novelnext Chapter 255 : The True Monster
Chapter 255 : The True Monster
“Crazy bastard...!”The Overseer spat out a curse.
There was simply no other way to describe him.
Of course, the Overseer himself wasn't exactly what one would call a 'normal' person either.
Even so, under the current circumstances, it was impossible not to agree with his assessment.
When you lived in this world, you inevitably encountered every kind of madman imaginable.
There were unfilial sons who murdered their own mothers for pocket change.
Lunatics who got high on Cyber-Drugs and opened fire on the police.
People who had replaced more than ninety percent of their bodies with machinery and lost their identities.
And that wasn't all.
There were those who kidnapped people, harvested their organs and cyberware, and sold them on the Black Market.
Sexual deviants aroused only by young boys.
Worthless fathers who assaulted their own children.
Even murderers who treated human beings as works of art, killing them only to display their organs.
When one witnessed such bizarre and grotesque incidents day after day...
Even emotions gradually became numb.
The terror of one's first kill.
Morality.
Human decency.
Eventually, it all felt as though it had never existed in the first place.
If even low-ranking members lived such lives...
Then what of the leaders of the organizations?
These were people who would calmly watch someone's head explode right in front of them and merely shrug, saying,
“Well, it's New Valhalla City.”
Yet...
The reason they were making such a commotion this time was because of the scale of what had happened.
An entire village had vanished.
A settlement the size of several football fields...
Containing thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of shacks built from wooden boards and cheap concrete...
Had simply been erased from the city.
The Mafia collected protection fees from civilians.
They didn't kill them.
Occasionally, someone might be executed as an example.
But they never massacred an entire settlement.
And certainly not one within their own territory.
After all...
Mafia and gangsters were still people.
They had neighborhoods where they grew up.
Most people were connected by only a degree or two of separation.
Besides...
Such ruthless methods of rule would ultimately threaten their own positions.
But Kim Cheolsu was different.
Simply to retaliate against those who attacked him...
He erased an entire village.
Using the maze-like layout of the ramshackle residential district as a trap...
He lured them deep inside.
Then...
When escape became impossible...
He annihilated everything.
From a military standpoint, perhaps it was an effective strategy.
But...
Could anyone with a normal mind truly conceive of something on such a scale?
More importantly...
'What in the world happened?'
How had an entire residential district simply disappeared?
Even if someone had used an enormous quantity of explosives, there should have been traces.
Dust.
Debris.
Something should have remained.
Yet...
Judging from the footage...
Even the concrete rubble had vanished.
Had someone dropped a tactical nuclear warhead?
Or...
Was it truly something like Dragon Magic?
And then there were the survivor's words.
“O-One...!”
“One man...”
“He... alone...”
“He erased...”
“Everything that existed...”
What exactly had that meant?
One man...
Had done all of that?
The sheer shock of the outcome left the leaders speechless.
But only briefly.
None of the leaders gathered here had reached their positions by being so fragile.
If they had...
They never would have become rulers of the underworld in the first place.
Whatever had happened...
The war was still ongoing.
They had to respond.
“Since we've roughly pinpointed Kim Cheolsu's location, we have no choice but to concentrate all our forces there.”
“Cyberwatch will seize control of every network within a two-kilometer radius.”
“The rest is up to you.”
“I agree.”
“The other areas have more or less been secured.”
“We'll finish everything there.”
“[Agreed.]”
All four members of the Four Great Organizations Alliance approved the plan.
Normally...
Even at a moment like this, they would have been busy trying to outmaneuver one another for greater profit.
But what they had just witnessed changed their thinking.
The Kim Cheolsu Faction wasn't an opponent they could afford to underestimate.
If they kept fighting among themselves over scraps...
They might all die together.
Immediately, they issued new orders to their subordinates.
Once again, massive forces began moving.
Cyberwatch hacked every nearby network system and intercepted the Kim Cheolsu Faction's communications.
The Black Dragon Gang mobilized countless members to completely surround the area where Kim Cheolsu was believed to be hiding.
The Marcello Family concentrated on securing the territories they had already conquered.
Technotology's combat androids, with assistance from the other organizations, prepared to strike the Kim Cheolsu Faction's main force.
Then...
Roughly ten minutes after the operation began—
An unusual call arrived.
Ring—
Ring—
Ring—
Every leader received a call simultaneously.
The callers were executives from their own organizations currently participating in the war.
Ordinarily...
There would have been nothing strange about that.
But...
All four receiving calls at exactly the same time...
That was anything but normal.
Suppressing their growing unease, the leaders exchanged glances before answering.
To their surprise...
The same voice came through every call.
[You already know who I am.]
“......!”
[Surrender.]
Kim Cheolsu's voice.
Startled, the Overseer immediately began tracing the call through the network.
The others exchanged glances before increasing the speaker volume so everyone could hear.
Kim Cheolsu continued.
[If you don't wish to suffer further losses, stop this war and join us.]
[At the very least, I'll guarantee you positions as senior executives.]
“What an amusing suggestion...”
Marcello growled in a low voice, clearly irritated by Kim Cheolsu's tone.
“Your end is already near.”
“Tens of thousands of elite soldiers are searching for your head as we speak.”
“You've already lost over half your subordinates.”
“Do you truly think you can still win?”
[You don't seem to understand.]
Kim Cheolsu sighed.
[This is my final warning.]
[If you don't want to lose any more subordinates...]
[Surrender while you still can.]
[Otherwise...]
[I cannot guarantee your lives.]
“How merciful.”
The Gang Leader of the Black Dragon Gang interrupted.
Mockery filled her voice.
“Unfortunately, I have no habit of forgiving traitors.”
“If you believed you could solve this with nothing but your silver tongue...”
“You've made a grave mistake.”
“Kim Cheolsu.”
[So you already knew?]
“I did.”
[I see.]
After murmuring in understanding, Kim Cheolsu turned his attention toward the Overseer and BR29.
[What about Cyberwatch and Technotology?]
[Will you surrender and join us?]
“[No.]”
BR29 rejected the offer without hesitation.
Three of the four organizations had already declared their intention to continue the war.
Only Cyberwatch remained.
Naturally...
Everyone expected the Overseer to reject the offer as well.
But—
“......!”
The Overseer's eyes suddenly widened in shock.
Apparently, he had just received some kind of information.
He looked back and forth between the other leaders and everyone around him...
His face resembled someone who had just seen a monster.
Then he abruptly leaped to his feet.
“I-I'm out!”
“!?”
“Cyberwatch is withdrawing!”
“We're pulling out of this war!”
“Damn it!”
“You idiots can suck each other off for all I care!”
He immediately tried to flee the conference room.
But...
He failed.
The subordinates of the other three organizations instantly aimed their guns at his head.
In response...
Cyberwatch members also raised their weapons.
However...
They were hopelessly outnumbered.
The Overseer shouted furiously.
“God damn it!”
“Put those guns down!”
“Mr. Overseer.”
“You didn't seriously believe you could withdraw by yourself now, did you?”
“You're planning to run away alone?”
“[Betrayal will not be forgiven.]”
“Fuck!”
Pale-faced, the Overseer looked around before raising both hands in surrender.
“Listen!”
“You all know this, right?”
“I could wipe every single one of you out myself!”
“In 0.2 seconds I could hack all your brains and turn you into vegetables!”
“But I'm not gonna!”
“Because I'm generous as hell!”
“And because I want to live!”
“What are you talking about...?”
“You're all dead!”
The Overseer shouted in frustration.
“Damn it!”
“You idiots don't even know what's happened to your men, do you?”
“You've got no clue!”
“The bastards you sent to cut off Kim Cheolsu's head ten minutes ago?”
“They're all dead!”
“Do you still not get it!?”
“That can't be...!”
“Hell if I know!”
“Go check for yourselves!”
At that moment...
The Overseer launched a Quick Hack.
He transmitted a specific frequency that simultaneously disabled everyone's cyberware.
Instantly...
The conference room lights went out.
At the same time—
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Muzzle flashes erupted throughout the darkness dozens of times.
When the lights returned...
The Overseer had long since disappeared.
The room had become a complete mess from the stray bullets.
Fortunately...
No one had been injured.
And...
In the place where the Overseer had been sitting...
A Databox remained.
“A Databox...”
“[Let's see what's inside.]”
The remaining three placed the Databox on the half-destroyed table and examined its contents.
Inside were CCTV recordings...
And an unidentified program.
The footage showed members of the Black Dragon Gang, the Marcello Family, and Technotology discovering Kim Cheolsu before immediately charging into battle.
“We've found Kim Cheolsu!”
“I'll be the one to take his head!”
“Once I earn this achievement, I'll become an executive!”
Then...
The next moment—
The scene suddenly changed.
The dozens of elite soldiers who had just been charging at Kim Cheolsu...
Were now crawling across the ground, covered in blood.
Kim Cheolsu himself had disappeared.
“What in the world...?”
None of them could understand.
The most astonishing part...
Was that less than five seconds had passed between the two scenes.
Even more shocking...
Those lying on the ground were the very elite combat agents personally strengthened using Kallia's gifts.
There were no signs the footage had been tampered with.
The leaders immediately attempted to contact the subordinates deployed at the scene.
No one answered.
Not one.
Among the dozens...
Hundreds...
Of executive-class personnel.
“......!”
“What is happening!?”
Only then did the leaders finally understand the situation.
Now they understood why the Overseer had reacted the way he had.
But...
What had happened was simply too far beyond common sense for anyone to process.
The Gang Leader of the Black Dragon Gang, who appeared to be the calmest among them, reopened the Databox.
This time, instead of the CCTV footage, she launched the remaining program.
A map of the entirety of Sector E appeared before her.
Blue.
Green.
Red.
Yellow.
Colored dots displayed the real-time locations and movement paths of every organization's combat personnel.
Then—
One second later—
Several dots disappeared.
'......?'
For a brief moment, the Gang Leader blinked, thinking she must have imagined it.
She rubbed her eyes and looked again.
This time...
Even more dots had disappeared.
“......??”
She closed the map...
Then reopened it.
Once again...
The number of dots had decreased.
Second by second...
The dots representing allied forces rapidly vanished.
Every time the map refreshed...
Half of the friendly markers disappeared.
Then half again.
Then half again.
And before long...
They were all gone.
'T-That's impossible...'
It defied all reason.
Even with nearly a century's worth of accumulated knowledge...
She couldn't comprehend what she was seeing.
According to the data...
The enemy was moving at an unbelievable speed, eliminating every allied force in its path.
And...
Those enemies...
Were unmistakably approaching this underground bunker.
“Q-Quickly!”
“Contact the battlefield...!”
“W-We're trying!”
“It won't connect!”
“Make it connect!”
The Gang Leader didn't even realize her tone of speech had changed.
Marcello and BR29 also attempted to contact their own subordinates.
Every attempt failed.
Impossible.
This couldn't be real.
Think about it.
More than ten thousand.
Over ten thousand people.
There was no way...
That such a force...
Could disappear in only a few minutes.
Something had to be wrong.
Surely...
There had to be some mistake.
For a brief moment...
Even she lost her composure.
Then—
Slice.
The sound of something being cut echoed through the room.
“Huh...?”
At that instant—
The table split apart.
The chair where the Overseer had been sitting split in two.
The painting hanging on the wall split in half.
The fifty-centimeter-thick titanium blast door sealing the entrance split apart.
The wall itself...
Split open.
And then—
The sky split apart.
They were supposed to be underground.
Yet suddenly...
The ceiling opened, revealing the sky above.
It happened so naturally...
That it almost felt as though the ceiling had never existed at all.
Then—
Through that opening—
Two men descended.
“We finally found you.”
Kim Cheolsu.
And the masked subordinate beside him.
But...
The instant the Gang Leader of the Black Dragon Gang saw the masked man...
She recognized him.
At the same time...
She finally realized what kind of impossible monster she had been opposing.
“Aaron Stingray...!”
As she whispered that name—
The Gang Leader of the Black Dragon Gang...
Ryu Takashi...
Fell into despair.