Part 1, Chapter 5 (8)

Daejeon Research Complex.

Located right next to Neo-Seoul, the research complex is where the most active core research in South Korea takes place.

Judging solely by research results, Korea’s standards were among the highest in the world. However, if there was a talented individual, other countries would immediately poach them.

Foreign countries bought promising talents with vast financial resources, and eventually, only those who lacked skill or pursued values beyond money remained in Korea.

For the nation. Because their loved ones were in Korea. Because they couldn’t speak foreign languages. Because they wanted high government power.

‘Among them, there were also those who joined hands with Seonui Cheol.’

Unlike patriotism or practical conditions, these were the ones who chose to collude with power.

They produced research results that suited Seonui Cheol’s tastes, and those results naturally translated into Seonui Cheol’s approval ratings.

‘And at the same time, it’s the place where the Pine Tree Unit is manufactured.’

I followed behind those who were leaving with the sedated Heroes. I suppressed my mana as much as possible so that Gwanggeom wouldn’t notice, and chased after the car.

Although they were in human form, their foundation was that of a monster. Their physical abilities were close to superhuman. Chasing a car secretly driving in the dead of night was easy.

Before long, the car entered the research complex.

‘As expected.’

The car quickly entered the underground parking lot. The above-ground research complex might look no different in satellite photos, but underground, there would be dozens of research buildings spanning many floors.

‘The Daejeon Research Complex’s underground dungeon.’

In the middle of the story, a scientist researching the Cube at the Daejeon Research Complex realizes its danger and attempts to escape.

Just then, the protagonist’s party protects this scientist and battles the Pine Tree Unit, leading everyone to discover the existence of the Cube and Seonui Cheol’s true nature.

In other words, the Daejeon Research Complex is the first dungeon in the original story where the Cube’s existence is revealed.

‘The scientist who escaped with the Cube is the main heroine, but that’s not my concern right now.’

She would become an adult in 2025, the point when the original story begins. So, five years ago, she would only be a middle school student, meaning she wouldn’t be found at a university research complex. In fact, she wasn’t even in Korea at this time.

“Surely she won’t suddenly pop out like Cheon Gaeul, right?”

‘No, let’s focus on this now.’

I slapped my cheek and composed myself. Finding the Cube’s location was more important now. I hid in the shadow of the building, avoiding the eyes of passing researchers.

‘The problem is infiltrating underground.’

Even in the original story, the protagonist’s party avoided direct confrontation. It was, after all, an act of rebellion against the government and the association.

A select few would search for the Cube, avoiding all sorts of security robots and surveillance cameras, while the protagonist outside would buy time by fighting the Pine Tree Unit.

‘So, I don’t know where the Cube is.’

I knew the building. They fought right in front of it.

However, I didn’t know the interior of the building. Only the three who went to retrieve the Cube knew the way, and after everything was over, the entire underground collapsed.

‘Fortunately, I know the secret passage.’

Thump. The manhole cover opened. A foul odor stung my nose.

“Ugh.”

Underground sewers where all sorts of chemicals mixed and flowed. An ordinary person would faint from the chemical smell just by getting close.

‘I feel really sorry for Park Raon.’

In the original game, I always ordered Unsa, Park Raon, to clear this underground passage. They had the least resistance, and their reduced favorability could be quickly restored.

‘But now, that won’t happen.’

Because I had to do it myself.

“I feel like I’m going to throw up….”

At a late hour when no one was passing by, I jumped into the manhole.

“Uweeegh!”

From the very beginning, I was vomiting.

* * *

Thump.

The stretcher’s wheel bounced. A researcher in a white coat cried out in alarm.

“Be careful!”

“I’m sorry, sunbaenim!”

Another researcher repeatedly bowed their head as if they had committed a grave sin. The senior researcher quickly pushed the arm, exposed from beneath the white cloth, back inside.

“Don’t you know gyosunim gets pissed off if even a bit of their research material gets damaged?”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep yesterday….”

The junior researcher’s eyes were bloodshot, as if they would burst at any moment. The senior researcher was not much different.

The senior researcher stopped the stretcher for a moment and blinked their tired eyes.

“How many hours did you sleep?”

“Two hours.”

“That’s a lot. Back in my day, sleeping for an hour was considered a lot.”

At the senior’s words, the junior researcher’s face turned pale. It wasn’t an old-fashioned, “boomer” remark; they had truly heard that researchers were exploited in the past, unable to sleep.

This was as good as it got. The junior researcher lowered their head.

“I really want to join Professor Do-nim’s lab.”

“I’ll give you that.”

Do Seon-jae. A Heroics professor with a generous physique, but equally vast knowledge and character. A rare talent who would have been called the greatest scholar in South Korea, if not for his firm belief in his personal theories and unfiltered criticism of the government.

“His graduate students, they must be resting at home right now, right?”

“They’re not graduate students. What kind of graduate student in the world comes to the lab and does research and writes papers whenever they feel like it?”

To the researchers, his lab was no different from heaven. The senior grumbled in front of the lab.

“I really just want to sleep soundly for one day.”

“If Professor Kang-nim heard that, they’d put you to sleep permanently, wouldn’t they?”

“Right? …Sniff, hey. Didn’t you wash off the chemical smell? Why is it so sour?”

At the senior’s remark, the junior quickly brought their gown to their nose and sniffed. Only the strong scent of fabric freshener stung their nose; there was no particular chemical smell. The junior’s eyes widened as they asked,

“I don’t think it’s me?”

“So you’re saying it’s me?”

As the senior frowned, the junior made a tearful face.

“Spray some perfume or change your clothes and get rid of it right now!”

While the senior was scolding the junior, a shadow subtly brushed past the ceiling vent.

“This smell is really making me want to puke.”

The vent rattled.

* * *

‘That was a close call.’

There were closed dampers in between, so when I opened one and entered, air must have flowed in through it.

‘It’s damn inconvenient not using mana.’

Phoenix’s physique is slightly smaller than average, so I don’t get stuck in the ventilation shaft, but crawling for hours with my back bent is extremely annoying.

“How about just burning everything down…?”

‘…That’s out of the question. Then why did I go through all this hellish struggle until now?’

The straight-line distance from Neo-Seoul to this research complex is about 15km. If Gwanggeom came at full power, they would arrive in less than a minute.

Unless I found the exact location of the Cube, I couldn’t move rashly when I didn’t even know where it was yet.

However, there was someone I suspected was hiding the Cube.

‘Tattooist (Tattoo Master).’

An S-rank Villain who engraves tattoos on others’ bodies to impose mental and physical restrictions. Seonui Cheol’s confidant and the researcher in charge of producing the Pine Tree Unit. A master of covert operations who never revealed their true identity.

‘Surely his workshop must be somewhere in this lab.’

The Heroes who infiltrated the lab eventually found the Cube. And that place was the Tattooist’s workshop where he created the Pine Tree Unit.

After roaming various parts of the building and following the researchers, I finally found the problematic workshop.

“Hey, when is Professor Kang-nim coming?”

“They said to just leave it and go?”

“Then let’s go. They won’t call us once they start working, so let’s catch some sleep then.”

The researchers hastily left the lab, leaving Lee Giseong’s stiff body behind. I blew away some dust and put my eye close to the vent.

‘This is it.’

The lab visible through the ceiling vent was not much different from my memory.

The Tattooist’s lab, exuding a lewd atmosphere like a decadent massage parlor.

Lee Giseong lay on the stretcher like a corpse. When the Tattooist returned, the Pine Tree brand would soon be stamped on him.

‘Then I should start the preliminary work.’

I subtly flowed mana into the lab. Fortunately, no one was there. I gathered mana very delicately.

Like brewing cold brew coffee, I extracted mana for a very long time so that Gwanggeom wouldn’t notice my mana.

Hwareuk. Mini Phoenix appeared in the ventilation shaft. Its already small size became even smaller.

♩♬

Mini Phoenix entered the lab through the vent. It hid itself among the messy clutter.

The trap was set, now all I had to do was wait for the Tattooist to appear.

‘They’ll be here soon. Just a little more patience.’

…

‘I’m a master angler. I’m going to be a master angler who fishes for time. Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet, isn’t it?’

…

‘I wonder if Seoul is okay? Jihwa is completely unreliable. Cheon Gaeul seems really edgy these days.’

…

‘Should I just smash everything here and call Gwanggeom?’

After several hours of waiting like that.

Creak.

Finally, a bite.

Bubbling. A shadow seethed next to the bed, visible through the gap. I quickly held my breath and looked down.

“…….”

The Tattooist appeared. Just as I use Mini Phoenix as a medium for spatial transfer, they returned to the lab with an ability to move through shadows.

‘They’re using it as if it’s their own.’

That is not originally the Tattooist’s ability. Just as Cheon Gaeul copies others’ abilities, the Tattooist is originally a bizarre ability user who steals the abilities of those on whom they engrave their tattoos.

Mental and physical restrictions, brainwashing, speech restrictions, disguise, shadow movement.

All those abilities were stolen while creating the Pine Tree Unit.

Since they had been assisting Seonui Cheol for a very long time, the number of accumulated abilities must reach hundreds.

In that sense.

“Should I deal with them now?”

My body burst into flames. Just before my consciousness transferred, I violently kicked the vent.

Thunk!

The ceiling vent fell to the floor. The Tattooist’s head snapped towards the ceiling.

“…!”

The Tattooist was startled and tried to flee back into the shadows, but Mini Phoenix had already flown towards their shadow.

Hwareuk. I transferred my consciousness to Mini Phoenix through spatial transfer. A hand, materialized according to my will, grabbed the Tattooist’s neck first.

“Guhok!”

The Tattooist choked and coughed. The mana-shaking, seething shadow quieted, and I lifted the Tattooist straight off the floor.

“!!”

The Tattooist hastily moved their hand and grabbed my wrist. Ink flowed from the special glove on their hand.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I smiled brightly, lifted them straight up vertically, and slammed them onto the floor.

Kwoong!

Chokeslam. The Tattooist’s hand twitched from the impact of falling headfirst without mercy. I raised my remaining right hand and waved it slightly at the Tattooist lying on the floor.

“Hello?”

At the same time, the mana in my hand, gripping the Tattooist’s neck, greatly fluctuated.

Bang! The mana inside the Tattooist’s body shook. I dug my thumb into the Tattooist’s neck and injected mana into the flowing blood vessels.

“Aaaaargh!!!”

The Tattooist screamed in pain. Mana imbued with Azure Flame rampaged through the Tattooist’s entire body, burning away their mana.

Crack, crackle!

The Tattooist’s skeleton began to twist. The Tattooist was so meticulous that they could even change their appearance with their body transformation ability.

But since the mana to maintain that appearance had all burned away, their true form was revealed. I waved my hand again at the woman who was looking at me with blurry eyes.

“Nice to meet you, Vice-Captain ajumma?”

The Praetor’s Vice-Captain.

Kang Soyeon.

* * *

In his hazy consciousness, Lee Giseong recalled the memory of that day.

The Seoul Reclamation Operation. The day he was bitten on the neck by a Hellhound and dragged away. Just when he thought his life was over, the Hellhound dropped Lee Giseong in front of unidentified people.

Lee Giseong tried to steady his trembling legs and confronted the Hellhound.

– Please flee! While I buy time…

– What are you talking about?

The man in the gray hoodie threw something at the Hellhound. The Hellhound, like a docile dog, panted and disappeared, chasing the ball the man had thrown.

A monster playing tricks for a human? An impossible story. But Lee Giseong survived, and from the Villain organization-the Azure Syndicate-that saved him, he heard the truth behind the Seoul Reclamation Operation.

The Cube. The Villain Alliance. The Azure Syndicate. Seonui Cheol. The Pine Tree Unit.

And the girl who introduced herself as the Azure Syndicate’s owner, the Leader, asserted as if foretelling the future:

– If you return to Neo-Seoul like this, you’ll immediately get the Pine Tree brand on your neck. To prevent you from mentioning anything about what happened in Seoul.

Naturally, the Heroes resisted. They vehemently argued that the nation, the government, and Seonui Cheol would never do such a thing. The girl Leader made a proposal to Lee Giseong.

– Then how about getting some insurance?

The Villain side also didn’t want the Heroes they had taken hostage to return to Seoul as part of the Pine Tree Unit.

Phoenix, on behalf of the Villains, handed a small bird to Lee Giseong, who was the first hostage. They said that if he kept the bird by his side, it would help him regain his sanity even if he was dragged away to become part of the Pine Tree Unit.

Naturally, he didn’t believe it. He intended to inform the Praetor immediately upon meeting them.

However, government officials continuously obstructed them, and the Heroes were “welcomed” by the Pine Tree Unit from the summit of Gwanak Mountain.

In the end, he was confined to a hotel room in Neo-Seoul and injected, leading to his current state. Lee Giseong lamented his unmoving body.

“I should have just listened if I knew this would happen.”

“Right?”

“…?”

A voice came from his mouth. He heard a strange sound in his ears.

Hwareuk.

Lee Giseong naturally shot up, feeling as if a blocked blood vessel in his body had suddenly opened. In front of him was the Azure Syndicate’s Leader he had seen in Seoul.

“Whoa?!”

Lee Giseong was startled and sat back down.

Dumbfounded, Giseong pointed a finger at the Leader, then was surprised to see the woman he was subduing.

“Kang Soyeon teamjangnim?”

“Mph, mph!”

The woman, whose mask had been removed and mouth gagged, was the head of the Hero Association’s Public Relations Team and well-known as the Praetor’s Vice-Captain.

Team Leader Kang Soyeon.

I put my foot on Kang Soyeon’s back and shrugged.

“Well, they’re a spy sent by the Association to our country.”

Kang Soyeon, gagged, glared at me fiercely.