Crimson festival?
As Kang Jae-won admired his new body, marveling at how good it looked, his focus shifted downward. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at his crotch. In a panicked voice, he blurted, "W-Where... is it?"
Nexus, sounding genuinely confused, asked, "What are you referring to?"
Jae-won's anger flared. "You motherfucker, where's my dick? It's just... all skin down there!"
Nexus burst into laughter. "Hahaha... You're just noticing now? But why would a cyborg even need a dick? What, are you planning to fuck the washing machines?"
"Well, technically you're right," Jae-won said, his voice trembling as if he were on the verge of tears. "But you know what? I'm still a man!"
Nexus chuckled, "What man? You're just a piece of high-tech crap." He added with a hint of mockery, "Don't be too greedy, Creator. Appreciate what you've got."
"Stop lecturing me, I don't need that," Jae-won muttered, sounding depressed. He sighed, trying to shake off the feeling. "Anyway, let's get out of here."
He walked towards the table where he had thrown his suit before the extraction process. Slipping into his clothes, he took a final look at the lab before stepping out.
The lab was situated in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by dense trees that made it seem almost like a hidden forest. As Kang Jae-won stepped out through the main door, he paused for a moment and searched his pockets, eventually pulling out a sleek device that resembled a key. It started glowing, and a hologram popped up in front of him. Without hesitation, he tapped on the option labeled "
Moments later, something futuristic emerged from the ground near the lab's exit. It was a sleek, luxurious car—one of the latest models produced by Jae-won's own company, CyberNotics.
As he approached, the car's doors opened automatically in a smooth, elegant motion. Inside, there was no steering wheel, a fully automated design. Jae-won slid comfortably into the front seat.
An emotionless female voice greeted him, "Welcome! Please choose your destination."
He selected *CyberNotics Headquarters* from the interactive screen that appeared before him.
"Choose your method of transportation," the voice instructed.
Two options appeared:
As Jae-won hummed softly, gazing out the window at the passing trees, Nexus interrupted, his voice breaking the calm. "I have two questions. Can I ask?"
"No," Jae-won replied, his tone calm, unbothered.
Undeterred, Nexus continued, "So my first question: why are we heading to CyberNotics Headquarters? No one's going to recognize you there. And second, why did you choose this inefficient method of transportation?"
Jae-won sighed deeply, his irritation seeping into his voice. "Can't you just let me enjoy the view? You're the world's most intelligent AI—figure it out yourself."
"If I could do that, I would've done it already. I can't tell what's going on inside someone's mind. But if you want me to figure it out, grant me access so I can sync with your consciousness," Nexus replied, a hint of sarcasm in his mechanical tone.
"There's no way I'm letting you inside my memories, bitch," Jae-won snapped.
He sighed again, this time with more patience, and continued, "The answer to your first question: Flux will let us in—he's the new CEO of the company. And for the second question, I just wanted to take the road. No real reason, just feeling good today."
Nexus paused for a moment. "But what's the reason for going there in the first place?"
"No reason," Jae-won said, his expression calm, almost serene.
"Huh? What's wrong with you?" Nexus asked, sounding genuinely confused.
"Shut up and stop irritating me," Jae-won shot back, leaning back into the seat, hoping Nexus would finally drop it.
Jae-won was comfortably watching the cityscape through the window, the futuristic car gliding down Gyeongbu Expressway towards the CyberNotics Headquarters. The vibrant skyline of Seoul was visible in the distance, but the calm was suddenly interrupted.
"Creator!" Nexus spoke urgently, his tone unusually sharp.
Jae-won frowned, clearly annoyed. "Shut up, dude!" he snapped, dismissing Nexus's sudden alarm.
"Are you sure about that?" Nexus asked, his voice dropping to a more serious tone.
Jae-won, sensing something was off, furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"
Before Nexus could answer, the car was struck with brutal force, something colliding with it at an impossibly rapid speed. Jae-won's eyes widened in shock as the vehicle flipped over. Metal screeched and glass shattered as his car spun and tumbled across the road. "What the fuck?!" he shouted, unable to make sense of what had just happened.
As his car finally came to a halt, upside down in the middle of the road, chaos erupted. Other vehicles, unable to stop in time, crashed into one another. A chain reaction of wreckage followed—each collision sending debris flying, with smoke billowing from ruptured circuits. Screams filled the air, adding to the panic. Jae-won could barely make out the muffled shouts of panicked citizens through the soundproof interior.
"I can't breathe!" someone yelled.
"Please help, my husband is bleeding!" another voice screamed, cutting through the growing chaos around Jae-won.
Amidst the devastation, Jae-won heard the heartbreaking wail of a child, "Mommy! Wake up, please!" as the chaos engulfed them all.
Ignoring the voices Jae-won tried to pull the car door open, but it wouldn't budge. "Fuck, it's not opening," he growled, scanning the damaged systems of his vehicle. His vision automatically highlighted the wreckage around him, showing the mangled cars that had pinned his door shut.
"Nexus, what do I do?" Jae-won asked, his frustration building.
"Kick it, 15% force," Nexus calmly suggested.
"Fifteen percent? Is that enough?" Jae-won asked, uncertain of his own strength.
"Are you seriously going to ask questions in this situation?" Nexus said, frustration evident in his tone as Jae-won hesitated, doubting himself for a moment amidst the chaos.
Jae-won, still getting used to his cyborg body, hesitated briefly. He could feel a surge of power as his mechanical muscles tensed, the energy pulsing through his leg like a coiled spring waiting to release. He kicked the door with precision, unleashing only a fraction of his strength. The door exploded off its hinges, the force sending nearby cars tumbling away like toys. The smashed vehicles were thrown far from the impact, some flipping violently.
Jae-won stepped out of the wreckage, and what he saw was brutal—cars lay crumpled, their occupants' bodies horribly mangled. Flesh and bones had been torn apart, blood splattered across the destroyed metal. Though grotesque, he didn't feel regret—they were already dead, casualties of a larger problem. The destruction around him was total, the road now a graveyard of twisted metal and shattered lives.
Nexus's voice cut through the silence. "Our problems start now."
Through the smoke, dark shadows began to emerge. Their silhouettes were menacing, almost otherworldly. One by one, they walked toward him, slowly, their long swords and daggers gleaming even through the haze. Their masks concealed their faces, but the eerie symbols on their backs—depicting a woman cradling a baby with a satanic face—sent a chill down Jae-won's spine. Dressed in strange, dark red and black robes, their appearance was anything but ordinary. It was as if they belonged to a different era.
He could feel the intensity of their presence, their silent advance signaling that they meant business. Jae-won instinctively took a step back, his mind racing. "Nexus…"
His instincts kicked in, and he began backing away, eyes fixed on the approaching figures.
"Why are you running?" Nexus asked, the hint of amusement in his tone.
Jae-won snapped, "Do you want me to stay here and die?!"
"You can't die, Jae-won. Your body can handle this. Trust me," Nexus said, trying to assure him.
"I'm not sticking around to find out," Jae-won muttered, irritation creeping into his voice. "And how dare you call me by my name."
"For fuck's sake, does it really matter right now? I'll handle this," Nexus offered, growing impatient. "Just give me control."
"Keep your mouth shut, bitch! Do you think we can handle those people? I don't even know if they're after me or not. Let's just run for now!" Jae-won snapped, anger and frustration bubbling over.
"But…"
"Shut up and do what I say!" Jae-won barked, cutting him off sharply, frustration in his voice.
Suddenly, a flash of warning symbols appeared in Jae-won's vision. Red alerts blinked furiously in his augmented HUD, warning him of something incoming at an incredible speed. His heart—or what was left of it—lurched as he sensed the danger approaching.
His eyes darted toward the side, and he saw it—a car, mid-air, hurtling straight toward him. Time seemed to slow as the vehicle, spun uncontrollably, threatening to crush him beneath its weight.
Jae-won's legs felt numb. Was it fear? He didn't know. [
His body, despite its enhancements, wasn't responding the way he wanted it to. His mind was screaming commands, but panic clouded his senses, making him feel more human than he had in a long time—too vulnerable, too weak. The car closed in, its metal body reflecting the fiery chaos of the highway behind it.
In that split second, Nexus's voice rang in his mind, calm but laced with an edge of mockery, "Still wanna run?"
[Switching to secondary host...]
Nexus seized control, the fear that had clouded Jae-won's mind evaporated, replaced by an eerie calmness. The wide-eyed panic was replaced by an unsettling grin, lips curling as if he were savoring the chaos unfolding around him. The pupils vanished, giving way to a strange circular pattern that flickered and zoomed in and out, constantly analyzing and calculating the rapidly shifting environment.
In a split second, as the oncoming car barreled towards him, Nexus moved with uncanny precision. With both hands outstretched, he braced himself against the vehicle's frame, absorbing its momentum like a living wall. The impact jolted through his body, pushing him back, but Nexus held firm, sliding only a few feet before he found his footing.
"Not today," he muttered, the thrill of power coursing through him.
With a fierce grunt, he pivoted, channeling every ounce of his enhanced strength. He hurled the car back in the direction it came from with immense force, expecting it to crash into the wreckage, but something entirely unexpected happened. an assassin—masked and cloaked—appeared in the car's path. With a swift, fluid motion, the assassin sliced the car in two as if it were nothing more than a piece of fruit. The two halves of the car fell apart mid-air, crashing to the ground without touching the assassin.
Nexus observed the scene, his calculating eyes zooming in and out on the assassin. "What kind of human can do that? Or are you guys even human?" he thought, his eerie, mechanical voice betraying a hint of curiosity.
Suddenly, as if answering his unspoken question, assassins materialized out of thin air, surrounding him from all sides on the road. Each one carried strange, archaic weapons—long swords in one hand and daggers in the other. Their red and black clothes bore a bizarre symbol on the back, a nightmarish image of a woman holding a demonic child.
Nexus scanned the unfolding chaos, his voice devoid of emotion. "That's strange… well, whatever. I'm going to run."
Jae-won, still grappling with the intensity of the situation, shot back, "That's what I was about to do in the first place, asshole! You bragged about handling them—what happened to that, huh?"
"Creator, you and I are different. Don't compare gold with iron," Nexus replied coolly, his confidence unshakeable.
"Hah! Whatever. But how are you going to run from this mess? We're surrounded in every direction! Look at their eyes; they're ready to kill us!" Jae-won said, his voice rising in nervous panic.
"Just like this," Nexus replied, an unsettling calm settling over him. Without hesitation, he charged forward, zeroing in on an assassin directly in front of him. With a powerful kick to the stomach, he connected before the assassin could even react. The impact echoed like a thunderclap, blood spattering against the assassin's mask as they crumpled to the ground.
But there was no time to relish the moment. Another assassin, standing nearby, lunged with a dagger aimed straight for Nexus's neck. The blade struck, but instead of piercing through, it simply bounced off, leaving Nexus unharmed.
He rotated his head slowly, the mechanical parts whirring softly, and smirked at the attacker. "I'm full metal, bitch."
Nexus seized the wrist of the assassin who had lunged at him with the dagger. With a swift, merciless grip, he forced the assassin's own weapon deep into their abdomen. The assassin gasped, eyes wide with disbelief as the blood flowed from the wound. Without a moment's hesitation, Nexus kicked the injured assassin away, sending them crashing into the other assassins who had been gathering around, a chaotic tangle of bodies and confusion.
Not wasting another second, Nexus spotted the gap he had created and surged forward, sprinting with a speed that felt exhilarating and powerful. The world around him blurred as he propelled himself into a full sprint, each stride pushing him faster than he had ever experienced before. The ground seemed to fall away beneath him as he navigated through the wreckage of the chaotic scene, leaving the assassins behind.
As Nexus tore through the chaotic street, he found himself weaving through a maze of vehicles: a massive truck, compact cars, and buses, all caught in a swirl of panic. With a powerful leap, he soared over the obstacles, leaving onlookers frozen in disbelief and awe. Whispers erupted among the crowd—"What was that?!"—but Nexus had no time to contemplate their confusion.
Just as relief washed over him for the momentary absence of the assassins, it was shattered when he glanced back. Three of the masked figures were keeping pace with him, their dark forms a stark contrast against the backdrop of mayhem. Nexus's instincts kicked in, demanding answers about these relentless pursuers. "Who the hell are these guys?"
Nexus climbed onto the cab of a nearby truck, positioning himself as the assassins leapt onto their own vehicles. Without hesitating, he launched himself forward, his hands gripping the throats of two assassins. Using his momentum, he propelled himself off the truck, slamming the attackers into the pavement with bone-crunching force. Blood sprayed as their faces met the unforgiving road, leaving a gruesome trail of shattered flesh and exposed skulls.
He barely registered the carnage as he snatched the long swords from the fallen assassins, turning his focus to the third attacker who had managed to stay on their feet. This assassin came at him with both a dagger and a sword, but Nexus moved with fluid precision, easily blocking the strikes. With a calculated, torturous slowness, he sliced the assassin's neck, blood gushing forth as the head rolled away, hitting the pavement with a sickening thud.
"Let's see who gives up first. Be ready for hell, fuckers!" Nexus taunted, a sinister grin spreading across his face.
As Nexus sprinted forward, a familiar energy surged around him, reminiscent of the chaos from the car crash and the flying vehicle that nearly crushed them. Jae-won, still in the back of Nexus's mind, felt the prickling sensation of danger. "Do you feel it? It's the same weird sensation," he exclaimed, a hint of panic creeping into his voice.
"Someone in that group has some kind of weird powers," Nexus replied, his tone even as he scanned their surroundings, alert and calculating.
Just as he finished speaking, a series of bizarre red circles materialized in the air around him. Their intricate patterns pulsed with intensity, growing hotter by the second. Nexus's eyes widened, and instinct kicked in, but it was too late. The circles erupted into flames, engulfing him in a sudden blaze. The heat was searing, melting the synthetic skin on the left side of his face and scorching his clothes, revealing the cold, metallic structure beneath.
"I—Interesting," Nexus muttered as the flames licked at his body, the sensation both shocking and exhilarating. The heat radiated from the red circles, igniting something primal within him. This wasn't just an attack; it was a challenge. For the first time, Nexus, known as the world's most intelligent AI, felt an unfamiliar thrill. He was shocked, realizing there was something he didn't know, something beyond his vast data banks.
Nexus abruptly stopped, causing Jae-won to panic. "Hey! What are you doing? Why aren't you running? They're going to catch up with us!"
Nexus responded in a serious tone, "If we keep running from them, we're wasting our energy. They're not just normal humans. Even though I was running at inhuman speed, they managed to catch up to me as if they had unlimited stamina and speed. They'll get us no matter what. Plus, one of them has this weird power. So no more running, Creator. It's time to assassinate the assassins. Just sit back and relax—enjoy this festival made of crimson blood."
"Wha—festival?"
ByteZERÖ
Chapter - 3