Those Geofront Bastards

"Even if Mr. Jeong-guk is going with you... isn't Busan much too far?"

Jo Shin-hye's worry was only natural.

"He says he knows a safe route. Easy assignments draw fierce competition, so he judged it better to claim a moderately difficult one ahead of the rest."

"Meaning it was Mr. Jeong-guk's judgment."

"Correct."

"And you agreed?"

"I—"

Not even Jo Yong-han agreed with Jeong-guk's decision a full hundred percent. If he had to put a figure on it, he was with him about fifty-one percent of the way.

"I agreed."

"Safe road or not, Busan is still a long way off..."

"I'm told a former Tracker vouched for that safe route."

"A Tracker? You mean a Hunter?"

"Yes."

"If it's a road a Tracker swore by..."

"It would mean there's something like a secret passage so safe that no ordinary person could ever know it exists."

"Well, that's a relief, at least."

"They say he was an exceptionally capable Tracker in his active days."

"So he isn't one now?"

"That is correct."

Jo Shin-hye scratched her head.

"I think we'll be fine! Mr. Jeong-guk chose it, so there must be a reason!"

Of the three siblings, it was becoming unmistakable that Jo An-na trusted Jeong-guk the most.

"I also believe, as Anna does, that there must be a reason behind Mr. Jeong-guk's choice."

"Then why do you look so reluctant to me?"

"Because it really is far, just as you said, Sister."

"Let's all stop worrying, yeah? It's not like we can change the plan now anyway."

That wasn't quite true. If Jo Yong-han set his mind to it and pushed a little, changing the plan was entirely possible.

But—

"As Anna said, it's already decided."

He had chosen to trust.

"I'm not saying I can't trust Mr. Jeong-guk. It's just—"

"If it's Mr. Jeong-guk, he has probably already guessed that you would be worrying like this right about now."

"...You're probably right."

And so Jo Shin-hye cast her lot in with them.

"The more I think about it, being a scientist might really suit me."

"...You just keep being a postman."

It was simple work: tip several solutions into the bulky mixer in the middle and switch it on. Once Tin Can had explained what each solution did, I could more or less see how to go about it.

"So I dump in all of the red—"

"Then the explosive force goes through the roof. If anyone nearby is about to eat, stop them. Something's going to kill their appetite."

"Next, the blue—"

"You're really not putting in any yellow?"

"Right."

"...Not even a little?"

"Don't want to."

Yellow had the effect of lowering the odds that the coating would detonate whenever it pleased. It also cut the destructive power of a blast that actually hit its target and went off as intended. The worst of both worlds.

"Green was the one that raises muzzle velocity, wasn't it?"

"It'll raise your odds of dying even more."

"Perfect."

I poured in every drop.

"...You're seriously making it like this?"

"It's already mixed. No way to back out."

"What do you mean, no way? You could just throw the whole thing out."

"Listen to you. Wasting something this precious."

Next was white.

"This one was penetration, right?"

"It is, but red alone is plenty. An extreme blast chews straight through penetration—"

I poured in every drop.

"...And you're going to use it like this?"

"Why? Do I look like I'm joking?"

"The odds of this actually working don't look like one percent. They don't even look like a tenth of one."

"I don't think you know who I am yet."

"A postman. What else would you be?"

"Hmm. Min Yeo-jin?"

"Yes, sir! The youngest and the greatest survival instructor there ever was!"

A little much, but fine. Better than saying it myself.

"What does survival training have to do with this?"

"Develop your survival skills far enough, and you become immortal."

"...I'm going to lose my mind."

Tin Can was the only one unsettled by the situation. Min Yeo-jin and Cheon Su-hyeon were perfectly calm. No—Min Yeo-jin looked a little excited, if anything. Boundless faith in me, most likely.

"Teacher! Show us how it's really done! Hiyah!"

She wasn't worried in the slightest, and that was its own kind of problem.

"Not the least bit concerned something might happen to me?"

"Because you don't hesitate at all, Teacher! There must be some method. There has to be!"

Well. Min Yeo-jin, I could set aside. This Cheon Su-hyeon kid's eyes were sparkling. He was itching to see a wrist take flight, no doubt.

Anyway, the last thing I meant to mix in was the green.

"You said this one has no upside?"

"I wouldn't say none at all. Something changes, I think, but I can't tell what. There hasn't been enough testing."

One effect had been confirmed, though. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The trouble was that it wasn't an upside. Instability went up. I poured in every drop of that, too.

"Agh! What are you doing!"

"Can't you tell by looking?"

"This might be nothing but raising the odds your wrist blows off, with no benefit at all!"

"Well. Fire it and we'll know."

"Are you in your right mind?!"

"The more I think about it, science really does seem to be my calling."

"It absolutely is not!"

So I just had to press the button here, did I?

"Stop touching things!"

"Seems like all that's left is to mix it. How do you start this thing?"

"Be honest with me. What ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠are you really scheming?"

"Hm?"

"At this rate, if you're lucky you only lose the wrist. If you're unlucky, you could die. You understand that?"

"I know."

"Then what in the world are you trying to do!"

"If you won't do it, I'll start it myself."

"Stop! Stop! Good grief..."

Click. Click.

Face tight with dread, Tin Can began working the machine.

"What are you even trying to pull..."

"No great discovery without a little risk."

"Teacher, you've got this!"

"I don't know anymore... I'll start it, at least."

Whirrr.

The inside of the machine began to spin at high speed. Solutions of every color churned together, souring into a murky light, and Tin Can watched that light with dead eyes.

"That color is exactly how I feel right now."

This, apparently, was the process by which a great discovery was made.

It would take more time for the solution to mix completely, which left us a little freedom.

"Teacher, would it be all right if Su-hyeon and I stepped over to the training ground across the way? We've got things to prepare for tomorrow's training."

"Take your time. As long as you can."

That gave me a chance to talk to Tin Can. Once Min Yeo-jin and Cheon Su-hyeon had gone, the only sound left in the room was the machine turning in a steady rhythm.

"Wh-why are you looking at me like that? It's unsettling."

"Why is someone from Geofront snooping around a sealed-off settlement?"

"Tch... You just won't let it go."

"I'm going to need an answer that satisfies me. Otherwise it's your wrist that flies, not mine."

"Ha. You're going to lay hands on me? Pull something like that and you think you'll walk away clean?"

He still hadn't grasped the situation.

"Do you really think there's any way for the outside to know what's happening in here, right now? CCTV watching the interior? All of that was switched off, obviously. That's why we were able to come in."

And the door was shut fast.

"If you want to run out that way, you'll have to drop me first. Think you can?"

"..."

Still, a scientist was a scientist. He judged quickly what was best.

"Let me say this up front. It's not as if I was sent out here knowing everything. All I know is the mission I'm supposed to carry out."

According to Tin Can, the reason they had been dispatched was a "special investigation."

"Railgun No. 1?"

"Yeah. The one standing tall at the center of the Human Meat Factory."

A prototype, something like the ancestor of the other railguns back at headquarters. The guardian deity that kept the Human Meat Factory from going under.

"Investigating what?"

"Hmm... Now that I think about it, you're a postman, so you'll know. That thing they call a Damage Measuring Device."

"I know it well. It's work postmen handle exclusively."

Gear you set up at the predicted impact point of a Giant Rod. Its job was to confirm the damage when the rod slammed into the ground.

"Why do you think a machine like that exists?"

"What are you talking about? The function's right there in the name."

"Measuring damage?"

Tin Can let out a snicker. Something about it was chilling. The breath leaking from his nostrils carried a damp cold, as if it had climbed up from deep underground.

"That's a smokescreen. That machine isn't measuring any damage at all."

What was he saying?

"Think about it. What would you even do with damage figures like that?"

The reason I knew was that they were used to check how the scale of the air raids was changing. Ask me why that was necessary, though, and I had nothing to say. From there on, it wasn't my job.

"It was work I could never completely understand."

"Yeah? Then maybe science really does suit you, just like you said."

"So you know. What the measuring device is actually doing."

As if half his face had frozen stiff, only the left corner of his mouth dragged upward.

"It's a receiver."

"A receiver?"

It was taking something in?

"You know the rods never stop emitting radio waves?"

"Those interfere with other signals. That's why we can't use the radio communications they had in the old era, isn't it?"

"You know your stuff. The reason the first air raid could wipe every piece of data on this land is that special waves were broadcast across the whole world."

I could more or less follow that.

"So the machine is for receiving those waves?"

"Exactly. When an air raid comes down, the measuring device sends information to the postman, right? That information is the reading of the waves the rod put out. Not some damage figure nobody needs."

All that ever came up on the receiver was a short string of digits. If Tin Can was right, then—

"The damage displayed on the receiver was a smokescreen."

"Starting to see how this works?"

"It's nothing but your ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠word. No physical proof."

"Of course there's no proof. If you don't believe me, nothing I can do. Whether you believe it or not has nothing to do with me in the first place."

That was fair.

"Then what are the waves coming out of the rods?"

"That's the problem. We still haven't figured it out."

"You don't even know what it is, and you're risking your lives to collect it?"

"We don't know what it is, but we've judged that it's important. It absolutely doesn't look like a natural phenomenon."

"Hm."

"The work of figuring it out is underway underground. The surface's role is to collect the waves."

It brought to mind the science-fiction novel I'd seen in the cabin.

"You don't think it's a message from aliens, do you?"

"Cosmic mail? Very postman of you. You've got a secretly cute side, you know that?"

"Cut the crap. It's not impossible."

"I think there were a few people who thought that way. But it probably isn't. If they had the technology to punch a letter through space every single day, wouldn't they have sent it in a form we could understand?"

That was fair, too. Anyway, how had the conversation drifted this far?

"Weren't we talking about Railgun No. 1?"

There was a reason.

"Because that was the first receiver. It picked up the waves from the first rod that fell, decades ago. The information that corresponds to the original is still inside No. 1."

So it had been a different sort of thing from the start, unlike the other railguns standing at headquarters. There had been a reason it alone looked different. Tin Can's story didn't sound entirely like nonsense, either. Parts of it lined up with what Tata had said.

From the very beginning, the conflict between the state and the Human Meat Factory had been over Railgun No. 1.

That will, unbroken to the last.

"Why leave something that important sitting out there?"

"There used to be a copy. Every wave No. 1 received was stored somewhere safe."

"And the ending is, they lost it."

"That's how it always goes with those civil-servant bastards."

"You saying that for my benefit?"

"Ahem... The point is, the information inside No. 1 became necessary again, and—"

"So that's why you were sent."

"We went through hell just to become part of the settlement."

The information was full of holes, but I understood the shape of it well enough.

"I want to finish the mission and get out of here, but getting close to the railgun isn't easy."

"That's how it always goes with those Geofront bastards."

"Think whatever you like. Anyway, the Savior and the General manage the railgun jointly. No matter how bad things get between them, not a single gap opens in its security. They're annoyingly good at keeping public business and private grudges apart."

So that was why this guy had been sticking his nose in at every turn.

"Drive a wedge between them, and wait for security to get sloppy."

"It's the basics of intrigue, isn't it?"

"True."

Clunk.

The machine stopped spinning. New-weapon synthesis: complete.

"We're back!"

Min Yeo-jin and Cheon Su-hyeon returned right on cue.

"Looks like it's done, so I'll just be—"

Tin Can. Where did he think he was going?

Grab.

"Well then, Professor of Explosives?"

"...Why are you like this again? It's unsettling."

"You stay beside me until the new-weapon test is finished."

"Beside you...?"

"Stick right to me."

I still had to confirm whether the science experiment had succeeded.