80. Approaching Truth (2)
80. Approaching Truth (2)
They were all dead.
Well, it seemed like they all had abilities.
Arm Enhancement, Speed Enhancement, things like that.
'So, no powerful abilities for now, huh.'
Why?
Well, I'll find out if I ask.
"Ah. Aaa.. Mmmph! Mmmph!"
I had already subdued Park Young-ho.
Not just that, but there were people I needed to find here.
I walked up to him and smacked his cheek with the rebar.
Smack
Park Young-ho was dazed for a moment.
But soon, sparks flew in his eyes.
"Mmmph!!!!"
"Release your ability."
The man looked at me as if I were pathetic.
Did he really still not grasp the situation?
I crumpled the metal and lifted it.
Thud
"....!!!!!!!!"
Whack!
Whack!
I struck his whole body.
However,
The eyes filled with rage didn't dim.
And neither did the ability binding my body.
Tough.
Real tough.
Well, I guess he had to be tough to do something like this.
But at some point, the binding was released.
I glanced at Park Young-ho and saw he had fainted.
The guy was covered in bruises and passed out.
I could just leave him here and take him later.
Anyway, he's done for now. So then.
I killed everything that appeared on the way back and headed to the right side of the Y-shaped hallway.
Whirrrr
The door opened.
The atmosphere here was completely different.
'Guess it's true that IN Company built a bunker.'
The left side of the Y was entirely a residential area.
The right side was entirely an experimental area.
In contrast to the red residential area with red carpets, this side was filled with sleek, white laboratories.
Whirrr
Plus, the structure was similar to the previous IN Company underground lab.
'......'
There were a few INRS and INSS, but I just killed them and walked forward.
Step
Step
Step
The inside of the lab was clean.
Countless monitors floated on the ceiling.
And computers everywhere, and numerous rooms.
I just smashed everything.
Would I need this place to survive in the future?
Not at all.
"Who are you...! Ack!"
"Aaaaahhh!"
I picked all the locks and wiped out all the humans, including the researchers inside and outside the lab.
"Crazy...!"
"Ah. Aaa.."
"Aaaaahhh!"
"P-please spare me. Please. I, I didn't do anything...!"
Unlike the INRS or INSS who didn't say a word, the researchers were saying something.
However,
If I needed information, I would keep them alive, but since Seo-yoon has her ability, I only need to keep their heads intact.
I lifted one of the researchers.
"You."
"Y-yes...!"
"You have a Chief Researcher here. The big boss. Where is he?"
"Yes?"
Thump!
"In the central..! The central lab..!"
"Where's the central lab?"
"Just turn left over there and it's right... Ack...!"
Splish
Splash
That's how I arrived somewhere in the middle of the lab.
Creeeak
I opened the door. A small lab came into view...
And a man with a bald head.
I also saw agents next to him.
Rat-tat-tat
Bullets were fired, but he flew back and killed the INRS.
Thud
The INRS fell down.
And
Boom
The machine behind them exploded.
"No, no!"
The man screamed while looking at the machine.
Splish
Splash
Because so many people had died, the floor was covered in blood.
The man who collapsed to the floor crawled blankly toward the machine.
I thought about killing him, but I saw the business card on his desk and spared him.
[Chief Researcher Lee Cheol-woo]
This guy must have been the owner of the Sejong Branch research lab back then.
PR, PRE? Looks like there are several.
"Ugh..."
Lee Cheol-woo screamed.
"Do you, do you even know what you've done right now!"
Lee Cheol-woo screamed.
Even though I didn't ask, Lee Cheol-woo kept yelling.
"You, you crazy bastard! Do you have any idea what kind of research this is...!"
Tap-tap-tap
A man came running.
"Ack!"
Lee Cheol-woo hit the wall.
I completely subdued him.
Since I had to take him to Seo-yoon.
Splish
Splash
There was a bit left inside... but whatever.
After cleaning up the rest of the humans, I dragged Park Young-ho and Lee Cheol-woo out of the hotel.
I'll just put a contract on them and strip them of everything.
I roughly shoved Park Young-ho and Lee Cheol-woo into a car I saw nearby.
And flew up into the sky.
All I saw were soldiers.
I killed them all too.
This place just doesn't exist anymore.
'No IN Company guys here.'
Is this really all the personnel here?
I'll just have to ask at the Bugang-myeon Office.
#
Bugang-myeon Office.
I brought Seo-yoon, Eun-bin, and Seol-hwa.
Park Young-ho and Lee Cheol-woo were unconscious.
However.
"Uhm, Yu-seong-ssi."
"Yeah."
"This person is dead."
Park Young-ho was already dead.
Well, I did beat him up too much with the rebar.
Was the binding released because he died, not because he fainted?
There was a lot of information to extract, but it seemed like I hit a bad spot when I smacked him a few times out of annoyance.
Humans don't die that easily, but on the other hand, they can die easily too.
Whatever.
I only subdued the other guy and brought him.
And actually, Lee Cheol-woo was a more important person than Park Young-ho anyway.
I woke Lee Cheol-woo up.
"Ugh. Ugh."
Lee Cheol-woo groaned and got up.
"Write."
"Do you, do you think I'll do this? Ugh..!"
The man bit his tongue.
Of course, that won't work.
"Eun-bin."
Because Eun-bin's healing regenerates his tongue.
Funny.
INSS and INRS had the ability to commit suicide, but I guess he doesn't.
'Gotta ask about this too.'
"Ack!"
"Don't try anything funny."
"Kuh, kugh..."
The man resisted.
But torture, as expected, knew the answer.
Grind
About 10 minutes later.
Lee Cheol-woo surrendered quickly.
The contract disappeared.
#
My foot stomps on Lee Cheol-woo's head.
The fact that the contract disappeared means he has been caught in the contract.
What should I ask first?
"What's your name?"
"Mmmph..mph..! L-Lee Cheol-woo."
The man wore a devastated expression.
"Who's in your family?"
Lee Cheol-woo.
Age 42.
Family: wife, two daughters.
Parents-in-law, parents.
Seems like nothing's wrong.
"What month is your daughter's birthday?"
"...March."
Good.
"Position?"
"...I serve as both the Branch Manager and Chief Researcher of the Innovation Nexus Sejong Branch."
"Right."
Then what should I ask first?
Well, I can just ask everything.
I have plenty of time.
First, the most important thing.
"What's IN Company's goal?"
"..IN Company's goal is to create a new order."
Order, huh.
"Exactly."
Lee Cheol-woo continued.
"The supply of Nexus Cores through Nexus Energy, the growth of Nexus Cores, and the transplantation of high-compatibility abilities. It's to grant new power to IN Company executives and investors who invested in the new government, and to establish a new order centered around IN Company."
"Investors?"
"The high-and-mighty people around the world. To be precise, the high-and-mighty people recruited by the headquarters."
Ah, of course they would.
It was exactly as I expected, so it wasn't even interesting.
"Then you've been executing that plan since January?"
"No."
No?
"Then when?"
"The plan was planned from the year before last."
"From 2 years ago?"
"Yes."
"What did you do for 2 years?"
"We continued experiments to safely transplant Nexus Energy into humans."
So you continued experiments from '24, not Jan '26.
"Is Nexus Energy a superpower? Does it let you get superpowers?"
"Yes."
"Explain."
"Nexus Energy is an energy newly discovered by IN Company. It's a substance that grants superpowers to humans. That information is completely controlled."
"Controlled?"
"Yes, I don't know the details. This is Class 1 information only known to the headquarters. However, the higher-ups obtained Nexus Energy in some way and packaged it so humans could easily recognize it. That is the Nexus Core."
Grind
Veins rose up and formed letters.
"This, right?"
"Yes."
"Then the high-and-mighty people got superpowers 2 years ago too?"
"Yes."
Hmm.
Well, I guess so.
Then they must be like level 10 now, right?
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because a human's Nexus Core only grows with negative Nexus Energy."
"What is negative Nexus Energy?"
"The ability to accept Nexus Energy better is called compatibility. Humans with less than 0% compatibility all turn into Infected."
"Ah. Don't tell me."
"Yes, human compatibility exists from -100 to 100. Everyone from -100 to 0 turns into Infected."
I understood.
"Then that means you guys spread the veil26 virus. Because for a human with compatibility 0 or higher to obtain Nexus Energy, they need a human with compatibility 0 or lower."
"Yes."
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know that."
Damn it.
"But then, aren't there people who just caught people, turned them into Infected, and leveled up? Huh? You must have caught orphans or lower-class people and experimented on them."
"That's not it."
Lee Cheol-woo asserted.
"Why?"
"Because Chairman Elias Sinclair has negative compatibility. Information was controlled and it was only conducted at the headquarters. This information was released in January of this year."
"Ah."
Wait, then...
"The time the veil26 virus spread. So, January 7, 2026, was exactly when you became able to grant abilities to negative compatibility? To your Chairman?"
"Yes."
"And you started research immediately when the world collapsed, and now transplantation is possible? That 3% success case or whatever? You must have started switching to good abilities from February, right?"
"Yes."
If so, it must be true that the high-and-mighty people all have abilities now.
"And that was in March?"
"Yes. That was the main agenda of the board of directors. Experiments to transfer serum to those with high compatibility were conducted at branches worldwide."
"But there was a problem, did you solve it?"
"Yes. But it hasn't been completely solved."
"Why?"
"Because there are slight side effects. It's dangerous."
"But you did succeed, right?"
"Yes."
This meant... that countless bastards would emerge, gaining the power of large corporations and abilities. Especially starting with that guy, Elias Sinclair, the Chairman of IN Company.
Wait.
"Were there other board agenda items?"
"There were."
"Explain."
"There was a method to extract Nexus Energy from extraction zones."
"...Zones, huh. Is that the method using that weird extractor?"
"Yes, that's right. It's safe but inefficient, because it can only be extracted from specific zones in each region. And the randomness is severe."
I bet.
Isn't that why the INSS bastards went here and there to extract it and died by my hand.
"Anything else?"
"There was also a method to extract superpowers from humans with positive compatibility."
"Positive compatibility. So that means catching humans with high-compatibility abilities and extracting their abilities."
This was the content about supplying ability users along with warlords like Park Young-ho.
"Yes."
"Did you succeed?"
"Yes. Our branch succeeded in transplanting superpowers. Although there were errors."
This means IN Company's ability user hunting will now proceed.
And that they will continue to conduct safe transplantation experiments.
"Right?"
"Yes."
Amazing.
Truly amazing.
"Then the people who came here are all dead, right? There were drums at GP Biotech too."
"Yes. They all died because of our experiments."
"Then are you guys the ones getting those abilities now?"
"Yes, we used all those extracted items."
"You used them?"
But I didn't see any ability users when I came here.
"It hasn't been long. You must have killed them all. They were all lv.1 ability users."
"What's your ability?"
"Bunker lv.1.."
Bunker ability.
I guess he was planning to raise his ability separately.
"Yes."
"But how do you raise that, go out and shoot guns? You can't catch a Hunter."
"It was scheduled to be no problem if we received support from INSS and INRS from the headquarters."
"Why do you talk like that? What does 'scheduled to be no problem' mean?"
He continued.
"A problem occurred. Contact with the headquarters was cut off, contact with each branch was also completely severed, and support from special forces including INSS also disappeared."
"Why?"
"Because the Chairman died."
"What? Why?"
"I don't know. Whether it's because of abnormal Infected, or a problem caused by the serum, or caused by the experiment. Or internal strife. One thing is certain, the Chairman is dead."
"Explain the abnormal Infected first."
"It means unpredictable, powerful Infected like the Cheonan Hive."
"Cheonan Hive. You mean the thing that sends Waves? How strong is it? Stronger than a Hunter and Abomination?"
"Yes."
"If it's from an experiment. It would be like the one that occurred in Cheongju. The serum would be the side effect of that successful serum."
"Yes. Although the probability is low."
"What's internal strife?"
"It's a common story. Not everyone likes the Chairman."
"That all happened with the headquarters, damn it? Isn't that nonsense? I don't think you guys are that stupid. And I don't think the Chairman of this huge company that rules the world would have died. Didn't the Chairman plot this?"
"No, it's certain that the Chairman is dead."
"Why are you so sure?"
"The contract that Chairman Elias Sinclair placed has been released. All personnel with the rank of Division Head or higher who signed the contract with their lives as collateral have died. This is the same as saying Chairman Elias Sinclair is dead. Of course, as you said, there is a possibility that he is alive."