Chapter 178 : Dark Maneuvers
Chapter 178: Dark Maneuvers
“Does this mission fall under the surface or the hidden side?”
“If I had to say, it’s both.”
At Kim Hana’s answer that it was both surface (missions for regular agents) and hidden (missions for special agents), Baek Woohyun wore a faint smile.
Her answer meant this mission involved raiding a Reverse World that the research facility and Corporate Alliance had manipulated.
This was the type of mission he desired most—one that struck both types of enemies he’d gained from “that side,” so naturally he couldn’t help but smile.
“Recently, a Reverse Otherworld not registered in the Management Bureau’s database was discovered, and we’ve even caught evidence that the research facility is involved.”
“Hmm.”
“It seems research facility forces are guarding the vicinity of that Reverse Otherworld and keeping it hidden. They’re even deploying hunting dogs to do so.”
“They must consider it quite important.”
“You know what’s even more interesting, junior?”
A chilling smile spread across Kim Hana’s lips.
“According to reports, Dimensional Invaders are mixed in there too. There’s even a possibility of more than one.”
“…!”
“Yes, that’s right. The research facility bastards have now dragged in Otherworld beings too. They really do seem intent on selling out this world.”
‘Reverse Otherworld with Dimensional Invaders—’
Baek Woohyun had already experienced that combination.
Not as an Otherworld Management Bureau agent, but as a test subject out for revenge, but still.
He had met Abrasax-Deus, who wore the body of a Doppelganger that copied him in a Reverse Otherworld, and had even directly witnessed the strike of the Tempest Lord.
Therefore, it was only natural that his eyes flashed at the mission details Kim Hana laid out.
Just as he had conversed with Isaac, he was feeling the need to speak with Abrasax-Deus as well, and now they had come walking right to him.
“Let’s deploy immediately.”
“I love seeing you so motivated!”
Kim Hana even clapped her hands, smiling brightly.
It was a cheerful smile that felt completely opposite to the chilling smile she’d shown just before.
Well, in a situation where she’d said other agents were struggling because they were short-handed after rooting out traitors, an enthusiastic junior agent must have felt welcome.
Especially since Baek Woohyun could easily handle work equivalent to several other agents.
“Oh, and this.”
“This is…”
Baek Woohyun received the box Kim Hana held out.
Inside the not-so-large box was a neatly arranged black combat uniform, clearly different in appearance from the Otherworld Management Bureau combat uniform.
He could immediately guess what it was for. Black color with no markings—the purpose of such a combat uniform was obvious.
“It’s a special agent combat uniform. When you’re on special agent missions, wear this.”
“Understood.”
With this, Baek Woohyun now had three identities and outfits.
When he was regular agent Baek Woohyun of the Otherworld Management Bureau, when he was special agent Baek Woohyun, and when he was Avengers member Lee Jun the Avenger.
He could deploy whichever identity and outfit he wanted most depending on the situation.
“Then let’s deploy as soon as we’re ready.”
***
“Dimensional Invaders, the research facility, and a Reverse Otherworld…”
-Seems like it connects to the broadcast from two streams ago?
-It’s the Otherworld Lord raid prelude quest!!
-So this is how it connects ㄷㄷ
-Wonder if the Hackphysical Doppelganger will appear again
It wasn’t just Baek Woohyun who recalled the previous Reverse Otherworld and the Doppelganger (Abrasax-Deus), and the Otherworld Lord upon hearing the mission details Kim Hana explained.
Not only Jeong Nayeon watching him from the studio, but even the viewers were all recalling those memories and chattering about them.
Since it was a story that connected directly to the new content of boss raids, there were many interested people.
“It does seem like the Otherworld Lord raid prelude story is continuing, doesn’t it?”
“Absolutely Yes! There’s no way RePla would suddenly say there were other Dimensional Invaders and twist things saying the Reverse Otherworld just naturally occurred.”
-ㄹㅇ RePla doesn’t do that
-Unlike other games, they don’t go in circles ㅇㅇ
-Lol they just keep smashing through anyway since there’s overflow of content lol
-Research facility and Corporate Alliance on standby
Chloe, who had been smiling meaningfully, readily nodded in affirmation at Jeong Nayeon’s question.
As someone who could be called a ‘Reverse Planet’ story expert, she asserted that from now on things would truly come crashing like a tidal wave.
She said that without awkwardly folding stories like paper origami, having built up sufficient buildup, they would burst everything without further hesitation.
“Hmm. But didn’t the Doppelganger annihilate the research facility built in the Reverse Otherworld? Having been backstabbed once, would the research facility cooperate?”
“They’ll cooperate. The research facility doesn’t just treat test subject lives cheaply.”
“They treat researchers pretty harshly too.”
-ㄹㅇ Even if they blow up a research facility or two, they don’t care
-Keep blowing them up~ Just make new ones~ That’s their stance
-??? : Research facility bastards are like cockroaches
-From the start, with the Reverse Otherworld destroyed, high chance no one knows who killed whom
“Ah, right! The Otherworld Lord completely shattered the Reverse Otherworld at the end, didn’t they?”
“Whether Reverse World or Reverse Otherworld, any life forms not alive when it collapses all disappear into spatial rifts, so they might not know what happened.”
Then Chloe explained that if the Doppelganger Abrasax just lied appropriately, the research facility and Corporate Alliance might have passed over it without investigating.
Since they were manufacturing TL series drugs and equipment borrowing Otherworld power, they had no reason to split with Otherworld forces over the dead.
Even if they knew the truth, they would quietly bury it and continue cooperation.
For the single reason that it would be more profitable.
***
“……”
“……”
Having quickly finished preparations and departed, Baek Woohyun and Kim Hana stood on a rooftop looking at their target location.
Because the location was in a residential area on the outskirts of Seoul, they could climb to a nearby building’s rooftop and look down at the building supposedly hiding the Reverse Otherworld occurrence.
However, since the Reverse Otherworld had formed inside the building, what they could confirm from outside was at most the forces the research facility and Corporate Alliance had deployed nearby.
‘Still, they did well to discover what’s there.’
A Reverse Otherworld was basically a term for a Reverse World that had been consumed by Otherworld power and otherworldified, and most looked similar to Reverse Worlds except for different colors.
As he’d seen before, dimensional gates were the same. Just changed from ash-gray to purple, but shape and size and such were identical.
That meant if detection of the initial formation aftermath failed, they were extremely difficult to find. Just like Reverse Worlds.
Reverse World/Otherworld dimensional gates formed inside buildings could only be found through reports from those who discovered them, so if you wanted to hide them, you could hide them as much as you wanted.
Here, the research facility and Corporate Alliance were trying to hide the information. So Baek Woohyun’s thought that the discovery was impressive wasn’t excessive at all.
One way or another, it could be taken to mean the Otherworld Management Bureau wasn’t just idling either, but was pulling some tricks on the research facility and Corporate Alliance side.
“There are some quite troublesome ones too. Junior, see them? Those guys.”
“Yes, I see them.”
What Kim Hana pointed at with her slender finger were personnel in neat suit attire, unlike the security guards employed by the research facility.
On their suit lapels were pinned crimson brooches depicting hellhounds, which symbolized that they were Hellhounds.
The most powerful and dangerous armed group belonging to the research facility and Corporate Alliance, just like the man who had appeared when Baek Woohyun crushed an entire research facility before!
“They’re called Hellhounds. They’re composed of only the elite among hunting dogs. They’re quite strong.”
“I see.”
Though Baek Woohyun had already met one in ‘Reverse Planet’ and even killed one with his own hands, he didn’t bother saying so aloud.
At the time, he had been moving as a test subject out for revenge, so for Otherworld Management Bureau agent Baek Woohyun, this was his first encounter with Hellhounds.
So he just nodded quietly as if hearing it for the first time.
“Fortunately, there are no heads-ranked ones. It looks like the two of us will be sufficient.”
Kim Hana warned Baek Woohyun in a calm tone to be especially careful of Hellhounds with numbers written on their badges.
Numbers went up to 3 total, and that symbolized head count, so be especially careful of those with numbers on their badges, particularly those with 3.
For Baek Woohyun, who had killed even a one-head-ranked Hellhound man who borrowed Otherworld power, it was a very belated warning.
Of course, he only thought this because he had experienced “that side” and progressed through other stories—for a normal user, now would be exactly the right time.
It was a setup where Kim Hana carefully explained what kind of existence they were and what to be careful of at their first meeting with Hellhounds, who were a tier stronger than hunting dogs.
“So, what should we do now? Try telling me, junior.”
“In my opinion.”
Baek Woohyun, who glanced at the grinning Kim Hana, continued.
“The enemy is off guard, and they still don’t know about us. Plus, enemy forces are scattered here and there.”
“That’s right.”
“In times like this, rather than wasting our advantage with one big surprise attack, it would be better to move stealthily and reduce the enemy’s numbers.”
“Correct! You know very well!”
Kim Hana praised Baek Woohyun without reserve and drew the sword at her waist. Simultaneously, a transparent wind blowing from somewhere seamlessly wrapped around her.
Having completely entered combat stance, she looked down below with glowing blue eyes and said.
“I’ll take the right side, junior takes the left. If one side gets discovered and a commotion breaks out, then the other side immediately reveals themselves and fights too.”
“Is it okay if a commotion breaks out in a residential area?”
“Team Leader Kim Cheol has made arrangements, so response will be much slower than usual. That should be enough time to finish the job and withdraw.”
“Then!” Kim Hana, wrapped in wind, leapt lightly from the rooftop and disappeared. Truly befitting a wind attribute ability, her movements were stealthy and swift.
Baek Woohyun, who watched her back for a moment, also pulled up the mask attached to his special agent combat uniform to his nose and drew his military dagger.
His movements leaping over the rooftop railing and down were no less quiet and swift than Kim Hana’s. Even without using wind attribute abilities.
However, for him who had carried out several assassination missions with Kim Youngjun on “that side,” this much wasn’t particularly difficult.
He thought self-deprecatingly that if Kim Youngjun and other current infiltration team members saw him now, they would mock him asking what kind of imitation he was doing.
He’d had similar thoughts before when mimicking killing his presence in PVP too.
“……”
Baek Woohyun shook off his thoughts and looked at the residence where the Reverse Otherworld would be with coldly sunken eyes.
Even while conversing with Kim Hana on the rooftop, he had constantly observed below, and thanks to that, he had long since grasped most of the enemy forces’ positions.
Not only those openly wandering about, but also those hiding their identities and monitoring the surroundings while pretending not to be security guards—all of them.
‘Without leaving a single one alive, I’ll kill them all.’
As always, Baek Woohyun’s attitude toward enemies was consistent.
Thorough annihilation leaving not a single survivor.
As the vengeful spirits wished, they would pay the price for the sins they committed.