Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: The Traitor Among Us
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Do-hyun returned to the agreed-upon spot without causing any further incidents.
"...Did you have a safe trip?"
"I went to reminisce about old times, but things had changed a lot. Oh, as you probably saw, there was a minor scuffle along the way. I tried to avoid it if possible, but it couldn't be helped. I trust you'll understand."
FBI Agent Jake nodded. A fight with some gangsters hardly qualified as an incident.
But that made it all the more suspicious.
'Why did he come back without doing anything? Was he really just there to reminisce?'
No way.
Who goes to downtown for something like that unless they're a psycho? If he really wanted to relive family vacation memories, he could've gone somewhere safe like Waikiki.
There had to be some other motive, yet Do-hyun hadn't done anything remotely suspicious.
The only thing that stuck out was one detail.
"What did you talk about with that Guddle guy?"
"Who's that?"
"...The Maui Family executive you met midway. Didn't you two have a conversation?"
"Oh, that guy. Didn't you hear what we talked about through the wire?"
Do-hyun tapped the button on his sleeve as he spoke, and Jake's face went pale.
"Th-that's... Don't get the wrong idea. We didn't wire you because we suspect Kim or anything..."
"Oh, it's fine. I understand the U.S. government's concerns. You still suspect me of being Genocider, right?"
"...That's correct."
"I left the wire on purpose. I wanted to clear up any misunderstandings."
Jake looked awkward.
Misunderstandings cleared? Like hell they were!
But it was undeniable that Do-hyun hadn't done anything grab-worthy today.
"I'm hungry. Let's head back. Do you know what's on the menu for base dinner tonight?"
"I think it's steak."
"Again...? Isn't this three days in a row?"
"Is there a problem?"
"...No."
Do-hyun swallowed a sigh and got into the car.
Ahead lay all sorts of challenges in America, but he couldn't shake the thought that the toughest might just be the food.
As Jake suspected, Do-hyun did have business in downtown.
Business no one in the U.S. government could've guessed.
"What did you talk about with the Fucking Dogs, honey?"
"N-nothing! We didn't talk at all!! Aaaargh─!!"
In the basement of an abandoned house in Hawaii's downtown.
A gruesome scene was unfolding.
The Maui Family executive who'd casually chatted with Do-hyun earlier was being tortured. Three others surrounded him—a man and two women.
All Awakeners.
Powerful ones, at a glance.
The torture was being handled by a Black woman who'd shaved half her head.
For reference, "Fucking Dogs" was a derogatory term for heroes working under the U.S. government.
The Family exec was being tortured over his chat with Do-hyun.
"Honey? Keep that up, and I'll get sad. It feels like you're treating us like idiots."
"I-I'm telling the truth!! I swear!!"
The Black woman sighed and cracked her knuckles.
"You just exchanged greetings and nothing else? Since when were Maui Family execs such close buddies with Fucking Dogs?"
"I-It's true. Believe me. Aaaargh─!!!"
The screams continued until he passed out.
The Black woman frowned.
"He shouldn't have held out this long. Did they really just say hi?"
"No way. He's the one who killed Pierrot. He came here to sniff out our trail."
A man in a suit spoke sharply, while a nerdy-looking East Asian guy tapping away at a laptop in the corner muttered to himself.
"Kim Do-hyun. Awakened as B-rank Shadow Knight one month ago. Scouted via immigration contact. Unusually regraded to S-rank a month later. Currently suspected to be Korea's villain Genocider."
"Suspected? What's the probability it's actually him?"
"100%."
An astonishing conversation.
Do-hyun's info was classified, yet they had it all.
"Genocider? I've heard of him. Devil-rank villain after a long hiatus, right? One of our friends?"
"More likely a disgusting vigilante. Reports say he only hunted villains in Korea too."
"Ha! My least favorite type. So he came looking for us playing hero? How'd he know we crossed the Pacific?"
"No idea. But he definitely caught on to us. Otherwise, he never could've killed Pierrot."
The Black woman and suited man's faces hardened as the nerd shot them a hollow-eyed glance.
"One possibility. One of us leaked info."
"Not me!!"
"...You suspecting me?"
They bristled with anger, but the nerd continued indifferently.
"It's a 100-million-dollar job, but too many hands on it. If we split with the others, no one gets more than ten mil. Might as well sell info instead."
The nerd turned back to his laptop.
"Canada's Bloody Gentleman, Cuba's Red Scarlet, and me—Silicon Valley's Psychic Engineer. Just our three bounties alone top ten mil easy."
The Black woman and suited man exchanged looks.
It was plausible enough.
They weren't even friends to begin with.
Excluding the nerd, neither was even a U.S. villain.
The client had assembled them as mercenaries for this job.
"...So Genocider used this guy to contact the traitor?"
"Probably."
"Then cracking him open would reveal the rat."
"Too late. He's dead."
"!!"
The gang exec's body had gone limp.
He'd bitten his tongue during their brief distraction.
"Whoever the traitor is, he'd rather die than talk."
"...I swear it's not me."
"Not me either. Red Scarlet, you'd say the same."
"I really─!"
"Enough. Identifying the traitor is impossible anyway. What matters is there is one among us."
The nerd closed his laptop and fixed them with a low, grave tone.
"And how we complete the job with a traitor in the mix. Backing out isn't an option. The client won't let us. They'd hunt us to the ends of hell."
Client.
The word weighed heavy on the other two.
"Job's dangerous enough already. Even if Super Force pigs are fat lazy swine, we can't work with a traitor."
"Super Force isn't the worry. Pigs, like you said. If we can't trust each other, one option: we three stick together."
The Black woman and suited man nodded.
Couldn't move separately with a traitor unknown.
"Job goes down in three days. Turn Pearl Harbor base to rubble, as requested."
A few days passed.
Do-hyun spent them resting idly.
"Third test schedule isn't set yet. Sorry for the delay."
"No problem. I understand the U.S. side's caution."
Do-hyun shook his head amiably each time Michelle apologized.
She was starting to wonder if he really was Genocider.
'He doesn't look like a villain at all...'
And he was handsome, too.
His villain suspicion had blinded her to it, but he was quite the looker.
Not the sharp Western chiseled type, but like a pre-Cataclysm K-pop idol.
The base-issued clothes dulled it, but suited up properly, he'd shine.
'If Kim went vigilante, he'd pull massive popularity. Especially with female fans.'
Meanwhile, Do-hyun thought,
'Boring. When are they making their move?'
Pearl Harbor incident was days away, but exact date varied slightly per regression.
Could be today, so he waited obediently at base.
'Three days of American chow already...'
Complaining about food after nine apocalypses?
Thanks to his exploits, Korea maintained infrastructure till the end in later rounds—good eats included.
'One reason I hated U.S. life: Fucking American food.'
If he could go out, he'd hit a Korean spot, but waiting on them prevented it.
Then—
Pfzt─!
The lights in Do-hyun's room went out.
Not just his— the entire Pearl Harbor base plunged into darkness.
"Wh-what the...?!?"
Michelle stammered in panic beside him.
"Looks like a blackout."
"This isn't a blackout."
"Terrorism...?"
"What else could it be?"
Michelle's face hardened.
This was a top-security base.
Multiple backups— a blackout didn't happen.
"But even terrorists couldn't... "
'Someone who can.'
Psychic Engineer.
Chinese-descended S-rank villain from Silicon Valley.
Supporter class... hacker specialist.
Key player in today's Pearl Harbor disaster.
'Red Scarlet and Bloody Gentleman too, probably.'
He didn't know everyone involved, but the prime culprits were familiar.
Silicon Valley's Psychic Engineer.
Cuba's Red Scarlet.
Canada's Bloody Gentleman.
All S-rank villains.
America had plenty of S-ranks, but this many together was rare.
'Even Super Force Pacific HQ has only about five on-site.'
Hawaii's Super Force had 15 S-ranks total—three shifts, ten on mainland leave, five on duty.
That's how it rotated.
Otherwise, S-ranks wouldn't join Super Force.
Subtract those on missions, and base usually had 2-3.
'Fewer now that I killed Pierrot.'
Pierrot? Insider, so preemptively good.
"Mind if I head to the ops room too?"
"Kim?"
"Tests aren't done, but I'm to be a U.S. citizen, right? Want to help."
Michelle hesitated, then nodded.
Super Force ops room was chaos.
Not from response planning, though.
"We can't follow that order. Violates contract."
"So you're refusing to suppress the terror attack?!"
"Contract doesn't cover villain-led terror suppression. That's HPD hero duty."
"On a military base!"
"Contract explicitly allows refusing life-risking missions. Send counter-terror first, wear 'em down, then we move."
Two Super Force S-rank Awakeners were refusing terror suppression orders.