Chapter 103
“…There are quite a lot of people.”
Groups of people gathered here and there along the running track of the athletic field.
Ten years ago, it would have been an ordinary sight.
But not now.
Even the area around Hongdae had an eerie atmosphere these days.
Most of them had youthful faces.
Their clothing styles were also varied.
Unlike the average survivors who wore dull, practical combat gear, the fashion here was surprisingly free.
Denim jackets, hoodies, even dyed hair.
Perhaps that was the nature of young blood.
“Boss is young too, sir. Your face just looks old.”
You little—
That’s because I suffered a lot in Mapo Shelter.
“Last time that bear ate a bunch of skincare machines, sir. Ulthera, Shrink, InMode, Fraxel, Aqua Peel… You should make those later. Heh heh.”
Picker meant it as a joke, but the moment I heard that, a thought struck me.
If I could manufacture things like that, VIP customers would line up to buy them.
If I managed to build connections with the VIPs in Gangnam, I might even obtain rare artifacts easily.
Especially since I still hadn’t found a subspace item to equip Picker with.
While I was walking around looking at my surroundings, they started staring in this direction.
No, more precisely, at me.
“Huh? Hey, look at that.”
“Who? Wait… no way.”
“Isn’t that the Bomb Maniac?”
The murmurs spread like waves.
“Wow, it’s my first time seeing him in person.”
“It really is him! That coat-type suit! Just like in the photos!”
“He’s huge. Maybe it’s true he’s over two meters tall.”
“Then the rumor that he’s older must be true. None of us are that tall.”
“Well, the EZ Generation grew up malnourished. It can’t be helped.”
There was no hostility in their eyes.
Only curiosity—no, admiration, like they were looking at a celebrity.
After all, they were meeting the hottest figure on the Survivor Forum.
“Excuse me!”
A brave female student approached and shyly held out a piece of paper.
“I’m a fan! Could I get your autograph?”
“…Autograph?”
My eyes widened behind the mask.
I wasn’t some celebrity. Why were they asking for my autograph?
Before I could refuse, people rushed in like a swarm.
“Me too! Me too!”
“Oppa! I watched your video the other day! It was amazing!”
“Please shake my hand once!”
Suddenly it turned into a fan meeting.
The Machine Society members tried to block the crowd but failed.
Even Picker, who was sitting on my shoulder, became a target.
“Ahh! That’s a drone, right? It’s so cute!”
“That must be Picker!”
Under the attention of the female students, Picker curved his lens into a crescent shape and displayed a smiling emoji.
“Oh my, look at the blinking lens. Can I pet it?”
Picker, who clearly loved attention, was thrilled.
The guy even started doing aerial flips.
“Ahem! I am quite cute, sir? You may touch me, but please be gentle. My sensors are delicate, ladies!”
Of course, they couldn’t actually hear him.
“Let go. I’m busy.”
I tried to sound intimidating, but they only giggled and clung closer.
Apparently my rough voice was charming.
Receiving an unexpectedly warm welcome, I dragged a crowd of people behind me like a cloud of followers.
By the time we arrived in front of Engineering Building No.1—
“Hey! What are you all doing there?!”
A sharp voice rang out.
A woman stood at the entrance of the building with her arms crossed.
She wore a white lab coat and had an intellectual appearance.
It was Yoo Minji, the leader of the Sinchon Alliance.
“Don’t you have classes? Research? Don’t you have anything better to do?”
At her stern rebuke, the gathered students awkwardly dispersed.
“Oh, the professor’s here.”
“Run!”
As the crowd scattered like a retreating tide, Yoo Minji let out a long sigh.
Then she looked at me and shook her head in disbelief.
“I’m sorry. The kids have no sense of boundaries. Was the trip here uncomfortable?”
“…It was certainly a unique experience.”
Yoo Minji scanned my appearance—more precisely, the massive exoskeleton and the intimidating mercenaries behind me—before adjusting her glasses.
“I’ve heard the rumors, but seeing you in person is far more… overwhelming.”
Yes.
That was the normal reaction.
Still, something about it felt slightly disappointing.
After thinking about it for a moment, I realized why.
Right.
This was the first time I had ever received something like goodwill from people.
“Boss… that’s a little pitiful, sir. I’ve always been popular from birth.”
…If you said that on the forum, you’d get flooded with hate messages.
“Anyway, please come inside.”
I looked down at the teacup placed before me and asked,
“This seems unaffected by the influence of the Descent.”
The drink resembled the green tea latte that cafés used to sell before the collapse.
No, it was even better.
A gentle aroma spread through the air, and soft milk foam touched the tip of the tongue.
Even I, a workshop owner, had never imagined such a luxurious taste.
Yoo Minji smiled slightly at my comment.
“At first, we focused on weapon development and defense training like every other group. Survival came first. But once we secured the minimum level of armament, deterrence emerged.”
That made sense.
With nearly ten thousand people gathered here, they themselves formed a massive force.
Even if they were disorganized, ten thousand rifles firing at once could overwhelm even a tank.
If the tank commander’s sight or thermal camera were destroyed, the crew would lose vision.
Thousands of bullets jamming the track pins or wheels would immobilize it.
“That’s when we started thinking about something else,” Yoo Minji continued. “Not just surviving, but living like human beings again. Food, clothing, and shelter.”
She counted them off with her fingers.
“Clothing. Not just covering your body, but seasonal clothes, comfortable socks, warm blankets. Even fashion items like hair dye or hats.”
So that explained the colorful clothing I had noticed.
“Food. Preservatives to keep things from spoiling, synthetic seasonings to restore lost taste, safe storage containers, refrigeration systems.”
Listening to her explanation, I realized our perspectives were similar.
“Housing. Water tanks and plumbing for clean water, insulated windows, even scented candles and deodorizing products.”
I nodded in admiration.
While other factions were figuring out how to kill more efficiently, these people were researching ways to improve quality of life.
“The VIP shelters and wealthy groups in Gangnam are crazy about these items. The added value is enormous.”
“So that’s why this place is so prosperous.”
Now it finally made sense.
This place was essentially a giant marketplace.
Not selling weapons, but selling civilization.
“But why are your relations with the Machine Society so bad?”
She gave a bitter smile and shrugged.
“You saw those kids on the way here.”
Ah.
“There are quite a few who lack common sense. Small conflicts piled up over time and eventually escalated. In simple terms… it’s generational conflict.”
I understood.
Anyway, the situation was clear.
It was time to get to the main point.
I straightened my posture and looked at Yoo Minji seriously.
“Let’s talk business.”
Her expression also became calm instantly.
She leaned forward.
“Did you find the culprit?”
Culprit.
It seemed she had already ruled out mutants.
“Yes. The culprit is Lee Taesung, the ruler of Ahyeon Shelter.”
After hearing the detailed explanation, Yoo Minji let out a quiet sigh.
“Lee Taesung… that man.”
She bit her lip and remained silent for a moment.
“So it was him. I heard he had been stirring things up around the area…”
I handed her the photographs of the titanium door torn apart by Lee Taesung’s brute strength, along with the analysis data from the scene.
Yoo Minji examined the documents with trembling hands.
“Thank you for your work. We will pay the promised compensation immediately.”
At her signal, the secretary standing behind her placed a plastic container on the table.
“This is a new lubricant we recently developed. When used on the mechanical prosthetic arms and legs of the Machine Society, it will drastically reduce the friction coefficient.”
So the reward was lubricant.
Even though they now used biomechanical prosthetics, the internal structure was still mechanical.
It would certainly be useful.
Picker zoomed his lens excitedly.
“Boss! Scan results show excellent composition ratios, sir! Viscosity, heat resistance, and wear resistance are comparable to the products of pre-collapse petrochemical corporations!”
I also produced lubricant for Atlas, but the quality wasn’t great.
I lacked petrochemical technology.
“This looks worth researching! Should I take a sample and analyze it immediately?”
I stopped Picker with a glance.
We were in the middle of business.
Still, I was impressed.
With this level of technology, the plan I had envisioned might actually work.
After reviewing the documents I provided, Yoo Minji fell into thought.
Because she had confirmed that the cores had been stolen.
If Lee Taesung had them, he would chase them relentlessly.
If he wasn’t eliminated, she herself would be in danger.
But eliminating Lee Taesung meant revealing the project.
Sooner or later she would have to cooperate with someone.
Secrets never stayed hidden forever, and if the information leaked, she could not defend it alone.
Yes.
Among the possible partners, this one seemed the best.
She had observed the recent trends surrounding Atlas for a long time.
Finally, Yoo Minji made her decision.
“This is an additional request. Eliminate Lee Taesung and recover the item he stole.”
“What item?”
“An artificial core.”
“…What did you say?”
The words slipped out before I could stop myself.
An artificial core?
Cores only came from mutant hearts.
Humans could create them?
“That’s exactly what it means,” she said. “A core created by artificially condensing mana. We call them G-Grade cores. They are still in the prototype stage, but if we succeed…”
If successful, it would trigger an energy revolution.
A world where energy could be obtained without hunting monsters.
It aligned with the future I had envisioned through mutant bio oil.
Yoo Minji possessed the A-Grade ability Material Mixing.
I had heard that it allowed her to combine and separate pure substances.
It was an impressive ability.
But the achievements she had accomplished so far were likely more the result of her intellect than her ability.
She was exactly the kind of talent Atlas needed.
My workshop had plenty of production facilities and blueprints, but it lacked minds capable of applying and expanding them.
Yoon Imsu handled management and operations.
But what I needed was a true researcher.
A specialist in chemistry or fundamental science.
“Fine. I’ll capture Lee Taesung and recover the item. But I have one condition.”
“A condition? The compensation should already be sufficient—”
“I don’t need UP or materials. Instead, I want you to do one thing.”
Yoo Minji looked puzzled.
“A counter-request?”
“You must have deep petrochemical knowledge if you can produce lubricant like this.”
I took out a small glass bottle.
Inside was a black liquid.
It was a sample of Mutant Bio-Crude Oil.
“Remove the mana mixed inside this oil and classify its components precisely. That’s the condition.”
Yoo Minji held the bottle up to the light.
Her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“What is this?”
“Mutant Oil.”
I briefly explained the nature of the oil.
Yoo Minji looked shocked.
“So… this is crude oil?”
“You have one month. Can you do it?”
“Are you testing me?”
She smiled provocatively.
I shrugged.
“Well. It won’t be easy.”
I pulled two pieces of equipment out of the air—Shadow had been cloaked nearby—and placed them on the table.
“What are these?”
“A microscope and a mana analyzer. They’ll help your research.”
I stood up.
The man known as the Bomb Maniac.
She had expected him to be dangerous, but this was far beyond her imagination.
Microscopes, spectrometers, and unknown precision measurement instruments.
“Nano-scale precision… how is this even possible?”
Each piece of equipment surpassed what even the laboratories of pre-collapse corporations had possessed.
While examining the devices, she absentmindedly picked up the mana analyzer.
The moment she activated it, holographic charts appeared in midair.
Mana density, wavelengths, even flow patterns in the air were analyzed in real time.
The tangled theories and hypotheses inside her mind suddenly aligned perfectly with the data displayed by the machine.
“Ah…”
A thrilling sensation ran from her head to her toes.
An intellectual orgasm.
She trembled with a pleasure she had never experienced in her life.
This was not magic.
It was overwhelming technological power.
The pinnacle of science.
“A person who can create equipment like this actually exists?”
Lee Taesung and artificial cores had already disappeared from her mind.
Only one thing remained.
The image of the man who had casually tossed these devices onto the table before leaving.
“Bomb Maniac…”
She licked her lips.
She wanted it.
The knowledge he possessed.
The technology.
The source of it all.
“I’ll have it.”
Mad obsession and possessiveness flickered in Yoo Minji’s eyes.
She clenched the bio oil sample tightly.
This was not a test.
It was a qualification exam.
“I’ll show you just how necessary I am to you.”