## Chapter 58 – 058. Code: Xtk
058. Code: XTK
“That pig… he used Toxide.”
Hyunji spat the words out.
Toxide was a drug in this world. It was a type of drug injected directly into the bloodstream. It was one of the best drugs in this world. It was both highly pleasurable and addictive, and it even slightly enhanced the body.
If you were lucky and your body was compatible with Toxide, you could even become younger.
The problem was the side effects of Toxide. Beyond a certain level, Toxide caused biopower in the body.
‘There’s almost a 90% chance of side effects. And the other 10%… they become mutants.’
If successful, you became a mutant. And there was a high probability that your body would become younger. On the other hand, if you failed, you would end up with a monstrous body like the Wood God in front of me. You would become a creature worse than a stray dog.
I glanced at Hyunji’s profile. Hyunji’s sister was said to have died after becoming a monster due to biopower caused by Toxide’s side effects.
“Ugh…”
The Wood God staggered to its feet. Yu Geuntae and I reflexively stepped back. The sight of him was too disgusting. His protruding belly showed his intestines, and pus was dripping down his neck.
“Ugh! That’s fucking disgusting! Hyunji, get out of the way! That thing needs to be burned! Incinerating it is for the good of humanity!”
“I’m going to kill it.”
“There, there, she’s got that disease again!”
Hyunji moved before Yu Geuntae could stop her. Using her high mobility, she instantly approached the monster and swung her sword at its bloated body. However, Hyunji’s ultra-vibrating blade didn’t penetrate more than halfway into the Wood God’s body.
“I… am… the boss…!”
The monster with the unpleasant voice swung its arm. Unlike its slow-looking movements, its actions were incredibly swift.
*Wham!* Hyunji’s body flew backward, crashing through the door, the hallway window, and falling to the ground. Yu Geuntae looked towards the window.
“Hyunji!”
I also looked out the window. Hyunji was lying on the ground, writhing. It seemed she had used her mechanical arms and legs to break her fall.
“…She seems okay, but it looks like it’ll be hard for Hyunji to move right now.”
Yu Geuntae said. I turned my gaze back to the monster.
Could I win if I fought it?
‘No. The opponent is a monster that even an ultra-vibrating blade can’t penetrate. How can I win?’
It looked like I needed heavy equipment like missiles.
“That bastard! He must have injected at least three times the amount of Toxide!”
Yu Geuntae stretched out both hands towards the monster. The holes in his palms opened, and flames burst out. The flames engulfed the monster’s body.
“Haha! My flames are going to be pretty hot!”
At first, it worked. The monster’s movements stopped. But after five seconds, the monster moved as if nothing had happened. It had a high resistance to fire.
“Uh, uh?”
Yu Geuntae, flustered, stopped shooting flames. Then, he looked at me, gave an awkward smile, and said,
“Taker! Let’s get out of here!”
“……”
Yu Geuntae quickly ran away. I realized Yu Geuntae’s intention. Yu Geuntae had deliberately attacked the monster to draw its aggro. It was for Hyunji’s sake.
I ran after Yu Geuntae, looking back.
“That monster. It’s huge, but it’s incredibly fast.”
“What is this, some cheap horror movie situation!”
We were running at full speed, but the distance between us and the monster wasn’t increasing; it was actually getting closer. Of course, I still had my acceleration skill left. If I used acceleration, it would be easy to outrun a monster like that.
The problem was that Yu Geuntae was next to me. I wanted to keep my acceleration hidden if possible. And I couldn’t abandon him. That would be an act of betrayal.
‘Should I try shooting it?’
I changed the magazine of my gun and pulled the trigger towards the monster.
*Bang bang bang bang!*
The bullets that hit the monster’s legs froze with a *clang!* I hadn’t shot regular bullets; they were freezing bullets.
It worked. The monster, with its legs frozen, couldn’t run and stopped.
“Oh, what, freezing bullets?! You had that up your sleeve! How do you like that, you monster! You can’t move because your legs are frozen, right?!”
No sooner had Yu Geuntae finished speaking than the monster lifted its leg. The reason was simple. The monster’s strength was so great that it couldn’t be held back by ice.
“Damn it!”
“Whoa. At that level, it’s almost troll-grade, isn’t it?”
I was impressed. Trolls were D-class monsters with immense physical strength and superior physical abilities.
“Troll? What’s that?”
“It’s a monster. You know, like the ones that appear in novels or games.”
“This old man doesn’t know about that stuff, so I don’t understand! More importantly, Taker, you seem pretty relaxed?”
“I’m just running. This isn’t even hard.”
“You’re not even a cyborg, so why is your physical ability so good! Are you a mutant or something?”
I slightly turned my head to look at Yu Geuntae. Yu Geuntae’s breathing was already ragged.
“You’re a cyborg, and you’re already tired?”
“I! Except for my arms, the rest of my body is that of a normal person! *Haa!* The gas tank I’m carrying on my back weighs over 10kg. You know that? It’s damn heavy!”
“Then why don’t you just throw it away?”
“No way. It’s a special product, so it’s expensive!”
We were running and chatting in this urgent situation. I could outrun that monster and escape anytime, but Yu Geuntae couldn’t. He was a bit of a weirdo.
“Aaaah! What is that monster!”
“Damn it! Shoot it!”
Along the way, members of the Wood God Family saw the monster and screamed in terror. Then, they started firing their guns without hesitation. They were so panicked that they even threw grenades at the monster indiscriminately.
We were lucky. The monster’s aggro turned towards them. We could run relatively easily.
“Friendly fire? The mafia has gone to the dogs.”
I muttered.
“Hey. Hey. Wouldn’t it be weirder if they recognized that thing as their boss?”
“But they’ve been together for a long time, haven’t they? Then they should recognize him, right?”
“If your wife, whom you’ve lived with for 20 years, turned into that, would you recognize her?”
“…Oh. I wouldn’t recognize her.”
We successfully escaped outside the building.
“What about Hyunji?”
I asked. The reason we hadn’t jumped out the window and run away was because of Hyunji.
“She wasn’t unconscious, so she’ll come back on her own.”
“She’s not in her right mind. Isn’t it dangerous if she runs into the Wood God guys?”
“It’s okay. She’s outside the building. Ulla will support her.”
“Ah.”
I had forgotten.
There were four of us, not three. Ulla, the sniper, was covering us from the rear.
“So, is the job over?”
“Yeah. Once biopower occurs, it’s no longer human, just a monster. It’s as good as dead. But Taker, isn’t this the first time you’ve seen biopower? How are you so calm?”
“There are all sorts of rumors floating around on the internet.”
“I guess so. Biopower is a fact that everyone who knows about it knows. Well, let’s go get some chicken and beer and call it a day.”
“Chicken and beer? Sounds good. You’re paying, right?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
*Thump!*
A heavy thud from behind and a slight tremor in the ground.
Yu Geuntae and I looked at each other. A bitter smile was on his lips. My face was probably similar.
“Did you get him all riled up with your freezing bullets?”
“No. It’s definitely because you set him on fire.”
We blamed each other without meaning it and turned around.
As expected, the monster was there. It was looking at us. It was covered in blood. It was holding a person’s head in its right hand. Both of the monster’s legs were crushed. It was the result of jumping from a high place.
“I… I am… the owner… of Wood God…”
It was mumbling something. Don’t misunderstand. That was just meaningless muttering. The monster’s brain couldn’t function normally due to biopower.
“Should we run?”
Yu Geuntae asked me. I thought I knew what he was worried about. If we ran, the monster would obviously follow us, and innocent people would get caught up in it.
“We should. We don’t have enough firepower to kill that thing.”
“Ah~. You think so too, right?”
Yu Geuntae scratched his head.
The monster was walking towards us. Its legs were clearly crushed, but it was walking calmly. It was an absurd creature. Its physical abilities were similar to a troll, and its recovery ability was also similar to a troll.
“Damn it. Let’s….”
Before Yu Geuntae could finish speaking, a bullet flew from behind us and hit the monster’s chest. The bullet penetrated deep into its chest. And then it exploded.
*KABOOM!*
A huge explosion occurred. The monster’s body was shattered, and its flesh fell to the ground with a thud.
“…What was that? An explosive bullet?”
“Ah. That’s Ulla’s special explosive bullet. One of those costs about 200 million. I’m in debt. I need to give Ulla a big cut this time.”
“No. Wait, that kind of power from a single bullet is weird!”
“It’s not weird. If you use Eclers, which is all the rage these days, that’s nothing.”
“……I see.”
I understood at the word Eclers.
Eclers was a special energy, like ‘Mana’ in reality. It was an unknown substance that wasn’t properly revealed even in the completed original work.
‘The Illusiter I’m aiming for also uses Eclers as energy.’
Strictly speaking, the only similarity to mana was that it was an unknown energy. Unlike mana, which humans can use, it was impossible for humans to directly use Eclers.
‘Anyway. That sniper is terrifying. It makes the back of my neck tingle.’
I casually rubbed the back of my neck with one hand. I hadn’t been able to pinpoint Ulla’s location at all until the bullet hit the monster.
“Let’s go get some chicken and beer~!”
Yu Geuntae nudged my shoulder and walked ahead.
“I’m going to eat three chickens, you know. Fried, seasoned, and soy sauce.”
“Three chickens? I saw you eating pizza well before… are you such a big eater?”
“I pursue both quantity and quality. What about Hyunji?”
“She and Ulla won’t come. Ulla doesn’t usually like after-parties, and Hyunji’s pride must be a little hurt.”
“What, just the two of us guys? Tsk.”
“Hey, man. It’s disappointing when you say it like that!”
“Do you know a good place? Like a ten-percent club.”
“Ten-percent club? Who goes to those places these days. Most people go to clubs.”
“Most of the women there are probably artificial humans.”
“Artificial humans? Ah, are you talking about plastic surgery? It can’t be helped. It’s harder to find a woman who hasn’t had plastic surgery these days.”
“There aren’t many normals in clubs either.”
“You’re the weird one for being normal. Don’t they call you an outcast at work?”
I clicked my tongue.
This damn world was a place where you were treated as an outsider if you didn’t have machines attached to your body.
•••
I had been carrying out Raffles’ requests almost every day.
It was to show my abilities and build trust.
I seemed to have done all sorts of illegal things, such as contract killing, theft, stalking, and extracting information.
‘I realized that hacking is almost omnipotent in this world.’
There was nothing that hacking couldn’t do. You could steal someone’s account and erase the traces. However, I didn’t do it because it would cause many victims, and the police would obviously investigate actively.
And if the opponent was a cyborg, they could never beat me. The moment hacking was activated, the battle was over.
‘I hit on any pretty woman I saw. But damn it. Why are they all cyborgs and artificial humans?’
I had slept with a cyborg beauty once.
It was a woman I met at a restaurant. I jokingly said I’d give her 3 million won if she slept with me once… and she took the bait. My face was decent, and 3 million won for just one night was a great deal.
A prostitution deal was made in an instant. We went straight to a motel.
‘I could have refused…! I was smitten by that face! And except for her arms, she had a normal woman’s body! Her boobs were amazing too!’
Her face resembled a famous celebrity, and her breasts were natural F-cups. There were some signs of plastic surgery on her face… but it was acceptable enough.
‘The problem is, damn it, I found out her vagina was artificial.’
Her vagina was artificial. I heard that her uterus was also artificial. It was said that it could protect the baby more safely that way? These days, mechanical vaginas were becoming trendy among women in this world.
‘Her vagina was definitely tight as hell… but what’s the difference between that and an onahole?’
I came once and then left the motel as if I were running away.
‘After that, I turned my eyes to objects instead of women.’
In Code: XTK, there were many futuristic objects. After Raffles’ work was done, my daily life was shopping with the money I earned from Raffles’ requests.
The factory? I quit immediately. And I was living comfortably in a top-class hotel.
‘The robot vacuum cleaner I bought last time was amazing. The artificial intelligence was so good that it made the house sparkle when I left it alone.’
Today, I was walking through the city. If I found a store I liked, I would go in and buy things and put them in reality. That was the joy of the Code: XTK world.
*Buzz.*
My smartwatch vibrated slightly. A message had arrived.
‘It’s Son Jeonghu.’
Son Jeonghu – There’s something important. Everyone gather at the cafe at 9 tonight.
I quietly smiled.
