Chapter 2405 – 2405. Eternal Eden
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
The siren wailed in the secret laboratory. It was a siren that had only sounded twice in the history of the Daemado secret laboratory.
Once to check the siren’s function, once when a test subject escaped the lab, and now, for the third time, when enemies had invaded.
“…”
Yoo Seo-jeong stared at the monitor screen. CCTV footage was being transmitted in real-time. Three intruders, clad in combat suits, were dashing down the laboratory corridor. Their destination was the 1st Control Laboratory on the 5th basement floor, where she was.
‘They really came.’
One man and two women. The white sword the man was carrying was famously used by Sung Yu-jin. Seeing his skill in taking down elite soldiers in an instant, it was definitely him.
The light returned to her dead eyes. Finally, the opportunity to escape this wretched place with her daughter had come. She would probably be doing similar things at Sungak Elementary School… but at least it would be a much better environment than working like a slave here.
‘Instead of this, I need to prepare to escape with Ji-hee. At this speed, they’ll be here in 5 minutes.’
It was the moment she rose from her chair in the lab. The lab door opened, and a group entered. Five fully armed Awakened soldiers, Jin Seong-hwa, the second daughter of the Ilwoo Group chairman and the highest-ranking person in the secret laboratory, and her secretary. And in the hands of the soldiers, a woman was being held. A woman in white restraints, drugged. It was Yoo Seo-jeong’s daughter, Kim Ji-hee.
“…President Jin Seong-hwa. What’s the meaning of suddenly coming in here? And there. Don’t treat Ji-hee carelessly.”
Yoo Seo-jeong asked, barely hiding her trembling voice. She couldn’t show any signs of weakness. She knew from experience how ruthless they were. They could kill them right here.
“What do you mean, what’s the meaning? Can’t you see? Intruders. That crazy bastard who terrorized Busan has come all the way to Daemado.”
Jin Seong-hwa’s voice was full of annoyance. She pulled out Yoo Seo-jeong’s chair, sat down, and crossed her legs.
“…So? The laboratory is guarded by soldiers.”
“He didn’t come alone. It’s chaos outside too. There are enemies rampaging outside. Most of the soldiers have gone to subdue them. They invaded even though they knew Daemado is Japanese territory… he’s a real madman. How did I get tangled up with someone like that?”
Jin Seong-hwa clicked her tongue. Her eyes, watching the CCTV screen, were nothing short of venomous.
“You didn’t answer my question. Why did you bring Ji-hee to the lab?”
“You’re smart. Do I have to explain everything one by one? Ha. Fine. It’s a loss for me to fight with you. This is the safest place in the underground lab. And you can control the lab from here, right?”
“Don’t tell me… you mean to release all the test subjects in the lab?”
“Yes. You’re smart, as expected. If you understand, do it. Even if they’re failures, they’re still mutant-level monsters… they’ll hold out for a few hours. Even if we can’t contact the mainland due to communication interference, the mainland will notice something’s wrong in a few hours and send troops. Oh, don’t release the variants. Those are precious.”
“Those mutants can’t distinguish between friend and foe. If you release them without a plan, all the soldiers and researchers in the lab will die.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s a bit of a waste, but ordinary soldiers and researchers can be replaced. The real core of this lab is you. You and I just need to be safe. Oh, and your daughter too. That way, you’ll listen to me. Hehehe.”
“…”
Yoo Seo-jeong sighed inwardly. How did it come to this?
She had just played a game called [Eternal Eden] with her daughter, and then they fell into the world of the game. The bewilderment at that time was enough to make her collapse on the street, but there was no time to be leisurely.
If this was the world of the game, the world would be destroyed.
To survive with her daughter, she needed the power of a large corporation. So, she chose a conglomerate. Among them, she chose Ilwoo Group. There was no big reason. Ilwoo Group was the most famous conglomerate in Busan, where they had appeared.
At first, she was treated like an executive. They already knew about the existence of players and were preparing for the apocalypse.
Yoo Seo-jeong and Kim Ji-hee were assigned to the Daemado secret laboratory. From then on, their treatment changed. Every move was monitored, and they were urged to show results. It was impossible to escape, so they had no choice but to comply with their demands.
She would never forget the first human experiment she conducted. It still appeared in her dreams sometimes. On those days, her bed would be soaked with sweat.
Kim Ji-hee, unable to endure the hellish life, attempted to escape. She gained the loyalty of soldiers and test subjects, awakened them, and attempted to escape.
It seemed to be going well. Until one of the soldiers betrayed them. Kim Ji-hee executed the escape before the plan was ready. And the soldiers and test subjects were killed by special forces from the Self-Defense Forces from the mainland, Japan.
From that day on, Kim Ji-hee wore a restraint suit and was locked in a room. She was always drugged under the pretext of safe management. Kim Ji-hee had never been in her right mind since that day. Yoo Seo-jeong had to work for her daughter’s sake.
“What are you doing? You’re not going to resist now, are you?”
Jin Seong-hwa held out her hand. Her secretary carefully handed her a pistol. Jin Seong-hwa pointed the pistol at Kim Ji-hee.
“…I’ll do it. So, put that gun away.”
“You do it first.”
Yoo Seo-jeong pressed the buttons on one side. The doors of the mutant labs on the 4th and 5th floors opened, and mutants poured out.
“Is that enough?”
Jin Seong-hwa lowered the pistol.
“You should have done that from the start. You’re a slave of our family. A slave that can be replaced at any time. Don’t forget that fact.”
“…”
She had never forgotten it, not even once.
* * *
“Kuaaaaaaak!”
“The mutants have been released!”
“Do not leave the area! I repeat! Do not leave the area!”
“Shut up! We’ll just die if we stay here! I refuse a dog’s death!”
The 4th basement floor was a scene of chaos. The soldiers were too busy fighting the mutants released from the test subjects to even look at us, the intruders, who were right next to them.
I swung my cutlass at anything that moved, be it a soldier or a mutant.
Choi Hye-jin and Irina were the same. If they didn’t kill, they would be killed. There was no mercy in their hands, which had become accustomed to this era.
“Ugh. It’s like they mixed cockroaches and humans. It’s so disgusting.”
Choi Hye-jin kicked a mutant’s corpse. The corpse flew and hit the wall, splattering blood.
-They must have injected the genes of cockroach mutants into humans. Disgust aside, the abilities of cockroaches are tempting.
Na Chae-young said. She was watching the situation here through the camera on her combat helmet. The communication jammer she had improved didn’t affect us. According to Na Chae-young, she had set a special wave that acted as a key… I didn’t know the details. I wasn’t interested in complicated theories.
We kept moving. Now, mutants like these couldn’t stop us.
-…I got a call from Lee Yeon-hee. She suspects us. We left a lot of traces, so it would be strange if she didn’t suspect us.
“The NIS already knows?”
-It seems they’ve been monitoring Daemado from the beginning. She said that the information has already been passed on to her superior. In other words, the Korean government knows.
“The Ilwoo Group chairman must know. That sly bastard must have bribed high-ranking government officials.”
Since there was a communication jammer, we didn’t know exactly what was happening, but there was a high possibility that they would send reinforcements. It wouldn’t be immediate due to the distance… but the longer it took, the more separated we would become.
We arrived at the 5th basement floor.
The corridor was stained red with blood. People and mutants alike were torn to pieces and dead. At the center was a variant. Its torso and legs were human, but its head and arms were those of a crocodile. The three crocodile heads were chewing on human flesh.
“That crocodile Cerberus bastard… the atmosphere it gives off is different.”
That’s what variants were like. You could instinctively tell when you encountered one. That it was a predator with immense power.
-…They released a variant after all. It’s the variant in the data Yoo Seo-jeong sent. The 290th test subject, Eliter, who succeeded after Catherine. It has a strong body that ordinary bullets and grenades don’t work on, the power to tear through steel plates, and the ferocity to attack anyone. There’s a report that it fought a tank head-on, and the tank was turned into scrap metal.
The thing looked at us and threw away the corpse it was chewing on.
We were almost there, but we couldn’t back down because of one variant.
“Choi Hye-jin, Irina. You guys take care of that thing. Can you do it?”
“Of course. Do you think I can’t beat something like that? I can do it alone.”
“If I’m with Hye-jin unnie… yes. I think I can do it.”
It wasn’t their first time fighting a variant. There was some bravado mixed in, but Choi Hye-jin could probably handle it alone. But with Irina, they would definitely win.
“You two take care of it. I’ll go to where Yoo Seo-jeong is.”
“It’s been a while since I used my strength.”
Choi Hye-jin charged at the thing with a metal bat. Irina pulled out a specially made bow from behind and drew the string.
I passed through the corridor while they fought the variant.
I ran without looking back. Their talents were real. They would take care of a variant like that in 5 minutes.
A fork in the road appeared. An arrow appeared on the combat helmet HUD, indicating the direction.
The 1st Control Laboratory where Yoo Seo-jeong was located appeared.
‘First, I’ll save Yoo Seo-jeong, then find her daughter. If her daughter is dead, I’ll at least find her body and take it.’
I stabbed the silver cutlass into the lab’s steel door. It could cut through most steel doors. But the sword didn’t even penetrate halfway into the steel door.
‘It’s damn thick. It’s better to hack the door lock with electricity.’
I looked around the steel door.
There was no door lock.
I checked the thickness of the steel door and the wall again. Judging by the thickness, it was like a bunker.
‘A bunker buster… there’s no way I have one. Damn it. Am I going to get stuck here?’
Thunder Sky Style Electromagnetic Wave.
I used an electromagnetic wave, just in case I missed something. The electromagnetic wave couldn’t even penetrate into the lab. It seemed to have an EMP shielding function.
‘I don’t have time, and things have gone wrong. …Should I use recovery? Wouldn’t the steel door return to its pre-processed state?’
I was pondering when it happened.
Click!
The heavy steel door suddenly began to open. I squeezed inside before the door closed.
“You crazy bitch! You opened the door?! Ah, no way. Is it you? Did you tell those bastards our location?!”
Thud! Thud!
A middle-aged woman was grabbing the hair of a slightly younger-looking middle-aged woman, Yoo Seo-jeong, and slamming her against the wall.
“Stop.”
“Don’t move.”
Five armed soldiers pointed their guns at me and growled. A man who looked like a secretary pointed a pistol at the head of a woman who was collapsed in restraints.
‘It’s a mess.’
The middle-aged woman being beaten was Yoo Seo-jeong. The middle-aged woman doing the beating was Jin Seong-hwa. I didn’t know her face, but judging by the fact that all her clothes were designer brands, it was definitely her. Her temper also seemed terrible.
‘The young woman in restraints and drugged must be Yoo Seo-jeong’s daughter.’
Jin Seong-hwa stopped beating Yoo Seo-jeong and looked at me. Her eyes were venomous. I almost ran at her and killed her on the spot because of her arrogant gaze.
“You’re Sung Yu-jin, right? I can tell by the sword. You came to take this bitch… did you think I, Ilwoo Group, was easy? My brother was stupid and got tricked by you, but I’m not. What are you doing, kill him.”
Crackling.
The current that started from my spine spread throughout my body, accelerating all my nerves.
Thunder Sky Style Gale Lightning.
The world slowed down. I could see the enemy soldiers’ fingers slowly pulling the triggers.
‘No. It’s not that the world has slowed down, it’s that I’ve become faster.’
Using a moment made it seem like time had almost stopped, but it was difficult to reach that point with Gale Lightning.
‘In my current state, I can only maintain it for 5 seconds.’
2 seconds had passed while I was thinking. It didn’t matter. 3 seconds was enough to kill them.
I rushed at them and swung my cutlass. In the slowed-down world, only I moved normally. Well, to their eyes, it would look like I was moving insanely fast.
I beheaded the five men. 3 seconds passed, and the effect of Gale Lightning disappeared.
Thud!
The beheaded soldiers fell to the floor.
“Wh-what? What did you just do?!”
Jin Seong-hwa was shocked and pointed her pistol at me, pulling the trigger. My muscles ached from the aftereffects of Gale Lightning, but I wasn’t weak enough to be hit by a gun that was being fired so openly. I shook my upper body to dodge the bullets and swung my sword.
Swoosh!
Jin Seong-hwa’s right hand, which was holding the pistol, fell to the floor.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!”
