About half an hour earlier—around the same time Red, Ashley, and Gin arrived at their respective locations...

Khan and Rum sat several hundred meters away from the base, quietly watching through binoculars as though they were sightseeing.

Compared to the rising tension inside the compound, the two were unusually relaxed. The surroundings were peaceful, almost like they were enjoying a quiet vacation instead of waiting for a military operation to erupt.

Rum yawned as he lowered his binoculars.

"Damn it," he grumbled. "Why am I on this duty? I should’ve gone inside instead of being stuck out here."

Khan remained focused on the base, patiently observing every movement through his binoculars. They were stationed here for two reasons. One was to intervene if everything went horribly wrong.

As another loud yawn escaped Rum, Khan finally lowered his binoculars and glanced at him. Rum’s eyes had already turned watery from all the yawning.

"Getting bored?"

"Bored?" Rum scoffed. "No. I’m enjoying every second of this."

He pointed at the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. "See these? Tears of joy."

"Then go."

Rum blinked. "What?"

"I said, if you’re that bored, go ahead." Khan casually set his binoculars aside and tucked them into the black duffel bag beside his camping chair. "I won’t stop you."

Rum shot to his feet, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "And then what? You’ll throw me under the bus once this is over? Oy, I don’t trust—"

"I’ll take full responsibility."

Rum fell silent. "...Like... full responsibility?"

Khan slung the duffel bag over his shoulder and faced him.

"Yes. All of it." He shrugged. "Go make your grand entrance. Go wild. Better yet, make yourself look like the main character everyone has to take down."

"I’ll tell Red and the Madam I gave you full authority," Khan continued without hesitation. "Unless you die in there, you’ll walk away without any disciplinary action... assuming there would’ve been any."

He met Rum’s eyes and gave a firm nod. "You have my word."

Silence lingered between them.

Then Rum suddenly slapped his own chest before marching toward Khan.

"Khan, my man!" He wrapped Khan in a bear hug and patted him enthusiastically on the back. "I knew it! The right-hand title should’ve gone to you instead of that idiot Red, who throws me under the bus for no fucking reason!"

Khan stiffened, his brows slowly knitted together as he looked down at Rum.

"Are you... crying?"

"No."

"I think you are."

"Maybe," Rum sniffed before letting him go.

He squeezed Khan’s shoulder appreciatively, never once questioning why Khan had suddenly changed his mind.

He didn’t care.

All he cared about was finally getting out there and turning the entire base upside down.

"I’m going through with the preparations," Khan said. "You do yours."

"Damn right, I will!" Rum eagerly packed his things as though the real field trip was finally about to begin. But before he went, he looked back at Khan. "Full immunity?"

"Yes, full immunity."

Without wasting another second, Rum skipped toward the nearby bus they had hijacked earlier.

The moment he climbed inside, he leaned on the horn.

HONK!

"Bye-bye!" Rum waved cheerfully as he slowly drove away, already promising himself he would make the absolute most of the immunity Khan had just given him.

"Let the party begin — yeah!"

If the rest of the original crew had heard that conversation, they would’ve screamed at Khan.

They knew Rum.

The man wasn’t the type to improvise. He was the type who forced everyone else to improvise.

And now, he had been handed complete immunity.

Hell.

Rum would squeeze every last drop out of that once-in-a-lifetime privilege.

Khan chuckled as he watched the bus disappear into the distance.

Then the smile slowly faded from his face. He turned back toward the base.

A heavy sigh escaped him.

"I don’t think they can even wait until dinner," he murmured. "Honestly... I don’t even think they’ll last an hour before someone loses their patience."

While Rum had spent the past half hour yawning, Khan had been carefully observing everything happening inside the compound.

Even from this distance, he could tell the situation was far worse than any of them had expected.

Ashley hadn’t sugarcoated the place during the briefing.

Reality was simply worse.

That was why Khan made his decision the moment he saw a woman sprinting desperately toward the women’s dormitory from the far side of the base.

He studied her body language.

Either she had done something terribly wrong, or she had witnessed something terribly wrong. Whatever it was, that was already a sign for him.

Khan leaned toward the second possibility.

Considering what had happened during Ashley’s abduction—and how quickly everything spiraled because Ashley refused to stay still—he doubted she’d quietly wait for dinner.

"She doesn’t look like the type," Khan muttered, shaking his head.

Leaving the thought behind, he continued walking.

Soon, several trucks came into view.

Dead soldiers still occupied the driver’s seats. After all, the second reason Khan and Rum had stayed outside the base.

It wasn’t simply to observe.

Their actual mission was to intercept every vehicle entering or leaving the compound.

And so far... they had successfully seized every single one.

That left them with several spare vehicles, while the others had already been distributed to support the rest of the operation.

*****

[Present Time]

CRASH!

Red and the others instinctively squinted and stepped back as the deafening crash echoed across the compound.

Chunks of concrete and debris exploded into the air. Fortunately, only smaller fragments reached the prisoners, leaving them with little more than scratches.

Now, the dust kicked up by Red’s truck mixed with the thick smoke billowing from the shattered building, swallowing the entire area in a gray haze.

But one thing cut through it all.

Loud rock music.

Hard rock music blasted from somewhere inside the smoke.

"I’ve got a bad feeling about this..." Gin muttered, fanning the dust away from his face.

Unlike Gin—and Red, who leaned out of the driver’s window to get a better look—the prisoners felt nothing but rising anxiety.

An enemy?

One of the bosses?

There were plenty of insane and cruel people inside this place. But the people who ran the compound stood at the very top of that list.

Slowly, the smoke began to thin.

Everyone tightened their grips around their rifles, ready to fire the instant a threat appeared.

Then, at last, they saw it.

A bus.

Parked only several meters away.

Its front end had completely smashed through the building.

Then, a man stepped out with one rifle in each hand.

He looked around dramatically before spreading his arms wide.

"Surprise, motherfuck—" He stopped. "...Eh?! What the heck are you guys doing here?!"