Chapter 79
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: The Mayor and the Backflow
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The air in the underground cavern was cold and damp.
Deep Father Haesu stood atop the altar, a satisfied smile on his face as he listened to the city's screams. The octopus tentacles covering half his face writhed grotesquely.
"Ahh, can you hear it? The sound of the city drowning."
The song of water echoed through the city's veins.
Gurgle, gurgle.
The flow of water surging back through the sewers. It was a symphony of vengeance crafted by the wrath of the gods.
"Smoothly done. Perfectly smooth."
At his feet hummed the 'Leviathan System,' painstakingly built by the Sea Dragon Cult over forty years.
A secret network of waterways sprawling like a spiderweb deep beneath Neo Incheon. Bypass pipes cunningly linked to the official sewers. Even underwater tunnels connected directly to the sea.
Haesu gazed down at the complex control panel on the wall. Dozens of monitors displayed real-time water levels and flow rates from across the city.
"Forty years. Dug inch by inch, bit by bit—a magnificent masterpiece."
Everything was going according to plan.
The cult's engineers had first infiltrated as a sewer maintenance company. They secured subcontracts from the city and obtained official permits for the work. On the surface, it was just routine replacement of aging pipes, but in reality, they were implanting malignant tumors into the city's bloodstream.
The key was the selective backflow system.
It operated normally under usual conditions, but upon receiving a specific signal, every drainage flow reversed in a sophisticated mechanism.
A circulatory structure that pushed seawater deep inland while forcing sewage back to the surface.
The hidden waterways and backflow system were finally activating, and the sea's fury was flooding into the city's heart.
"Kra-ken! Kra-ken!"
The black-robed followers chanted ecstatically toward their leader.
A screen behind him broadcast live CCTV footage from various spots in Neo Incheon.
The city on the screens was under water's dominion. Backflowing manholes, flooded roads, stranded vehicles. The terrified screams of citizens.
"Behold, brothers! The arrogance of the land crumbles before the abyss's rage! The tears of blood shed by our god are swallowing their city!"
The robed cultists cheered, their faces alight with fanatical ecstasy.
Lee Garam. What expression would that arrogant mortal, who slew a god, wear upon seeing his city submerged? Just imagining it was delightful.
"More! More water! The era of land ends, and the age of the sea dawns!"
At Haesu's command, one cultist flung open the central control valve even wider.
Gurrrrgle—!
That was when it happened.
Something was off. The pitch of the water sounds in his ears had subtly changed.
Lower, heavier, and... closer.
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, a column of water erupted from the cavern's entrance. Muddy floodwater mixed with rainwater crashed over them like an angry wave.
"Kyaaak!"
"Gah!"
"W-what is this?!"
Before they could grasp the situation, the water rose past their ankles to their knees. No, it wasn't rising—it was surging in like a tsunami.
"L-leader! The water! The water's backflowing!"
"I know! That's our plan, isn't it? Don't panic!"
Haesu shouted, trying to sound calm. But even his voice trembled faintly.
"It's abnormal! Pressure in Sector 3 exceeds limits!"
"Valve 5 is overloading too!"
"Leader! Errors across the entire system!"
It was wrong. Too fast. Too much.
There was no reason for the water to flood their own base. If the city's drainage system was functioning normally, the backflow volume should have stayed within calculated, controllable limits.
The plan was to submerge the city slowly and agonizingly.
"Uwaaak! Save me!"
One cultist was swept away by the torrent, his head smashing against the sewer wall before vanishing into the water.
Sacrificial offerings floated on the altar, and their sacred space of decades turned into a sewage treatment plant in an instant.
"Why?! Why isn't the drainage system working? Did that mayor bastard deliberately shut it down to ruin the city?! What the...!!"
A hypothesis flashed through Haesu's mind like lightning.
Just days ago, the official briefing from Neo Incheon City Hall.
Mayor Lee Garam had outright rejected comprehensive drainage facility repairs, citing careful review and worker safety concerns.
The announcement to suspend both aging pipe replacements and pump station expansions.
Everyone had laughed at the time.
Back then, it seemed like classic desk-jockey incompetence from an inept mayor.
'Truly, the Kraken aids us!' they'd rejoiced.
But.
What if.
What if it had all been calculated?
Haesu opened another screen on the control panel with trembling hands.
The citywide drainage flow map.
And then he realized.
All the drains were blocked. Deliberately blocked by the city.
Every drop from the Leviathan System had nowhere to go and was backflowing.
"No way... Lee Garam... You... knew our plan in advance and...?"
He'd sabotaged the drainage facilities on purpose.
Turning their own weapon against them—a trap.
Using water to conquer water.
"Impossible... It can't be..."
He screamed in confusion.
He couldn't understand it. He couldn't read Lee Garam's mind at all.
The Neo Incheon Metropolitan Police Special Investigation Division office was thick with cigarette smoke and stale air.
"Captain, you see this?"
A young detective swiveled his monitor. It showed Mayor Lee Garam's official Nertube channel.
The thumbnail blared: 'Rain's Just a Natural Phenomenon.'
"Ah, that guy's at it again."
Captain Choi frowned and hit play.
[...So what I'm saying is! Rain is just rain! The real problem isn't this rain—it's those wicked Seoul bastards secretly diverting Han River water our way to amplify the damage! Even the dinosaurs went extinct because of those Seoul jerks!]
"Puhaha! 'Wicked Seoul bastards.' That guy's hopeless."
Laughter erupted around the office. But Captain Choi didn't laugh. He stroked his chin, staring intently at Lee Garam's face on screen.
"Detective Kim."
"Yes, Captain."
"Just in case, pull the Han River upstream dam levels and discharge data. Last week's worth."
"Huh? Come on, Captain. You don't actually believe that guy, do you? It's just political showmanship."
"I know. But... my gut feels off. That overconfident bluster doesn't sound baseless."
Detective Kim grumbled but tapped the keyboard. Minutes later, his face hardened.
"Captain... this is weird."
"What is?"
"Over the last few days, massive unrecorded discharges happened at night. Timed exactly with Neo Incheon's rainfall peaks."
Captain Choi's eyes flashed. He immediately requested joint investigation with the Seoul Metropolitan Police.
"Yeah, it's me. Any suspicious groups in your jurisdiction? Something water-related."
[Water? Oh yeah, we got reports of weird ritualists in Han River Park lately...]
And days later.
Raiding a small upstream dam control office on the Han River resulted in the arrest of black-robed oddities on site.
They were the Sea Dragon Cult's Seoul branch, accused of illegal gate manipulation to exacerbate Neo Incheon's flooding.
Their hideout yielded devices for remote dam gate control and communication logs with the Neo Incheon Sea Dragon Cult headquarters.
The investigation gained momentum.
The cult's nationwide web began to unravel.
"Damn it, what the hell is this?!"
"Bet the mayor's chilling in his nice dry office with the AC on."
Special Task Force members cursed as they pried open manholes flooded with muddy water.
The elite unit's current job? Shoveling shit from the sewers.
Other members silently hauled sacks stuffed with mud and trash.
Kang Jiyeong watched her subordinates with arms crossed, silent.
Fatigue. Humiliation. Anger. And a faint question.
'Mayor Lee Garam... what are you thinking?'
The old Lee Garam? She'd get it. An incompetent, sleazy politician scapegoating the Task Force to hide his failures. Classic political theater.
But the recent Lee Garam was different.
The man who'd nabbed the Zodiac terror cell, exposed Hero Association corruption, and slain the Kraken.
Would such a man torment them just for kicks?
'No. There's something more.'
That was when it happened.
"Uwaaaak!"
Something black burst from the sewer a Task Force member was cleaning, accompanied by a scream.
"W-what is that?!"
It was a man in a drenched black robe.
Then two, three... The manhole vomited people like a burst sausage.
The Task Force hesitated briefly, but their bodies reacted on instinct.
"People! Rescue them!"
They moved in perfect sync. Ropes flew, life buoys deployed.
There weren't just one or two. Black-robed figures swept along by the current drifted from everywhere.
"Wait... those guys look off."
Kang Jiyeong sharply eyed the rescued from the muck.
Webbed fingers between them. Gills writhing like scars on their necks.
Obvious mutant villains.
"Villains! Battle stations! Lethal force authorized if they resist!"
At her shout, members dropped shovels and sacks, drawing weapons.
The drowned-rat cultists barely resisted before being subdued.
Kang Jiyeong looked down at the cuffed, prone cultists.
She recalled the sewage they'd been clearing and the mayor's absurd orders.
Dots connected into a line.
Every puzzle piece clicked in her mind.
Why the lukewarm disaster response. Why assign them this grunt work.
'The initial calm... to lure these guys to the surface.'
Civil aid duty had the Task Force right here, right now.
The exact moment the villains emerged from the sewers.
'Of course... he wouldn't waste us on busywork. He planned it all from the start.'
A chill ran down her spine. What a meticulous, ruthless trap—disguised as negligence.
A subordinate approached and saluted.
"Captain! Heard about the Seoul branch bust? Their intel pinpointed the Neo Incheon HQ. Right under this sector."
Kang Jiyeong nodded. All pieces fit.
"The mayor's profound strategy leaves me in awe once more."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, same. He played dumb to trap the villains."
She extended her hand, and nearby rebar and scrap metal stirred at her will.
Woooom—
Manhole covers shot up in unison, sewer pipes uprooted like weeds onto the surface.
Krunch!
Ground split, asphalt tore, revealing the massive hidden cavern below.
"Uwaaak!"
"Mercy!"
Trapped cultists inside tangled in chaos, wailing.
Crash!
Deep Father Haesu swept everything from the altar with his hands.
Destroyed base. Captured followers. Decades of planning turned to bubbles in one day.
"Lee Garam... Lee Garam, you... orchestrated all this...?"
Mad reverence gleamed in his eyes.
He'd turned their plan against them to wreck the base, used political rhetoric to eliminate the Seoul branch, deployed the Task Force to mop up remnants.
All schemes from one man's mind?
Perfect defeat.
"Kuh... Kuhaha!"
Haesu laughed like a madman.
"Fine. Good. Lee Garam. You win. But this isn't the end."
He turned to his few remaining followers. The same madness burned in their eyes.
"We've lost everything. Time for one final revenge."
Haesu drew a blackened Kraken tentacle fragment from his robes.
"We unleash the grudge our god left behind! Begin the forbidden ritual!"
"Kra-ken! Kra-ken!"
As if responding, hundreds, thousands of eyes awoke deep in the Yellow Sea.
Crabs with massive claws, sharks with steel teeth, swarms of venomous jellyfish.
A-rank, B-rank sea monsters serving the Kraken stirred en masse.
Their target was one.
Neo Incheon.
"Lee Garam! Since you doomed us, your city perishes too!"