was inside, nothing came out because she hadn’t eaten anything. Her hand gripping the boat’s railing tensed with strength.
A person died from the gun she handed over.
That person had tried to kill the people who were trying to help her. Sarin endured, retching uselessly several times to regain her disoriented senses. She couldn’t tell whether her trembling body was caused by the cold or the adrenaline rush.
The boat safely reached the other side of the river. The hem of Karlena’s dress was damp from the water.
There were no more sounds coming from the other side of the river.
“I should get compensated for all this.”
Karlena, who assisted Sarin in getting off the boat, spoke with an expressionless face. Before she could respond, Karlena’s hand lightly touched her wet earlobe.
“Ah.”
A slight pain surged from her still-healing earlobe as the earring came off.
After saying “compensated”, she simply pulled out the other one as well and threw it into the river. It was the earring that Owen had given her. A look of bewilderment flashed across Sarin’s face.
Unconsciously, she gripped the loose ring on her thumb tighter. She thought she couldn’t give it away. But Karlena, seemingly no longer interested, went into the forest on the other side of the river first.
Inside the woods, she saw a car standing out of place, covered with a tarp. Sarin helped Karlena remove her familiar cover. It was an unassuming, ordinary car. Karlena went to the trunk and took out a bag, then had Sarin get into the backseat.
“Change your clothes.”
Karlena naturally went to the driver’s seat, found the car keys in the glove compartment, and started the engine.
Outside, the sound of rain filled the air, while inside, an eerie silence settled in. Holding the bag in her arms, Sarin’s shoulders trembled.
“Belarus… Minsk, Joseph.”
Sarin muttered in a chilled voice. Glancing at her in the rearview mirror, Karlena turns the wheel.
“Forget about Belarus. You should become someone who no longer exists.”
Drip, drip.
Moisture silently fell onto the leather bag. There’s no such thing as a free favor. It was time to fulfill Karlena’s condition for bringing her out safely.
ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
“Well, I didn’t expect to drive a tank again.”
Black smoke was billowing from the tank’s turret, which had blown away a stable. Anton clicked his tongue in an exasperated tone. Soldiers and security guards engaged in combat in several places, but their fates remained unknown. If those crazy brothers had brought in soldiers from the start, they could have wiped out this place.
Even Dimitri wouldn’t dare kill the first lady, as that would further enrage Nikolai.
Karlena and Kirill were the only people they wouldn’t touch. The rest might end up hanging upside down, with limbs disappearing one by one.
Kirill strapped a grenade he had brought from the underground storage to his waist and raised one of them.
“Disable the security system. They’ll break in anyway, even if they have to blow up one side of the mansion.”
It was clear that if the Dimitris didn’t do it, Kirill would blow up one side of the mansion himself. Anton hurriedly ran down the corridor and disabled the security system. Soon, all the security grilles covering the windows and doors went up. Without hiding, Kirill dashed straight to the entrance.
In one hand, he held a grenade, and in the other, a machine gun.
“Kirill!”
Someone approached Kirill, calling his name. Through the rain, a massive figure was visible. A small, struggling body was dangling in his hand.
Kirill’s eyes narrowed. Dimitri had called Kirill, but his presence did not express any plea for help.
“You see, the old man told me not to leave your woman alone, but I don’t want to touch her.”
“It’s not that you don’t want to touch her; it’s just that it will be bothersome.”
He would chase after them until their last breath.
It was troubling for them to have someone they couldn’t kill behind them. They can’t kill Kirill without Nikolai’s orders.
Concerned about the exploding sound, Gayeon, who had returned to the mansion, was tightly gripped by Dimitri. Gayeon tightly held her neck with both hands, barely exhaling, to prevent the raised back of his shirt from choking her.
Her body seemed unusually small.
Either that, or Dimitri was disproportionately large.
Kirill’s gaze wavered as Gayeon hung dangerously.
“Trade the woman you’re holding. Let’s avoid this annoying and troublesome fight.”
Dimitri said. Kirill, with the Russian tank behind him, looked at Dimitri, standing alone. At some point, the sounds of battle ceased. There was no way to confirm if all the bodyguards had been eliminated.
There was no sign of the other Dimitri anywhere. Kirill smiled and replied, indicating his attempt to gauge the situation in silence.
“Why? Is the woman somewhere else?”
The tank was slowly moving away from Dimitri. Dimitri’s eyes narrowed. But he wouldn’t be foolish enough to look away from his prey.
Kirill’s eyes gently softened. He stopped once their eyes met at a close distance. Gayeon took a deep breath as if it were her last, and then, in a split second, she stretched her arms behind to grab Dmitri’s forearms.
Using that as support, she curled her knees towards her abdomen and flipped her body upwards, mounting Dmitri’s back. It happened within a blink of an eye. She had been doing gymnastics since childhood; she had even shown Kirill some peculiar acrobatic feats when they first met.
Dimitri, furrowing his brow in suspicion, tried to pull down the upper garment he was still holding onto.
At that moment, Kirill raised the machine gun and fired at the target. It would have been possible if Gayeon wasn’t acting as a shield. There was no way to escape.
Ratatatatat!
Kirill’s eyes fluttered like never before as a figure suddenly stepped between them.
Another bloodied Dmitri had become a living shield, blocking the path between the two. Kirill kept firing, but the wavering figure rushed towards him at an incredible speed.
Thud!
“Kir…ill….”
Kirill pulled the safety pin from the grenade in his hand and forcibly inserted it into Dmitri’s mouth, then rolled his body.
Boom!
A horrifying sound of an explosion echoed. He didn’t pay much attention to the red, rain-like substance falling from above. Kirill’s gaze, missing the timing, was solely focused on Gayeon.
“Dumitri!!!!!!!!!”
They referred to each other as Dmitri. They earned the nickname “the Dimitris” for this reason. Kirill hadn’t even expected to be interposed by one of them, who, despite being injured amidst the crossfire, grabbed Gayeon roughly from behind and shouted the name of the fallen one with a pained voice.
With his hands roughly clutching Gayeon behind his back, Dimitri raised his voice in agony and called out for the dead.
The composure vanished from Kirill’s face.
Instinctively, Kirill attempted to raise the gun he hadn’t let go of, but Dimitri was faster. At that moment, Kirill realized that the crazed Dimitri had decided to completely obliterate Gayeon’s face, pressing it against the ground.
The moment of losing her felt like an eternity to him. And just as much, he felt his own hands were too slow.
Bang.
Something red cracked before his eyes.
Boom.
By the time Kirill aimed forward, the target’s head had already exploded and fallen sideways.
Gayeon, who had hastily sat up, gasped for air while clutching her choked neck.
“…Kirill.”
The sound was too faint for Kirill to hear, yet he recognized it as her calling out to him. His gun barrel was now pointed at Gayeon. With his mind in a jumbled mess, Kirill finally exhaled heavily and lowered the gun. Even before the machine gun hit the ground, he rushed towards Karren.
Kirill pulled her into a tight embrace.
Feeling her familiar figure and warmth in his arms, Kirill finally looked in the direction the bullets had come from.
Thud.
In the spot where the tank had disappeared, an entity, resembling a demon, appeared.
Approaching, he firmly pressed the gun barrel against Kirill’s forehead as he spoke in a grating voice.
“Your woman is here, but where is she?”
Gayeon, nestled in Kirill’s embrace, shuddered. While pressing down on the back of her head with his palm to prevent her from turning around, Kirill’s face had become impassive, concealing his relief and agitation.
Wearing a black suit, Owen casually held a black umbrella in one hand while gazing intently at Kirill.
It was because of this man that the tank retreated at the right moment.
The gun, recently fired and still hot, was pressed against Kirill’s forehead like a guillotine. Despite his seemingly relaxed demeanor, Owen looked quite anxious at the lack of response from Kirill and Gayeon.
“Answer.”
“…you persuaded Belov,”
Under the shadow cast by the umbrella, Owen’s lips curled slightly upward, partly obscured by the shade covering half of his face.
The only thing that could sway the soldiers summoned in Nikolai’s name was a direct order from the president himself.
“You will answer me, Kirill. Unless you’re hiding something from me right now, you will answer me.”
