◈ Episode 218

Booooooo!

Military vehicles cross the collapsed city. A ghost town with no people. The area is extremely quiet, but there is an ominous air flowing as if a wild beast is hiding.

"The pollution level has risen this much in just a few months."

Leila said, looking at the meter. The measured contamination level is 152p. It is not yet in the red zone, but it is enough for life forms to mutate.

It's not just this ruin that's particularly dangerous. The entire territory of Old Shalem is polluted. Mutated flying creatures are flying around so freely that operating helicopters is a huge risk.

I had no choice but to stop at a nearby safe house to get my car.

"Even if that incident hadn't happened, I might have ended up leaving this place."

"It's not a good place to live. The surrounding area is also empty."

"Mr. Pablo, do you like Bastet more?"

"It's ambiguous. You have your own set of inconveniences."

Even while talking, Pablo was checking his gun. He had already confirmed several times that there was no problem, but he was anxious about leaving his hands unattended.

"My taste is Cilicia. The alcohol and cigarettes are both rotten."

"I hope you'll exercise some self-restraint for the sake of your health…."

"Forcing yourself to quit is worse for your health."

"I agree with you. I've been feeling this more and more lately, but as I've gotten older, I've found oily foods to be a burden. I think you should enjoy them while you're young because your body won't be able to handle it when you get older."

"What I'm saying is, Ghost, we seem to get along well."

Leila sighed at the two men's story. Even Ghost, who was always serious about everything, was talking like that, so it was pointless to continue nagging him.

"Actually, I'm most worried about you, Rosetta."

- Why me all of a sudden?

"Yeah, yeah. Compared to Miss Rosetta, we're having a pretty healthy time. Isn't that right, Turkam?"

"Huh? Well, um. I thought you were going to die if you kept drinking vodka like it was water."

- You come down and see later. I know how to lag behind.

There was a sly chatter over the walkie-talkie. Behind the playful voices, there was a shadow. The more they tried to appear cheerful, the darker the shadow became.

If Kim Lee-hyun was there, he would have been disgusted and called it a death flag.

But without him having to reprimand her, the mood quickly changed.

"Hey, there's a group of monsters ahead! They're coming this way!"

The monsters that made the ruins their nests pounced on the intruders. The originals were ash wolves, but each one had a bizarre appearance. Some were as large as a compact car, and there were even four-headed variants.

"It looks like it'll be hard to shake him off. Let's get down and deal with him."

It was at Leila's direction that the cars started to slow down sharply.

Grenades rolled down the steps of the charging monsters. The explosion shook the ground as it engulfed the enemies. Soon, bullets rained down from the top of the building into the smoke.

The commotion didn't last long.

When the smoke cleared, only corpses remained.

Jiiing―!

A human figure descended from the building with the sound of wires. Only then did sighs of relief burst out from the radio. The eyes and hair revealed above the mask were so familiar.

Leila let her guard down and got out of the car.

"Mr. Hyun. You arrived first."

"I wondered who it was, and it turned out to be you guys."

"Didn't you know and come out to greet me?"

"This time it's 100 percent coincidence."

Kim Yi-hyeon waved lightly at the agents who were sticking their faces out the car window.

"There were a lot of monsters. I had nothing to do while waiting, so I cleaned up the area to relax. I came out quite far and somehow I ran into them."

"...Time sure does fly. You've gotten to the point where you hunt monsters because you have so much free time."

"It's been about six years since we met. There's a difference between six years in your early 30s and six years in your early 50s."

"What, what did you say?"

Leila's expression became bizarre. Her eyes were filled with absurdity and even a hint of anger that was unusual for Leila. Her mask seemed to have cracked slightly at the verbal abuse she had never heard before.

It seemed like it was a slip of the tongue, so Kim Yi-hyeon changed the subject.

"Let's go and talk about it."

* * *

The basement of the Cellbrox Lab, which I returned to after a long time, was quite a mess. Most of the materials I had not been able to collect were gone, and miscellaneous items were strewn about the hallways in a mess.

Leila picked up a discarded lab coat. The trampled footprints alone were enough to tell what was happening. She looked around the hallway with a sad look on her face.

"It must be a trace of the search by Shiran's executors. All the important items were taken to Bastetera, and the data they really wanted in the first place was destroyed long ago and only remains in the director's head."

It wasn't that her research results were stolen, but it was a matter of emotion. This was the place where Leila was born and lived her entire life. It was only natural that she would feel depressed when an outsider soiled her home with his feet.

"...Professor, you will never see your old 'home' again."

"It would have been the same even if it hadn't turned out like this. The structure would have been different from before."

The current lab is a facility that has been renovated over a long period of time to become self-sufficient in the ruined land of Shalem. It is quite different from what the old professor remembered.

Still, Leila wanted to show a more sane rap.

"How did you look, Professor?"

"They say it's confusing. It looks like things haven't been sorted out yet."

"If it's a memory spanning decades, the amount of information would be enormous."

Leila heard an explanation from Kim I-Hyun. The professor had successfully regained his memories and was planning to use an old device to open a huge crack in Shalem.

"You are truly amazing. Lab and Ishrad, Shiran and Legion. Despite the research being conducted by so many people, there is not a single researcher who has surpassed your knowledge."

It is also because he used the first parasite, who was the source of disaster, as a test subject. However, even considering that, the professor's ability cannot be denied.

Leila trusts her professor. Both the professor from her past who brought her into the world, and the somewhat naive but warm professor who has been with her for the past six years.

But trust and blindness are two different things.

"It's a plan without a backlash. You only get one chance. If it fails, the contamination will cover the entire continent in a few years. There's no way to make excuses, it's Cellbrox Lab's fault."

Brown eyes look at Kim Yi-Hyeon.

"Do you think Mr. Hyun will succeed?"

Her eyes, which were always straight, were shaking. It was an expression of anxiety. Leila knew to her bones how much responsibility she had shouldered in the professor's plan.

That's why I needed confidence.

"Of course. I won't do anything that will fail."

"How can you be sure?"

"Thorough preparation."

Kim Lee-hyun answered immediately.

"I didn't just lay down and pray with water in my hands. I honed my skills and built up my forces. I made allies, and I dragged those who wouldn't help me into helping me."

The human being named 'Kim Lee-Hyeon' was completely changed and adapted to Polaris.

"It's just bigger in scale, it's no different than before."

Now that we have the estimate, we can do it.

Leila stared blankly at her assertion for a while. Soon, she relaxed her shoulders and burst into her usual laughter.

"Sometimes I think that way."

My gaze shifted to the ceiling.

"Maybe so. There is some will somewhere far up there."

"Why are you suddenly talking about such nonsense?"

"It's just a hypothesis, so please ignore it. Back to the story, that will brought us a person we desperately needed. So, Mr. Hyun, um. must have suffered a huge disaster."

After saying that, Leila giggled and apologized.

"I'm sorry. I don't think Mr. Hyun, who is realistic, will like this story. Rather than that, should we leave now? The pollution level on the ground is high, so it would be better to change the meeting point."

Kim Yi-hyeon stared at her back as she walked up the stairs.

'It's a disaster.'

That's what I'm saying, fucking Polaris.

* * *

Troops were massed in the territory of Old Shalem.

Their affiliations were varied. Cellbrox Labs, Dustborne, Albatross, the Knights of Bastitera, mercenaries dispatched from Cilicia, Shiran, Harrenhal, and the armies of various countries.

Troops were deployed to different locations according to their affiliation.

Even if we form an allied force, the chain of command will only get messed up. Above all, if a crack opens, parasites will flood in all directions. In order to control this, we needed to spread out the front line widely.

And May 1st.

The briefing was held in the outskirts of the city where Lab and Dustborn were stationed.

"The operation is simple."

Inside the abandoned office building, Kim I-hyeon started crying.

"First, we will deploy unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to identify the location of the crack. We will also be able to determine the scale of the parasite. This is a stage that requires rapid information sharing."

The other party is not human. There is no need to go through cumbersome encryption steps. Communication should be instantaneous through the established contact network.

"The closer you get to the crack, the more rapidly the contamination level will rise, so you should maintain a safe distance. I can't predict the exact level right now, but if it exceeds 300p, consider it impossible for infantry to approach."

"Are you saying that we can't do it the way we have been doing it so far, by rotating personnel?"

"Depending on your tolerance, you may not be able to last even 10 minutes before you begin to mutate."

Shiran's first executive officer folded his arms and sank to sleep.

"The only answer seems to be drone bombing or long-range artillery strikes."

"Yes. Basically, we suppress them with firepower, but we respond to the overflowing entities with mines and infantry. It would be more appropriate to think of it as a defensive line rather than a siege."

"It might be a longer-term battle than expected."

"No, that's not it."

Kim Lee-hyun said bluntly.

"All the cracks that have been identified so far have shown a tendency to expand over time. Likewise, if you fail to respond early, you should approach it with the mindset that you will fail."

"...."

"We don't plan on dragging it out for too long. Once the Cellbrox Lab and Dustborn determine that the parasite hordes have been sorted out to some extent, we plan to attempt a breakthrough."

"Didn't you say that access was impossible?"

"Of course, we should form a special force consisting only of spellcasters with strong resistance."

A sigh passed through the audience.

From a general perspective, it sounded like nothing more than a suicide squad. Even if they were spellcasters, they were just humans. In the end, it was an operation based on sacrifice.

But no one expressed a different opinion.

"If there had been more room on the continent, we could have studied the cracks and found a breakthrough solution. However, I believe you all know that the situation is not so easy."

Kim Lee-hyun, who was at the forefront, spoke with a calm face.

"So please open the way for me."

* * *

Laura stared at the machine in front of her for a long time. It was a semicircular structure, with countless bundles of wires running through holes in its surface. It looked like cables plugged into a human brain.

Investigations were conducted from the day it was discovered, but the results were disappointing.

The reason we were able to somehow prepare for operation was entirely thanks to the professor's leading role. Without the professor, we wouldn't even have known what the device was for.

The Imperial Family is looking for researchers trained by the Emperor, but the investigation is difficult because some people have been secretly eliminated. It was evidence that the Emperor's limbs still remain somewhere.

"I'm still not sure. Is this the right choice?"

"At least in my opinion, there is no more effective solution."

"On the other hand, aren't there other methods that are more dangerous than this?"

The professor nodded calmly at Laura's comment.

"This is a major surgical operation. As with any human being, surgery carries risks. In order to avoid an inevitable tragedy, we must overcome the obstacles that lie ahead."

Otherwise, you'll just die slowly.

"...Aren't you scared? You have a switch in your hand. You can save the continent, but you can also destroy it in an instant. Hundreds of millions of people could die."

It is different from the great catastrophe of 2000 that caused the continent to change. At that time, there was no 'intention'. The death of the test subject was sudden, and the catastrophe began without any way to help.

On the other hand, now he wants to press the switch himself.

"Of course I'm scared."

The professor is the one who understands the danger of a large crack more objectively than anyone else. He also assumes failure. Perhaps, at that time, he may not be able to bear the guilt.

however.

"The responsibility is so serious that it is not something that can be decided based on emotions."

If it is necessary and if you think there is a chance of success, then the next thing to do is to act. The professor, looking back at his way of thinking, felt a strange irony for a moment.

'In some ways, it's similar to the present.'

I've admired his tenacity so much for the past six years.

Ironically, it's only now that I'm discovering the similarities.

Amidst the noise of electronic sounds and researchers' chatter, there was silence between the two. It was as if the space had been separated. It was a time when the two stared at the machine without saying a word.

-Pizza!

At noon, the device was powered up.

"It's time."

* * *

May 15, 2048, 1:28 PM.

Wow!

The ground shook throughout Shalem. Kim Yi-hyun immediately ran out of the command center. The agents waiting outside were all looking up at the sky, and Kim Yi-hyun immediately followed their gaze.

In the corner of my vision, a small dot was rapidly growing in size. Far away, the sky was turning gray. A storm of fine particles was swirling around, tearing apart the clouds.

Everyone intuitively sensed that this was a sign that a crack was forming.

"It's a beginning."

The curtain has risen on the final stage.