episode_0556
by admin
“The organization called Apophis will disappear tomorrow.”
“… … .”
Terence was so shocked by what I said that he was speechless.
“I know what you’re worried about.”
“If you knew that…!”
He was about to raise his voice, perhaps thinking that I was making a rash decision because of my pride.
But before he could finish speaking, Jeong Su-jin grabbed his arm.
“Dad! Listen to Minho oppa. Okay? You know I’m not the type to just say whatever I want, right?”
“Sujin-ah. But… ”
“Then you want me to run away and abandon Dad? I was almost kidnapped just now, but thanks to you, I was barely able to save you. You want me to believe you when you say I’ll be safe in the military? It hasn’t even been that long since I was able to talk comfortably with Dad again… I can’t do that!”
Terence could not refuse his daughter’s desperate request. He relaxed his body and covered her hand with his own as she held his arm.
I expressed my gratitude to Jeong Su-jin with my eyes and continued speaking.
“You are probably wary of any movement directly targeting Sujin, whether it be assassination or kidnapping. That is why you are thinking of staying in the military to attract attention. However, you do not necessarily have to do that. I plan to protect Sujin safely even without that. Of course, I plan to root out the cause, Apophis, by the end of today.”
“… As I said, the size of the enemy is beyond your imagination.”
Terence, whose mind had calmed down thanks to Jeong Su-jin, answered calmly.
“This probe can go into space? Of course it’s great. With just this one, you can deal with any military force. However, the enemy is an organization deeply rooted within the US military. If it comes down to it, you may have to deal with not just any military force, but the entire US military. If you even start a full-scale fight like that, not only the US but the entire world will be watching. Then you’ll become a public enemy. You’ll never be able to go back to how you were before and may have to live a life of hiding and reclusiveness for the rest of your life.”
“Ah, I don’t plan on going head-on with the probe. As you know, my main job is a streamer, so I don’t want to get attention like that. I don’t plan on quitting what I’m doing.”
“Then how on earth can I… ”
“It would be faster to check it yourself than to explain it in a painful way.”
I led the group to the control room of the probe.
Terence still had a half-doubtful expression on his face, but that expression would soon change to shock.
‘Maria, have you located the Apophis officers? ‘
-I’ve almost figured it out. There’s someone who’s wondering why there’s no report from Bushmaster, so I’m investigating with him as the center.
‘Then let’s handle it from there.’
.
.
.
As I told Terence, I had no intention of dealing with this publicly.
Even though they were a secret society that was doing dirty work behind the scenes, most of their apparent affiliations were US military, and among them, their leaders were officers.
Unless the Cyphers are going to openly wage war against the US military, it would be better to handle the situation quietly.
It doesn’t seem like they’ll lose if they start a war, but since people want to use the good image they’ve created, they don’t want to go through all that trouble and risk the loss.
Here, Mary’s role was very important.
Most of the places they stay are inside US military bases with tight security.
It was impossible to determine the structure of the internal facilities and the real-time location of the target using ordinary methods.
But with Maria, all that security was nothing.
“Today, all the food on the menu was so bad that I seriously thought I should escape the unit.”
“Why didn’t you just order a cheeseburger at the short course? I told you the menu wasn’t that great today.”
“I just had dessert. The pecan pie was still edible though.”
I could hear the chatter of American soldiers passing through the office hallway.
I am currently infiltrating the military unit where Apophis’ executives work.
Actually, it was a bit of a stretch to call it infiltration. I was confidently showing up and walking among the American soldiers.
He wore a military uniform borrowed from Terence and forged rank insignia, name tags, and unit patches.
The face was transformed into a Western appearance using reverse bots, and even the hair color was changed from its original color using nanobots.
Then, a truly American soldier was born.
It was quite a sight to see the entire group gaping in amazement when they saw my completely transformed appearance.
“Can I have your ID card?”
“Here it is.”
The soldier guarding the target’s office asked me.
I calmly handed over my ID card.
Maria has already taken control of the system within this unit, so even if I check my ID card, my information is printed normally.
The actual ID card itself honestly had a rather crude appearance, so it could have been easily forged even by someone other than Maria.
There was no need to use the [Placebo ID Card].
“Sergeant Jack Thompson. Confirmation complete. The meeting request… Huh? It’s already been made… Is that now?”
The soldier was confused because the schedule displayed in the system was different from what he remembered.
Of course it was Maria’s work, but I said it calmly.
“Yes, the colonel probably added it himself.”
“Uh… ”
“Can I come in? It’s quite urgent. I have to visit other units before work hours end.”
“… Okay, go in.”
The soldier, who had no reason to stop me, had no choice but to allow me with a bewildered look on his face.
Crash-
As I opened the door and went in, I saw an old man with wrinkles all over his face sitting behind the desk.
He studied my face and insignia, then asked.
“Who are you?”
But I didn’t answer and just walked towards him. There were only the two of us here anyway, and I had my airbags wide open just in case, so even if he screamed, the soldiers outside wouldn’t come in.
He frowned in displeasure when a man suddenly entered his office and approached him without saying anything.
“What are you doing…! Cough…!”
He grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up from his chair. The colonel was making a squeaking sound as if he was struggling to breathe.
I asked him in the face.
“Apophis. Right? Were you curious because you haven’t heard from Bushmaster?”
“… … !”
The colonel’s eyes widened when he heard my words.
The answer was sufficient.
Woohoo!
His body sags as he breaks his neck.
No guns or knives were used to deliberately avoid splattering blood.
I put the body in my inventory and went back outside.
“The Colonel is not at his desk. I will come back later.”
“Huh? What is that… Really? Where did you go? I definitely didn’t see you leave… ”
The soldier sitting at the entrance looked into the empty office with a blank expression.
I left the building, leaving him in a state of confusion.
In time, it will become known that the Colonel is missing. But by then, Maria will have wiped all traces of my fake identity, Sergeant Jack Thompson, from the system.
As long as Maria was able to enter and exit the security system as if it were her own home, the numerous American soldiers and facilities surrounding them could not protect them.
I repeated this process several more times with different units.
However, this did not mean that all of Apophis’ executives were treated in this way.
It was more of a show to show Terence and the girls how many different things I could do.
There was also an easier way to handle it.
As I’ve said before, the combination of Maria’s acquired superpowers and her computational powers was incredibly powerful.
She had the ability to hack into a terminal simply by installing an Enigma chat, allowing her to hack other electronic devices in the vicinity.
Like other secret societies, Apophis rarely stored information on electronic devices for security reasons. However, it was still a fact that the electronic devices they carried were hacked.
It wasn’t difficult at all to listen in on their conversations through the microphone on their smartphones and figure out where they were at the moment with their cameras and GPS.
I took advantage of the moment when they were alone and opened the door with a key and dealt with them.
There was no need to cross the door.
When I was washing my hands in the bathroom.
“Oh my… !”
When I was quietly smoking a cigarette in the office.
“Ugh…! Ugh!”
When I finish eating at home and get ready for bed.
“What the…!”
A hand reached out from an open door in the air and grabbed them by the neck, dragging them to the afterlife.
Before the day was over, I had taken care of about 2/3 of the Apophis executives, so Terence had no choice but to acknowledge my abilities.
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