A Deal in the Armory
The suppression of criminal organizations by the police. An act that must be carried out for the sake of justice, public order, and the safety of citizens. Yet to put it another way, it means pointing a blade at people and harming them, no matter how evil they may be. Normal humans dislike hurting others—unless they are villains who revel in violence. This was violence beyond mere broken bones, the kind that maimed or killed.
“Yuseong, that’s why I can’t take you this time. You’re learning from me so you can kill monsters, aren’t you?”
“...Yes.”
Fortunately he listened well. Since I was in the position of teacher, I had installed a simple formation that projected my own movements and added a condition to issue a warning if his posture deviated too far. It had hurt at the time, but a clear reward had followed, so I considered myself lucky. My list of worries had grown a little shorter, at least.
“We’d like you to examine our special forces’ equipment, ma’am. Reinforcement for bullets, ballistic plates, that sort of thing.”
“...Aren’t we conducting the operation together?”
“We cannot entrust an operation to a civilian.”
A new headache had arrived. These police officers were strangely unfriendly. My face had always drawn stares, and after I became a woman those stares had only intensified because of my chest, but the gazes inside the police headquarters felt different from usual. An unwelcome guest. It was as if they found it distasteful that a criminal was touring their headquarters.
Even the special forces captain’s eyes carried a subtle undercurrent of hostility toward me.
“The other side will have Awakened as well.”
“Once the firepower problem is solved, the special forces can handle the rest.”
One sentence and it was immediately obvious. This man was incredibly stubborn. The look in his eyes was also uncomfortably familiar.
“Shall I head to the armory first?”
“Yes. Officer Park will show you the way.”
When I turned, I saw a young officer whose name tag read Park Chan-sik. Three mugunghwa buds decorated his collar, and his face was tight with tension. Without complaint I followed him into the armory. As we walked the corridors I studied the magic circles engraved on the walls, doors, and floor. To ordinary eyes they remained invisible until activated, but they were clearly deployed and of considerable quality.
Wait. Something felt off. One detail nagged at me. This young officer didn’t seem likely to satisfy my curiosity, however.
—Creak.
“Loyalty!”
Come to think of it, having never enlisted, this was my first time setting foot inside an armory. It was quite different from what I had seen in military dramas—refreshingly so.
“Hm? Oh, so you’re the one who’s here to work on our weapons?”
The officer who greeted us from behind the iron bars of the armory was fresh in an entirely different sense. She seemed far too relaxed for the setting.
“My name is Ha Dowol. I’ll be supporting the special forces.”
“...I never expected someone this beautiful to show up. I’m Jo Hayeon, rank of inspector.”
The brief self-introduction ended there. She hadn’t stated her exact position, but since she was clearly the one managing the armory it didn’t matter much to me. As soon as I thought us, Officer Park Chan-sik excused himself, leaving only Inspector Jo Hayeon and me.
Inspector was a fairly high rank, yet this woman kept muttering nonstop while pulling out bullets and ballistic plates. ...Should I ask?
“Um...”
“Ah, sorry. I’ve been talking about myself too much, haven’t I?”
“It’s not that. I have a question. It feels like I’m not exactly welcome here.”
Inspector Jo Hayeon’s hands paused. After a moment she answered.
“People died. Police officers, killed by Awakened. A lot of them.”
Now it made sense. Simple, and painfully human. I had wondered why I was being allowed to move so freely; I hadn’t expected this reason. Or rather, it wasn’t surprising at all. Watching someone close to you get torn apart in real time would shatter anyone’s spirit. At the same time the monsters charged forward while locking eyes with you. Surviving that ordeal left you writhing under the fear that next time it would be your turn. In the end you could only run, grow numb, or overcome it.
“My condolences.”
Even so, the dead were dead. One should never stop honoring those who had gone. There were already too many people who had given up on doing so.
“I have one more thing to ask.”
“...Let’s do this instead. We’ll trade questions and answers. The police Awakened were either pulled upward or dispatched to regions with terrible security. The ones we can actually deploy right now are… weak, I’m sorry to say.”
I hadn’t agreed to anything, yet somehow a deal had been struck. Still, it wasn’t a bad arrangement.
“Go ahead and ask.”
“Is that real?”
“...?”
My brain froze for an instant at the sudden sexual harassment. Had I misinterpreted? But Inspector Jo Hayeon’s eyes were definitely fixed on my chest.
“Pfft, I’m joking. What I really want to know is how effective this… reinforcement of yours actually is.”
...She was cutting me some slack because I was a woman. I set my discomfort aside, picked up a single bullet. I wasn’t familiar with calibers, but it was clearly a pistol round.
“It’s a form of coating. If the gunpowder explosion is interfered with, the bullet will detonate, so we apply qi to the warhead to neutralize an Awakened’s protective aura.”
“Protective… what?”
“In familiar terms, it’s like a biological barrier.”
“Ah, right! The thing those boss monsters wrap themselves in.”
“Exactly. For the ballistic plates it’s the reverse—we coat the barrier across the entire body.”
“That’s definitely something we need.”
Understanding dawned across Inspector Jo Hayeon’s face. But it didn’t look like things would end here. If they were going to, she never would have started.
“Then it’s my turn first. If that steel monster starts moving… how many people will die?”
“That’s classified…”
“You can pass. But you have to answer the next question no matter what.”
This was troublesome. I hadn’t expected her to charge in so recklessly. For a moment I considered ignoring the game entirely, but changed my mind. This was an opportunity.
“Secrets remain secrets. On the condition that you don’t tell anyone else.”
I held out my hand. If she refused, that would be the end of it.
“Fine.”
Inspector Jo Hayeon took my hand. Qi flowed between us, sealing a very, very simple contract.
“...?”
She had probably felt a slight tingling pain, nothing more than static electricity. By the time she sensed anything strange, it would already be too late.
“For now, what we’re doing is purely to restrain the steel monster. We’ve deployed so many troops that even someone with severe anger issues would hesitate to charge in.”
“It sounds like you’re saying we’d lose if we fought them.”
“It could turn an entire urban area into scorched earth. If that happened in Seoul, the nation of South Korea would be finished. The survivors would lose any central authority, fight over remaining supplies, and destroy each other. Don’t look to Japan or China for help. Accepting refugees at a time like this is practically a declaration that you want to commit suicide.”
It was unfortunate, but this was reality. South Korea and the great catastrophe called Steel could not coexist.
And now it was my turn.
“My turn. Then who is the Awakened that reinforced this police headquarters?”
“Hmm~ I don’t know the details, but I think it was a blue-robed wizard-like person… Some contractor type. I never learned the name or the full story.”
“Fantasy style, not Eastern sorcery?”
“Yes. They drew magic circles with a staff.”
It was subtle. The magic circles engraved throughout the headquarters were definitely Western. On the surface, at least. Beneath them, shamanic talismans had been placed at key points, seemingly acting as the cores. Perhaps she truly didn’t know. It was possible a sorcerer had disguised their work as wizardry.
Still, who could it be? Anyone capable of deploying sorcery of this level had a very short list of suspects.
“My turn again! How do Awakened use skills like that?”
Inspector Jo Hayeon had taken out all the bullets. I opened the thermos I had brought and poured the water in which talismans had been dissolved. The liquid flowed out of the container but stopped midway, spreading into a thin film in the air.
“Whoa, is that a skill too?”
“No, this is pure manipulation. You asked how we use skills, correct? It’s simply a matter of tracing the techniques and knowledge that have been… engraved into our bodies. Or rather, that our bodies remember.”
“...That sounds incredibly precarious.”
“Which is why so many died. Especially that one called the Mountain Lord—fifty people charged it at once and every last one was killed. Only afterward did they manage to take it down.”
“All fifty?”
Whether her eyes trembled or not, I continued manipulating the water to coat the bullet heads. The work flowed as smoothly as the liquid itself. At this rate I could coat many more.
“This is still classified. Ah, please bring out all the ammunition. This is easier than I expected.”
“Understood.”
More bullets appeared. Grenades came out as well, and I coated the steel balls inside them too. Before I realized it, an hour had passed. Yet our exchange of information was far from over.
“Now for the ballistic plates… Shall we end with this question? Does the police want to protect citizens using only the power of the police, or will you protect them by any means necessary?”
“...Pass.”
“Very well. Goodbye.”
I rose from my seat and left the armory. Our farewell did not mark the end of our deal. She would have no choice but to answer my next question. After all, we had made a contract.