It has already been thirty minutes since Yoon Mi-so and her gang took over Seongsu Bridge.
『Live donation amount: ₩602,000』
The collected amount was woefully insufficient.
Even if this trend continues for three hours, there would be no chance of reaching 100 billion.
‘Darkness Jumper’ was lying on the roof of a high-end midsize car, glancing at a laptop.
The screen showed bank account records and the ongoing broadcast.
“Wow. It’s less than I expected.”
By now, the number of viewers had reached 1.2 million.
Black Streaming automatically created relay rooms to ease the server load.
The chat window continued its lighthearted tone.
<What? One million viewers? If everyone watching gave 10,000, they'd all live>
<Nah, what about you?>
<Me? I'm busy with work right now... sorry>
<Stop fooling around!>
‘Darkness Jumper’ walked around the seated hostages, showing them the chat window.
“It seems like none of you care if you die. Ah, so far we’ve collected 600,000 won!”
The hostages’ faces darkened. Some quietly held their heads in despair while others sobbed quietly.
Yoon Mi-so was enjoying their reactions.
“You all have your mobile phones, right? Quickly call your families and friends and ask them to deposit money!”
One by one, the hostages lifted their smartphones and started making calls.
“Hey, this is me… I’m being held hostage on Seongsu Bridge… Oh, you’ve seen the news? Yeah. Please, send some money to that account.”
“Mom… I’m being held hostage on Seongsu Bridge. I’m scared… Please send money.”
Some called their families, while others deposited their own money. There were many different types.
Then, Yoon Mi-so noticed a young man in his twenties. He was just sitting there, doing nothing.
Curious, she approached him.
“Why aren’t you doing anything, mister?”
“My family is already drowning in debt. I don’t want to burden them by causing emotional distress. But, I believe that if everyone comes together, we can collect the required 100 billion.”
‘Darkness Jumper’ whistled in admiration.
“Good answer. You might be the only one I let live?”
“That’s unlikely.”
“Hahaha! How did you know? If you had begged to live, I would’ve been forced to kill you.”
She turned around and headed back to her laptop.
At that moment, a deafening gunshot echoed.
The Special Forces had tried to snipe her.
A 7.62mm bullet from somewhere struck near Yoon Mi-so’s head.
“Gah.”
Her frail body was slammed into the side of a car.
All the hostages, as well as Yoon Mi-so’s gang, were shocked.
A few seconds later, it was Yoon Mi-so’s gang that was laughing, while the hostages became even more anxious.
Long-distance sniping could be an effective strategy against Awakened Ones. Yoon Mi-so, however, had prepared thoroughly.
A semi-transparent barrier appeared above her body.
The bullet couldn’t penetrate the Mana Coat’s defense.
She approached the hostages.
“That was interesting! If I hadn’t purchased a Mana Coat, I, a beautiful girl, might have died so meaninglessly!”
She waved a camera at the twenty-something man she had talked to earlier.
“You’ll have to pay the price.”
The young man’s face froze in terror.
“Now, mister, care to say a few words?”
“…Mom, Dad, I’m sorry. It feels like I’ve caused you so much debt because of me…”
Bang.
A hole appeared in the young man’s head. He never got to finish his words.
“Eek!”
“Aaah!”
The hostages sitting nearby recoiled in horror as the body fell.
‘Darkness Jumper’ handed the camera to another hostage. She leaned in close and whispered in his ear.
“Make sure to keep the camera on me. Get it wrong, and you’ll die.”
He nodded fervently.
Satisfied with his submissive demeanor, ‘Darkness Jumper’ smiled contentedly.
She looked directly at the camera and said,
“Police? Army? Keep trying to snipe me if you want. More hostages will keep dying, too!”
The unfairness of a young person dying before they could even chase their dreams.
The heart wrenching grief of parents mourning the death of their son.
This was all happiness to ‘Darkness Jumper.’
The people watching the broadcast in a casual manner finally realized how cruelly real the situation was.
<Madness;;;>
<Isn’t someone going to cut Black Streaming? There's a dead guy on the screen?>
<Typically not. If they cut it, she could kill everyone. Are you seriously watching this like a movie?>
<...I contributed ten thousand won>
<Not me. I'm not putting any money in lol>
<Are you an idiot? How can you say that after seeing that?>
<Hey, who are you to comment? It's my money, and I don't feel like spending it lol>
‘Darkness Jumper’ glanced at the laptop screen.
『Live donation amount: ₩145,486,420』
“ Alright everyone, currently we’ve collected 145 million won… We’re still far from our goal. Let’s try even harder. What’s this? We need a hundred times more!”
The hostages desperately searched their contacts, making calls.
To distant relatives they hadn’t spoken to in ages, even to near-strangers with whom they didn’t have any relationship. With their lives at stake, there was no room for embarrassment or pride.
“My cousin, please! If you have any money, please deposit it. Think of it as saving a life… I’ll pay you back if I survive. No? Cousin, you were helped a lot when our husband supported you last time, remember? What?”
“Senior Mok Hoon, please help us one more time… Excuse me? No, didn’t I take good care of you before? Huh? What do you mean ‘not interested’?”
The hostage’s relationships began to crumble.
People directly facing death and others who weren’t affected couldn’t easily bridge the gap unless they were close.
Yoon Mi-so watched the chaos with satisfaction. This was exactly the scene she longed for.
The main reason she demanded 100 billion was to watch the hostages struggle to survive.
‘What’s the point of living if you’re destined to die?’
She took pleasure in watching them struggle pointlessly, their relationships crumbling as they desperately begged for money, and the guilt the donors would eventually feel when the hostages died.
It was a win-win, maybe even a win-win-win.
‘Darkness Jumper’ ran around the car roof, holding a detonation device in her hand.
Time flowed on, and only 10 minutes were left until the deadline.
『Live donation amount: ₩7,245,486,420』
7.245 billion.
“Haha… 7.245 billion… Amazing. You’re all incredible! If only a million people donate 10,000, everyone here can survive! Hehehe!”
The amount was still far from enough. Despair spread across the hostages’ faces.
The chat window also grew somber.
<Is this real..?>
<You people who aren’t donating… You're the ones killing these people.>
<No, the one killing them is her. Don't force us to do anything we can't do.>
<Can't you people stop arguing? This situation is terrible.>
At that moment, the police and the heroes were at a loss. Typically, during hostage situations where money is demanded, they prepare fake money. They had already prepared fake money, but it was meaningless unless the account reached the required amount.
The government asked the bank that owned the account to manipulate the system to make it seem like there was 100 billion won. However, the bank’s owner was foreign, and communication was slow without any guarantees.
“Hnngh… When is he coming?”
By now, it was early evening, and the sunset was beginning.
She thought in her mind,
‘Dark Knight… Are you deliberately ignoring me? Annoying.’
‘Darkness Jumper’ bit her nails and frowned. Nothing was more boring than a target who didn’t respond, and her impatient nature made her even angrier.
At that moment, a girl of about 5 years old started crying.
“Waaaah! I need to pee!”
“Shh, be quiet, dear. This isn’t the time…”
The mother tried to soothe her, but a shadow loomed over her head.
Yoon Mi-so squatted down and peered at the mother.
“Oh my, it seems like the little girl needs to go.”
The mother flinched as if she had seen a ghost.
“Yes, yes.”
“Why so scared? Am I going to eat you? Is this your daughter?”
“Yes, I’m really sorry for the disturbance. I’ll calm her down, so please…”
“Hmm…”
Click.
A revolver was pointed at the child’s head.
“I love killing kids the most. How tragic and unfair it must be to die so young.”
Even Yoon Mi-so, who had generally been playing fair, had now run out of patience. It had been hours, the money didn’t come, and Dark Knight hadn’t shown up.
Just as she was about to pull the trigger with a blank expression…
A heavy presence was felt behind her back.
The aura of a high-ranked Awakened One.
‘Darkness Jumper’ smirked.
“You’re here!”
She turned around.
By the riverside at sunset, ‘Dark Knight’ stood against the setting sun. He looked like a black-clad savior with a halo shining behind him.
The hostage holding the camera, who had been filming ‘Darkness Jumper,’ naturally turned the lens toward ‘Dark Knight.’
The chat window in the live stream blew up.
<Dark Knight appears! Hahahaha!!!>
<For real?!!!>
<Quickly deal with that psycho!!>
<What's up with that Jesus-like appearance? Sunlight position is insane lol>
<A divine manifestation descended upon us ㄷㄷ>
<But didn’t she say there’d be a bomb if no money is given? What are you gonna do?>
<He must have a plan, relax lol>
‘Dark Knight’ spoke in his unique voice, like a rusty nail scraping.
“Were you waiting for me?”
