Chapter 1864 – 1864. Eternal Eden
“Dr. Na!”
I called out to Na Chaeyoung once more. There was no reply.
My face hardened. Had something happened to Na Chaeyoung? No, it didn’t feel like that. The siren was blaring, and the radio was dead. Perhaps the radio had gone dead even before that.
‘Just when I thought things were going smoothly… I’ve been caught after all.’
Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!
The siren blared loudly from the speakers on the ceiling. I frowned and glared at the ceiling. The camera was pointed directly at me.
I was about to run, but then I saw the chip plugged into the machine next to me. The chip was still blinking yellow.
‘They said it would take a minute.’
I could wait a minute. Actually, it was too late to move now. From the moment they sounded the siren, they would have already prepared to kill or capture me.
The hallway was in an uproar. It was obvious without looking. The remaining researchers were scrambling to escape.
‘Should I run now? No. I need to draw their aggro so Na Chaeyoung is safe. I need to draw their attention as much as possible.’
So, I sat back arrogantly and stared at the camera. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to see my face or expression. I was wearing a mask, after all.
-Who do you belong to?
The siren stopped, and a middle-aged man’s voice suddenly asked me.
I flipped the bird at the camera.
-America? China? Japan? Russia? No. It’s too crude a method to say a national agency is involved.
About 30 seconds left?
I planned in my head.
‘I’ll kill anyone who tries to stop me.’
It was a perfect plan.
-Ah, I know the answer. You’re a player, aren’t you? Those crazy bastards who appeared saying this world is a game! Players have their own classes, right? You’re obviously an esper. Right? Otherwise, this situation wouldn’t make sense. You were trying to get the combat AI and sell it to another country. But that won’t happen. Our research institute’s guardians, the elite special forces, are on their way to you!
The voice from the speaker was quite long. He seemed to want to say that they were in a superior position, but honestly, I didn’t care.
‘Still, his tone is a bit annoying. Should I stop by the control room and kill him while I’m escaping?’
-Surrender.
That was the main point.
There was no mention of Na Chaeyoung. If I were them, I would have mentioned my partner, Na Chaeyoung. That would put more pressure on me. In other words, she hadn’t been caught yet.
‘That’s a relief, at least.’
-I promise to give you the minimum treatment. A player, of which there are only 300 in this world, is of high research value. Especially an esper. If we can find out the cause of that superpower, humanity can move forward.
The yellow blinking light turned blue.
It had been much longer than a minute. I got up from the chair and swung my knife at the camera. The camera shattered and fell to the ground.
-You’ll regret this.
I ignored the voice from the speaker to the end and took the chip I had plugged into the machine and put it in my pocket. Now, all that was left was to get out of this research institute.
‘…I can feel them. Eight people outside the door. They must be soldiers armed with guns.’
Eight elite special forces soldiers to stop me? I could stop them, but there was no way they could stop me.
Crack.
A blue current flickered on my knife and disappeared. I reached for the door.
•••
Na Chaeyoung’s expression twisted as she sensed the anomaly.
The radio went dead in an instant. This couldn’t have happened suddenly. Something was wrong. Fortunately, the screens on the laptop were fine. The surveillance camera hack must have been discovered as well. But the connection wasn’t cut.
‘Are they trying to hack back?’
She had prepared a lot for today. The laptop she was using now was one of the things she had prepared. The firewall wouldn’t be easy to break, and even if they did hack the laptop, they wouldn’t be able to get any information.
‘No. They don’t have time to worry about this.’
The monsters on the 3rd and 5th floors were stirring. The researchers in the central control room on the 2nd floor were all busy moving around. Eight armed soldiers were running to the 4th basement floor where Sung Yoojin was.
‘Sung Yoojin. What is that guy doing?’
Incredibly, Sung Yoojin was sitting leisurely in his chair. Even though he had noticed the anomaly, he didn’t look anxious at all. Rather, Na Chaeyoung, who was watching, was more anxious and uneasy.
‘…Should I run away by myself now?’
The thought flashed through her mind. She shook her head and erased the thought. It was she who had proposed and carried out this crazy plan. Sung Yoojin had never once said no, even though he could have refused.
Because they had traded their time? Sung Yoojin didn’t need to do that. He had the power to kill someone like her without a second thought. Sung Yoojin was being considerate of her.
Na Chaeyoung focused on the central control room screen. It had suddenly become chaotic since a while ago. It wasn’t just because they had found Sung Yoojin. There was something else.
‘…Was there someone important among the people Sung Yoojin killed?’
No, that wasn’t important right now. What was important was that the situation wasn’t entirely in their favor.
And she had seen Sung Yoojin’s power with her own eyes a few days ago. He could create an opportunity. Na Chaeyoung gripped the radio tightly and stared at the monitor. It would be crazy for her to go into the research institute. Even if she helped Sung Yoojin, she had to do it from here.
‘Show me like you did last time, you crazy bastard.’
•••
“You’ll regret this.”
Jeong Hyunsoo, the director of the Korean War Weapons Research Institute, glared at the black monitor and spat into the microphone.
“Director! We’ve confirmed a body in Dr. Yoon’s personal office on the 3rd floor!”
“The monkeys are going crazy! Dr. Yoon’s mind control ability has been released!”
“The Brain Devourer is howling! It’s about to go on a rampage!”
The researchers in the control room all reported to Jeong Hyunsoo in a panic.
Biological weapons research revolved around Dr. Yoon, an early awakener. Dr. Yoon had the ability to control animals with low intelligence, and thanks to that ability, they were able to research biological weapons very easily. With Dr. Yoon’s death, that ability was released, and the biological weapons were running wild.
In particular, it was very bad that the monster on the 5th floor, the Brain Devourer, was showing signs of going on a rampage again. The soldiers didn’t have time to subdue the Brain Devourer because they were dealing with the intruder.
“Release the anesthetic gas.”
“Releasing the anesthetic gas!”
Jeong Hyunsoo turned his gaze back to the monitor. Eight fully armed elite soldiers were pointing their rifles at the door. As soon as the door opened and the masked intruder came out, the soldiers pulled the trigger. But the bullets didn’t hit the intruder’s body. The bullets were blocked or deflected. The soldiers, who were not used to dealing with superpowered people, were momentarily flustered.
And then the intruder’s typical sword dance began.
Because it was a narrow passage, the eight soldiers couldn’t take advantage of their numerical superiority. The soldiers closest to the intruder were cut down first.
15 seconds. That was the time it took for the elite soldiers, who could even subdue monsters, to be annihilated. The reason they were helplessly massacred was simple. The bullets didn’t work on the opponent.
“…Is he a barrier ability user?”
“It’s certain that he has an ability.”
“I saw electricity flashing earlier… Isn’t he an electricity ability user?”
“There’s no way you can create a shield with just electricity.”
“His physical abilities also surpass those of ordinary humans. He’s an awakener with at least two abilities. He’s worth researching.”
“Damn it, research?! How can you say that in this situation?!”
Jeong Hyunsoo ignored the surrounding noise and came to his own conclusion. The intruder was a player. His class was esper. If he could handle superpowers that well, there was no other option but esper. And because he was an esper, he had the crazy idea to attack the research institute.
“Activate the security system.”
Jeong Hyunsoo said. The researchers all looked at Jeong Hyunsoo.
“Director! The 2nd squad is coming to support us by helicopter! The estimated time of arrival is 5 minutes! Do we really need to activate the security system?!”
“The intruder could come up to this control room. The 1st squad was annihilated in 15 seconds. Do you know what will happen if he comes up here? It’s better to be trapped in the control room than to be killed by him.”
“…There are still about 20 researchers who haven’t entered the control room. If we activate the security system now, they will die.”
“It can’t be helped. It’s one thing if he comes into the control room and kills us, but we must prevent him from stealing the combat AI data.”
“Damn it.”
The security system was activated. The combat AI, which was still in the experimental stage, would control all the weapons in the research institute to eliminate the intruder. It was still in the experimental stage, so there was a problem that it couldn’t distinguish between friend and foe, but its power had already been verified.
‘A player is a valuable research subject. I wish we could capture him alive.’
He knew it was impossible, but he still hoped.
An anomaly occurred. The intruder, who should have gone up to the 3rd floor, went down to the 5th floor instead. It was the only place in this research institute without a security system.
‘If he’s a player, there’s no way he doesn’t know what’s on the 5th basement floor. The fact that he came to steal the combat AI data is proof of that. What the hell is he planning?’
•••
After slicing and killing the eight soldiers, I walked towards the stairs. I was going to go straight past the 3rd floor and into the 2nd floor control room to kill the guys who were talking so arrogantly. But when I saw the stairs, my head cooled down. I didn’t like the guy who was talking so freely in the control room, but what was important now was survival.
‘Let’s say I get out of the research institute. But what about after that? They would have called for backup, so the military would be chasing me, right? There’s nothing around here. If the military is fully deployed, it will be difficult to escape. And I have to take care of Na Chaeyoung too.’
So, I needed a way for me and Na Chaeyoung to escape easily. And that method was on the floor below. Someone who could draw aggro more than me.
‘I was curious about what kind of guy he was, so I should take a look at his face.’
I walked down to the 5th basement floor.
-What are you up to?!
A man’s voice came through the speaker. I flipped the bird at the camera like before and went downstairs.
The iron door on the 5th floor was bigger and stronger than anything else. I swiped the card key, but the door didn’t open.
-Heh heh. You’re stupid. You can’t open it with just a card key. That door will never open without authentication from the control room.
“Can’t you just shut up?”
There was no point in talking. He wouldn’t be able to hear me anyway. My mouth was covered by a mask, so he couldn’t see my mouth movements, and there was only a speaker here.
I reached out and grabbed the lock on the iron door.
Zzzzzzzzzzz!
I created lightning. It might be different for complex machines like computers. But for a simple structure like a door lock, I could open the door using lightning.
Click!
The door on the 5th floor opened.
