Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Operation (1)
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How could you just abandon me like this?
Richard Green ignored Yoon’s rude reply. From what I could see, these people knew each other far too well. They were probably sick to death of one another’s existence.
Green didn’t seem angered by Yoon’s irritated retort.
“Since it’s come to this, you’d better think this through.”
[Yeah, yeah.]
No one was surprised by the perfunctory response.
That was apparently how Yoon always reacted whenever Richard Green started nagging.
I’d gotten plenty of sleep. The group gathered around the rusty table in the control room and sat down.
A bit pathetically, most of the seniors avoided sitting next to me. It wasn’t so much that they found my ability to attract creatures creepy—it seemed more like they felt betrayed that I’d kept my mouth shut about it all this time.
Ami and Sylvia were the exceptions.
Ami knew my situation. And Sylvia… didn’t seem to care about it at all.
The more I saw of her, the more she seemed like she’d gone to the same class as my master.
At any rate, I was grateful to have people filling the seats on either side of me. I sat quietly between Ami and Sylvia, keeping my mouth shut.
The seniors were on speakerphone with my master. The Safe Point map floated in the air.
Tvein, still furious at all of us for hiding this from him, shouted.
“You crazy bastard. You knew and didn’t say a word to us?”
My master sounded indifferent.
[I didn’t.]
He had no intention of making excuses.
The conversation didn’t continue.
Tvein, who’d gone silent expecting a follow-up, grew even angrier.
“You psycho freak! We should scrap every last one of you brain-dead bastards!”
[Isn’t Sylvia there with you?]
Yoon chuckled lightly over the phone.
[Going for a wide-area snipe?]
“Cut the crap.”
“Hey, nice, huh? Must be great getting all that favoritism from the boss. Be honest— you two are screwing each other, right?”
“Jason Tvein!”
“Goddamn it!”
Green and Ami snapped in unison.
Lee Ho and the blonde senior agent Barbie looked grim as well. But Yoon himself wasn’t angry.
His mocking voice flowed from the phone.
[You’re just scared. Jealous that you don’t get Ye-hyeon’s favoritism.]
My master had a natural talent for getting under people’s skin.
Bang! The table cracked. Tvein stood up, ready to smash the phone. In the end, we had to halt the meeting for a while.
Richard Green ordered everyone to leave the room so he could assess the terrain and devise the plan himself. The seniors shuffled back upstairs.
In the chaos, the worked-up Tvein had to be dragged away by Lee Ho. Oh, senior, you’re not some amateur—why act like this? That distinctive goat-like voice carried over.
The control room emptied out.
I stayed in my seat until the seniors had all gone.
As I was leaving, I made eye contact with Richard Green and gave a nod.
“You.”
The senior stared at me with burning eyes and spoke heavily.
I didn’t avoid his gaze.
“Yes.”
“You’re prepared, right?”
“Yes.”
Truth be told, I’d resolved myself the moment I accepted Ye-hyeon’s order to become a badger.
I’d never told anyone about it. But at any rate, I’d steeled my determination back then before accepting his offer.
I had no intention of being surprised or devastated now. Whether privately or officially, I wasn’t about to turn a blind eye to the problems I’d unintentionally caused.
Ami was waiting at the stairs. Feeling her presence, I gave Richard another nod.
“I’ll follow whatever plan you come up with.”
After replying, I turned and headed for the stairs.
***
We were surrounded by a horde of creatures, but the Safe Point itself was enclosed in a small Breath barrier.
So it wasn’t in immediate danger. Ami led me up to the second floor.
“Staying on the first floor means dealing with the seniors’ stares.”
The senior gently grabbed my arm and pulled me along.
Hearing her calm voice made my chest tighten a little.
I was grateful for the natural kindness she’d shown me ever since the day we met.
We climbed the stairs and entered the room with the widest windows on the second floor. One side of the room was entirely glass. The moment I pushed open the creaky door and stepped inside, my view filled up.
The head of what I estimated to be a Rank 7 creature stared right at me from the darkness.
The creature looked straight at me.
With an eye that took up nearly half the window.
“Looks like a freakish human.”
Ami strolled into the room and said casually.
“Hilde, you know about the eight-foot ghost?”
“No?”
“It’s this huge, lanky ghost. Kinda like that.”
But your voice doesn’t sound scared at all.
I got what she meant, though. Gray strands—whether hair or fur, I couldn’t tell—draped over its elongated face like curtains.
Meanwhile, a massive inverted eye gleamed sharply.
The bloodshot eye glared at me resentfully.
What the hell did I ever do to you people?
As I walked diagonally across the room, the creature’s huge pupil rolled to follow me. Its body didn’t twitch, but the eye tracked my every move faithfully.
Ami let out a soft “Eek.”
“Gives me the creeps.”
“Yeah. It’s grotesque.”
“Hilde, you’ve never fought a huge creature before?”
I nodded while staring at the bloodshot eye that filled half the window, and Ami came to stand beside me.
She gazed at the creature with me and offered advice.
“Get under its body, hit the legs, and attack once it loses balance. That’s the easiest way.”
“Ah, I think I get it. Thanks for the advice.”
“Yeah. Time it right and slip inside its body—it won’t be able to strike back easily.”
Just like Ye-hyeon slipping through the gap created by a Rank 10 creature.
It was textbook swordsmanship. That unforgettable scene replayed in my mind.
Flawless iaijutsu, smooth technique. Expert footwork. Yoon’s words about him having learned the sword properly.
Who had taught him swordsmanship?
I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword. After desperately shouting in that underground parking lot where I’d stabbed the pig to death, Yoon had at least given me a bigger blade.
As expected, a thicker, longer sword fit my hand better than a thin, short one.
Sometimes this one felt oddly unsatisfying too, but…
I didn’t have major complaints. It was just a slight regret. This sword was more than functional enough.
After hearing Yoon’s irritated insistence, I figured I’d be using the sword instead of a gun once the operation started.
I hoped that was the case.
“But seriously, how does it know exactly where you are?”
Ami muttered while eyeing the eye outside that wouldn’t leave me alone.
“It’s seriously weird, right?”
“Exactly. That’s the part I’m most curious about.”
“Anyway, let’s just kill them all.”
The senior with the youthful voice suggested breezily.
“Headquarters scientists tried taming them for decades, but creatures never let themselves be tamed.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Especially the ones closer to human shape.”
Her next words were almost to herself.
“They’re way more vicious than the others…”
Told you so.
A voice suddenly popped into my head.
The black-haired man speaking to me. Think back, he’d said. What our world had given us. What only we could feel. You feel it. The life force ready to explode. The sense of connection. The vivid sensation of life flowing through your body.
He burst into his signature refreshing laugh.
They know nothing. That blue-haired researcher, the squinty-eyed human, the old folks.
That’s how he always mocked the two-tone-haired researcher. I sank into the faint, emerging memory.
Who would know? Who could even guess at our bond?
In my memories, we were always obsessively confined in that white room. Whenever we were left alone in that sterile space, he’d reveal his true feelings openly.
His habitual phrase echoed in my head.
They’re blind. They know nothing.
Know nothing…
So what didn’t they know?
In the end, I couldn’t remember that far.
***
Cut the legs.
Noon. The sun high in the sky, securing our view.
It was time to start the operation. A few kilometers away stood a bridge. Thick and sturdy, it still held its shape.
A cliff lay beneath the bridge. Fall, and nothing but flying creatures would survive.
I’d drive there to lure the creatures.
The seniors would tail the horde fixated on me. They’d hunt them off from behind, one by one.
Most creatures would be too focused on me to look back. No matter how many there were, it wouldn’t be too hard.
Ami and I just had to play our parts well.
Ami, with the highest mobility, was paired with me. Her job was to scoop me up and fly over the severed bridge.
Any creatures we couldn’t take out, we’d remove by destroying the bridge. The moment Ami and I crossed, we’d toss the explosives. Boom! Creatures plummeting with the exploding bridge.
Simple and effective.
No obvious problems in sight.
I’d memorized the map.
“Ready.”
I checked the gear in the sleek car—rivaling Yoon’s sports car—and reported.
“I’ll head out the moment the signal drops.”
[Ami.]
“Ready here too.”
Ami, wearing pitch-black gloves, clenched and unclenched her small hand.
“Give the order.”
The radio cut off.
A brief silence fell. I emptied my mind and stared out the windshield. Feeling a gaze from beside me, I turned my head.
Ami grinned.
“Do your best!”
My eyes widened.
“Yes. I’ll floor it.”
“You’re not nervous.”
Ami let out a clear laugh.
“This is your first time facing such a big creature, right? You’re really something, Hilde.”
Is it?
I blinked a couple times. I wasn’t actually tense. I just didn’t think it was unusual.
I doubted my fellow recruits, Hessi or Tom, would be that nervous either.
Hessi might even enjoy it.
Vrrr!
As I wondered about my recruits’ well-being, the signal to start the operation came.
It wasn’t over the radio. But the sound was so loud I couldn’t miss it.
The sound of the Breath activating.
Brake pressed, I eyed the front gate. Wide open inside. A translucent barrier before it.
It rippled and parted with a sound.
An eerie, massive noise. Whoooong. Whoooong.
Like a balloon.
The barrier opened.
I hit the accelerator.
Screeeeech!
The moment I plowed through the creatures clustered at the Breath, the operation began.