Cheong Harin's Lucky Day (3)

Ganghwa Island.

To fixers, it was originally a "hunting ground," but now it was spring, the season when migratory birds were busy moving.

As a major habitat for migratory birds, Ganghwa Island was currently no different from a demonic den.

Yet, for some, the arrival of these giant migratory birds had become a hobby.

Specifically, people who loved taking photos of birds.

However, the subjects of their photos were monsters.

And at this very moment, they were threatening Cheong Harin's life.

"Kyaaa!"

Right.

"Ugh!"

Behind you.

"Aaaah...!"

With Rubina's help, she was somehow managing to dodge, but that was it.

She was purely on the defensive, with absolutely no room to counterattack.

Even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠though her physical senses and motor skills had improved dramatically after her awakening, there was little she could do when attacks flew at her from all directions, leaving no room to escape.

Dammit...! Why are even the chicks this threatening?!

Right in the middle of the nest.

Four chicks took turns attacking her, and when they failed to catch Cheong Harin, the watching mother joined in, turning it into a five-way free-for-all.

She wondered if she should just jump out of the nest, but leaving it wouldn't solve anything.

The entire surrounding area was filled with heron nests.

I didn't want to learn about heron ecology like this...!

Herons migrate to Korea in the spring and head back south in the autumn.

During that time, they build nests and raise their young, with the massive flock collectively taking on the duty of protecting the chicks.

That was why the nests were clustered so densely together.

Unfortunately, Harin had been snatched by a father heron whose nest sat right in the center of this nesting ground, meaning she had dropped straight into a living hell.

The only saving grace was that because of their massive size, they hadn't built their nests in the trees.

If they did, the trees would snap. And since they moved in massive flocks, they had no fear of natural predators, naturally turning the entire wetland into their territory.

Calm down, Harin.

"Do I look like I can calm down?!"

Don't try to move to the adjacent nests. Try to escape downward, beneath the nest.

"Below? But it's woven so tightly, there's no space...?"

You can open a path with the weapon you have.

"My weapon...? Ah."

Only then did Harin realize there was a sword hanging at her waist.

After gaining her new abilities, she had sold off all her firearms due to the cost of ammunition, but she had refused to give up the sword left behind by her father.

"Can I use this instead of the needle?"

You can swap it out for any existing blade.

"Damn it, if I knew that, I would've done it sooner."

Of course, the only thing you can store inside your body after combat is the IV needle.

"That's good enough."

In any case, it meant she could wield the sword in place of the IV needle.

This opened up endless possibilities for the IV tube.

Right now, she was just swinging a normal iron sword, but what if she managed to obtain Geburah, a Sephirah ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that existed in the form of a weapon?

Wouldn't she be able to swing that weapon wildly with her elongated tube arms?

Though I don't know if my bad luck will let me get even one before I die...

A brief moment of hope, followed by a heavy sigh.

Having grown accustomed to the chicks' attack patterns, Harin dodged a succession of beak thrusts and muttered.

"First, swap the needle for the sword. I'm going to dig straight down."

Aren't you leaving too much to me?

"B-but, I'm still not used to controlling the IV tube."

You do know that the more you rely on me, the more control over your body shifts to my side, right?

"Really?!"

Come to think of it, she recalled a junior from the Cheong Coalition showing her a post on the Fixer Gallery.

It must have been when they were talking and imagining what they would do if they obtained a Sephirah.

"A Living Sephirah... So that's what it is."

Yes. So do not rely on me too much. You must fight on your own, Harin.

"I-I get it."

Dodging amidst the chaos, she brought the IV tube to the front of her hand and instantly swapped the needle for the sword at her waist.

"Should I think of it like swinging a whip...?"

If you expand your senses, you can manipulate the entire tube like a part of your body, but you aren't used to movements beyond human limits yet. For now, thinking of it that way is best.

"Right. First, I need to escape from here...!"

There was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a massive difference between a whip and a sword, but in the end, they both delivered attacks to the targeted spot.

Slash!

The sword attached to the end of the winding tube went *slash!*

It lightly grazed the neck of the mother heron, which had been unleashing the fiercest attacks.

So close.

Though her first attack had missed, it was a decent attempt.

After all, one drew closer to success by repeating such mistakes.

"One more time...!"

*Crack.*

"Again!"

*Rip.*

Yet, none of Harin's subsequent attacks managed to hit the mother heron.

Feeling awkward just watching, Rubina asked gently.

Would you like me to help?

"No...!"

Harin smiled and swung her arm again.

The blade at the end of the tube shot out, smashing the nest right next to the mother once more.

But at this rate, you will only exhaust yourself.

"No. Just one more time...!"

*Crack!*

*Snap, crackle...!*

...Were you aiming for this from the start?

Harin's seemingly messy sword strikes all had a purpose.

She was in a situation where she couldn't even swing her only weapon properly.

In times like this, it was naturally more advantageous to shred the stationary nest rather than try to hit a moving heron.

The section of the nest where the mother heron was perched fell away like a slice of cake.

Losing her balance due to her center of gravity shifting backward, the mother flapped her wings frantically.

Startled, the chicks also stopped their attacks on Harin all at once.

"I might be weak, but my survival skills are top-notch!!"

Harin threw herself headfirst into the newly created gap.

The chicks' beaks chased after her as she fled, but the newly hatched creatures weren't very skilled with their beaks yet.

"...Phew."

The chicks repeatedly tried to poke through the gaps.

But it didn't seem like they could reach where Harin was.

Her tension melting away, she let out a small sigh and lay flat on the ground.

"When will... San-a show up...?"

A hard-won peace.

At the same time, a surge of resentment washed over her, and tears began to stream down her face.

"Damn it...! I was supposed to wake up, sign a Da-grade employment contract, and start my happy fixer life...! Why is the world so cruel to me...! Was wanting to have a single can of beer really that big of a crime?!"

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, but strangely, she felt like it had gotten worse since she met Baek San-a.

It was as if the god of fate was saying, Hey, you used up all your luck meeting Baek San-a, right? Now... you have to pay the price.

But Harin would never let go of San-a.

The sole stroke of good fortune in her otherwise luckless life.

Baek San-a.

Those three syllables!

Anger quickly rushed in to fill the void left by her sorrow.

"Damn it... I'm not going to die. No way..."

She had to survive, no matter what.

She would survive, find the god of fate, and punch them in the face—no, ten times.

Wait.

"What?!"

Harin. Calm down for a second.

Huffing, Harin took a deep breath and stabilized her breathing.

It's getting closer.

"What is...?"

Look ahead.

Looking up at the sky through the broken branches, she saw a dark mass gradually drawing near.

Countless flapping wings began to enter her field of vision.

Between them, red particles constantly scattered and vanished.

"What's with that flock of herons...?"

The person you were looking for is coming.

"San-a?!"

Harin bolted upright.

At that moment, a sharp *clang*, like metal splitting apart, echoed.

The floor tilted, and Harin's body began to slide.

Watch out!

"Aaah!"

Before she could even use the IV tube to hang onto something, she went tumbling down.

She fell from a height of at least two stories, but fortunately, she landed on damp soil, saving her backside.

"Ugh, what is this?"

Scrambling to her feet, Harin was met with a bizarre sight.

Why on earth was there a steel framework and a ventilation system beneath a bird's nest?

"What is this? Why is something like this here...?"

It must have split open when you cut the nest earlier. It was probably hidden in the shadow of the nest.

What kind of facility would be hidden beneath the nests of dangerous migratory birds?

Surely not a secret government research facility.

There was no reason to put it here when they could just build it in the city center.

That meant it was either a fixer or an agency hiding slush funds, or...

"...A criminal organization?"

I've always had a habit of doing a background check whenever I get a bad feeling.

That's just what happens when life gets tough.

When it feels like the world is constantly out to get you, well, you can't help but be suspicious, right?

"Hahaha. No wonder those bastards were trying so hard to block me."

I couldn't help but laugh at the message I had just received from God.

It was still a fifty-fifty guess, but I had a hunch that there was something on Ganghwa Island.

And if there was, there was a high probability that Harin had already found it.

Honestly, at this point, it wasn't even bad luck anymore; she was practically a detector for anomalies and bad guys.

Cheong Harin's misfortune is my good fortune...

I should tell her someday.

Don't think of yourself as unlucky.

Your misfortune is leading the world in a better direction.

...I obviously couldn't tell her that I was just happy she was boosting my contribution points.

Even an anomaly would hear that and go, "Uh, that's a bit much."

Just as I thought that, my body crossed the narrow stretch of sea separating Ganghwa Island from Gyeonggi Province.

Immediately after, a strange sound echoed.

*Rat-tat-tat-tat—!*

"Whoa."

Although my view was blocked by the flock of herons surrounding me, it was unmistakably the sound of modern warfare weaponry.

As I lightly dodged, a relentless hail of bullets rained down, causing the innocent herons to drop like flies.

Having mastered the ultimate insect flight techniques back when I was a mosquito, there was no way I'd get hit by this.

The weapon attacking me seemed to be a type of autocannon usually mounted on warships to shoot down fighter jets.

Since it made no sense for such a thing to operate without human control or a pre-set system...

Their secret base had to be nearby.

"Why is the welcoming party so fiery? Are they not even trying to hide it?"

Or had they already gotten rid of several fixers this way?

Since Ga-grade or higher elite fixers rarely went around hunting demonic beasts, it was a gamble they could afford to take...

How short-sighted.

Did they not consider that a bored—no, an enraged pet whose housekeeper had been kidnapped might show up?

*Rat-tat-tat—.*

*Rat-tat-tat-tat!!*

"Hey, hey, hey."

Floating in midair, I took off my anomaly wavelength suppression suit.

I compressed it, rolled it up, and temporarily stored it inside my body...

At the same time, as I dodged the incoming shells, the herons around me crashed to the ground on their own.

The herons chasing me vanished, and my field of vision finally cleared.

The moment I located the source of the artillery fire, I intentionally collided with one of the incoming shells.

Since a bubble is fired in response to any foreign object pushing into my body, the shell naturally triggered it as well.

*Phew—!*

In the blink of an eye, the fired bubble zipped through the hail of shells and went *clink*.

It had reached the point of origin where the shells were being fired.

What happens if I immediately swap places with the bubble?

My body was squeezed into the narrow barrel, and my highly elastic form tore the iron apart with immense force.

*Clang, crash, rip.*

"Aaargh!!"

"W-what? Why did the barrel explode?!"

Representative Woo Cheon-yeop, I believe in you.

I trust you'll clean up this mess nicely.

I covered my face with my bangs, so I have an alibi.

"...A kid?"

"What are you idiots doing?! Attack! They're a trespasser!"

"A-are you sure we should attack?! They look like a child..."

"Do you want to get killed by the boss for not shooting, or shoot and get scolded less?"

"Firing!!"

As I stepped out of the ruptured barrel and walked forward, bullets rained down on me like a storm.

A loud explosion echoed, perhaps because a stray bullet had set off some explosives behind the barrel.

"Seriously, are they trying to blow up their own base?"

The aftermath of the explosion engulfed the surroundings in flames, but fortunately, no further chain explosions occurred.

Because I immediately sprayed my blood to stop the fire from spreading.

I have to keep people alive. It would be bad if they died from something like this.

Bullets kept flying at me, but since my automatic defense was active, there was no need to dodge.

As the people doing useless things—without realizing how useless it was—lost consciousness and collapsed one after another.

The clatter of guns hitting the steel floor rang out repeatedly.

"This counts as self-defense approved by the Byeoksabusa, right?"