Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: Part 2) The Age of Predation, Prelude (2)
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3.
“Oh…… this is it?”
Gyeonghee Palace, <Workshop>.
As I spoke in an admiring tone, Lee Seon-hyo nodded vigorously with an excited look on his face.
“Yes! This is it! The culmination of the <Workshop>’s technological prowess. Its name is [Gundam: RX-78]!”
“Gundam, my ass. Isn’t it just a powered exoskeleton?”
At Jeong Ha-kyeong’s retort, Lee Seon-hyo shook his head frantically.
“W-well, it might be classified that way, but! The weapon’s name is Gundam anyway!”
Gundam……
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
I still remember it clearly. Seo Hwa-yun’s face as she spun dreams about this Gundam back then.
“So…… it’s finally complete.”
At first glance, the Gundam looked like bronze full-body armor.
But up close, it wasn’t.
An instrument panel mounted on the chest. A cylindrical steam boiler attached to the back in an H-shape.
“The key is these rubber tubes connected to the steam boiler, right?”
“Yes! As you can see from where they connect to the armor’s joints, that’s where the power is supplied.”
At Lee Seon-hyo’s spirited reply, Jeong Ha-kyeong whistled.
“So it amplifies the wearer’s strength?”
“Yes!”
“Oh…… badass? It’s like the stuff I wore in the military.”
This steam-engine powered exoskeleton wasn’t made for Hunters.
- The goal is to commercialize it for civilians.
Just as Seo Hwa-yun had said before.
It would only get in the way of a Hunter’s movements…… but for civilians whose physical abilities fall short against Heteromorphs, it was a different story.
If this gets commercialized……?
It was certain that a massive revolution would hit the perpetually manpower-strapped hunts.
“Really, truly amazing…… Seon-hyo…… really…… all the technicians in the <Workshop> too.”
Was I overwhelmed with awe and emotion?
My voice trembled as I gave a thumbs-up.
“No, no!”
Starting with Lee Seon-hyo, the <Workshop> technicians who had been working nearby waved their hands dismissively.
“We were just fulfilling the branch chief’s order.”
“Of course. It’s nothing.”
“The Association President risks his life fighting, compared to that, this is……!”
Jeong Ha-kyeong watched the scene warmly for some reason. She drew eyes by banging on the Gundam with her knuckles.
“So who’s gonna pilot this? The technicians?”
“No. For the pilot project, we selected people with excellent physical conditions.”
“Really?”
“They’re in training right now. Wanna see?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong glanced at me.
She was asking for my opinion. I checked my wristwatch.
11:22 a.m.
Still morning, and no backlog of work.
“Well, sure──”
It was right then.
Bang! Someone burst into the <Workshop>’s main gate like they were about to smash it down.
“Association President! Association President, are you here right now?”
Silence fell in an instant.
An eerie silence seeped into the <Workshop> interior.
Even a child would know what that meant.
Calling for the Association President so desperately…… meant something massive had gone wrong.
“……What’s the matter?”
I walked toward her.
She was panting so hard she could barely catch her breath.
“Right now, right now, you need to head back to the forward base at the front lines, right away, right now.”
I exchanged bewildered glances with Jeong Ha-kyeong.
The front lines right now?
The Dongdaemun-gu reclamation battle was supposed to be a two-day rest after the Jegi-dong assault?
“Caw, caw, caw.”
It was then.
A large crow perched on the female Hunter’s shoulder. The damn thing flew to Jeong Ha-kyeong and unfurled a long info window in midair.
“Emergency…… message?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong narrowed her eyes as she read it, then suddenly went wide-eyed.
“What, what happened?”
The one who answered was the female Hunter, who had finally caught her breath.
“The 4th Regiment…… the 4th Regiment’s been wiped out…… We found a few of the missing, but…… their condition is weird. They say the Association President needs to come. Right now.”
4.
Regiment.
A <Association> combat unit formed by combining one reconnaissance squad with 2-3 hunting squads.
In short.
A large unit of at least 9 to a maximum of 20 people.
That’s why.
They had never been fully wiped out or gone entirely missing.
At least, not until they were hunting Subordinates.
5.
“……Did you see it? The corpses were frozen solid.”
Dongdaemun-gu 1st Reclamation Zone, Yongsin-dong.
After getting off the carriage there, as we walked through the garrison on foot toward the forward base.
“……That was really corpses?”
“……It was! I recognized the face!”
I overheard it.
The Association members whispering horror stories in fearful voices.
“……But it looked just like a marble statue. For real. And it’s freezing cold just being near them.”
Frozen? Marble statues?
A strange chill seemed to crawl up my spine for a moment.
“Something…….”
Jeong Ha-kyeong glanced around the chaotic atmosphere of the front lines and said.
“……Smells like total shit.”
The old Yongsin-dong Community Service Center.
The frontline stronghold for the Dongdaemun-gu assault.
Fitting for a stronghold, this place was a fortress built of jet-black rock.
“Association President.”
“Association President.”
Two Hunters stood guard at the fortress gate. Both…… had grim expressions.
“The branch chiefs are all waiting inside.”
The air inside the fortress was stale.
Torches. Smoke from the torches lining the spiral staircase walls.
That’s why it was weird.
Shouldn’t it feel hot……?
“Fuck, why’s it so damn cold in here?”
Just as Jeong Ha-kyeong said.
The fortress interior was bizarrely cold. I could definitely feel it.
A sickly chill.
Why did it look like the torches were shivering in that cold?
“Ah, Baek-jun!”
The 3rd-floor officers’ meeting room.
Do Su-jin, who had been pacing anxiously in front of the gathering spot, came running down the stairs.
“Good, you came right away.”
“Su-jin. What the hell…… happened?”
“Well…….”
Do Su-jin started explaining but sneezed midway.
“Here──”
“──Filthy.”
As I reached into my coat pocket for a handkerchief,
“Here, use this.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong held out her own handkerchief to Do Su-jin.
“For now…… thanks, I guess.”
Do Su-jin glared at Jeong Ha-kyeong as she spoke, and for some reason, Jeong Ha-kyeong smirked like a victor.
“Tell me.”
As I urged her on, Do Su-jin shook her head.
“This is just…… impossible to explain.”
I flinched for a moment.
Breath……? Do Su-jin’s breath was visible in the air?
“You have to see it yourself. It’s too cold for me…… I’m gonna step out for a bit.”
“Got it. See you…… later then.”
In front of the officers’ meeting room door.
This feels…… scary for some reason.
It took a deep breath to muster the courage to push the doors open.
……Creeeeeeeeeeak.
A cold hit me full force.
My whole body shuddered in the bizarre, polar freeze.
“Kim Baek-jun.”
“Association President.”
Morning starlight filtering through the window.
In that starlight, two branch chiefs stood by the hearth.
“Choi Uk. Seong-mi.”
Like Do Su-jin, they were pillars of the Dongdaemun-gu assault.
Shin Tae-yeop was raising an ice dragon in Paradise, and Seo Hwa-yun mainly worked at the <Workshop> rather than the front lines.
“I told you to gear up for the cold…… not too chilly?”
It wasn’t surprising.
Both were dressed in cold-weather gear.
Fur leather gloves. Fur leather boots. Fur cape.
“We came in a hurry…… What happened? No one…… could explain properly.”
“That’s because it can’t be explained.”
Choi Uk exhaled visible breath as he spoke.
Was his tongue numb? His pronunciation was quite slurred.
“You’ll see it yourself…… it’s right there.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong sucked in a breath.
I turned my head that way too…… No…… this is……?
There was an intricate ice statue.
No…… a person……
My knees nearly buckled.
The whole body was rigid like marble…… but definitely…… an Association Hunter……
“Can you feel the overwhelming chill emanating from it?”
Was it fleeing from something?
The pose of having fallen and scrambling away on knees was perfectly preserved.
“We tried melting it with fire, but the flames went out instead.”
“Impossible.”
“It’s true. It didn’t melt a bit. Stood tall amid the ashes.”
A young man in his twenties, perhaps.
Vivid terror that chilled me to the bone shone in the dead man’s eyes.
“What the hell……?”
I reached out toward the ice statue but flinched back.
Unfamiliar.
So unfamiliar.
Not the natural cold of this world…… like countless bugs burrowing into my skin.
“How…… how did you transport this person?”
“We had Dokgo Young-jae do it.”
“And the others?”
Lee Seong-mi shook her head powerlessly.
“Couldn’t find them. That’s the only…… evidence we could salvage.”
“Couldn’t find them……?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong retorted in disbelief.
“Are you kidding? The 4th Regiment was stationed in Jesin-dong. Land we incorporated into Paradise! Why send them into the Nightmare Zone?”
“We didn’t send them into the Nightmare Zone.”
Choi Uk shrugged firmly.
“This body was found in Paradise Zone, aka Jesin-dong.”
What……?
Jeong Ha-kyeong shut her mouth. I asked.
“You mean it turned back into a Nightmare Zone?”
“We can’t tell. Did Subordinates invade Paradise……?”
“Explain…… please explain.”
“Suddenly a blizzard’s raging. Here…… Yongsin-dong is fine. Just there.”
“What the hell.”
“I don’t know either. I’m going crazy too.”
Had she pulled an all-nighter?
Lee Seong-mi clutched her head like it ached, and Choi Uk continued.
“Search ops are impossible. We’ve pulled all forces back to Jegi-dong for now.”
“…………!”
“Anomalous weather in Paradise, the missing…… and that ice lump.”
What Choi Uk said next.
Instantly burned the severity of the situation into our confused minds.
“We’re under attack from some unknown ‘something.’ This is an emergency.”
I clutched my chest with my fist.
Calm down. Calm down.
I regulated my breathing.
After about 10 seconds.
Shing…… I drew the Dawn Sword from my back.
“……What the hell are you doing?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong’s urgent question.
Rather than answer, I thrust the blade forward.
Straight at the ice statue.
Ching…… The blade clashed with the statue, sparks flying.
Then slowly…… it began to melt.
Faintly, but unmistakably melting the ice.
- Verkensia……
As I sheathed the sword, a headache hit along with Paul’s voice.
- Only that power can grant peace to souls eroded by outer space.
Is that so. So that’s it.
This power…… is outer space’s power.
Then this must be an attack by otherworld Hunters.
But if…… it’s not?
One ominous thought lodged deep in my mind and refused to budge.
“Choi Uk.”
I had to confirm.
Confirm the identity of this ominous thought.
“What?”
“How many hours since the incident?”
“Hold on.”
What Choi Uk pulled from his pocket was an antique pocket watch. He wiped the glass face with his finger and spoke.
“A bit over 2 hours. We did everything we could before calling you.”
2 hours.
2 hours is fine. Still within the golden hour.
“We need to form a search team right away. Seong-mi. Call in the 9th Reconnaissance Squad.”
“The 9th Recon Squad…… ah?”
“Yes. The one with Ji-won as squad leader.”
《Bloodline Tracking》.
Park Ji-won’s top-tier tracking unique skill.
She can replay any event from a scene using blood.
Anything within 12 hours.
“With her power, we can uncover the truth of this incident.”
“Indeed…… yes! Definitely! I’ll call her myself.”
“Kim Baek-jun, did you not hear me?”
Choi Uk cut in coldly during the exchange.
“I said search ops are impossible.”
“…………!”
“The blizzard limits visibility to 20, 30 meters. Getting ambushed by Subordinates there means annihilation.”
Choi Uk was right.
The site conditions are the worst, and more casualties there would make this unmanageable.
“As Choi Uk says.”
But.
“Why not?”
“If we had a way to clear the blizzard or push through…… wouldn’t the situation change?”
Choi Uk eyed me appraisingly. Jeong Ha-kyeong went “Ah.”
“Like at the World Cup Stadium Station…… gonna explode that sword again?”
“That’s just a temporary fix.”
I put on a determined smile and said.
“I’ll call Shin Tae-yeop.”