Chapter 32
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: The Legion's Repayment (3)
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"You want me to take a picture of her. To... to send to the Legion,"
[If you trust us.]
If you trust us. Those words managed to stitch my fraying mind back together.
I gritted my teeth, trembling uncontrollably.
What's done is done.
I had to fix this.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."
I raised an arm that was shaking so hard I couldn't control it.
It trembled so much I had to steady it with my other hand.
My breathing grew more and more ragged.
This was all my fault.
All because of me.
[Take the picture. There isn't much time. Once she stops breathing and brain damage sets in, we cannot guarantee her memories.]
I squeezed my eyes shut.
The price for incompetence was cruel.
With the click of the shutter,
I finally activated the camera.
[Leave the rest to us. Will you collapse here? Will you lose again and simply watch?]
"...No, I can't let that happen. Never."
[Then move. You must have a plan.]
Every single word dug into my heart.
I managed to move my still-trembling legs.
"A Gate!! It's a surprise Gate!"
"Get the patients!"
Almost simultaneously, the sound of sirens and screams erupted from outside the hospital.
It's no wonder people were talking about the end of the world these days.
But to those who knew the truth, a fierce war was currently raging.
I supported my mother, who was exhausted and dizzy from crying in shock, and ran down the hospital corridor.
Glass shattered as chaos began to unfold.
It was actually for the best.
After a commotion like this, one missing patient would naturally be overlooked.
*
"..."
[Do you feel his emotions clearly? Raging fury and hatred. We were in the process of learning them. There is no need to learn powerlessness and guilt. Fuel the hatred. Anger is power.]
A dark cavern.
A flash of light, and someone completely wrapped in bandages appeared.
[Those emotions are our strength. We will become beings more rational than any other, and at the same time, more passionate than any other.]
A few Legion soldiers moved carefully, removing the bandages from Kang Do-yeon's ravaged body.
If left like this, she would soon stop breathing.
At the same time, the Legion's nest stirred.
It extended its tentacles toward her.
[He genuinely wishes for his sister's return. We feel his sorrow. Sorrow is an unhelpful emotion. Therefore, it is now our turn to erase that sorrow.]
The tentacles slowly wrapped around her body.
A wall of flesh, formed from a viscous fluid secreted by the tentacles, gradually enveloped her.
On the surface, it looked no different from the digestion and absorption the Legion had shown before.
But the process occurring within was entirely different.
[We will assimilate our cells into her body. Calmly, slowly. We will replace every one of her cells with our own.]
Perfectly analyzing the human genome using parts of her various body tissues was an added bonus.
Thanks to that, the Legion could replace and reconstruct her physical body with its own.
[This will be recorded in history. The first command entity in the Legion to operate with an independent self will be born.]
This was an incredible, special treatment.
For the Legion, which had only ever repeated the acts of predation, slaughter, decomposition, and analysis, the emergence of another self within its ranks that could threaten its own position was something that had never even been considered.
What made this possible was the strong desire transmitted through the direct string connection.
[Do not fear. We guarantee it, Kang Do-yeon can become another of our weapons.]
Kang Do-yeon was soon completely submerged within the wall of flesh.
In the center of the nest, the large fleshy wall containing her was shaped like a human womb.
She was completely immersed in the viscous fluid that filled it.
That fluid was made of a countless collection of the Legion's cells.
The original cells that made up her body were being broken down at the cellular level, while simultaneously being restored to their exact original form using new cells.
[The timing is perfect.]
The entire Legion ceased its activity.
It waited with bated breath for the special nest containing Kang Do-yeon.
[The enemies on the 35th floor are special and strong. Breaking through with our existing methods is projected to result in a massive loss of energy. Therefore, it is only logical to reinforce our strength before proceeding.]
The Legion had not been able to determine what the enemies on the 35th floor were.
It had tried to analyze a corpse it had smuggled out, but the moment the light from the patterns on their bodies faded, they became dried-up mummies and crumbled to dust.
Since they weren't normally living opponents in the first place, analysis was impossible.
[But we will win next time.]
Still, it had seen everything the enemy had to offer.
The Legion had already calculated that it was confident it would not lose.
[Simultaneously, our brain will develop even further.]
In this downtime, the Legion strengthened other parts of itself.
It had just acquired a piece of brain tissue from a 17-year-old human girl, Kang Do-yeon.
By adding the functions of a human brain, which it had now perfectly analyzed, the Legion's brain also grew rapidly.
A highly advanced brain, incomparable to that of an orc.
Although it had not yet fully understood it, the Legion mimicked its structure and increased its volume by several thousand times.
[Now we will truly understand for sure. We have not learned yet, but if we do, we should be able to create vocal organs and speak.]
The massive brain was now large enough to fill an entire cavern by itself.
Although it was still close to a blank slate, the development of this central brain drastically increased the Legion's overall computational power and communication speed, causing the Hive Mind itself to grow.
They had evolved once again.
[Did you see?]
"...Yes."
[This is the Legion's sincerity.]
"I believed."
He, who had watched this entire spectacle, nodded with a dark voice.
His eyes remained fixed on the nest that held his sister.
"I heard you called. Uh..."
"It's Kang Shin-woo."
"Right. Mr. Kang Shin-woo."
Late at night.
I took a taxi to meet Cha Ji-yeon.
Collaborating with Cha Ji-yeon was now a necessity for me.
Otherwise, I could be hunted at any moment.
She, who believed me to be one of Oh Yoon-ah's subordinates, wore a displeased expression.
It was only natural.
Oh Yoon-ah wasn't very active in the alliance, and she had just been in an accident today and was now unconscious.
In her eyes, I was of little use...
"I heard the news. About your sister... even her body... taken by those bastards."
But contrary to my expectations, she sighed and took my hand.
Honestly, my eyes widened in surprise, and I was at a loss for words.
That someone as strong and important as her would care about something like that.
"Before I was a Unit, I was a Hunter, and a person."
Her bitter smile struck a chord with me.
Come to think of it, I hadn't considered it.
Unlike a Legion soldier, who is part of the Legion, she was a distinct individual. I wondered if she truly agreed with her Player on everything.
"I'm grateful for your condolences. But I'm here for something else."
"Something else?"
"I'll prove myself. So... for the upcoming Gate raid, please take me with you."
Gritting my teeth, I told her what I had decided.
Cha Ji-yeon's eyes widened.
But I was serious.
I didn't feel sorry to the Legion for putting myself in danger.
Because I knew they would want this too.
I could tell now.
"You'll prove yourself?"
"Give me a request. I will handle it."
"That... I understand for now. Our Player seems to find this interesting as well. An increase in our forces is always welcome."
Cha Ji-yeon nodded, taken aback.
It wasn't like I had nothing to rely on.
[Surpass the 35th floor and uncover the truth of the labyrinth. If you do, you will reach Chapter 3, and you will be able to use additional functions to ensure your safety.]
Just one more step to go.
"You're only twenty-three, going through so much at such a young age."
"Uh, I heard you're only twenty-four, Hunter-nim."
"Well, that's true, but..."
I was a bit surprised at first.
To think that she, who seemed so mature, was only a year older than me.
She chuckled and fiddled with her phone.
"Don't worry too much. The unidentified Units that harmed your sister and attacked Oh Yoon-ah—our Player already knows their identity and is certain of victory. We will, we will absolutely get revenge."
"Who on earth are they?"
"They don't share much information with me either. But you'll surely find out."
She nodded as if to reassure me.
I decided to trust her for now.
Revenge didn't matter to me anyway.
I didn't know how long it would take, but I—the Legion—would handle it ourselves.
"Thank you."
I was just grateful that she showed me such kindness when she could have simply ignored me.
[It would be best to stick close to them. The enemy has the ability to track Players.]
"Right. But did they really target Oh Yoon-ah because they thought she was a Player?"
After parting with Cha Ji-yeon, I rubbed my head.
Now that I was piecing my shattered mind back together, something bothered me.
Targeting a Player meant they belonged to the same world, but the Units of Oh Yoon-ah that I knew of were a far cry from the high-tech suits captured on CCTV.
"Or they could be a group like us that kills on behalf of others. I don't know."
I clicked my tongue and got into another taxi.