Chapter 2406 – 2406. Eternal Eden
“Aaaaaaah!”
Jin Seonghwa’s scream echoed. I looked at Jin Seonghwa and pondered. Though she was a middle-aged woman in her forties, she looked like she was in her mid-thirties, probably because of all the money she’d thrown at herself.
But her beauty was ambiguous. She was pretty, but it felt like she was forcing a celebrity vibe with makeup and luxury goods. She lacked the refined and natural beauty of Yu Seojeong. In Yu Seojeong’s case, if she just solved the aging issue, she would definitely have a beauty that rivaled celebrities.
‘A beauty is a beauty, whether young or old. Jin Seonghwa… she’s a bit lacking to meet my standards. No, wait. I have the ability to recover. Let’s kill her first and just take her head.’
“Stop!”
Jin Seonghwa’s secretary shouted. I don’t know if they picked him based on his looks, but he was quite handsome.
My gaze turned to him. He was pointing a gun at the head of a woman who was drugged. The woman’s face was visible through her long brown hair. She was quite beautiful, resembling Yu Seojeong. Though she was drooling and her eyes were glazed over from the drugs.
“If you move even a little, I’ll kill Kim Jihee!”
“Oh, no…!”
Yu Seojeong cried out in shock.
Kill her.
I couldn’t say it outright. Yu Seojeong was trembling, at a loss for what to do.
‘I can’t just tell him to kill her since I can revive her. Even if he’s someone I’m going to kill here, I’ll hide as much information as possible. There might be variables I don’t know about.’
More importantly, there was my relationship with Yu Seojeong.
Some people get caught up in a pointless philosophical question: is a revived person the same as the person they were before?
What if Yu Seojeong was one of those people? Even if I revived Kim Jihee, there was a chance she wouldn’t cooperate with me absolutely.
Look at Yu Seojeong now. She didn’t look like a cold scientist, but a helpless mother. For Yu Seojeong, Kim Jihee’s value was probably greater than her own life.
‘If she were an ordinary woman, I wouldn’t be this considerate. Yu Seojeong is a bionics. She might be the woman I have to be with until the end of this world, along with Na Chaeyoung.’
What if I brought in another bionics? Was there any guarantee that the other bionics would be beautiful? I wanted to be with a beautiful bionics.
“Jin Seonghwa’s secretary. Let’s exchange Kim Jihee for Jin Seonghwa. Isn’t that what you want? Or are you planning to die together?”
I gauged the distance. It was a bit far. Could I kill him before he pulled the trigger using Gale Lightning? Even if I cut off his hand, his finger would still pull the trigger, right? There were too many ambiguous factors, so it wasn’t good to move recklessly.
“Aaaah…. Ugh….”
Jin Seonghwa writhed in pain. I held my sword to Jin Seonghwa’s neck. The secretary flinched, but didn’t pull the trigger right away.
“Don’t touch the president…!”
“I didn’t touch her. I put a sword to her. Are we going to exchange hostages or not? I’ll give you ten seconds. Even if we don’t, looking at this woman, she doesn’t seem like she’ll last long.”
“President! Come this way! We need to stop the bleeding first! I have a hemostatic agent just in case!”
Jin Seonghwa glanced at me and crawled towards the secretary. I blocked her path with my galchi sword.
“I said exchange hostages, didn’t I? Send Kim Jihee this way.”
“Kim Jihee is out of her mind from the drugs! How am I supposed to send her?!”
“Either you come yourself.”
The secretary gritted his teeth.
Of course, my plan was to kill the secretary using Gale Lightning as soon as he got close.
The secretary’s eyes darted around. Then, he loosened Kim Jihee’s restraints. He let the leather straps that were tightening the restraints hang down, tied them to Kim Jihee, and held her out to me.
“Pull her over. Don’t forget I have a gun pointed at you. If you do anything suspicious, even a little, I’ll shoot.”
So, he wasn’t stupid enough to come close. It was a shame, but there was nothing I could do.
‘I have the advantage. I’ll kill him after the hostage exchange.’
As I moved my sword, Jin Seonghwa crawled towards the secretary at a rapid pace. I pulled on the leather strap. Kim Jihee was dragged over.
‘I’ll kill them as soon as the hostages are exchanged.’
The secretary’s gaze flickered downwards. Was he looking at Jin Seonghwa? No. He was looking at his wristwatch. He was checking the time? In this situation?
‘Does he have something he’s relying on?’
There was no way to escape from here. Run away with me in front of him? Even if it were possible, Choi Hyejin and Irina were fighting the mutants in the outer hallway.
“Jihee…!”
As Kim Jihee approached, Yu Seojeong ran over and hugged her. Kim Jihee and I made eye contact. I could feel gratitude in her eyes. I had bought her favor for now. It was worth the trouble.
Then. The guy’s gun was pointed at Yu Seojeong.
Thunder Sky Style (雷天流) Gale Lightning (疾風迅雷).
The trigger was pulled, and a bullet flew towards Yu Seojeong. I cut down all the incoming bullets.
The acceleration of Gale Lightning ended. The secretary’s face was horribly distorted.
“You, you monster…!”
“Is that your last words? Die with that woman.”
It was the moment I approached the two of them. A human suddenly appeared out of thin air. It was a man with a sharp impression. Jin Seonghwa and the secretary’s faces lit up.
“Shigeru! Kill that bastard!”
“You’ve finally arrived!”
The man in military uniform ignored the two of them and pointed a submachine gun at me, pulling the trigger.
With the sound of gunfire, bullets poured out.
Thunder Sky Style (雷天流) Electromagnetic Barrier (電磁氣幕) Maximum Output.
I blocked all the incoming bullets. Fortunately, they weren’t special bullets made to counter me. The bullets were blocked by the electromagnetic barrier and fell to the ground. They were a bit too weak to reflect. Instead, I took a large step forward, approaching the man.
The man pulled the pin on a grenade, threw it at me, and disappeared with Jin Seonghwa and the secretary. He was definitely a space-shifting ability user.
I clicked my tongue briefly and reached out towards the grenade. I used recovery before the grenade exploded. The grenade was recovered with the pin still in place. It was as if time had turned back. The pin that the man had pulled out was on the floor though.
-Five Self-Defense Force transport helicopters have appeared in the sky near Tsushima! What are you doing! Run away quickly!
‘The reinforcements came faster than I thought. Were they prepared near Tsushima?’
Shigeru, was it? That space-shifting ability user was wearing a military uniform. I guessed he was probably part of the Self-Defense Forces.
‘A space-shifting ability user. He has a terribly annoying ability.’
I wasn’t careless, but I couldn’t kill him. It was a shame, but I put it aside and approached Yu Seojeong. She was supporting Kim Jihee, but she looked exhausted. I sheathed my sword and grabbed each of their waists, lifting them up.
“Wait a minute! You’re Seong Yujin, right?”
“Can’t you tell? I suffered because of you guys. I’m taking you out, so stay quiet.”
“The data! We need to take the mutation data from the lab. That’s one of the reasons you came to save me, right?! Three minutes. I can get the data in three minutes.”
“…Data on turning humans into mutants? I don’t need it.”
“…Huh?”
Even if I turned humans into mutants, they would be difficult to use. I didn’t come here for some research data. What was important wasn’t the data, but Yu Seojeong, the bionics, and her daughter.
I started running outside with them. I found Irina and Choi Hyejin. It seemed like they had just taken down a mutant.
“There were some variables, but we achieved our goal. Let’s get out of here.”
“Damn it. Can’t we rest for a bit?”
“Rest if you want to die.”
KWA-AAANG!
An explosion rang out. The entire lab shook as if there had been an earthquake.
“What’s going on?”
I asked Na Chaeyoung.
-It’s a fighter jet! A fighter jet flew from the Japanese mainland and fired missiles! Those bastards are planning to destroy the secret lab itself! Along with the residents of Tsushima! Get out of Tsushima quickly!
When we escaped the lab through the secret passage, Tsushima was already a sea of fire. Screams could be heard everywhere.
“Wow. They’re wiping out the entire island? Those crazy bastards.”
“If a fighter jet bombed it, that means the Self-Defense Forces moved, right?”
“…They’re trying to make it look like the Tsushima lab never existed, no matter what.”
Choi Hyejin, Irina, and Yu Seojeong said. I frowned and looked around. In the distance, Self-Defense Force soldiers were dropping from transport helicopters.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out. They were probably turning civilian witnesses into non-witnesses.
‘Enemies everywhere. Simply killing those guys and getting out isn’t the problem. The problem is the pursuers. We need to escape by boat. So, the best thing to do is to sneak out of Tsushima without being tracked.’
I manipulated my combat helmet and opened the channel for the Holy Guard on Tsushima.
“Can everyone hear me? We’ve rescued Yu Seojeong. However, things have gone wrong with the appearance of the Self-Defense Forces. If we want to escape Tsushima without pursuers, your sacrifice is needed. All of you, go wild here and die. When you die, you must self-destruct. We can’t let the enemy get their hands on our equipment.”
The Holy Guard’s answer was concise.
“Understood.”
Gunshots rang out loudly from all over Tsushima. The helicopters in the sky moved towards a certain point. The Self-Defense Force soldiers in the helicopters fired their rifles at the ground.
KWA-AAANG! KWA-AAANG!
Explosions erupted on the ground. The life signs of three Guard members were cut off. They had self-destructed.
‘Thanks to them, a path has opened.’
As I ran through the burning village, I also gave orders to Na Chaeyoung.
“Dr. Na. Explode the other motorboats and the jamming devices.”
-…Okay. You have to escape after all this.
We were able to board the motorboat without any obstacles. Unlike Choi Hyejin and Irina, who were their usual selves, Yu Seojeong’s expression wasn’t good. It didn’t seem to be the aftereffects of being hit by Jin Seonghwa.
“Why the long face? You escaped the lab with your daughter. Aren’t you happy?”
“……You. You ordered your subordinates to self-destruct. Are you okay with that?”
“I ordered it to save you.”
“…….”
“Don’t think useless thoughts. I’ll take responsibility.”
All of the Holy Guard’s hearts are being stored. If I revive the Guards who self-destructed this time, that’s all there is to it. That’s the responsibility and duty I have to fulfill.
Yu Seojeong closed her eyes tightly. It seemed like she was misunderstanding something, but I couldn’t explain it in detail here. I couldn’t completely trust her yet either.
“Choi Hyejin. Start the motor. Let’s go to Busan. We’ll take a helicopter back from there.”
“It’ll be comfortable going back.”
The boat headed towards Busan. Tsushima was still burning.
• • •
We took a helicopter from Busan around sunrise and headed to Seongak Elementary School.
On the way, the information about the Japanese Self-Defense Forces bombing Tsushima was released to the world.
The Japanese government announced that a large mutant had appeared on Tsushima, and they had eliminated the mutant with the bombing. They stated that all the residents of Tsushima had been killed by the mutant.
People believed it without much suspicion. It was common for one mutant to destroy an entire village. Many people praised them for bombing it to prevent the mutant from coming to the city.
“Yu Seojeong. Does he know the space-shifting ability user?”
“…I don’t know much about him.”
“Is he a player from Ilwoo Group?”
“No. He’s part of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. It seems like he has a close relationship with the Japanese government. His name is Sagashiwa Shigeru, and his ability is, as you saw, space-shifting. Teleportation. I met him briefly at the secret lab before. He was a stoic man who was loyal to Japan. He asked me if I had any intention of working for the Self-Defense Forces instead of Ilwoo Group. Of course, I refused. The Self-Defense Forces were just as suspicious as Ilwoo Group.”
-Yujin. I know what you’re worried about. You’re worried that he might appear at Seongak Elementary School and assassinate you, right?
I nodded obediently at Na Chaeyoung’s question.
“That’s right. Space-shifting is a very troublesome ability to deal with.”
-There’s no need to worry that much. Space-shifting can only be done to places they’ve been to. That means they can’t space-shift to places they haven’t been to. And there are distance limitations. It depends on how much they’ve grown… but at this point, the limit would be about 100 meters.
Besides space-shifting ability users, there would be troublesome ability users all over the world.
‘I need to focus on building my foundation for the time being.’
I also had to eat the Yu Seojeong and Kim Jihee mother-daughter combo.
I smacked my lips as I watched Yu Seojeong and her daughter, Kim Jihee, who was stroking her head.
