The Age of Adaptation
"Hey, hyung. About Choi Hyun-seok—why is he so obsessed with bringing politicians into this?"
"Hm?"
On the way home, his younger brother asked the question that had clearly been gnawing at him for a while.
Yoo Sung-jun snapped his fingers as he prepared to answer.
"Ah! I get it. A puppet, right? He’s putting people who know how to handle others in front of him so he can run the clan from behind the scenes?"
Not bad. He’d found the answer on his own.
That was part of it, anyway.
"It’s about choosing where to focus. This is the easiest time to grow, after all. There’s no Dark Cover, so we can move back and forth as much as we want."
"So instead of learning politics, you’d rather complete one more mission?"
"Exactly. And it has the bonus of killing two birds with one stone."
"How so?"
"In a world where every system has collapsed, force is still what matters most. People are going to want good, protective strength first—something that can keep them safe."
"And Blood Rain will provide that."
"After that, the people Choi Hyun-seok brought in—the conglomerate heads, the lawmakers—will handle the disputes between people and lead them."
Anything that could be organized and resolved proactively still existed within the framework of a system built in the twenty-first century.
Without someone to establish that framework, any group would quickly fall into chaos.
Choi Hyun-seok didn’t want to control it with force, from the position of a dictator.
Probably because he knows exactly how dictators end up.
Dictators always feared assassination and rebellion, and in time they came to distrust everything to the root.
They trembled with that anxiety, but they could never show it.
If they revealed that weakness to the masses, they’d only be feeding the spark of revolt.
So they had to indoctrinate people instead, teaching them that they were gods ruling over the masses.
Choi Hyun-seok doesn’t want that life.
He’d rather set up a figurehead, then quietly enjoy the benefits himself.
All while using clan members to help strengthen the standing of those figureheads.
"You figured all that out from just a few lines of conversation? And you weren’t even directly involved?"
"There were the notes we exchanged. The ones I showed you."
"Ah."
So he’d remembered the note conversation with Igrato.
Still, Yoo Sung-hwan admired his brother all the more for it.
"There wasn’t much information there, either, but when you talk, hyung, everything has a clear basis. It all makes sense."
"Back in my Meteor days, analysis was basically second nature. And now that I’ve got that talent too, my head just runs in that direction."
"I guess so..."
Yoo Sung-jun glanced at his younger brother, who was stroking his chin.
"You don’t feel uneasy about showing yourself so openly to people who deal with power?"
"Huh? A little, yeah. They already blocked contact with information control, didn’t they? If we do this, won’t there be other big shots trying to latch onto us instead of Choi Hyun-seok? They could even try to physically hurt us."
"That won’t happen."
"How do you know?"
"Because I already finished talking to him."
Yoo Sung-jun gave his smartphone a little shake.
"You told Choi Hyun-seok?"
"Yeah. He’s the type who’s more loyal to his own desires than anyone else. Maybe not trustworthy, but if something threatens his dream, he won’t care whether he burns the world down or not. Men like that."
"So? What did you say?"
"Keep our location known only to your clan. If anyone tries to contact us, the responsibility will be placed on you."
"Oh... he’s going to block that with his life, isn’t he? You’re the one with the information they need most desperately."
"Exactly. So we can just relax and get stronger. Strong enough to deal with it even if Blood Rain ever stabs us in the back."
It really was an odd relationship.
They were working together because their goals aligned, but no one knew what would happen once those goals were achieved.
That was all the more reason to grow stronger.
Another Earth was a world where bullets came before laws.
"By the way, doesn’t this bother you?"
"What does?"
"The security detail. I thought you’d turn it down, but you’ve been weirdly quiet."
"Come on, when else am I going to enjoy this kind of luxury? I’m loving it on the inside."
He chuckled and folded his arms.
"I should at least get the full chairman treatment for once. Gotta milk this before the Dark Cover hits."
"Just don’t go anywhere there’s been a terror attack."
"Do I look crazy? Why the hell would I go there?"
He said it like a joke, but the possibility wasn’t that far-fetched.
After all, the gear they were dealing with could be sold in the Enter Room for points, too.
"Anyway, keep your routine steady. If you want to eat something or buy something, use the card I gave you."
"You know I will. Can I go to a hanwoo barbecue and sushi omakase place?"
"Take me with you if you’re going to a place like that, idiot."
"Haha, got it. Then I’d better make a reservation tomorrow."
He wasn’t sure if tomorrow would even be possible.
He’d rested enough, so he was planning to head right back into missions.
***
After arriving at Jeyca’s Enter Room, Yoo Sung-jun went straight to weapon modification.
He felt a strange stare on him and turned his head.
Jeyca, grinning brightly, was wearing a very different outfit from before.
"You went with the helper setup?"
"It was 200,000 points. Honestly, I was thinking about getting the Omega Suit, but I figured this would be better."
What she was wearing was a Supporting Suit.
More commonly, a pocket suit.
The suit had a strange black sheen and was loaded with pockets.
Every single one of them was a spatial compression pocket.
Wasn’t there a saying that highly advanced science was indistinguishable from magic?
This, too, was the product of super-science.
When it can handle four dimensions, that says it all.
The storage space inside those pockets, twisted from the third dimension and expanded, was beyond imagination.
It was the same principle as the crossbody bag Yoo Sung-jun was currently wearing.
"I also put Sung-hwan’s emergency surgery kit in here."
Jeyca pointed at a pocket near her chest and laughed teasingly.
Yoo Sung-jun looked away with a stiff expression and placed the Agantic Sword onto the modification bench.
The list of directional settings came up in his mind.
Lightweight
: Weight reduced by 20%.
Blade Ejection
: Gunpowder embedded in the blade. The folded blade fires out from the tip.
Blade Extension
: High-elasticity cable added. Extension length increased by 2m.
For Yoo Sung-jun, a greatsword was a weapon meant to hit harder, more perfectly, and kill an enemy in a single blow.
So the choice was simple.
Power in a sword scales with weight and speed, but the lighter it is, the faster I can swing it.
He didn’t need ejection or extension.
Those would all be handled by the monstrous firearm called the BK-108.
This is the thing my brother used to one-shot a general-class target from long range.
That was a result only someone with a genius gift for shooting could produce.
Once again feeling his brother’s talent in full, he chose lightweight and began the modification.
The BK-108’s direction had already been decided.
Reinforce the suppressor. That’ll definitely cut down on the noise spreading around it.
There was no point making a racket and drawing every nearby infector in the area.
While the modification ran, Yoo Sung-jun walked over to Jeyca.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Didn’t you say you didn’t want to talk about personal matters?"
"This isn’t a mission."
He lifted a shoulder, and Jeyca flinched.
She brushed back her blond hair and answered stiffly.
"I-I didn’t forget."
"That’s fine. I just wanted to ask one thing."
"What is it?"
"Why did you work so hard?"
She had taken on an E+ mission alone, one that could easily have gone horribly wrong, without the kind of careful preparation Yoo Sung-jun always made sure to have.
She had joined the party because he’d promised her a chance to earn a lot of points.
That was why he was curious.
He had his own reason—protecting his brother—but Jeyca’s purpose in gathering points remained unclear.
"Hmm... if I said it was to live well and eat well even after the Dark Cover hits."
"I wouldn’t believe you."
"Right? I figured it was time to be honest. It’s awkward if teammates keep things hidden, isn’t it? Trust and all that."
"You’re going to tell me?"
"Well, it’s not a huge deal anyway. Is it a huge deal? Either way, I’m doing it because I want to live."
"You want to live?"
"Have you ever heard of early-onset dementia?"
"........"
Dementia that appeared in young people.
He had heard of it. This was the first time he’d met someone suffering from it himself.
Jeyca gave him a hollow smile and continued.
"It hasn’t progressed to movement problems yet. For now, it’s just that memories from a few days ago are getting blurry. But I know it’ll get worse than this soon."
The decline in memory was only the beginning.
Her senses would dull next, then her physical abilities would drop, and eventually even her personality would turn more aggressive.
"...Can it be treated?"
"It’d be impossible in the real world, but here... yes."
He already knew, but he asked to confirm it anyway.
In the Enter Room, the things you couldn’t buy were time, space, and life.
Anything that fell under the category of treatment could be restored.
Loki. How much would it take to cure Jeyca?
[It would cost 1,000,000 points. Human incurable diseases are difficult for us as well. Brain treatment is especially difficult.]
So that’s how it is...
No wonder she had been grinding missions alone with such desperation.
She was fighting for her life, dancing on the edge of a blade.
Yoo Sung-jun nodded.
"I can’t help you by transferring my own points."
He said it while glancing at his younger brother, who was busy checking his firearm.
Jeyca answered as if she understood.
"Haha, I know. I’m already satisfied with this. If I keep earning points like this, I think I’ll be able to get treated pretty soon."
"As long as it isn’t affecting your mission performance for now."
"No. I wrote everything down like a diary—everything I did with you and Sung-hwan. I read it every day."
She pulled out a notebook and smiled shyly.
Yoo Sung-jun swallowed a quiet breath.
He didn’t know the fear of forgetting.
He had never experienced it.
But Jeyca was fighting it every single day.
She was forcing herself to smile brightly while standing against the fear that she might lose her memories at any moment, and she was throwing herself into dangerous missions that directly determined whether she would survive.
There was only one thing he could do here.
"I’ll do my best on the mission, like always."
"Okay."
"I’m not going to pity you, Jeyca. And if you fall behind, I might cut you loose."
"I’ll keep trying, same as always."
"That’s enough."
Yes, that was enough.
If they could take missions together for the sake of a teammate they could trust, split the points, and dream of a hopeful future, that was all that mattered.
Beep.
The weapon modification was complete.
Yoo Sung-jun put away the gun in place of the recovered greatsword and began searching for a mission.
E+ rank. He found one that looked good.
***
Pew-pew-pew!
Gunfire rained down from behind him.
The radio in his ear was filled with Jeyca’s shouting.
The level 2 infector, Flacto Hound, was desperate to tear apart the all-rounder leading the way.
Green paralyzing venom dripped from its body and muzzle as it closed in, but the creatures were dropping one after another in rapid succession.
Starting with the red markers, then all the way to yellow.
Their attempts to capitalize on their kin falling apart were meaningless; Yoo Sung-hwan’s sniping was flawless.
Jeyca’s support was clean and efficient.
Thanks to that, things were exactly as they had been before.
They had come face-to-face with the boss-class infector occupying this area.
Grrrr...
At level 4, the beast at the end of the spectrum looked almost like a bear.
Compared to other bulky infectors, it was smaller.
But the layers upon layers of muscle packed into that body made it both an iron shield and the source of its strength.
"Ssshh."
Yoo Sung-jun breathed as he looked at it.
A strange exhilaration filled his body. The talent that had reached level 2 now gave him even greater power and a stronger sense of uplift.
The rich oxygen, almost like a drug, drew a grin from him before he knew it.
Apparently that annoyed the beast, because it charged.
"Kha! Come on!"
He slammed the watch on his wrist with his fist.
Then he brought up the BK-108.
The vicious assault rifle, firing .50 caliber rounds in rapid succession, spat out merciless fire.
Pew-pew-pew!
The modification had cut down the noise, but not the destruction.
The Berserk Bear’s body was shoved back helplessly.
But only for a moment. Once its rage reached the threshold, the beast let out a roar.
Its body swelled to nearly twice its original size.
Bullets lodged in its skin and muscle began bouncing out in rattling little bursts.
With blood-red eyes, it finally closed the distance.
ROOOAAR!
With that roar, it swung a massive leg that could have crushed an adult man without effort.
Yoo Sung-jun tossed the gun aside.
He drew his greatsword and his eyes flashed.
A part of his brain, stimulated by Breathing, flared to violent life.
Focus to a single point. The beast’s swinging leg, its body—everything came into sharp, crystal clarity.
As a one-hit kill attack, it had a huge opening.
But to cut through that opening immediately, he’d have to take the attack.
That was fine.
He was already wearing the suit.
Thud!
The beast’s attack landed directly as he shifted his footing just enough to slip aside.
A heavy shockwave rippled from the giant foot crushing down on his shoulder.
And yet Yoo Sung-jun’s body didn’t crumble under it. It didn’t burst apart; it endured.
Fshhhk.
A low hiss leaked from his body.
Before he knew it, the Omega Suit had sealed itself over him without a single gap.
The gray circuitry on the suit lit up.
It shone in a rainbow of colors, then suddenly sank back into darkness.
[Suit operation rate: 90%. Power loss due to impact: 80%.]
Send all remaining power to strength.
[Understood.]
The remaining 20% was converted into raw force.
Thump. Thump. Yoo Sung-jun nodded his neck in time with the suit’s throbbing pulse.
The trap muscles the Berserk Bear had struck were sore.
"Thanks for helping with the performance test."
The Agantic Sword reached the beast’s rising hip.
It all happened in an instant.
Slash! With a sharp, slicing sound, the line he drew reached from the hip all the way up toward the beast’s shoulder.
The creature that bullets couldn’t stop finally came to a halt.
Its mouth quivered open.
Then, split cleanly in two, the massive body crashed to the ground.
Thud.
The heavy sound marked the end of the mission.
Yoo Sung-jun struck the area around his wrist again, where the watch was located.
In response, the Omega Suit that had wrapped around his body flowed smoothly back into the watch.
Every last nanomachine had once again been packed into that small watch.
He shook out his wrist and recovered his equipment.
Then he smiled at the approaching younger brother and Jeyca.
"It’s over. Extermination mission."
"Whoa... that Omega Suit really is exactly like it is in the game."
"There’s still a lot I need to modify, but yeah. It’s the same."
From this mission alone, Yoo Sung-jun was certain of one thing.
The party’s level had jumped dramatically.
Now it was time to move on to the next stage.
Jeyca needed treatment, and he and his brother needed to get even stronger weapons in hand.
"Let’s move on to cooperative D-rank missions soon."