Chapter 391: The Future Drawn by Those Who Remain.
Chapter 391: The Future Drawn by Those Who Remain.
This matter had already transcended the issue of terrorists or anything of the sort.
Of course, people dispatched from the Management Bureau had arrived to secretly recover the villains and arrest the terrorists as originally planned, but they were no longer the focal point of this situation.
What mattered now was information.
Information on what that scientist—no, those monsters who didn't even deserve the title of scientist and were rightly called enemies of humanity—were thinking and what plans they had in motion to commit such atrocities.
The Management Bureau inherently possesses several methods prepared for such situations.
Psychometry, postcognition, necromancy, causality searching. And other techniques I wasn't even aware of.
If one were to be more cruel, they could even extract information directly from a deceased person's brain.
However, there was one problem with using those methods.
The location these people were associated with, their very origin, was interfering with the Bureau’s standard search methods.
The Factory Deep Underground was a place where no one else was permitted to obtain information.
If someone were to use those methods and accidentally acquire information about the past...
If that incident were to leak to the outside world because of it...
That was why I spoke with the supervisor of those who had come to clean up the aftermath of this incident.
* * *
"Are you from the Incident Management Department?"
I directed the question to the man who appeared to be the head of the personnel sent by the Bureau to handle the cleanup.
"Ah. Are you the Hero who suppressed this location? Good work."
He greeted me brightly, showing no particular emotion even after witnessing the carnage of this site.
This was despite the fact that many of the staff moving around the scene were looking at the site of the massacre with hollow, weary eyes.
This must be their first time seeing such a sight as well.
Even if it was a place where an atrocious terrorist group had been suppressed, it was rare to see a scene where a headquarters had been demolished and the death toll, excluding the seriously injured, exceeded ten percent.
Among them, there were those who felt particularly out of place.
Those who wore bright, primary-colored clothes and wandered the scene without performing any actual work.
Through simple deduction, they were directing silent questions at me with their eyes—the apparent culprit of this catastrophe.
Even if they are terrorists, was it necessary to go this far?
Just what did these people do to deserve this?
It was a foolish thought, and a look I had received many times before.
However, the incident was significant enough to warrant such thoughts.
Thus, it wouldn't have been strange for the supervisor to show a hint of loathing toward me, yet he showed no such reaction.
Instead, he continued the conversation with a small smile.
"Yes. I am Lee Ha-ram, Hero Registration Number 01-005-M, the one who suppressed this location."
"Excellent work, Ha-ram. I am Mark Dean, from the 3rd Special Handling Squad of the Incident Management Department. Did you have some business with me...?"
"I do, but before that, may I ask you something?"
"Yes, of course."
This much should be fine to ask.
I steadied my mind and continued the conversation.
"I suppose a disaster like this isn't a common occurrence?"
It wasn't a direct question.
It was an indirect one, masking my true intent.
"It certainly isn't a frequent case."
At my question, he showed a subtle smile and continued in a voice tinged with an apologetic tone.
"I'll make sure to have a word with my subordinates. Unlike me, those fellows are still greenhorns. Please don't pay them any mind."
His tone suggested he had seen such sights many times before.
With those words, he had answered both questions embedded in my remark.
The answer was that while it wasn't common in this day and age, he was well aware that such things did happen.
Those words might not have been sincere. I couldn't entirely rule out the possibility that they were spoken purely from a business perspective.
Actually, it didn't matter either way.
While those words provided a small measure of comfort, what I truly wanted to gauge through that question was how much this team leader knew about the darkness within the Management Bureau.
And I had obtained my answer.
This team leader knew at least a little bit about the Bureau’s shadows.
"Hearing you say that, I realize I was being foolish. The people working on-site must have their own hardships, so please don't scold your subordinates too harshly. More importantly, there is one more thing I'd like to say..."
If that was the case, he likely knew about this as well.
I trailed off and reached into my suit, pulling out an item and presenting it before his eyes as I finished my sentence.
"This site is Code Ground Zero. To comply with the Management Bureau’s confidentiality protocols, I am requesting Command Authority."
"...."
Silence fell over the surroundings.
The man, who had looked so amiable just a moment ago, now had his smile completely wiped away. His eyes narrowed as he stared at my Hero Certificate.
It was the back of the holographic Hero Certificate, something that was rarely ever shown.
There, the Command Authority and Confidential Management Permit, which had not yet been revoked, were clearly listed.
"...What grade is it?"
After slowly examining my certificate, he asked back in a low, heavy voice.
"At least Grade 4. Possibly Grade 5."
At my words, he took a sharp, short breath.
"...I will verify this immediately. The transfer of command will happen after—"
He immediately began to recite the standard, textbook procedure, but I cut him off.
"No. A formal transfer of Command Authority isn't necessary. All I'm asking for is a single favor."
What kind of request is it?
I could feel him gulping as he thought that.
It was only natural.
Ground Zero.
It meant this site contained information that must absolutely never be leaked to the outside.
That was why he had asked.
He asked what grade of information it was.
And I had answered at least Grade 4.
In reality, it was a profound secret that wouldn't even be assigned a grade, but to the person hearing this, whether it was Grade 4, Grade 5, or a secret that shouldn't exist made little difference.
It meant he might have to call all his team members together right now and do something to ensure their silence.
Of course, 'ensuring silence' didn't mean killing them.
It simply meant there might be a minor Memory Erasure.
Thus, the team leader was waiting for my words with trepidation.
Wondering what on earth I was going to say.
It wasn't such a grand request that the team leader needed to worry so much.
In fact, if I made a grand demand, someone might become suspicious and try to dig into the incident.
What was needed here was just one sentence. One sentence to keep this site perfectly preserved until he arrived.
"At this site, the only things you are to recover are the living. Any detailed investigation, terrain restoration, or other cleanup for this incident... is unnecessary."
That was the sentence.
"Uh... um. So, what you're saying is... we should just take the survivors and leave this area... is that it?"
Perhaps the request was too baffling, as he asked for clarification.
"Exactly."
"...You're telling us to just leave the bodies and the debris behind?"
"Yes."
"...What about the weaponry or mechanical parts...?"
"I almost forgot about those. Destroy them all on the spot. Make them beyond recovery."
"...I received orders from the higher-ups to collect them."
Do I look like I care?
No doubt they intended to reuse the weapons or sell them off to pad their department's budget.
But are the whims of the higher-ups or the accounting games of the bean counters important right now?
A monster with a nonsensical physical body—one that could withstand a direct hit from my hammer with its limiter released, regenerate even after being hit by Spatial Destruction, and resurrect even after being torn to pieces and losing all life signs—was operating in the shadows of the human world.
And to top it off, those bastards came from the Factory Deep Underground.
This wasn't the time to be obsessing over some measly weapons.
So, to him, who was trying to follow the orders of the higher-ups somehow, I threw my final card.
"Ground Zero. You know what that means."
I smirked.
I wondered how he was seeing me right now.
"I will take full responsibility. Do exactly as I say."
With that, the conversation was over.
* * *
And so, the area was left abandoned even though the incident had concluded.
Of course, members of the Defense Force were standing guard to prevent any suspicious individuals from entering, but no one went inside to rummage through the site.
Leaving behind only rotting corpses, collapsed ground, and smashed, unusable weapons.
But it couldn't be helped.
The person needed to settle this incident had not yet arrived.
I had called him through the AO Director, who was somewhat involved in this case, but he was a busy man in his own right.
During the remaining time.
I spoke with her.
The one who held the clues to this incident.
The only one at this location I could truly talk to.
The AO Institute Director.
* * *
"How much did you know when you sent me?"
I threw the question at her, the one who was the start of all this.
"...It would be a lie to say I knew nothing."
After saying that, she stared into space for a moment, lost in thought, before finally speaking.
"First of all, they contacted me a few months ago. A single email. That was the beginning."
Once she started, the words flowed from her without stopping.
"'Sasha. We intend to resume our research. We hope you will lend us your strength.' An email from an unidentifiable sender with an incomprehensible meaning. At the time, I naturally thought it was a misdirected email and ignored it."
I listened to her words in silence.
Unlike those two, I could feel sincerity in her voice.
Even with the faint emotions she possessed as someone who had partially strayed from humanity, her words conveyed a desperate truthfulness.
"But that email continued to arrive every single day after that. The text, which had been only a single line, gradually became more bizarre. Things only those who participated in that research could know, things only those close to me could know, and finally, threats against the laboratory."
"Feeling fearful, I tried blocking the emails and contacted the Management Bureau to attempt a trace, but there were no results. They continued to contact me through new email addresses, and the tracing failed as well. And in the midst of that, I realized one more thing—the strangest part about these emails."
"The fact that these emails were sent at the exact same time, with the exact same content and phrasing, in every world I could observe. It was then that I first decided to make contact with them."
Fear began to seep into her voice.
"On the day they designated, a dark night where even the moon was hidden by clouds and only starlight remained, I met them in secret on the precarious outskirts of the laboratory, and I saw them with my own eyes."
Her voice, which had always been calm, began to crack.
"They were people I knew. Although their appearances had changed drastically, I instinctively knew they were people I was acquainted with. And at the same time, I realized they were no longer human."
Her words were becoming close to a cry.
"Beings who were fixed in the same form in every world I could perceive. They spoke to me with the same appearance and voice in every world, and at that moment, my Precognition—the one I cannot control—was triggered."
Her eyes grew hazy, as if she were recalling that vision.
"A distant future, the timing of which I cannot even guess. In a world completely consumed by flesh and blood, I am looking up at a purple sky where stars are shining. A massive body with three faces, including my own, was sitting atop a pile of flesh, smiling as it dreamed."
After finishing her story, she took a deep breath, then suddenly looked at me and spoke.
"Do you know what those with Precognition think when they see the future?"
I had heard the answer to that many times.
"...They believe it to be the truth."
It varied depending on the nature of the power, but this was likely the answer she wanted.
The power to see the future.
It was a blessing, but also a curse.
If it was a method like Baek Si-hyun’s Precognition, which showed short visions of the most likely future, the shackles of the future didn't cause much of a problem.
Such futures were wrong more often than one might think, and with a bit of training, one could break free from those shackles.
However, if it was a Precognition with truly immense power...
If they knew that no matter what they did, no matter how much they struggled, that future was merely being delayed...
They would be consumed by that future.
Even if it was a future that could be changed, they would give up.
"Yes. But I am a bit different. Because I can simultaneously see the futures of other adjacent worlds. Therefore, I know well that Precognition is not absolute. Even if it is almost certain to happen, I know it can be avoided by adjusting the circumstances in which the event occurs."
I knew that method as well.
For instance, if one saw a future where their head was cut off through Precognition...
They would accept that changing the future of being decapitated was impossible.
Then, they would participate in a magic show or a movie shoot and stage a scene where their head was 'cut off' falsely.
By recreating the scene as closely as possible to what they saw in their Precognition, they would 'fulfill' and thus change that future.
Of course, the more the Precognition specified a time or place, or the longer the vision lasted, the greater the discrepancy between The Play and the Precognition became, causing the success rate of such tricks to plummet.
She likely wasn't telling me this without knowing that.
"That Precognition was a scene where I couldn't possibly create a staged situation. The corpses of countless people. Ground covered in meat. A ruined world and countless monsters. A burning sky. That was a future that couldn't be changed by adjusting the circumstances. Not even in any of the worlds I observe."
"...."
I remained silent.
"That's why I worked to change the future itself. A future where I kill them and that future never comes. I will not cooperate with them, and I will not let the world become like that. Even if I have to die."
She said that and laughed.
"To that end, I used every card at my disposal and chose the best possible option within my range of observation, but in the end... I failed."
Because her laughter was a bit bitter.
"I'm sorry."
I bowed my head.
If only I had taken their danger more seriously.
If only I had released my limiter sooner.
Maybe I could have caught them.
That was why I bowed my head and lamented my choice.
"No. It's alright. Fortunately, the future has changed."
She said that, her voice sounding bright for the first time since she started this story.
"The moment Hero Crimson★Hammer informed me that the operation had failed, my Precognition was triggered, and I was able to see a new future."
It was certainly a bright voice and hopeful content. However...
"...."
Within it, there was a faint something.
A sense of resignation, wrapped in a chilling cold.
That was why.
"...What kind of future is it?"
I asked her back.
"I cannot tell you, Hero Crimson★Hammer. Because this is a necessary thing."
She continued with a smile that seemed both happy and sad.
"As Hero Macbeth said, the future is almost fixed by the act of seeing it. Therefore, I intend to keep this future to myself."
Those words meant that the new future she saw wasn't entirely bright either.
It was just that there was a bit more hope than a future where everything was destroyed.
As if that were The End of the Story, she let the tension drain from her body and slumped onto the sofa.
I didn't say anything to her.
Because I knew all too well how difficult it was to keep a secret alone, and how heavy the burden of protecting the world by oneself could be.
Just as I was about to respect her choice and leave the room.
"I suppose I can tell you one thing."
A voice called out from behind me.
"If I tell the indomitable Crimson★Hammer, who exists identically in every world within my range of observation, this future will be fixed."
I listened to those words with my hand still on the doorknob.
She continued.
"Hero Crimson★Hammer, in the not-too-distant future, you will face them. Without fail. When that happens, please, do not stay your hand. If you do that, they will surely fall."
At those somehow bitter words.
I...
"I will."
Leaving only that single sentence, I walked out of the room.