Chapter 389
Chapter 389
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 389
Chapter Title: Chapter 17. Travel Preparations (12)
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‘Knowledge is the window through which we see the world.’
I heard that back in elementary or middle school. The more broad knowledge you have, the more angles you can view the world from.
In other words, for a person, knowledge becomes the ‘frame’ that confines the world they see.
“Oh my goodness. It feels like I got a Christmas present long before winter even arrives? I’m Camelia from Let Human’s VIP service. Feel free to call me Camella, or whatever you like.”
“...Professor. You probably already know.”
The frame that serves as a person’s basis for viewing the world. It’s not just simple knowledge, but the ‘notions’ formed by a lifetime immersed in culture, the environment you grew up in, memorable events and lessons, and all sorts of experiences combined.
“Of course, how could I not know Dome’s most famous figure? Shall we go? You seem in a hurry.”
The moment you grasp the other person’s ‘frame,’ fooling them becomes as easy as breathing.
‘Drugs. Human trafficking. Smuggling-focused underground organization. Already has dealings with Dome’s power brokers. Well-versed in localized mutation symptoms like Camilla’s.’
People in that world fundamentally base everything on distrust of humanity. ‘That’s just how people are.’ ‘When push comes to shove, true colors show.’ Those phrases are glued to their lips. Most people they’ve met in life wear one face on the outside and another within, so even when they see a good person, they don’t think ‘Wow, they’re kind,’ but rather ‘Wow, they hide their true intentions masterfully.’
By revealing my ‘localized mutation symptoms,’ I made them think I was desperate, cornered. To them, with their knowledge, my appearance matched patients like Camilla exactly, and their condition is a fairly advanced incurable disease right now.
They figured I was in quite a desperate spot, and that desperation lent perfect plausibility to the situation of ‘famous Professor’ shedding his mask of goodness to demand this dirty deal.
From their perspective, it was a scenario they couldn’t help but think, ‘Ah, in a situation like this, it makes sense.’
Of course, they’re people who’ve survived countless betrayals that left their heads spinning, so they might suspect once or twice, but the circumstantial evidence of ‘rich and powerful man with an incurable disease’ was just too overwhelming.
So, tricking a backworld underground organization stuffed with such stereotypes is as easy as eating cold porridge.
Eeeeng-! Eeeeng-!
“Over there!”
“Seal the exit! Turn that rat in the trap into Swiss cheese with suppressive fire!”
Tutatatatat-!
...And I failed at eating that cold porridge.
“Weapons! You grab the weapons?!”
“I swept up whatever was in sight, but most are half-finished! The rest half are freakish illegal guns I don’t even know what they’re for!”
Pshook- Boom!
“...Gas! Hey, bite this!”
“You grabbed it good- Gahhh! It’s alive!”
“It’s an unfinished skin mask! Blocks radiation too, better than standard gas masks! No wonder the lab was so huge—they were even researching scrapped Happy Blind stuff!”
The pillar we were using for cover started getting chipped away by the hail of bullets. The one silver lining was that being underground, the enemies couldn’t use explosives or area weapons.
“Damn it, if I die, I’ll apologize in hell forever! Sorry!”
“Don’t apologize! I wasn’t holding back either—I was just frozen in shock! If Wang Daejang had been a second later, I’d have gotten done first!”
Yeah. I screwed up.
Secured evidence.
Confirmed hostage locations.
Infiltration went off flawlessly, but in the final ‘find the boss’ phase, I stupidly blew it.
While rummaging through junk-like illegal weapons behind the crumbling concrete pillar, I recalled the situation just minutes ago, which had been a perfect op.
We’d followed the blind boy down, met the VIP guide using the obvious alias ‘Cat Claw.’
Negotiated prices, even haggled over the laundering fees for clean payments split across multiple layers.
All while touring the underground lab, a blood-soaked medical facility like some psycho doctor’s hospital, and tiny two-pyeong cells crammed with naked ‘merchandise,’ without losing my cool. My slightly tense but relieved expression—like someone in the same boat—seemed to sell well.
‘Now, this next facility is a must-see.’
The place the guide woman led us to.
Woooong-
Some mechanical vibration hummed.
‘This is a facility to solve the problem of [human mutation byproducts] that are sorely lacking compared to hunting methods, and to boost merchandise value~’
When she opened the door, a facility bordering on the grotesque verging on madness was revealed.
Thick, transparent soundproof walls, surrounded by researchers in white coats meticulously taking notes.
“...! ..! ....!”
Inside the soundproof walls were two people. One a child chained in iron. Opposite, a middle-aged woman with compound fractures in her legs—like they’d been broken repeatedly—with several sandbags tied on.
Woooong-
The source of the sound was the vibration of a sawblade spinning at high speed inside the soundproof walls. Already blood-red from repeated use, it was slowly descending toward the child’s head, while the woman on the other side screamed and crawled across the floor, reaching out.
‘They’re mother and daughter inside. The only family left in this harsh world, surviving together until now.’
‘The key to unlock the daughter’s handcuffs is in the mom’s pouch, and the sandbag on her waist is only about 15kg max, so if she crawls really hard, she might unlock the cuffs and pull her daughter out in time.’
‘Of course, it’s timed to bisect her first. A bit dramatic, right? Inspired by an old movie—everyone loves it.’
The machine, the mother-daughter duo. The mother, half her face mutated like a variant’s, crawled with fingers breaking against the floor, screaming.
‘...Trauma.’
‘Exactly. That merchandise has only partial facial skin mutation, making it nearly unsellable. So we set up this theatrical device, whisper that if they succeed here, they’ll be let go. We’ve already broadcast this cruel show and made plenty of money. Unlock the cuffs, save the daughter, and we’ll let them go if they keep quiet. They’re doped on sedatives and experiments, turned into idiots—they believe it.’
Woooong-
‘It’s to induce a specific kind of madness. When the daughter gets bisected right before her eyes like that, the blood-soaked mom gets obsessed with “if only I’d been a little faster”—driving her mad. Or fixated on her broken legs, cursing her weak arms. That accelerates the mutation, turning her into better merchandise. Obsession with fast legs or strong arms usually yields good results.’
‘Crazy bastards....’
‘Oh? Talking about us? You’re here to buy, aren’t you?’
Click. Click.
The sawblade descended slowly, matching the woman’s crawling pace. Against that backdrop, the guide slithered up to my neck like a snake and whispered in my ear.
‘You’ll see all this, buy an experimental subject from us, then go back topside like nothing happened. The moment you do, you’ve agreed to all this? Not just anyone gets shown this facility, but... you’re known as a good guy, so. Insurance is always better, right? For my eternal business partner?’
This was Let Human’s way of operating.
Luring in buyers of their ‘real’ goods—for greed or desperation—and forcing them to dip their feet in the organization’s deepest darkness.
Even if they got cold feet after seeing the true face, they had records of your entry to blackmail you with.
‘...You’ve dragged people in like this all along?’
‘Like the variant parts on your chest, transplants don’t cause rejection? Turns out organs from mutating humans have a similar effect? Most come for rejection-free heart or lung transplants. Life-or-death stakes—they shut their eyes, ignore it, and walk out.’
‘They come in human, but leave the rat hole leashed like rats?’
Kidnapping. Imprisonment. Human trafficking, human experimentation, torture—not enough, they even mass-produce trauma with that freakish setup.
‘Of course, even great hero Professor is the same. Congrats? Squeak squeak-’
Crack!
‘What’s to congratulate.’
‘Ow, ahhh- Gaaaah!’
That’s when my patience bottomed out. My thought of ‘hold out to the end to find the boss’s location’ evaporated.
When I came to, I’d smashed the bitch’s head against the soundproof wall, grabbed one of the locust-like fleeing researchers, and stopped the sawblade.
Eeeeng- Eeeeng-
Flashing red emergency lights and sirens.
‘Shit. Busted. This ruins coming all the way down here. Hey, sorry about this.’
‘Uh, ugh, I can’t calm down... Wang Daejang, that guy you’re holding—is he used up now? Seems like that’s the only researcher you grabbed.’
The still-dazed Buddlam pointed with a trembling finger at the researcher I’d seized to stop the machine.
Squirm, squirmsquirm!
‘S-s-spare me! I had no choice, nose-ringed, just did what they told me-’
‘This? Used up.’
‘Then lemme use him too.’
Slash!
Right after my words, Buddlam swung the kukri from his waist,
Thud!
The Cat something-or-other woman’s severed head hit the blood-soaked floor cleanly.
“Whew! Now I’m calming down. If I let even that one escape without grabbing him, my hands would’ve shaken too much to do shit.”
“Alarm’s blaring, so the outside guys’ll swarm down? They’re all gonna die too.”
“To vent my rage, I gotta slice ’em myself. Who cares who does it. Man, these bastards had some guts. How’d they think they’d handle a loose cannon like you?”
“The me I showed them was ‘buy or die.’ They probably haven’t all seen it through, but after leaving here, the ratlings’ tender aftercare would be waiting.”
Cooling my still-boiling head with idle chatter, shouts, sprinting footsteps, and metallic clacks started echoing from outside.
We bolted out, danced with knives amid the gunsmith-masked junkies, grabbed whatever weapon-ish junk was around in a panic, fled, and ended up surrounded—leading to this ‘hey, there’s people behind the pillar-’ mess.
Tutatatatat-!
Piiing-!
“Gah! Damn! Any ideas?! Back when we scoped with Desmond hyung, you looked like the scariest mofo alive! Specs say you could play catch with a tank! Can’t you do that?!”
“I die for that to happen! Can’t!”
“Then die first to save your promising subordinate! I’ll take responsibility and care for Corduro forever!”
“No way, punk! On three, roll to the next pillar over!”
“Roll, get eight holes in ya, then what?”
“Hold out! We radioed outside—they’ll be down soon!”
“Soon my ass! This place is a maze-”
“One, two-”
Kuuuung-
.
.
.
.
Splatter. Splatter splatter.
Right before dashing out braced for a few hits, a eerie rumble shook the whole underground building, and dust rained from the ceiling like a storm.
“...Whoa, Wang Daejang? This, uh....”
“No, no it shouldn’t be. Not in this rat-chewed underground like a pincushion, not that....”
Kwaaaang-
Splatter splatter! Clunk! Clunkclunkclunk!
Clang!
Another explosion boomed, vibrations now shaking underfoot, and lights dangling from the cavern ceiling started falling. Even our surrounding enemies hesitated, looking up at the crumbling ceiling amid dust and shattering glass.
Shkkk!
Seizing that split-second gap, someone pierced the encirclement, spraying blood fountains.
“Bex? No way, when,”
“Uh, uhhh-”
“How’d you get here-”
“Down!”
Whoosh!
The lightning-fast guy powered on the hefty mid-sized shield generator from his chest—
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!!!!
“Kr hahahaha! Catch the rats! Raaaaats!”
Amid the flames, a voice that shouldn’t be heard boomed through a megaphone from the split-open ceiling.
Ian. Oh, Ian, you mad bastard.
Come to think of it, no way he’d miss a legal chance to use explosives.
But... still, human!
“We’re all gonna get buried, you lunatic bastard!!!!”
“No way! I ate college for this exact shit! Timed it perfectly from shock to collapse! I! Extremely! Rationally! Judged and blew it!”
“That’s what a rational guy drags in?!”
“Yeah! Shell penetration’s perfect for punching through this structure quick and safe!”
Seeing the tank barrel craned down into firing position in the faint ceiling light made me curse doubly.
Click, cha-chak!
A clean hole punched from surface to underground. BDSM squad rappelling down it swiftly hit the cages of those with advancing local mutations, laser-cut the bars, scooped them up, and started hauling back up.
“Hey, Buddlam. Good work.”
“See ya topside, Wang Daejang~”
“Fuck. Would’ve been nice if I’d done that.”
“Damn....”
From breach to suppression, blasting escape route, and rescue—under two minutes of razor precision.
“Yaaa! 24 seconds to impact!!! 23! 22-! Don’t make me regret blowing it! 20-!”
“F-f-fuck ground, rope, asceeeend!”
“Out first, think later, Wang Daejang-nim!”
“...”
Before grabbing the rappel from the ceiling hole, my eyes caught the far inner side of the underground cavern.
Where the firepower guy ran after the second boom. Opposite from the escape-shouters, so definitely held the key data or stuff to destroy I was after.
“15! 14! Hey! 12!”
“Tch. Buddlam? Remember those junk weapons that pinned us earlier?”
“Fuck, talk outside! Goin’ first!”
With those words, Buddlam got yanked up the rope. I hooked my foot in too.
Kugugugu-
“...Kinda disappointing.”
“What’s disappointing. Got a fetish for getting buried? Huh?”
My body shot up like a winch in an instant, the underground cavern collapsing perilously close.
Regret at letting the biggest prize slip away right in front, but I’d settle for the intel secured for now.
“Ease up, please.”
“Kehehehe. You radioed ‘ASAP! I’m dying!’ Didn’t you? Faster than this?!”
“Your mom.”
“Done anyway. Wrap it up. I did till now, but back home, your turn. Hate doing it.”
“Fuck.”
I hate it too, but with everyone eyeing me expectantly.
Kicked grinning Ian’s ass, then addressed the soot-covered ragamuffin squad.
“Uh.... Tough work from dawn! Cleanup crew out separately?”
“Zeus Belly outskirts, all covered!”
“Good. Shelter patients in Dome.... no, HQ for now, rest hit the sack! Good job!”
“Yaa~ Off to rest! Move the rides! Homeward~!”
“Pay premium! Overtime’s market rate!”
“Zeus Belly blowout bill? All-in on us! We just followed orders~”
Rough words got grins and waves; they grabbed gear and scattered to tasks.
“Tank. Bought?”
“Rented. Tow-rescue set included. Gotta have good gear for dangerous shit.”
“...Raised ’em well.”
“Right? Got a knack.”
Annoying, but couldn’t even white-lie otherwise—damn good job.
“Oh, this.”
“What?”
“Case’s quickie invoice. Stores tanked en route, civvie evac damages, underground floor wrecked—ground repair costs.”
“Uh.... Me solo.... this?”
“Wait. Missed this.”
Scratch scratch-
“Plus, BDSM full overtime for Professor’s personal gig. Metal Joe, Bex included. I’m pricier. Personal job you took—gotta settle clean, right?”
Click click, whoosh!
Ian shoved the invoice in my pocket, lit it stylishly, and sauntered after the squad.
Rustle.
I pulled out the paper he’d stuffed, checked it in the dim dawn light.
“One, two, three, four, five....”
“Ten, eleven, twelve....”
.
.
.
.
.
“...Borrow more from the Chief?”
No matter how many reads, the numbers didn’t change.
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