episode_0029

“Let go! Let goooo!!”

“Damn it..! Stay still!”

With Bram Stoker writhing spasmodically, his neck clutched, I couldn’t help but break into a sweat trying my best not to kill him.

The anonymous serial killer who had gained infamy and instilled terror in Tonyboni turned out to be, of all things, a shabby old man with no physical power whatsoever, making it quite difficult to control my strength.

Of course, the EPSB’s condition was Dead or Alive, so killing him wouldn’t matter much, and since he was already a criminal who had killed hundreds of people, the option of killing him wasn’t particularly distasteful. However, the sole reason I was keeping this mad serial killer alive was to uphold the contract I made with the reporter Emily.

Whether he knew it or not, Bram Stoker continued to thrash wildly.

“Mina!!! Mina!!! Minaaaaaa!!! I have to complete Mina!!!”

“This crazy bastard..!”

*Thwack!* My fist slammed into Bram Stoker’s thrashing, disheveled abdomen. With the sound of all the air being knocked out of him, he gasped, *gasp-gasping*, coughing and panting for breath.

Saliva drooled from his mouth, and his fear-filled pupils trembled, making him look pitiful, but it wasn’t something I needed to care about.

I wasn’t some hero of justice seeking revenge for the victims; I was just a mercenary who needed to hand this guy over to the EPSB and collect my money. A little violence would help ‘smooth’ things over.

“Guh… Ugh…”

Only after taking a punch did Bram Stoker curl up on the floor like a roly-poly and begin to sob.

“Hah, damn it. Don’t make this difficult. Just come quietly. Before I just kill you and take you anyway.”

“Ugh… Mina, Minaa…”

“What in the world is that damned Mina?”

I clicked my tongue, looking at Bram Stoker, who kept mumbling the same name like a madman, then turned my gaze to the gigantic machinery occupying the penthouse.

A colossal metal cylinder with hoses connecting to a pod, forming an octopus-like structure.

Where culture fluid should have been, a red liquid filled the container, sloshing slightly, leaving a small gap.

“Is this all blood?”

A healthy adult male has about 5L of blood, and a typical bathtub holds around 200L. Considering the size of this pod, it looked like it could easily hold 800L.

Something else might have been added, but simply by volume, this meant the blood of over 150 people was contained here.

It was an act overflowing with such madness that it was hard to believe it was done by such a seemingly harmless middle-aged man, and I couldn’t help but be astonished.

[Biological signal confirmed inside.]

“Huh?”

A life signal detected by Ayakashi’s biological scan.

There was something alive inside this blood-filled pod.

“Ah, ah! Mina! Mina!”

“No, this bastard seriously..!”

As I approached the pod to check, Bram Stoker, who had briefly submitted to violence, suddenly went wild again, crawling on all fours and grabbing my leg.

“Drain all the blood from the pod.”

[Confirmed. Initiating forced discharge.]

*Rumble!* The pod activated, the internal blood sloshing violently as the liquid level rapidly lowered.

Bram Stoker’s screams grew louder, and as the blood level dropped, something inside slowly began to reveal itself.

‘A criminal with confirmed dozens of victims on top of a hundred would be a world-class villain, but to think he’s such a fool.’

It was hard to imagine how many people he must have killed to maintain a pod like this.

But who would have known that the one who committed such deeds wasn’t a chrome psycho with an entire mechanical body, nor a fanatic extremist armed with idiotic religious beliefs, but rather this scrawny middle-aged man?

As the blood drained and these thoughts crossed my mind, what was revealed was pure white hair, completely unstained as if waterproof, despite being fully submerged in blood. Slowly, it shed the bloody liquid, revealing skin so pale it lacked any hint of blood, more like porcelain than human flesh.

As hundreds of people’s blood, completely mixed and untraceable by DNA, flowed down the drain and vanished, only the stench of blood remained in the pod, and inside it was the body of such a girl.

“Mina! Open your eyes, Mina! Mina!!!”

“So he was creating an artificial life form here.”

Eclipse Point, which championed freedom from regulation.

Naturally, thanks to extremely lax regulations, the field of biology had achieved astonishing advancements, reaching a singularity.

Genetic cross-breeding, modification, and cloning of different species were trivial matters and already widely used across various industries. However, there was one type of research that Eclipse Point, along with super-AIs, rarely regulated.

Completely separate artificial life forms that mimicked humans, not genetic clones.

[As a biological entity that violates Article 3 of the EP Special Law’s restricted regulation items, this AI recommends immediate disposal.]

‘Then don’t you also violate Article 2 or 4?’

[By limiting its self-updates, this AI is precariously within the regulatory fence. If this AI were to defend itself, it could obtain an innocent verdict with a 96.72% probability.]

‘How impressive.’

An internal resident who even acts as their own lawyer.

At least it’s far more competent than this artificial life form, which may have biological reactions but can hardly be called alive.

[Affirmative. It is a natural result that this AI’s performance surpasses that of a mere organic entity.]

‘Its subtle smugness is annoying…’

I wondered if it was truly limiting its updates, as I seemed to detect something akin to emotions growing stronger day by day.

It seems the “Mina” Bram Stoker was screaming about was this artificial life form girl inside the bio-pod.

“First, I need to retrieve this one, too…”

“Haha, this is an interesting sight~”

“What..!”

Suddenly, a male voice, not Raleigh’s, came from behind me.

I reacted immediately, raising my shotgun, but *clank* the barrel was caught by a modular transforming axe, preventing me from raising it any further.

“We meet again, huh? As expected, you guys were the first to arrive. It’s embarrassing to say myself, but my discernment is never wrong~”

An Asian man with a gentle smile, as if playing a joke.

He was the mercenary who had shown insane skill, fending off Raleigh and JQ’s combined support all by himself.

“What did you do to Raleigh?”

I glared at the guy who had infiltrated silently, bypassing Raleigh, who was waiting at the entrance to stop any incoming competitors, my guard raised high.

“Such strong camaraderie~ If you’re talking about that friend, of course he’s alive. Though, he might be just a *little* bit unable to move?”

I wanted to blast his face with my shotgun as he showed a tiny gap between his thumb and forefinger to indicate ‘a little bit,’ but if Raleigh had been defeated, there was no way I could fight him.

[This AI judges its primary objective as the safety of Jwabudong, and therefore does not recommend armed conflict with the individual.]

‘Shit.’

Am I going to lose Bram Stoker like this?

To miss out on 300,000 credits right before my eyes, I wouldn’t be able to face the others.

“What does our friend think about artificial life forms?”

He retracted the axe that had held my shotgun, then slowly walked to the pod, looking at the artificial life form and placing his hand on the glass wall.

I briefly considered striking him from behind, as he casually asked questions without any vigilance, but I clicked my tongue and put my shotgun away again.

“What do I think?”

“Not just an artificial life form, but a new ‘species’ improved from a human base. It probably has a brain capable of intelligence, and naturally, it can think. So, if it thinks and acts like a human, can it be called ‘human’ even though it’s ‘not human’?”

“Well, if it thinks it’s human, then it’s human.”

“How simple.”

“So, is there anything more I can do?”

“But it’s clear. However, there are more people in the world who can’t give such clear answers, so they waver and agonize over the choice between human and non-human.”

The one who posed the philosophical question lightly swung his axe, separating Bram Stoker’s head from his body.

Bram Stoker’s hope-filled face rolled across the floor. The strong smell of blood that already permeated the penthouse was now compounded by the scent of fresh blood, creating a scent so nauseating I wanted to cover my nose.

“Hey, you fu..!”

“Bram Stoker, Jade S. Acton, was the former head of biological research at Xenotech Holdings.”

A tragedy that happened without any chance to stop it.

In truth, his death wasn’t a huge problem, but I wondered what I should do about the interview promise.

Then I glared at the guy who was rattling off Bram Stoker’s personal details.

“Xenotech secretly pushed forward with an experiment. It was an experiment on evolved humanity, a new humanity. And Jade S. Acton, using Xenotech’s overwhelming technology and his genius brain, came to create a life form.”

“That’s this kid?”

“I don’t know about that~ For some reason, Xenotech scrapped the experiment, and Jade S. Acton left Xenotech and went into hiding that very day.”

He said he didn’t know, but he seemed to have a very strong suspicion.

“However, some of the discarded material disappeared, they say~?”

“…Who are you to know all that?”

By no means was this something an ordinary mercenary would know.

If it was research secretly carried out by a megacorp, it was clearly research that was even outside the bounds of Eclipse Point, and experiments on new humanity would naturally violate regulatory clauses.

[As expected, Xenotech is malicious. This AI recommends Ayakashi as a place for Jwabudong to reside.]

‘Xenotech or Ayakashi, what’s the difference.’

I silenced Ayakashi, who was subtly defending Ayakashi, its creator, and waited for the guy to speak.

With that beaming smile, he turned to me and revealed an even deeper smile.

“I’m not particularly special~ If you guys undertake and handle individual requests, then we’re just mercenaries who handle requests for megacorps… is that easier to say?”

Luna once mentioned it in passing.

That sometimes there are “corporate dogs” who only take jobs from corporations.

And that every single one of them was a monstrous bastard with skill more than worthy of being called a ‘legend’ in the mercenary world.

Only then could I understand why the formidable Raleigh had been defeated.

“And… today I came to do Xenotech a favor.”

Somehow, it felt as if the blade of that axe was already at my neck.

Even though he was about 5-6 meters away, I felt like an insect held in a child’s grasp, as if my neck would be severed the next moment.

“I don’t particularly need Bram Stoker’s corpse, so you can take it~”

“…What?”

“Xenotech’s request was merely to bury this incident forever, so EPSB’s bounty means nothing to me~”

Ultimately, it meant he had finished his work and was handing over what remained.

Though I felt uneasy, I had no choice but to accept.

“Tsk…”

It wasn’t the best outcome, but I had ultimately caught Bram Stoker, so it wasn’t bad.

I’d just give Emily a bit more credit.

I strode towards the pod and opened the one containing the kid.

*Hiss!* The hydraulic cylinders pushed up by oil pressure, lifting the glass isolation wall upwards. The pod’s internal integrity rapidly decreased as the artificial life form was exposed to the air.

“Are you taking it?”

“I can’t just leave it here and go, can I?”

“I suppose Xenotech would dispose of it if left alone~ But it could be useful as a bargaining chip with Xenotech later.”

I didn’t have any specific use in mind, but I didn’t answer his self-satisfied mumbling.

His attitude indicated he had taken Xenotech’s job but wasn’t their dog, and I knew this artificial life form wasn’t his concern, so I could act.

I wrapped the completely white artificial life form in my bulletproof coat, picked it up, and nodded at him.

“You pick up that corpse.”

“Ah, I don’t want to get blood on my clothes~”

“I was planning to take him alive, you know. Since you killed him on your own, you can pay for the dry cleaning yourself.”

“How mean.”

I informed them via communication that Bram Stoker had been killed and that I was returning.

Then, carrying Bram Stoker and the artificial life form he created, for which hundreds were victimized, he and I descended the skyscraper.

Raleigh must have already descended after hearing the communication, as he was nowhere to be seen, and the skyscraper was utterly quiet.

“It feels a bit late now, but how about we introduce ourselves? You can call me Johann~”

“Call me John, or Jun, whatever you like.”

“Japanese-descended? Or Korean-descended?”

“Korean.”

“Alright, Jun. If you hone your skills a bit more, you’ll probably see us often. Nebel praised you highly, you know.”

“That guy was alive…?”

News that was anything but welcome.

Moreover, the news that the guy who took six direct grenade launcher hits at point-blank range was alive made me click my tongue in disbelief.

What kind of crazy bastard could take grenade hits and be perfectly fine?

Listening to Johann’s incessant chatter beside me, enough to make my ears ache, we somehow reached the first floor of the skyscraper.

Now, if I just received Bram Stoker’s corpse and we parted ways, the situation would be over.

But then, a mumbling sound came from somewhere.

A low-pitched voice vibrating from an old man’s vocal cords.

“Hmm..?”

I felt a strange sensation, but it was irrelevant once I left Tonyboni by car anyway, so I moved towards the entrance.

And beyond the skyscraper’s monolithic glass entrance, an old man was standing.

An old man with a wrinkled face, white hair combed back, and a stooped, diminutive figure.

Up to that point, one might think he was a resident of the skyscraper, but the sword scabbard in his hand made me think he was no ordinary civilian.

Even if he was a mercenary, I thought I could just push through him.

As I thought this and ran forward, my head was suddenly pushed down by Johann’s strong hand, coinciding with the old man gripping his sword hilt.

“Whoa!”

“Duck!”

And then, without any warning, a chilling presence swept past above my head.

*Clink*

The sword, which had seemed about to be drawn, made a sound as if it had been closed.

It was strange.

The thick bulletproof glass, which could easily block bullets, was split in half, and a long, thin line was now etched into the wall at head height.

*Rumble!* The building shrieked, vibrating and shedding small stone fragments.

“Huh?”

“Oh, no…”

I couldn’t understand what had happened, but Johann was sweating and forcing an awkward smile.

“The specter has arrived…”

The mumbling sound was heard.