The Age of Confusion
Conference room. Yoo Sung-jun stood with his arms folded, glaring at Jack Kalt and at Yoon Choi fidgeting beside him.
The two had just come out of interrogation, and Yoo Sung-jun and Choi Hyun-seok were there to meet them.
Thanks to Commissioner Lim Tae-oh volunteering to handle the airport incident, they had stepped away for a moment to come see the two in person.
"Did the interrogation go well?"
Yoo Sung-jun asked without wearing the Omega Suit.
His real name had already been revealed, and he had them on a leash now. There was no need to keep his identity hidden so tightly anymore.
"Yes, of course. The commander of the special unit was far more obedient than I expected. So the interrogation was finished safely with the equipment Yoon Choi made."
When Jack looked her way, Yoon Choi cried out, sounding nervous.
"Y-Yes! Then I'll start the report."
She used to be so lively, but after everything that had happened, she had shrunk into herself and always seemed on edge.
Still, as long as she handled her assignments properly, it wasn’t worth worrying about.
Yoo Sung-jun narrowed his eyes at the screen she had projected on the wall.
What is this?
It was simpler than he’d expected.
He had thought it would start with a long explanation and end with one too.
"I summarized only the essentials. That saves time for both sides, doesn't it?"
"Didn't you cut it a little too much?"
"Do you really need things like what group this bastard belonged to, or why he did what he did? I mean, what you need is—Meteor-nim. No, Yoo Sung-jun-nim—is to wipe them all out, right?"
She smiled faintly as she spoke, and he nodded.
So she had stripped out even the details that seemed useful at a glance.
Yoo Sung-jun loosened his folded arms and looked over the text on the screen.
Name: Alledrohan
Affiliation: Soldat 5th Assault Unit
Location: Tsaritsyno, Moscow, Russia
Scale: About 10 team leaders and 500 users beneath them. Two similarly sized assault units are stationed there as well.
Nearly 1,500 people, then.
More than he’d expected. More than anything, he was surprised that they were Soldat.
I made a rough guess from the tattoo on that Faker-born bastard, but... so that was true?
"And what if that information is false?"
While he was thinking, Choi Hyun-seok asked sharply.
Jack answered at once, still smiling.
"Please don't worry about that. A Blood Rain Clan member kept watch at all times while the interrogation was underway. It was recorded on CCTV as well. And why on earth would I lie to the two of you?"
He was right.
Jack Kalt still wanted to remain allied with them.
A gathering of this level of talent wasn’t something you found every day, and he had no desire to break the relationship they had built so far without cause.
Though once he completes Armageddon, I don't know how this will all end.
Yoo Sung-jun lifted an eyebrow and pointed at the location field.
"It says Tsaritsyno. What kind of place is that?"
"A huge park. There's a palace and an opera house attached to it."
In other words, a wide-open area with buildings capable of housing a large number of people.
"Then it’ll be hard to approach discreetly using the terrain."
"We’ll need to create a cover identity. Unless you want unnecessary bloodshed, you’ll have to negotiate. Either way, we need to contact them, don't we?"
The international seed vault Evolve had claimed as his base.
To get to that seed vault on the Svalbard archipelago, they would have to speak with the Soldat forces stationed nearby.
If they carelessly moved in without warning and something went wrong, it could escalate into conflict, and that would be a problem.
I’d like to wipe them out if I could.
But the reason he couldn’t was simple.
The users belonging to clans or parties.
Scattered across the world, they hunted infectors for missions, for points.
They were the ones keeping the multiplying monsters in check.
Yoo Sung-jun was alone.
It was because he had been alone that he hadn’t been able to prevent all the damage during this riot.
And this time the battlefield was the entire world? That only made the need for numbers greater.
Leave infectors alone for too long and they would keep feeding, keep evolving, until someday they became a serious threat.
Soldat are the kind that reached the ranks of a giant clan through sheer numbers rather than quality.
He couldn’t ignore that many bodies.
In a way, they served as a bulwark against the southward spread of infectors.
Even so. Even so.
"I can't just leave alone the bastards who touched my home."
Yoo Sung-jun’s face twisted with open disgust, and Jack as well as everyone else in the room agreed.
"I agree with that completely, Yoo Sung-jun-nim. So how about doing it this way?"
Yoo Sung-jun listened silently as Jack Kalt spoke.
The one who proposed absorbing users from outside clans. The ones who agreed with it, and the ones who carried it out.
"We plant a spy, and the moment we finish gathering intel, we cut out the entire part targeting the other clans."
"And do you have someone to plant as a spy?"
"There is one suitable person for that."
Choi Hyun-seok answered in Yoo Sung-jun’s place.
He could see the corner of his mouth lifting.
"You know, the Russian bear you know."
"Ah."
He understood at once.
That guy would probably accept the proposal without even thinking about it.
"Alexei Cruiser. I’ll handle convincing him. Then you two refine the plan and get ready for that part."
"Got it."
Once the plan became clear, the process of preparing it unfolded easily in his head.
The operation to wipe out only the people who had dared touch their bunker had begun.
Of course, that wasn’t the only thing they had to prepare. Yoo Sung-jun looked at Jack Kalt and continued.
"Also, set up the meeting. I need to inform the Soldat senior officers about Evolve and secure permission to enter there."
"Is that one of the five items?"
"Why would it be? Jack, this isn't an item request. It's a demand. Don't you want to finish Armageddon?"
"Haha, I guess I really can’t joke with you. Then shall we end the meeting here?"
"Yeah, let's finish here. Send me the interrogation report on my number, and keep moving from your positions. We’ll gather again when the time comes. Then."
Yoo Sung-jun stood first and left the conference room.
He was planning to meet Jeyca and her parents, whom he hadn’t gotten around to seeing yet.
Kkyung!
Ah, right. There was this one too.
Yoo Sung-jun looked at Ryong-i, who had woken up after dozing through the entire meeting.
As soon as Yoo Sung-jun moved, the dragon clung to him and looked up.
That look, begging to be taken along. It might work on his brother, but it didn’t work on him.
"You stay in the room and wait. I stocked up on a lot of infector meat, so eat that if you get hungry."
Kyuuu...
The little guy looked disappointed, somehow.
But he couldn’t exactly take an infector to Gimpo Airport, so there was no helping it.
With a soft sigh, Yoo Sung-jun gently patted the creature’s head.
"I'll be back soon. Bringing your favorite mom and dad with me."
At the words mom and dad, Ryong-i lifted his head.
Then, with a brightened expression, he answered at once.
Kkyu-hing!
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A few days later.
Reconstruction work at Gimpo Airport was progressing quickly.
That was because users who had completed physical enhancement could do with ease what ordinary humans would have struggled to accomplish.
And so, on the ground the riot had torn through, hope was blooming again.
The same was true of Jeyca’s home.
"Come on in. Take off your shoes."
"Don’t Americans leave their shoes on?"
"Are you in America? This is Korea. Now hurry up."
Jeyca was giggling, her face full of rosy energy.
It looked like she had recovered safely in the Enter Room.
At her urging, Yoo Sung-jun hurried inside reluctantly, then blinked in surprise at the bustling noise.
"Oh, hyung just got here?"
"Come on, have another drink, Sung-hwan. This is the spicy side of Russia."
Yoo Sung-jun looked at his younger brother and at Jeyca’s parents, who stared at the two of them around a large table. Then he turned to Cruiser and his party members.
"Forget the fact that my brother's here. Why are you people even here—no, what are you pouring into my brother's glass right now!"
In a burst of irritation, he knocked the glass away.
Along with it, the vodka Cruiser had been pouring sailed into the air.
He regretted it immediately, but one of Cruiser’s party members snatched it all up with telekinesis.
"Hyung? You worked hard coming all the way here, and Sung-hwan can’t even have a drink?"
"What drink? He’s still a minor. If you’re handing it out, here, give it to me."
"Hah! Right, this is Korea, isn't it, hyung? In Russia, we can start drinking as soon as we learn to walk, you know."
"Enough with turning your homeland into a country of booze-crazed maniacs. Did Jeyca invite you all?"
"Of course. She said she wanted to thank us for protecting her parents."
Seeing him laugh like that, had he already gotten over the grief of losing a party member he had cared for like a younger sibling?
As if.
Yoo Sung-jun saw the sorrow in Cruiser’s face, hidden behind the smile.
The emotion filling his eyes was exactly the same one Yoo Sung-jun had felt when he lost his own parents long ago.
I need to talk to him separately.
For now, he didn’t want to spoil the mood.
So Yoo Sung-jun took a seat too, and the luxurious course meal prepared by the chef he had sent ahead began.
It was a happy gathering.
A small party held after the riot had finally settled, but smiles lingered on everyone’s faces.
It was over, so let’s not think about what came before. Life was hard enough already without carrying sorrow around when there were happier things to remember.
Everyone felt that way.
So Yoo Sung-jun alone willingly shouldered the burden called sorrow.
He was the head of a family made up only of his younger brother and himself.
And because of that, the comrades who would stand beside him, and the precious people they loved, should never have to go through this again.
I’m the one who has to remember, deal with it, and make sure this never happens again.
Jeyca’s parents were good people.
They had been surprised that the man who saved them was Jeyca’s party leader, but they had welcomed him warmly all the same.
Because of that, Yoo Sung-jun’s heart, which had been forced to harden for so long, softened just a little.
It felt like something close to a parent’s warmth, something he hadn’t felt in a long time, had settled deep in his chest.
Nice.
He smiled quietly and savored the passing time.
Hours of ease, happiness, peace.
When would he ever get to live through days like this every day?
If I keep moving forward like this, maybe that day will come.
It was a party that gave him real motivation.
Yoo Sung-jun watched his younger brother clinking drinks with them using soda, and then he rose to his feet.
"Where are you going?"
At Jeyca’s question, seated beside him, he pointed outside.
"Just going to get some air."
"Should I come with you?"
"It’s fine. Stay here. I just want to sort out my thoughts alone."
"Oh... then go ahead. But if you still can’t sort them out, tell me. I’ll help if there’s anything I can do."
Yoo Sung-jun smiled back at her, amused by the gentle way she said it.
"Even saying that helps."
"Tch, that's not just saying it, you know."
"Yeah, yeah."
He waved it off and stepped outside.
The interior of the airport building still hummed with energy.
Yoo Sung-jun walked over to the glass wall and stretched his body.
Footsteps followed alongside him.
"Got something on your mind?"
It was Cruiser. He dug through his coat for a cigarette, then stopped with an awkward look and put it away again.
"I quit smoking, and here I was acting like a lunatic."
"You started today?"
"Been a few days. Volkov used to say it all the time. He'd tell me to quit, saying the stink gave him headaches he never even had in the first place."
Chuckling bitterly, Cruiser let out a sigh.
Volkov. Probably the comrade of Cruiser’s who had died in the shopping district.
Was he trying to honor what the man had said while he was alive?
Yoo Sung-jun wordlessly patted Cruiser on the shoulder.
For now, he’d have to wait until Cruiser had fully gathered himself together.
It wouldn’t be too late to bring up the spy proposal after that.
"Feeling better with some support from hyung. So what are you going to do now? The big stuff is all over, right? You’re still going to keep taking missions?"
"Of course. While I’m resting, other users and infectors will keep getting stronger."
"Then can I tag along with the party for a while? My guys said they’re going to focus on solo training for a bit."
As he spoke with a grin, having pushed away his sorrow for the moment, Yoo Sung-jun considered it.
But not for long.
If someone in a guard position joined them, he’d be welcome on this side.
"Can you keep up with hard missions? I only go after the difficult ones."
"Don't you worry, hyung. I’m not about to drag you down."
"In that case, then..."
He extended his hand toward the man who had spoken so boldly.
"I’ll be relying on you for a while."
"Hahaha! The same goes for me."
The giant hand completely swallowed Yoo Sung-jun’s own.