One-Trick Gift
Getting into the interior of Buri Island wasn't particularly difficult.
The personnel managing the island came out to guide them in, and Oh Gu-sik was among them.
He blended in naturally with the others, yet somehow still stood out.
"Gu-sik. Keeping your nose clean?"
Oh Gu-sik didn't open his mouth at Won-goo. Instead, he raised his middle finger.
"Good to see you're thriving."
He looked perfectly fine, but something had changed. Shackles bound both his arms and legs, and around his neck hung a collar etched with magic.
"The new equipment suits you. Keep it up, and don't get any funny ideas. You want to see your family again, don't you?"
Then Oh Gu-sik raised the middle finger of his other hand too and offered them both to Won-goo.
Won-goo just smiled and walked past him.
* * *
The group never even entered the village where the residents lived — the heart of Buri Island.
The moment they moved into the interior, they rounded a corner and headed for the Siamese Frog's habitat.
Taking the roundabout route stretched the distance, but with nothing in their way, it didn't take long.
This whole area was under tight control by a large number of personnel.
So long as no sudden weather event popped up, there was nothing to worry about — the monsters that crept out here and there were being thoroughly cleaned up by the Shelter staff.
"You're running late, Director Gong."
They say that once you've shared life-and-death moments with someone, you reach a point where you can read them no matter how thick the exterior.
Montage, Fresh, and Yeongyeong were all gathered in one spot, grinning.
A small fire.
And a whole row of skewers.
What was skewered on them were chunks of a giant scorpion.
"You caught a scorpion, huh?"
"You're late again, Director Gong."
"That's because there's always one bastard who's late."
Won-goo pointed behind him. Postech climbed out of the vehicle.
"So we ready to go now?"
Montage asked.
"Ready? We've got to wait a bit longer."
"What?"
That was Fresh, from behind.
"Assembly required."
"Calm down, calm down. It'll be quick."
"The hell it will."
"We gotta hit it while the Siamese Frog's out of the water. It goes back in, we're in for a proper headache."
"I know. Fresh — once the Siamese Frog goes back into the water, let's just toss this guy in with it. Sounds like a good plan, doesn't it?"
"Don't be too hard on him. Geniuses are always bad with deadlines."
"Bwaaaah. Nobody does it like you, Fresh-hyung."
"Right. Let's move fast."
Postech clung to Fresh, on the verge of tears.
And Won-goo was not the kind of man to let that slide.
"You bunch of idiots. Suck each other off later — hurry up and assemble the damn thing, you punk! Can't you see everyone here's waiting? I'll turn you into an 18-unit combining robot. No, a 180-unit one. Get to work!"
"A combining robot? That actually sounds kinda cool."
"Haah... What happens to a robot before it combines?"
"It separates?"
"That's me telling you I'll take you apart piece by piece, Postech. Better hurry. Director Gong looks about one second from detonating."
While Postech worked on the assembly, Won-goo circulated among the other teams, exchanging words.
And as he chatted, he made sure to gently re-inject the plan into their heads.
The last to come find him was Neoguri.
Neoguri wore goggles and a helmet.
With a mask on top of that, you could barely recognize him at a glance.
"Hyung. Don't panic out there, and stick to the plan. Got it?"
"I'm a one-trick Gift, sure, but nobody's ever called me stupid."
"Still, you've had a gap. Keep it in mind."
By the time they'd traded a few words, Postech had finished assembling the scooters at remarkable speed.
"All done?"
"Yep."
The unmanned scooters zipped around at random under Postech's control.
Just as requested, they had speed, and their movements were nimble.
It was the moment that proved why Won-goo kept calling Postech despite his one glaring flaw — his complete inability to keep an appointment.
* * *
The good thing about working with veterans was that you didn't need to sweat the small stuff.
Even if they seemed to sleep through the briefing, they knew exactly what their job was.
And they understood precisely when the operation would begin.
Before Won-goo had even given the word, everyone was already in hunting stances, holding position in their assigned spots.
"So I just go pull aggro? Send them all out?"
Postech said.
"One for now."
"Just one?"
"Yeah. We need to drag it out of the water. Go buzz around out there like a fruit fly."
"Okay."
Postech moved a scooter with his controller. The exterior of the scooters he'd brought was a disaster.
They looked like they'd been cobbled together from scavenged junk.
And yet, miraculously, they ran beautifully.
The scooter made straight for the water's edge.
The Siamese Frog had yet to show itself.
The reason the Siamese Frog was rated among the lowest tiers of the Large Species was partly that it had no special abilities, and partly its habit of keeping no lesser minions at all.
Somewhat higher-tier Large Species often kept quite a few trash mobs around them — the Siamese Frog did not.
It refused to tolerate other monsters anywhere near its territory.
So when the junk scooter came rattling noisily around the water's edge, the beast began to reveal itself.
At the sight of the Siamese Frog's colossal bulk, even the veterans let out groans.
So did Won-goo's people.
His crew had been through hell and back, but they had no data on Large Species.
A large monster and a Large Species are different things.
One look at a Large Species, and the first thought that leaps out is: Can we actually kill that?
The Siamese Frog was grotesque.
Round in shape, like an enormous bullfrog.
But there was another frog inside its mouth.
And the frog in its mouth was, unlike the one outside, hideously twisted.
Saw-blade teeth and vertical, predatory pupils.
The outer frog had round pupils like any ordinary frog — but the one lodged in that massive maw had vertical slits.
Won-goo knew the hunter was the one on the inside.
Vertical pupils were eyes optimized for precisely calculating the distance to prey.
"There it is. Postech. Back it out slow and drag it onto land."
"Got it."
Having given the order, Won-goo bellowed toward the Named.
"Let's finish this clean! Zero casualties! Zero damage! No complications — stick to the plan!"
The survivors nodded along, echoing his words.
When the Siamese Frog leaped and burst out of the water, another wave of awe swept through them.
Overwhelming size.
Enough raw presence to make an ordinary man's legs buckle and drop him on the spot.
It wasn't as if Earth had never hosted creatures the size of a Siamese Frog.
Among marine life, there were plenty of comparable beasts.
But the aura radiating from the Large Species monsters was something else entirely.
The scent of a perfect predator.
A predator whose staple diet was human beings.
UUUURGH!
A roar like something vomiting up its guts.
The male-female frog fired its tongue at the scooter.
The scooter vanished straight into its mouth.
Thuk! KWAANG!
The Siamese Frog took one taste of the scooter in its mouth and promptly spat it back out.
Peew! Peew! Peew!
Attacks began from this side too.
The first to fly were thrown spears.
They were well out of normal throwing range, but the Named with freakish strength could still land them.
And the moving scooters.
The scooters whirled about in dizzying patterns, drawing the Siamese Frog's gaze.
The next to move was the Trailer.
The timing locked together as if they'd been drilling in unison for years.
Easier than expected, the Trailer slipped inside the Siamese Frog's territory.
And barricades went up.
From within them emerged Won-goo and his crew, along with the other Named.
The Named assigned to rear support kept raining down attacks, but to the Siamese Frog it was barely a tickle.
The Siamese Frog was completely absorbed in the scooters scuttling around its feet.
Like playing whack-a-mole, it kept firing out its tongue one at a time, smashing them.
"Halfway there. Our goal is to get Neoguri — that hyung over there — under the Siamese Frog's belly. Then we're done."
"Then why the hell did you drag me here? Wasn't my job already finished?"
Postech asked, blinking.
"You don't get paid until the job's done. For a guy who can't even keep time, you sure have a lot to say."
"No, I mean... I could just control them from up there."
"Everything's useful."
"That's not the point — I'm telling you my work is done?"
"It's all experience."
"Director Gong!"
At that moment Jo Mu-sa shouted, and everyone turned to look where he was pointing.
The Siamese Frog was staring directly at them.
Gnawing on a scooter in its mouth.
And sure enough, after a few gnaws, the Siamese Frog spat the scooter straight at the Trailer.
Everyone reacted fast.
Won-goo especially, moving like a lightning bolt, leaped in one bound onto the Trailer's roof.
Not a flicker of hesitation.
He did it as if daring the thing to make him a target — and the crumpled scooter came flying right at him.
There was no way to dodge the impact.
But something was in Won-goo's left hand.
A person.
The very man who'd been chatting beside him seconds ago.
Postech.
Won-goo seized Postech by the scruff and thrust him forward without a second's pause.
Vweeeeng! THWOOM!
Before the scooter, screaming in at breakneck speed, could even touch Postech's body, it ricocheted away.
A barrier that repelled every incoming attack from beyond a fixed range.
"Everything's useful, I said!"
"Hyung! My head is killing me!"
"Bear with it!"
The instant the scooter was deflected, Won-goo flashed a hand signal to the crew behind him.
Meaning: I'll hold this position — everyone get to work.
But it didn't work out that way.
The moment the Siamese Frog saw its scooter bounced off, it fired its tongue straight at Won-goo.
Won-goo did not block that one with Postech.
He had no confidence the barrier would stop the tongue too.
Instead he leaped from the roof and dove for safety.
Thanks to that, a violent gust went whoosh over the top of the Trailer.
"Trickier than I expected."
"Was this part of your calculations?"
"What? Oh, this guy? He happened to be carrying something useful. So I used him."
"That's—"
"Say nothing more. Let's get to work. This bastard's tougher than I gave it credit for."
Tough or not, the operation was proceeding remarkably smoothly.
Everyone was diverting its attention on their own initiative.
What was more astonishing was that, just as Won-goo said, the moment they hid behind the Trailer, the Siamese Frog's attacks stopped as if by magic.
Won-goo's reputation climbed another notch — though the man himself didn't give it a second thought.
He'd lived through this before. He knew exactly what was coming.
When it came to the Siamese Frog, he knew everything — because a full strategy guide for it would surface years from now.
"Neoguri-hyung."
"Yeah."
"Let's go."
Once he confirmed they were completely clear of the target's gaze, they moved again.
This time — under the Siamese Frog's belly.
A blind spot the giant's eyes couldn't reach.
Fweeeek!
The tongue shot out, and as if they'd all been waiting for exactly that, they vaulted over the Trailer.
Neoguri was among them.
Fireworks burst in unison.
It was Hyeh-ji who'd launched them.
The signal meant: draw its attention even harder.
The survivors in the rear surged forward, pulling its gaze.
In that window, the party slipped beneath the Siamese Frog's belly.
"Good. Hyung. It's our turn now."
"Yeah. See you in a bit."
The Siamese Frog's tongue fired out again, and the rest of the crew fell back to the Trailer.
"Is that the end of it?"
Jo Mu-sa asked.
"That's the end. Just watch. You're about to find out why they call it a one-trick Gift."
Neoguri dragged on a heavy cigarette in one long pull, exhaled a long breath, then drove a dagger into his own heart.
As the sharp blade pierced deep, a blue light spilled out from the wound.
"Pull the Trailers back a bit."
At Won-goo's command, the barricade of Trailers retreated a considerable distance and formed up in ranks once more.
And in that time, far up in the sky, a strange presence was revealing itself.
Those seeing it for the first time went wide-eyed.
It was the eye of a colossal being.
Its sheer size made the Siamese Frog look like nothing by comparison.
Then a searing laser poured down from the eye and began to vaporize the Siamese Frog.
The beast that hadn't reacted to any attack whatsoever began to shriek and convulse.
"What the hell IS that? That's a Gift?"
Hyeh-ji said.
"I told you, didn't I. One-trick Gift."
"What kind of Gift is it?"
"Protection of the Outer God."