episode_0014

Inside Icarus Technology’s Far East Branch, several high-performance simulator cockpits were arranged in a circle within the state-of-the-art combat simulation center.

Normally, Yuna would have garnered the admiration and envy of her colleagues by achieving top scores with overwhelming skill in the high-intensity virtual combat training conducted here.

But today was different.

When the simulation ended and the results were displayed on the main screen, the training center fell silent for a moment.

1st: Lazer 2nd: Titan 3rd: Doctor … Last: Yuna

Yuna’s name, who had always been first, was stuck at the very bottom of the leaderboard with an unbelievably low score.

She had even recorded several critical hits against herself.

For her, someone who pursued perfection, this was an impossible result.

…

Yuna exited her simulator cockpit with a rigid expression.

Her perfectly controlled facial muscles didn’t twitch, but deep within her silver eyes, a faint flicker of bewilderment and irritation, which she herself couldn’t understand, shimmered.

‘Why is this happening? I can’t concentrate.’

Even during training, she couldn’t focus at all.

Her mind was completely filled with thoughts of Cog7, the mercenary Kang Jin-woo, whom she had met a few days ago at Chronos Base.

His strange movements, the unexplainable energy patterns he displayed, and that moment he scratched her Silvera.

A being for whom nothing could be clearly explained.

She had given him her personal contact information and a temporary access code to visit Icarus, telling him she would await his contact.

Naturally, she had expected him to contact her immediately—no, at least within a few days.

This was because she judged that no mercenary would refuse a formal invitation from Icarus Technology, especially one personally extended by her.

But several days had already passed, and there had been no contact from him.

According to the information analysis team’s report, he had left the base riding his old Bugbear immediately after withdrawing from the Chronos Mercenary Corps.

However, his whereabouts after that were not detected anywhere.

As if he had evaporated into space.

There was no trace of him in surveillance satellites, in ordinary flight path records, or even in the underworld’s information networks.

Just as his past records were nonexistent, his current whereabouts were also unknown.

‘Where on earth did he disappear to? Why isn’t he contacting me?’

Could Chronos’s Bulldog have interfered from behind the scenes?

Or perhaps he met with an unexpected accident?

All sorts of possibilities swirled in her mind, and unanswerable questions continuously disrupted her perfect concentration.

Such distracting thoughts kept her from focusing throughout the training.

“Are you alright, Yuna?”

Lazer approached and asked with feigned concern.

“You seem really unable to concentrate today. Could it be because you’re thinking about that ‘Driller’?”

“Nonsense.”

Yuna replied coldly and walked past Lazer.

But she knew herself that his words weren’t wrong.

As she exited the training center, she checked her personal terminal once more.

Still, no messages had arrived.

Waiting wasn’t her nature.

This stifling feeling, impatience, and an unknown anxiety. All of it was unfamiliar and unpleasant.

‘Waiting isn’t my way.’

Upon arriving at her research lab, she immediately sat down in front of the main console.

And she reloaded the vast amount of combat data that Silvera’s sensors had recorded at Chronos Base a few days ago.

Her goal was singular: the unique identification information of the old Bugbear Kang Jin-woo had piloted.

No matter how old a mech was, it was bound to have unique ‘fingerprints,’ such as a distinct frame number assigned during manufacturing or the subtle energy emission patterns of its main power source.

Icarus’s cutting-edge sensors would certainly have recorded them.

Her white, slender fingers moved rapidly across the console.

Within the complex data stream, she finally found data presumed to be the Bugbear’s unique identification code.

Cross-referencing with Chronos Mercenary Corps’ official registration data, the mech was an old model produced decades ago and had a history of multiple owners and modifications.

A scrap metal junk, unremarkable. But the current pilot was special.

Yuna entered the extracted mech identification code into Icarus Technology’s wide-area surveillance and tracking network.

[Tracking…]

While the message was displayed on the console screen, Yuna anxiously awaited the results.

After a few minutes, the results finally appeared on the screen.

[Signature detected matching target identification code.]

[Last detected: Approximately 18 hours ago.]

[Last detected location: Moving towards Sector Delta-9 outskirts, unregistered hazardous zone ‘Gray Wasteland’.]

[Current location: Tracking unavailable. The area is a sensor detection and communication restricted zone.]

“Gray Wasteland…?”

Yuna furrowed her brow at the unfamiliar place name.

Even in her database, that area was categorized as ‘Unexplorable’ or ‘Access Restricted’ due to severe environmental contamination, unstable tectonic activity, and strong electromagnetic interference.

Why would he head to such a perilous place? To find a hiding spot? Or does he have some other objective there?

Her questions deepened, but at the same time, her gaze sharpened at the thought of having found a clue.

He hadn’t completely vanished.

He had simply gone somewhere no one expected.

‘I can’t wait. I have to go myself.’

Reporting this information to superiors and obtaining formal exploration approval would take too much time.

Yuna rose from her seat and headed straight for her personal hangar without hesitation.

Her sudden movement caused Lazer and Titan, who happened to be passing by in the corridor, to block her way with puzzled expressions.

“Yuna? Where are you off to in such a hurry? Are you perhaps upset about those simulation scores earlier?”

Lazer asked mischievously.

Titan spoke in a more serious tone.

“There hasn’t been any sortie order from command. What’s going on?”

Yuna didn’t stop, walking past them and speaking coldly.

“It’s personal business.”

“Personal business?”

Lazer’s eyes gleamed as he followed.

“Could it be about that ‘Driller’ again? Did he contact you?”

Yuna stopped in her tracks and turned around. Her silver eyes were as cold as ice.

“It’s my mission. Don’t interfere.”

Lazer and Titan, facing the cold authority in her voice, could no longer say anything and remained frozen in place.

Yuna paid them no further mind and headed towards her hangar.

Inside the hangar, her Silvera, like an extension of herself, awaited her in perfect form.

She immediately climbed into the cockpit and expertly activated the mech.

[Target coordinates set. Sector Delta-9 outskirts, last detected location.]

“What on earth are you hiding?”

Yuna muttered softly and pushed Silvera’s throttle.

#

I leaned against my battered mech and gazed at the colossal remains of Aegis, which had ceased its movement.

And beyond it, I saw the still firmly closed, massive steel door. The very door Aegis had been guarding.

‘Finally…’

The grav-damper, or its clue, would surely be beyond that door.

I was in tatters as the price of victory, but I had finally reached right in front of my destination.

The keycard I obtained as a system reward was the proof.

I took out the [Key] Zero-Point Isolation Chamber Access Keycard from my system inventory.

Click.

A moment later, several heavy clunking sounds of massive locks disengaging echoed from inside the wall.

With an old mechanical screech, the thick steel door slowly began to open to both sides.

It looked like a massive laboratory or hangar, and everything inside was destroyed and frozen.

‘The Atlas V grav-damper is likely in there.’

I approached the destroyed device in the center.

And finally, I found it.

“Found it. The Atlas V grav-damper!”

It perfectly matched the blueprint I had seen in the game.

I moved Bugbear’s remaining left arm as carefully as possible, clearing away the debris, and gently retrieved the grav-damper, securely fastening it to the auxiliary seat inside the cockpit.

The damper still emitted an unstable blue light and vibrated faintly.

“I did it.”

It was that very moment, as I sighed in relief and leaned back into the cockpit seat.

Suddenly, all the warning lights inside the cockpit flashed frantically, and a loud alarm blared.

The radar screen showed at least three hostile mech signals rapidly approaching from the direction of the steel door I had just entered through.

“Damn it! An ambush?!”

The owners of those previous battle traces? Or perhaps they were opportunistic bastards who saw me defeat Aegis? It was even possible they had been tailing me from the start.

I quickly turned Bugbear around.

Near the entrance, three mechs stood, as if encircling me.

They clearly looked like marauding pirates or unsavory mercenaries.

Rough voices, accompanied by cackling laughter, came through the communication channel.

“Hehehe! Look at that pathetic thing! You took down Aegis with that pile of scrap metal? You must’ve been incredibly lucky, or you just picked up the scraps after it struggled against other guys before we got here!”

“Either way, the ‘treasure’ that guy found belongs to the Admiral-nim! Alright, lads, take him out and grab the goods!”

As expected, they were here for me.

My Bugbear was in shambles right now.

Energy reserves were almost depleted, all missiles were used up, and the plasma blade had barely recovered from overheating.

Fighting three enemy mechs in this state was impossible.

But the grav-damper I had just acquired.

I couldn’t let them take it.

“I’ll face you.”

I gritted my teeth and squeezed out the last remaining energy, igniting the reactor booster.

Then, raising my plasma blade, I charged straight towards one of the pirate mechs in front of me.

It was an all-or-nothing gamble.

I had to somehow take down at least one more or create enough chaos to make an escape.

BOOM—!!!

Suddenly, a dazzling blue flash erupted from above my head, from the direction of the steel door I had entered.

The flash pierced through the barrage of bullets flying towards me and accurately penetrated the cockpit of the pirate mech directly in front.

The pirate mech couldn’t even let out a scream, shattering into pieces with a massive explosion on the spot.

“W-what was that?!”

“Where did that come from?!”

I heard the two remaining pirates shout in confusion.

I, too, stopped my charge and froze in place, bewildered by the sudden situation.

Then I slowly raised my head and looked in the direction from which the flash had come.

There, an elegant silver-white mech that hadn’t been there moments ago floated silently.

The very mech I had seen in the dawn light.

Icarus Technology’s Silvera. And the pilot was…

The communication channel was forcibly opened, and a clear, cold voice, both familiar and unfamiliar, came through.

[Do you need help, Driller?]

It was Yuna. How did she know and come all the way here?