The Age of Chaos
Beep—beep—
The regular pulse of a machine.
The room where the heart monitor ran was steeped in silence.
It was an intensive care unit without even a television.
With no nurse and no other patient, it couldn’t have been otherwise.
And because the hospital was barely holding itself together after the embargo was lifted, it was even quieter than usual.
"This is the last time I’m coming here."
The figure standing alone in the middle of that still room finally spoke.
She swept her long, glossy black hair back and stared at her one and only blood relative, who looked gaunt enough to break apart at a touch.
"Dad."
No answer came back.
He was in a coma, his condition having worsened beyond the point of conversation.
What had the disease been called again? Cancer, though the name had been long and horribly unfamiliar.
Ah, right. Anaplastic thyroid cancer.
It grew faster than ordinary thyroid cancer and metastasized even faster, they’d said.
"Haah..."
Looking down at her father, Yoon Choi’s eyes clouded with unease.
The return of Another Earth to reality might have been a disaster for everyone else, but to her it was nothing short of a gift from heaven.
Her mother had died young.
Her father, crushed by grief, had quit his job and lived like a wreck of a man.
Yoon Choi had stepped into that cold, indifferent society early, taking her place in the world for him.
It had been something she’d started in secret because she didn’t want to pile more weight onto a father who could barely cope with his sorrow.
She thought she’d hidden it well enough while working...
But she’d been caught. Completely.
And yet her father hadn’t gotten angry.
Instead, with legs thinner than before, he had forced himself back to his feet.
He’d started working again.
For a while, Yoon Choi had been unable to refuse his desperate pleas and had thrown herself back into her studies.
Though they were only a family of two now, they had tried once more to be happy.
And then, had heaven truly taken pity on them?
Their fortunes improved. They found happiness again.
Her father smiled. And then...
-It’s cancer.
At the doctor’s words, everything came crashing down like a sandcastle washed away by a wave.
It had started when he suddenly said he was having trouble swallowing food, so she’d taken him to the hospital.
She’d thought it was just a swollen esophagus, but it wasn’t?
The cancer had already spread to his lungs and bones, and surgery wasn’t even possible.
It had felt like being cast out of reality itself.
And her father must have felt the same.
She had seen his hands trembling slightly.
But he had been the one to comfort her instead.
-Yoon-ah. Take the medicine and you’ll be fine, so don’t worry.
"Fine, my ass. It’s already been half a year..."
Yoon Choi gave a bitter smile.
The average survival period for anaplastic thyroid cancer patients was three to six months.
Even after falling into a coma, her father had continued fighting the cancer.
Probably for the sake of his one and only daughter.
But if things went according to schedule, this month would be the last.
So this time, she had to save him.
She had to seize the miracle that had descended in the form of Another Earth.
"Just hang in there a little longer, Dad."
She had entered Quantum.
She had earned recognition for her potential and ability and even secured the position of team leader with confidence.
She had gathered points and used Tool Master to modify surgical equipment with advanced future technology.
Now she just had to use it to treat her father. She could. She had to.
"...I just need another million points, that’s all..."
This mission would fill in a fair amount of the missing points.
If she also completed the secret order given by Jack Kalt, it would be perfect.
Yoon Choi had no doubt about it.
It was an extermination mission related to one of the Five Calamities. The many Level 6 infectors scattered through this mission were just a bonus.
If they succeeded, the clear reward and the points from completing the secret order would push her well past one million.
Then she could save her father.
Yoon Choi’s eyes sparkled at the mission that appeared before her.
Cooperation: The Injured Fragment of the Ultimate
📍 Location: Unknown
🎁 Reward: 400,000 points. Additional payment according to contribution.
It looked like all the preparations were complete.
Yoon Choi reached into her spatial compression pocket.
She closed her hand around the smooth grip of a pistol and steeled herself with unwavering resolve.
"I told you this would be the last time I came here."
Before heading to the Enter Room, Yoon Choi gave a pale smile to her father, who might have still been able to hear her.
"Let’s meet again tomorrow in a ruined world, healthy and well."
Her body blurred as the teleportation effect took hold.
"Dad."
Along with her, the word itself scattered and vanished.
A heavy silence settled once more over the intensive care unit.
***
"I have a favor to ask."
Yoo Sung-jun lifted an eyebrow at Yoon Choi’s words as she approached to report.
The newly assigned team leaders had scattered to carry out the surprise attack for this mission.
Only Yoo Sung-hwan’s party would be operating close to Yoo Sung-jun, so he’d kept them near him, but...
Now that they merely had to move as planned after receiving the infector’s location from the drone Yoon Choi had already planted, a favor?
"What kind of favor?"
He asked bluntly, and she met his gaze with a stubborn look.
Yoon Choi hesitated for a moment, then spoke plainly.
"If things get to the point where you can’t see any answer at all, please help me."
"Are you talking to me right now?"
Yoon Choi shook her head.
She looked at Jack Kalt standing beside Yoo Sung-jun and continued.
"I’m talking to both of you."
"And why? We can’t exactly drop everything in the middle of a Middle-Finger extermination and come save you."
"Right. Yoon Choi, shouldn’t you be making that kind of request to your own team members?"
She glanced briefly at Yoo Sung-hwan, who was perched on Ryong-i, then looked back at Yoo Sung-jun.
"No. The two of you are the most reliable insurance I have."
"Then say what you mean. What are you asking for?"
Yoo Sung-jun folded his arms and glared at her.
Even though the visor hid his eyes, had she sensed his stare?
A reply thick with anxiety came back.
"This is my last chance. My father... the only family I have left... is in very bad shape."
"An incurable disease?"
"...Yes."
"Hoo... So that’s why you were trying to slyly adjust the ratio of the points."
"I’m sorry. I was just so desperate I couldn’t help it."
Yoo Sung-jun remembered the mischievous side Yoon Choi had shown on the mission board where they’d exterminated the Bacil.
There’s no happiness without misery.
But to have two people around him who were this miserable...
What is this, some kind of test?
Yoon Choi was Jack Kalt’s problem.
But right now, he couldn’t simply wave it off.
If I’m cold to her here, she could become a variable in my brother’s party.
Mental state was crucial in combat.
In a situation that relied on cooperation, if one teammate was in bad condition at a critical moment...
The results were never good.
Yoo Sung-jun brushed the visor with his fingers and glared at Yoon Choi.
Was she asking so boldly because she knew he wouldn’t be able to refuse?
She really was shameless. Or rather, cunning.
Then again, maybe that only meant she was desperate enough to do anything.
Why, though, did that desperation remind him of Jeyca?
No, it was almost as if he could see a hint of himself in it.
If I were in Yoon Choi’s place.
His brother had fallen ill with an incurable disease.
At the moment he needed a huge number of points, he had no power to seize them.
Then Yoo Sung-jun would have done the exact same thing.
There was nothing more foolish than hesitating when it came to saving blood kin and losing the chance altogether.
So I can understand why Yoon Choi is acting like this.
But even so, it was a stretch to place Yoon Choi’s crisis on the same level as a Middle-Finger extermination.
Failure here would mean ruin not only for her, but for him and his brother as well.
So just as he was struggling to formulate an answer, Jack Kalt stepped in.
"Understood."
"Huh?"
"If you’re ever in danger, shout into your in-ear at any time. Something like, ‘Jack! Help me!’"
Jack Kalt lightly smiled as he mimicked Yoon Choi’s voice.
"Then I’ll help you. You, Yoon Choi, are indispensable talent to our clan."
"Jack..."
Watching Yoon Choi look moved, Yoo Sung-jun’s eyes somehow drifted to the tablet in her hands.
So he pointed at it with a finger.
"Save the drama for when I’m not around. Isn’t the main reason you came here to brief us?"
"Ah! Yes, right. From now on, just stay at your designated positions and wait until I give the signal. The middle finger is moving along the shortest route to the entrance of the nest I predicted, just as planned."
At Yoon Choi’s report, now that she had recovered her composure, Yoo Sung-jun turned away.
"Then make sure you say so in time. If things go wrong from the very first step, I won’t even be able to hear your request."
Did she understand the roundabout answer he had given?
Yoon Choi looked briefly dazed, then broke into a bright smile.
"Yes!"
***
Yoo Sung-hwan was the only user in this operation who had secured air superiority.
And not only that—he was the team leader, which meant the responsibility and role he carried were immense, since he had to lead an entire party.
Still, his brother had told him he could do it.
After seeing the infectors they would face, he’d even said there wasn’t a single one that could beat him.
If it’s my brother saying it, then it has to be right.
"Right, Ryong-i?"
He thought and spoke at the same time.
Ryong-i, with his dad seated on his back, let out a pleased rumble at the hand stroking his neck.
Kkyu-rurrrr...
As their warm body heat mingled, a fitting level of tension settled over Yoo Sung-hwan’s body.
Then he braced the anti-materiel sniper rifle in his hands.
It was the new firearm he’d switched to for this opportunity.
AWA-4.
The weapon known as Hades. A nano-tech firearm at the final stage, one that led its targets toward death.
The horror of this gun lay in its penetration.
Not as well as Choi Hyun-seok’s wave detection, but through the scope it gave him a vague sense of the target’s weak point.
It even had radar functionality built in, so he could accurately determine how many movements existed within a certain range.
-Get ready!
Just as he was raising the gun’s capabilities and the Trajectory Eye, Yoon Choi’s shout came through his in-ear.
At the same time, a gentle vibration traveled through Ryong-i’s body.
Even though they were waiting at the top of the gorge, he could feel it clearly.
It meant the infector horde had drawn close.
What I have to do.
Yoo Sung-hwan calmly listed his duties.
He let his tongue moisten his lips as his battle spirit slowly climbed, then took a steadying breath.
The sticky bombs will block the gorge entrance. From there, the diversion team will scatter the infectors, and I’ll exterminate Korna together with the others.
It was a Level 6 infector that resembled a giant beetle.
Its outer shell was harder than that of any other infector, and its weak point was the tiny respiration holes in its body.
Its ability is to release heat and light energy.
The main objective was to dodge the superheated lasers and safely ride out the blinding flashes of intense light.
If they could survive that one attack, the extermination would end successfully.
With that thought complete, Yoo Sung-hwan gripped the tether linked to Ryong-i.
-Now!
Together with Yoon Choi’s cry, almost like a scream...
BOOOOM—! The entrance to the gorge collapsed under the blast.
At the same time, the users waiting atop their assigned positions hurled themselves toward the ground.
As if reflecting each person’s nature, the Omega Suits scattered their light in a riot of different colors.
Seen from afar, they looked like tiny fireflies dropping through the air to survive.
And among them, only Yoo Sung-hwan shot upward.
"Faster, Ryong-i!"
Crraaaack!
He pushed for more speed to ensure a successful start.
In an instant, they pierced through the clouds and the troposphere.
At the end of that ascent, he faced the sun hidden beyond the clouds.
The end of the glide. Yoo Sung-hwan savored the brief stillness and warmth before resting his finger on the trigger.
I’m opening the first shot.
He recalled the task he had to take first.
Following the rapidly descending Ryong-i, he aimed below.
He pressed the scope to his eye and stared through the activated Trajectory Eye.
And then... he fired.
Thwoooom!
RATATATAT!
The blast-like report of the gun and Korna’s roar announced the beginning of the operation.
---