The Pursuer Closes In

Even in the dim factory during daytime, I was catching my breath. That sensation I'd felt earlier. The thread-like connection stretching from afar. It still hadn't been severed. If anything, it had grown slightly clearer.

I closed my eyes and felt it. Far away, something was moving. It wasn't the simple movement of an infected entity. There was flow, direction, intent. As if it were slowly walking toward me.

I opened my eyes.

"It's coming."

At my words, all four people raised their heads at once. Seorin immediately grabbed her gun.

"Do you know exactly where it's coming from?"

I nodded. The sensation was still distant, but this time it was clearer.

"Northwest."

Yerin walked toward the window.

"How far?"

I calculated for a moment. It wasn't an exact distance sense, but I could estimate from the density of the infection response.

"……A few kilometers, maybe."

Yerin whistled.

"You can sense that?"

Harin had already turned on her tablet. The graph on the screen was trembling slightly.

"The resonance response is continuing," Seorin said. "Looks like it plans to keep following us until it catches us. Shaking it off won't be easy."

I knew what she was implying.

"A champion doesn't run from challengers!"

"Was Chaerin the champion?"

"Arka said it herself. The only one equal to her is Chaerin. In the end, Chaerin will grow stronger, so the champion's seat is already secured."

It was a joke meant to ease the tension of having gained a pursuer. It actually worked.

"……I'm not just going to sit here and wait."

If what the AI wanted was conflict, then this fight was unavoidable. Not just for my sake, but for the sake of my people, I had to eliminate the threat.

"Let's go meet it on our terms."

In the end, all the AI could do was interfere and move things around. So we'd intercept it instead, and make sure it couldn't touch anything this time. We'd cut off all its limbs.

At the same time. Outskirts of the city. Doyeon was moving alone. No corporate vehicles, no transport drones, no recovery teams. A single small dot floated on the HUD of her lens-type device. Chaerin's location marker. This was probably also the work of "someone."

Doyeon slowly exhaled.

"……Let's see it for ourselves."

She muttered to herself. The corporation still viewed the situation as a simple recovery operation. They had detected external interference, but believed it remained under their control. Since they hadn't mobilized a completed bio-roid unit yet, it was true that the corporation held the advantage in pure firepower. But if the situation ever required deploying that unit, they would already have lost by that point.

However, Doyeon's thoughts were different. This wasn't a simple experiment. Someone was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠setting up the board. And at the center of it all was Chaerin.

"I need to confirm it."

She turned toward the factory where Chaerin was.

As we drew closer to the pursuer, the sensation grew sharper.

"……It's here."

Seorin immediately raised her gun.

"Distance."

I caught my breath and spoke.

"Close."

Yerin looked out the window and said in a low voice, "Hey. Is that it?"

I turned my head. A single black figure stood in the factory yard. Over two meters tall, with long dangling arms, six fingers, and a gaping slit instead of eyes. Red light flashed from within that slit.

It raised its head. And looked at me.

I exhaled.

"……Yeah."

In that instant, it moved first. The ground burst apart as it charged. I reacted immediately.

"Get down!"

Shoving my companions aside, I faced the enemy that was smashing through the factory wall. The fragments of the broken wall obscured our vision, but the same applied to the opponent. However, I had Threat Prediction. Combined with Neural Acceleration.

I dodged the descending arm and immediately counterattacked. My fist struck its side. The creature's body rippled outward from the point of impact, like waves spreading across water. Shock dispersion. The attack hadn't landed properly.

'Different from Arka. A troublesome one in its own way.'

It turned its head. Then stretched out its long arm to grab my neck. I seized its arm and tried to pry it off, but it only compressed like a sponge. My strength wasn't transmitting properly.

I gritted my teeth. My muscles swelled.

Kicking off the ground, I twisted my body sharply. Naturally, its two feet left the ground as well, spinning through the air. That was how I escaped its grasp.

"Seorin, Yerin!"

At my shout, the two pulled their triggers. But just like when it had caught my fist, the creature rippled its body to reduce the bullets' impact and deflected them.

"Physical attacks don't seem to work!"

"I can see that!"

"So use this!"

Though I raised my voice at Harin's obvious remark, my eyes widened when I saw what she handed me. A Molotov cocktail. She spoke with a bitter expression.

"This is all I can do."

"……Sorry."

My careless words had hurt her. I wanted to apologize properly and comfort her, but now wasn't the time. So—

I pulled her into a tight embrace.

"?!"

"And thank you."

"……Yeah."

Whether I'd said what she wanted to hear, I'd have to check later. Clutching the Molotov, I charged at the creature.

It seemed to recognize the Molotov and began evasive maneuvers. So fire was dangerous to it? Using Threat Prediction and Neural Acceleration, I threw the Molotov at the position it would dodge into. Since its body was already in motion, it couldn't forcibly change direction mid-movement. Realizing it couldn't avoid it, the creature stretched its arm thin and long, swinging it like a whip to knock the Molotov away without shattering it.

At that moment, a gunshot rang out. It wasn't from Seorin or Yerin. The Molotov shattered, alcohol spilled out, and flames ignited. The fire spread across the creature's body with a whoosh. Faced with its body burning fiercely, it let out a soundless scream. The black liquid pouring from where its mouth should have been only fueled the flames further.

I looked up. Someone stood on the roof of a nearby building. Wearing external armor over a black bodysuit, carrying a long rifle. It was Doyeon.

She spoke.

"I'll help with the cleanup. So cooperate with the investigation."

After watching the pursuer entity burn and finally collapse to the ground, I nodded toward her. Doyeon leaped down from the rooftop and stared at me.

"Did a corporate agent come alone?"

Just as Doyeon was about to answer, a familiar presence was felt. Followed by laughter.

"Ahaha!!"

Silver hair scattered in the wind as Arka dropped down. She didn't seem to have arrived via transport drone. It looked like she'd simply repeated high jumps to get here.

"As expected, an interesting game."

She grinned at me.

"It'd be a shame to start without me."

Then, looking at the pursuer entity, she said, "That one doesn't look like it'll end that easily either."

As if on cue, the pursuer entity's body exploded. More precisely, it tore off the burning sections ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of its own body. "Ahahaha, that's more like it. What's the point of a variant showing up if it exits so simply?"

Her body split apart, skeletal structures rising. Arka, having deployed her heavy armor form, laughed.

"Alright."

Her eyes gleamed.

"Round three."

And in that moment, a sentence surfaced in my mind.

The AI was still watching us even now. I caught my breath and looked at her.

"Now's not the time for that."

My gaze turned to the pursuer entity. It was reorganizing its body by tearing away the burned flesh. The severed tissue quickly charred into lumps, but those lumps crawled back toward the main body and reattached. Flesh reconnected, black fibers suturing the gaps.

Harin muttered, "……It regenerated."

Seorin gritted her teeth. "And quite quickly, too."

Yerin spat out a low curse. "Shit, it's a real monster."

Arka's blue eyes flashed. "Good. This means the fight will last a bit longer."

Doyeon glared at her. "This isn't a recovery operation anymore. There's no reason for meaningless combat."

Arka shrugged. "Meaningless?" She pointed at Chaerin. "With that one here?" Then pointed at the pursuer entity. "And that one too." Her blue eyes smiled. "I'd regret it later if I missed such an interesting game."

I sighed. "Arka."

"Hm?"

"Cooperate for now."

Arka's eyebrows rose ever so slightly. "Cooperate?" She thought for a moment, then chuckled. "Not bad." But she tilted her head. "Why should I?"

I pointed at the pursuer entity. "It's targeting me." Then looked at her. "So it'll interfere with you too."

Arka paused for a moment. Then chuckled again. "That's true too." She clenched both fists and bumped them together, producing a hard sound from the skeletal gauntlets. "Then let's clean that up first." Her gaze returned to me. "And fight after."

It was a very Arka-like answer. In that instant, the pursuer entity moved. The ground split as it vanished.

"It went underground!"

At Seorin's shout, the floor burst open. BOOM! A black arm shot out and swung toward me. I twisted my body to dodge. Then its arm split into two in midair and descended simultaneously.

"……!"

Neural Acceleration and Instant Acceleration. The world slowed, and the trajectories of the arms became visible. One aimed for my head, the other for my abdomen. I lowered my body. The first attack grazed above my head, while I caught the second with my arm. The impact reverberated through my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bones, but it was bearable.

'Even if it reattached, it only patched itself with burned flesh. If anything, it's weaker than before, not stronger.'

As if in exchange, my infection rate had risen another level. My heart pounded heavily, blood growing hot. My body had become slightly faster.

The pursuer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entity tilted its head as if observing. Just as it was about to move again, a blue shadow dropped from the side.

CRASH!

Arka's foot stomped down on its shoulder. The ground burst apart, and the pursuer entity's body shook violently.

"Hey." Arka grinned. "Include me too."

But it didn't stop. Its body flowed like water, wrapping around and climbing up Arka's leg.

"Oh?" Arka laughed. "This is pretty fun."

Her skeletal gauntlets expanded. Muscles tensed, and she swung her arm. The pursuer entity's body was sent flying sideways. Perhaps it couldn't withstand Arka's strength backed by the weight difference. Its body unraveled in midair, splattering chunks of flesh onto the ground. Then they began gathering again.

Doyeon muttered, "……It's a swarm type."

Harin looked up. "What?"

"It's not a single entity." Doyeon's eyes gleamed coldly. "It's a structure composed of multiple tissues." She raised her gun and spoke in a low voice. "Find the core."

"Core?"

Doyeon pointed at the pursuer entity. "A structure like that must have a center."

After hearing those words, my senses rang again. I stared quietly at the creature. And grasped it.

"……Found it."

I spoke softly. "Like any infected entity, the core is in its chest."

At the center of the pursuer entity's chest, a faint red light pulsed like a heart between the black tissues. One difference, however—it was constantly moving within the chest, never staying fixed in one spot, as if refusing to be caught.

Arka laughed. "Good. Then shall we try a joint operation, just the two of us, Chaerin?" She looked at me. I caught my breath and took my stance.

"Don't say things that could be misunderstood."

Arka's gaze turned to my companions, and the corners of her eyes curved. "Hmm. I wonder if it'll end with just a misunderstanding."

Chatter ended there. We moved simultaneously. And a sentence echoed in my mind.