by Yoo Seong
The Red Slaughterer who had barely avoided falling stared with murderous eyes. The Silver Star had rotated 180 degrees and returned to its original position. At that moment, one person soared from the red slime. It was Ark who grabbed the sword that flew back to him! He had activated the Hide skill the moment the Silver Star turned over. And he used Psychokinesis to cut the wire!
–Ark, don’t avoid this match and run away!
The Red Slaughterer shouted angrily as he grasped the situation a step too late. Ark laughed as he turned around.
“This is also a match for me!”
In fact, Ark had also thought about a match at first. But it wasn’t yet time to face the Red Slaughterer. So his head had rolled desperately to find a way to win. This was the method that surfaced to his head! That’s why Ark avoided any confrontations and dragged out the time.
‘The winner is the last guy to survive, not the guy that fights well!’
However…..
“Chet, what a tenacious guy.”
Ark clicked his tongue as he looked at the Red Slaughterer caught by the tentacle. Unfortunately the floating sword still wasn’t at a level to move in the direction Ark desired. He couldn’t manipulate it delicately enough to strike each enemy. It was impossible to cut up the tentacles.
“Unfortunately it can’t be helped.”
The Red Slaughterer and Red Front might’ve lost but the situation wasn’t exactly beneficial for Ark. The ship had recovered from the jamming signal but the guns lost during the battle with the Asura were still unusable.
Of course, the Asura wasn’t fine. That ship had lost the most important thing, its engine. However the Asura still had its lower and upper turrets.
‘If those guys aim the turrets at us then we might still lose. There is no guarantee we can repair the main gun and turrets before they repair the Asura’s engine. No, if there was an engineer on the ship than the Asura’s engine would clearly be repaired faster. Then this isn’t the time to delay.’
“This time it is a draw.”
Ark said before turning his back to the Red Slaughterer. He boarded the ship with his team and sat in the captain’s seat.
“Hegel, the energy charge of the Silver Star?”
“It has charged up to 90%!”
“Okay, Milan. Operate the engine to its maximum! Aim outside Impeltus’ atmosphere!”
The Silver Star vertically rose at Ark’s command.
–Dammit! We screwed up! Don’t miss! Kill that bastard!
The scene of the Red Slaughterer dangling from the tentacles like a doll and yelling caught his eye through the window. At the same time shells flew from the Asura! But the shells couldn’t catch up to the Silver Star moving at its maximum speed. And the Silver Star headed towards the swirling purple clouds!
Roaaaaar! Kwaaaang!
They shot off with a roar. The Silver Star’s engine was moving at its maximum output so they didn’t need a long time to exit the atmosphere. The vast universe unfolded as they broke through the swirling clouds.
“Hegel, calculate the coordinates. Start the warp voyage to Turan!”
“Understood!”
Hegel replied vigorously as he pressed buttons on the dashboard. He finally pressed a red button and the Silver Star was wrapped in light. Ark blew out a sigh as he relaxed. Then the gunner headed towards Ark.
“Ark, don’t you have something to discuss with me?”
“No. But it seems you have something to say to me so I’ll listen.”
Ark nodded and turned towards the gunner. There was a sudden explosion and the ship shook wildly.
Pepeng! Kwa kwa kwa kwang!
“Wah! W-what is this?”
“Damn it, did those Rama bastards already follow us?”
“T-this…..the enemy isn’t attacking!”
Hegel yelled as he checked the dashboard.
“Ether fusion system error! Oh my god! The engine received damage during the battle with the Asura! During the voyage, the balance control system failed so there is an error in the warp navigation! In this state we won’t be able to endure the gravity distortion and will be thrown out of orbit!”
Hegel’s scream echoed through the bridge! And…..
Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa! Pepepepeng!
They were thrown out!
Space 3
Lost
Kukung!
The vast stretches of outer space. A huge light pillar separated the darkness. That was the beginning. Small spots of light like firecrackers emerged one after another. And there was a roaring sound before the light pillar stretched out horizontally. 2 spaceships were torn apart and gradually scattered. A spaceship was watching this scene from several kilometres away.
“The disappearance reaction has been confirmed!”
“Both enemy ships have been sunk!”
“We suffered little damage so repairs to the armour isn’t needed. The battleship self-recovery system was suffice. The self-recovery system will be starting now.”
“The battle has ended. A landslide victory!”
The crew in the cockpit reported one after another. Then a huge man wearing hood snorted and said.
“Those stupid guys, it was like they were politely throwing rice cakes at us. They thought they could defeat us with that many ships?”
“Their excess greed caused this.”
The person who replied was sitting in the captain’s chair. The one eyed man was reclined deeply in his seat with both legs crossed while staring at the dashboard! He was a member of the strongest Seven Swords and in charge of the secondary investigation team, Hawk. Hawk looked at the monitor and muttered with a smile.
“Although if they weren’t greedy then I’d be in trouble.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s right. Right now the scattered investigation team is being attacked by an unidentified enemy. If I’m not attacked despite being the leader than wouldn’t it be strange?”
“Aha! Then the Rama…..”
“Entertainment.”
“Huhuhu! The Rama are just dancing in Captain-nim’s palm.”
The man in the hood laughed so hard his large stomach shook.
But Hawk wasn’t laughing.
“Let’s see, is it really like that…..?”
Hawk briefly paused before turning his head and asking.
“Harley, what is the current situation of the units?”
“Last time I’ve checked the signal, 9 ships have been lost. Of those, 6 of them moved off the ship to complete their mission or encountered them on the spaceship. The remaining 3 ships were units who we passed on information to the Rama.”
Ark had received a surprise attack from unidentified enemies on Impeltus. In fact, Ark wasn’t the only one who experienced this. It was the same for all 20 members of the secondary investigation team. However this incident wasn’t unexpected for Hawk.
The person who led this event was Hawk! The memory with the mission destination and information actually contained a hidden GPS device. That’s how Hawk could know their destination despite the team being randomly scattered. After they left for their missions, he sent the information to the spaceships of several units he stationed in space.
The information contained the destination, their information, the numbers and what faction they belonged to. Once again, the nobility had intervened with the investigation team so they were split into the political and military faction. In this situation they weren’t worried about the antimatter information going to the enemy. They thought it was more catastrophic for the information to end up with the other faction than the enemy.
So he started thinking. He had to do something to stop it. The servants of nobles who wanted to ‘accidentally’ obtain the information before the rival faction participated. The result wasn’t too difficult to predict. And it was as he expected. The enemy units headed to their planet containing an team from the opposite faction. Of course, there were members not involved in the faction war.
So Hawk
secretly sent the information to the Rama. The secret units hid their identities and attacked at a similar time as the Rama. The reason Hawk did this was……
‘I have to lead this team to successfully complete the mission in order to receive something from the Emperor of the federation. But it will be difficult to control when the team is divided into antagonistic factions. Right now they are listening to my orders but they aren’t sincerely cooperating with me. Having thousands of troops means nothing if I can’t lead them. The first thing I need to do is break the solidarity between the nobility and the team members. They need to realize that they’re not following the nobles sitting in Istana but Hawk. That’s why a threat is necessary instead of persuasion.’
The team had already lost 35% of its power due to the unidentified enemy or the Rama. The surviving members would have to think. This mission was more dangerous than expected. They couldn’t fight between factions or else they might lose the mission. They needed someone to follow and believe in. Someone closer than the nobles waiting on Istana thousands of light years away.
‘And they’ll soon realize. Who they should follow.’
Hawk’s lips curved like a bow. The members seemed to be under the false impression that Hawk didn’t belong to a faction. The Emperor only wore the crown while the nobles had all the influence. Therefore the Emperor wanted to monopolize the antimatter information so he could reclaim his authority. Hawk had the support of the Emperor.
In other words, Hawk belonged to the Emperor’s faction! Hawk planned this incident in order to seize the helm of the investigation team.
“There are 11 survivors……”
Hawk muttered to himself and nodded.
“It is suitable.”
And he seemed to have a sudden thought as he asked.
“Ark?”
“He is lost.”
“Lost? That guy was one of them?”
“Yes, the signal disappeared near the vicinity of Impeltus. It is natural. Didn’t you send two different enemies after him unlike the other members? One of them has a grudge against him. And the other is the Red Slaughterer. The fact that he is a country bumpkin from Istana can’t be changed.”
“That might be so but…..”
Hawk narrowed his eyes as he thought. After a brief moment he shook his head and started to talk.
“I suppose that is the extent that he can reach. If he dies from that than he isn’t worth being my enemy. Harley, prepare to warp. Head to Turan!”
“Preparing for warp! The destination is Turan!”
Harley’s cry ran out through the battleship and the Death Knight started shaking. It was wrapped in a light and disappeared.
—————————-
“Uhh!”
“Oooh!”
In the NIS’ secret underground facility. Eerie moans kept on being heard from the underground room. However there was no sympathy in the eyes of Lee Myung-ryong listening from the shadows. He just clicked his tongue instead as their pitiful forms.
“Hey, are they really special agents?”
“I’m ashamed.”
A man with swollen eyes said as he scratched his head. This seemed like a scene that had been seen before.
It was like the first time Lee Myung-ryong was assigned to the NIS Lucifer Hunting team and manipulated the capsules to feel real pain. The Galaxian team members experienced a similar pain to when he was playing New World. The audio might be similar but the video was completely different.
Capsules were lined up inside the facility. 300 burly men had their heads against the ground with their arms clasped behind their back. It was the traditional method called Wonsan pukkyeok (Google Images )
“Are you newborn puppies? Why are you whining like that? Eh? These bastards, why aren’t your backs straight? Are you resisting? Are you resisting? Will you continue until the end?”
“Ohh, n-no!”
“No what? Add 30 minutes!”
There were hopeless groans at Lee Myung-ryong’s yell. Kang Ho-cheol sighed and said.
“Hyung-nim, it has already been 40 minutes.”
“So what?”
Lee Myung-ryong turned around and declared sharply. Lee Myung-ryong’s height was over 170 centimetres. On the other hand, Kang Ho-cheol was close to 190 centimetres. There was a difference of 20 centimetres yet Kang Ho-cheol was the one who flinched back from Lee Myung-ryong and stuttered.
“That….those guys seem to already be reflecting…..”
“Reflecting?” Ha! You call that attitude reflecting? If you think that is reflecting than your style of punishment is wrong. Those guys know they are wrong after whining for 40 minutes? These guys are the elites who received special training?”
“They are special agents, not Superman.”
“I’m also not a politician.”
Lee Myung-ryung spat as he replied. His voice and expression proved that he was completely blowing his lid right now. The reason for this was an event that occurred a few hours ago.
Once Lee Myung-ryong made it a 4D realistic experience, the performance of the Lucifer Hunting team quickly rose. They gained various survival skills so their levels naturally increased as survival rates increased. They didn’t dare capture dungeons and went hunting every day.
Then a strange report came to Lee Myung-ryong’s attention. The current Lucifer Hunting team were moving in units consisting of 10~20 people. The report written by one team stated that they were proceeding on a quest with rare items as the reward. A quest with rare items had a high level of difficulty so the team significantly suffered.
That wasn’t special. The problem was what Lee Myung-ryong read afterwards in another report. Another party could complete the same quest. And the principle of the Lucifer Hunting team was sharing information. However the other party that attempted it made the same mistakes in the same areas. It meant information wasn’t being shared.
“That’s actually…..”
Kang Ho-cheol hesitated to reply when he was asked.
“Like I said the other day, the Lucifer Hunting team consists of members from the NIS and an information oriented team. The affiliation they belong to is naturally different. The NIS is under the direct control of the Prime Minister’s department while the information oriented unit is managed by the Department of Defense. The problem is that the Prime Minister’s office and the Department of Defense are engaged in a psychological warfare to gain the initiative.”
“Psychological warfare?”
“They are vying against each other in that incident.”
Lee Myung-ryong’s face warped at Kang Ho-cheol’s words. He didn’t need to hear anymore. He just needed to hear that government employees from Korea were involved. If there was a problem than they would push responsibility to each other. That was the reality of Korean officials.
Of course, Lee Myung-ryong knew that about the officials. But this event was concerned with the nuclear power plant crisis. If it exploded than the whole country would feel it. Yet! Yet!
“Hyung-nim, just pretend you don’t know…..”
“Shut up, you bastard!”
Lee Myung-ryong hit Kang Ho-cheol. Now he had two eyes that were swollen.
“Stop all your movements! Exit the capsules!”
And Lee Myung-ryong roared! That’s why the facility was filled with the groan of 300 people. Lee Myung-ryong looked at them with blazing eyes and it seemed like fire was spewing from his mouth.
“Are you soldiers belong to the government officials or the country? Won’t your parents, siblings and friends be affected if the nuclear power plant explodes? You puppies! No, a dog wouldn’t do something like this! You bastards are just dog shit!”
“Uh…..uh…..”
Sweat dripped down as the guys trembled. Kang Ho-cheol sighed and opened up.
“Hyung-nim, don’t you know? They are military soldiers so they have to turn if they are told to.”
“Shut up, you bastard! Do they have no thoughts in the
ir brains just because they are soldiers? Would you kill your parents or siblings if you were told to? Does this seem like a joke? Don’t you know what will happen with a nuclear explosion? In such a situation! In order to win the war, don’t you have to be soldiers who think despite orders from your superiors?”
“B-but…..”
“I know. But those guys aren’t involved in the actual hunting!”
Lee Myung-ryong shouted loudly. He belonged to the police organization so he knew this issue wouldn’t be easily resolved. And he had no intention of backing down. He would smash any idea of listening to the Prime Minister or Department of Defense.
“I have to fix your rotten spirits!”
Lee Myung-ryong roared like a beast.
“Add 30 minutes again. You can get up if it’s too hard. However you have to immediately call you parents and say ‘I might cause a nuclear explosion because I followed the commands of the leaders in charge of Korea’ to them.”
“Oooh……”
“Dammit, I feel dirty. Kang Ho-cheol, I can’t stay here anymore because I’m so angry. I’m going to walk in the wind so keep watch. One hour from now. Make sure you check the time.”
“Understood.”
Kang Ho-cheol replied in a melancholy voice as Lee Myung-ryong headed for a smoke. He sucked cigarette smoke containing nickel, arsenic, benzene, cadmium etc. into his lungs as he tried to calm down. Lee Myung-ryong borrowed the power of the nicotine to calmly consider the situation.
Like he told Kang Ho-cheol, Lee Myung-ryong had no intention of changing his methods. He didn’t intend to negotiate with the Prime Minister’s office or the Department of Defense over the Lucifer Hunting team. He knew that wasn’t the solution to his problem. There was no guarantee that the superiors would keep a promise they made with him. No, Lee Myung-ryong’s neck would probably be the first one to fly off if anything went wrong.
“This place is really foolish…..”
In fact, Lee Myung-ryong hadn’t really felt that the nuclear power plant crisis was real yet. But it was like the politicians were fighting over a bowl of rice. It was a ridiculous act for adults who should be acting responsible. When could he escape this ridiculous system of organization?