In Pyongyang (3)
I trailed after Baek Woohyun, peppering him with questions for every detail I could get.
"So who exactly are we going after right now?"
"A Carden bastard."
Carden.
A villain syndicate that showed up in the original novel as well. Unlike the Unity Cult, they didn't have any grand ambition like destroying the world. They were just a coalition of bad guys who'd banded together to live large and eat well. If the Unity Cult was the demonic cult, these guys were the unorthodox sect—right down to the strangely shabby parts.
On top of that, Carden's boss was a Unity Cult executive hiding his identity. The Carden members themselves probably had no idea, but from the moment they were born they were destined to be used as the Cult's puppets. In the original they'd been jerked around like cordyceps at the Cult's whim, constantly getting in the protagonist party's way.
Listening to Woohyun's piecemeal explanations, we arrived at a certain wooded hill.
"Are we even going the right way?"
"Almost there."
"Your speech."
"…We'll be there soon."
A short while later, around the mid-slope, a shabby plank building appeared before our eyes.
"This is the place?"
Woohyun nodded at my question and strode straight toward the front door of the shack. Then, without missing a beat—
Bang—!
He kicked the door in hard and charged inside. The aggressive entrance left me flustered, but I gripped my pistol and followed right behind him.
"……."
Despite the racket of our entry, the interior was strangely quiet. We searched the dim house, rounding a corner when—
Moonlight spilling through a window struck something and flashed in my vision. A creepy chill ran through me and I immediately ducked behind Woohyun, using him as a shield.
Bang—
Clang—!
Gunfire, followed by the sound of a blade deflecting something. I hadn't fired. Which meant the other guy was a gunner.
Woohyun had already drawn his sword and was charging forward when more shots rang out from up ahead.
Tadadang—!
Crack—!
Before I could do anything, the fight was over in an instant. Woohyun cut through the hail of bullets with a single sword stroke, then swung the hilt down and smashed it into the man's head. The sniper crumpled without even putting up a proper fight.
…What the hell.
Why did he even bring me?
I'd had an inkling from the moment he kicked the door open, but the power gap was even worse than I'd thought. Of course, from the sniper's perspective he'd suddenly found a swordsman right in his face at close range, so he never got to show his full strength.
Woohyun bent down, picked up the fallen man's rifle, and held it out to me.
"Take it."
"Huh?"
◈ A magitech sniper rifle built on the B-82 anti-materiel sniper platform. A magitech engine massively improves both destructive power and rate of fire, while scope and grip modifications significantly enhance mid-to-close-range performance.
A B-rank magitech sniper rifle. Specs like these would be more than usable for the upcoming Great Gate Break—and even past the midterm raid.
"I heard the gun you were using yesterday got wrecked."
"Yeah, it did, but…"
"This should be enough for a while."
With that he hoisted the unconscious villain over his shoulder.
"…You're just giving me something like this? I didn't do anything this time."
"I brought you along for this in the first place."
"What?"
Hold on. What is this? Our kid's changed?
"In exchange, I have one favor to ask."
Ah. So there was an ulterior motive after all. Of course. Sigh.
"What is it?"
"Tomorrow night, I'd like you to handle one job with me."
"A job?"
"It'll be a bit dangerous."
"…Just tell me first."
Afterward we visited a nearby Association branch, handed over the knocked-out villain, and collected the bounty. Luckily the bounty could be claimed even while wearing a recognition-inhibiting set—no identity verification required.
"I'm being generous. Give me as much of the money as you feel like."
"…So you're not saying you won't take any?"
"I said give me as much as you want to give."
"……."
"What? Don't want to share? Then don't. I'll just be a little disappointed, that's all."
Woohyun smirked at my words.
…He's started laughing at the drop of a hat these days.
"You can just take the whole thing."
"Huh? For real?!"
"In return, buy me a meal sometime."
Not a hard request. The bounty was several hundred; treating him to one meal was nothing.
"Wow, wow! Thanks~! I'll definitely take you to a real good place later! Trust me~"
Would Yeon Hajin's pick for the Academy's best restaurant—a burger fast-food joint—be good enough for him?
I didn't feel much resistance about taking the entire bounty. The reason was simple…
The job he'd asked me to do tomorrow night was a lot more dangerous than I'd expected. Depending on how you looked at it, doing it for a B-rank sniper rifle and a few hundred in bounty money could even be considered a loss. If it hadn't been Cult-related, I might have hesitated a little myself.
But…
I knew he wasn't doing this for his own benefit—he was doing it to protect the world. So I didn't nitpick the profit and loss.
According to his explanation, tomorrow night the Cult planned to raid a research facility, steal one test subject, research data, and a single monster corpse. The target of that raid was the Pyongyang Herb 13-4 Research Institute we'd visited earlier today. More precisely, a building hidden inside the institute that was secretly running illegal human experiments.
See? I knew that Lee Heetae guy had a shady face the first time I saw him.
It also made sense why this incident never came up in the original. The raided facility itself was already classified, so the news would have been suppressed. The government would have wanted to bury anything related to illegal human experimentation. And according to the original timeline, a huge incident was about to explode at the Academy, so the story would have been buried under that too.
…Did the Cult calculate even that?
Anyway, the exact contents of the job Woohyun proposed were as follows:
1. Dispose of the monster corpse somehow before the necromancer the Cult sends can claim it.
2. Use the chaos of the Cult's raid to rescue the sole surviving test subject currently held at the facility.
3. If possible, destroy as much of the research data as we can.
Obviously it was extremely dangerous. Woohyun had probably suggested coming to Pyongyang for this in the first place.
"Haa…"
I rolled around on the bed hugging a pillow, trying to fall asleep. It had only been a day since the dungeon practical ended and I was already this busy…
Once this is over, I should go torment Pingttuk for the first time in a while…
The next day I overslept, skipped the lodging's breakfast, and joined the others late.
"Ah, Haneul's here?"
Min Haryang greeted me, and we arrived at the institute shortly after. Just like yesterday, Lee Heetae was there to welcome us right away.
"Did everyone sleep well?"
He asked after our well-being as he led us inside. And once again the system window floated up.
…So right now we were going to see that creature, and tonight we had to deal with it somehow before a necromancer could eat it?
We rode the moving walkway, peeking through windows at the labs along the way, until a massive building suddenly loomed ahead. It was a circular structure on the scale of a domed stadium.
"Let's go in."
Lee Heetae tapped his staff ID and the doors slid open. I followed him inside, idly kicking at the floor as I walked.
…Illegal human experiments are happening under here?
I glanced sideways at Woohyun. His expression looked completely unreadable. Yeon Hajin, on the other hand, wore a complicated look.
Yesterday Woohyun had said he'd brief the rest of the club members himself. Yeon Hajin and Min Haryang were both too useful to leave out of the fight.
I sidled up beside Hajin while we followed Lee Heetae and jabbed him in the side. He turned to look at me.
"Anything you know this time?"
Hajin checked ahead of us, then gave a small nod. So from his perspective, this would be the first battlefield he was walking into completely blind. I patted his uncertain-looking back. Experience is experience, after all.
Leaving Hajin behind, I moved up to Min Haryang. According to the original, she was a mage who specialized in plant-type magic—and a pretty powerful one at that. I naturally stuck to her side and turned my head toward her face. Her expression said, loud and clear, I'm so nervous. Anyone could see how stiffly she was holding herself.
"……."
Even so, the gaze she fixed on Lee Heetae was ice-cold. She might have a bit of a stickler streak, but in the original Min Haryang had definitely been the warm, gentle mom-type heroine.
…Apparently that didn't apply to non-humans. She must be furious about the human experiments…
But freezing up this early wouldn't help anyone. To ease her tension and mood I latched onto her and linked arms. She looked at me. Our eyes met. I gave her a slightly sheepish grin, and her expression softened a little.
"Does it bother you?"
"…Sorry. I guess I wasn't managing my face very well……"
"Aww~ Unnie, you've got nothing to apologize for."
We whispered together, the atmosphere noticeably lighter than a moment ago as we trailed after Lee Heetae. After walking for some time—
"We've arrived."
Lee Heetae tapped his ID again. The huge door blocking our path opened, and a wide open space came into view.
"Try not to be too startled."
And there, in the center of that vast clearing, was the reason this building had been constructed like a giant dome stadium.
A mountain of bones so huge it looked like a hill. A house-sized skull crowned with thick horns, a spine and tail that couldn't fit in a single glance, and finally the magnificent ribs and wing bones spreading out from it.
"No way…"
Anyone could see it. That was a dragon…