Ch.139Giving My All! (3)

#139

Outside the server room, the sirens had stopped, but security personnel began moving busily.

While an anxious Himena was keeping an eye on the situation, Jessie delivered another piece of devastating news.

“Ah, this is driving me crazy… It seems the Varuna system has figured out that you two aren’t actual security company employees.”

Himena, who had received a fair amount of data from Orbis Corporation, unplugged the USB from her laptop and said,

“Haah… This is really a tight system. How many minutes do we have before lockdown?”

“They’re reviewing the data, but—oh. They’re actually giving us a countdown. Time remaining is… 5 minutes and 23 seconds.”

Dexter, who had left the conference room, looked around and entered a suitable office before sitting down at any empty desk.

“So what’s the plan?”

“Get down to the first floor without getting caught?”

“Surely that’s not the whole plan, right?”

“Of course I’ll explain the details. What do you take me for?”

Dexter chuckled at Himena’s voice, which had a hint of laughter in it.

“But if we need to get to the first floor, can’t we just take the elevator? It would be quick.”

“No. The elevators have CCTV and control devices. The moment we get in, security personnel watching the cameras will come to catch us, and the elevator would essentially be a moving prison.”

“So, stairs then?”

“There’s a high probability that security personnel are waiting in the emergency stairwell too. It wouldn’t be a problem for you, but honestly, for me…”

Himena sighed deeply and secretly pocketed the access card that Kramer had left on the table.

“First, I need to get out of the server room, and then… hmm… I’ll head to the game development room on the 8th floor. Meet me there.”

“Got it. Jessie, talk to Subtron and see if you can find a way to keep triggering false alarms.”

“Is that easy? Well, I’ll try.”

At the time when the two people inside the building were covering their tracks and escaping…

Dr. Merkman, who had been interrogated by Dexter, was waiting anxiously in the Varuna system server room with another employee.

“Did you run facial recognition?”

When Dr. Merkman asked the employee, the employee was flustered.

“Well, it couldn’t identify them.”

“What do you mean it couldn’t identify them? Didn’t you say they were clearly captured on CCTV?”

“I don’t know why, but the program can’t recognize their faces. No, it can’t even recognize them as faces to begin with.”

Dr. Merkman gritted his teeth at the employee’s words.

“I personally verified this AI! How is that possible?”

“I-I don’t know the details…”

As the employee trembled under his intimidating presence, Dr. Merkman sighed deeply and ran a hand through his curly hair.

“Anyway, we’ve confirmed that NetWatch Security has no such employees, right?”

“Yes. The receptionist who first took the call said they had heard of such employees, but when we double-checked with another security company, they said they never received our call in the first place.”

“They intercepted even our landline calls?”

“It appears so.”

“They were clearly well-prepared…”

Dr. Merkman bit his fingernails while staring at the monitor displaying the CCTV footage.

“Exploiting vulnerabilities in the Varuna system to trigger false alarms and intercepting company calls is impossible with ordinary technology. The visible personnel can’t be all there is… Wait. You said there was one woman and one man, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“The man is a decoy. The woman is likely the main operator. Find out everything she did.”

“Yes, sir.”

After the employee left, Dr. Merkman continued to stare at the monitor with anxious eyes.

“……”

While Dr. Merkman was scanning the monitors with gleaming eyes to find the two intruders, Himena had made it to the 8th floor relatively easily due to her smaller build, but Dexter kept running into security personnel.

As Dexter was coming down the emergency stairs, a security guard waiting on the lower floor stopped him.

“…May I see your access card, please?”

“Access card. Ah, just a moment.”

Dexter rummaged through the inner pocket of his suit and held something out.

“Here you go.”

“…? That’s just your fist.”

As the guard looked at Dexter’s outstretched right fist, Dexter drove it into the guard’s solar plexus while simultaneously striking the guard’s chin with his left fist.

“Kuk.”

The security guard collapsed before he could even resist.

Dexter looked around, searched the guard’s pockets for a radio and access card, and then used the guard’s necktie to bind his hands and feet.

“Having to use such classic methods in the 21st century.”

After tying up the guard, Dexter picked up the radio and spoke in a deeper voice than usual.

“Suspect found on the 16th floor. Requesting backup.”

“Confirmed.”

As he heard footsteps from the emergency stairwell above him, Dexter quickly descended to the lower floor.

“…I’ve made it to the 8th floor. Where are you?”

“I’m in the design team department.”

Avoiding the security personnel who were checking access cards within the floor, Dexter arrived at Himena’s location and spoke in a low voice with his back to the CCTV.

“What do we do now?”

“Wait a moment. Jessie, are there any open exits?”

In response to Himena’s question, Jessie, who was waiting in the van, looked at the 3D map of Orbis Corporation displayed by Subtron and said,

“You’re on the 8th floor, right? Um… almost everything above the 5th floor is marked red, and the elevators can’t be used.”

“What does red mean?”

“I think it refers to usable passages, and the only open one is the emergency stairwell. But it says there are many security guards watching the stairs.”

“How many?”

“They’re marked as orange dots on the map, and besides the security personnel patrolling each floor, there seem to be at least… three or four guarding the stairs.”

“Hmm, three or four might be manageable.”

Dexter clenched and unclenched his fists with a serious expression.

“Even if Dexter takes down the security guards and makes it to the first floor, there will be too many people there to easily escape.”

“What if we trigger an alarm unrelated to the Varuna system?”

“What do you mean by unrelated alarm?”

“There’s an alarm you two can physically trigger, right?”

“What kind of… Oh!”

Himena snapped her fingers and said,

“Dexter, get me a lighter.”

“A lighter? Why suddenly a lighter?”

While Dexter went to find a lighter, Himena stood up and began looking around.

“Jessie, where’s the least occupied space around here with smoke detectors?”

“Smoke detectors? Uh, just a moment… You said 8th floor, right? Ah, found it. If you exit that office and turn right, there should be the ‘Bad Cat’ studio development room. There’s nobody in that office.”

“Thanks. Dexter, once you have the lighter, come to that location.”

“Got it. I’ve got the lighter now, so I’ll head there right away.”

Himena reached the studio development room by blending in with other moving employees to avoid the security personnel patrolling the 8th floor.

As Jessie had said, the studio development room was empty. It had basic furnishings but looked like it hadn’t been used for at least a few weeks.

Himena immediately began filling a large metal trash can next to the desk with unnecessary papers, booklets, and plastic items.

When Dexter arrived at the studio development room, he saw Himena frantically gathering materials.

“What are you doing?”

“Did you bring the lighter? Where’s the smoke detector on the ceiling?”

“It’s over there.”

Confused, Dexter looked around the ceiling and pointed to a smoke detector in one corner.

Himena placed the metal trash can under the smoke detector Dexter had pointed to and took out a piece of paper from the trash can.

Then she held out her hand to Dexter.

“Himena, you’re not…”

“It’s better than setting off a bomb outside the server room and escaping with a parachute…”

“Jessie, tell Subtron to prepare for a fire alarm.”

“A fire alarm? Now?”

After telling Jessie to sound the alarm, Dexter handed the lighter to Himena and lowered all the blinds in the development room.

“With the blinds down, we won’t be discovered for a while.”

*Click.*

Himena lit the paper on fire and opened her hand holding it.

The burning paper fluttered down and landed in the trash can.

The dark office suddenly brightened as the paper and plastic in the trash can began producing acrid, toxic smoke.

As the smoke filled the closed office, Jessie’s voice came through their earpieces.

“The fire alarm is ready.”

Upon Jessie’s notification, Himena quietly said,

“…Sound the fire alarm now.”

*Ding-ding-ding-ding…!*

As soon as the fire bell—not the usual siren—rang throughout the building, Himena shouted to Dexter,

“Run to the first floor first! I’ll follow you!”

Dexter nodded at Himena’s words and started sprinting toward the emergency stairwell.

As Himena followed behind Dexter, security guards were startled by the large man suddenly running in the corridor and tried to stop him in confusion.

“Stop, if you don’t stop…!”

Seeing the security guards blocking his way, Dexter shouted a clean, simple word without any embellishment.

“Move!”

Dexter didn’t swing his fists or kick. He just slightly lowered his body and put strength into his shoulders as he maintained his full-speed charge.

“If you don’t stop, I’ll shoot…!”

Just as the security guards raised their guns, Dexter collided with them.

“Hup!”

*Crash!*

“Urgh!”

It wasn’t the sound of people colliding with each other.

The security guard who was hit flew through the air, tumbled on the floor, and passed out in an undignified manner.

“…It’s like being hit by a car.”

“Move or die!”

As Dexter entered the emergency stairwell exit, three more security guards were waiting in front of the door.

Being skilled security personnel, they were already trying to form a scrum.

Since the security guards trying to catch him weren’t ordinary civilians ignorant about combat, Dexter took a running start, jumped into the air, and extended his right foot.

“Whoa.”

As he kicked one guard in the chest, there was a deflating sound, and the guard flew into the wall, collapsing without even having time to scream.

Dexter landed on the floor and immediately slapped another security guard’s right cheek with his open palm instead of his fist.

*Slap!*

“Gak.”

Unable to withstand the brain-rattling impact, the second security guard collapsed and fell down the stairs after getting caught on the emergency stairwell railing.

The last remaining security guard, unable to comprehend the situation that had unfolded so quickly, looked around in confusion before passing out from Dexter’s slap.

As the three security guards collapsed in an instant, Himena, who was following behind, looked at Dexter and said,

“…Honey, are you even human?”

“Instead of worrying about whether I’m human or not, maybe we should focus on figuring out how to escape from the first floor.”

“Jessie, how many minutes until the fire trucks arrive?”

“Three more minutes!”

Himena asked as she descended the stairs, avoiding security guards.

“Can we make it to the first floor within three minutes?”

“Who knows. Ah, these bastards are really getting in the way.”

Dexter grumbled as he avoided security guards while descending the stairs.

On the way from the 8th floor to the 1st floor, Dexter knocked down a total of 16 security guards as he moved forward.

He was like a human bulldozer.

And just as they were about to reach the first floor, they could hear the sirens of fire trucks blaring.

Dexter stripped the jacket off one of the security guards, draped it over Himena, and half-carried her.

“Huh, why, why?”

“To make you look like an emergency patient.”

“You really like making people look like patients, huh?”

“No idiot would stop someone with an urgent patient.”

As soon as they exited the emergency stairwell, Dexter spoke in an urgent voice.

“There’s a fire on the 8th floor! Many people have inhaled smoke!”

Naturally, no one would stop Dexter, who was carrying Himena, who appeared to be a patient.

Even the security guards, who would normally stop anyone running toward them, cleared the way for Dexter, allowing him to naturally exit the Orbis Corporation building.

Once outside, Dexter looked around and spotted the white van with Jessie inside, parked among firefighters who were trying to locate the fire.

“Jessie, start the engine!”

Jessie, who was already waiting in the driver’s seat, started the engine and showed signs of departing soon.

“You idiots, that’s the guy I’m talking about! Catch him right now!”

An angry voice came from behind Dexter.

Dr. Merkman had somehow made it to the first-floor lobby and was pointing at Dexter while frantically instructing the security guards.

But Dexter had already reached the van where Jessie was waiting, and Himena and Dexter escaped in the van driven by Jessie.