The Age of Adaptation
"What are all these things?"
He had only glanced into his younger brother’s room, but the 3D-printed-looking statues inside caught his eye, and he asked the question.
People usually called them figures. There was one there now.
"I ordered a custom Ryong-i figure. Isn’t it cute?"
It showed Ryong-i eating part of an infector corpse, blood still dripping from it.
The squinting eyes were adorable, sure, but did they really have to go and make it so grotesque?
He gave a snort through his nose and set the figure back down.
"When Dark Cover hits, you won’t even be able to take it with you. Wasn’t it a waste to make?"
"I looked it up, and there’s a similar 3D printer in the Enter Room. I can just make another one with that. I even bought the blueprints. Look at this."
His love for Ryong-i was sincere, all right.
Yoo Sung-jun studied the production diagrams his brother held out to him and shook his head.
He found himself wondering if Jeyca had gotten tangled up in something like this too.
Wonder if she made it out alive.
Honestly, Ryong-i’s odds of survival were fifty-fifty.
Even after devouring the corpse and achieving individual evolution, this was still a world infested with infectors.
He would have to live in an environment where threats could appear at any moment. That was Ryong-i.
And his core ability is attracting infectors in the first place.
First, he’d need to find a nest where the beast could be truly alone.
In other words, someplace like a deserted island.
And on top of that, it would need enough force to defend itself against multiple enemies.
If it ate the whole corpse, it should’ve at least evolved to Level 4.
Then safety at a minimum would be guaranteed.
He stopped thinking there.
"Ryong-i···."
His brother was different, but...
"Sung-hwan. Come here for a second."
"Is this about the operation?"
"You know me too well. It’s about time we made a decision."
He sat at the living-room table and opened a notebook.
Yoo Sung-jun showed them both the combined evaluation score and the average score for each operation.
"What? Only 23 out of 30?"
"Jeyca scored even lower."
"Really? Seventeen? Isn’t that a little harsh?"
"It’s a score I arrived at after a rational evaluation."
"What criteria did you use?"
"Instant judgment, decisiveness, and emotional control."
Yoo Sung-hwan’s eyes rolled around.
Setting up a temporary shelter, hatching the Craving Egg, meeting Ryong-i and dote-dot-dot.
"W-well, that is a rational evaluation."
"Right?"
With a shrug, Yoo Sung-jun laid out the operation plans.
All five would allow every party member to survive.
The question was how little damage they could get away with; that was what separated one operation from another.
"Hmm···breakthrough, divide and conquer, infiltration, bait, and luring···."
His brother read the operation names and their explanations aloud.
As he worked through the detailed write-up, his expression grew steadily more twisted.
"There’s no avoiding sacrifice?"
"Steel yourself. What we’re dealing with is a Muaze among the Thirty-Eight Demons."
"Thirty-eightma Muaze···."
A giant eye. Thousands of tentacles supporting it.
It could whip those tentacles, each blade-sharp at the tip, at terrifying speed while unleashing mental breakdown, brainwashing, and hallucinations as abilities.
It wasn’t one of the Thirty-Eight Demons for nothing.
It was considered one of the weaker ones among them, but it was still a Level 6 infector.
Only those who had surpassed the threshold needed to become a high-ranker could exterminate one.
"These two are the only ones that fit my score and Jeyca’s, huh?"
Yoo Sung-hwan pointed to two of the operations.
Divide and conquer, and infiltration.
"Which one do you want?"
"Are you okay with any of them, hyung?"
"I can adapt."
Muaze built their nests by placing an infector at the top—one at the end of Level 4 or at Level 5—and entrusting them with a chain of command.
That was why those two operations were suitable for breaking through that kind of defense and reaching the Muaze itself.
"Divide and conquer means attacking each boss’s territory one by one···."
"It should reduce sacrifices compared to breakthrough or bait, but since we’d be fighting inside their nest, there’s no telling what variables might show up."
"Infiltration means the elite goes in alone, while the majority stays on standby at the shortest possible distance in case of emergency. So that’s what infiltration is···."
"It’s safer for the majority. But there’s a significant risk of losing the elite entirely."
He went on explaining, adding the pros and cons of each operation.
His brother nodded as if he understood.
"So, in the end, when you compare the two, it comes down to either sacrificing the many or putting only a few key people at risk. That’s about right, isn’t it?"
"If we’re assuming the worst, yes."
"And if we’re assuming the best?"
"Infiltration is overwhelmingly the way for the majority to survive."
"If you choose the infiltration team, are you in it too, hyung?"
"Yeah."
"Then I’ll be in the rear."
"Then we have our answer."
His brother pointed to the operation.
In a way, it was the obvious choice, and Yoo Sung-jun smiled faintly.
"Then I’ll go ask Jeyca too."
"Ah, right. I met that one, too. The Higher Being."
"Oh, really?"
It looked like unlocking a new achievement by keeping Ryong-i alive had paid off after all.
It was a high-tier achievement. What was it, the Path of Harmony? What a ridiculous name.
He was still snickering when his brother continued.
"You know that question we asked together? The one about how to develop one’s natural ability—what kind of practice method lets you discover new things?"
"You asked that?"
"Yeah. It seemed pretty positive about it."
"So? What did it say?"
The moment he heard the next words from his brother...
"It said you can learn it with a high probability if you eat the brain of an infector above Level 6, right?"
Yoo Sung-jun’s expectant expression twisted into a grimace.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"I thought you were in the middle of a mission. I figured I’d have to wait to get in touch."
"The timing worked out. I was just taking a break."
"Ha-ha, I see."
They walked down the carpeted hallway of a five-star hotel.
As he watched Igrato—Choi Hyun-seok—speak with a smiling face, Yoo Sung-jun remembered.
There will be a decisive moment. When that time comes, interpret whatever Igrato, Choi Hyun-seok, says in the opposite way.
The final words the Higher Being had given him, back then.
"The final preparations are complete. Capable users have gathered, and we’ve recruited mercenaries to bolster our forces."
Was this the decisive moment?
No. No, it wasn’t. Yoo Sung-jun shook his head.
He looked at the ornate doors that seemed to lead into the banquet hall.
"Is the priority on operations, and the eight-to-two reward split we discussed at our first meeting, still in place?"
"That’s exactly why I asked you to come all this way. I’m sorry. I told the users under my command it was for the success of the operation, but they pushed back hard."
Yoo Sung-jun had anticipated something like this.
The age was coming when human lives would become worth less than points.
The dawn of an era in which points would skyrocket beyond reason.
And in that kind of world, they expected to carry the burden of operational command and an unfair point distribution just to secure a single hideout in a raid mission?
"The value of the name Meteor and the superiority of the information Yoo Sung-jun possesses—they still can’t accept that such intelligence is worth more than billions of points."
"Choi Hyun-seok. Even when you say it like that?"
"With everything having been reset, isn’t it only natural that secure territory and points should determine the balance of interests?"
"That’s a fair point."
It was a reasonable basis for resistance, at least.
Before going in, he asked one last thing he was curious about.
"What exactly were they complaining about?"
"They said Meteor is a solo-play user—does he even understand clan-scale operations? That our information is no worse than anyone else’s, so why should we obsess over the strategy for just one Muaze?"
Something like that.
Hearing the awkwardly delivered explanation, Yoo Sung-jun let out a sigh.
"You understand this is something we can’t just let slide, right?"
"What? Ah, yes. Of course. If you handle this situation, I’ll repay you with equipment worth up to 300,000 points."
300,000 points meant three or four co-op missions, or one-off D+ rank missions of fairly high difficulty.
So that was surprisingly generous.
He was accumulating that much?
When Yoo Sung-jun blinked in surprise, Choi Hyun-seok wore a face close to tears.
"It’s better than watching the clan split apart. I’d rather invest the points I’ve scraped together and calm everyone down."
So, he was willing to invest because he’d get more out of it afterward.
Well, if they secure a refuge and rebuild the nation, then once things stabilize, the one standing at the top just keeps siphoning points as the cost of staying in the bunker.
It was an investment in the future. He understood.
And he’d already finished thinking through how to control the situation.
He tapped his smartwatch.
The Omega Suit wrapped around his body in an instant.
He darkened the visor covering his face.
It hid his features as if they’d been heavily tinted.
That completed the preparations.
The immense force flowing from the ends of his limbs made him give a small nod of his neck.
"Then let’s go in."
At Yoo Sung-jun’s signal, Choi Hyun-seok opened the door.
The banquet hall was so quiet it felt as though someone had doused the place in cold water.
Hundreds of pairs of eyes turned toward him.
They looked to Choi Hyun-seok with expressions demanding an explanation.
With easy confidence, he introduced Yoo Sung-jun.
"This is Meteor."
Did it need any other description?
His videos were already circulating as both teaching material and a manual for helping users adapt.
"The Omega Suit···does that mean his cumulative points have gone past a million?"
"He might’ve bought it by scraping and saving every last point. So what if he’s Meteor? It’s not like he’s invincible. On the field, he could just be a pig with lousy athletic ability. He probably just took time to adapt. That suit is just for show—he got the Omega Suit support from the clan leader."
"Heh, then he’s just posturing? He’s a solo player. Can he actually command a clan-scale operation? He looks like he’d be a total mess."
The three idiots behind them started whispering, then judging him outright.
He remembered their faces.
Yoo Sung-jun snorted and stepped forward.
"Whatever you’re blabbering about with operations and strategy, you’ll just ignore it all anyway."
"What?"
"What’s with the way that bastard talks?"
They were pushing back immediately, were they?
He clenched his fist.
The Omega Suit lit up in a riot of colors.
Yoo Sung-jun rolled his shoulders loose.
"An era ruled by the logic of power is coming soon. Wasting time trying to persuade people with words will just eat up the clock. So I’m going to keep it simple."
He extended his right hand.
Then he crooked his middle finger.
"The one who’s confident can come at me first. If you think you can’t win, just give up."
"Wearing the Omega Suit and still acting like you’re hot shit. What a fucking asshole."
It was one of the bastards who had been trash-talking him from behind.
A big one.
"Mr. Choi Hyun-seok."
"Y-yes, sir."
At the chill in Yoo Sung-jun’s voice, Choi Hyun-seok flinched.
"At least one bastard needs to be permanently expelled from the clan and from this operation."
The moment he finished speaking, a gray line was drawn.
The crowd blocking his way collapsed to the left and right.
Their heads turned back.
At the far end of the banquet hall, Yoo Sung-jun stood there.
The massive body he had casually lifted with one hand thrashed helplessly.
"Did posturing while standing there irritate you that much?"
Bang!
The banquet hall wall collided with the big man’s head.
It cracked.
"Thought I couldn’t command at the clan level?"
Crack!
The fracture spread.
The unconscious brute trembled from the searing pain surging through the back of his skull.
"Still think I’m moving around like a total mess?"
Rumble...
The concrete wall caved in.
Dust rose in a thick haze.
The brute passed out, foam bubbling from his mouth.
He hit the floor and twitched weakly in spasms.
"Cumulative points are basically the measure of force, so that should give me more than enough right to act like I’m hot shit, shouldn’t it?"
You fucking bastard.
As he threw the insult back at them, he lifted part of his visor.
Ptui. Thick saliva spat from the opening that revealed only his mouth.
He’d generously set aside enough for treatment costs.
With the visor lowered again, he turned around.
There was a different sort of silence in the room now.
Seeing that, Yoo Sung-jun rolled his wrist.
"Anyone else confident?"
He’d shown them enough to think there wouldn’t be any.
But there was one.
"Kahaha! You were cocky even in the video, but you’re even more impressive in person."
A familiar voice.
A giant with a mercenary badge pinned to his chest stepped forward.
"I’m a little overconfident myself, see. Mind if I give it a try?"
He was a head taller than the others.
Yoo Sung-jun looked up at him and let a pleased smile cross his face.
With the heavily tinted visor, he probably wouldn’t be able to see it.
"Of course. Come on in."
"Kahah!"
He donned an Omega Suit with a red current running through it.
Clenching a fist, he charged straight in.
He looked like a Russian brown bear.
Yoo Sung-jun spread both arms toward him, toward Alexei Cruiser.
It was nice to see him again after so long, sure.
If I’m going to crush their momentum, I’d better knock this guy out first too.
He withdrew the arms he had swung out as if he meant to grab the man on the spot.
Then, as Alexei stumbled for the briefest moment in the fake-out, he drove down a right hook.
BOOM!
The thunderous impact sent the giant’s body crashing straight into the floor headfirst.