Chapter 160 : The Corporation

Beyond the gate, the scenery that was only a few steps away changed completely.

The ‘Battleground,’ created by the mixing of several gates, was on the scale of a small country.

Even though the gate was not yet fully conquered and it was unknown what monsters or threats might be in the unconquered areas, people had risked their lives to build factories, research labs, and cities for the sole purpose of money.

Factory city, industrial city, technology city.

It had surpassed all of that and now even had the title of a city state.

How bold must the person who had first built a factory here have been.

Continuing such idle thoughts, Ho-cheol looked around.

The dazzling neon signs lining the streets, the faint smell of metal and oil mixed together, the sound of drone propellers from the distant sky, and the faint vibration coming up from the ground.

There was nothing that was not unpleasant.

The gate was not the territory of any country.

Since it was not a country, no laws applied.

Normally, it would have been dismissed as the nonsense of a criminal, but when the ones who claimed it were a coalition of giant corporations that could even control a country, it was a different story.

Thanks to that, illegal businesses such as the latest weapons, physical enhancement drugs, biological modifications, artificial Trait bodies, and illegal high-functioning artificial intelligences were being conducted so openly.

There was nothing that was not illegal, but here, it was not a crime to be hidden, nor was it a flaw.

In fact, it was illegal to question it.

Meanwhile, a drone flew rapidly past Ho-cheol's nose.

“Heo.”

Ho-cheol let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.

Drone delivery or transport was, of course, illegal over there.

Flying at a low altitude was even crazier.

But here, it was foolish not to do it.

‘Because it makes money.’

It was truly a magic spell.

Ho-cheol, who had been momentarily mesmerized by the new city's scenery, belatedly came to his senses.

Thanks to Black Oskopf's invitation, he had been dropped off at the nearest gate, but all the buildings he could see looked similar, so he didn't know what was what.

There were no signs either.

As he was wondering where to go, someone suddenly put their arm on Ho-cheol's shoulder.

The friendly gesture of putting an arm around his shoulder was so natural that for a moment, even Ho-cheol wondered if it was a friend or an acquaintance.

But it was neither a friend nor an acquaintance.

The man who had his arm around Ho-cheol's shoulder whispered softly.

“Hey, buddy, if you don't want a hole in you, how about you take out all the money you have?”

He was now aiming his finger at Ho-cheol's chest.

It was not just a finger.

His finger had suddenly become as sharp as an awl.

“A flashy welcoming ceremony.”

“This angle, you see, it doesn't even touch the bones, it just pierces the lungs. Eleven cm. A hole in the lung, and water starts to fill up from there. You drown on land.”

Ho-cheol scratched his cheek, only to scratch his innocent mask.

He pointed to the crumpled chrysanthemum badge on his chest.

“You don't know this?”

“No. What is it?”

Even though the Battleground was dominated by foreign-based criminals, to think he wouldn't recognize it at all.

Feeling a strange sense of disappointment, Ho-cheol let out a sigh.

“Ah, and take off all those clothes too. I'll leave you your underwear.”

It was natural for the weak to be robbed.

That was the culture and common sense of the Battleground.

In fact, even as Ho-cheol was being robbed, the people passing by just sent a glance as if to say, "The one who got robbed is an idiot."

There were even some who openly sneered.

“Before that, this foolish mask first.”

He moved the hand he had around his shoulder and touched Ho-cheol's mask.

No, to be precise, he was about to.

Before that, Ho-cheol moved first.

Was it thanks to the mask?

Was it thanks to him repeatedly hypnotizing himself to act like a villain before coming here?

In any case, his psychological brakes didn't work at all.

Very simply and leisurely, he grabbed the hand that was trying to touch the mask and broke it, and at the same time, he also broke and pulled out the awl that was aimed at his chest.

The pulled-out awl turned back into a finger.

Right.

It was body modification.

“Kkeuheuk!”

The man, whose wrist was suddenly broken and a finger pulled out, screamed and fell.

But before that, Ho-cheol kicked the knee of the falling man.

His body floated up again, and Ho-cheol grabbed him by the collar.

“This hurts a lot, doesn't it? I was only thinking of an awl, I didn't think it was a finger. But what can you do? It's only going to hurt more from now on.”

His expression turned black.

Stepping on the man repeatedly, Ho-cheol scratched the back of his head as if dumbfounded.

“Good grief. If it's a person wearing expensive clothes without any guards, isn't there a higher probability that they're strong enough to protect themselves rather than just being a sucker?”

“W-well, you looked like a rookie to the Battleground.”

Occasionally, there were greenhorns who came to the Battleground simply for business or to make money, without knowing anything about it.

And since Ho-cheol completely matched the characteristics of a greenhorn, he tried to bite immediately.

In fact, since he was a rookie to the Battleground, his eye for people was not bad.

It was just that he had run into one of the few unlucky cases.

“Here, even villains don't cover their faces. And when I scanned you, you were 100% a normal body, so I just thought you were a regular businessman…”

“Well. Forget it. I don't have time to play with someone like you.”

It wasn't for nothing that he had left one leg intact even though he had mangled all the other limbs.

Ho-cheol tilted his chin.

“Guide me to Black Oskopf.”

He arrived at Black Oskopf with the robber's guidance.

In fact, he didn't even need his guidance.

The biggest building he could see from here was Black Oskopf's headquarters.

As he entered the lobby on the first floor, a security android approached Ho-cheol.

“Access pass not confirmed. Commencing security procedures for identity verification…”

Before the robot could finish speaking, Ho-cheol took out the invitation from his pocket.

As the invitation, held between his index and middle fingers, appeared, the android momentarily stopped its announcement.

Instead, a red light shot out from the part that looked like its eyes and scanned the invitation.

“Welcome.”

It bowed its waist at a Ninety degree angle in greeting.

At that sight, the people around him began to stir.

It was the first time they had seen a lobby android bow at that angle.

Even the highest-ranking executives wouldn't get that much.

Was he the president of one of the other five major corporations?

Receiving such gazes, Ho-cheol followed the android.

Following the android's guidance, he got on a pitch-black elevator at the very back.

“Please enjoy your time.”

Ho-cheol, who was alone in the elevator, lightly looked around.

At least, since it was a VIP elevator, there seemed to be no CCTV.

Well, it would be awkward if someone were to question or point it out later.

“Nice.”

Ho-cheol spat the gum he had been chewing on into a corner of the elevator.

Then he immediately tore open a new piece of gum and put it in his mouth.

Even if someone else got on, they wouldn't clean up the gum themselves.

And so, the elevator arrived at the top floor of Black Oskopf's headquarters.

A lavishly decorated interior, reminiscent of a luxury hotel, greeted Ho-cheol.

Gentle light scattered from the marble floor and the chandelier on the ceiling.

Below it, about 40 people were gathered in small groups, talking or spending time alone.

The gender ratio was surprisingly 5:5.

He had thought that an illegal place like this would be teeming with old men, but there were quite a few young people as well.

The suit Ho-cheol was wearing was also a top-of-the-line item provided by the Lunard Auction, but there was no one among the people gathered here who was wearing cheaper clothes than Ho-cheol.

The place, and the people, were all equally splendid.

But they could not hide their ugly true nature.

“Is that the same for me?”

Ho-cheol let out a sneer.

Since there were still about 10 minutes until the event, Ho-cheol wandered around the event hall, checking the structure and such.

And he also stuck a piece of gum under the tray of an android that was serving drinks.

It noticed the foreign object on its own body like a ghost, but it seemed completely unaware of the tray.

As he was sipping the free drink and looking around.

“Huhu.”

At the voice from behind him, Ho-cheol turned only his head.

“Hello?”

A woman stood behind him.

Unlike him, who had his entire face covered by a mask, the woman's mask only covered from her forehead to her philtrum, so her mouth was fully visible.

“What is it?”

Ho-cheol took a step back, openly wary.

“I see. You're an outsider, aren't you?”

At her question, Ho-cheol's brows narrowed.

He could understand the robber from before, but this time, he didn't think he had given himself away.

Did he really look like an outsider?

After thinking for a moment, Ho-cheol asked.

“How did you know?”

The woman smiled lightly and placed her hand on her chest.

“Because you don't know this at all.”

On her splendid dress was a plain-looking brooch that didn't match.

The five major corporations of the Battleground.

It was also the symbol of one of them, The Top.

“No one from the Battleground would show such a reaction after seeing this badge.”

She whispered in a small and alluring voice.

“If you want to live long, that is. That's why I thought you were an outsider.”

“Right. I came from the outside. I had a hard time with the hazing from the natives here.”

Despite Ho-cheol's taunt, the woman did not lose her smile.

“An outsider. I’m quite interested. Which country are you from?”

He had come to rob Black Oskopf, not to get involved with someone and attract attention.

Most importantly, if she was making a living here, it was a crime.

There was no reason or thought to get close to someone like that.

Ho-cheol deliberately ignored her words.

“Oh my, so aloof.”

Just then, the ceiling lights instantly went dark.

“Well. Alright. In any case, let’s focus on the event for now and talk more later.”

The woman stepped back, in a tone that showed no disappointment.

In the darkness, so thick that it was just barely possible to make out what was in front, a translucent screen appeared on one of the walls with a thung sound.

And a man walked up and stood in front of it.

“Welcome, esteemed guests. I will skip all the pleasantries, such as thank you for coming. Time is gold, no, to you, whose value is greater than diamonds, it would be an unpleasant thing to hear. The reason we have gathered here is for one thing. Information with a value greater than diamonds.”

The man, who looked to be in his mid-to-late 40s, was the only one here who was showing his bare face without a mask.

“We have created this event to showcase the new technology developed by our Black Oskopf.”

When he pressed the device in his hand, a video appeared on the screen.

A scene of a human with a monster's arm fighting a squadron of small drones in a laboratory was played.

The sharp claws lightly cut the drones in half, and he lightly blocked the pouring bullets.

But there was no one among the people gathered here who was impressed by that video.

A human-monster fusion?

It was a little surprising, but that arm didn't have to be a monster's; it was a performance and firepower that could be replaced with an artificial body or a mechanical device.

Most importantly, everyone gathered here knew very well that Black Oskopf was instigating terrorism by distributing fusion drugs with monster DNA to villains on the market.

No matter how much they tested it in a lab, it couldn't even be compared to the real data from the outside.

“It's just creepy.”

It was a natural reaction for someone to sneer like that.

And as if he had expected it, the man chuckled and added.

“For your information, the test subject in the video is not an awakened one.”

At that declaration, the atmosphere completely flipped.

Everyone, as if astonished, as if impressed.

The murmur spread to everyone.

A non-awakened ordinary person cannot withstand the rejection of an artificial body.

At most, a single finger, or an ear, was the limit.

And that could not surpass the output of the original body.

But that was not the case.

The test subject in the video clearly showed an output greater than that of most Augmentation Traits.

Someone asked again.

“What about the side effects? Who knows if he just dropped dead five minutes after filming that video?”

“Of course, it’s not completely without rejection or side effects. However, the probability of a rejection reaction occurring is extremely low, less than five %. And the attached body does not fall off. It’s not just a graft, but a change in the body itself.”

A murmur spread throughout the event hall again.

“Of course, drugs such as Trait suppressants have no effect at all. In the first place, this is not a Trait.”

Everyone shared their opinions with the person next to them, while quickly running a calculator in their heads.

No matter how monstrously a part of their body changed, in any case, for an ordinary person, an awakened one was in the realm of delusion.

The man, who had been enjoyably watching the confusion for a while, clapped his hands lightly.

“It's not just a genetic modification, a fusion. It’s a perfect superior version that has transcended the species of human and the category of monster.”

Everyone's attention was on him.

“From now on, we will dare to call this, arrogantly…”

The screen moved again.

Everyone held their breath.

On the screen were hundreds of cylindrical capsules, about two metres tall, lined up in a row.

Inside them were all something that was a mix of a monster and a person.

“Transcendence is the ultimate goal of humanity.”

The man's gaze was not that of a greedy man who was crazy for money.

It was closer to madness, which could be called fanaticism.