Chapter 88
Chapter 88
At Best, Just a Small-Time Operator
***
***
“Get up. You’re too old to be playing Sleeping Beauty. Stop making a spectacle of yourself.”
“In terms of Pioneering Power, I’m still in my twenties.”
It was only for an instant that Im Sol, who had collapsed as if dead, opened her eyes. The area that had been blackened by the impact gradually regained its original color.
Obsidian-hardened skin.
It was one of the protective units adopted by the Mars Defense Force.
It was capable of blocking any small-caliber ammunition of 9mm or less. Unlike Ublec elastic skin, it was a product that guaranteed operational performance equivalent to MUG—1.
If the conditions were met, it could even ignore sniper fire, though it was not immune to the shock.
Ga-on helped the staggering Im Sol to her feet and glanced subtly at her profile.
“So that’s the secret to your youthful looks.”
Come to think of it, she had walked away without a scratch even after the car accident the other day. It had to be considered a triumph of modern science.
“How cold of you. I wanted to see you shocked, thinking I was dead, Ga-on.”
“But you avenged yourself, didn’t you?”
After saying that, Ga-on took a step back. Only then did the scene he had been blocking enter Im Sol’s view. Seeing the corpses strewn everywhere, she blinked her eyes.
Alonso was there in the distance as well.
A fixer who had formed a group and established his own territory. Moreover, he was a powerhouse capable of rivaling an entire unit with his own strength alone.
And yet he now lay crumpled into the ground, hanging limply in a pitiful state.
“How?”
“At best, he was just a small-time operator.”
He had never built a family, merely drifting like duckweed. To Ga-on, who had lived for hundreds of years, he was nothing remarkable.
Well—
“In the end, he was simply too weak to keep his word.”
The law of the jungle.
It was something that happened frequently in the industry.
Of course, Im Sol could not understand it. It had been a confrontation where defeat was promised from the start. Though she had fainted and had not witnessed it herself, she could easily infer that Ga-on’s skill had surpassed the bounds of common sense.
And the moment she realized that, a faint tremor ran down her spine.
It was as if she could glimpse a monster faintly looming behind the young man before her.
***
Replacing the broken pickup truck with a captured van, Ga-on and Im Sol headed straight for Hyphen Colony. Perhaps thanks to the earlier large-scale skirmish, no one followed them afterward.
The journey was smooth—and dull.
They simply drove across the endless stretch of red earth.
But that, too, would soon end. Beyond the hill, a forest of towering buildings came into view. A trace of civilization standing alone in the wilderness.
After stepping out of the van, Im Sol did not relax her guard. She could feel the raw, unfiltered environment with her entire body—something she had never experienced through refined information alone.
“It’s too large in scale to be considered a crash accident.”
Ash-gray dust filled the half-collapsed buildings and overturned roads. It was as if the gloomy atmosphere itself had been scorched into place.
“It’s already been sixteen years since the Black Shower occurred. The fact that conditions have worsened since then also plays a part.”
Although he said so, Ga-on thought it was only natural.
Publicly, it had been announced that a series of shuttles had fallen from the sky, but what lay beneath that façade was a war involving the Board of Directors, terrorists, and even the Mars Defense Force.
It was then that a presence was felt nearby.
A shadow flickered briefly through a shattered window.
It was likely someone trying to identify the new visitors.
“Ga-on? What should we do?”
“Don’t even look at them.”
The abandoned city had long since transformed into a stronghold for Outriders or a temporary haven for criminal organizations. Any contact would only bring trouble. Fortunately, no one approached from their side.
However, that did not mean it was safe.
The moment they showed an opening, an attack could come at any time.
“I think we should hide the van somewhere suitable and proceed on foot.”
“Wouldn’t that slow down our search?”
“It’s better than going around announcing our presence to the entire neighborhood.”
The deeper they went inside, the higher the probability of encountering hostile groups, so it was better to take precautions in advance.
Besides—
“There are still those pursuing us.”
“You mean Team 2.”
Im Sol nodded in agreement. The ones hired by Baek Ryang were currently split into two groups.
Team 1 was under Alonso’s command.
They had been assigned to eliminate the two of them and then rendezvous with Team 2 at the scene.
This was the result of hacking the device Alonso possessed—
“They won’t know that we’ve uncovered their plan. We’ve bought some time. However, if Team 1 doesn’t arrive at the appointed time, Team 2 will notice as well. That something is amiss.”
“We’ll have to finish everything before then.”
“Do you have a plan?”
After parking the van appropriately in an underground parking garage, Ga-on walked through an alleyway.
All personal records of those residing on Mars were centralized in the Seed Colony.
In modern society, a citizen ID was the alpha and omega of one’s identity. It contained not only facial data, but also iris scans, fingerprints, and even genetic information.
Because of this, no one could access it without authorization, aside from certain institutional provisions. The same applied even to a megacorp.
That was why people did not go around probing everywhere with large groups just to find a single person.
“There should be a cache server remaining somewhere in Hyphen Colony.”
A cache server.
It referred to a type of proxy server, a computer system with built-in temporary data storage.
Before the development of advanced communications, it had been established as a device to overcome physical limitations, even if only slightly. Now, it had been adopted as a means of diversification.
An era in which everything was computerized.
As manipulation and fabrication were easy, information was copied across multiple servers to clearly distinguish authenticity.
Hyphen Colony was no different.
Even though it had collapsed suddenly, an autonomous district was still an autonomous district. Somewhere, there had to be backup data of the citizens that had been previously stored.
Even if the primary contractor was untouchable, attempting to breach a subcontractor with relatively weaker security was a plausible approach.
“If there truly is a half-sibling, there will be records.”
“But we don’t know where that cache server is located, do we?”
Instead of answering, Ga-on tapped the probe tucked into his chest.
[Looks like it’s my turn?]
“…Who?”
When Im Sol asked quietly, Ga-on spoke.
“A Diver I hired.”
[Call me Dobby.]
“Ah, yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dobby.”
Soon, as the probe’s projector cast a hologram, Im Sol took a step back.
“This is……”
“It’s a full bird’s-eye view of Hyphen Colony.”
It was a map corrected with satellite imagery based on previously distributed charts. Naturally, it was Dobby’s work.
Before long, three points flickered upon the hologram.
[At the time the Black Shower occurred, there were a total of three data centers that remained connected to the Seed Colony until the very end.]
“That’s fewer than I expected.”
[You should be grateful there are any. The rest were likely swept away by the disaster.]
“Let’s head to the nearest one first.”
Ga-on said this as he pointed to one of the dots.
***
Hyphen Colony was divided into four districts. Compared to the Seed Colony, which consisted of more than forty and nearly fifty sectors, it could be considered modest, but it had its advantages.
Namely, the districts could be easily divided into east, west, south, and north.
From Ga-on’s perspective, who had to search until he achieved his objective, it was a blessed condition.
The fact that the first data center was located just a stone’s throw away was an extension of that advantage.
Entering the government office in the western district, Ga-on headed straight for the server room. As a human, he could not help but feel a sliver of hope.
If he struck the jackpot, he would not have to wander around in annoyance.
However, that hope was thoroughly betrayed.
“Tsk.”
The server room spanning the first basement level was in ruins. As if a bomb had been detonated, crumpled rack cabinets had toppled over, leaning against one another. It went without saying that soot covered the ceiling and walls.
The second basement level was no different. It was a display of complete destruction.
It was evident that this had been carried out with a deliberate purpose.
Suddenly, Ga-on placed his hand on the floor and tilted his head.
It was then that Im Sol came down.
“How was the control room?”
“The monitors were destroyed, and even the furniture was smashed. It’s strange. The UPS was completely burned out, and the emergency generator was missing.”
Looking down at his palm, which still retained warmth, Ga-on murmured,
“It seems we have predecessors.”
“Could it be Team 2?”
“It could be—or it might not.”
If the desired information was not inside the cache server, the best course of action was to leave quietly.
Erasing traces in such a conspicuous manner also meant leaving behind evidence that someone had been here.
If they were professionals like Team 1, they would not have made such a trivial mistake.
The possibility of a third party had to be considered as well.
Although a variable had appeared, there was nothing complicated about it. The premise remained unchanged—they had to obtain the information before anyone else.
“Let’s go.”
***
The next destination was a building located in the southern district.
Uniquely, this place was owned by a private corporation that had been delegated authority by the Board of Directors to install a cache server within its data center.
While the causal relationship could only be inferred, one thing was certain.
This arrangement was the result of collusion between politics and business.
It could also be said that contracts had been funneled to boost performance.
The fact that it was the first company established in Hyphen Colony lent weight to that speculation.
Of course, it was a breeding ground of corruption that was difficult to witness with open eyes, but from Ga-on’s perspective, it was not a bad thing. To avoid public criticism, they would have thoroughly concealed the truth.
“That’s a reasonable assessment.”
“The question is whether they had facilities worthy of such responsibility.”
It was a private corporation founded solely through connections. It was only natural to doubt its capabilities. Whether it had preserved the data intact over the past twenty years was uncertain.
“That’s something we won’t know until we check—”
Suddenly stopping, Im Sol inspected her gear.
“There’s smoke rising.”
It was evident that an accident had occurred. Coincidentally, it aligned precisely with the direction they were heading. It could not be a mere coincidence.
“I’ll take the lead.”
“Understood.”
Instead of heading straight in, Ga-on circled around the site. At the unexpected sight before him, he furrowed his brow.
Skid marks were scattered chaotically across the asphalt road, and several motorcycles lay strewn about. Most striking of all was the vehicle at the front. As if struck by a bomb, its body had been grotesquely blown apart.
Not far away, they spotted several armed individuals, but they were in no condition to be questioned.
Not a single one of them was breathing.
What was peculiar was that they had almost no external injuries.
Finding this equally puzzling, Im Sol unconsciously looked at Ga-on.
“How did they die?”
“Well, I’d guess a Tuner dispatched them cleanly.”
Even that was only a fragmentary conjecture. In this era, there were countless ways to cause sudden death.
It was then that a presence was felt behind them.
Turning his head, Ga-on encountered someone he had never expected to see in his blind spot.
A Black man collapsed between two flights of stairs, using them as a shield.
He was someone Ga-on remembered.
“Dominique?”