Chapter 93
Chapter 93
It Seemed My Luck Had Not Yet Abandoned Me
***
Im Sol shook her head as if I was hopeless and took hold of the steering wheel. Unlike yesterday, we were moving by vehicle because I had realized that the van was coated with paint that blocked the penetration of radiation.
Normally, it would have been a completely meaningless precaution, but the place we were heading to required that level of preparation.
“It’s going to be a really busy day.”
“I hope not.”
A few minutes after the van left the underground parking lot and sped down the abandoned road—
The moment we entered Dong-gu, the sensors installed inside the vehicle began blaring loudly. It was a signal informing us that we had entered contaminated land.
After checking the number displayed on the dashboard, Ga-on let out a low groan.
“13 sieverts (Sv), huh.”
Even 1 sievert was enough to cause abnormalities in the immune system. Ten times that amount was a level that guaranteed death without special measures.
Considering this was still the outskirts, it was an astonishing figure.
“We wouldn’t even be able to go outside without this.”
From the back seat, I took out two masks and handed one of them to Im Sol.
The mask, equipped with a device resembling an oxygen capsule, was designed to protect the wearer from the dangers of radiation.
Unit, Clear Mount.
It was a device that deployed a shielding membrane over the surface of the skin.
Since it artificially formed an electromagnetic field to block radiation, the operating time guaranteed by the battery pack was limited.
“It’s a product released by Inatomi Corporation. If it’s this one, two hours will be the limit.”
It wasn’t short, but it wasn’t generous either. If we failed to manage our time carefully, we might not achieve our objective.
“Let’s park somewhere in the middle and split up to investigate separately.”
Our destinations were two places, after all.
The final Data Center and Yeosanghwa’s house.
“Then I’ll go to the Data Center. I underwent Cybernetics surgery so I can operate as a Tuner as well.”
“Then I’ll head to the house.”
As soon as I stepped out of the van, I immediately equipped the Clear Mount. The electromagnetic field spread like a net and blended into my coat in an instant.
“Once you’re done, regroup immediately. We don’t know when Team 2 might show up.”
“Understood.”
***
After parting ways with Im Sol, I wandered the streets alone. The land, soaked in radiation, was filled with ash-gray hues. Not even a trace of life could be felt. The same went for any presence.
A sense of desolation, as if I had been cast into a vast world alone, pressed against my skin. The extreme silence felt like noise, to the point that my ears ached.
It was a place that seemed to embody the very word “apocalypse,” yet to me it was a sight so familiar it was almost nostalgic. Toward the end of the Third World War, every place had looked like this.
For a brief moment, I was immersed in that sense of nostalgia.
Of course, if there was something that had not changed compared to back then, there was also something unfamiliar.
For example, there were enormous gouge marks that had scraped across the exterior walls of buildings. They bore such bizarre shapes that I could not recall anything like them even in my memories. At the very least, they were not forms that could have been carved by firearms or bombs.
They were more primitive and violent traces.
Like the claws of a wolf—
‘Does that make any sense?’
Even after judging according to what my instincts pointed to, I could not help but tilt my head. Still, there was no other way to explain it. And it wasn’t just one instance.
Scars that looked as though they had been left by beasts were scattered everywhere.
If there was anything different, it was their size and scale. Scenes of devastation stretching dozens, perhaps hundreds of meters extended beyond the limits of my vision.
I had long heard that a war had broken out in the Hyphen Colony. Naturally, I had assumed it was a clash between humans.
But now that I saw it, it seemed that aberrant beings had intervened as well.
It might have been a hasty conclusion, yet it did not feel like someone else’s affair. In this era, there were those who possessed surreal abilities.
‘Meta-humans.’
It was as clear as day that they were involved in some way.
However, I deliberately ignored the question rising in my mind. What I needed to prioritize right now was Baek Seol’s request.
Leaving the downtown area behind, I headed toward the residential district.
If Yeosanghwa had died during the Black Shower, then she had died; if she had survived, then she had survived. Either way, I would be able to find clear evidence at her house.
But my plan reached its end before it could even properly begin.
“This is… unexpected.”
There was nothing standing on the land, which was covered in massive amounts of soil and debris. It was a barren field in the truest sense. I checked the location data several times, wondering if it was wrong, but it was indeed the residential area.
It had simply been overturned more violently than anywhere else.
[38 sieverts]
The equivalent dose reading had also broken all previous records. It meant this place was not far from where a tactical nuclear weapon had struck.
And this was what awaited me the moment I arrived in the district where Yeosanghwa had lived?
There was no room for optimism in these circumstances.
Taking out my probe, I called upon a reliable companion.
“Dobby.”
[Yeah, what do you need help with?]
“Compile the locations where the tactical nukes fell and show them to me.”
[Then I’ll have to measure the distribution of residual radiation in the atmosphere. It’ll take some time.]
“As long as it’s accurate, that’s fine.”
[Just wait a moment.]
Soon, a hologram rose above the probe. A total of six tactical nukes had struck the Hyphen Colony.
Five were concentrated at a single point, forming a clustered impact zone, but one had headed in a completely different direction. It had been aimed at the residential district.
A deployment that reeked of someone’s malice.
There was no doubt that someone had caught wind of Yeosanghwa’s whereabouts before the Black Shower occurred.
That was when I received a call from Im Sol.
“What now?”
[I’ve arrived at the Data Center. Aside from a slight delay while securing power, everything is proceeding smoothly. The servers are intact as well.]
I had been worried they might have been damaged during the Black Shower, but it seemed that fear was unfounded—
[However, there is one problem.]
If only that hadn’t been followed by those words.
“It’s not that there’s no information, is it?”
[In a way, that might have been better. It’s hard to believe, but according to the data, Madam is listed as unmarried.]
“So you’re saying…….”
[Officially, the woman named Yeosanghwa has never given birth to a child.]
If there had been a separately registered child, there would have been no reason for Im Sol to contact me in such haste.
“No wonder Baekdu couldn’t make any progress with the investigation.”
In a world where all information was recorded in electronic systems, one could observe the world from inside a room without ever moving. But conversely, anything not entered there could only be filled in through legwork.
From that perspective, Yeosanghwa’s case was an extremely difficult one.
We had to follow an unclear thread in an abandoned Colony.
“Could she have had a miscarriage at some point?”
It was a reasonable deduction, since Baek Seok-do had clearly said she was pregnant the last time he saw her.
[It may sound futile, but that kind of ending might actually be better. However, there’s something that makes it hard to simply conclude that.]
“There’s more, isn’t there?”
[Her address changed multiple times. From what I’ve confirmed, at least seven times. And all within six years.]
It hinted at an intention to avoid being discovered by someone. If she had truly miscarried, there would have been no reason to move that many times.
“Send me those addresses first.”
After downloading the information onto my device, I entrusted the analysis to Dobby. Before long, the updated findings were reflected in the hologram.
What had sounded ambiguous when I merely heard it became clear. Despite the seemingly random relocations, there was a pattern.
Though slightly distorted, the series of movements—
“She was drawing a circle.”
[What do you mean by that?]
“For all that noisy moving around, she never once left Dong-gu. As if she was aiming for something.”
Moreover, it was slightly off from the point where the tactical nuke had detonated.
Somewhere else was closer to the center.
In a way, Yeosanghwa appeared to have been swept up in it, but I could not definitively say that this, too, wasn’t intentional.
No, in this case, it was more accurate to assume they had aimed to kill two birds with one stone.
What on earth was at the center to warrant such a decision?
The deeper I dug, the stronger the stench of conspiracy became.
“Copy the data and come to the rendezvous point. I’ll explain the rest in person.”
[Understood.]
The moment I let my guard down slightly while speaking with Im Sol, a single bullet shot through the opening and grazed past my temple. I reflexively threw my head back to avoid it, but I couldn’t prevent my skin from being torn open.
It would have been best to take cover immediately, but in a place scoured by tactical nukes, there was no such thing as cover.
Who would enter such a barren land that denied all intrusion?
There was no need to even ask.
“It seems my luck hasn’t abandoned me yet.”
“Team 2, huh.”
The group that had appeared out of nowhere numbered fourteen in total.
The man who seemed to be their leader had striped lines etched across his face. The result of Cybernetics surgery. There was likely little living flesh left beneath his skin. The same was probably true for the rest of his body.
“So Team 1 really fell to you after all.”
“You prepared quite a few things for us. From our side, it would’ve been rude not to repay the favor.”
I raised both hands and spoke glibly as I tried to close the distance, but the man—Gustak—drew a firm line.
“Stop.”
At the same time, his forearm split open and a gun barrel slid out.
Click.
It was a submachine gun loaded with 7mm armor-piercing rounds. At close range, it was a masterpiece capable of shredding even armor to pieces.
“Team 1 may have underestimated you, but we’re different.”
“It’s not very impressive to say that while swarming around like that.”
Bang!
Without warning, an armor-piercing round shot out and scraped across the Clear Mount. The electromagnetic field vanished in an instant.
It was common sense that a living being exposed to radiation had no future.
My complexion changed by the second, but Gustak did not so much as flinch.
“I’ll make sure you die in as much pain as possible. So our senior in the business who went ahead won’t feel lonely.”
“Did you admire him?”
“It’s useless to pretend to be calm. We’ve already confirmed that the secretary you rely on isn’t here.”
“Ah, so that’s the misunderstanding.”
It seemed they had assumed that Im Sol had been the one who wiped out Team 1. It was logical and reasonable. Who would imagine that a rookie who had entered the industry only a month ago had devoured an old veteran?
Even taking a conservative approach, reaching that conclusion would have been considered cautious.
But unfortunately, it was often such intellectuals who died first in the underworld.
“So you showed yourselves because I’m alone and look easy, is that it? Like rats.”
I lowered my arms with a faint smile.
Yet no one regarded it as a threat. They believed they had gained the upper hand by destroying the Clear Mount.
Unfortunately for them, that very premise was flawed.
Even the moment of irradiation could be reverted to nothingness by me. As a flush returned to my face in an instant, Gustak’s eyes widened. He sensed that something had gone wrong.
It was the last remaining animal instinct in a body mostly replaced by machinery, but it was already too late.
“This is how Team 1 died.”
The Ga-on who had been standing far away just moments ago was now right in front of him.