Dopamine Addiction - Chapter 52

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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52.
At those words, Hee-ju also tensed, her eyes dropping to the Garden below. She wore the Binoculars, yet nothing presented itself to her gaze.
But if Liam said he was coming, he was coming. At least he was an expert in this field, and Hee-ju stood ready to accept a professional’s judgment at any moment.
Accepting diverse opinions with flexibility—that was one of the fundamental conditions of office work.
In that instant, a deafening Bang tore through the air.
“Ahhhhh!”
The Garden suddenly erupted into chaos. Murmurs, shrill screams, vicious curses—all at once.
“Looks like your Booby Trap caught someone.”
“I’ve never made anything that vicious, thank you very much. What I constructed was just a cute little trap—you step on it, you tumble. That’s all.”
“The blast was weaker than expected. The Warehouse must be damp; it’s absorbed moisture. At worst, scrapes or minor burns.”
At that, Hee-ju peered out the window with a skeptical look.
“For scrapes, that scream seemed rather excessive.”
“The fellow’s probably a drama queen.”
Liam answered without concern, dropping low. He brought his eye to the Scope, held his breath, and placed his finger on the trigger.
Hee-ju instinctively followed suit, breath stilling in her chest. The air surrounding Liam had shifted. A calm, measured coldness enveloped him.
“Quit your games! I’ll kill every last one of you!”
From the darkness, a cluster of shadows burst forth—six of them, it seemed at a glance.
“Seven total. Five to the front, two at three o’clock.”
Hee-ju craned her neck carefully past the curtain. Now she could see two figures crawling cautiously from the brush to the right.
“Don’t step beyond the wall.”
At Liam’s firm command, Hee-ju quickly withdrew behind the wall.
The first man to burst forward reached the Foyer entrance, and the Motion Sensor Light flickered on. It was James. He looked furious.
“Come out, all of you! Come out, you bastards!”
Bang, bang. James fired at the Foyer. His associates emerged in quick succession.
“They’re armed as well.”
Liam murmured softly without lifting his eye from the Scope.
“Remember this: never stand under lights during an exchange of fire.”
Before the words finished, he squeezed the trigger. Crack.
“Aaaagh!”
One man clutched his stomach and dropped. Crack. A second shot rang out. Another man screamed and crumpled.
Seeing two colleagues fall, the men scattered in all directions. Bang-bang-bang. Those in cover fired toward the Second Floor.
Liam leaned back casually and nodded to Hee-ju. She returned the nod with grim resolve and left the room.
The scattered men moved more carefully now. They wouldn’t make the foolish mistake of standing under the sensor light again.
Three of them circled to the rear of the building; the other three moved to the side and shattered a window. Crash—the sound of shattering glass.
Hee-ju held her breath in the second room off the Second Floor entrance. Below, she heard them ransacking the lower level.
“Where are you! Don’t be a coward and hide—come out! I’ll kill you myself!”
James bellowed at the top of his lungs. A barking dog was never the threat. The dangerous one was the dog that drooled in silence.
Hee-ju peeked past her doorframe. Down the Corridor, Liam lay prone against the railing, his Rifle tucked against his chin.
There he is. The silent, drooling madman.
Liam squeezed the trigger. Crack. A man wandering through the Living Room below had his head blown open.
“Gasp!”
“You maniac!”
Bang-bang-bang. Those in cover began their delayed counterattack. Bullets tore toward the railing. Liam quickly withdrew. His eyes met Hee-ju’s.
He swung the Rifle slung over his shoulder to his back and drew a Handgun from his waist.
“You have your weapon?”
“Yes.”
Hee-ju raised the Handgun in her hand slightly.
“If anything goes wrong, don’t hesitate—pull the trigger. You can regret it later.”
“Understood.”
Hee-ju nodded with fierce determination. She wanted at least to handle one of them herself. She wanted to contribute that much.
Footsteps climbed the Staircase. Not just one—multiple. Bang-bang-bang. Those hiding around the corner fired methodically.
Liam entered the room adjacent to Hee-ju’s. He lay prone on the floor with a Mirror propped against the doorframe, his gun aimed the opposite direction—at the Staircase.
His eyes fixed on the Mirror; his barrel pointed toward the Staircase.
“What’s this? Why so quiet?”
An unfamiliar voice muttered with suspicion. Behind him, James encouraged his men.
“I’ll raise the bounty. Ten thousand dollars per head. So kill them.”
“You won’t back out later?”
“Of course not. Think about how much I’ll inherit once this is done. But there can’t be any evidence left behind.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
One man fired as he climbed into the Second Floor Corridor. In that instant, watching the Mirror, Liam pulled the trigger.
“Guh.”
The Bullet punched into the man’s abdomen. Without ever seeing where Liam was, the man collapsed on the spot.
“Hey, you okay?”
A frightened voice came from behind. Soon a gun barrel poked tentatively around the corner of the Staircase. Bang-bang-bang. The men fired wildly without exposing their heads.
Liam withdrew into the room. Bullets riddled the Corridor wall.
Breath.
Liam inhaled quietly and rose to his feet. Then he bolted down the Corridor in a single burst of speed.
He threw himself through an open doorway—the very room from which he’d fired the Rifle at the window moments before.
“There!”
Bang-bang-bang. Bullets pursued him. Yet not a single shot found its mark.
Inside the room, Liam slammed the door shut with tremendous force. Bang.
Three left. Hee-ju counted the remaining men and held her breath behind the wall. All attention was fixed on Liam.
“That’s it? Just him?”
“We lost to one man?”
“Damn it!”
After observing the situation for a moment, the men emerged from the Staircase. Their movements were cautious—nothing like their initial swagger.
Gun barrels raised, they approached Liam’s room, wary of any Employer move. Hee-ju wiped her sweating palms against her pants.
She wound the Fishing Line once around her hand, the other end secured to the Corridor railing.
“Come out right now, you bastard!”
Bang-bang. James and his men fired from a distance, their focus entirely on the closed door. They never noticed the Fishing Line laid across the floor.
As Liam made no response, James’s voice grew emboldened.
“What, scared now? Come out and I’ll pump a round into your backside!”
“Look at him—locked the door and cowering inside like a coward.”
“It’s too late for you, you son of a bitch!”
The footsteps drew closer. A shadow passed the doorway. The first figure—let him pass.
‘You’re letting the first one through? Why?’
‘The Point Man moves with the most caution. Those who follow him are less deliberate. Better odds with the second.’
‘That makes sense.’
Now! Hee-ju yanked the Fishing Line taut.
“Oof!”
The second man, casually following the leader, caught the Fishing Line and tumbled hard. Bang-bang. Startled colleagues opened fire.
Crack-crack.
“Argh! Who is it? Who shot my leg?”
“What’s happening?”
“Damn it, it’s Fishing Line! I tripped on Fishing Line!”
Only after the brief chaos did they realize their companion had been caught by the Fishing Line. Their faces twisted with rage.
“That room! There’s another one!”
Bang-bang. One man fired toward the room where Hee-ju hid. She quickly pressed herself against the wall, gripping the Handgun with trembling hands.
In that moment, Liam burst through the doorway and fired mid-leap. Crack-crack. One man fell.
Two left.
Liam crouched low and fired again. An empty click—his Magazine was spent.
He hurled the Handgun at the remaining man. The man dodged the incoming gun and raised his barrel toward Liam.
“Die!”
Liam drew a Military Knife from his pocket and charged. The man, caught off guard by how quickly Liam closed the distance, fired blindly.
Bang-bang.
In a blink, Liam was on him.
The man, panicked, spun to flee, but Liam was faster.
Getting behind him, Liam pressurized the man’s throat with his forearm and dragged the Military Knife across the carotid.
Gurgle. A bestial, strangled sound poured from the man’s mouth.
“Damn it!”
Crack. James fired at Liam. Liam used the falling man as a shield.
“Cough.”
James’s Bullet punched into his colleague’s chest.
“Hell! Die! Just die!”
James fired in a frenzy. Liam threw himself to the floor, rolled, and snatched a Handgun from the dead man’s grip.
Then he spun smoothly and fired. The barrel flashed. At the same instant, James dropped to one knee.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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