The Price of Vengeance
"You are being temporarily detained. Do not resist and follow our instructions."
I looked at Ham Tae-ung, the leader of the expedition.
He didn't avoid my gaze, slowly nodding his head.
I had a gut feeling this wasn't about the processor.
"Did they contact you?"
"Yes. We ask for your cooperation."
As soon as I arrived here, I had handed over the raiders' information and communication methods to Ham Tae-ung.
The security team had disguised themselves as me to signal the raiders, planning to lure them into a trap. And now, it seemed they were putting that plan into action.
I went along with them without a fuss.
They led me to a room in the base that had been temporarily converted into a holding cell.
Inside was a cot and a single bucket meant to serve as a toilet.
"Even though we obtained this information thanks to you, Mr. Yoon Juhyuk, there is a chance it could be a calculated deception. We'll need you to remain here until the situation is resolved."
Ham Tae-ung bowed his head slightly.
"My apologies."
It isn't easy for an ordinary person to deal with a soldier.
Even now, I was confident I could take down everyone in this room and make a run for it.
Ham Tae-ung could have asked for my help.
But he didn't.
Instead, he chose to detain me.
Just in case I was actually on the raiders' side.
I didn't feel particularly offended. It was a natural suspicion.
If anything, I appreciated Ham Tae-ung's caution.
I quietly stepped into the cell.
"Thank you for your cooperation."
The heavy iron door shut with a metallic clang, and everyone left except for a single guard.
The success of an operation depended on how well you eliminated variables and prepared for contingencies.
Ham Tae-ung had chosen to eliminate a variable.
Cautious, but that was the extent of it.
"If it were me, I would have just killed me."
If he truly wanted to eliminate variables, he shouldn't have locked me up; he should have killed me.
Because that was the only way to be sure.
"I'm hungry..."
I closed my eyes for a bit, and when I woke up, it was dark outside.
There were no light fixtures in the room, only the faint light filtering through a tiny window.
Judging by the angle of the moon, dinner time had long since passed.
And they weren't even feeding me.
I shouted through the slot in the door.
"Hey! Even if you're keeping me locked up, shouldn't you at least feed me?"
The guard outside replied with a haggard face.
"I'm hungry too..."
He mentioned that most of the forces were on stationary guard duty to prepare for the raiders.
Giving up, I lay back down on the cot and opened my prosthetic arm's console.
> Copying files and applying essential settings...
> 56%...
> 57%...
"Seriously slow."
My prosthetic arm operated using my bioelectricity.
The primary reason soldiers like me underwent cybernetic augmentation was to stimulate bioelectricity. Enhanced muscle strength and durability were merely secondary benefits.
And bioelectricity was generated from the calories I consumed.
Because of this, my metabolic rate was more than three times that of an average human...
If this takes too long, I might actually starve to death...
Starving for just two or three days could kill me.
Ah, I was already feeling dizzy.
Thoom...!
Just as my hands began to tremble from the creeping onset of hypoglycemia—
A massive explosion shook the building, sending dust raining down from the ceiling.
"It's started."
Gunfire followed.
Then another explosion.
By the time the faint scent of gunpowder drifted into the room, the cell door finally swung open.
"You can come out now."
I followed the guard toward the entrance of the Pyeongtaek ruins.
It must have been a fierce battle; the corpses of Maetan security guards and field workers were scattered everywhere.
Spotting me, Ham Tae-ung rushed over, his face etched with exhaustion.
"Former military men are indeed formidable. I thought I had trained our security team well, but we lost nearly half of them."
I looked around at the bodies. It seemed Ham Tae-ung's tally didn't include the ordinary Maetan employees. There were far more civilian employee corpses than security guards.
They had probably been used as human shields.
Ham Tae-ung pointed to five corpses lined up near the entrance of the ruins.
"Please identify them. Though one of them is missing a head..."
Among the dead was Staff Sergeant Yang Guk-tae, his eyes still wide open in death.
I closed his eyes and spoke.
"That's them. These are the raiders who attacked the bus."
"...Thank you for your cooperation."
"Is this all of them?"
"Yes. All five of the raiders you mentioned have been eliminated."
I examined the raiders' bodies once more.
Something felt off.
There were five raiders who had attacked the bus.
There were five bodies before me.
The count was correct.
However, they were all male.
The corpse of the female operator, the one who had hacked the scout drone to stop the bus, was missing.
I inspected the neck of the headless corpse.
A Maetan-manufactured Neck-Hub.
This wasn't a raider.
It was the body of the employee who had betrayed us on the bus.
"You're short by one."
"Pardon?"
"There's no woman."
"Didn't you say there were five?"
"This one is a Maetan employee. It seems he was collaborating with the raiders."
No matter how strong Staff Sergeant Yang Guk-tae was, he was ultimately just human.
An opponent that could be fought and defeated.
"The operator is still out there."
On the other hand, the threat level of an operator was immeasurable. Especially a highly skilled one with nothing left to lose.
Turning pale, Ham Tae-ung barked orders to his men.
"Form search parties immediately! Two-man cells! If a guard is fast on their feet, they can go solo! Hurry!"
It was a quick decision and response, but even that was already too late.
Thud...!
A sound that shook the very earth.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Was this what the footsteps of the dinosaurs that once ruled the Earth sounded like?
An entity of overwhelming mass was approaching, making the ground tremble with every step.
"Fuck..."
A guard muttered a curse under his breath, staring at the hill rising behind the ruins.
A monument of steel death stood tall against the backdrop of the moon, looking down upon us.
A Multi-legged Tank.
It was the main battle tank of the Machine Species. While there were various sub-models if you got into the technicalities, people generally lumped them all under that name.
Its defining feature was the eight thick, cylindrical legs that replaced traditional tank treads.
And the fact that it was invincible.
Boom!!
The railgun fired by the Multi-legged Tank punched a perfectly straight hole right through the ruins' building.
Taking cover was utterly meaningless against a projectile traveling at speeds exceeding 10,000 km/h.
Amidst the shower of concrete debris, Ham Tae-ung screamed at me.
"You're a soldier! You must have fought them during the Great War! Isn't there some way to counter this?!"
A countermeasure?
'If you encounter a Multi-legged Tank, run.'
That was our basic manual, our doctrine, and our tactical guideline.
"You either hit it with dozens of unguided rockets simultaneously, or call in a barrage from self-propelled artillery."
"Damn it! There's no way we have anything like that here!"
A few guards fired their rifles, but it was useless.
Small arms could barely scratch the armor of a Multi-legged Tank.
"We can't defeat it, but there is a way to survive."
"What is it?!"
"Drop your weapons."
During the long war against the Machine Species.
One day, humanity realized the war was over.
Because the Machine Species, which had been ruthlessly slaughtering humans just the day before, suddenly began letting unarmed humans go.
That was when humanity realized.
We lost.
They don't even view us as enemies anymore.
"The Machine Species does not initiate attacks on unarmed humans. If we throw down our weapons right now and show we have no intention of resisting, it might stop."
"But we're already in combat! Will it really let us go just because we drop our weapons now?"
"We'll just have to hope the machine is feeling merciful."
Ham Tae-ung grit his teeth.
"I cannot leave my men's lives to luck."
"I see."
It was the correct decision for a commander.
"Then we'll have to resist as much as possible. Focus all your firepower on the railgun barrel. It's a delicate mechanism. At the very least, you should be able to stop it from firing continuously."
"If we stop that, can we win?"
"No. But the railgun has the longest range. At least you won't get sniped in the back of the head while running away."
Ham Tae-ung nodded, grinding his teeth.
He had correctly understood from my words that escape was the only option.
"If you neutralize the railgun, you can take cover from its other attacks, allowing you to wage a delaying action. Oh, and be careful—if there aren't enough casualties, it might deploy chemical weapons."
"Chemical weapons?"
"An agent that causes blisters to erupt all over your body, leading to an agonizing death over thirty hours. If that gets deployed, it's game over."
"Is there any way to prevent it?"
"Just make sure someone dies every now and then. It doesn't seem to use them when it's already winning."
Ham Tae-ung grit his teeth again.
"I'll leave this place to you, then."
As I prepared to leave, a startled Ham Tae-ung grabbed my shoulder.
"Where are you going?!"
"There is only one way to resolve this situation."
I looked up at the hill where the Multi-legged Tank had appeared, framed by the moon.
"I'm going to capture the operator."
"If you kill the operator, will the machine stop?!"
"We can't kill her. We have to capture her. Then we negotiate. We force her to hack the machine and send it back."
Ham Tae-ung couldn't hide his despair.
They had just shot and killed her comrades, and now they were in a position where they had to beg her for their lives.
"Don't worry. I know a few ways to secure her cooperation."
The operator was undoubtedly on the hill.
The range of wireless communication was limited, and she would need high ground to extend her signal.
If anyone could resolve this, it was the operator who had caused it in the first place.
The only person capable of directing the Multi-legged Tank.
But.
"I didn't expect this."
As expected, she was at the top of the hill.
The operator, collapsed on the ground, dead—with a thick mixture of blood and brain fluid oozing from her eyes and ears.