Chapter.7 Masquerade Ball (12)
***
The executive branch’s use of force when it is cornered.
It was not that much of a surprise as the inspection department was always at the top of the list of worst-case scenarios expected and had made its own preparations.
But it’s a different story when a raptor gets involved. Because the categories themselves are completely different between ‘internal rank struggle’ and ‘war’.
It is an implicit rule that even the 3rd division of inspection and execution administration, which used to talk like a petty dog, actively cooperates from the moment the movement of a raptor is detected, and it has never been violated so far.
[The executive branch… is joining hands with Raptor and aiming to overthrow the District 47 Dome?]
[I don’t know about the president level, but won’t all the manager levels be replaced the moment the election ends? You’ve probably already prepared for that. Since they also want to live, they must have found a way to live on their own. The executive director may already be cooperating or being cooperated. Or maybe they already killed him. Because biometric code recognition is possible even with a corpse. I used to work with him, so he could just forge communications by taking his voice print.]
[What is the evidence?]
[Hmm…circumstantial evidence?]
[Hey, Professor Park! Do you know how big of a deal this is-]
[Innumerable. There is so much circumstantial evidence that even a fool can understand it.]
From the professor’s mouth, the story about the situation he had confirmed so far flowed like clear water.
The Raptor’s situation is that if the dome is not immediately struck, focusing on the Bunker in Area 45, which was the starting point, they will be pushed out.
And similarly, the executives of the executive branch who will naturally die if they do not do something.
For some reason, the executive branch brought a poor theater plan that was sure to fail and suffered huge losses.
Their strange behavior seen from the perspective of a direct participant in the play.
Although there is no clear evidence, if we assume that ‘the Executive Department is working with Raptor and aiming to overthrow the Dom’, the circumstances that fit together exactly like a puzzle were revealed one by one to the members of the Inspection Department through the communicator.
[….You’re crazy. In the end, when the dome is devastated, there is no place for the surviving members of the executive branch to be-]
[There is one. In Area 45.]
[Would you rather be the head of a snake than the tail of a dragon?] [I don’t think the Raptors would give a head to a traitor either… I guess they could be at least livestock keepers.]
As expected, the head of the inspection department .
. Even though I explained it roughly, I understood it perfectly.
The explanation was long, but the judgment was short.
[1st Platoon. How far have we come now?]
[I can see you standing on the green roof, but it’s the manager.]
[What about the rest?]
[2nd platoon. Near point 3. The outskirts of the model garden are coming into view.]
[We are transporting battery packs for supply to the 3rd platoon, so we haven’t gone too far from the hangar yet!]
Fast but clear commands were pouring out like rapid fire over the communicator.
[good. The 3rd platoon leaves that behind and goes straight into the dome. No matter what happens, we must protect the central generator! If the executive branch is at the center of this, they may already be on the move!]
[Let’s go!]
[2nd platoon returns immediately. On the way, we pick up the battery pack left behind by the 3rd platoon and begin preparing for battle. Del Mar In what area was the Raptor’s Nest most recently seen?]
[Uh… It is difficult to estimate the exact location due to radio interference, but orbital traces of the entire Nest’s movement have been confirmed. It is near area 43.]
[Then the 2nd platoon takes the batteries and prepares for defense in the direction of area 43. The 1st platoon returned with me-]
[Ah, wait a minute. If the other friends are in a hurry, they can go quickly, but you should stay for a while.]
[What else, dude! Do you keep cutting off communication?!]
[I know you’re in a hurry, but you need to finish your work and leave. Look at the model garden now.]
At the professor’s words, Monclar raised his head for a moment. There was no need to look. Smoke rises here and there, buildings collapsed by mortars, and Old Pictures go on a rampage, destroying buildings.
[Don’t you think Brother Ralph knows best that he won’t die like this? Because I’ve dealt with it in person before. He’ll wake up in a little while, but this time, he won’t calm down and go home just because he’s been stabbed like before, right? This is the central area you see as soon as you open your eyes. As the body is consumed, the reset memories will run wild again and start running rampant again.]
[….Okay. So when I took him down before, I blew off his body and burned him with batteries for over 30 hours until the street was completely restored. But that’s not the case now! As you said, Raptor’s main force is advancing toward the dome, and we must stop the executive branch’s terror from inside! I don’t know how many days it will take to restore this devastated street, but I don’t have the troops to hold him down! For now, all we can do is hope that the runaway guy doesn’t head towards the dome and stop the enemy!]
The professor thought of Ralph, who had approached him first, who had been in charge of all the dirty work of the executive branch a long time ago and was always depressed and gloomy due to his sick mother. At the time, he was a truly pure, cheerful, and good-natured person, despite his appearance.
‘Your brother has changed a lot over the years. Is it because I became a manager? ‘Please do the calculations in this urgent situation.’
I feel a little bitter, but my brother is human too. I told myself that it would be possible because I had to look at it from a broader perspective.
[Why is there no way? My brother and I are both people who have performed Old Picture plays to the end. You know that there is a way to completely put him to sleep, right?]
[…..]
After the professor’s words, the communication stopped for a moment, and Monclar’s voice was heard much more clearly along with a crackling noise. The yellow light that came into the communication name of Monclar and Ezel. It means personal communication.
[why. Are you embarrassed? Even in this situation, do you have to calculate it?]
[Professor, do you know that the lives spent on establishing and maintaining Old Picture in this area are well over three figures? The moment you give up, all those lives become meaningless. It’s not that simple!]
Oh my. It’s not a simple problem. So you’re saying you’ve thought about the complex problem? but. There’s no way I haven’t weighed things in this mess.
[The situation has changed. It has gone from a monster that can be reasonably controlled to a monster that has the potential to be controlled by enemies. The Old Picture Plan has already failed. Besides, are you going to leave this guy alone and pray that he goes somewhere else? I guarantee you that 90% of the time you will crawl to the middle of the dome. In that case, we have to fight the raptors without the city’s defenses. Can the exosuit block things like wing-stabilized armor-piercing bullets? You can hit a tank bomb with one hand, but?]
[…..]
[It’s not a choice, it’s a necessity. The only firepower sufficient to eliminate them is city-level weapons, but we can’t use them now. If you leave it alone, it will soon be restored to its original state and then run away, contributing to the destruction of the dome. There is no choice but to remove it. Let’s be honest. that. You brought it, right?]
[….Let’s go and talk.]
Crack!
After Monclar’s agonized reply, personal communication was cut off.
“Professor. What does this all mean? Raptor? War? “Is the executive branch betraying me?”
“Oh right. Well written communication, Ezel. Let’s talk about the rest when Ralph comes. Because I don’t want to say the same thing twice. Brother will be arriving soon, so should we get ready to move in the meantime? Vex! If you have any remaining weapons, grab them and come here! “I’ll just do the final cleaning and get on this and move right away!”
“Is there room? Enough for the four of us to ride? All?”
“Originally, the space where the battery pack goes is for evacuation of wounded soldiers. “If the two of you sit in the driver’s seat, put Ian in there, and you, Bex, can hang between the frames, I think it will work out.”
After getting out of the driver’s seat, the professor untied himself and approached Ian, who was walking around and looking for any intact firearms that flew out when the truck exploded.
“Hey, did you hear about this?”
“Don’t talk to me, you son of a bitch. “That truck was my comrade in arms.”
“You know, then. It was Hyde’s doing, but in the end, I was the one who freed him. I’m sorry. So I deliberately spoke loudly so that even you could hear.”
“….Tsk!”
“So, you stop glowing and prepare to move. Did you hear? The raptors are coming. The main force will come, not the usual plundering team that moves in units of pegs. Not only combat vehicles, but also armored trucks, as well as tanks and armored vehicles that make up the nest, will come rushing in… Wow! Isn’t your mouth watering? If the Old Picture plan fails, all we have to do is deal with those idiots who just crash into the Dome’s space defenses! “Let’s go get a new car!”
“Kkeuk hum! but. “The armored truck that was originally used was not in good condition here and there, so it was time to go.”
also. I recognized the guy who had been so mean to me when he moved without saying a word. As soon as I heard the raptor was coming, I was thinking about what to capture first.
Crunchy crunchy!
While the old picture was moving around and preparing to move, the old picture that was hanging motionlessly on the hill began to move again, as if in slow motion.
“Uh oh, professor. Professor Park! That thing is moving! Move even though you have no head! “It’s coming towards us!”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry. “It is a process of shaking off the useless external body while moving to a safe place to preserve the body.”
The professor answered Ezel’s screaming call without even looking at him.
The giant’s upper body breaks down and crawls up little by little.
[Oooooh…. uhuhuh….]
The sound is incomparably weaker compared to the early days of the runaway. It doesn’t have the same impact as before, but the wavelength is enough to convey memories to the people right in front of you.
Even as it desperately approached us with its broken body, the old picture was endlessly conveying memories.
“This guy… why is he emitting mental waves like this? “Do you hate us that much?”
“You’re thinking wrong, Ezel. He’s a type 3 mutant. 1 Like Type 2, there is no desire to attack humans and fill their bodies with that material. “There was no intention to attack in the first place.”
Jjiiiing –
The giant finally collapses with his chest on top of the observatory. And in the rubble, there was a pile of flesh with a lot of shoes falling off, and three mannequins that were still intact without a scratch. And the memories that follow.
==========
Ehhhh!
[Fellow citizens. This is the Ministry of Public Safety and Security’s Civil Defense warning and control center. Issue an actual air raid warning. Current time…]
A sudden siren sound. I don’t know where so many people were hiding, but in an instant, people came out of commercial buildings and residential areas and ran around wildly. And my wife and son are just looking at me in fear.
‘It wasn’t coming out.’
It’s been a long time since my wife’s anti-depressant medication ran out. She was doing her best, but when her child whined that he was bored and wanted snacks, she would get angry without realizing it and then feel even more depressed due to guilt. So just for one day. I was wondering if it would be nice to just go for a family walk like we used to do every Sunday for just one day.
========
“No one has a headache, right?”
“uh. “It just feels like watching a realistic movie.”
“of course. “That’s the reason it emits mental waves in the first place.”
Type 3 variant. A monster that takes its form according to the host’s last memory. The guy had no intention of attacking from the beginning. It’s just that, thanks to the uncontrollable output when emotions are strong, the image and depression were conveyed so deeply that people nearby were shocked and some even fell into depression. The guy had one goal from the beginning.
Quietly in his usual calm state. Like a whisper.
When you are embarrassed by the changed appearance of the street, just like a frightened person grabs a random person nearby and talks to them.
When I go crazy, it’s like a scream, as if I’m crying and pleading in the face of a reality I don’t want to accept.
Just as the volume of the voice was different, only the output was different. From the beginning, Old Picture had been talking to people for the past few years using one language called ‘one’s memory.’
“Professor, how do you know that so well?”
“I saw it. In fact, even if you don’t subdue it like this, after completing the normal play successfully, it returns to its main body and delivers the host’s last memory in a whisper, just like now.”
Rumbling –
The pile of shoes that emerged from the giant’s body trembled precariously and began to flow down once again. As if peeling off the skin one by one, following those deep memories.
=========
“It’s war! “War has broken out!”
“North Korea fired a nuclear weapon at the United States!”
“Aaaah!”
A place of chaos. It was a scene that was as horribly disorganized as it was meant to be.
This is a war that broke out without a declaration of war. By now, just the rumor that war was likely to break out had already caused daily necessities to run out at nearby supermarkets. But out of nowhere, there was an air raid warning.
In an instant, frightened people ran out and the streets began to overflow with all kinds of cars and people.
“We have to get out of Seoul!”
“Move! “Don’t act like a fool!”
“Let go of this! This is my burden! If you don’t let go right now, I’ll kill you!”
“mother! “I can’t see my mother!”
People become selfish in the face of crisis. In the flood of people pouring in like water, people who steal other people’s things, people who become violent to protect those things, and weak people who divide and mix among those people.
“Honey!”
“Ugh! dad!”
Dojin’s grip as he held his wife and son’s hands gained strength.
My mentally and physically weak wife and my young son. Must be kept. I just have to come to my senses…!
Shuuuu-
“What is that?”
Woowoowoo-
“Something like a dot is flying…”
Woooooooo-!
“It’s a US missile! “It’s artillery fire!”
“Aaaah!”
“Aaaah!”
“dad! Dadaaaa!”
“Dad, hold my hand tight! You too, quickly come here! In the alley-”
Ugh!
.
.
.
.
.
Bleep-
=========
Clap-
knock!
“Brother Ralph.”
“…Professor Park. “It was really alive.”
“Then what ghost was that thing you communicated with just now?”
“I thought I was having a psychic attack and hearing something like an auditory hallucination while I was there.”
Monclar sets up his machine next to Ezel’s exosuit.
“They really forced it into that state. “How did you do it?”
“I guess that’s not what’s important right now. You brought that, right? “There’s no way we wouldn’t have prepared for an emergency when Old Pictures exploded like that.”
“…Is that really the only way? To give up on him like this…”
“This monster has already been used by the enemy once. It’s not about giving up, it’s about discarding. “A project played into the hands of the enemy.”
“….damn. The moment it became known that the old picture had been released, it wouldn’t have ended with just a few pages of poetry. “I guess I’ll have to wear body armor for a while.”
“Once this is over, the executive branch will all be cleared out, so what are you worried about?”
“The president does some shooting. “You carry a loaded revolver with you 24 hours a day.”
Saying that, Monclar sighed and pulled out a tightly sealed box from the back of the exosuit.
=========
Hot.
I got hit by a car. It must be a truck or something.
No, the car couldn’t even move. Because the road is blocked.
I am. Is he alive?
The pain burning through my body forced my clouded mind to stand up. sick. I’m in so much pain that I can’t think clearly. What was I doing? At the end, obviously….
‘Son!’
I have no strength in my body. It’s hard to turn my head. But something warm filled my heart. It’s a hot and tingling hand, but I’m holding it clearly. Because I have small hands in my grasp.
‘You must have been very scared. Let’s comfort him. Dad says it’s okay and I’ll rest for a bit, so I’ll go with Mom first… to Grandma’s house. ‘Go to grandma’s house…’
It was as heavy as a stone hanging around my neck. I slowly feel the fishy taste of blood filling my mouth and slowly turn my head in the direction where my son is. I don’t know if it was tears or my eyes were burning, but a small blue sneaker appeared in the corner of my vision. These are my son’s shoes. I bought them for my birthday and I liked them so much that I didn’t even wear them on a regular basis. I only wore them when we went out together. They were sneakers with a robot drawing on them.
“Uuuuuu ahaaaa. iced coffee. Ahaaaaa….”
When I opened my mouth, it seemed like I was spitting out fire. What do we do. I think I hurt my lungs. I need to tell you. Talk…
little by little. slowly. His gaze turns towards his son like the hands of a clock are turning.
There are shoes. These are definitely my son’s shoes. These are definitely the shoes I bought for my son. The small ankle bone and the Daeil band with a penguin on it are clearly my son’s! It must be my son’s foot!!
why.
Why can’t I see my son up there?
“Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.”
That can’t be possible. I definitely caught it in this hand. I held on to it so tightly that it hurt so as not to let go of that chaos! Even now! It’s definitely in this hand…!
Finally, Dojin’s head turned completely. His senses were not wrong. At the last moment, I jumped into the alley with all my might to reduce the damage from the explosion.
The only thing that came with him was his son’s small hand and left foot, which he held in his right hand. The remaining part that failed to enter the alley had disappeared somewhere.
“Aaaaaaaah adeeeee adeeeee!!”
I embrace my son’s body, which is only up to his ankles, with flesh melting from the heat. This is a dream. This is a dream! I can’t see well, so I’m seeing useless things! Seongjin lost his shoes. okay! I lost my shoe! My wife has already gone out to look for her shoes! Seongjin liked these shoes so much that he went out with his mom! It has to be that way! It has to be that way!!
“Seojiiii… Sivaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…”
The man’s body, melted like candle wax, moved. You have to find it. The remaining pair was lost. Everything I see must be a dream. When I find the shoes, my son and wife will return and this whole nightmare will end.
=========
“This is an unusual monster that arose from a common tragedy in the wasteland.”
Sweet.
The professor opened the box handed to him by Monclar.
Sneakers with a small blue robot on them.
Although it was a counterfeit, it was exactly the same as the other half of the lost son’s sneakers that Kim Do-jin, the old picture in his memory, had been searching for.
***
