Bunker Candidate Site (3) – Seoul Landfill
Seoul, the landfill. Amid the soaring flames, bodies were tossed in one by one, and Yu Sil-jang crossed her arms.
"Everyone, hands on your heads and get down on the ground. Then cross your legs."
"…"
The ragged-looking people wordlessly obeyed Yu Sil-jang's orders, dropping to the dirt. Every time they slightly turned their heads, the employees aiming guns at them caught glimpses of indignant expressions, their own eyes wavering. No matter how many times they looked, those faces seemed utterly human.
But when the expressions instantly went blank, it sent chills down their spines. Yep, definitely not human.
"Alright. Now convince me. Tell me why I should let you live."
"…"
"Ma Team Leader. Every time I count, kill one starting from the left."
"Yes, ma'am."
"One."
Crack! An axe cleaved into the skull of the one on the far left. The cranium shattered like a summer squash, spraying brain matter and green mucus everywhere.
The prisoners remained utterly unmoved, their faces serene. They subtly lifted their heads to gaze up at Yu Sil-jang. What do we say to this bitch to survive? Nothing came to mind. She wasn't the type to leave loose ends unless the payoff was huge.
"Two."
Thud! Another skull crushed. Three, another. Four, five, and six. They didn't utter a word until their numbers dwindled below ten.
Don't wanna live that bad? Fine, die then. Just as interest fully drained from Yu Sil-jang's face—
"Ha. Fine. Just kill 'em all."
"Wait. I have a proposal."
"Now? What were you doing while your buddies got offed?"
"Fewer numbers make it easier for you to manage, don't they? A mercenary firm always short on manpower can't spare resources on prisoner wrangling."
"…"
Ah—so they waited on purpose for the numbers to thin out? Yu Sil-jang's eyelid twitched. Freaky bastards.
"So. What's the proposal? If it's boring crap about being easy to manage or whatever, you're all dead."
"We'll lend you our intelligence."
"…Intelligence?"
"We possess intellect far superior to that of our typical hosts. We can be useful tools for R&D or tactical strategy. Think of us as AI with creativity."
"You saying you're smarter than us? Then calculate 18,542 times 328,201."
"Simple mental arithmetic is just one facet of intellectual ability. It can't validate high intelligence—"
"Ma Team Leader. Just kill 'em all. Talking out their asses—"
"The answer is sixty billion, eight hundred fifty million, one thousand, nine hundred forty-two."
"…"
Ma Team Leader tapped at a calculator and showed it to Yu Sil-jang. Her eyelid twitched again. Not total bullshit, huh? Intrigue sparked. At the very least, their computational prowess outstripped humans'. Sure, as the thing said, raw math skills were useless, but they were worth testing for other talents.
"Our demands are survival. If the current host's health deteriorates badly, provide us brain-dead bodies to transfer into."
"That's it?"
"And if possible, media or text platforms so we can enjoy modern human culture."
"…"
Figures. Can't live without Netflix. Trapped with no OTT? She'd go nuts too. Yu Sil-jang quietly nodded.
"Deal. I accept your surrender. Partners now?"
"We express infinite gratitude for your mercy."
Yu Sil-jang flashed a bright smile and extended her hand. The parasite glanced around warily before tentatively shaking it.
Perfect—this one's it.Plenty of parasites anyway; gotta dissect this one for structure. Yu Sil-jang licked her lips.
Thanks to GeumMyeong Security digging up addresses and kidnapping them in advance, they had a glut of PhDs and specialists locked up in Seoul. With multiple parasite samples secured, ignoring the potential was impossible. Dissection might even yield intel on the rift ecosystem. Either way, it meant money. Big money.
"Ma'am. The overseas dispatch team found Park I-sa."
"Oh. That bastard still kicking? Tough son of a bitch."
Regret? Excitement? Her expression was impossible to read.
"Looks like he assembled a team from the Hong Kong survivors. We tracked Park I-sa and five others boarding a flight from Shanghai to the US."
"Tell them to drop pursuit and return."
"Pardon? Securing a US-bound flight isn't hard."
"They'll all die if they go. Park I-sa's a slippery fucker overseas; what makes you think you can catch him? Bastard's the type to hire mercs first thing and set traps for his pursuers."
Park I-sa wasn't worth the cost and manpower to chase. Sure, he had connections worldwide, but he was just another dime-a-dozen contractor. GeumMyeong Security was already beefing with countless mercs; one more didn't matter.
The real one they couldn't afford to piss off was singular—ugh. Yu Sil-jang squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing her rage. Endless domestic shitstorms to handle was fine, but no bandwidth to hunt that guy was the eternal regret.
Her prosthetic arm trembled faintly when an employee came sprinting up with a phone.
"Ma'am. Call from the hospital."
"What?"
"They say it's serious; need to speak to you directly."
"Annoying. Hand it over."
Yu Sil-jang tsked and took the phone.
[Is this Director Yu A-ra?]
"Yeah, it's me."
[Chief physician for Room 1003 here. Patient Lee Tae-hyun has woken up.]
Yu Sil-jang froze on the spot. Room 1003. The special research isolation ward.
"…On my way. Don't clock out; wait."
[Understood, ma'am.]
Swift decision, curt call. Yu Sil-jang flung the phone backward and strode briskly to the car, sliding in. Straight to the hospital—no questions, fastest route, tires screeching.
In the rearview mirror, a faint smile graced Yu Sil-jang's lips—one rarely seen. Not a hollow chuckle or pissed-off grin, but pure anticipation.
"Heh… heh heh…"
Giggles kept slipping out.
"Sis. Think about it. This is the buy-low moment. Swap all gold and AUD for USD."
"You sure…? The gold and Aussie dollar are what's holding the line. Turn it back into toilet paper?"
"Hey. Toilet paper? The dollar'll rebound fast. America's not collapsing."
"Didn't you used to trade US stocks?"
"…"
Yuri's face soured. Rifts tearing the sky, monsters rampaging—and America won't fall? Bullshit; it's tanking hard. Cheol-woo's faith in the US bordered on religion.
"Is the US the only fucked country? Everything but Australia's gone. Europe's a lawless hellhole, China's lost the whole south. Other nations can't even manage civil wars. Only America's got the chops to fight a real war right now."
"Oh…"
That… kinda makes sense? Yuri perked up.
"War'll end quick anyway. Parasites' only win button is nukes, and if they were gonna launch, they'd have by now. Means no nukes."
"Huh? President's on their side, no?"
"Guess eating his brain wiped the codes. Point is, no nukes means they're screwed. Humans under them are waking up, defecting to rebels. We just stir the pot, America revives, dollar moons, we're rich. Okay?"
"Ooh. Exchange now then."
"Nah. Dollar's still dropping; buying now's dumb. Elliott Wave says wait for the 5th down wave, then drop 2 after rebound. Plenty of time."
"You traded stocks, huh."
"…"
Cheol-woo's mouth clamped shut. Lips twitching, eyes darting, he finally muttered.
"Not stocks… crypto… a bit…"
"All gone?"
"Ow, c'mon. Ancient history. Water under the bridge. Why drag it up?"
"Not judging. Spill honestly."
"Didn't lose it all. Down 70%."
"…"
"From -99%, recovered without adding seed. Pure long-short 4848? That's badass."
"Yeah, sure."
Sighs poured from Yuri. I'll handle assets from now on. Not a dime to him for investments. Conviction solidified.