158 - Love

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: posted in discord

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The congested roads and electronic devices damaged by the EMP, along with fires breaking out in various places and injured people lying on the sidewalks, all served as obstacles preventing police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances from swiftly entering the area.

That's why the doomsday cultists had calculated the time it would take for the mobile strike force, military units, or anomalous groups to arrive, and they fled before that time came.

Whoosh-

A blue portal opened.

"It's time! Run for it!"

Doomsday cultists with terrified expressions emerged from various places. There weren't many of them left.

They had all been kidnapped. One by one, they had been caught by something like spatial movement and dragged away. No one had returned, and the kidnappings hadn't stopped.

An unknown enemy's unknown attack. It was difficult to defend against or counterattack.

As the doomsday cultists ran at full speed, the blue light of the portal washed over their faces. The blue light reflected in their pupils flashed like a beacon of hope.

"We made-"

And then they vanished. Just before crossing the portal, they were kidnapped by Yeonwoo.

The remaining doomsday cultists breathed a sigh of relief.

"That one's been taken, so we should be able to escape safely now."

"What's the point? There's only three of us left."

A masked robber spoke irritably. One by one, they had been dragged away until only three remained. Their losses far outweighed any gains.

In the end, the remaining doomsday cultist muttered quietly as they crossed the portal.

"Let's hope the operation was at least successful."

Whatever that building was, they must have had something that could turn the situation around if they went to such lengths to infiltrate.

For example, something like an Earth destruction button.

And so, the three doomsday cultists crossed the portal and saw the Ghost of the electronic world frantically pacing around.

"I can't tell what's happening on site because of the EMP-"

The Ghost of the electronic world suddenly turned their head.

"You're back? ...What? Why are only you three here?"

The doomsday cultists, smelling of gunpowder and looking like defeated soldiers, spoke gruffly.

"Someone we don't know attacked us..."

"No one's been deployed yet."

The Ghost of the electronic world tilted their head, wondering what they were talking about. They had hacked into the communications of various groups and were monitoring their movements.

Though they had been busy moving after confirming the terror attack, no forces had arrived on the scene yet.

After thinking for a moment, the Ghost of the electronic world finally sensed failure.

"Yeonwoo... The spy must have failed."

The only person who would do such a thing near the investigation team's office was Yeonwoo. And that meant he hadn't fallen in love.

Meanwhile, the doomsday cultists had plopped down on the dirt floor, slowly releasing their tension. Their excitement and fear gradually subsided. Then they suddenly looked up.

They had caught something they couldn't ignore.

"Lee Yeonwoo? Yeonwoo was there?"

"Uh... It was the building where Yeonwoo lives. Didn't I tell you?"

"No, you're crazy."

Suddenly, their subsiding excitement exploded. They all drew their guns and shouted angrily.

"What the hell are you doing! Why would you send us after the guy who killed our leader! Is this a purge?"

"No, the operation was to recruit him. And why would I purge you? We're already short on people."

"Are you insane? You need to come up with plausible operations!"

It really made no sense. Recruit a walking doom?

The doomsday cultist whose head was working relatively well yelled furiously.

"What were you planning to do if you recruited him? Could you even handle him? Even that company is suffering because of Yeonwoo, right? Didn't you read the information you showed us and told us to be careful about?"

Just like the Goldberg Club's VIP list or blacklist, Yeonwoo had been added to the doomsday cultists' list of people to watch out for, and the information the Ghost of the electronic world had leaked had been shared.

The satellite weapon had been used twice, a shelter had been destroyed, a department had been wiped out, and recently, they'd heard he'd created some kind of dream demon.

The resources the company was pouring into cleaning up after him probably equaled the budget of several decent-sized departments.

"Why the hell are you messing with someone who's chipping away at the company's strength if we just leave him alone!"

"..."

There was no answer. The Ghost of the electronic world blinked, looking at that doomsday cultist. The cultist continued to pour out complaints.

"If you want to use that guy, just throw anomalous entities around him! Or lure other groups towards him! He'll wreck everything on his own that way."

The Ghost of the electronic world stared intently at that doomsday cultist without blinking.

Then they said,

"You pass! From now on, you're our brains!"

Though their combat power was negligible, their head seemed to work quite well. They could serve as a good strategist to replace Glasses.

Just as the doomsday cultist's expression turned strange, the Ghost of the electronic world's face suddenly contorted.

They had picked up news from the electronic world.

It was news about the Smoker, who used to emit black smoke.

"I'm dying. Farewell."

The Ghost of the electronic world hurriedly hacked into various communication networks to check the situation.

Information flowed in through CCTVs and mobile phones. The Smoker's final moments.

"The Green Association..."

Even at this moment, the relentless attacks had reached the Smoker. Caught by the leader of the Green Sect, they were purified, and their remains became fertilizer.

"Become a tree and contribute to the world. You, who used to spew poison gas, will now purify the air as a tree."

The doom of the doomsday cultists was approaching. No, it was already as good as doom. They had been broken to the point where they could hardly be called a group anymore.

But the Ghost of the electronic world accepted it calmly.

'As long as even one person remains, it's fine.'

They could always make a comeback. Doom was madness, after all. As long as there was even one person who wanted the world to end, the doomsday cultists wouldn't disappear.

------

The doomsday cultists had fled, and the incident was being cleaned up. The city center was bustling with activity. Firefighters extinguishing fires, ambulances transporting patients, police and soldiers rushing about.

People complaining of shock-induced amnesia looked for those who had treated them, but they didn't appear.

There was no reason to reveal themselves to others, after all.

The investigation team's office had become a temporary base for the company. All sorts of people came and went, cleaning up the situation and digging for information.

"When's the time camera coming?"



"The incident analysis team says they're on their way with the equipment."

"Tell them to bring that memory extraction thing too! We can't get information from electronic devices because of the EMP!"

Mark Jung from headquarters also rushed over.

"Yeonwoo! Are you alright? You're not hurt anywhere?"

"..."

Yeonwoo looked at Mark Jung with a blank expression. He was disappointed in many ways.

'You said the investigation team's building was an anomalous entity that wouldn't experience accidents? And you couldn't even detect signs of an attack?'

He could let the former slide, but not detecting signs of the attack was very inconvenient. Even if they couldn't prevent it in time, they should have at least given him a heads up.

"Did headquarters not know about this attack?"

"Well, the Ghost of the electronic world was interfering, and those guys moved using spatial movement equipment..."

"I see."

They were headquarters, after all. Not wanting to create conflict over something like this, Yeonwoo let it go.

In fact, there was something more important than what had already happened.

"More importantly, I'd like to get more time-buying bills. Please contact the Club. I don't have any left."

"The bills? You used up all of those?"

Mark Jung blinked blankly. He had seen the information while handling things in between. What Yeonwoo had received from the Club.

'That definitely wasn't a small amount.'

They were bills given generously to build goodwill. In cash terms, it would be tens of billions of won. It was an amount the Club couldn't ignore either. Not just the money, but as an anomalous entity, it had even more value, a resource they couldn't just print off.

"You got several apple boxes full of 50,000 won bills..."

"That's right? In money terms, it's, uh, oh?"

At that point, Yeonwoo's eyes widened.

He had treated them as disposable anomalous entities and used them freely. Without leaving a single one.

If he converted that to money... Suddenly, Yeonwoo's hands started trembling.

'Did I just burn tens of billions of won in that short time? Is that for real? I've never used that much money in my entire life.'

It was like several houses had burned and disappeared. Of course, he had saved that many people, but a dull shock hit his head.

Mark Jung wore an expression mixed with respect and difficulty as he shook his head.

"It seems you used them for rescue, which is an incredibly large investment. That's amazing. But it'll be hard to get more. The Club can't just make them freely."

"Ah, I see."

Should he have used them more sparingly? Suddenly overwhelmed with regret, Yeonwoo lost his words.

Just then, the team leader sauntered over. He spoke not to Yeonwoo, but to Mark Jung.

"You're from headquarters?"

"Yes, I report directly to the director-"

"Enough with the introductions. Just confirm the identity of one person for me. A woman who approached me and Yeonwoo."

The woman Yeonwoo had shot dead. A question to make sure whether she was a civilian or not.

If she was a civilian, it meant there was a problem with Yeonwoo's mind and he would need appropriate treatment.

Just then, another company employee barged in noisily.

"We've recovered the anomalous entity!"

They held up a perfume bottle high.

"Oh, right. It was a woman carrying that. So she was a doomsday cultist after all, being an anomalous entity. No need to check, it should be fine-"

"It's the love potion! It's an anomalous entity that female doomsday cultist spies used to extract people!"

"..."

The noisy office fell silent.

Silence descended upon the investigators and Yeonwoo. They stared blankly at the perfume bottle. What was that again?

The team leader, at least, regained his senses quickly.

"That's a relief. Good thing Yeonwoo didn't fall for it."

"I did fall for it..."

"Huh?"

"She sprayed the perfume in front of me at lunchtime, and I smelled it."

The team leader, Yoo Ji-yoo, and even Mark Jung looked at Yeonwoo in surprise. Mark Jung reacted intensely.

"Are you alright? Did you resist with the dice?"

"I couldn't resist..."

"Ah, damn. Where's that woman? When you fall for that potion, you keep-"

"Yeonwoo shot her dead."

"Excuse me?"

Mark Jung turned his head, and Yoo Ji-yoo shrugged her shoulders. Sёarch* The Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"He shot her dead as soon as he saw her, like he was having a fit. Yeonwoo, um. You didn't develop feelings for me, did you? It's kind of scary."

Yoo Ji-yoo messed up her hair, hiding her face behind her bangs. He had fallen in love, then shot and killed the person he loved. It gave her the chills.

"No."

Yeonwoo wore a truly wronged expression. He felt a level of indignation far beyond what he had felt when the doomsday cultists were spouting nonsense.

Both the people looking at him strangely and the situation itself bothered him.

'This is ridiculous. It can't be. Am I someone who can't even feel love? No. This doesn't make any sense.'

To be honest, he had never loved anyone before. He tended to have shallow emotions and had never been passionate about anything. His long life as a student had made him even more damaged.

But surely he wasn't so far gone that he'd confuse love with a sense of crisis?

Finally, the situation clicked in Yeonwoo's head.

"I think my instincts are so good that I felt the sense of crisis more strongly. Looking at it now, it seems that woman deliberately caused the terror attack too. It looks like I detected that crisis and eliminated the cause."

It was a logical judgment, and a conclusion that twisted the strangely twisted situation back into something plausible.

The team leader nodded in agreement.

"That happens sometimes. You instinctively feel strongly that something's wrong in a safe situation. Later on, it turns out to be right."

"I see."

Even Mark Jung, who had been wearing a terrified expression, relaxed a little. If it was the intuition of an investigator, a survival expert...

'His survival instinct might have acted more strongly than the love potion.'

Yeonwoo wasn't an ordinary person, after all.



But Yoo Ji-yoo wore a strange expression.

"I don't think that's it..."

The expression Yeonwoo had shown then felt different from a sense of crisis. Thinking about it now, it looked more like someone experiencing their first love.

In any case, the terror attack had been wrapped up.

---