The Victor's Mercy
Returning to the elevator, I found Hugo already conscious and back on his feet. He stood blocking the entrance, his body a mess of wounds. Instead of raising my gun, I spoke in a low voice.
Hugo didn't answer. He simply held his ground. But after a moment, he let out a sigh and stepped aside.
Even as I headed for the elevator, I kept a close eye on him in case he tried anything. Fortunately, he didn't pull any stupid stunts until I was inside. I walked straight past him and stepped into the car.
"Hey, Asa."
Hugo's final words before I went up.
For a second, I was at a loss for words. How the hell do you even describe a personality like that? Calling it strong competitive spirit felt somehow insufficient. I stared at him until the doors began to close, then finally spoke.
If our paths crossed again, we'd meet. If not, we wouldn't. I'd deal with it when the time came.
With a heavy clunk, the doors shut. The elevator began its ascent toward the surface. Inside the now-silent car, I let out a long breath. Every inch of my body ached from the fight with Hugo. At least they were just scratches. I supposed I should count myself lucky.
As the elevator continued its steady climb, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
What if a whole squad is waiting right outside the doors when they open?
It was the last scenario I wanted to imagine, but it was entirely possible. No—more than possible. It was practically guaranteed. Hugo could have woken up and called for backup. Even if he hadn't, the entire facility would have gone on high alert after the intrusion. It would actually be stranger if there weren't troops waiting.
But if that was the case, there was nothing I could do about it. All I could do was hope it wouldn't happen.
The elevator didn't stop until it finally reached the surface level. I tensed every muscle in my body and cautiously peeked out as the doors slid open. Thankfully, there were no visible troops. Considering the elevator opened right onto a crossing point, the emptiness felt downright unnatural. The situation had deviated from every prediction.
I scanned the area a little longer before stepping out of the elevator. The heavy steel doors clanged shut behind me with a resounding thud. I held my breath and observed my surroundings for a moment, then started moving. Now that everyone in the facility knew there was an intruder, reckless movement was out of the question.
Following the facility layout I'd memorized on the way down, I moved quickly and efficiently, avoiding any wasted motion. As I headed toward the exit, I suddenly heard footsteps coming from around the corner ahead.
I froze mid-step.
Damn it.
I was in the middle of a long corridor. Hiding was impossible. No matter where I looked, there wasn't a single decent spot to conceal myself. With no other choice, I drew the pistol from my waist and aimed it toward the corner.
If I fired, guards would swarm the area. So much for slipping out quietly. I braced myself for the worst.
The footsteps grew steadily closer. The sound echoed down the quiet hallway. Then, a moment later, the owner of those footsteps appeared from around the corner.
A researcher?
The first thing I noticed was the spotless white lab coat. The same kind the facility's researchers always wore—pristine white, the kind that couldn't afford to get a single speck of dust on it. My finger tightened on the trigger.
But the moment I saw his face, all the tension drained from my body.
"JL?"
"Asa. You finally made it out."
The man wearing the researcher's lab coat and greeting me so casually was JL. He looked so natural in it that I almost believed he actually worked here. But his expression didn't change in the slightest as he continued.
"I've locked down the entire surrounding area. The guards are too busy running around with their hacking tools, trying to find the source."
"Did you tip them off yourself?"
"Yeah. It was the only way to avoid suspicion and divert their attention."
The idea of blending naturally into enemy territory, the casual way he executed a deception tactic against the guards—it took real guts. And the fact that he still hadn't been caught proved his skills were just as impressive. I couldn't help but click my tongue at that overwhelming confidence.
But JL didn't dwell on it. He immediately got down to business.
"Did you find the item?"
"Find it? I couldn't even carry the damn thing. It wasn't a personal weapon—it was more like a goddamn siege cannon."
"That's unfortunate. So you got the intel instead?"
"Yeah. I found photos and documents I can hand over to the client."
"Then let's get out of here. We can't hold out in this place forever."
I agreed completely. No matter how well we disguised ourselves, we'd be discovered eventually. I took the lead and started moving toward the exit.
As we headed for the way out, a question suddenly popped into my head.
"By the way, how did the guards even know there was an intruder?"
"What do you mean?"
JL had pulled off an excellent deception without getting caught by the guards. All while disguised as a researcher in a white coat. That meant none of us had been spotted when the alarm went off.
"Was it Eileen?"
"She's been sitting on top of a cliff far outside this whole time. How could she possibly have been discovered?"
"Exactly my point."
It was strange. If someone had been spotted, it would mean that whoever saw one of us hadn't reported our location and had simply triggered the alarm instead. Either way, something didn't add up.
Leaving the unresolved question behind, we slipped out of the facility.
"Ah, that son of a bitch."
The moment the alarm went off, Eileen slammed her equipment down and cursed.
"That bastard knew everything and still had the nerve to say that shit...!"
From the hacked CCTV feeds, there was no sign that JL or Asa had been compromised. On top of that, she now had full control of the system. There was no way the guards in the control room could have seen anything on the cameras and triggered the alert.
There was only one person she could think of.
Ugris.
Thinking back, the timing matched perfectly with when he had left the cliff. He'd acted like he was completely fooled in front of her, but in reality he'd seen through everything. No wonder it had felt too easy.
Eileen's face burned with humiliation as she ground her teeth. It had been a masterful deception.
"Haah... guess there's no helping it."
Eileen stood up and gathered her weapons. Since he knew she was here, it was a foregone conclusion that Ugris would have already surrounded the area with troops. She'd resist as long as she could, but she had no idea how long that would be.
She took a deep breath and prepared for battle. The cold wasteland wind carried yellow clouds of sand. Through the clear lenses of her beak-shaped gas mask, she could see the ridge behind the cliff.
A short while later, a single figure appeared on the hazy horizon. Eileen instinctively raised her gun. But the other party approached with a relaxed stride, completely unarmed, climbing the cliff without any visible weapons.
What the hell is this guy doing?
Eileen narrowed her eyes. There were no escort troops around the unarmed man. He had returned here alone, without bringing a single soldier with him from the start. Seeing the armed Eileen, he smiled without the slightest hint of tension and waved.
Eileen stared at Ugris, who had casually reappeared before her, and spoke.
"Life is precious. Of course I know that. Still, for some reason, when I'm standing in front of a wounded animal, even that sense of value fades away."
Ugris smiled faintly. It was the same gentle smile he'd shown before, but for some reason it made Eileen feel sick this time. She pressed the muzzle of her gun against his forehead.
"Your attitude. Your words. Everything about you."
"I'm not so different from you. The only difference is that I'm one of the victors."
Eileen frowned, unable to understand what he meant. But once she grasped his words, her expression hardened. Ugris looked at her and continued.
"I'm a mechanic too. An Ares mechanic, to be precise."
"The kind of victor who kept both his Hound and his position, then returned to the company's embrace."
That couldn't be true. The Hounds had been discarded by the corporation after being transferred into artificial bodies. The mechanics, except for a handful, had been demoted to watchers and then fired. So how could both of them still be alive and sheltered within the company?
Ugris continued speaking as he watched Eileen, who still hadn't recovered from the shock.
"I know you've been in occasional contact with Liam. I never expected to meet you here. Thanks to that, even though I didn't have any particular thoughts about you before, I've heard quite a lot about you. I know enough."
Eileen lifted her head again. Beyond the glowing lenses of her gas mask, which caught the sunlight and shone brightly, her eyes glared at Ugris.
"An idiot who doesn't even know who to obey, who ended up losing both her comrades and her master. In the end, all she can do is cling to this unstable mercenary life, licking the corporation's toes just to survive."
"Whether he accepted it or not, it turned out to be a good thing for all of us. For the corporation too, of course."
Unable to contain her rage, Eileen swung the butt of her rifle into his face. Then she climbed on top of his fallen body and shoved the muzzle into his mouth.
Eileen screamed right in his face. But Ugris didn't erase his smile. With a gentle touch, he pulled the gun barrel out of his mouth. Then, in a quiet voice, he spoke.
Eileen stared at him through her gas mask. Her expression was hidden. Ugris looked into the only visible part of her—her eyes—and said,
Eileen's body went rigid.