Chapter 1868 – 1868. Eternal Eden
The slash cut through the research facility, but the building didn’t collapse. The slash was too clean, slicing through the facility perfectly.
After that, I escaped the facility with Na Chaeyoung.
“How the hell did you manage to cut through the research facility?!”
Na Chaeyoung asked me as we ran. She seemed a little excited. It was very rare for her to get excited without any lewd acts.
“Didn’t you see it on the laptop? There was a camera in the power room too.”
“I only saw you using the electricity in the power room. The camera went dead right after that.”
“I just did it somehow.”
I didn’t feel like explaining. And I was incredibly tired.
Cough.
My throat felt tight, and when I coughed, blood came out.
“What, what?! Are you hurt?!”
Na Chaeyoung was startled and stopped running. I squatted down on the ground for a moment. I coughed up blood. Blood was coming from my nose, eyes, and ears. The blood vessels in my body had burst.
“It’s a side effect of Bister…!”
Na Chaeyoung immediately recognized my condition.
“Just wait a bit. It’s much better than last time.”
I forced myself to resist the urge to pass out. If I passed out here, there would be no hope. I had to at least get into the car before passing out.
‘I guess I’ve developed a tolerance to Bister I. The side effects have decreased as the drug’s effectiveness has diminished.’
After resting for about two minutes, I got up.
“Let’s go.”
We safely arrived at our hideout, Seongak Elementary School. I checked several times on the way. No one was following us.
“I can’t believe we actually succeeded…!”
Na Chaeyoung murmured with a look of deep emotion. I chuckled and went straight to the shower room.
• • •
“……”
Jeong Hyunsoo, the director of the Korean War Weapons Research Institute, was trembling under the control room desk with his eyes closed. He was the only one who survived in the control room. The rest of the researchers had all died, their brains eaten by the Brain Devourer.
He was lucky. As soon as the Brain Devourer entered, he pushed the researchers aside, dove under the desk, and held his breath. He closed his eyes and prayed to a god he didn’t usually believe in, asking to be spared. His prayer was answered. The Brain Devourer didn’t see Jeong Hyunsoo and went upstairs.
Jeong Hyunsoo, who survived, didn’t move from under the desk. The moment he went out from under the desk, he felt like the Brain Devourer would grab him with its short tentacles, crack open his skull, and eat his brain. Trembling with fear, he waited for someone to rescue him.
How many hours had passed?
Beep!
The door to the control room opened.
Someone had opened the door, not the broken iron wall. Even though there was no need to enter through the door.
Clack, clack.
Several hard shoe sounds were heard. The Brain Devourer, which had no feet, could never make such sounds.
Only then did Jeong Hyunsoo crawl out from under the desk. He put on the most pitiful expression he could muster.
“H-huer… C-can I have some water…?”
They were men in black suits. At the center was a black-haired beauty. Around her, the men in suits were moving around the control room. They weren’t so much cleaning up the situation as they were looking for something.
Suits.
In the 21st century, it was the attire of most members of society. But they had a different aura than ordinary people. Just looking at them made you feel tense. Gangsters? No. They had an even more dangerous aura.
“A-are you from the military?”
“No. We’re from the National Intelligence Service.”
The black-haired beauty in a suit said. Her voice was as lovely as her innocent face. But Jeong Hyunsoo felt fear.
The National Intelligence Service. Commonly known as the NIS.
The notoriety that those taken by the NIS never came out was widespread among the general public. The people had protested several times to abolish the NIS, but the protests disappeared without a trace, and the NIS had remained until now.
For the past 20 years, the NIS had moved quietly. They had erased their presence from the public eye and only operated in the shadows. But Jeong Hyunsoo, a man of power, knew. The NIS hadn’t changed.
And Jeong Hyunsoo had also heard rumors about the woman in front of him. A woman who lacked nothing, from her skills to her background. The blood of the Korean Empire’s royal family flowed through her veins.
“NIS Deputy Director Lee Yeonhee…! Why, why are you here?!”
“The Ministry of National Defense has given up on this research facility. They judged it worthless since the Brain Devourer is dead. We’ve been tasked with the cleanup. Since the Awakened and the monster are related, I, as the Deputy Director, came out.”
Jeong Hyunsoo felt his mind go blank. If he made a mistake, he might be dragged into the NIS. And there, he might suffer all sorts of harsh treatment, including electric torture and waterboarding.
“T-there was an intruder! A player, an Esper class! He stirred up the research facility and released the Brain Devourer! His goal was the combat AI! He lured the Brain Devourer to the control room and then escaped! I was hiding here! That’s all there is to it! Ah, is the Brain Devourer’s corpse still there? I was the one who led the research on the Brain Devourer. If you let me study the corpse, I’ll show you meaningful results! The Brain Devourer’s corpse will definitely be helpful to the nation!!”
“Have you said everything?”
Lee Yeonhee asked with a smile. The smile, which seemed completely out of place with the surrounding situation, was unsettling. Jeong Hyunsoo’s shoulders trembled. He knelt on the floor and lowered his head.
“P-please, spare me…”
“I have some unfortunate news for you, Director. The Brain Devourer’s corpse is gone. We did find its remains in the basement power room… neatly cut in half and burned black. It’s probably the Brain Devourer’s heart.”
“…Cut in half?”
“Oh dear. You must not have known because you were hiding under the desk. The research facility is cut in half. From the ground floor to the fifth basement level. It’s cut so cleanly that the building doesn’t even look like it’s about to collapse.”
“……”
“Now, tell me in detail what happened at this research facility from the beginning. The information is too lacking to understand the situation from the action cams of the soldiers we found on the ground.”
“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything!”
Jeong Hyunsoo told Lee Yeonhee everything he knew. Lee Yeonhee listened to his words and quietly nodded. About 20 minutes passed. One of the suit-wearing men approached Lee Yeonhee and handed her a tablet.
“Deputy Director. These are the camera footage. We’ve temporarily stitched the footage together chronologically, based on the intruder.”
Lee Yeonhee received the tablet.
“The footage is unnatural. Was it hacked?”
“Yes. It’s presumed to have been nearby. The cameras were manipulated, but at some point, there’s no more manipulation.”
“By the time the control room noticed, he had already entered the research lab on the fourth floor where the combat AI is located. Hmm. Did anything come up that could identify him?”
“We can’t confirm it with the cameras. As you can see, the intruder is completely covered from head to toe.”
“What about DNA?”
“It’s impossible to isolate the intruder’s DNA. There are too many corpses everywhere.”
Lee Yeonhee focused on the tablet.
The intruder acted normally even in front of the Brain Devourer. In front of the Brain Devourer that emitted mental waves that drove people crazy.
“He uses a sword.”
“We’ve already ordered an investigation, but it won’t mean anything. It’s a sword that’s still intact even after killing several people. In other words, it’s presumed to be a weapon made by a Technologist.”
“There’s a possibility that his collaborator is a Technologist. Hmm. I can’t find him right away. Looking at the footage, it’s highly likely he’s an Esper.”
An Esper and a Technologist working together? It wasn’t impossible.
The intruder lured the Brain Devourer to the control room and went up to the ground floor. What happened next was incomprehensible. The intruder didn’t escape from the research facility but chose to fight the Brain Devourer.
‘Why?’
Lee Yeonhee asked herself in her mind, seeking an answer.
‘Did he suddenly want to fight the Brain Devourer? Because of the Brain Devourer’s mental waves? Did he realize the danger of the Brain Devourer?’
The intruder fought the Brain Devourer. He charged in bravely, but he was in a life-threatening situation. Then, he lured the Brain Devourer into the power room. Just as he was about to do something using the electricity from the generator, the video ended.
“The camera broke down due to the electricity.”
“Yes. After that, there’s footage of the intruder leaving the research facility. He’s probably out of Paju by now.”
“His characteristics are his electrical ability and his sword. Hmm. He used his powers openly. It doesn’t seem like he was trying to hide himself thoroughly. I have a feeling I’ll meet him soon.”
“…It seems you like the intruder.”
“Yes. The Brain Devourer was too dangerous, so I was going to kill it myself… but he killed the Brain Devourer for me. I like him. How can I bring him to the NIS?”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“You’re no fun. Oh, right, there’s someone else who heard it.”
Lee Yeonhee’s gaze turned to Jeong Hyunsoo. Jeong Hyunsoo said with a pale face.
“I, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it too!”
“……”
“Please, spare me! I’m useful to the nation! I really am! I know a lot of things! Don’t you need the research facility’s data? I’ll give you everything!”
“We already have that. We knew that players would target the research facility, so do you think we wouldn’t have taken any measures? The combat AI data, the Brain Devourer research and experiment data, the next-generation weapon research data… we have all of it.”
“Y-you planted people in the research facility…?”
“Yes.”
The suit-wearing man next to Lee Yeonhee sighed. Lee Yeonhee was startled by that and opened her mouth.
“Ah! This is also classified… I said it without thinking. Well, it can’t be helped. I’ll just have to clean it up. Director Jeong Hyunsoo. It’s for the sake of the nation. It’s for the sake of the nation. Please understand.”
“S-spare…!”
“Take him away and see if he missed anything. Don’t forget to cross-check the data.”
Following Lee Yeonhee’s orders, two men in black suits approached and subdued Jeong Hyunsoo, taking him away. The number of survivors at the research facility would become zero.
“Deputy Director. What do you want to do about the intruder? If you order it, I’ll try to track him down somehow. If we check all the nearby cameras and black boxes, we might be able to catch his tail.”
“No, there’s no time for that. The day is coming soon. There’s a lot to do. The gibbons escaped from the research facility, right?”
“They might have already left this area.”
“They’re gathered 600 meters to the east. Eight in total. Cooperate with the military to deal with them. Split the corpses in half with the military.”
“Is it okay to give them to the military? The military is a dangerous element.”
“We and the military aren’t enemies, we’re fellow public officials. We need to maintain a good relationship.”
“Understood.”
