The Age of Adaptation
A dark office.
Hundreds of people stared at their monitors in silence.
The same screen. The same endlessly descending scroll.
It was the kind of monotonous work environment that should have made people drowsy, and yet not a single one of them let their guard down.
"Ah!"
From one corner of the otherwise still office, a startled cry burst out.
Ignoring the way everyone’s eyes turned toward her, the woman sprang to her feet.
She ran to a private room tucked away in the corner.
"Team Leader!"
Even though she threw the door open, the man inside didn’t get angry.
He only offered a gentle smile and asked, "What is it?"
"The mission we were keeping watch on has disappeared."
"Let me see."
The man called Team Leader took the tablet she handed him and began checking.
He compared it against the mission list captured in hundreds of screenshots he kept on hand.
And when he confirmed that the mission really had vanished, surprise crept across his face just as it had hers.
"...So a user has finally cleared a mission of C-rank or higher."
It had been about five months since the Age of Adaptation had arrived.
A C-rank mission clear that everyone had said was impossible.
The man praised her for her accomplishment.
"I’ll convene a clan meeting immediately. Good work, Angela."
"Thank you."
A massive incentive would be paid out in points.
Imagining that reward, the female employee left in high spirits.
The man immediately reported the matter to the clan leaders, and of course to the clan master as well.
It was practically an emergency summons.
Dozens of people gathered in the conference room in no time.
They laughed and chatted with colleagues they hadn’t seen in a while.
For a moment, at least.
"You were all here before me? That’s not right for a clan master. Honestly, I’m ashamed."
The instant the man appeared, everyone went silent.
It wasn’t the kind of thing he said with an embarrassed smile.
He came in wearing a cold, dead expression, his face worn with exhaustion.
The room fell quiet as if someone had splashed cold water over it.
"Then let’s begin the meeting."
The man took his seat.
As if they’d been waiting for the signal, the meeting began at once.
The easygoing mood from a moment ago was gone without a trace.
"Jack. It’s not even C-rank. It’s a C+ mission. A user has appeared who cleared a mission classified as a raid."
Jack Kalt, the clan master of Quantum Clan, looked at the man who had delivered the report.
His expression remained as blank as ever. He looked like he could lie down and fall asleep at any second, yet he opened his mouth to speak.
"I saw the preliminary report. It seems they killed one of the 38 ma."
"That’s right."
"Muaz. That infector had a reputation for being especially troublesome. It had plenty of infector underlings, and its ability was a nightmare against any middling-sized force."
Jack Kalt thought of its chaos-inducing ability, and the corner of his mouth curled upward.
"To take a thing like that down, you’d need a user who was at least evenly matched with it, if not stronger. At minimum, someone with Omega Suit level 3 and Body Enhancement level 4, plus nano-tech gear. There’s no way anyone could have accumulated that many points in just a few months."
The clan leaders nodded at Jack Kalt’s words.
Even he hadn’t yet reached that level of enhancement.
"This would only be possible if someone understood how to devise a strategy for clearing it even with comparatively inferior specs."
Thud. With a blank expression, he set the tablet down.
"Since they’d have to deal with so many infectors, they must have gone in with multiple users. The one capable of rallying that many people would be a clan master, which would make this a raid aimed at securing a bunker as a sanctuary."
Even though it was only the disappearance of a mission, Jack Kalt had drawn a remarkably accurate conclusion.
"Do you have more detailed information on the mission? I think I told you to narrow it down to the place they were trying to secure as a sanctuary."
"Ah, yes. Right here."
The man opened the security folder on the tablet and handed it over.
Jack Kalt took it and examined every location tied to a bunker.
Places that could serve as sanctuaries.
The infectors likely nesting there.
Only after reviewing the entire list did he narrow it down to a likely location.
"Gimpo Airport. Korea. If there’s a major clan in that country, it would be Blood Rain."
"Igrato. Choi Hyun-seok is the clan master. He appeared on a gaming channel interview."
Another team leader showed him the video.
Choi Hyun-seok was talking animatedly about raid success.
Seeing that, Jack Kalt snorted.
It was because of another video displayed beside it.
A video of Meteor taking down Muaz.
I watched that one out of curiosity, as a study aid.
"There it is. Meteor got involved in this raid."
"M-Meteor?"
The only user to single-handedly achieve what even Quantum Guild could not: the extermination of one of the Five Evils.
The one and only user who had done it alone.
The man who had proudly taken the number one spot among high rankers.
His visor was always dark, so no one knew his face. No one knew his nationality, either.
He was a man hidden behind layers of secrecy.
Even if you wanted to know more in a situation like this, you couldn’t if the support staff locked down the information.
He was the kind of user who would be the most reassuring ally imaginable.
And they had found a trace of such a user.
It was only a guess for now, but Jack Kalt trusted the instinct that had brought his clan to first place.
"Just because the planned sanctuary is in Korea doesn’t mean we can conclude Blood Rain did it. Contact medium and large clans around the world with at least a thousand users each. What we need to propose are two things."
Jack Kalt continued.
The team leaders listened closely to his orders.
Before long, Quantum Guild’s team leaders had scattered to every corner of the world.
***
"Where were we?"
"I think we were talking about meat? Can we order more?"
"Order it. Order as much as you want."
Choi Hyun-seok took his eyes off the business card.
Yoon Choi. Or, if you said it differently, Choi Yun. A single-syllable family name.
She looked like a Korean-American, but this seemed to be her first time being treated like this.
It was obvious even from a distance that the smile on her face was trembling.
"Uh... Mister Igrato?"
"I’m Choi Hyun-seok. Being called by an avatar nickname at my age feels a little off."
The guy who casually called himself Meteor had a real gift for words.
"I didn’t know Quantum Clan had one of my fans. Did you need something else? An autograph? A photo, maybe?"
Choi Hyun-seok pulled out a napkin with a flourish.
He made a show of writing something, then tapped his smartphone a few times.
At that, Yoon Choi fell silent.
Choi Hyun-seok took that as a refusal and called over his bodyguard.
"Take this woman outside. Since she says she’s a fan, escort her out politely."
"Huh? Where’s the woman supposed to be?"
At the bodyguard’s confused question, Choi Hyun-seok raised his brows.
Watching it all, Yoo Sung-jun muttered, "Recognition suppression. It’s not innate. It’s the effect of equipment."
He met Yoon Choi’s eyes.
She was looking at Yoo Sung-jun in clear surprise.
"How did you know?"
"Obvious. Someone without special training, or even with only level 1 Body Enhancement, wouldn’t be able to resist sensory signal interference."
But Choi Hyun-seok and Yoo Sung-jun could resist it.
They’d already reached level 2 and level 3 Body Enhancement, respectively.
Watching Yoon Choi chew on her words, Choi Hyun-seok let out a sigh.
"If your people had stopped us but you’d identified yourself properly and asked politely, I would have met with you. Why bother sneaking around like this?"
"For my own safety. If assassination had been the goal, wouldn’t I have pulled the trigger already?"
Yoon Choi shrugged.
The grip of a pistol stuck out from her mini bag, impossible to miss.
She tucked the bag under her arm and sat down beside Yoo Sung-jun with a shameless air.
Without even being invited to sit.
She was the very definition of brazen.
As Yoo Sung-jun gave a dry laugh, Yoon Choi tilted her head.
"Looks like you’re close with Choi Hyun-seok. And you seem pretty capable yourself. What’s your relationship?"
"I don’t think I’m obligated to tell you."
"If you’re okay with it, how about joining Quantum?"
"He’s a member of my clan. He already belongs to Blood Rain."
"Me? Since when?"
"Hey... in situations like this, you just accept it."
At Choi Hyun-seok’s gentle tone, Yoo Sung-jun shook his head.
Wrong was wrong.
"No need to dress it up. I wasn’t planning to join Quantum Clan anyway."
"Even if we offered you a monthly payment of 100,000 points and a clan leader screening slot? You’d be the safest you could possibly be even after Dark Cover. It’d basically mean joining the world’s number one clan."
"Is it really okay to hand out the team leader position that casually?"
"Why not? You already broke through my Hinder, didn’t you? That means you’ve got at least level 2 Body Enhancement... so what, maybe 600,000 accumulated points?"
Yoo Sung-jun picked up his fork.
He thrust it into the meat with an audible stab, as if to make a point.
Thud!
"Whatever it is, I’m not interested, so you two can keep talking."
"In that case, I won’t push any further. Then... once you’re done eating, shall we move somewhere else to talk?"
"No, that won’t be necessary."
Choi Hyun-seok wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, "We should hear this here."
He wasn’t getting the value of her quick appearance and the equipment she’d casually revealed for nothing.
If we go off alone, I don’t know what she might try. It’s better to handle this while Yoo Sung-jun is here.
He glanced at Yoo Sung-jun and set down the napkin.
"This man is one of my close associates. So there’s no problem with him listening in."
"In that case."
Yoon Choi smiled faintly and got to the point.
"Quantum is looking for allies."
"I thought you were focused on restoring the country."
"You’ve probably heard that from Choi Hyun-seok as well. We only provided minimal support, and the United States will manage to stand on its own from here."
"You’re confident."
"The strongest country among the great powers got help from the world’s number one clan. Isn’t that reason enough to be confident?"
"Well, fair enough. So what do you mean by allies?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. An ally whose strength is more or less balanced with ours, and who can help us in return. We only recently learned that there was a group that had cleared the resonance entity in the underground bunker. We thought it might be Blood Rain, so we came to make contact."
"You want me to tell you whether I was the one who cleared that mission or not?"
"You don’t have to answer. If all the team leaders who came back from around the world returned without results, then we’ll watch the bunker and figure out which group cleared the mission."
At her last words, Choi Hyun-seok fell silent.
Yoo Sung-jun’s mind moved quickly.
Looks like they’ve built an intelligence network to monitor missions, and if Quantum knows, there’s a good chance other major clans know too.
Why seek out a clan whose strength was roughly on par with theirs, at least on paper?
One reason would be to inspire trust.
When both sides stood on equal footing, there could be no coercive orders.
And since the premise was equality, it would also be hard for either side to unilaterally break the alliance.
They seemed to want free communication between allies.
The second reason was probably growth through competition between allies.
Through exchange, they could point out each other’s mistakes, offer advice, and make up for weaknesses as they corrected them.
Since Blood Rain had cleared a C+ mission, they likely believed the clan would be a capable partner with little to lack.
No wonder they’re the number one clan.
He stared quietly at Choi Hyun-seok.
What answer would he give?
Yes? Or no?
There were advantages and disadvantages to both.
That was why Choi Hyun-seok took a long moment to think.
After more than ten minutes of deliberation, the answer he gave was the same conclusion Yoo Sung-jun had arrived at.
"I don’t like people peeking at me without permission. It was my Blood Rain clan that cleared the mission."
"Oh? Really?"
Seeing Yoon Choi visibly brighten, he continued his train of thought.
Joining forces with Quantum is the smart move.
There was always the possibility that clans seeking to seize the bunker would show up later.
That was only natural. They had to prepare for it.
But Blood Rain had already suffered heavy losses during the raid.
If we form an alliance, we’ll gain the power to hold the bunker safely.
In other words, Choi Hyun-seok’s judgment was entirely reasonable.
And if they were going to be treated as equals, there was no reason to refuse.
"Thanks for the positive response, then. As for whether it’s true or not, we can verify that later. On to the final proposal. Our clan master, Jack, knows that Meteor got involved in this mission."
"Oh? So you dug that up too? And?"
"The clan master would like a private meeting with Meteor. Would that be possible?"
"A private meeting..."
His voice trailed off.
Yoo Sung-jun, listening from beside him, slowly closed his eyes.
Choi Hyun-seok understood the meaning and smiled faintly.
"I’ll ask him. If he says yes, I’ll contact you."
"Ah, thank you. I’m really glad this worked out so easily. That’s exactly the kind of reasonable judgment you’d expect from the fifth-ranked clan master in the world."
"Then when would you like to discuss the alliance moving forward?"
"Our clan master says that will be after confirmation from the bunker’s owner, and after the discussion with Meteor."
From our clan master, Jack.
She finished with a bright-eyed smile.
Yoon Choi stood up and placed two business cards on the table.
"Sorry for interrupting your meal. I’ll get going now. I’ll be waiting for your call."
She bowed politely and left the restaurant.
That left the two of them alone again.
"So..."
"Hold on."
He stopped Choi Hyun-seok just as he was about to speak.
A faint sound of a lens tightening as it focused.
A tiny black dot remained where Yoon Choi had been sitting.
A miniature camera.
With a flick of his finger, Yoo Sung-jun smashed it.
What a fox.
He praised Yoon Choi inwardly and let out a small laugh.
She’d probably left it behind because she was curious about Yoo Sung-jun’s identity, but there was no chance of that.
"There was a bug sitting there. Go on."
"Right... what are you going to do?"
"About meeting Jack Kalt alone?"
"It might not be alone. He might have set things up so we’d be surrounded by people like Yoon Choi and given a proposal that isn’t really a threat."
"I know that. But would I be crazy enough to say yes? One wrong move and I might end up making an enemy of the most outstanding user around."
"He is looking for allies, after all."
"Exactly. So I think it’ll be safe. That’s not a guess, it’s a conviction."
"I think so too, but you’re actually going? You don’t like showing your face in front of other people."
"It’s not that I dislike it. I just knew how to separate public and private matters. If it’s necessary, I have to show up. And this way I can hide my face too."
He tapped his smartwatch as he spoke.
"Just like you need my help, I need yours too. This bunker was obtained through a lot of effort. I don’t want some other clan snatching it away."
"Haha, fair enough. Then we’re accepting?"
"I don’t know why he wants to meet me alone, but let’s go hear him out."
The meal was over.
They had grasped the state of the world, and received an unexpected proposal from an unexpected person.
Both of them considered Quantum Clan’s contact an opportunity.
They would have to make full use of it.
They’d prepare for whatever clan might come after the bunker with an alliance with Quantum.
For the moment, that was the firm objective.
If they heard Jack Kalt out in a private meeting, things might change.
So Yoo Sung-jun waited.
Several days passed before Choi Hyun-seok contacted him.
Jack Kalt had sent word that he would be waiting at the designated mission site.
Yoo Sung-jun put on the Omega Suit and headed there.
The moment he arrived, a voice came from behind him.
"That absurdly huge greatsword and that build. You really are Meteor. I’ve been waiting for you."
He turned and looked at him.
It was Jack Kalt, without his helmet on.
A face Yoo Sung-jun had seen often enough through social media.
Blond hair and blue eyes. Short hair, sharp features.
"You recognized me at a glance."
"I’m a fan. Your solo raid gave me a great deal of inspiration. So, what I’m saying is—"
There wasn’t another presence nearby.
He really had wanted a private meeting.
And as Yoo Sung-jun watched, Jack Kalt suddenly said something shocking.
"Kalaqua. That thing is trying to awaken."
"...What?"
One of the Five Evils—the first one Yoo Sung-jun had ever successfully slain in the game.
At the news that the creature was stirring to life, Yoo Sung-jun’s eyes widened.