Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Happy Halloween! (4)
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I followed the first person I laid eyes on.
The pale-faced man ran through the alley without stopping. Crash! He collided with the recycling bins placed in the alley, making a loud racket. The bins crumpled like they’d been hit by a car, but he didn’t stop.
Even if I told him to stop, he wouldn’t.
I kicked off and picked up my speed.
“Taxi!”
The man burst out of the winding alley onto the main road, reaching out his hand.
“Taxi!”
“Aaack!”
A pedestrian shoved aside by the man clutched his shoulder and screamed.
At the same time, I grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck. The guy, about to dash into the road, whipped his head around to look at me.
Indescribable terror filled his eyes.
“Let me go!”
Caught in my grip, he started flailing his arms and legs wildly.
“Let me go! I don’t wanna go to the stadium!”
What the hell?
No point in asking questions—he wouldn’t give a coherent answer. I grabbed his flailing arms. Then he began kicking at my lower body like mad.
A normal person would’ve had their bones shattered by the first kick.
I tightened my hold on the man.
“I’m not sending you to the stadium, so stay still!”
“I’ll pay back the surgery fees!”
The civilians walking nearby fled from us in a panic.
The pedestrian with the broken shoulder was the only one left, kneeling on the ground and groaning in pain. I pulled out my phone while firmly holding the man who was begging me not to send him to the stadium, promising he’d pay back the surgery fees no matter what.
I didn’t know which organization handled illegal Enhanced Body cases, but either way, I needed to call an ambulance.
Even while I called for the ambulance, the man thrashed like a maniac.
How do I subdue this guy? Knocking him out and tying him up wouldn’t work—he’d just bolt once he came to.
My dilemma was solved the moment the paramedics arrived, one of them thrusting a gun at me.
It wasn’t your standard gun.
“Green Dream.”
“Huh?”
I couldn’t make sense of what the paramedic said as he suddenly shoved the oddly shaped gun toward me.
As I stared blankly and took the gun, another paramedic approached his colleague.
“This one seems like a rookie.”
“Oh.”
Realization dawned on the face of the paramedic holding the gun.
“You a rookie?”
“Yeah.”
“Aren’t you the Badger who was in that article once?”
The paramedic who’d given the advice scrutinized my face.
“The one who rescued the Cureus Company chairman?”
“Yeah…”
Someone remembered that article.
But the paramedic with the bizarre “Green Dream” gun didn’t seem to care whether I’d been in a major article or some third-rate rag.
The paramedic pressed a button on the barrel, revealing green lights glowing between the pitch-black components.
“Then let me explain how to use it.”
His voice was like that of a jaded driving school instructor.
“Simple. Press this button here and shoot it at the illegal Enhanced Body subject.”
Pfft.
Instead of a bullet, a dart shot out of the muzzle.
The dart flew straight into the neck of the man thrashing in my grip.
I could feel the terror-stricken man’s strength gradually draining from his body.
What is this?
My eyes widened.
Some kind of anesthetic for Enhanced Bodies?
“It’s a drug that weakens Enhanced Body performance to normal human levels.”
The paramedic explained dryly to my astonished self.
“Kryptonite for Superman, basically. Use it to restrain illegal implantees.”
I took hold of the gun, which was as thick as my forearm.
Questions, explanations, and studying could wait until after I caught the illegal implantees scattered everywhere.
I hooked my finger on the trigger, turned to the paramedics, and bowed my head.
“Thanks. I’ll return it later.”
“Give it to the police.”
The paramedic replied in his flat tone and turned toward the ambulance.
“You’re handing the illegal implantees over to the police anyway.”
Oh, right—this fell under police jurisdiction too.
I pulled out my phone and called the cops.
I didn’t wait for them to arrive. I tore my outer jacket into long strips and bound the terrified man’s limbs. I set the restrained man neatly under a building by the roadside.
I’d given the police the location, so they’d come pick him up.
I slipped away quickly.
The heavy footsteps of chaotic, panicked running echoed in the confusion.
I charged toward the footsteps right nearby.
***
Gotcha!
The fifth illegal implantee.
I snatched his clothes and shoved him against the wall.
With no escape, the implantee started thrashing wildly in the trashed alley.
“No!”
She raked her nails sharply down my arm in desperation.
“No! I’m not going there!”
“I told you I’m not sending you!”
How many times have I said this now?!
I tilted my head back to dodge her nails and raised the gun barrel.
As long as the dart hits anywhere, it’s fine. With my free hand—the one not restraining the implantee—I swung the Green Dream.
Pfft!
The dart hit her neck.
But she kept struggling. I was sick of this pattern by now. Every time, I had to calm down these implantees who wailed, begged, and raged about not wanting to be dragged to some mysterious “stadium.”
This is insane.
I was in a hurry. Subduing panicked illegal implantees wasn’t as easy as I’d thought. Already, about ten civilians had been caught in the chaos and injured—some seriously.
The problem was I hadn’t even caught half of them yet. According to the police, Black Badger HQ had dispatched more Badgers after the report, but I didn’t even have time to check who they were.
Wish Green Dream had a sedative component too.
Her strength was gone, but the implantee, still mentally uncalmed, flailed her limbs wildly.
“Get the money from that bastard!”
“I don’t need money.”
I sighed and bound her limbs.
“I’ll take you somewhere safe with the others, so behave.”
I hoisted up the restrained implantee.
Draping her over my shoulder, I started running.
“You don’t need money?”
A dazed voice came from my shoulder.
I affirmed with silence, and her furious struggling gradually subsided.
Frowning, I ran toward the spot where the police were waiting.
Her voice mixed with the wind rushing past my ears.
“So you’re the one who got us out?”
Got us out? What does that mean?
I rolled my eyes while sprinting through an alley with poor streetlighting.
“Were you locked up?”
“Like animals.”
A grim reply came back.
“They said since we couldn’t pay the Enhanced Body surgery fees, they’d send us to a private stadium.”
Anger flashed in the implantee’s eyes.
“They said they’d throw us into that fucking illegal colosseum!”
Boom!
A massive crash echoed, followed by the sound of concrete crumbling.
Another illegal implantee had smashed into a building. I cursed under my breath and sped up.
Soon the view opened up, streetlights pouring in. The police were waiting for me on the roadside.
Spotting me emerge from the alley, they quickly prepared to transport the illegal Enhanced Body implantee.
Surprisingly, the implantee on my shoulder beamed at the sight of the police.
“You really got us out!”
Even as handcuffs were slapped on her, the woman smiled brightly at me.
“You and that red-haired guy freed us, right?”
I had no clue where they’d been locked up, who freed them, or what this illegal colosseum was.
But there was no time to ask.
“Take care!” I shouted, spinning back onto the road.
Bowing my head to the police, I plunged back into the darkness.
***
Too late.
The eleventh one.
I looked down at the dead man at my feet.
Not a civilian. An illegal implantee. Small mercy, but it didn’t mean I hadn’t been late.
He’d clearly been killed by someone.
I stood motionless in the darkness for a moment, gazing at the corpse.
The deepest, deserted alley in Harlem. The buildings surrounding it on three sides were uninhabited. They looked like they’d collapse if a compact car just bumped into them.
Windows that should have been there were filled with darkness.
The only light came from the distant festival lights, a few blocks away in the bustling streets.
I stared down at the body for a while, then moved.
I entered the building next to me.
There was someone in the suffocating darkness.
“We met once before.”
I said to the silhouette.
“You said your name was Shashinsky, right?”
The silhouette turned toward me.
The figure, who hadn’t moved for a moment, soon walked slowly toward me.
Monotonous footsteps.
The sound grew louder. Only when the owner stopped right in front of me did I see the distinctive hair color.
Blood-red hair tied in a half-ponytail.
Skin almost as pale as Ye-hyeon’s.
Eric’s snake-like subordinate, half-buried in shadow, stared at me expressionlessly.
“You have good ears.”
Those were his words.
“The little Badger with pink hair tips couldn’t hear me.”
I gave a faint smile.
No need to reply. He already knew why my hearing had improved.
Instead of answering, I asked a question.
“Did you free the illegal implantees who said they’d been locked up somewhere?”
Shashinsky stayed silent.
His silence was the answer.
So this mess was Eric Airhart’s doing?
Partially, probably. Eric wasn’t leading the illegal implants, nor was he the one trying to drag them to the illegal colosseum. He was above such petty schemes.
The crude stuff was surely criminal syndicate work.
Eric’s part was releasing the implantees who’d been imprisoned.
True to form for someone who loved the wretched and found pleasure in saving them, he’d shown a glimmer of light to those mired in filth. He’d quietly freed the illegal implantees locked up for unpaid surgery fees.
Probably just because he felt like it.
And we were the ones suffering for his whims.
“Why’d you kill this one? After going to the trouble of freeing him.”
“When indulging in hobbies, one must respect boundaries.”
Shashinsky answered readily.
“Leave him be, and he’d have massacred dozens of civilians.”
“Ah.”
Typical of them.
He meant they wouldn’t let civilian casualties spiral out of control again. They’d eliminated the implantees most likely to cross that line.
Not humanitarian, though. Eric wouldn’t blink if a few civilians died at implantee hands.
Third in the world’s power hierarchy. People at that level operated on a conscience far removed from normals’.
I recalled the elder I’d met before.
“If too many victims pile up from illegal implantees, it’ll spotlight Enhanced Body societal issues, shaking the Black Badger organization.”
Shashinsky didn’t refute my quiet words.
I felt a small satisfaction that my solo hypothesis had been right.
“Looks like even the elders can’t mess with Ye-hyeon’s position at will. I never thought it was a one-sided superior-subordinate thing between the elders and Ye-hyeon anyway.”
“Who’d say something that stupid?”
Shashinsky asked in a calm, chilling voice.
“You seem clueless about power dynamics.”
Choi Hyun-seok did lack insight.
I smiled faintly, agreeing with Shashinsky.
“He’d never make it as a businessman.”
The final say on territory reclamation rested with Lee Ye-hyeon.
The territory reclamation war—the most profitable venture right now. Deciding its stage would grant the Black Badger organization immense power. It meant Ye-hyeon got to choose which elder profited most this time.
No way it was one-sided.
“The Supreme Commander is a diplomatic genius.”
Perhaps my thoughts about Lee Ye-hyeon showed on my face, as Shashinsky broke the quiet murmur.
I met his ashen eyes and smiled faintly.
“Yes. That’s why he’s held that seat so long. Running the organization smoothly while facing the envy and rage of aging civilians who can’t avoid it—that’s impressive.”
“By nature, dangerous privileges must be granted to a select few.”
Shashinsky said darkly.
“Wasn’t that the lesson you taught us?”
…What?
A chill ran through me.
An ominous foreboding hit. My gut twisted. Digging deeper into this topic felt like it would unearth something I’d been trying to forget.
The urge to ignore the past and settle for a half-truth reality surged.
Caught in complicated emotions, I stared at Shashinsky for a long while.
Walker’s call snapped me out of it.
“Oh, Walker senior…”
“Let’s go. It’s late.”
Shashinsky melted into the shadows like a ghost, timing it perfectly.
“The old spider won’t wait forever.”
Real human rights violator.
Still monitoring my every move.
I sighed at the elders’ unsurprising antics and answered Walker’s call.
Pushing down the eerie sensation that had washed over me.