Chapter 1877 – 1877. Eternal Eden
It was unexpected that Gu Tae-hee, the boss of Taehwang, would come in person. I didn’t think she would come without prior notice.
I accepted Gu Tae-hee as a guest for now. Gu Tae-hee was a big shot in the underworld. Her power was immense, so I couldn’t just do as I pleased. Besides, I had taken something from Gu Tae-hee before. Come to think of it, it was thanks to Gu Tae-hee’s help that I became the owner of Sungak Elementary School.
Surely, she wouldn’t be here now to demand Sungak Elementary School back because the situation was urgent.
I met her in the reception room.
I was with Na Chae-young, and she was accompanied by two of her subordinates. I served them coffee. Of course, it wasn’t instant coffee. Among the refugees who came to Sungak Elementary School, there was a beautiful barista, so I hired her as the head barista for the main building. The coffee wasn’t to my taste.
“I looked around on my way here. Sungak Elementary School is peaceful. Not even a single zombie.”
“About a week ago, a troll brought a bunch of zombies, and I killed them all. It was a good cleanup.”
“It probably helped that this neighborhood has a smaller population than other neighborhoods. I’m envious. Sometimes I regret not settling down in a quiet place.”
Gu Tae-hee was talkative. Her scarred face showed signs of fatigue. It was understandable. She wasn’t just the head of any ordinary group; she was the head of Taehwang, which could be considered the largest organization in Korea.
The larger the organization, the greater the impact of the D virus. Even the military wasn’t functioning properly.
“Has the D virus situation not been resolved yet?”
“The headquarters has been taken care of. The executives and key employees were all isolated in private rooms before the D virus spread. Thanks to that, the cleanup itself wasn’t difficult. It was just a matter of killing the ones who turned into zombies. The problem was with the lower ranks. I told the executives to do it properly, but… those ignorant fools didn’t listen to me.”
Gu Tae-hee gritted her teeth in frustration, then sighed.
It was probably because I had a look of disinterest on my face. And I really was uninterested. Even if Gu Tae-hee turned into a zombie and died right now, I wouldn’t feel anything.
“…I got carried away for a moment. Let’s get to the point.”
I had a guess about the main point.
Sungak Elementary School had Na Chae-young, a technologist. The biggest advantage of a technologist was that they could easily make weapons. Since they were gangsters, they would naturally be interested in firearms.
“Sung Yu-jin. I want to hire you as a mercenary.”
My expectations were completely off. I wondered why Gu Tae-hee hadn’t even glanced at Na Chae-young.
“A mercenary?”
“There are monster spiders nesting in a building near our headquarters. At night, they come out and kidnap humans and zombies alike. I want you to help me deal with those spiders. Of course, I don’t intend to send you alone. Me and some of my trusted men will support you.”
“A whole building has been taken over by spiders?”
“It’s a 10-story building.”
“Shouldn’t the government be handling this kind of thing?”
“The military is in worse shape than people know. Most of the military units that can operate have gone north to keep North Korea in check. The units in Seoul are busy protecting the ones they have. I even pulled some strings and asked a high-ranking official, but… they told us to handle it ourselves.”
Gu Tae-hee frowned, looking displeased. It felt like we were being dumped with the problem.
“Why don’t you just set the building on fire?”
“We tried. The spiders immediately put out the fire. They even threw fire extinguishers. They have the intelligence of a child. At least they’re intelligent enough to hunt humans.”
Na Chae-young’s face hardened.
“…Intelligent spiders. That’s dangerous. If left alone, they could become Arachne.”
“Arachne?”
“It’s a new species that spider monsters evolve into. Their physical abilities are one thing, but the biggest problem is that they gain intelligence beyond that of humans. They absorb human knowledge and create modern weapons.”
Spider monsters using modern weapons. I imagined it for a moment. Hmm. How many legs did a spider have? Eight? If they had machine guns on all eight legs, they could do the work of eight people?
‘If they had swords, they’d be eight-sword style.’
Na Chae-young asked Gu Tae-hee as if confirming something.
“There must be a queen spider controlling all the spiders. Did you confirm that?”
“I did. She’s laying eggs on the top floor of the building, like a queen ant.”
“Queen ants are just egg-laying machines. They’re only called queens. But that queen spider is different. She’ll completely control and dominate the spiders.”
“…As expected of a player. You know a lot.”
I understood the danger of the spider monsters.
“But it’s not so urgent that we have to move right away, is it? It’ll take time for them to evolve into that Arachne species, and even if they do evolve, they can’t just absorb people’s knowledge right away. It seems like we have plenty of time.”
Wouldn’t the military take care of the spiders when things stabilized? If it was really dangerous, they could just blow up the whole building with bombs or missiles.
I relaxed my body. I leaned back in my chair. Unless Seoul was in immediate danger, the spiders running wild was just a temporary thing.
“As I said before, the spider nest is in a building near our headquarters. The location of the building is important, so I want to deal with it as soon as possible. Besides, if I dawdle… that high-ranking official I mentioned will bother me. Unlike you, I’m in a hurry.”
“Oh, I see. You know what? One of the things I hate most is working for others.”
“…I’ll make sure you get a good reward.”
“We have enough food and supplies. There are only about 200 people in the elementary school right now, so we can handle it.”
“This world isn’t easy. There are things you can’t do alone.”
“Who said I was alone? We have Dr. Na on our side.”
As people gathered at Sungak Elementary School, resources were being sufficiently supplied. We were getting resources by raiding nearby empty houses or taking apart cars scattered on the roads. What Na Chae-young needed now wasn’t resources, but research time.
“Then how about this?”
Gu Tae-hee took out a small glass bottle and placed it on the desk. The bottle was filled with small, dark red beads. There seemed to be about 20 of them.
It was obviously medicine. I was intrigued. The shape was similar to Bister I, so I could guess what kind of medicine it was. Still, it was better to be sure, so I asked Gu Tae-hee.
“What is this?”
“It’s Bister II. It’s better than Bister I… no, you guys know it well, so I don’t need to explain it.”
Of course, I knew it. I had made quite a profit with Bister I. Bister II was much more potent. If an ordinary person took Bister II, they would temporarily gain strength comparable to a superhuman.
‘The problem is that the side effects are severe.’
First, blood pressure would spike. You could endure it without problems while the drug was working, but once the effects wore off, you could faint from high blood pressure. You could also develop permanent high blood pressure. You could have a heart attack, and leukemia could develop.
In the worst case, you could die from internal bleeding as soon as the effects wore off. Therefore, you should only take Bister II when you have a companion or a doctor present.
‘I want it.’
Bister I was no longer effective because of tolerance. I had never taken Bister II, so I would be able to unleash incredible power.
‘I probably don’t need to take multiple Bister II at once. Then I’ll develop tolerance slowly.’
Should I accept the offer?
No. This wasn’t the first time I’d negotiated. The fact that she readily offered a reward meant that she had something else prepared.
I crossed my arms and remained silent. Gu Tae-hee, as if it was natural, placed another medicine bottle on the desk. The bottle contained a bluish liquid. It was something I had never seen before. Na Chae-young gasped softly, as if she knew what it was.
“Evolution serum! You’ve already made it?”
“So this is the evolution serum.”
I knew about the evolution serum too. There was no way I wouldn’t know. It was the most high-risk item in the [Eternal Eden] game.
The evolution serum had a 50% chance of evolving the target or killing them. The problem was that even if evolution was successful, you wouldn’t know what kind of evolution it would be. It was literally a gamble with your life.
“…Your bionics are extraordinary. You’ve made Bister II and even the evolution serum.”
The ingredients for Bister II were the corpses of beast mutants. The evolution serum was made from the blood of evolving creatures. The evolution serum was several times more difficult to make.
“I’ll give you these as a base. Tell me if you want anything else.”
Na Chae-young looked at me. I stroked my chin, pretended to think for a moment, and then opened my mouth. What I needed? Of course, there was. No matter how thoroughly prepared you were, there was always something lacking.
“I need construction equipment. And construction professionals.”
“…Are you planning to expand the elementary school?”
“As more and more people gather, the elementary school feels cramped.”
“It’s a bit difficult to send construction workers. However, it might be possible to transfer them over completely. They also want a safe place. But you have to treat them well. If you don’t guarantee good treatment, no one will want to go there.”
“Even if you don’t say it, I’m already guaranteeing good treatment for professionals.”
It was not ideal, but even if they were men, if they were professionals, they were being treated well. It was an unavoidable choice if the base was to run smoothly.
“So, is the contract settled?”
“Should we write a contract?”
“Don’t worry. I came prepared.”
Gu Tae-hee’s subordinate took out a contract from a briefcase and placed it on the desk. I made some minor revisions to the contract, signed it, and Gu Tae-hee stamped it.
‘Signing it is neither fun nor cool. I should get a stamp made.’
I might have to write contracts more often in the future. A stamp is easier and faster than a signature.
“I’ll give you one more piece of information.”
“I’m listening. Tell me.”
“The high-ranking official I mentioned earlier is looking for the ones who attacked the Jeonmaeng Weapons Research Institute.”
She wasn’t testing me. Gu Tae-hee was sure that we were the attackers. I didn’t care, but Na Chae-young’s expression hardened slightly.
“Who is that high-ranking official?”
“I can’t say. It’s a condition of a contract I have with him.”
“Okay.”
I wasn’t particularly intimidated. If they attacked us for revenge, we would retaliate.
