Chapter 13
Chapter 13
As the young master said
* * *
* * *
After an in-depth conversation with Mark, I was finally able to get some answers. Maybe it was because I had pressed him so persistently, but after that, Mark never said another word.
'Niel Hoover, huh...'
Wasn’t he the executive director of New Delvire?
Since he was the chairman’s son, the title was likely just for show, but that didn’t mean his authority could be ignored. He was the kind of bastard who wouldn’t hesitate to make extreme decisions just to gain the upper hand in dealings with the Millennium Code.
Shin had a clear objective when he left Club Davinu.
The target had been identified. The next step—investigation—was inevitable.
Surprisingly, that part didn’t take long.
After taking care of Thomas, Niel had deliberately found himself a place to stay in a remote location.
[Colemberg Hotel]
Simply put, it was an unpopular three-star hotel.
Not exactly the kind of place you'd expect someone dispatched from a megacorp to be living in.
It might have looked like a random move, but Shin understood it perfectly. Niel was luring him into his territory.
Conveniently enough, Shin had been tailing him again today.
Since Niel was a public figure, just a few searches on social media were enough to track his movements.
Niel’s daily routine was quite simple.
He went to work at the New Delvire headquarters at 9 a.m. and got off at 5 p.m.
One would expect him to stop by somewhere to enjoy his free time, but instead, he returned straight to Colemberg Hotel and didn’t leave again until the next day.
The only escort he had was a single man who accompanied him.
It looked like a vulnerability, but that was the wrong way to see it. Never be fooled by appearances. The ten-story hotel had long since been fortified like a fortress.
It was cleverly concealed, but it couldn’t fool Shin’s eyes.
Autonomous turret systems were deployed on the rooftop, making it practically impossible to scale the outer walls.
On top of that, there were thirty newly hired gatekeepers. Including the permanent staff inside, the number likely exceeded that.
They had prepared thoroughly.
But Shin had accomplished his goals under worse conditions than this.
Having memorized the internal structure of the hotel down to every detail, Shin checked his gear nearby.
Taking care of Niel was no big deal.
The real issue was pulling it off without being tracked afterward.
Even if circumstantial evidence was inevitable, he had to make sure there was no physical proof.
After confirming that the Noise Worm was functioning properly, Shin pulled out a small case from his coat. Inside it was a tiny pill.
This was what they called Nuclase.
A drug containing enzymes that decomposed specific base sequences engraved in DNA.
With this, it no longer mattered if he bled or if flesh was torn off. The damaged genes themselves couldn’t be analyzed.
Of course, as one could guess from its mechanism, overuse of the drug could be fatal.
It was essentially no different from voluntarily exposing oneself to radiation.
That’s why hardly anyone sought it out anymore, but Shin still used it often.
Since it was a drug that could bring death, it was naturally broken down in the body upon ingestion—but he could control it to a certain extent.
Having once gone through the ordeal of nearly dying and coming back, he had gained limited control over his unique physiology. Especially now that he had reached this level, the ability to alter his appearance through surgery had vastly expanded his mobility—an undeniable leap forward.
Not that he could actually die anyway.
Slipping a long guitar case over his shoulder, Shin manipulated the controller he had obtained from Gerald.
At the same time, the patrol drones’ routes were altered.
In a blink, the area turned into a security dead zone.
Once he confirmed that all foot traffic had completely disappeared, Shin began to move.
Toward the Colemberg Hotel.
* * *
This marked the seventh day.
Niel’s paranoid behavior had only worsened with time.
Yawning, Evan turned to Jimmy, who was in the same shift, and asked,
“You really think he’ll come?”
“You mean that terrifying guy, like Yang Hu, the young master mentioned?”
“Yeah, that one.”
“Well, I don’t know…”
To Jimmy, it all sounded far-fetched. After all, wasn’t Niel himself the kind of person who had made a lot of enemies?
“And scary is scary—what’s this ‘like Yang Hu’ supposed to mean?”
Bringing up an old name like that only meant the situation called for heightened caution, and it seemed that even Niel, who had been acting like a reckless brat until now, had picked the wrong opponent this time.
That was when a man with a long guitar case approached.
A dress code that didn’t match the setting always stood out. Even more so if a sword came out of it.
Startled, Evan and Jimmy instantly drew their pistols from their holsters and aimed—but the man who should’ve been at the end of their sights was nowhere to be seen.
He had slipped out of their field of vision in less than the blink of an eye—so fast, it would’ve been laughable to even call it a moment.
‘Where the hell…?’
Just as Jimmy thought that, something came flying from right next to him. It was Evan’s head.
Jimmy quickly ducked and turned his gun, but even that sharp reaction wasn’t enough to save his life. Before he could even pull the trigger, a gust of wind swept past and sliced through his neck.
Slice.
The last thing Jimmy heard was the sharp sound of a blade cutting through flesh.
The man who had taken out the two guards at the entrance in an instant—Shin—entered the hotel.
There was not a single person in the lobby or the corridors. I already knew from prior investigation that Niel had rented out the entire place. Knowing that there would be no innocent victims, I had no hesitation in my actions.
Psssh.
After placing the sword back into the long guitar case and then drawing it out again, a cleanly washed blade revealed itself.
I favored bladed weapons not only because they were my specialty, but also because they allowed me to secure an advantage in prolonged engagements.
Firearms could never escape the physical limitation of ammunition, and their distinctive firing sounds could not be concealed.
Of course, there were products designed to compensate for those weaknesses, but their maintenance costs were exorbitant beyond question.
By contrast, blades were easy to acquire and just as easy to dispose of.
There was no risk of mechanical failure, and with proper care, they were practically semi-permanent.
For someone like me, who operated alone and could fully exploit the trait of immortality, choosing such a weapon was only natural.
Standing at the center of the lounge, I took out a round sphere from my pocket and dropped it. Crackling sparks flared as a hemispherical field of static electricity spread outward, and the surroundings were instantly swallowed by darkness.
Electus.
It was a device that generated an electromagnetic pulse within a localized area—in other words, a commercialized EMP bomb.
Since it struck the integrated circuits that made up electronic devices, operating surveillance systems or communication equipment would become extremely difficult.
After blinding and deafening the enemy, I sprinted toward the second floor as if taking flight.
“Fire!”
“It’s just one guy anyway!”
“Concentrate fire on the right!”
Perhaps having noticed the intruder, several of them came out to meet me head-on.
They had even equipped night-vision goggles with impressive speed.
It was a response that was nearly textbook-perfect, but it was useless against me.
Charging through the torrential rain of bullets, I swung my sword without caring that my body was being torn apart.
The moment the distance closed, the outcome was all but decided.
Quite a few tried to engage in knife fighting, but none could escape the future of being cut down.
It was the inevitable result of a battle between one who would not die even if killed, and those who would die if they were killed.
After soaking the floor in blood, I spoke.
“How many people are in this hotel?”
“That’s……”
“Judging by your hesitation, it seems you don’t want to live that badly. I should grant your wish.”
“No, wait!”
He looked like the one in command, his appearance standing out from the rest, but I did not stop the sword clenched in my hand.
Slash.
They were nothing more than hunting dogs drunk on the spoils handed out by a megacorp. Even knowing that their ideology was rotten, they had still stepped onto a path of heresy, so there was no reason to show mercy.
As a result, even slaughtering them indiscriminately gave rise to no guilt whatsoever.
The more I cut them down, the more desperate the situation became.
I hadn’t come here to deal with small fry.
As my sweat-soaked coat grew heavier and the once-sharp sword grew dull, that thought became clearer and clearer.
The 6th floor, the 7th floor, and then the 8th.
As rapidly as I advanced, the caliber of the enemies waiting for me rose just as sharply. In an attempt to shave off even a little more time, I procured an abandoned firearm on-site, but—
‘Auto-lock?’
It was configured so that it couldn’t be used unless the registered fingerprint matched. Just as expected of a megacorp, even the equipment they issued was top-tier.
Come to think of it, the upper floors felt different from the lower ones—there was a restrained, disciplined air about them.
Every person stationed there was solidly built.
Needless to say, they were soldiers enhanced through genetic modification, and their judgment and reflexes were clearly superior.
As if bulletproof and stab-resistant armor weren’t enough, they also appeared to have received professional training, maintaining concealment of intent and rarely giving me any distance.
What irritated me the most, however, were the devices installed at every choke point.
Directional anti-personnel shotgun mines.
So-called Storms.
Those weapons, capable of blowing away anything in a straight line, allowed no intrusion. The moment one entered their effective range, being turned into a honeycomb by exploding steel pellets was inevitable.
If this were an open area, I could have taken a different route, but this was indoors. In other words, a one-way path.
I could guess their intent.
They wanted to force a tedious battle of nerves and buy time to reinforce their forces. It was even possible that reinforcements dispatched from New Delvire had already arrived on the first floor.
Front and back.
They must have thought they had a chance if they attacked from both sides.
But it was a plan that understood one thing and missed two others.
Tap.
Assessing the situation faster than the blink of an eye, I leapt as I was and ran along the wall.
Movement that used neither the X-axis nor the Y-axis, but the Z-axis.
Crossfire followed in response to the sudden maneuver, but by the time they grasped what was happening, it was already too late. Having fully accelerated, I began to spin, my coat tails fluttering wildly.
Gripping a sword that felt like it might fly out of my hand at any moment, I unleashed centrifugal force pushed to its very limit.
Every Storm that came into contact with my trajectory detonated in a chain of friendly fire.
Boom!
They had already been packed together more densely than necessary. The steel pellets that burst in all directions carved gruesome marks into the walls.
With such an aftershock, it was only natural that the entire 8th floor shook violently.
The only one who had stepped away from the catastrophe, I placed the half-broken sword into the long guitar case.
With a sharp click, the blade was replaced in an instant.
“Not much left now.”
* * *
The 9th floor was completely open across the entire floor.
It looked as if the pillars and bulkheads had been torn down not long ago, with messy traces scattered everywhere. As the final defensive line, their intention to smash everything with maximum force without leaving any room for cover was painfully obvious.
Yet despite that intent, only one person stood guard.
“So it turned out just as the young master said.”
“Who are you?”
“Lloyd Baran. Please call me Lloyd.”