Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Then shall I become it?
* * *
* * *
After parting ways with Xenon Russell, I immediately finished preparing to go to Mars.
In the past, I would not even have dared to dream of entering a spaceport, but now I was a citizen who possessed a device.
All of it was a pair of wings fastened onto me by one person.
The more I thought about the device I could feel at the back of my neck, the heavier my shoulders became. It was something that could just as easily function as shackles. Hiding in the shadows or concealing my identity was no longer possible.
Even so, I intended to move forward. So that Thomas’s efforts would not be in vain.
That was when the long-awaited announcement rang out.
[We will now begin boarding. The E―401 space passenger ship bound for Mars, Seed Colony, departing at 11:20, is now boarding at Gate 2. Boarding will close ten minutes before departure. Please prepare accordingly.]
I calmly walked toward Gate 2 and placed my hand on the touch screen installed on the wall.
[E―6294567―34 Baek Ga-on. Boarding confirmed.]
Baek Ga-on.
The device Thomas had obtained bore, by sheer coincidence, the exact same name as my real name that I had lost long ago.
I had only ever mentioned it to Thomas in passing, yet somehow he had remembered and managed to find an identity that matched it.
There was no way I did not understand what kind of feelings he must have had when selecting it. Rather, the fact that I could not hear it directly made it cut even deeper.
He must have wanted to repay me.
To repay the help I had once given him, long ago, when I helped him escape a life in the shadows.
Thanks to that, I was able to look back on my past life once more.
I had been granted a life more perfect than anyone else’s from an early age, yet its interior had been filled with lies.
Everything had been a measure devised to protect myself for being different from others.
But even that had reached its limit. Humanity’s technology advanced and progressed with each passing day. Someday, a method to capture a ‘human’ who was not human might be discovered.
If I did not make a decision, tragedy would only repeat itself.
Just three hundred years ago, the words immortality and eternal youth had been closer to a desperate wish. As the First Emperor of Qin once desired, as the Tsars had pursued.
But now, in an era where humanity had advanced beyond Earth and reached even Mars, it had become a symbol of dreams. Even if it required an astronomical sum, it was no longer an unattainable wish.
Those who had already far surpassed their expected lifespans were appearing one after another.
That was undoubtedly the remnants of immortality.
The situation was very different from before. In an age where cause and effect were clearly defined, even the emergence of immortality was no longer strange.
This was both a crisis and an opportunity.
And a challenge that would never come again.
No matter how long it took, no matter how many years passed, it did not matter. I intended to gather the scattered technologies, pursue the undiscovered unknown, and bring an end to my long wandering.
There was no longer any name called Shin.
Nor did a fixer named Yang Hu exist.
What remained here was only Baek Ga-on, a human who had gone full circle and returned to the origin.
“Then shall I become it.”
True immortality in the truest sense.
* * *
The runway of the spaceport also served as a launch pad.
It was a facility designed to hurl massive objects into space, accelerating them with the power of a mass driver.
Because of that, it felt less like moving forward and more like being fired out.
Like the relationship between a gun and a bullet.
Once inside, the projectile could reach hypersonic speeds through acceleration alone.
The minimum guaranteed speed was a staggering 8,000 kilometers per hour.
In theory, it was fast enough to circle the world in just five hours.
Thanks to such infrastructure, the spaceport had more than enough appeal not only as transportation to Mars but also as a means of travel between domes, yet it was not opened to civilians.
There was no way the municipal governments of each dome would easily grant entry permits to flying objects that were aggressive to the point of recklessness.
However, there were a few who were exempt from such restrictions.
The woman who had just arrived at the spaceport operated by Dome No.3 was one of them.
She was the chairwoman of Millennium Code, a megacorp that boasted the greatest prosperity in Dome No.1.
Lin Choui.
Wearing a qipao that clearly revealed her voluptuous figure, she covered her mouth with a folding fan.
Wherever Lin Choui walked became a fortress. The sheer number of guards clinging to her was enough to make the surroundings bustle.
The man walking beside her broke into a greasy smile.
“I didn’t expect the chairwoman to come in person.”
“Don’t misunderstand. This is merely a business trip to fulfill a contract.”
The man approached her familiarly, but Lin Choui dismissed his courtesy by turning her gaze away.
In the industry, it was well known that one should never trust someone who opened their eyes as thin as threads.
Even aside from that, the man’s behavior was suspicious beyond measure.
Perhaps that was why. She had disliked him from the very beginning.
“I’m not your dog. Remember that.”
“How could that be? We are always nothing but grateful for the chairwoman’s cooperation.”
As if his tongue had been coated in oil, the words that came out of his mouth were flawlessly smooth, yet his gaze remained fixed straight ahead. It was clear he had no interest in this conversation to begin with.
Behind the folding fan, the corners of her mouth twisted in self-mockery.
To be fair, what head of a megacorp would be dragged along like this on a business trip to another dome?
Though Lin Choui let out a sigh, she could not voice her dissatisfaction.
Here, the hierarchy was clear.
‘Directly under the Dome No.1 municipal government, Emergency Disaster Response Unit.’
The name sounded impressive enough, but in reality, it was a special force secretly operated by Dome No.1.
Everything about it was unclear—the purpose of its founding, the size of the unit, its available funds, the weapons it operated, all of it.
One thing alone was certain: ever since recognizing Yang Hu’s existence during the Millennium Code Gate incident, they had been relentlessly pursuing him.
The man accompanying her this time, Jin Geon, was a representative figure of that pursuit.
Even the scent he gave off was unusual.
“How about heading to the scene first?”
“How about you go alone? I don’t particularly feel like being dragged around everywhere.”
“I wouldn’t mind. Still, since we’ve come all this way, shouldn’t we at least get our change back?”
Jin Geon leaned his face right up close and opened his eyes—small, but unmistakably—wide.
“Aren’t you curious whether this was really Yang Hu’s doing or not?”
Her hesitation lasted barely an instant.
“……It wouldn’t be polite to refuse goodwill outright. Lead the way.”
* * *
Around the exterior of the Colemberg Hotel, holograms of intersecting yellow and white lines were controlling access. Inside, it was packed with personnel dispatched from various organizations.
Jin Geon, borrowing the name of Millennium Code, was one of them.
After he suddenly finished his investigation and came out, Lin Choui subtly checked his expression and spoke with certainty.
“So it seems the news that Niel Hoover died was true.”
“I do wonder whether it’s appropriate to call ‘something like that’ dead.”
Recalling once more the sight of Niel displayed on the tenth floor, Jin Geon shrugged.
At this very moment, doctors hired by New Delbuyer were up there assembling what had once been Niel, collecting the fragments scattered throughout the hotel.
“He must have really gotten on someone’s bad side. In that sense, I’d say the chairwoman’s judgment in involving New Delbuyer wasn’t bad.”
“It was the natural conclusion. If we’d left any room for error, the one lying there wouldn’t be Niel—it would be us.”
Even if they could pinpoint Yang Hu’s location by pouring in funds, killing him was an entirely different matter.
That casualties would pile up was as obvious as fire.
Despite being a competitor, Millennium Code had sought cooperation from New Delbuyer in order to place them as a shield.
The result was plain to see.
Niel, who had tried to monopolize the成果, had his mouth torn apart, and Felix Hoover, who had failed to manage his household, had become the deceased.
Even if the situation had been reversed, it would not have mattered.
Even if Yang Hu had truly been captured by New Delbuyer and put up as an object of negotiation, Lin Choui intended to accept it without a word.
It was no exaggeration to say that Yang Hu was the reason she, originally an illegitimate daughter, had become the chairwoman of Millennium Code. He had taken care of all the troublesome relatives.
Of course, the process had not been smooth.
Seizing control of a giant called Millennium Code single-handedly had been close to impossible. Moreover, she had lacked any proper base of support.
It had been a situation where everyone firmly believed she would fall.
At that time, the one who readily extended a hand was the very municipal government of today.
In the end, Lin Choui was only able to reach the top by borrowing the power of foreign forces.
The municipal government wanted a megacorp that would listen, so in a way, it could be seen as mutual benefit.
Searching for Yang Hu under the name of Millennium Code, and bringing Jin Geon along using the chairwoman’s formidable authority, could all be considered extensions of that same line.
“So was it really something Yang Hu did?”
It would have been a lie to say she felt no curiosity toward Yang Hu. To Lin Choui, Yang Hu was both an enemy and someone close to a benefactor.
Of course, setting aside personal feelings, Yang Hu was a remarkably interesting individual. There were thousands, tens of thousands even, who had become fixers by stepping in his shadow.
“What do you think?”
“That abnormal swordsmanship—there can’t be two of them under this sky. Based on the information we’ve gathered so far, there’s a nine-in-ten chance it’s him.”
“Is that so?”
“Honestly, I was surprised.”
Jin Geon calmly voiced his impression.
For the past twenty years, Yang Hu had left no traces. But that did not mean there were no points of comparison. One might be able to hide the process, but the results were bound to show.
“His physical capabilities have grown by leaps and bounds compared to twenty years ago. Would you believe it if I said he produced similar effects even without the help of a monomolecular blade?”
Even Jin Geon could not help but be astonished when he saw the mirror-like sheen of the powered armor, the cross-section of the Phalanx.
“I heard he’s over sixty? Seeing him still at his peak, do you think he receives regular maintenance?”
Lin Choui voiced her opinion, wondering if he might leave a trail by frequenting private clinics or unlicensed procedure shops, but Jin Geon shook his head.
“He might possess a special ability. As you know well, the municipal government once rained artillery fire down on Yang Hu.”
“You mean the incident where tax money was blown into thin air.”
When the Millennium Code Gate incident broke out, the municipal government, having suffered an unexpected attack, was not in its right mind. They had ended up opening fire—against a single individual.
“At that time, Yang Hu didn’t dodge our bombardment. He simply wasn’t harmed despite not dodging.”
“Doesn’t that contradict itself?”
“If he has an ability similar to a healing factor? That would explain most of the contradictions.”
Realizing what Jin Geon was getting at, Lin Choui fell silent.
It was a secret shared only among a very small group of the vested elite.
‘Individuals with manifested abilities.’
So-called meta-humans.
They were a branch of humanity born with differing abilities unique to each individual.
Some cheered them as the emergence of a new humanity, while others branded them with slurs and sought to restrict them.
“I wasn’t sure at first, but thanks to the chairwoman’s assistance, it’s now confirmed. Yang Hu—he is without a doubt an infected.”
Infected.
Another name for meta-humans, and also a derogatory term for the targets presumed to be the very reason for the Emergency Disaster Response Unit’s existence.