Research Institute
Whoosh───── The flames I'd set on the 8th floor spread in an instant. With the water supply valves temporarily shut off, the sprinklers weren't working, so the fire blazed away merrily.
Gazing at those roaring flames, I scooped up Kwon Ji-yul's drone and all the daggers I'd dropped, then moved to escape the club.
Thud!────!
"The guards still can't get in?"
Since the guards hadn't broken through the stairwell yet, I headed straight down to the first floor via the stairs and quickly flipped on the mask I'd grabbed. It covered my face in a snap.
It was just a temporary fix, but as long as I didn't get caught, there wouldn't be any issues.
"How many are on the first floor?"
"The hacking tools are all good? If we get caught with those, we're screwed."
I'd wondered if I should swing by the control room to recover the hacking tools, but Kwon Ji-yul had already detonated them to destroy the evidence. It hit me again just how much of a pro she was at this stuff. I nodded and placed my hand on my in-ear one last time before opening the door to the first floor.
"I'm heading in now—trigger the fire alarms."
At my request, Kwon Ji-yul fiddled with something on her end. Right then, fire alarms blared across every floor of the club at once.
Rrrriiiiing!─────!!!!!
The noise was deafening, like it would shred my eardrums. A single bell was maddening enough, but all of them going off together threw off my balance with the sheer racket.
I couldn't hear anything from the corridor beyond the door, but it was obvious the guards were in chaos. Without hesitation, I kicked off the floor and threw the door open.
Thwack!────!
'Bullet Time.'
I activated Bullet Time the moment the door swung wide. As I leaped out, my eyes met a few guards', but I was faster—kicking off walls, floors, and ceilings to dodge them.
"There! Grab him!"
"What?! Too loud, I can't hear!"
"Hey, you idiot! If you can't hear, get out of the way!"
The guards who'd spotted me chased after, but catching me in a corridor packed with their own people—while I rebounded off every surface? No chance. And with the alarms drowning out communication, tailing me was damn near impossible.
Leaving the guards yelling and brawling behind me, I finally burst through the lounge door at the end of the hall and out of the club.
Clunk!────!
"I'm out!"
The moment I stepped outside, the dank back-alley stench hit my nose. Not pleasant, but better than the blood and acrid smoke inside the club. No time to complain, though—I bolted.
"What's the situation around the club?"
"Fastest way back?"
"Subway over sewer. Heading there."
Subway beat slogging through sewers full of filth any day. Following Kwon Ji-yul's directions, I sprinted off before public security could tighten the noose.
IV-grade dispatch mission. Mission accomplished.
North Pacific. In the middle of that vast ocean sat a large uninhabited island, crammed with all sorts of trees and small hills.
At the heart of this uninhabited island stood a tiny research institute. Tiny enough that ten grown men could surround it with room to spare.
But of course, this U.S. government-backed facility's size wasn't just what met the eye.
The first thing you saw at the entrance was an elevator descending underground. Ride it down, and you'd find the real lab—a massive space bigger than a soccer field.
It was exactly the image you'd picture for a secret underground lab. Tables scattered with papers crammed in dense jargon and equations. Test tubes beside them sloshing with unidentified glowing liquids.
Turn your eyes, and there were rows of enormous test tubes. From ones barely big enough for a marble to others spacious enough for a whole person. They filled the lab.
And what was inside those test tubes? The scattered organs draped around the lab answered that well enough.
Bubble bubble────
Eyes, hearts, lungs, spines, nerves, blood vessels, muscles—every body part imaginable floated in divided tanks.
A middle-aged man inspecting one such tank's eye glanced at its data and spoke.
"Hmm... this one's trash. Too degraded. Better off sticking with the original."
The man, graying at the temples and called "Doctor" here, eyed the specimen as he said it.
No sooner had he spoken than a researcher scribbled on paperwork nearby.
"Understood. Eye #1342 for disposal."
"Yeah. Do that."
The doctor nodded at the response and turned slowly. Plenty more tanks to check.
He moved briskly for that reason.
Pat pat pat────
But before he could take two steps, frantic footsteps approached.
"Doctor! Big trouble!!"
"...What is it?"
The doctor turned to the sweating researcher dashing toward him. In a place where no one ran, that urgency meant something major.
And the words the researcher gasped out after catching his breath made the doctor's eyes widen.
"That Korean, Shim Hyuk-jin? He's been assassinated! Found burned up on the 8th floor of his usual club..."
"Assassinated? Didn't we assign him a Prototype Test Subject?"
"Yes, but... we just got death data from it. Killed by the assassin."
"...The assassin killed a Prototype Test Subject?"
The doctor rubbed his ears in disbelief at the incomprehensible report. Sure, these prototypes weren't on par with their main project, but they far exceeded normal humans.
Three hearts pumping inside. Artificial muscle fibers pumping out strength no standard enhancement could match. Skin tough enough to shrug off handgun rounds. Combat skills with a dozen weapons, plus stab-proof suit and illegal arms—that was their Prototype Test Subject.
And one got taken out by an assassin?
"How many assassins? Ten? Twenty? Even a horde couldn't win without superior quality."
"Well..."
The researcher hemmed and hawed, eyes darting. The doctor flushed with frustration.
"Don't waste time—spit it out!!!"
"I-It was one! Just one assassin!!"
"One...? One?"
The doctor had figured at least ten elite killers. But no—a single assassin downed a prototype.
He stood stunned for minutes, then pivoted from his original path.
"...I'm going to check the death data from that prototype. Need to see it myself."
"Y-Yes! Right away!"
With that report, tank inspections could wait. What mattered was verifying this result that shattered his expectations.
Above all else. The doctor hurried off to confirm the Prototype Test Subject's death data.