Chapter 60 – 060. Code: Xtk
060. Code: XTK
“I think you all know, but… since we have time to spare, I’ll reiterate as a precaution.”
Son Jeong-hu looked around at us and spoke.
“It starts with the Taker disabling the main system. Since the City Hall is managed by the main system, the lights will go out except for the emergency lights. That’s when you guys move.”
I let Son Jeong-hu’s words wash over me, focusing on what I needed to do.
My target is the Illusiters. Specifically, the special agents who possess the Illusiters. I’m going to kill those bastards and take their Illusiters. To that end, I spent a hefty 3 billion won to buy the ‘Eclers Plasma Blade.’
No matter how good the special agents’ equipment or the machines they have on their bodies are, they won’t be able to stop the Eclers Plasma Blade.
I believe my Yeongcheon Style is more than capable.
“You can go to the armories in between, or kill the guards and take their weapons. Steal whatever you want. Kill whoever you want to kill. While you guys are causing a ruckus for an hour… I’ll steal the blueprints. And after an hour, we retreat immediately. You all know the retreat plan, right?”
I don’t plan on retreating.
The moment I get my hands on the Illusiters, my goal will be achieved. I’ll grab three Illusiters and return to reality immediately.
‘Machines can break down, after all. It’s good to have several spares.’
Once I get the Illusiters, first thing’s first, a bathhouse…
“If you get caught, I recommend just killing yourselves. You’ll definitely be tortured. Maybe they’ll even extract your brains and you’ll suffer for eternity?”
Son Jeong-hu said something terrifying. The members’ faces hardened. Considering the technology of this world, it couldn’t be taken as a simple joke. Son Jeong-hu himself has a mechanical body except for his brain.
“I believe you guys will do well. You’re all outstanding. Let’s order pizza at a cafe later.”
“……”
The members were silent. I don’t know what they were thinking, but it was clear they were tense.
I also remained silent for a moment before speaking to Son Jeong-hu.
“Leader, I’m a bit hungry. Can I go grab a bite?”
“Sure. There’s still more than an hour left before the party starts. Oh, Ulla said she was hungry earlier too. Take her with you.”
I looked at Ulla. She was wearing a sky-blue dress. A suit didn’t suit Ulla’s small frame, so Son Jeong-hu had told her to wear a dress instead.
With her golden hair and pale face, she looked quite good, appearing normal.
“……Hungry.”
Ulla said. I gave a wry smile.
“Okay. Let’s go together.”
Ulla is a cyborg, like the leader, with 100% of her body, except for her brain, being mechanical. She doesn’t need to eat at all. Well, the only ones who know this fact at Laffles are the leader and Ulla herself. I, of course, know it from the original work.
‘……He plans to use Ulla to monitor me.’
It’s within my expectations. If I betray them here, it would be extremely detrimental.
‘They don’t know anything. If I wanted to betray them, I’ve had plenty of opportunities.’
I headed to the restaurant on the 120th floor with Ulla.
I was going to experience how delicious the top-grade steak they sold here was.
As I entered the restaurant, I stopped, noticing someone.
“Someone you know?”
Ulla followed my gaze and looked at the man sitting by the window. He was looking out the window, eating a chicken salad.
“…Not someone I know personally. He’s quite famous in the underworld.”
“Famous?”
“He’s a fixer. And a former special agent.”
Ulla and I sat at a suitable table and ordered a set course meal that included steak.
Ulla kept glancing at the man. She seemed interested in the fact that he was a special agent.
‘The protagonist, Yoo Han-soo. He’ll kill Ulla himself later.’
Ulla might be sensing something from the man who will kill her in the future.
We ate quietly.
Ulla was originally quiet, and I didn’t find any reason to get close to her. We wouldn’t see each other after today anyway.
The steak melted in my mouth.
•••
“You’re the president of Grayple Corporation? I’ve never heard of that company… Is it a foreign company?”
“Haha. Yes. It’s a British company. We just came to Seoul recently. We haven’t even properly signed a contract for a building to use as our company yet, so it’s probably very unfamiliar.”
At the party, I had to deal with many people. Even if I didn’t approach them, they came to me and started talking.
Their sociability was incredible.
‘It’s probably because I’m a young normal, so it’s easy to approach me.’
60% of the people at the party were normals. The rest were cyborgs who had replaced parts of their bodies.
“Hoo. Dealing with people is really hard. Well, I didn’t make any mistakes, right?”
I asked Son Jeong-hu, who was standing next to me.
“There were no problems, President. You handled it well.”
He was acting as my secretary. He was quite good at it.
“I was just agreeing with them. Shouldn’t we go up soon?”
“No. It’s still the beginning of the party, so it’s better to enjoy the party more. It will be easier to move when people start leaving later.”
“……I guess so.”
After that, people kept coming to me. It was to build up basic connections. The upper class valued connections as much as money.
‘Ah. I’m tired.’
I rubbed the back of my neck with my left hand. If it was just dealing with people, it would be fine. But I had to lie to them. There were many times when they asked sharp questions, and if Son Jeong-hu hadn’t helped me appropriately, I would have been suspected.
In the middle of the party, there was a gift time.
Under the guise of gifts, they were openly giving bribes to the Seoul Mayor, Won Cheon-soo.
‘Wow, damn.’
I thought that the upper class would have at least a minimum of nobility. But what I saw was far from noble.
‘How can they be such sycophants? They’re sucking his ass so hard… their buttholes must be raw.’
There were so many disgusting acts of flattery, rather than being envious. When they subtly mentioned offering their daughters, I was so dumbfounded that I laughed.
‘They’re selling their own children for power.’
I shook my head and took a sip of wine.
Of course, I also gave Won Cheon-soo a gift. It seemed to be stocks from a company in the United States. I didn’t know exactly which company it was, as it was a gift prepared by Son Jeong-hu.
“Oh.”
As I was sipping wine in a corner, a woman caught my eye.
“Wow. She’s so pretty.”
She was a blonde woman. She was wearing a navy blue evening dress, and her figure was outstanding. There were no visible mechanical parts. She looked normal like me. Her breasts were big, and her butt was amazing.
“Hmm? Is that your type of woman?”
“No. She’s just pretty.”
“Really?”
Son Jeong-hu didn’t seem to understand the beauty of the female body. He must be a eunuch without a penis, that’s why.
“Look at those bouncing breasts. Her face is amazing too. This is the first time I’ve seen such a pretty woman in this world.”
“This world?”
“…Uh. I misspoke. This is the first time I’ve seen such a pretty woman in my entire life.”
Son Jeong-hu didn’t seem to think much of it.
Well, how could he imagine that I was from another world? Even if he imagined it, he wouldn’t believe it. If I told him the truth, he would probably treat me like a madman.
“Damn it. Why did I meet such a woman now? If I had met her yesterday…”
I sighed in disappointment. Then, Son Jeong-hu next to me said.
“If you really want that woman, you can just kidnap her later. Knock her out, take her, and do whatever you want.”
“No. I’m not going to kidnap someone after coming all this way.”
“Really? Then what is the Taker going to steal? Something that will be worth money?”
“Well…”
I stopped talking. Someone was approaching us.
It was Yoo Han-soo. I tensed up slightly. Did Yoo Han-soo notice our identities? It wouldn’t be strange if it was Yoo Han-soo, the protagonist of the original webtoon. Yoo Han-soo had a keen eye.
“Hello.”
He greeted me and extended his hand. I shook his hand.
“…Ah. Yes. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Yoo Jae-won, the president of Grayple.”
“Oh. We have the same family name. I’m Yoo Han-soo.”
“What a coincidence. But what brings you here?”
“It’s nothing much… I heard you’ll be coming to Korea later. If you have any trouble then, please call me. This is my business card.”
“Fixer Yoo Han-soo?”
“Yes, yes. I may not be good at other things, but I’m sure about my work.”
I relaxed a little. He just came for promotion.
Yoo Han-soo went on to talk about how great of a fixer he was, then went to other people, handing out his business cards and promoting himself.
“Yoo Han-soo. He’s a special agent from the former government. Seeing him at this party, he must have some connection with the mayor.”
Son Jeong-hu said stiffly in his secretary mode.
“Is he dangerous?”
“Well, I’m not sure yet. But he’s definitely someone to watch out for.”
Yeah. Be careful. You guys will have a bloody fight with Yoo Han-soo in the future.
But I couldn’t say that.
•••
1:30 AM. We moved when the party was almost over.
We took the elevator straight up to the 175th floor.
The 175th floor was a casino. It was closed today because of the mayor’s birthday party.
But there was someone there. A soldier wearing a helmet and an external glove suit was guarding the entrance to the casino. He was holding a large assault rifle.
“What’s going on?”
He approached us and asked. Son Jeong-hu spoke first, stepping forward.
“Our president wanted to enjoy the casino in Seoul… but is it not open today?”
“Today, it’s closed due to the mayor’s birthday party. It will open at 9 PM today, so please come back then.”
“Ah. I see. But…”
Son Jeong-hu started to stall for time by leading the conversation.
I attempted to hack. Even if I didn’t see it with my own eyes, if I knew where the main system computer was, I could perceive it with my skill.
[Hacking successful.]
[You can hack the Seoul City Hall’s main system for 7 seconds.]
7 seconds.
The hacking duration was longer than I thought. I had expected only 3 seconds at most.
‘First, disable the main system, then intentionally break the main system core.’
Even if I couldn’t see it, I could feel it. As planned, the main system was disabled. The main system core was also broken, so unless they replaced it with a backup system core, Seoul City Hall would be paralyzed.
Zzzzt.
The fluorescent lights in the hallway went out all at once.
“W-what is… Keok?!”
Son Jeong-hu quickly reached out and grabbed his neck. His immense grip broke his neck instantly. Son Jeong-hu casually threw the corpse aside and smiled at me.
“Good job, Taker. The party hall must be in chaos by now. I’m going to steal the blueprints right away. What about you?”
“I’m going to steal something that’s worth money. And if I have time, I’ll also steal that blonde woman I saw earlier.”
“So you’ve decided to kidnap that woman after all?”
“I’m a man. Of course.”
“Okay. Then see you later. This is a casino, so there must be cash somewhere.”
Son Jeong-hu said that and went down the emergency stairs. The elevator had stopped because the main system was down.
I waited for him to go down completely.
‘Three minutes have passed. Son Jeong-hu must have reached the 150th floor. Should I start moving too?’
I took out a sword from my inventory.
The Eclers Plasma Blade.
It was a weapon that had plasma coated on the blade using the super energy, Eclers. This sword could cut through steel without any problem. Since it was rechargeable, it had to be kept off except when fighting to use it efficiently.
I used the emergency stairs to move up instead of down. When I hacked the main system earlier, I briefly checked the locations of the special agents in the City Hall.
There were a total of 5 special agents. One of them was in front of the main system room on the 190th floor.
“Who are you?!”
I encountered a special guard on the stairs.
‘Byeokgye (碧溪).’
He shot at me. The power of the rifle was almost at the level of a machine gun, but it wasn’t hitting me at all. Byeokgye was working properly, making him unable to perceive the distance.
‘I tested it before. Even if their eyes are mechanical, Byeokgye works unless they are high-performance.’
After all, it’s the human brain, not a computer, that processes visual information.
I brushed past him and cut his throat with my sword. A fountain of blood spurted out. Without delay, I headed upwards.
