Echoes of the Reverse Planet

Chapter 104: TL-01

-TL-01?

-What’s that?

-Doesn’t anyone know?

-I’m a serious story-chaser, but it’s never appeared in any difficulty, ever.

“I’ve never heard of it either. What about you, Seongcheol nim?”

“Of course, I haven’t either. I just did a quick search, and there’s no information on Hypernet either.”

“That means…”

“It means once again, Hackphysical did what Hackphysical does—isn’t that it?”

The hunting dogs didn’t question the weasel-faced man’s shout.

Because they knew very well that the situation was far from being under control.

With a monster clearly intending to kill them growling right in front of them, where was the time to waste talking?

So, without any fuss, they pulled something out from their pockets and swallowed it whole.

“You’ve forced us to use even this. You’ll regret it.”

Gulp.

And the weasel-faced man was no different.

It was a natural choice, as he realized that if he didn’t help, he himself would die too.

With a triumphant expression, he shot a last remark at Baek Woohyun before pouring a small pill, resembling a gem, into his mouth in one go.

“……”

‘Is it a doping drug?’

Baek Woohyun silently watched the hunting dogs, including the weasel-faced man.

The distance made it impossible to stop them, and even if he could have, he likely wouldn’t have moved.

Because TL-01 was an unknown substance, something even he, who spent ten years ‘over there’, was unaware of.

Vwoom—!

Soon, a faint blue light emanated from the hunting dogs who had swallowed TL-01. A blue light that clearly felt ominous in some way.

Moreover, their eyes turned completely purple. All of it—pupils, irises, everything. It was a bizarre appearance where distinctions like pupils or irises couldn’t be made.

Thus completely transformed, they looked at Baek Woohyun in silence.

‘They’ve completely changed.’

Baek Woohyun narrowed his eyes.

He was surprised by the change TL-01 brought about.

Beyond a simple change in appearance, it was as if their very essence had been reversed.

The weasel-faced man and the hunting dogs seemed to have become entirely different people. It even made him think they might no longer be… human.

‘It’s not a typical doping drug.’

“[Shadow Chains].”

Even in the resumed battle, the hunting dogs thoroughly revealed their completely changed state.

Shshshsh—!

The crowd-control technique, [Shadow Chains], used by the hunting dog with shadow-attribute supernatural ability.

From the shadows spread across the surroundings, a whopping six chains surged up simultaneously, attempting to bind Baek Woohyun’s entire body so he couldn’t move a muscle.

His expression hardened upon seeing that, because before taking TL-01, [Shadow Chains] had been limited to four chains at most.

“[Vine Trap].”

“[Flame Spear].” “[Wave Cannon].” “[Ice Spike].”

Vines rising from the ground tried to ensnare Baek Woohyun, who had leaped to avoid the chains, and attack techniques flew in, stabbing at his restricted movement.

It was a coordinated attack they had shown before, but this was much more refined and perfect. To a degree that made comparison impossible.

It was as if one person was controlling multiple bodies.

“…!”

Crunch!

Baek Woohyun stomped and crushed the vines while simultaneously swinging the 「Soul Eater」, cutting down all the attack techniques.

He believed that if he kept dodging like this, he’d be dragged around as the hunting dogs wanted, so this action was to create a foothold for a counterattack.

However, even though their attacks were completely thwarted, no disturbance arose in the weasel-faced man or the hunting dogs.

As if nothing had happened, they merely continued the battle with expressionless faces, moving thoroughly like machines.

“[Frozen Ground].”

“[Shadow Thorns].”

“[Crown of Thorns].”

An offensive that continued without a single gap, meshing perfectly like interlocking gears!

What was even more terrifying was that the flow didn’t break even when Baek Woohyun counterattacked and killed a hunting dog using an air-attribute supernatural ability.

The weasel-faced man and the hunting dogs naturally filled the gap left by the dead hunting dog, showing no fear or anger at another comrade’s death.

As if they never had such emotions to begin with.

‘This, could it be—’

Baek Woohyun sensed the shadow of the copycat invader he had faced before in the weasel-faced man and the hunting dogs.

Because, in addition to the completely reversed essence and the behavior shown during battle, their gaze particularly reminded him of that invader.

Being watched scrutinizing his every move with a mechanical gaze, feeling like a surveillance camera, naturally brought that invader to mind.

‘But how, exactly?’

Baek Woohyun’s thoughts became tangled.

The identity of the copycat invader, TL-01 which he had never even seen ‘over there’, and the resulting change in the weasel-faced man and the hunting dogs.

Amidst the questions sprouting like bamboo shoots after rain, he intuited that this incident was deeply connected to him.

‘If my guess that Anonymous Viewer 62 is a developer is also correct—’

However, Baek Woohyun shelved the thought he was about to pursue.

Because he believed it wouldn’t be too late to slowly ponder and speculate later.

Anyway, he was in the middle of a battle, and eliminating the enemies blocking his path was the most important thing for him now.

“—!”

Crunch!

With renewed determination, Baek Woohyun began to systematically eliminate the hunting dogs one by one.

The hunting dogs, who had even shown signs of fleeing before taking the pill, fought desperately until their final moments before dying.

Somehow, it reminded him of the word ‘sacrifice’. A sacrifice to understand the being called Baek Woohyun.

It was likely due to the tenacious gaze clinging to him even until the moment before death.

-Not even drug power works on Hackphysical.

-But what the hell is that TL-01 drug?? The effect is no joke.

-It’s like their supernatural abilities got almost 30% stronger ㄷㄷ

-If it weren’t Hackphysical, they’d have gotten wrecked and captured.

“Setting the effect aside, the side effects are really eerie. They fought as if they’d lost their egos.”

“It definitely felt like they were being controlled somehow. They didn’t react even as comrades died beside them, and they kept attacking even in situations where they seemed about to die.”

-For real, it seems like something players can’t use.

-Huh? Brainwashing? Yikes!

-I was reminded of that invader I saw before.

-Blue and purple are definitely colors that bring invaders to mind, yeah yeah.

“Hoo…”

“……”

Baek Woohyun exhaled deeply, with the hunting dogs’ scattered corpses at his feet.

In his hand, he held the weasel-faced man, whose limbs were shattered, still alive unlike the other hunting dogs.

He had deliberately kept him alive to see how long TL-01’s effect lasted and whether there were any side effects after it wore off.

If possible, also to get some information when the weasel-faced man regained his senses.

“……”

Unsurprisingly, even with his limbs completely crushed, the weasel-faced man tried to resist Baek Woohyun somehow.

Even though moving so violently could kill him even if Baek Woohyun didn’t, he acted as if his own life held no value.

Then, at a certain moment.

“…Ghk?!”

The weasel-faced man’s eyes widened, and his body jerked.

Subsequently, the blue light emanating from his entire body faded, and his eyes, which had turned purple, returned to their original color.

The problem was that blood simultaneously began streaming from his eyes, nose, and mouth. From a glance, it seemed he wouldn’t live much longer.

“Uhh- This, what kind of—”

“……”

“Thi, this drug- wasn’t—”

The weasel-faced man, muttering in a broken voice, went limp. He was dead.

“……”

Although the weasel-faced man died before he could even ask anything, Baek Woohyun’s expression remained impassive.

Just the information that TL-01’s efficacy was originally different from now was more than enough value for keeping him alive.

He hadn’t expected him to know that much anyway—if he did, Baek Woohyun would have recognized him—.

‘Was it originally just a common doping drug? Judging by how he spoke, the probability is high. Then the efficacy was altered—’

After pondering briefly, Baek Woohyun shook his head.

With absolutely no proper knowledge about the drug TL-01, thinking deeper would be meaningless.

Since it was a drug that didn’t exist ‘over there’ anyway, he needed to gather and learn more information.

Thus, he began looting the hunting dogs’ corpses for equipment. Like after dealing with Choi Hyeongcheol’s group before.

However, unlike that time when he got three items, including the jackpot that was the <Shadow Storage> necklace, the gains this time were unsatisfactory.

Presumably, because they fought fiercely and resisted until their last breath, the items they were wearing were all broken.

That seemed to include the smartphones they had in their pockets, so Baek Woohyun could only click his tongue in disappointment.

‘Even the things I did get aren’t very useful.’

Perhaps because there was no close-combat specialized awakener like Baek Woohyun among the hunting dogs.

The few intact items he managed to salvage had effects similar to the bracelet with supernatural ability power increase and cooldown reduction.

For him, who couldn’t use supernatural ability techniques at all due to

PerfectBeing

PerfectBeing, they held no meaning beyond being decorative.

‘Maybe they’ll be useful later.’

“Over there!”

“Junior!”

Agents, including Lee Yujin and Kim Hana, arrived in a rush around the time Baek Woohyun finished putting the items he’d obtained into <Shadow Storage>.

Having perfectly prepared for battle and rushing over, they stopped in their tracks, startled upon seeing the hunting dogs’ corpses scattered in the sea of blood.

That was understandable, as the hunting dogs’ corpses were utterly gruesome. Even for them, who were much more familiar with the word ‘death’ than ordinary people.

Bodies split in half were common; limbs were severed, and even just a head lying alone.

“…Sorry we’re late, Junior.”

“Hoo- I have nothing to say.”

However, only Lee Yujin and Kim Hana approached immediately without minding the corpses around, sighing at the already-concluded situation and apologizing to Baek Woohyun.

They seemed quite sorry for having said things like ‘we’re prepared to move anytime’ or ‘just be mentally prepared’ via text, yet not showing up when actually needed.

They had even said the ambush was just a worst-case scenario and the likelihood was very low. They couldn’t help but feel apologetic.

-Late again!

-Late-coming seniors, at this rate…

-Yup~ Police or allies arriving late is a national rule~

-But when they do arrive properly once, that’s when it’s super satisfying, you know.

“Well, being late is a national rule. Anyway, this one mission generated a huge amount of plot hooks.”

“That’s definitely true. The reason the research facility and corporations want Hackphysical, or TL-01 which has never appeared in the story of any other difficulty. In many ways, a lot of bait has been scattered.”

-Story chasers are going wild over the plot hooks right now lol

-I hear people overseas are watching Hackphysical’s stream and speculating about the future story too.

-For real? That’s awesome ㄷㄷ;

-Breaking news breaking news totally breaking news) TL-01 speculation posted on a popular Reddit thread!!