A Turf War
I opened my eyes.
A confessional tangled with a complex web of cables. An unfamiliar ceiling filled my vision.
When I opened the door and stepped out, the monks flinched. They stared at me with wide eyes and spoke.
"How are you already...?"
In their hands, they held stainless steel trays filled with syringes.
I dashed forward and swung my fist.
One punch per person. Hit square in the jaw, the monks collapsed on the spot without even a scream or a groan.
Leaving the monks sprawled on the floor behind me, I headed straight for Hee-cheol's confessional.
Hee-cheol was smiling.
Shedding tears with a look of pure bliss.
"Can I wake him up by force?"
Don't pull the cables out. You need to wake him up first. It's similar to sleeping, so just shake him awake.
"Shake him awake, you say?"
Slap!
My palm struck Hee-cheol's cheek.
No response. I swung my palm again.
Slap! Slap!
Still, he didn't open his eyes. But the smile on his face vanished.
"The drug must be quite strong. But he seems to be reacting."
Mister, a bit gentler... You're going to kill him at this rate.
I wound up and slapped him with all my might.
SMACK!
Pfft!
A white object flew out of Hee-cheol's mouth.
It was a molar.
As I watched the molar roll across the floor, Hee-cheol spoke in a trembling voice.
"...Did you finally decide to kill me, Big Brother...? Were you an assassin sent by the Cult all along, sir?"
Hee-cheol opened his eyes, spitting out bloody saliva.
"Shut up and get up. The bastards here are using drugs."
"Drugs?!"
Hee-cheol tried to spring up but staggered, nearly collapsing sideways. Grabbing the armrest of the sofa, he forced himself upright and said,
"I see... This dizziness... it's definitely the drugs, sir...!"
Aren't you sure it's not a concussion because you hit him too hard, Mister?
Maetan did not interfere with reality.
In principle, at least.
To them, reality was merely a 'means to maintain Intra-Maetan.' It was like the home employees returned to after work. What company would interfere with what its employees did at home?
The life Maetan envisioned existed within virtual reality.
But there was a minimum line.
Maetan defined four major crimes.
First, unauthorized entry. Entering or leaving the city without permission.
Second, misappropriation of resources. Private use of corporate property.
Third, employee assault. Inflicting injuries on an employee to the point where they could not work. (This included self-harm.)
And fourth.
"Drug distribution, sir."
Hee-cheol said, slipping his bloody molar into his pocket.
"Maetan is extremely sensitive about drugs, sir."
"A company that truly cares about its employees."
I was genuinely impressed. As expected of my company. Truly a place worthy of burying my bones. Was it not the last utopia on Earth, providing three square meals and a place to live?
"What are you talking about, sir?"
Hee-cheol snorted.
"Am I wrong?"
"Maetan doesn't ban drugs for the sake of the employees' health."
He wiped the blood from his mouth.
"They do it because they're afraid people will choose drugs over Intra-Maetan. Employees are supposed to relieve stress, satisfy their desires, and spend Maetan Points inside Intra-Maetan. But if they get addicted to drugs, they'll only look for drugs, sir."
"..."
"It's a turf war over their rice bowl, Big Brother."
No.
There was no way my Maetan would do that.
"Anyway, we've got them dead to rights, sir. Since they used drugs, we can round up all these bastards. We just need to secure some of the drugs as evidence and report them to the Maetan Security Force. We can get things done without lifting a finger, sir."
Hee-cheol said, practically gnashing his teeth.
Just then, the outside grew noisy.
"What's going on?!"
"We're under attack! Two of our men are down!"
Footsteps echoed down the hallway. Hee-cheol glanced at me.
"You already started without me, sir?"
"...It was to save you."
"...Big Brother... Ow, ow, ow..."
Hee-cheol's eyes sparkled as a brief look of deep emotion crossed his face, only to quickly vanish.
The pain of his missing molar seemed to outpace his gratitude.
Thud, thud, thud.
Monks armed with weapons flooded into the room. Swords and axes gleamed.
"Over here!"
"It's Hee-cheol from Garden!"
"Audacious bastard. I thought he was just spying, but he actually launched an attack."
Hee-cheol stepped forward.
He raised his hand, pointing at the monks, and shouted,
"Hey, you sons of bitches! How dare you inject drugs into our customers? You don't even have the basics of customer service down. You're all dead meat today!"
Suddenly, he pointed at me.
"Do you have any idea who this gentleman is?!"
Hee-cheol's voice boomed past the confessional and echoed down the hallway.
"He is a battle-hardened soldier who survived fighting the Machine Species! Do you see this? This glorious cybernetic prosthetic arm!"
Hee-cheol hoisted my left arm high into the air.
"You all heard the rumor about the sole survivor of the Machine Species' ambush in Pyeongtaek recently, right? That's him! It doesn't matter how many of you trash show up, you don't stand a chance!"
Agitation rippled through the monks.
The monks in the front tried to shrink back, but those behind them pushed them forward.
I called out to Hee-cheol.
"Hey."
"Just wait a moment, Big Brother. It's working. I think they're about to back off, sir."
"What are you doing?"
"Well, we have to make it out alive, don't we, sir? No matter how strong you are, against that many people..."
"Move aside."
I shoved Hee-cheol to the side and stepped forward.
The faces of my old comrades I hadn't seen in so long, my own pathetic self losing my mind before the target of my revenge, a father losing himself in virtual reality while abandoning his daughter.
All of it was forming an inexplicable lump of frustration deep inside me.
"I've accumulated... too much stress."
"What do you mean, sir?"
"Go. Call the Security Force. I'll clear a path."
Crackle!
I discharged the prosthetic arm's power and activated Neural Acceleration.
The high-frequency electrical impulses discharged from the prosthetic arm surged along my spinal cord and peripheral nerves.
In an instant, all my senses sharpened to a razor's edge, and my body moved faster than thought.
Boom!
I shattered the floor as I lunged forward.
The monk at the very front was sent flying by my tackle before he could even register what was happening.
Crack!
The vivid sound of something breaking—whether a door or a bone—echoed through the air.
The monks couldn't even react to the sudden movement.
I threw punches at the defenseless monks.
Thud.
Crack.
Smash.
In the blink of an eye, three more monks collapsed.
"What? What's going on?!"
"A monster... Gah!"
Every time I swung my fist, another monk went down.
A few monks tried to charge me with their swords, but the movements of unaugmented humans posed no threat at all.
"Whoa. He's fucking strong. I knew he was good, but this is insane, sir."
Watching from behind, Hee-cheol couldn't hide his awe.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and call the Security Force."
"It looks like you're going to wipe them all out by yourself, Big Brother, sir."
"They'll all get back up in a bit."
Seeing the first monk I had knocked down starting to stir, Hee-cheol bolted out of the temple in a hurry.
It was then.
"Ah... move aside, please. I'm here to work."
A man emerged from among the monks.
I reflexively corrected my stance.
He was a middle-aged man with a messy beard and droopy eyes.
Mister.
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, CC called out to me.
Beneath the man's combat coat, a gleaming silver left hand was visible.
It's a prosthetic arm.
"Ha... to think I'd run into an old comrade in a place like this. Fate really has a twisted sense of humor. Hey, friend. I'm sorry, but could you wrap things up and head back?"
The man scratched his head vigorously with his prosthetic hand.
"I can't back down. I still have work to do."
"Right? We've all got jobs to do, so there's no way you'd just quit... Sigh, I really hate this. But I don't have a choice either, you know? I'm hired as a bodyguard here. You understand, right?"
I nodded.
The man smirked and drew a collapsible baton with his right hand.
"Captain Choi Gwangho, 9th Special Enhanced Battalion, 15th Mechanized Infantry Division."
"Middle Sergeant Yoon Juhyuk, Shoeshine Unit."
The man who introduced himself as Choi Gwangho widened his eyes and shouted,
"The Shoeshine Unit? Seriously?!"
And in the next instant, he kicked off the floor with immense force, closing the distance rapidly.
"Then I can't afford to hold back."
Crash!
As I twisted my body, Choi Gwangho's prosthetic arm slammed into the spot where I had just been standing.
The concrete floor shattered, sending debris flying in all directions.
Neural Acceleration
Utilizing Neural Acceleration, I threw a high-speed punch.
But my opponent was also a prosthetic user. Moving at a speed comparable to mine, he dodged the punch and used the centrifugal force to swing his collapsible baton.
Instead of dodging his attack, I took it head-on, grabbed both the baton and his arm, and hurled him away.
A direct course for a face-first smash into the wall. But of course, it wouldn't be that easy.
"Hup!"
Mid-air, Choi Gwangho smashed his prosthetic left hand into the wall.
The wall of concrete and rebar caved in, scattering debris everywhere.
"Ah, you're strong, as expected. My policy is usually never to fight anyone stronger than me... Ugh."
Choi Gwangho pulled his arm out of the wall.
"Are you going to keep going?"
"I've got money to collect too... and well,"
Choi Gwangho took his stance again.
"it's not like I think I'll lose."
I also put my right hand forward and pulled back my prosthetic left arm.
I intended to settle this with the next exchange.
Just then.
"Freeze! We received a report of illegal drug distribution on these premises!!"
The voice of the Security Force echoed from the far end of the hallway.
Choi Gwangho spoke, dumbfounded.
"Huh? What's this?"
"The Security Force is here."
"The Security Force? You called them already?"
"That guy named Hee-cheol who ran out earlier must have called them, sir."
One of the monks chimed in.
The killing intent instantly drained from Choi Gwangho.
"He ran out? You saw him? Then why didn't you stop him?"
"...We were kind of sprawled out on the floor from being beaten up then..."
"Yeah, yeah, we were groaning in pain."
"Then we're completely done here!!"
Choi Gwangho shouted, collapsing his baton and putting it away.
I also relaxed my stance.
"Ah, fuck... If I knew this would happen, I should've demanded the full payment upfront..."
Choi Gwangho approached while scratching his head and extended his hand.
"The Cult is finished. If I can't get paid, my job as a bodyguard is over too. I'm backing out. We cool?"
"Sorry. I ruined your livelihood."
I said, shaking his hand.
He grinned and bid farewell.
"Don't sweat it! I'll find another gig. Well then, I'm off! Gotta run! See you around, comrade!!"
Choi Gwangho dashed toward the hole he had smashed in the wall earlier.
A few monks followed close behind him.
Leaving the fleeing monks behind, I headed deeper into the temple.
I went around, opening the confessionals one by one.
When I opened the sixth door, CC spoke.
Found him.
A gaunt, haggard-looking man was repeatedly plugging and unplugging a USB cable into his Neck-Hub, looking utterly bewildered.
"Kim Chang-gyu?"
Hearing his name, the man slowly raised his head.
His eyes were hollow.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him along.
"Daddy!"
A crowd of people poured out from the entrance of the washing factory. Among them, a little girl smaller than others her age caught my eye.
It was Kim Ye-eun.
"Daddy! Daddy..."
The moment Ye-eun spotted Kim Chang-gyu, she ran over as fast as her legs could carry her. Her small body clung tightly to his leg. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
But Kim Chang-gyu didn't budge.
He merely stared down at the child clinging to his leg. His eyes were completely vacant. To him, the second farewell to his wife—who would never return—seemed to weigh far heavier than this reunion with his daughter after ten days.
How long did they stand there like that?
When her father failed to react, Ye-eun ran over to me.
"Thank you, Mister."
Bowing politely, Ye-eun grabbed my prosthetic arm and pressed her forehead against it.
"Thank you... so much..."
The prosthetic arm moved independently of my will.
It patted Ye-eun's head. Gently, as if acting in place of her father.
After lingering for a moment to feel the warmth of the metal, Ye-eun pulled away and went back to her father, taking his hand.
"Daddy, I saved up a lot of money while you were gone. What should I buy you? How about some hot soup..."
Kim Chang-gyu let himself be dragged along, trudging listlessly.
Ye-eun chattered away without pause, but he didn't utter a single word.
He didn't hug her, nor did he pat her head.
Mister, wait a second.
CC chimed in. An arrow pointed toward a utility pole. A loose cable was hanging out.
Grab that. Quick.
I grabbed the cable with my prosthetic hand.
Screeech—
The CCTV camera on the utility pole spun violently.
The camera, whirring with a loud screech, finally failed to withstand the momentum and snapped off with a sharp crack.
Thud!!
"Argh!"
The camera struck Kim Chang-gyu squarely on the head.
"Daddy!"
Kim Chang-gyu clutched his head and collapsed to the ground. It was the first time I had heard his voice in reality.
"Was that you?"
Yes! I did it! His own child is clinging to him like that, and he won't even hug her! Do you have any idea how much Ye-eun suffered?!
"Don't hit him."
Why not?! You should say something to him too, Mister! A guy like that needs to be beaten into—
"Look."
I turned my gaze toward the father and daughter.
"Daddy, does it hurt? Are you okay? Blow... blow..."
CC must be watching through my eyes as well.
Ye-eun was blowing gently on her father's head. Her young hands, swollen and raw from chemical exposure, carefully caressed her father's wound.
"If the father is hurt, the daughter hurts even more."
...But in that state, Ye-eun will...
"Did you say she was thirteen? In just two or three years, she'll be old enough to buy a Neck-Hub."
Once she reached that age, she wouldn't need Kim Chang-gyu's protection anymore. Even if he was broken, he just needed to last until then.
How is that a solution? Are you saying it's fine for them to keep living like this in the meantime?
"The only one who can resolve this is Kim Ye-eun herself."
No one else can heal the wound of losing family. I knew that all too well.
If there was anyone who could somehow stitch that wound back together...
"Daddy, let's go quickly. We need to go to the clinic first."
Ye-eun pulled on Kim Chang-gyu's arm again.
The two slowly faded into the crowd.
"If you're so worried, you can watch over them."
CC fell silent.
I turned and walked away. I should grab some food before heading home.
After filling my stomach at the employee cafeteria, I plugged in the USB cable to pay for my meal.