Chapter 57 – 057. Code: Xtk
057. Code: XTK
Raffles had disbanded.
After tidying up the conference room, Son Jeong-hu looked at Ulla, who was still there. With her hood pulled up, she was leaning against the wall, quietly watching Son Jeong-hu.
“Alright, Ulla. There are no bugs or cameras here. I did a separate investigation on Taker, and he was just a regular factory worker. He’s been hiding his superpowers all this time, so he has a certain level of patience. There are some suspicious points, but I don’t think he’s someone you need to be so wary of.”
“…That power is dangerous.”
Ulla said. It was a pleasant voice. Of course, it wasn’t her own voice. Ulla was a cyborg, with everything except her brain being mechanical. Her voice was just a downloaded vocal cord from somewhere.
“I know. It’s especially dangerous for us, who are all mechanical. But his hacking ability has limitations, right?”
The moment you get hacked, it’s game over.
However, Taker’s hacking ability wasn’t perfect. It had its own limitations. The hacking range was within 50 meters, and once used, it took 3 hours to use the ability again. Also, the more complex or advanced the hacked machine was, the shorter the hacking duration.
“…Do you believe that?”
“Of course, I don’t believe it. Taker has been hiding his superpowers all this time. He knows how to hide his abilities. It’s probably true that his power has limitations. He just mixed in a little lie.”
“…It would be cleaner and better to just kill him now.”
Ulla’s voice was emotionless. It wasn’t because her body was mechanical. She was emotionless even 10 years ago when she was a normal human. Ulla had never expressed her emotions to anyone.
“No. Taker’s ability is valuable. If used properly… there’s no power in this world as dangerous and terrifying as that ability.”
“…He has a rebellious streak. You won’t be able to use him for long.”
“He’s a bit like that. I think I could use him properly… but we’ll need insurance, right? I want you to monitor Taker. If he betrays us or if you think he’s becoming a poison to our goals… you can kill him.”
“…Understood. Leader.”
Ulla nodded slowly and left the cafe. Son Jeong-hu, who had been quietly watching her back, gave a cryptic smile.
***
The boss of the Wood God Family. The assassination of Moksinsoo.
The plan was simple.
Yoo Geun-tae, Hyun-ji, and I would directly infiltrate the Wood God Family building and kill Moksinsoo. Ulla would provide rear support. She was a sniper, so infiltration was fine, but direct assault wasn’t her forte.
“If necessary, we could lure Moksinsoo out of the building or towards a window. Ulla’s sniping skills are so amazing that she can shoot with even the slightest angle.”
Yoo Geun-tae said. He was so relaxed that he could smile even before an assassination mission. He had the aura of an experienced professional.
“Do we really have to infiltrate? That building is practically a fortress.”
Hyun-ji frowned as she looked at the Wood God Family building. The building wasn’t tall. Instead, it was wide. The building was about the size of a high school.
And it had been illegally modified quite openly. With turrets, heavy machine guns, and traps hidden throughout the building, it was no different from a fortress.
“Hyun-ji, the client is in a hurry. We have to kill him today.”
“Isn’t the information leaked? I heard that guy hasn’t left the building for three days?”
“No. The information hasn’t leaked. Moksinsoo is smart, so he’s just assessing the situation calmly.”
Yoo Geun-tae was looking at the building through binoculars.
“…Assessing the situation?”
“Moksinsoo recently tried to expand his territory too aggressively and failed. And he’s been marked by other mafia bosses in Seoul. And he has a meeting with the Incheon gangster boss tomorrow at noon… if I say this much, you’ll understand, right, Hyun-ji?”
“Was the client another mafia boss?”
“Considering the hefty fee, probably? Looking at Moksinsoo’s situation, it’s almost certain.”
“Well, that doesn’t matter. More importantly, old man, can you decide quickly? Let’s finish this kind of thing quickly.”
“I’m still deciding. Why are you rushing me so much today? Do you have a date with your boyfriend or something?”
“I have to watch a drama. I’m already annoyed that I couldn’t watch it live…”
“Oh, well, that’s just like you.”
Yoo Geun-tae shook his head and looked at me, who was fiddling with my smartphone.
“Rookie! How long can you control that building with your hacking ability?”
“When I checked this afternoon, it was 24 seconds.”
I put my smartphone in my pocket and took out a pistol from my jacket pocket. It was a Black Kite F that I bought yesterday.
“That includes the building’s defense system?”
“Yeah. I can control the automatic turrets and surveillance cameras. I can break them too. I can even make them explode.”
“…Whew. That’s amazing. And you found out where Moksinsoo is?”
“The room at the end of the east corridor on the 4th floor. That’s the boss’s room. When I hacked in the afternoon, I saw him banging a woman there through the surveillance camera.”
“Hmm. Okay.”
Yoo Geun-tae was lost in thought for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“Rookie. With your ability, you can make the defense system go haywire or explode, right?”
“I can make it go haywire and self-destruct. But that alone won’t kill Moksinsoo. Even if it self-destructs, it’s hard to expect much explosive power, and Moksinsoo’s subordinates are guarding him.”
Moksinsoo’s subordinates were, of course, cyborgs. But even I couldn’t hack the building’s defense system and the cyborgs all at once.
“…If the defense system goes haywire, they’ll be flustered. And we’ll use that opportunity to rush straight to Moksinsoo and assassinate him. The front and back doors are heavily fortified with defense systems, and the east side is too heavily guarded. Let’s go through the west entrance.”
A concrete plan came out of Yoo Geun-tae’s mouth. Hyun-ji was delighted by it.
“Good. We’ll go in and kill him. That’s what we always do, so why were you dragging it out?”
“Oh, Hyun-ji. Even when we go wild, we always do it after we’re fully prepared. We’ve never gone wild recklessly.”
“Ah. Yes, yes. More importantly, let’s start quickly.”
Yoo Geun-tae shook his head and looked at me, asking.
“Rookie. You just need to make the defense system go haywire with your hacking. You don’t need to go in with us.”
“No. I’m going in too.”
“Huh? Your role is already enough. You’ve done more than your share just by making the defense system go haywire. And it’s going to be chaotic inside, and we won’t have the time to protect you.”
“You don’t need to protect me. I’m going to test out the weapon I bought this time.”
I held up my weapons in both hands as if showing off. A pistol in my left hand, and a super-vibrating knife that I bought today in my right hand.
“Your physical abilities are normal, right? You’re going to fight with just that?”
Yoo Geun-tae said, as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Well, whatever. If he wants to do it. He’ll do well on his own. If he’s going to die, he’ll just die.”
Hyun-ji blurted out. It wasn’t because she disliked me. She was just like that by nature.
“I’ll take care of my own body, so don’t worry.”
I said.
What I believed in was my shooting skills and the Yeongcheon Style. The Yeongcheon Style was a martial art that could fully demonstrate its abilities even with a dagger.
***
[Hacking successful.]
[You can hack the Wood God Family’s defense system for 24 seconds.]
The building’s defense system goes haywire.
Hidden turrets and traps activate indiscriminately. Sleep gas is released from some walls, and explosions occur.
“Shit! Why are the turrets suddenly shooting at us?”
“It’s gone crazy! What’s the system manager doing?!”
The Wood God Family was thrown into chaos in an instant. The guards who were on alert were scattered. The Wood God Family’s peace was shattered in an instant by the suddenly haywire defense system.
“Nice. This is better than expected?”
Yoo Geun-tae chuckled. He burned three guards who were guarding the west entrance alive. The oxygen tank on his back was actually a gas tank, and his hands were igniters.
‘Yoo Tae-geun wasn’t properly shown in the original work, so I didn’t know… he was a firebat.’
The flames were so intense that they could melt steel in 10 seconds.
“Moksinsoo is definitely in the room at the end of the east corridor on the 4th floor, right? I’m going straight there.”
Hyun-ji ran down the corridor as soon as she entered the building. Both of her hands had turned into super-vibrating blades. Her legs were also mechanical, and she was jumping around like a grasshopper, slicing up enemies.
“Kyahhh!”
“You grasshopper-like bitch! Die!”
“Intruders! Intruders! Send backup quickly! They’re not ordinary guys!”
I was slightly agape at Hyun-ji’s movements.
She was stronger than I thought.
She moved freely through the corridor. The grasshopper analogy wasn’t a lie. She could run on the walls, and even hang upside down from the ceiling. She never stopped moving. She dodged all the incoming bullets and sometimes even deflected them with her blades.
At that level, even the True Ancestors from ‘Vampire Detective’ would have a hard time. And so would I.
‘Shit. She looked so weak when I saw her in the webtoon… was she this strong? I don’t think I could handle her head-on.’
Hyun-ji didn’t stop. As soon as she saw an enemy, she would approach them without question and slice them up.
“Whew. Hyun-ji’s really warming up today? Is that drama, or whatever, really that interesting?”
“Was she always such a grasshopper?”
“Hyun-ji is a bit fierce.”
Yoo Geun-tae and I followed behind Hyun-ji. Hyun-ji’s speed was hard to keep up with in her normal state without using acceleration.
“Die!”
An enemy jumped out of a window and swung a sword at me.
My body reacted almost subconsciously.
Yeongcheon Style Practical Technique: Concealed Moon (蔽月).
My upper body twisted to the side to dodge the sword, and I slashed his neck with the dagger held in reverse grip.
“Ooh? What was that! That was awesome! There was a reason you were so confident!”
Yoo Geun-tae made a fuss next to me. I understood.
I moved as naturally as flowing water and killed the enemy. It was a move that could only be seen in martial arts movies. Honestly, even I thought it was cool.
‘This… it’s easier to counterattack with a dagger? I even unconsciously succeeded with Concealed Moon, which is hard to pull off in a real fight.’
I thought it would be somewhat disadvantageous because the blade was short, but it felt like the movements of the Yeongcheon Style were more free.
“What are you dawdling for?! Are you not coming?!”
Hyun-ji, who had run ahead, shouted at us. Even in the midst of that, she was swinging her arms, separating the upper and lower bodies of her enemies.
“Oh my. What a temper. Let’s go.”
Yoo Geun-tae clicked his tongue. We followed behind Hyun-ji.
The enemies were swept away like fallen leaves, unable to match Hyun-ji alone. I looked at the scene and asked Yoo Geun-tae.
“She’s doing everything by herself. Is there a reason why we’re doing this mission together?”
“It’s Raffles’ rule to always do even the easiest missions with at least two people. And Hyun-ji is one of the best in close combat in our Raffles. The problem is that the other parts are a bit worrying. If we leave her alone, she’ll go wild on her own and get caught in a trap and die, right?”
“Hmm.”
I kept my mouth shut.
Yoo Geun-tae’s judgment was accurate. In the original webtoon, Hyun-ji goes wild alone and dies after getting caught in a trap.
“Duck.”
At Yoo Geun-tae’s words, I immediately ducked. Yoo Geun-tae’s flames shot out over my head.
“Aaaargh!”
An enemy who was approaching from behind caught fire, rolled around, and then stopped. The flames burned the enemy black and then disappeared.
‘This firebat is no joke either.’
It wasn’t just about the equipment. I could tell from Yoo Geun-tae’s movements. He was used to combat.
We followed behind Hyun-ji, dealing with the enemies she missed or who attacked us. Yoo Geun-tae’s plasma-mixed flames were hard to block without special equipment, and my shooting skills and dagger skills also shone in the chaos.
And we were able to join Hyun-ji at the end of the 4th-floor corridor.
“Hyun-ji. What are you doing? Did you kill Moksinsoo?”
“……”
Yoo Geun-tae and I approached Hyun-ji.
Hyun-ji had her mouth tightly shut and was glaring fiercely at the boss room where Moksinsoo was. The door was open. I peeked my head slightly and looked inside the room.
It was a room filled with gore. Red blood, flesh, internal organs, and mechanical parts were scattered everywhere on the floor, walls, and ceiling.
It was a sight that would make anyone with a weak stomach throw up all the food in their stomach.
And in the center of the room, a man was curled up.
A fat man who looked like he weighed at least 200kg was holding his head with both arms and trembling like a ball. The blood vessels on his body were bulging, and more than half of the machines attached to his body were broken.
“…Oh, could it be Bioforce?”
Bioforce.
It was a term for the side effect of forced physical evolution.
“That pig… he used Toxide.”
Hyun-ji said, spitting out the words.
