Chapter 40
Chapter 40
On the rooftop of a four-story abandoned building overlooking Mapo Police Station.
After cutting the rope with a shot and hiding myself again, I watched the battlefield unfolding below.
“Ready?”
At my short question, Picker spun in place excitedly.
[Perfect, Boss! 3D scan complete! Zero blind spots! Twenty-four optimal firing points identified and fully marked!]
His lens glittered with excitement.
[Coordinate correction, wind-speed check, propellant calculation—all done in 0.1 seconds! With just one finger from you, Boss, those guys down there can board the express train to hell!]
“Good.”
I slowly raised my right hand.
They still didn’t know.
That a shadow of death had already fallen over their heads.
“Begin.”
My finger sliced through the air.
Whoosh—
A faint sound cutting through the wind.
Twenty-four black shadows rose simultaneously from the darkness.
[Toad]
Just like its name, it had a crude and heavy appearance.
They had gathered near the police station earlier and now silently glided through the night sky, landing precisely at the locations Picker had designated.
On top of a streetlight.
On the third-floor railing of a collapsed building.
On the roof of an overturned double-decker bus.
The moment they landed—
Clang! Clang!
[Titanium Spikes] shot out from the underside and drove deep into the concrete.
Anchoring mechanisms to withstand powerful recoil.
Immediately after, the Toads’ wings folded into their bodies.
Click. Whirr.
The streamlined aircraft forms vanished.
In their place remained only crude gray rocks.
A camouflage function I had already tested with Porter.
No one would suspect those things were weapons.
Bzzzz—
The shell split open sideways.
From inside, cold metal gun barrels rose.
The angles of the muzzles adjusted minutely.
Twenty-four barrels aimed at one location.
The front courtyard of Mapo Police Station’s main gate—
where mutants and raiders were tangled together in complete chaos.
Neither the Ahyeon Shelter rescue team nor Karambit’s subordinates understood what had just happened.
Cornered on the rooftop, Yoon Sung-jun stared down in despair.
The hostages whose ropes had been cut suddenly had all become food for the mutants.
As a result, the barricade at the front gate was collapsing.
“AAAAH! It’s breaking through!”
“Stop them! Stop them!”
The police bus melted under the acid spat by the Acid Golem, and through the gap Contaminated Wild Dogs charged forward like mad.
At this rate, the raiders defending the station would soon be wiped out.
And once they died—
the people trapped on the roof would be next.
Damn… If I were an Awakened, jumping from the third floor would’ve been easy.
Even one Awakened among them could have created an escape route.
“Mr. Sung-jun. We can’t die like this.”
“I know. The raiders can’t hold out forever against the mutants either. Let’s wait for the moment they break.”
If the raiders ran, they would smash through the iron door and rush downstairs.
That was their only chance.
Just then—
Thump—
Thump, thump, thump—
A clear metallic sound echoed through the battlefield.
Not gunfire.
It sounded like compressed air bursting.
Yoon Sung-jun instinctively looked up.
“…What?”
Dozens of black dots filled the night sky.
They traced arcs and then began falling at terrifying speed.
It looked like steel rain pouring down from the sky.
Yoon Sung-jun had seen something like this before.
The Bomber…?
Before the thought finished—
the black dots hit the ground.
BOOOOOOM!!
The earth screamed.
Twenty-four [Fragmentation Shells] struck in a perfect circle.
Thousands of fragments exploded outward with the shockwave.
Mutants filling the courtyard were blasted into the air like leaves.
Wild dogs with tough hides, skeletal ghouls—none survived.
At the epicenter, only shredded flesh remained.
There was no escape gap.
A perfect killing zone.
But that was only the beginning.
Click—
Inside the hidden Toad units, the revolving chambers turned.
Thump— thump— thump—
The sky opened again.
This time the falling shells were not ordinary fragmentation rounds.
BOOM!
White light flashed the moment they struck.
[Improved White Phosphorus Incendiary Shells]
Hellfire engulfed the courtyard.
Sssss—
“AAAAAAH!”
Mutants crawling on the ground after the fragmentation attack were engulfed by sticky flames.
The green gelatinous body of the Acid Golem bubbled and melted under the intense heat.
The raiders were not spared.
They danced in agony as fire consumed them.
“What kind of lunatic is this?!”
“Help me!”
The incendiary rounds, fired after adjusting the zero from the first volley, sealed off every escape route.
They burned away oxygen.
It was nothing less than a cremation ground.
And finally—
the confirmation strike.
Each Toad carried four rounds.
The remaining two rounds per unit rained down into the inferno.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOM!
Twenty-four units.
Ninety-six shells.
When the storm of fire ended—
nothing alive remained.
Watching from the rooftop, Yoon Sung-jun stood speechless.
This was not a battle.
…It was simply cleaning.
Across the Dangsan Railway Bridge on Seoul Subway Line 2, connecting Yeongdeungpo and Hapjeong, a motorcycle cut through the cold river wind.
The man riding it wore work clothes under a tactical vest covered in sensors and cables.
Multi-focus analysis goggles covered his eyes.
He stared across the Han River toward Mapo.
This man was Yoon Im-su, Resource Management Director of Guro Foundry, one of the largest production forces south of the Han River.
At the end of the bridge stood a fortified checkpoint.
Guards blocked the road.
They were not ordinary humans.
Their limbs had been partially replaced with crude machinery.
Enhanced soldiers belonging to the Machine Society.
“Salute. Director Yoon, isn’t it?”
A guard with a mechanical prosthetic arm saluted.
“Ah, thank you for your hard work.”
Yoon Im-su smiled casually and lifted his goggles.
“I heard there’s some decent scrap metal on the north side of the river. Our factory manager has been nagging me about shortages, so I’m going to take a look.”
“Scrap metal… hmm.”
The guard eyed him suspiciously before eventually stepping aside.
After all, Guro Foundry and the Machine Society were mutually dependent allies.
“Stay safe. If you see raiders, report to the Hapjeong base. Commander Nim is on duty today.”
“Yes, understood.”
Scrap metal, my ass.
Through his goggles he could see black smoke rising from Mapo Boulevard.
Through Thunder’s broadcast network, everyone using Union Market already knew about the war between Karambit and Pig.
Karambit put up quite a fight.
With the battle escalating unexpectedly, whichever side won would leave a manpower vacuum on Mapo Boulevard.
Which means we might be able to swallow the whole area.
Mecenatpolis, the landmark of Hapjeong Station.
Its former glory had vanished.
Now it served as a forward base occupied by the Machine Society to secure the Dangsan Bridge route.
Screech.
Yoon Im-su stopped his motorcycle near Hapjeong Station.
A strong smell of diesel filled the air.
Ssssh—
Sure enough.
A massive shadow approached from behind, steam venting from its engine.
Where a human right arm should have been, a giant industrial hydraulic claw extended.
It was Jipgae, the operations commander of the Machine Society.
“Going to collect scrap metal, huh?”
The metal claw clacked as he laughed.
“Then why are you heading toward Mapo Boulevard? Watching the war instead?”
Yoon Im-su shrugged.
Jipgae was a former soldier.
Despite his brutish appearance, he possessed sharp battlefield instincts.
Lies wouldn’t work.
“Pig and Karambit are fighting. Both sides are heavy hitters. When they finish, there should be some valuable leftovers.”
Jipgae nodded with satisfaction.
“Then let’s go together. Our sergeant is interested in the Mapo Police Station armory too.”
It wasn’t a suggestion.
It was a statement.
But Yoon Im-su remained calm.
Going alone was dangerous.
Going with that walking weapon guaranteed safety.
“I agree. But let’s be clear.”
“What?”
“Weapons and ammunition go to the Machine Society. Raw materials and mutant by-products go to Guro Foundry.”
“Hahaha! Director Yoon, quick with the calculations as always. Deal!”
The agreement was concluded instantly.
Two massive powers of southwestern Seoul formed a joint expedition.
“Setup complete.”
Yoon Im-su mounted a high-magnification thermal telescope and aimed it toward Mapo Police Station.
Jipgae sat on the railing, scraping the concrete floor with his mechanical arm.
“What do you think? Who wins?”
“Hold on… let me check the situation.”
Thermal data poured through the lens.
“Karambit’s side has the advantage. They’ve breached the lobby—wait… hold on.”
His brow furrowed.
“Mutants are pouring out of the Garden Hotel. It’s chaos. Karambit is retreating.”
“Heh. What a mess. Perfect.”
Soon they watched Mapo Police Station become surrounded.
They even observed Karambit secretly launching his attack.
“If Karambit pushes to the end, Pig won’t survive either.”
“Probably not. Karambit has been secretly trading with Guro Foundry.”
Jipgae stood up.
“If we push in now, we could crush everyone. Shall we mobilize?”
“Not a bad timing. Mutual destruction seems almost certain.”
Jipgae raised his radio—
But suddenly—
BEEP! BEEP!
The sensors on Yoon Im-su’s tactical vest began flashing red wildly.
“Wait! Hold on!”
Yoon grabbed Jipgae’s arm.
“What? Why?”
“Something… something is coming!”
“What do you mean?”
Then—
Thump—
Thump, thump, thump—
Jipgae turned toward Mapo.
Red ballistic trajectories streaked upward through the darkness.
BOOOOOM!!
The courtyard of Mapo Police Station exploded.
A massive flash lit the rooftop of Hapjeong, two kilometers away.
Then came white flames.
Explosive rain poured down like daylight.
Jipgae dropped the cigarette from his mouth.
His mechanical eye zoomed in and out repeatedly.
“…What the hell is that?”
He swallowed.
“Did a military unit survive in Mapo? Who the hell is firing that kind of firepower?”
But Yoon Im-su shook his head.
“No.”
Sweat ran down his face as he analyzed the data.
“The ballistic pattern doesn’t match military mortars. What is this…? A third faction?”
Jipgae’s expression hardened.
A rumor crossed his mind.
“…Don’t tell me it’s that guy?”
“Who?”
“The one people keep whispering about in Mapo. A killer.”
“The Bomber?”
“Yeah. Some Awakened who throws grenades like water.”
But the scene before them was beyond throwing grenades.
This was almost military-level strategic bombardment.
Enough firepower for one person to wage war against an entire faction.
“Damn it.”
Jipgae spat angrily.
“Hold position. If we move now we’ll get caught in it. Look at those flames. White phosphorus. What kind of lunatic burns mutant corpses like that?”
“I agree. Entering that fire zone would be suicide.”
“Right. Let’s observe for now.”
“We should change our objective.”
“What?”
“Identifying the identity of that attacker takes priority.”
Yoon Im-su saved the ballistic data from his goggles.
“So we can decide later whether to trade with him… or eliminate him.”
At that moment—
a new name was engraved at the top of the watch list of the two great powers of southwestern Seoul:
Guro Foundry and Machine Society.