The Age of Chaos
Yoo Sung-jun sat at the center of the sprawling airfield.
He had crossed his legs and closed his eyes, which might have made anyone think he was meditating, but that wasn’t it.
This wasn’t some attempt to awaken so-called mana, aura, or any other absurd power that belonged only in novels.
He had already gained more than enough unreal abilities. He wasn’t doing this to acquire something he didn’t have.
The power I already possess.
So far, Yoo Sung-jun had advanced at a staggering pace.
Faster than Meteor had in the game.
He tallied up what he had gained over the past few months.
Physical Enhancement at Level 4. The Omega Suit is at Level 3. And I’ve pushed Innate Talent up to Level 3.
Those three were the most obvious signs of his growth.
And if he added all the abilities he had acquired on top of that, the list would only grow longer.
Yoo Sung-jun had spent this entire time handling every skill he had accumulated in battle with complete ease.
The added functions on his weapon. The applications of Innate Talent. The suit’s capabilities.
By mastering each of them separately, he had led the charge through countless crises and more infector hunts than he cared to count.
Yes, separately.
What if I can combine them?
An experiment born from that one question was still underway.
At first, he had tried to merge the suit’s abilities with the applications of Innate Talent.
But the result had been a failure. The applications of adrenaline and breathing remained as separate as oil and water.
As for weapon abilities, the very idea of mixing them with anything else had been impossible from the start, so he’d put that aside.
There’s nothing to combine between the Omega Suit’s adrenaline and iron-clad form. I can only add one ability to a weapon at a time, so that’s out too. Which leaves Innate Talent...
As he thought, he sensed the air tremble.
His left flank. Something minute was approaching at extreme speed.
Yoo Sung-jun lifted his left leg slightly and leaned his body to the right.
Pop! A hole was punched through the concrete.
Fragments sprayed upward, but none of them struck him.
He was already sprinting forward.
Kwaaaah!
The place he’d just been standing was swallowed by a rain of fire from the sky.
"Jeyca! Route!"
Click. Yoo Sung-hwan shouted as he loaded his gun.
Ryong-i, carrying him, had already finished turning and was retracing the path they’d come from.
-It’s toward Yoon Choi!
At Jeyca’s answer, Yoo Sung-hwan swung his scope around.
Just as she’d said, his brother had already reached Yoon Choi’s position.
Tool Master. A helper who could hack equipment or operate it perfectly to support the team.
His brother must have predicted she’d be the most troublesome one.
And that prediction had been exactly right.
He was trying to shut down the guns first!
The muzzle of the Untouch Shooter mounted on his brother’s left shoulder swung toward him.
He flinched. Thankfully, Ryong-i executed an evasive maneuver before the particle round was fired.
He folded his wings and spun through the air.
Since he was strapped in place, there was no danger of falling.
But that still didn’t stop them from breaking through the main position where Yoon Choi was stationed.
-Hold them! If we get pushed back, it’s over!
-How the hell are we supposed to—!
Urgent shouts and stunned cries crackled through the in-ear comms.
Yoo Sung-hwan felt a chill when even the guard’s shield was pierced through.
His fingers loosened as the attacker was sent tumbling.
Not yet!
When his finger had half released the trigger, he steadied himself and gripped the gun properly again.
It wasn’t over yet.
He had to change the battle himself.
"Everyone, get away from the target!"
The instant he shouted, a gleam flashed through the sockets around his brow.
A target appeared over his brother, revealing the guaranteed path of a hit.
The size of that target varied wildly depending on the opponent.
The one that appeared over his brother was smaller than his palm.
The point he had to strike was no bigger than a black sesame seed.
He had to pierce that.
He held his breath and began stripping away his senses one by one.
All that remained was sight and a faint trace of touch.
Feeling the wind, he tightened the finger that would pull the trigger.
Then—bang! The particle round shot out and struck Yoo Sung-jun’s Omega Suit with perfect precision.
It had hit, yes, but as expected.
Beyond the thin smoke that drifted away, iron-clad armor was visible, wrapping part of his brother’s body.
And there was his brother’s index finger, pointing straight at him.
Thud!
"Kkyuaang!"
Ryong-i let out a pained cry, apparently struck by a bullet.
He endured the pain and flapped his wings desperately, but there was no need to keep fighting beyond this. The outcome was already obvious.
-Should we call it here?
Whether he had sensed Yoo Sung-hwan’s intent or not, his brother—standing above the others who had collapsed—asked the question.
The voice that should have felt reassuring somehow sounded infuriatingly smug today.
Yoo Sung-hwan bit his lip and answered.
"We lost."
It had been an ambush-style sparring match.
And today, Yoo Sung-hwan’s party had recorded their fifth defeat.
In the end, they had failed to subdue his brother.
That, despite the fact that his brother hadn’t even been fighting at full power.
Yoo Sung-hwan landed while stroking the injured Ryong-i.
After a short wait, his brother approached.
"Is Ryong-gari okay?"
He was looking at Ryong-i coughing behind him when he said it.
A gunshot wound bleeding freely like that might have seemed serious, but for an infector, it was no different from a scratch.
"A few pieces of meat and he’ll heal up."
"Good. Then everyone, gather up!"
Yoo Sung-jun nodded and called them over.
The seven men and women dragged themselves toward him.
Each of them had things worth praising, and each of them had flaws worth pointing out.
Now was the time to address the mistakes.
But first, the conclusion.
"You can hunt a Level 6 infector..."
At Yoo Sung-jun’s words, everyone swallowed dryly.
That single line would determine whether they were going to hunt the infector or buy time.
Everyone desperately wanted the former.
Because dragging things out would be a trial of endurance and pain far worse than the hunt itself.
"...you can hunt it."
At the verdict that followed, they all let out relieved breaths.
But he wasn’t giving that conclusion blindly.
Yoo Sung-jun wasn’t satisfied with how they had handled themselves, and fixing those problems would improve their success rate.
"First, Jeyca."
"Y-Yes!"
At his call, Jeyca snapped to attention.
She got criticized every time, but she still couldn’t get used to it.
Here it came again. Another storm of criticism.
Still, if she mulled it over and corrected herself later, she really did improve.
The problem was the present.
Accepting censure close to verbal abuse, and whether or not it hurt her feelings in the process, were completely different matters.
"You hid well. It’s good that you can watch and communicate without tripping my senses, but your briefings are still late. I’ve said it before: don’t use me as your standard when you’re calling out danger zones. The temporary party members like the guard and attacker are, frankly speaking, far worse than I am."
"Yes..."
Jeyca, along with the guard and attacker listening beside her, let their shoulders droop.
Yoo Sung-jun kept going regardless.
"And you too, Yoon Choi. If you’re a Tool Master, shouldn’t you be using your gear more aggressively instead of so narrowly? How long are you going to keep relying on other people’s protection and staying on the defensive?"
"B-But I could only build equipment for the helper position. And I don’t have enough points to buy gear good enough for the front line."
"That’s just an excuse. Try saying that to a Level 6 infector. Do you think it’ll spare your life? It’ll just treat you like a tasty snack."
There were plenty of ways to earn points.
Equipment handled by a Tool Master worked far better than the same equipment in anyone else’s hands.
There were sure to be plenty of users who wanted to borrow Yoon Choi’s skill.
"Last, Sung-hwan."
Yoo Sung-jun trailed off.
Because everything about his younger brother’s handling and offense had been perfect.
If not for the iron-clad form, it would have been Yoo Sung-jun taking the hits.
The particle rounds that slipped through that tiny opening were that dangerous.
Still, he was the leader. A leader wasn’t supposed to be perfect.
He had to constantly feel his own shortcomings, solve them, and keep growing without end.
He couldn’t be the first to fall, and whether he stood at the front or the back, he had to lead by word and by deed.
In that respect, what his younger brother needed was...
"Don’t ever shake. There’ll be all kinds of sudden situations and threats trying to wear you down. No matter what happens, you’re the one person who can’t afford to go weak."
When Yoo Sung-jun had raised his brother in the harsh world he’d been thrown into, that had always been his mindset.
If he faltered, his brother might go astray too.
He had lived repeating that to himself over and over.
His younger brother, now a team leader, was in a similar position.
If the one leading everyone started wavering, then everyone beneath him would inevitably collapse.
"...Got it."
At the moment the determined words slipped out of that tightly clenched mouth, Yoo Sung-jun could finally relax.
Yeah. We should still be able to pull off the hunt.
Flying through the skies with Ryong-i so often had improved their flight skills too.
His sniping while gliding was no different from sniping on the ground.
Now he could focus fully on the hunt for the middle-stage target.
Yoo Sung-jun pointed out the shortcomings of the other users as well, then said, "Tomorrow, we’ll meet here again for the final check. Keep working through the feedback I gave you, and do it while managing your condition. Even if your palms peel and your soles blister, if you want to finish this operation in one piece, stop overthinking and move. If you get hurt practicing alone, don’t just groan about it—go to the Enter Room and get properly treated. That’s all. Dismissed."
"Yes, sir!"
Everyone answered with crisp precision.
Yoo Sung-jun rolled his shoulders and headed back to the bunker.
It was time to meet Jack Kalt, the man who would be joining him in the hunt for the middle-stage target.
***
"You work hard for your comrades every day."
In the temporary lodging assigned for the operation, Yoo Sung-jun found himself alone with Jack Kalt.
Jack greeted him with a faint smile and offered him a seat, and Yoo Sung-jun sat down while answering gruffly.
"I’m the kind of person who thinks there’s no room for sloppiness in combat."
"I agree. Sloppiness is death."
"So, you called me here because you got the answer?"
"I just wanted to take a little break and head to the training ground with you."
"Don’t lie when we both hate wasting time."
Yoo Sung-jun held out his hand and tilted his chin.
"Hand it over. The Evolve leader’s location you mentioned before."
Jack Kalt quietly curled the corner of his mouth and set down his glass.
Apparently, he had no intention of hiding his smile.
Then, as if admitting defeat, he shook his head.
"So someone with Analysis as an Innate Talent really can’t be deceived, huh? This makes jokes impossible."
"There are other things to joke about. Not this."
Yoo Sung-jun accepted the documents Jack Kalt handed over.
They contained the information obtained through his question rights, in painstaking detail.
It was information gained through a legitimate trade.
He could have suspected it was false, but Jack Kalt considered fooling Yoo Sung-jun all but impossible.
He had already realized that artificial manipulation was useless against him.
So Yoo Sung-jun was heavily leaning toward believing the information was real.
Spitsbergen Island in Norway? That’s where it is?
"Do you know of a building that exists in only two places in the world?"
"What?"
"The leader of that fanatic sect, the one who uses the symbol of a laboratory as their emblem, is there. The Seed Vault. Or rather, it’s probably serving as a laboratory for Project Armageddon now as well."
Jack Kalt, seated across from him, leaned forward.
A strange excitement flickered across his face.
"Isn’t that fascinating? That was the place I was planning to visit myself once the middle-stage hunt was successfully completed. The laboratory where the Evolve leader is supposed to be, the one you called Meteor told me about."
"Why? Is there a stabilized infector core in there or something?"
It was only a half-guess, but the answer he got was yes.
"Yes. Based on the logs we’ve collected so far, there’s a very high chance there’s a successfully completed experimental result there. So, will you go with me? We should uproot troublesome sprouts before they grow."
"Even if you hadn’t asked me to go with you, I was going anyway. But this is Solldat territory. Russian territory, where they’ve recruited more high-quality users than China has."
"Then first, we’ll need to secure passage through the region via Solldat’s clan leader, Abnakoff Vorfgen. If we sneak in and draw attention to ourselves, it’ll be inconvenient for both of us."
"Right... So we’ll dig deeper into that later. For now, the middle-stage hunt that’s right in front of us is the bigger problem."
"Haha, indeed. Then shall we go to the training ground? This time too, the goal is sparring."
"Go ahead first. I’m going to read this a little longer."
"Understood. I’ll go warm up."
It was a spar to compare notes and synchronize with all of Jack Kalt’s abilities.
As Yoo Sung-jun imagined the man who wielded chains made of nano-particles as his main weapon, he read through the documents one more time with full focus.
Even though he had already memorized the important information in his head, he did it anyway.
The reason was simple: Jack Kalt was irritating to be around.
Knowing exactly what Analysis meant made it worse.
Being around him feels like having everything about me stripped bare.
Seeing someone who actually manipulated what he himself manipulated made that feeling even stronger.
So Yoo Sung-jun sent him ahead and fell into thought.
How to wield what he already had with even greater force.
Before long, he came up with something worth testing in a spar with Jack Kalt.
I’ll try combining hyperventilation and compressed breathing.
This time, it felt like it might work.
With firm conviction, Yoo Sung-jun rose from his seat.