Chapter 147
Chapter 147
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: Loose Ends
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Thud. Thud. Thud.
I knocked on the thick iron door with my finger. A groan came from the other side. Or was it a scream?
-Kraaaah!
“...Kim Juncheol?”
Jeongwoo shook his head at my question.
“Doesn’t sound like it.”
I thought the same.
It wasn’t Kim Juncheol’s voice. Even if he was infected with the virus, it wouldn’t change that much.
I knocked once more.
Thud. Thud.
Footsteps approached from inside, and finally, a response came.
-Who is it.
It was Kim Juncheol’s voice.
He sounded exhausted, but I was certain.
I stepped closer to the door and said,
“It’s Kim Cheonjae.”
-...Come in.
“Yes.”
I carefully pulled the door open. The slab of metal was so heavy it nearly yanked me forward.
Even with my level this high, it tugged at my wrists. No ordinary person could open this thing.
Creeeak.
Thud.
Contrary to our worries, Kim Juncheol seemed unfazed.
Yet the room reeked of rot.
He must have noticed it too, because he said to us,
“Good to see you. Whew... Sorry about the zombie stench filling the room.”
He turned on an air purifier and sprayed some air freshener.
I approached the shattered desk and asked him,
“What happened?”
“...Dr. Oh stopped by.”
Dr. Oh?
So that explained the rotting smell permeating the room.
“What did he say?”
“He said he’d continue his research.”
“...And what did you say to that?”
“‘Do what you want.’ We argued a bit, but it felt like talking to a wall.”
“...”
“I’ve got his location pinned down. Want to meet him yourself, Cheonjae?”
I shook my head.
“No, it’s not time yet.”
“Not time...”
“Yes.”
Woof! Woof!
A dog barked. I turned to see a small Chihuahua infected with the virus inside a square iron cage.
Its body was purple—X Virus.
“...What’s with this guy?”
“Dr. Oh left some virus with me, so I ran some tests.”
“Tests?”
“Yeah. He said they’d already developed a cure for this X Virus, unlike the Z.”
“...So you injected it into this little guy?”
“That’s right. I administered the cure too, so now we just observe the reaction.”
First I’d heard of a cure for the X Virus. No idea how far along Dr. Oh’s research was.
“What about the Z Virus cure?”
“...No. He said he couldn’t make one.”
“Too bad.”
Kim Juncheol stared blankly at the purple dog and said,
“My guess is, Dr. Oh doesn’t want to make a Z Virus cure.”
“...Why?”
“Because he thinks that’s how the world he wants will come.”
The world Dr. Oh wanted.
That was the apocalypse.
He hated humanity for polluting the world—that was his deal.
I nodded to show I understood.
“What are your plans now, Brigade Commander?”
“...Plans for what?”
“With Dr. Oh.”
He let out a deep sigh at my question. This was a man who’d given him hope for so long; it couldn’t be easy to deal with.
“Should we take him out?”
“That’s what I think.”
“I’ll follow your lead, Cheonjae. No backing down now.”
“...Good.”
Hearing his resolve, I began recounting events from Heaven, one by one.
Tales of Heaven and Hell that defied all common sense.
Kim Juncheol listened to my third-rate fairy tale without so much as blinking.
“...So the guy who turned No Hyoman like that is there now?”
“Yes.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“...Battle stations. A big fight in two weeks. Send reinforcements to the place I mentioned then.”
“Move all troops there?”
“No, leave minimal forces in the village. Bring the rest.”
Kim Juncheol opened a desk drawer, pulled out a thick cigar, and lit it.
Sssip-
Phew.
“Alright. In two weeks, we’ll head to the place you mentioned, Cheonjae.”
* * * * *
The most important spot to check last.
[System Message]
[Welcome to Mechania!]
Jeongwoo and I moved to Mechania. The moment we passed through the gate, Eidos’s hologram appeared before my eyes and initiated a conversation.
[‘Eidos’ reacts intensely to Kim Cheonjae’s scent.]
“...Eidos, status?”
[Progress at 99%. Defense facilities in the city upgraded over a hundredfold.]
“Good. Now start producing combat units. Two weeks left. We need as many robots as possible.”
[‘Eidos’ acknowledges Kim Cheonjae’s command.]
[Estimated combat robots ready in one week: 40 units total. Margin of error ±5.]
Preparations here were perfect.
I moved to an empty alley and continued.
“...Finished analyzing the files from that USB?”
[Data mining complete.]
[Would you like to view the analysis?]
“...Yeah.”
[‘Eidos’ hologram switching to screen mode.]
[Content is locked; visible only to ‘Kim Cheonjae.’]
Whirr-.
Eidos swirled and transformed into a rectangular screen.
I gestured, and a video played on the screen.
I watched intently.
[‘Third Eye’ is curious about Kim Cheonjae’s screen.]
[‘Admin 1’ opens log file to analyze the screen.]
[‘Admin 2’ halts other admins’ game interference as a rules violation.]
Just as I expected.
The admins didn’t have all my info.
If they did, they wouldn’t have let me get this far. I’d intercepted what one of them—Yoo Sora—had received.
After viewing everything Eidos showed, I smiled.
“That it?”
[All USB contents transmitted.]
Less shocking than I thought. Just tips on how to act to escape this game.
Survival guide for this world, basically.
Too late for Yoo Sora to follow their advice...
“Okay, good work. Now delete everything. Not just delete—obliterate it.”
[‘Eidos’ executes Kim Cheonjae’s command.]
I lit a cigarette with a stern expression. To prove to whoever was watching that the USB contents meant nothing to me.
Sssip-.
Phew.
White smoke drifted away on the wind.
“...Eidos, did a player named Yoo Sora come here while I was gone?”
[Affirmative.]
“What did she want?”
[Asked to analyze an item identical to ‘Kim Cheonjae’s’ USB.]
“...Really? When?”
[She came yesterday.]
Yesterday?
That means the kid and Yoo Sora met. Why didn’t she tell me?
She’d promised she would.
“...Got it.”
I finished the cigarette and headed back to the ruined village. Bitter taste in my mouth. The admins passing these messages among themselves... my head throbbed.
‘...What if.’
What if there were more messages between admins I didn’t know about?
* * * * *
Three days passed.
I’d rested plenty.
Before leaving the mansion, I pulled Yoo Sora aside.
“...Sora.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“When did you meet Specter?”
I stated it definitively. No point beating around the bush; she couldn’t lie about this.
Yoo Sora looked troubled and said,
“You mean that kid?”
“Yeah, you met him recently, right? When?”
I nailed it down so she couldn’t lie.
“...You knew?”
“Found out yesterday.”
“You know when, so why ask?”
“No, that’s why I’m asking—I don’t know that part.”
“...”
Yoo Sora glanced around cautiously before answering.
“Before entering the eleventh round. Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“...Why not?”
“Specter asked me to keep our meeting secret.”
“More important than your promise to me?”
She shook her head vigorously.
“No! It wasn’t that.”
“Wasn’t what?”
“...Specter—that kid—said if I told you, you’d be in danger. So I didn’t.”
The USB contents—you shouldn’t know, basically. Made sense; a mere player shouldn’t access admin chats.
Her actions were to protect me, so hard to argue.
“Tell me right away next time. I won’t be in danger.”
“...Got it.”
“What did you do with the USB?”
She pulled it from her pocket.
“Here. He said not to give it to anyone, so I hid it in my innermost pocket.”
“...Good job. Do you know what’s on it?”
“No. I tried plugging it into a computer, but no good spot... I went to Mechania briefly, but the AI refused my request.”
“Request?”
“I asked it to tell me the contents, but it said it only follows your orders...”
No lie there.
Which meant the earlier story was likely true too.
Reasonable suspicion, but time to drop the USB topic.
Eyes on us weren’t just one or two...
“Alright for now. Keep that USB safe.”
“Don’t need it?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
I waved it off, and she pocketed the USB again.
We left the mansion and joined the others.
Kim Yeonhee had been bouncing with excitement since morning. Thrilled that Jo Youngki might return soon.
“Everyone ready?”
They all nodded firmly.
-Yes!
I led them toward the Sacred Corridor, Heaven’s heart, where the twelfth round unfolded.
If demons fought humans here, then angels would clash with humans there.
[System Message]
[Welcome to the Twelfth Round.]
[Conflict and confrontation between humans and angels now begins.]
Login: The Apocalypse