First Commission (4): The Association's Miscalculation
Jin Tae-seong screamed inwardly, his face twisting in frustration. 'What the hell kind of B-Rank group is this?!'
There was someone capable of instantly modifying an agent into a monster.
'This level should've easily qualified for B+ Rank!'
B+ Rank groups required the Association's elite personnel and heavy weaponry for extermination. In other words, they demanded the Association's main forces to hunt down.
It wasn't something a single team could handle.
-Grroooaaar...
The monster—once part of their team—swung its arm with ferocious power.
-Shut the door!
Bang!
They managed to slam the door shut, preventing exposure to whoever was inside, but the real problem was the team member who'd turned into a monster. Its durability and strength were on a whole different level from the ones they'd encountered so far. And now, it was right up in their faces. They'd let a close-range monster get too close—something they absolutely couldn't afford.
Whoosh, pssh!
An agent fired a silenced gun, fingers flying furiously, but it wasn't enough. The further enhanced monster couldn't be dealt with by mere bullets. They might kill it if they kept shooting relentlessly... but the monster wouldn't give them that time.
Chomp!
-Fuck!
-Fall back!!
In the end, the agent who'd been firing non-stop got grabbed, and the survivors scrambled to create distance. It wasn't that the agents lacked emotion. But getting angry in a comrade's crisis could lead to pointless sacrifices. Better to use that time to land one more attack on the monster that had wounded and killed their ally—that was the agent's creed.
-Guh, grraaaahhh!
Veins bulged on the massive hand gripping the agent. A scream erupted from his mouth amid the agony of his body being crushed.
Sizzle!
"Fuck! Requesting support! Grade assessment's wrong! Underground level 3—estimated 4th Grade entity present! Already one... no, two down!"
Jin Tae-seong frantically keyed his radio, calling for help from the surface team.
'Fuck...'
The surface team was probably on the 3rd or 4th floor... no, maybe even the 5th due to those high-grade monsters. Simple math put it at a whopping eight floors of stairs. Factoring in other variables, it could take quite a while for them to arrive.
'Can we hold out?'
Jin Tae-seong stared up at the monster with a hollow expression. Even their impressive firepower—top-tier among Team 7 thanks to their guns—couldn't inflict major damage on its durability. Yet it crushed an agent clad in cutting-edge gear with raw grip strength alone. And this monster had been remotely modified from an agent in an instant.
'No answer here.'
Who knew how long that door would protect them? If the entity inside stepped out and turned Jin Tae-seong and the rest into monsters too?
'We're all dead.'
Even the incoming support from Team 7 would be wiped out.
'Even that Heuk Seol-ah monster.'
The power he'd witnessed from her was indeed tremendous. But he had zero confidence she could handle whatever was behind that door.
'Is this how it ends?'
Jin Tae-seong felt strength drain from his body. He'd braced for this someday, but not like this. Not now.
Whoosh.
Still, he gripped his power anew, flames igniting in his hand. Every agent did the same, activating their abilities and assuming combat stance. To inflict as much damage as possible. To make it easier for the reinforcements to finish the monster.
That was when it happened.
"Let him go!"
The monster called Yoo Hwa charged in an instant and smashed into it.
-Kryaak!
The agent in its grasp spewed blood and bounced across the floor.
-Grroooaaar...
Whoosh!
"Kyaaak!"
The monster didn't sit idle. Yoo Hwa screamed and crumpled from its swinging arm. But no major damage. They couldn't land fatal blows on each other—a sign of near-equal power.
-Grroooaaar...
"Not twice!"
The monster swung a fist at Yoo Hwa on the ground, but she rolled away nimbly. Rising, she landed a spinning kick.
-Grroooaaar!
The monster lost balance and crashed down.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Please! Just die! Please!"
She wouldn't miss the opening. Yoo Hwa closed in, hammering down on the monster like a maniac.
Whoosh!
"Kyaaaak!"
But when the monster swept its enlarged arm across the floor, she lost her footing and fell.
"That hurts! Why'd you trip me?!"
Both sprawled on the ground, they went wild, pummeling each other with fists. A dogfight. But a brutal one that would burst an elephant if it got caught in the middle.
"..."
Jin Tae-seong clamped his mouth shut. An even match. In other words, a fight with an unpredictable outcome. No knowing who would die—him or the enemy.
'But why?'
Why was that monster risking its life to kill the opponent? Why fight to the death for agents it had just met?
Jin Tae-seong could only stand there dumbfounded, face pale with confusion.
Krunch!
-Grk...
The monster before my eyes got shredded like in a blender, not even managing a death rattle.
'Don't use this one again. Blood everywhere.'
I was testing out some magic while catching monsters anyway. It wasn't mine—I'd picked it up from the era I possessed into. No good testing ground before, but perfect timing.
"Whoa... we didn't even get a chance to jump in."
Jeong Seol-yoon clapped from behind in admiration.
"5th floor wasn't that impressive either."
We'd bulldozed through humans and monsters to reach the 5th floor. Nothing even slightly surprising.
-Just two more kills to go?
-How's the underground holding up?
The agents behind us were loosening up a bit. Still maintaining basic tension, of course.
"Kill quick and start investigating underground."
I said that, then addressed the darkness far off.
"You two hiding there—come out. I see you."
To reiterate, I can see clearly in the dark.
-Kuh!
-Still time left...!
Two men's anguished voices echoed from the shadows.
The moment I started toward them.
Bzzt!
A radio crackled behind me.
A desperate voice.
-What the...
-Connection's cut!
Something had gone down underground.
'Yoo Hwa?'
I froze in panic for a split second.
A bit later, another radio buzzed—this time a different voice.
Bzzt... The transmission cut again.
'Yoo Hwa's in danger?'
Teleport right now... No, can't. Teleport needs precise coordinates. No clue on underground level 3's.
'Gotta run...'
-It's done!
-Kill it!
Something burst from the darkness.
Kaboom!
I thrust out my hand without looking, blasting with full force. A beam strong enough for human eyes to see. And that was it. Everything in its path vanished into nothingness.
"..."
Jeong Seol-yoon gaped at the power, but I ignored her.
"We're going down. Now."
"Pardon?"
"Everything here's dead. Time to support underground."
Stay calm. Yoo Hwa's just handling the monster. Not in real danger yet.
"..."
Jeong Seol-yoon hesitated at my words, then keyed her radio.
"Surface team here. Heading to support now."
Thud thud!
With that, the agents bolted. I matched their speed, following close.
'Please be safe. Please.'
Anxiety rising, I descended the stairs one by one.
4th floor, 3rd, 2nd... underground 1, underground 2.
Thud, smack...
The sounds from below grew louder the deeper we went. Impact noises like something getting beaten. No other sounds.
"Breach!"
With Jeong Seol-yoon's shout, we stormed underground level 3. Darkness greeted us immediately. And within it...
"..."
Drip, drip, drip.
Yoo Hwa stood with her head bowed, covered head to toe in blood.
Splat.
She collapsed.
-Grroooaaar...
A equally blood-soaked monster stood before her, fist raised.
Blink, pow.
I blinked, and it turned to dust, gone.
"Yoo Hwa?"
Ignoring the shocked gasps behind me, I approached the fallen Yoo Hwa slowly. She was breathing. But for a monster, breathing meant little. Just mimicking human behavior. She could actually be dead.
"Yoo Hwa?"
Swoosh.
I knelt on one knee, supporting her back.
"Seol... unnie..."
She was alive. Thank fuck, alive.
"I followed orders well... helped the underground team..."
"Fuck, know your limits!"
"Demons must obey the Demon King... and besides."
Yoo Hwa spoke in a voice on the verge of breaking.
"Do you know how many people I killed back at the bathhouse...?"
"...No."
"Twenty-four... Not even grudges. Just instinct... tore apart innocent people with no connection to me, made them suffer..."
A fact we'd both been ignoring for her sake, for my mental health. Back when she was the bathhouse monster, how many had she killed?
"So I have to save as many as I can... even for those I killed..."
"Got it."
I gently laid her back on the floor. Then, looking at the grim-faced agents, I said,
"Saved five. Nineteen left."
Yoo Hwa smiled at that.
"Right? Still a ways to go..."
"Rest. I'll handle the rest."
The door beyond the agents. Sealed with demonic energy. That's why I couldn't sense past it.
Step, step.
I strode to the door.
"W-Wait... don't open it recklessly..."
"It's fine."
An agent tried to stop me, but whatever.
Creeeak.
I yanked the door open wide.
-How insolent.
A skeletal old man in the demonic-energy-filled darkness muttered.
-Or perhaps... qualified.
The old man saw me and chuckled.
-Pleased to meet you. I am Re Nerd, founder of the Invincible Research Group, seekers of immortality, the human transcendence project, the pinnacle of humans fused with monsters, scientists pursuing invincibility.
"Pleased to meet you."
I returned the greeting.
"I'm the Demon King."