What Do I Care?!
“Fuck! What the hell are you doing? Cut the connection now!”
“Hah! Hah! Hah!”
“Hey, send some guys here. Right now! Hurry!”
Zeke Pullan’s penthouse was a complete madhouse. Just moments ago, they’d been lounging like immortals from the ancient martial world, faces smug as if the entire universe rested in their palms. But the instant they experienced Rhino’s defeat and fall through Mosco Bi Chacos’s eyes, every single one of them shot up like their asses were on fire, unable to stay seated.
“Cut the SEL!”
“I want to! But the sync rate is too high—it’s hard to sever right away, and the hacking...”
Zeke Pullan, who’d been in charge of S.E.L, hammered away at his tiny laptop like a maniac, desperately trying to disconnect. But the more he tinkered, the stronger the link grew. A mere movie director like him had no chance against Axis, whose hacking skills even left experts in awe.
“Bilangsi! What are we gonna do about this?!”
An old man leaning on a cane rushed up and harangued Bilangsi. Even with his eyes closed, he could see exactly where Mosco Bi Chacos was now. Her killing intent stretched toward them like fingertips, crystal clear. But the real problem was something else—that emotion was slowly corroding everyone inside, bit by bit.
S.E.L (Sensory Experience Link)
Technology that forces extreme immersion in a movie, syncing the viewer’s emotions with the characters’. For that duration, someone else’s feelings overpower your own.
Since they were running it illegally, the sensitivity far exceeded legal limits. In simple terms—
“Why...! Why does it feel so good? Fuck!”
“Stop it. This isn’t right. I know I’m in danger.”
Mosco Bi Chacos’s joy and thrill at coming to kill them was crushing their own fear and terror. They had to run. Yeah, escaping this place was the smart move. But they didn’t want to run. Because she was expecting someone to be here. She was buzzing with excitement at the thought of arriving soon. That emotion was pinning their legs in place.
“Cut the SELll!”
As the tycoons screamed near the top of their lungs, Bilangsi just bit his lip hard and glared at his own terminal.
‘End like this? Don’t make me laugh. I’m the one chosen by the god. I’m not someone who goes out like this.’
Chosen by the Tower’s master. A layer lord. The only one granted the authority to open and close the 6th floor. No way someone like him could lose to a mere fixer and some primitive 3rd-floor hunter.
Zzzt!
Right then, the terminal in Bilangsi’s hand lit up again. The assassins he’d sent to the 3rd floor to collar Mosco Bi Chacos—their connection, which had suddenly dropped, was back online.
‘I win.’
The god hadn’t abandoned him after all. With this, he could control Mosco Bi Chacos again. Sighing in relief, he loosened his tie and forced his lips into a calm smile.
“What’s the situation? Did you catch her?”
The screen flickered on to reveal... a nostril.
...A nostril?
“......”
The elf beamed innocently and waved at the terminal.
“......”
Her cheerful waving grated on his nerves. Even as his head boiled, Bilangsi forced his voice steady.
“The fixers?”
They weren’t on Rhino’s level, but he’d handpicked top fixers everyone knew.
But—
Police station? Jail grub? Strangely, it didn’t piss him off. Mosco Bi Chacos’s heartbeat had already swallowed all other emotions. That’s why he could ask so calmly.
“And... who the hell are you?”
They’d been interfering since last time. After the cathedral hit failed, he’d thoroughly investigated Kim Juseon. And laughed. Just a matchmaking agency president. A dropout from hunter training school, no license, scraping by as lower-floor trash. And that guy had just taken down Rhino, his top elite and one of the legendary fixers.
Too big to chalk up to a “variable.”
“Who the fuck are you people?”
Why show up out of nowhere to screw things up? Where did they even learn about this?
A faint, suppressed grievance slipped out, even through Mosco Bi Chacos’s excitement. The elf grinned and replied.
"We find your miracle. Welcome to Meracle."
“You fucking—!”
Bilangsi’s rage finally exploded. Their teasing, ad-like casual greeting was unbearable.
Unable to hold back, Bilangsi stomped the terminal to pieces.
Crack!Crunch!
“Hah, hah—!”
And right at that moment—
Shatter!
The floor-to-ceiling window he’d boasted through exploded inward, and a nun with dual pistols strode in.
“Enjoy the movie?”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots in an instant. From different angles. Pinpoint accurate, targeting only non-cybernetic flesh. Blood sprayed from three bodies simultaneously.
“Gaaahhh!”
“Urgh!?”
“Aaaahhh!”
Every gunshot in a play is followed by screams. Bilangsi, who’d clenched his fist, let his strength drain away. As the only one unscathed by bullets, his emotions rang clearer. Fun.Refreshing.Feels good.
“F-fuck...”
A short curse leaked out. The disconnect between what he felt and what he did was chillingly grotesque.
“Don’t shoot!”
Yu Ye-na rushed in after, trying to stop her, but Mosco Bi Chacos’s heels clicked steadily toward Bilangsi.
Click.
The barrel pressed to his forehead. At the same moment, smiles crept across both their lips.
“You’re feeling this thrill too, huh?”
“Ah.”
Bilangsi realized it. He was moments from death, yet empathizing with the killer’s emotions. Finding his own death refreshing. Satisfied by it.
“Why...”
Bilangsi’s lips trembled.
“Can’t I even feel my own death properly?”
No grievance. Just bewilderment and confusion.
“Where the hell did my sorrow go?”
Mosco Bi Chacos tilted her head as if pondering Bilangsi’s question—then sneered.
“What do I care?”
Bang!
* * *
“And that’s how Bilangsi died, and the other tycoons got arrested. Good riddance!”
Monday at Meracle’s office. They’d announced they’d explain what happened, so the employees showed up but weren’t prepped for work—they clustered around me in groups instead.
“That guy on the screen was that evil?! Should’ve clocked him myself—!”
“Right?! Show me too! I’d have given him a piece of my mind!”
I wasn’t sure how they’d beat the guy on-screen, but Renea and Baek Yeonhwa raised their fists like cavemen, raging together. Ignoring the two fired-up savages, Kim Yang and Raichen asked in unison.
“D-did you k-kill him?”
“Did you kill him?”
“......Ahem, classified.”
Of course I didn’t kill Bilangsi. Couldn’t. He’s a confirmed layer lord now. Probably locked in the deepest Tower Administration cell, getting interrogated daily. Maybe even tortured.
Oh well. 3rd-floor Earth and 6th-floor Cyber City ban torture. 4th-floor Lazesta does it on the down-low. 5th-floor ancient martial world encourages it outright. He’ll spill eventually.
“Th-then the tr-trigger. Y-you didn’t p-pull it?”
“I did fire. But it was... interesting.”
Like seeing a viral meme in real life.
“Oversync fuses you with machines or weapons, right?”
So firepower bends to emotion—a unique, tricky power. Rumor has it, if it goes haywire, flesh and machine merge into something grotesque.
“Mosco Bi Chacos is an oversync master... so the reverse works too.”
“R-reverse?”
Kim Yang tilted her head, puzzled. But Raichen got it and nodded faintly.
In short—
“She can shoot soft.”
Wild. Things wrapped up smoothly, but sadly, I hadn’t fully kept my promise to the kids yet. Mosco Bi Chacos was detained at Tower Administration for questioning, so she couldn’t return to them completely. Video calls were the best they got for reassurance.
‘Ye-na pulled strings,’ I heard. Today, three hours of monitoring and escort to see the kids—
Bang!
The door flew open violently. We all jumped and looked. There stood Yu Ye-na and Mosco Bi Chacos, on monitoring duty.
“......Why here?”
Her expression was complicated as hell, detouring to Meracle before the kids.