Tracking (3)
Du-ho forced down the gooseflesh that had risen on his arms.
Then, after taking a few more steps, he could hardly hide his astonishment.
This feels like walking on clouds!
No—lighter than that.
He bent at the waist.
He moved his legs quickly.
Whiiiiir—.
The mana circuit responded smoothly, supporting his movements with perfect efficiency.
As if it didn’t even know the meaning of delay.
...It’s this good?
He drew in a breath and pressed down the excitement welling up inside him.
Then the next question came naturally.
How much can it lift?
A question that was only natural—and one he absolutely had to test.
He started with something light.
He lifted the toolbox resting on the workbench.
Maybe about 5 kilos?
He picked it up with a simple tug.
Huh?
“It’s too light.”
His gaze shifted to the heavy box of metal parts stacked beside it.
He grabbed the handle and put some force into it, and once again it rose far too easily.
There was no strain at all on his arm.
Even the workbench lifted so easily that it barely felt like lifting anything at all.
Du-ho’s eyes fixed on Isto.
Come on…
Still, wasn’t Isto exaggerating?
Even if he’s small, he still weighs over 90 kilos.
That thought crossed his mind, but Du-ho still wrapped both hands around Isto’s waist.
-Eh? D-Du-ho nim?
Whiiiiiiir!
The mana circuit glowed brightly and released a low hum. The auxiliary device took the load and raised Isto.
“...It’s lifting.”
Now it finally felt like he was actually lifting something.
After setting Isto back down, Du-ho grinned at Hoguai.
“Come here for a second.”
-Yes?
When Hoguai approached—
“Isto, lift Hoguai.”
-Huh?
-N-no! Absolutely not!
Crack.
When Du-ho glared at them, both of them did as they were told.
-Eek!
Hoguai, held in Isto’s powerful arms in a princess carry, trembled all over in humiliation.
Du-ho stepped closer to the two of them.
He took a deep breath, then grabbed the waist of Isto, who was holding Hoguai.
Hup!
The instant he bent his knees and straightened them, the assist device exploded with force.
WIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!
The mana circuit took on a heavy load and unleashed superhuman strength.
To his surprise, Isto’s feet left the ground as Du-ho hoisted both of them up at once.
A total weight nearing 200 kilos.
And yet Du-ho didn’t stagger once; he held the weight steadily and without wavering.
Isto cheered.
Oh! Oh! Oh!
-Du-ho nim is the best, as expected!
Then, after carefully setting them both down, Du-ho’s jaw dropped.
Wow, this…
“This is over-specced, isn’t it?”
The heart of this absurd performance was obvious.
The smart actuator.
He’d built it using Isto’s joint structure as a reference, mixing in everything he knew, but…
I had no idea it would come out this good.
Du-ho sank into thought for a moment.
This was a structure and a technology that didn’t exist in current human civilization.
If he submitted it as it was and something unfortunate happened because of it, that would be a problem.
Hmm…
I should file a patent first.
Hearing his thoughts, Isto quickly spoke up.
-I’ll go through all the related documents and get every patent we can possibly claim ready for you, hamda.
“Yeah, thanks.”
Right then.
◈ Mana Circuit Mechanic Construction Complete
Reward: Dimension Control
Oh! Oh! Ooooh!!!
Before Du-ho could even react, fireworks burst across Isto’s LED eyes with a series of popping flashes.
-Mission complete, hamda!
-Congratulations, Mechromancer nim!
The two of them circled around Du-ho, radiating pure joy.
“Wait, wait. Calm down a little….”
Still dazed, Du-ho opened the skill window, where Dimension Exit had changed to Dimension Control.
“...Deferred?”
Du-ho tilted his head.
“What kind of reward is this?”
Then Isto, looking at the system window, brightened and explained eagerly.
-No, no. This is a good thing, hamda.
“What’s so good about it?”
-If you clear a floor, you can use the deferment to go down to the next floor!
Ah~
“So I can go down to the lower floors?”
-That’s right, hamda!
“Would there really be any need to do that?”
-Eh?!
Isto jerked stiffly as if to say, What do you mean?, and Hoguai cut in.
-Mechromancer nim. Rather than repeating the first floor over and over, going down to lower floors would…
“You mean it’d be more efficient for leveling, or because the higher-grade monsters give more experience?”
When Du-ho asked flatly, Hoguai looked taken aback too.
“But it’d be more dangerous.”
Du-ho’s logic was firm.
Even if he only cleared the first floor, he could make more than enough money and keep leveling at a steady clip.
So…
“There’s no need to gamble with my life.”
-N-no, hamda!
“What do you mean no?”
-Once Du-ho nim becomes E-rank, first-floor monsters won’t give you experience like they do now!
In other words, as his rank rose, the first floor would stop being enough.
But…
And you want me to go down just for that reason?
When Du-ho frowned in clear disapproval, Hoguai’s shoulders slumped.
Then Isto rushed in with desperate persuasion.
Items!
-And the magic stones on the higher floors are nothing like the first floor’s, hamda! Besides, I, Isto, would never let Du-ho nim get hurt!
Then Hoguai thrust the scope of his bow right up in front of Du-ho’s face and said miserably,
-My name... You said I could change it once you reached S-rank, didn’t you?
“...I did say that.”
-You said you’d change it for me, didn’t you?
In the end, Du-ho scratched his cheek and muttered in a tiny voice, “F-fine. Okay. We’ll go in this time first, and decide after that. Deal?”
At those words—
Smack!
Isto and Hoguai, each dying to get the better of the other, slammed their hands together in a thunderous high-five.
Honestly…
Anyone watching would think they’d just hit a buzzer-beater or something.
Du-ho looked at the Dimension Control window again.
Maintain the floor, explore the upper floors, and destroy it when necessary.
...That’s Dimension Control, literally.
Of course, it was a privilege he could only earn by taking the quest and clearing it, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.
Swish.
He removed the assist device and set it on the workbench.
On top of the workbench, the blue mana circuit glowed softly.
A faint smile spread across Du-ho’s lips.
I should give this to Father as soon as possible.
That day, humanity’s first mana circuit-based mechanic was born.
A machine that could move through the Rift and the Abyss alike….
* * *
Two weeks earlier.
Hotel suite.
Susan sprawled into a plush sofa and skimmed through material related to Abyss destruction on her smart glasses.
So two floors were erased, and the difficulty of the remaining floors dropped…
In more ways than one.
“Makes me want to find that Ghost.”
Whirl, whirr—.
In her hand, the butter knife spun with toy-like flair. She had been about to spread butter on a freshly toasted slice, then forgot all about it and kept twirling the blade instead.
Just then, her smart glasses vibrated.
-Found him.
The moment the call connected, Jacob’s scruffy-bearded hologram cut straight to the point.
Susan, still spinning the knife, replied with indifference.
“Why are you so slow? Want me to cut your throat?”
-Aigoo~ Do you have any idea how many of my cyber-bodies you’ve smashed to pieces?
“And I’m supposed to care?”
-Don’t you get it? The South Korean government has been fanatical about hacking defense. They’ve raised walls upon walls…
A file arrived on her smart glasses.
She set the knife down and opened it.
Bundang Expressway Rift — Day of Incident
Unmanned taxi passenger identity confirmed
Name: Im Du-ho
Age: 26
Occupation: Hunter Bureau Machine Upcycling Department
Experience: 6 years, contract employee
Susan’s lips curled slightly in interest.
“Im Du-ho….”
-A 26-year-old awakening would normally draw attention worldwide, but he hid it instead.
“More interesting than that is the Machine Upcycling Department.”
-Why? Looks like just a grunt-work division to me.
Susan let out a snort of laughter.
“A 26-year-old awakener who’d make the news was shoved into a department that handles grunt work? That just screams that he’s hiding something.”
“...?”
“He’s basically advertising, I’ve got a lot to hide right now.”
Jacob warned her in a low voice.
-Maybe the Bureau planted that as cover information. Be careful.
“Have I been doing this for one day or two?”
After ending the call, Susan paused one video on her smart glasses and zoomed in.
In the CCTV footage Jacob had hacked, Im Du-ho was riding in an unmanned taxi.
She froze the image and enlarged it further.
Between the glass reflections and the holographic ads, his face only came into view in fragments.
Still, his features are pretty distinct. He shouldn’t be hard to track down.
This man.
There were too many suspicious things about him.
Now then…
“Let’s see whether you’re the Ghost, or whether I’m chasing the wrong trail.”
Susan’s amber eyes narrowed like a predator that had finally spotted its prey.
* * *
At a café window overlooking the front gate of the Hunter Bureau.
Susan ordered espresso and cake, then put on her smart glasses.
It was the morning rush hour.
Her eyes swept across the Bureau’s front gate as she activated facial recognition.
All right, let’s find Im Du-ho.
But.
That day, she couldn’t find him.
A first-rate assassin had to know how to wait patiently for her prey.
Of course, this wasn’t an assassination mission.
And so she waited for Im Du-ho the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that again, staying rooted to the same spot like a stone statue… no, like a grieving widow.
Two weeks passed.
“Would you like your usual today too?”
“...Yes.”
By then, Susan had become a regular at the café, her eyes bloodshot and hollow as she glared at the front gate.
She watched it during the morning commute, during lunch, and during the evening rush.
With the kind of obsessive determination that meant she wouldn’t let even an ant slip past!
And yet she still couldn’t find Im Du-ho.
...N-no way!
In the end, she asked Jacob to hack the internal network.
And the result?
It was enough to make her clutch the back of her neck.
Im Du-ho / 08:42 Arrived at work
“He’s inside right now?!”
Susan stabbed at Jacob’s floating hologram with her fork through the smart glasses.
“I’ll just cut your throat.”
-Why are you like this? I hacked that while risking my life for you.
“Does that make any sense at all?”
Susan was seconds away from bolting out of the café and storming into the Bureau.
That was how furious she was.
“I’ve been watching since six o’clock!”
-Maybe he went to the bathroom when you weren’t looking…
“I didn’t skip even at the risk of getting a bladder infection!”
-...Calm down. Machines don’t lie. It clearly says 8:42.
“Then what, he walked through the walls to get in? Or did he take a drone taxi from the roof?!”
She let out a long sigh and forced her voice back under control.
“Fine. Plan B. Give me his home address.”
-That’s the thing…
“Why! What now?!”
-That bastard Im Du-ho has disabled most of his personal data consent, so there’s no way to dig up his private information.
“Arghhh!!!”
“Damn privacy settings. Then what about SNS?!”
-He’s a pure-bred natural with no social media account at all. Even I’ve never seen an introvert like this.
Every possible lead on Im Du-ho was blocked.
And to make things worse, Jacob delivered the final blow.
-Susan. I’ve got bad news.
“...Go on. It can’t get any worse.”
-Since the day you dealt with the druggie, Im Du-ho hasn’t shown up on CCTV or payment services at all.
“...What do you mean?”
-It’s like every trace of his daily life has been erased.
“...!”
To be honest, the more Im Du-ho’s trail disappeared, the more certain Susan became that he really was the Ghost.
That had definitely been the case.
“No traces of daily life?”
-I’m thinking maybe someone handled Im Du-ho and has been checking his work attendance and departure times instead?
That was Jacob’s speculative guess.
Ha…
How ridiculous.
I came here to catch the Ghost of the Abyss, and I’ve been waiting all this time for a man who’s become a real ghost.
At this rate, it could even be a criminal case.
And if I get dragged into that?
That’d be a little…
“Jacob, I’m pulling out.”
After Susan hurriedly left the café—
“An instant coffee would’ve been fine.”
Hey now!
“We already submitted our contest entry today, so let me treat you! You did good, so at least let me pay!”
Im Du-ho was dragged into the café by Deputy Manager Park’s hand.
Looking around the interior, Deputy Manager Park soon wore a disappointed expression.
Aw…
The pretty foreign girl isn’t here.
He had even worked up the courage to… confess.