Episode 277 [A-Class Awakened Person (3)]
A city covered in ice.
Vladivostok, which was called a floating port, was now frozen not only in the city but also in the port.
Even though it was getting close to winter, there was no reason for the city to freeze like this.
There is only one reason. It was because of the monsters in this city.
“I paid money to come, but is it okay?”
the captain asked anxiously, looking out the window at the frozen city in the distance.
He was a smuggler captain whom I met through a black market dealer.
Normally, he was running a smuggling business between Korea and China, but this time he came to Vladivostok with Kyung-hoon on board.
I got all the money, but I couldn’t help but worry about going alone to a frozen city full of monsters and no people.
“it’s okay. “Thank you for your hard work.”
But Kyung-hoon shook his head.
When Gyeong-hoon said it was okay, the captain asked another question.
“But is it really okay not to wait?”
I’m worried about going alone, but I’m told I shouldn’t wait. He was a person I could never understand.
“yes. You can go back right away.”
“No, how are you going to return to Korea…”
At the captain’s words, the navigator who was holding the helm behind him pouted and tried to argue.
“Let’s just leave it alone. Aren’t you an awakened person? There must be something.”
“You bastard. Aren’t awakened people human? They look like people going to die, so shouldn’t they say something!”
“Hey, he doesn’t look like he’s going to die, does he? “Do you want to bet with me?”
“That’s it! “I wonder if I’ll make that bet with you.”
“Giggles…”
The captain looked decent, but a smuggler was a smuggler.
Kyung-hoon smiled, opened the door, and came out of the mission.
A biting wind was blowing.
I was wearing a thick winter parka, but the wind was blowing through it.
It is about 5km to the port. The water was frozen 1km ahead.
Even though it wasn’t winter, not only the outer port, which is said to freeze only in winter, but even the inner port, which is said to never freeze all year round, was frozen.
“Ugh… I only heard about it… but it’s really cold. Wait. “I’ll drop you off the boat,”
another sailor followed, shaking.
Kyunghoon shook his head.
There was no need for a boat.
Ta ta ta.
Kyung-hoon ran to the railing and jumped under the boat.
“Ahh! “You crazy guy!”
Jump up!
At the startled voice, the bridge door opened again and the captain showed his face and asked.
“What’s wrong?”
“You crazy guy. No, the guest jumped into the water!’
’What!’
The captain ran to the ship’s railing with the crew.
The two looked down at the railing, but all they could see was the ice-cold sea and waves below.
“I wonder if he committed suicide after coming all the way here…”
While the captain muttered while looking at the sea, the sailor looked around and blinked when he saw the front of the ship.
“Oh, what is that?”
There was an object moving across the sea water. It was neither a flying fish nor a dolphin.
It was a person. Also, the person who just jumped. He looked as if he was running on water.
As the sailor said, the captain also opened his mouth when he saw the scene.
“Oh my god….”
*
Papapapak!
Gyeonghoon ran across the water, spewing out mana from his feet.
Although the damaged mana circuit had not yet been restored, it was still possible to run on water.
Even on ice . The distance of 1km quickly disappeared, and Kyung-hoon continued to run on the ice covered with water.
The ice was slippery, but Kyung-hoon was not one to be bothered by such things.
In an instant, he passed through the outer port, then the inner port, and arrived at the port.
Chin.
When he got on the dock, he saw I felt the cold more clearly.
This dock seemed to be over -5 to 60 degrees Celsius. Even Gyeong-hoon would have difficulty holding on if he didn’t turn his mana on. “We’re
finally going back.”
The ship that had taken Gyeong-hoon was turning its hull.
Running while treading on water. I don’t know if he was relieved or if he was leaving because he had finished his job, but it was better for Kyung-hoon to leave early. “By the way, I didn’t know Vladivostok
would be like this…”
It was a city I had been to before in the world. Infiltrating North Korea. The city I came to with Dahee to do this. The city I saw at that time was a city full of Russian flavor with a large military port located there. “But now it has
become an ice city.”
The city was completely covered in ice.
Snow piled up and rain froze the city. The biting
cold and the freezing of the city were all due to the monster that appeared in Vladivostok.
Cars running on the streets were frozen, and people were seen frozen on the sidewalks and in their houses.
Many people were unable to escape.
Awakening There were many people praising China and Russia for dealing with monsters by forcibly conscripting people, but they were not coping particularly better than other countries. Like Vladivostok, there were many cities and lands taken over by monsters, and they suffered many defeats, but they survived all of that
. The incident was buried.
People did not know. News gradually disappeared and the number of cities one could visit was decreasing. The
only thing the world knew about was Vladivostok because it was close to Korea.
“It’s hard to find it if it’s not here….”
Another world Finding the monster was more difficult than expected.
I obtained information by asking various sources, but when I got to know them, they turned out to be ordinary(?) mutant monsters.
I refused the government’s request and even refused meetings with large corporations and guilds to search for him, but I couldn’t find him easily in Korea.
Kyunghoon sighed.
Whenever this happens, I can’t help but think of Eve.
“If it’s not here, I’ll have to look a little longer.”
It was a place I finally found after searching the Internet for a long time.
If not here, I would have to go to North Korea or China.
However, North Korea was dangerous for Gyeonghoon, who was still in Class A, to travel alone, and China was a place where it was difficult to travel secretly.
It might have been better to go on a hunting expedition with the guild members or meet an American intelligence agent and move to the United States.
“Or maybe it would be nice to meet a liquid monster…”
A monster that controlled a human computer whose body was made of slimy liquid.
Although he had put Gyeonghoon through quite a bit of trouble, he was now the monster he wanted to meet the most.
The mana stone that the monster had was the most necessary item needed by the AI development company I met not long ago.
Papak.
Kyung-hoon thought about the events of that day as he ran towards the city center where the cold air spread out.
*
”…The situation ahead is completely blocked. I’d like to receive investment, but honestly, I don’t have much hope…. Argh…” The
company CEO, who was ending the briefing in the conference room with a ridiculous remark, was grabbed by the researcher next to him.
“Senior Hoho is very tired . It looks like it came out wrong.”
The researcher who had been clenching his side tried to fix it with a forced smile, but the atmosphere in the conference room had already become a mess. ”
Sigh, I guess it’s already too late.”
Another researcher sighed with a frustrated face and said,
“This is it . It’s all because of your senior! What are you doing in front of all the people who came to see you?”
The researcher, who was forcing a smile, shouted at the researcher who was presenting. ”
No, everything will be revealed if we do the due diligence. There’s nothing we can do.”
Moreover, the 30-year-old who introduced himself as the representative . The man grumbled, rubbing his side.
The accountant was watching the mess in front of him with a bewildered expression.
“We found out that the mana stone is the source of the monster’s power and that mana has will, but honestly, we didn’t go one step further than that.” “We decided to close the business after only this month, but even if we received investment, nothing would change.” The
other two researchers sighed at the CEO’s words.
Honestly, what he said was true.
It’s been a long time since we wasted time without making any progress. Let alone a salary, we have no savings. The money had long since run out. If I failed the venture screening at the end of this month, I was going to be kicked out of this building. The company was going to close that day and everyone was going to disperse. The accountant put the folder in his bag. There was no need to hear any more about it
. .
The other two companies still showed potential, but this company seemed to be no better than a school club. The
researchers within the company were flashy, but leading the venture was a completely different matter.
Even for an infinitely generous investor, this time it seemed like a stretch
. The sound heard was no different from other companies.
“What is the blocked story? What’s the problem?”
The three people who were excitedly arguing at Kyung-hoon’s words looked at Kyung-hoon.
The CEO blinked and the female researcher sighed. I took a break and opened my mouth.
”It doesn’t matter what I tell you, but things have progressed a lot more than what my senior said. To be honest, even if we only look at mana gem analysis and mana research, not AI development, we would be ranked among the top in the world?” “
Anyway, the correlation between mana flow in monsters and mana stones has been significantly revealed. “We have laid out some theoretical framework for how mana stones increase the intelligence of monsters and how to create artificial intelligence using mana stones.” The representative grumbled next to me
.
“Then what do you do? “It can’t be made.”
The researcher continued, glaring at the CEO once again.
“The problem is that there is no such thing as a mana stone that reacts with electronic devices. It is possible to suck out the energy of a mana stone like a mana stone generator or to use managene to display characteristics like a monster weapon discovered last time, but there are no mana stones that react with inanimate objects themselves.” “I wonder if there was a DNA computer or biological computer.
” . It was impossible from the beginning. “We were fools.”
At the CEO’s words, the researcher just sighed.
“It’s just as you said. “I tried to force it to connect, but it was impossible.”
After she finished speaking, Kyung-hoon tilted his head.
“So, even if there is such a monster, only the mana stones of such monsters can be used to run the AI, right?”
She shook her head in response to Kyung-hoon’s question.
“That’s not true. If you figure out how to link it, it will be possible with regular mana stones.” .“
”Hmm, shouldn’t it be added to the circuit?”
”Only at first, but after making it a few times, the whole brain itself will be possible with a regular chip.” ”
If that happens, it will be difficult to replicate….” ”
That’s true, but…. ”
Leaving Kyung-hoon asking a question, the researchers started talking amongst themselves.
Although the researchers had forgotten Kyung-hoon in an instant, one person was looking at him.
The accountant asked Kyung-hoon.
“No way, this company too…”
Kyung-hoon nodded.
“Yes, I plan to invest.”
“Yes?” “Yes?“ “Yes?”
“Huh? What?”
The accountant and the researchers who were having a heated discussion looked at Kyung-hoon in surprise, and the CEO looked at everyone with a puzzled expression.
This company was definitely right.
The theory, the concept, and the logo on the door.
“Let me ask you one thing. What about AI?” “If you make it, what do you plan on calling it?”
“Ah Adam…”
“Eve! It’s Eve!”
Cutting off the female researcher, the CEO shouted loudly,
“Why did you use that as the logo? Get rid of stupid Adam! The species began with Eve!”
The two researchers sighed at the CEO’s words.
But Kyung-hoon was confident in his words.
“I will invest. I will invest fully.”
*
On the rooftop of a building in central Vladivostok, Kyung-hoon looked regretful:
“I should have had the monster mana stone I caught in Jamsil.”
If only we had those mana stones, AI development could have started right away. Unfortunately, the mana stone was handed over to SG Electronics for research purposes.
“The monster here doesn’t seem to be a liquid monster either…”
A huge monster was lying down in front of Kyunghoon. It was a monster with chunks of ice all over its body.
Although it was the same water, this monster had a thick chunk of flesh underneath the ice.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s a pattern nearby… Let’s just check where it’s lying and catch it quickly.”
It was impossible to use the rail gun. It was too cold near the monster.
Kyung-hoon took out Mirinae.
And mana was infused into Mirinae.
Wooooow.
Mirina started shaking and
boom.
The ice monster that was lying down began to rise up.
Kukukuk.
It seemed to be a monster sensitive to mana.
The sight of the monster standing up on two feet was very disgusting.
Instead of skin, the monster was using chunks of ice as its shell.
Underneath the translucent ice chunks were full of hideous flesh and blood vessels.
A huge monster, like a body that had been peeled off and placed in a block of ice, stood tall in front of Kyung-hoon.
Wow!
The monster screamed at Kyung-hoon, but Kyung-hoon did not see the monster.
He was looking at the floor where the monster stood.
I could see complicated lines drawn under the ice.
There was a pattern drawn on the floor.
The manazine used for dimensional travel clearly remained.
