Can You Even Take on a Saint? (6)
“It looks like the Chairman’s secretary isn’t the type to do anything half-hearted~.”
Watching Baek San-a giggle sent a surge of irritation through Secretary Park. “Since when?”
“Right from the moment we started making samples for the viral product. Of course, back then I didn’t notice the humidity shift and just sprinkled it in just a little~.”
Puff, puff.
The humidity warning that had just sounded meant the entire headquarters was completely saturated with high humidity.
In other words, every corner of the headquarters now fell within Baek San-a’s influence.
‘So, can I go anywhere I want without me noticing? Then the voice I heard must have been all of them.’
Nearly a thousand organization members in the headquarters were now all held hostage by Baek San-a for their lives.
Even though the ground was sealed off, there was only one escape route left, but even that one would cut into their own flesh.
‘If even the herbs are exposed… that’s going to be a problem.’
In the end, she had no choice but to negotiate right here.
Secretary Park cleared his throat with a heavy grunt. “Shall we negotiate?”
“I’m not letting you go until you surrender. ~”
“...Well, this state can’t last forever anyway, right? Every time we make that substance like water, we’ve been consuming an enormous amount of the demonic beast blood we brought.”
“Oh. You really are sharp. That you remembered.”
Baek San-a chuckled. “But would I have done all this if I only had the demonic beast blood you brought? Haven’t you seen my body turning into blood?”
“...”
“So exactly how much blood percentage did I use to take control of the headquarters~?”
An uncertain situation.
Secretary Park recalled a post from the Gallery he had read in the past.
“The reason Jinjo must exist”
All after the anomaly outbreak, all rumors have become reality.
It doesn’t make sense that there is no vampire, one of the most beloved and consumed clichés by humans.
Fixers’ unsolved cases keep coming out, but was there really not even one person among them who was turned into a Jinjo?
I don’t think so.
“Well, that’s true, but there are still no eyewitness reports.”
“Was the person killed the moment they saw it? It’s a perfect assassination. Yeah.”
“Even if rumors become reality, they aren’t perfectly identical to the rumors.”
“There might be a garlic-cross immune vampire.”
“If so, wouldn’t they act like real humans?”
“The only thing that’s certain is that the more human they look, the more dangerous they are.”
“Weaknesses always come attached to vampire rumors.”
“But even in a country where food ingredient production is a mess, Korea still produces garlic, doesn’t it?”
“Living a normal life eating rice in Korea must be like a monster, right?”
“Heh.”
“A garlic chicken-loving vampire is terrifyingly terrifying.”
“But if they like chicken, taming them should be easy lol.”
“What’s easy about it? Live chicken chicken is a joke.”
“If they give you fake chicken, their heads will be bitten off right away lol.”
“The fastest way to rack up max human-hate points. Damn.”
A Jinjo who casually consumes food with garlic in it.
Moreover, even the Chairman’s side had never been crushed by Sephirah pressure.
‘10%...? Or 5%? Could it really be even less...?’
The more he imagined the small number, the more fear grew.
Imagination is poison when facing an unknown enemy.
“...You don’t need to tell me. I’m not curious.”
“Whoa~ No fun~ If you’re not going to ask~.”
“I have no desire to get caught up in your face. Are there no negotiation options besides surrender?”
“Well, with the maids around, I’ve been enjoying my vacation nicely. I should probably head back soon too. I’ve also secured all the necessary information~.”
Flick!
The smartphone in Secretary Park’s pocket was thrown.
Baek San-a casually snatched it. Secretary Park told her, “Unfortunately, that’s going to be difficult. We’ve also secured a lot of your data... Even if we all die, the data won’t disappear.”
Backed-up data from the smartphone began to unfold through a holographic screen.
“Once that’s unlocked, you’ll completely stand against humans. You thought we’d only strangle you unilaterally? Wrong, we can also pressure you...!”
He nodded while briefly checking each one.
Baek San-a pouted and muttered, “The contract doesn’t have my signature, does it? Want to check again?”
“...?”
“Really. It’s not a joke.”
Checking through the radio immediately revealed that the original signature had disappeared.
Everything was the same except Baek San-a’s signature alone had vanished.
“That’s impossible... We kept it in a small safe, so how...?”
“Since we can disguise blood like water, why not think that it might also be possible to make the blood disappear after a certain time? Fuhuhu.”
“Ugh... But the copy of the contract is perfectly intact!”
“Anomalous memory loss.”
“...What?”
“Disappearance isn’t ‘erasing.’ It means completely disappearing from this world. Even the copies should have my signature gone, right?”
“You shouldn’t analyze the anomaly.
It was the same advice she had heard endlessly from the office representative Kim Rok-hee, who worked with her.
However, while that saying helped maintain reason, it did nothing to improve the situation.
Secretary Park desperately tried to stay calm, suppressing his trembling voice. “It’s... it’s fine.... It’s just that one of the data disappeared. The video data remains intact.”
“Eh? Really think that way?”
He flinched.
Secretary Park staggered backward and trailed off.
“Don’t lie. You’re planning to erase my existence entirely?”
“Whoa. If the secretary weren’t such a bad person, I would’ve kept him down and used him. It’s too precious...”
“Don’t dodge the question! Is that even possible?!?!”
Hee hee.
Baek San-a’s lips curled up, pushing her soft cheeks.
“Of course it’s possible. I only say possible things~.”
Looking at that expression, Secretary Park felt his spirits crushed even before a powerful enemy.
An ability to be forgotten by everyone.
That was the ability the Changro members who had to operate in the dark desperately wanted...
“That’s impossible. If something like that were possible, why live uncomfortably while being monitored by humans?! Just do whatever you want and disappear when needed...!”
“That’s because of my own heart? Secretary, you joined the organization of your own free will.”
Secretary Park’s body began to tremble violently.
Not just from fear, but also because of the environment inside the penthouse where temperature was kept low while humidity was high.
The moisture in the room was so high that the suit kept absorbing water.
Slap, slap.
To focus attention, Baek San-a laughed. “So what’s it going to be? Will you surrender and survive, or are we going to finish it all~?”
Secretary Park gritted his teeth. “Sorry, but... the A-line product is already circulating nearly five hundred million bottles on the market. We poured out all the prepared stock...”
One-third of the current Korean population.
What if that entire population turned into demonic beasts?
Even if this headquarters disappeared, the Chairman’s ideal would be advanced.
After all, the organization members are just consumables.
They knew that they could suddenly meet their end at any time, so only those who supported the Chairman’s ideal were here.
“If sacrificing the headquarters allows us to achieve our great cause, I’m happy to do so. Everyone will agree with that thought.”
Baek San-a burst out laughing. “Now that I see, except the captured maid, everyone here are lunatics...”
“Don’t belittle our cause! What do you know?”
“I don’t know. Even under the Five in Council, they’re well-fed and warm, so I don’t understand why they have to be like this.”
“The current Five in Council is a garbage dump—!!”
With a voice tearing apart, Baek San-a crouched.
...A little later, she opened her mouth with a hehe laugh.
“I know that too.”
“...What?”
“The management director is a bad guy, right?”
The current management director quickly seized power as soon as the anomaly outbreak happened and obtained the strongest power among the directors who formed the Five in Council using the Sephirah.
To calm the confusion, he didn’t hesitate to make ruthless choices.
Weighing millions of lives, or choosing anomalies over humans—
Hidden related documents allowed God to know.
But thanks to those past choices, the current Korean City Federation and the City Center exist.
The people alive now are because of those ruthless choices.
And the treasure of the City Center that Baek San-a must obtain could never have been seen by anyone else.
“Well, I know there must be circumstances. There’s no choice~. Until I get what I want, I have to maintain this system.”
If the system collapses, the City Center will fall into complete blockade.
No one knows where the escape route will be shot from which dimension.
A random coordinate from the stable dimensions determined by the Sephirah. Where will it fall?
Or spend enormous time searching for the treasure?
Ugh, Baek San-a can’t bear to see that.
Whether the Five in Council is bad or not, that’s a story for after she finishes her mission.
“And I know you want revenge, but creating hundreds of thousands of unspecified people into demonic beasts is going to be a problem. No matter what, it’s not right to control those people’s lives at will~. What’s the difference between that and the Five in Council you hate?”
“Demonic beast subject, talking nonsense...! Where are you getting ideas about justice!”
“Eh? I didn’t say I was talking about justice. I’m a bad anomaly who turns a blind eye to the management director’s wrongs.”
“Nonsense...”
Secretary Park barely steadied his trembling body and shouted.
“Anyway... no negotiation... Even if we can’t hunt you down... our cause will continue...”
Baek San-a continued to laugh.
“You’re relying on the A-line product a lot? That’s pure drug, so if you drink it, there’s a high probability you’ll turn into a demonic beast?”
“Hu hu hu... laugh all you want... kuhuhu... hu hu. Chairman, will definitely drag you to hell...! The humans you cherish——.”
Soon Baek San-a showed a smartphone.
It was the smartphone she had originally used, left at the office, not the one Secretary Park had given her.
The unfolding holograms.
The remaining conversation content told Secretary Park there was no more escape.
[Baek San-a: Meeting with Changro Chairman]
[Baek San-a: You seem to mistake me for a blood vampire, so I’ll pretend to be a blood vampire]
[Woo Cheon-yeob: What are you trying to do without consulting me suddenly?]
[Woo Cheon-yeob: Why did the GPS signal cut off again from an odd location?]
[Woo Cheon-yeob: Is it a jammer?]
[Woo Cheon-yeob: Restore the signal immediately]
[Woo Cheon-yeob: If you don’t answer, I’ll do concentrated surveillance near there]
[Woo Cheon-yeob: Answer]
...Today
[Woo Cheon-yeob: There seems to be a Changro headquarters over there]
[Woo Cheon-yeob: All the drug drinks they were trying to distribute to each branch have been seized]
[Woo Cheon-yeob: (photo)]
[Woo Cheon-yeob: All branch locations have also been identified and we are launching an attack]
[Woo Cheon-yeob: That’s aside, what exactly are you doing?]
[Woo Cheon-yeob: If I don’t hear back by tomorrow, I’ll take Cheong Ha-rin]
Woo Cheon-yeob had moved exactly as Baek San-a had intended from the beginning.
Thanks to him, every plan fit perfectly.
“He really moved without even a centimeter of error. Terrifying human...”
Wait, what is this? Who did you bring?
Of course, the last message was unexpected even for Baek San-a.
In that moment, Secretary Park couldn’t steady his trembling body and collapsed to the floor.
Pressing her cheek against the cold floor, she groaned with difficulty. “No, Chairman’s dream...”
“Secretary? Secretary? You should surrender? Aunt? Ah! Joom! Ma! Hang! Bok! Ha!”
Secretary Park’s face was completely blank.
Baek San-a sighed and pulled a cross out of her chest. “I guess I should just knock everyone out...”
A small hand holding a cross lightly bounced once. “Fixed.”
Her consciousness cut off, Secretary Park’s vision darkened.
It was her last scene before she was sent to a prison cell.
