Two-Front Offensive
That evening, when the members gathered back at the dorm, everyone looked a little more worn out than usual. It was only natural. Just sneaking off to a club in the middle of the night was exhausting enough, yet here we were after only a few hours of sleep, heading straight back to the practice room. On top of that, we’d gone through intense sparring sessions to experience the Chinese bastards’ dirty tricks firsthand and even performed maintenance on all our equipment. After a day this chaotic, a slightly lighter training load than usual wouldn’t have made any difference. To be honest, even I was pretty tired. Personally dealing with the vileness of those Chinese pricks had been more annoying than I expected. Especially the repeated use of Fa Jin—that kind of skill carried a heavy mental burden.
I had to face superhumans who worshipped psychic energy under the name of “inner power,” so half-assing it wasn’t an option. All things considered, it had been one hell of an exhausting day.
“Everyone’s here~”
While the rest of us looked completely drained, there was one member who appeared perfectly fine: the squinty-eyed villain, Yu Hana. Everyone else was disheveled and puffy-eyed, but she looked fresh as a daisy. I’d assumed today would be the day she got run ragged, yet here she was, the most energetic of all. What kind of irony was this? It didn’t seem fair. It honestly felt like I’d been played.
There had to be countless sacrifices hidden behind Yu Hana’s boundless energy. It was obvious at a glance that she only gave orders while someone else did all the actual legwork. And those helpers were undoubtedly the Kakdugi “uncles” she always referred to so casually. After all the hard work the employees of Kakdugi Co. had put in today, maybe we should reward them each with a pack of red ginseng.
“Okay then, briefing time~ The exact location of the drugs didn’t come through clearly. We know for sure it’s Incheon Pier 3, but it looks like they’ve pulled some kind of trick. We’ll probably have to go there ourselves to figure anything out.”
“The pier? So it’s right before shipment to China?”
“Yep, that seems to be the case. No matter what device they used, leaving it at the pier for too long would be too risky~”
“I see… So Cheongpung rushing things was because they realized the drugs were about to leave?”
“If their goal is truly drug eradication, we should actually welcome their involvement.”
“It only increases the chance that their motives aren’t pure. All right, next.”
I’d briefly considered just letting the drugs sail off to China, but my instincts told me things wouldn’t resolve that easily. They might leave a portion behind for domestic distribution, or Cheongpung might charge in to seize the shipment. It was a lower possibility, but they could even mobilize nearby villains and go all-in on the drugs. With this much product on the line, plenty of villains would lose their minds at the opportunity.
No matter how it played out, the safest option was to destroy the drugs with our own hands.
“On the other hand, we did locate their production base. It’s a villa on the outskirts of Incheon, in a very secluded area. The drug producer is there as well.”
“I see…”
“The producer is Albert Chang. His registered ability is Materialization-type. He’s a Chinese-American who worked at Robillion Madison before being forcibly retired last year.”
“Robillion Madison is a pretty major company.”
“Forced retirement? There must have been some kind of incident.”
“It seems he got caught trying to steal important data.”
“An industrial spy? It’s a miracle he wasn’t killed.”
“And now that he’s gotten involved with drugs, he’ll be dead soon enough.”
According to the Special Task Force’s engagement protocols, there were priority elimination targets. Materialization-types who produced drugs ranked at the top of the list alongside Venom-types capable of dispersing toxic substances. I intended to handle this matter cleanly as well.
Some might wonder why a Materialization-type who merely produced drugs would be marked for immediate elimination. Venom-types were obviously dangerous due to their potential for mass casualties, but a drug manufacturer was still just a Materialization-type. If they stopped making drugs, they wouldn’t seem particularly threatening. In other words, there appeared to be room for rehabilitation. One might think it would be enough to simply prevent them from continuing production.
However, statistics showed that Materialization-types who produced drugs had a ninety-nine percent chance of returning to the trade. I didn’t know the exact psychological mechanism, but the numbers didn’t lie. If the Special Task Force were a judicial institution, they might have created different rules to protect that one innocent person. But what they valued was efficiency and preventing recidivism, so they preferred elimination over arrest to avoid future headaches.
This was especially true for criminals like Materialization-types, whose sentences could easily be reduced depending on their defense. Simply put, if these bastards were released and started manufacturing again, it would only cause more trouble. Better to nip the problem in the bud from the start. I tended to follow the Special Task Force’s engagement protocols on this particular issue.
“Albert Chang… Are there any secret passages in the villa or anything?”
“I don’t expect there to be any~ If a Materialization-type capable of producing drugs slipped away somewhere else, it would cause problems on their end too~”
“That makes sense. There aren’t many Materialization-types who can manufacture drugs, so they’d want to keep a close eye on him.”
“Can’t every Materialization-type make drugs?”
“Does that mean Ji Seoeun can make drugs too?”
“Negative. My field is manufacturing and physics. His is chemistry and medicine. Different domains.”
That was a relief. If our space battleship villain’s specialty had been chemistry and medicine, she might have ended up selling drugs instead of guns. Some might argue they were essentially the same, but in my book, drugs were far worse. Firearms were rarely turned on civilians, whereas drugs were primarily sold to them. That was the distinction.
“I get the picture. So ultimately we have two targets to hit?”
“The port and the villa. The two locations are quite far apart, though.”
“True. We’ll have to split into two teams.”
“Wouldn’t it be possible to hit one location and immediately teleport to the other?”
“That would be too risky. Cheongpung is definitely monitoring both sites. The moment we strike one, they’ll move immediately.”
“Move… meaning what, exactly?”
“If their goal is truly drug eradication, it wouldn’t matter. But if their true objective is the drugs themselves…”
“Then?”
“They would immediately charge the location we didn’t hit and secure their objective.”
“In the case of the port, that would be the drugs. For the villa…”
“The drug producer.”
“Understood.”
The drugs were bad enough, but this Albert Chang character was an even bigger problem. Without him, they could never have produced five hundred kilograms. It was an absurd quantity that would have been impossible without a Materialization-type. If someone of his caliber fell into Cheongpung’s hands, he might prove more dangerous than the finished product.
“Fortunately, their numbers don’t seem that high. Even if we split up, we should be able to handle it~”
“Really? That’s surprising.”
“Instead, there are quite a few who look competent.”
“They reduced quantity and increased quality.”
I hadn’t expected her to gather information on the enemy’s troop strength as well. It was better than anticipated. Despite her fresh-faced appearance, the quality of the intelligence exceeded my expectations. At this point, I should probably be praising the Kakdugi uncles who had confirmed everything in person rather than Yu Hana herself.
According to her explanation, the enemy numbers were far lower than I’d predicted. Setting up a production base in another country and transporting the drugs must have been quite burdensome for them. What annoyed me most about China was their human-wave tactics, but they had apparently chosen quality over quantity this time. With this much product involved, they had no choice but to be cautious. It was a welcome miscalculation. For our small team, a handful of skilled operators was far easier to deal with than an overwhelming numerical advantage.
“In that case, we can strike both locations simultaneously. Seong Jiyeong and Tasha will head to the port. I’ll take the villa.”
“Na Yeri, you intend to go alone?”
“It seems like the best arrangement. You two can finish at the port quickly and join me.”
“I see. The port will certainly have security forces guarding it, so Seong Jiyeong’s ability will be essential for extraction.”
If we were splitting into two teams, sending Seong Jiyeong to the port was the correct choice. As Tasha said, that area was under security force jurisdiction. Any major disturbance would cause their troops to converge. Extraction would require her teleportation. Furthermore, with Seong Jiyeong present, we could eliminate only the Chinese operatives and then lure the security forces to the drug location. That would save time and allow the two of them to join me at the villa afterward.
Of course, my plan was to deal with Albert Chang before they even finished at the port. Killing a near-noncombatant Materialization-type in front of Seong Jiyeong felt somewhat uncomfortable. In most cases, these types claimed they had been kidnapped and forced to manufacture drugs, using every excuse in the book. Someone as inexperienced as Seong Jiyeong might actually fall for it. Even if she didn’t, she might insist on handing them over to the authorities to let the law decide their punishment.
Considering that most criminals she had captured so far had been transferred to the security forces, that was the likely outcome. This directly conflicted with my principle that drug-manufacturing villains must be eliminated as the highest priority. However, I had no desire to create conflict with the team over this issue, so it would be simpler if I handled it myself.
“Seong Jiyeong and Tasha will take the port. I’ll handle the villa. Once the port is cleared, join me immediately at the villa. Yu Hana and Ji Seoeun will remain in the rear to provide support and standby. That’s the plan. Any objections?”
“None.”
“Good.”
“Roger.”
“I’ve already selected the rear support position. I’ll relay situation updates while waiting there~”
“Perfect. Then let’s move.”
And so we drew our blades to punish the insolent Chinese bastards who had arrogantly set up a secret production base in another country and were attempting to ship their drugs back home.