Chapter 163 : Main Business (2)

A giant tower reminiscent of the medieval era.

It was the headquarters of The Top, one of the five major corporations that dominated the Battleground.

Unlike all the other corporations and research labs in the Battleground, which were equipped with modern, even futuristic designs and facilities, they were an anomalous presence even in this massive city.

And on its top floor.

Charlotte, though with the tag of "acting" attached, was buried in the president's chair, staring blankly at the ceiling.

In a few hours, a cataclysm would occur that would turn the five major corporations into four.

Although she hadn't explained it perfectly because of the risk of information leaking through Ho-cheol, The Top had already prepared numerous strategies.

But right now, Charlotte had no interest in that at all.

Instead, she just recalled her conversation with Ho-cheol several times, mulling over his words.

She looked around the president's office with a serious expression.

The interior was splendid and beautiful.

Right now, she was a modern-day noble, no, she had the authority and power of a king.

But despite having such power, Charlotte could not feel any joy or fulfillment in her current life.

In fact, this situation and position were too suffocating.

It was only because she was in front of Ho-cheol, an outsider who didn't even know of the five major corporations, that her tension had naturally loosened; she had originally lived while suppressing her emotions.

Because it would be a weakness to those on her level, and she had to show dignity to those below her.

She could not carelessly show her true feelings in front of anyone.

When was the last time she had laughed in front of someone?

Her schedule for the next year was already decided, and it was packed without even a weekend.

She was not in control of her work; her work was in control of her.

She was just a watchman who managed The Top, and by extension, success.

The success she had achieved to avoid dying for the rest of her life, to avoid being trampled on by others, was conversely killing her, crushing her.

Slowly, but surely and clearly, it was strangling her.

That's why Charlotte was a little interested in the point Ho-cheol had mentioned earlier, the point where she could go back.

Could she really escape from this situation?

Just as she was lost in thought, having forgotten even what she had to do because of her troubled mind.

Clank—

Kwang—

An employee burst into the president's office without knocking.

“What is it?”

Charlotte frowned deeply and turned her head.

“Are you crazy?”

“N-no. I'm sorry. But it's a very important matter!”

Looking at the panting employee, she smoothed the wrinkles on her forehead.

His face was pale, so it might really be an important matter.

She wasn't that narrow-minded.

“So what is it?”

“That, that!”

The employee, who was wondering what to call him, squeezed his eyes shut.

“Th-the outsider the vice president told us to watch has gone to Black Oskopf.”

“Why all of a sudden?”

For a moment, the word "betrayal" flashed in Charlotte's mind, but she quickly dismissed the suspicion.

In this game, betrayal was a daily occurrence, like an instinct.

That's why she had hidden most of the plan from Ho-cheol.

And for a mere betrayal, there was no reason for that employee to make such a fuss.

But the words that followed were so bad that betrayal would have been better.

The employee panted and shouted.

“He's… causing a rampage in the Black Oskopf headquarters building!”

A very short silence followed, and Charlotte asked back.

“What does that mean?”

But the employee could not explain in more detail.

Because that was really all there was to it.

In the lobby of the Black Oskopf headquarters, Ho-cheol tilted his head slightly to the side and beckoned.

At the same time, he swung his sword and smashed all the doors in the lobby.

Kwagagang—

Well, if you had to classify what he was doing now, it was closer to a terrorist than a villain.

But since it was all the same to the person on the receiving end, there was probably no need to distinguish.

Of course, while Ho-cheol was having such silly thoughts, the first floor had fallen into complete chaos because he had split the lobby in half.

The building was dangerous because of the earthquake.

They had thought of that, but since Ho-cheol was standing right in front of the main entrance of the lobby, they could not go outside.

That's why all the employees had turned their backs and fled to the inside of the building.

Of course, Ho-cheol just stared at the backs of the employees and did not stop them at all.

In any case, they were all just ordinary employees.

They were not key personnel for Black Oskopf, and they were completely ignorant of the Doctor and transcendence that Ho-cheol was after.

Most importantly, they had to flee so loudly for him to achieve his goal this time.

In fact, Ho-cheol was watching another outsider mix in with the employees and enter the inside of the building.

Originally, Black Oskopf employees had to check their employee ID and face, and even their fingerprints every time they entered the building, but no one was following that procedure now.

In fact, the key to this attack was to draw attention to plant the dark hero he had joined hands with in the headquarters building.

She had received a total of three missions.

To flesh out the internal map Ho-cheol had given her.

To pinpoint the location of the traitorous Doctor.

And to grasp the core laboratory related to transcendence.

If she could do even one of them for sure, it would be a sufficient achievement.

It was unsettling to entrust the success or failure of a plan to someone else, but since infiltration and intelligence warfare were not his specialty, it was right to leave it to an expert.

To be honest, Ho-cheol did not trust The Top's plan.

The chaos they had caused was just an insurance against any unforeseen variables.

That's why he was just maintaining his own plan.

Most importantly, if things had gone according to their plan, Ho-cheol would only have achieved his external goal, and it would not have been easy to achieve his second, hidden goal.

Ho-cheol slowly looked around.

He had already planted his person, so there was no reason to cause a rampage here anymore, but if he were to leave right away, there was a possibility that the situation would be resolved quickly.

So I need more chaos than this.

At the same time as he made that judgment, he stomped his foot hard.

Kugugugung—

A shock, shorter than an earthquake but stronger than it, shook the entire building.

Screams were heard from afar.

Less than three minutes had passed since he had burst in, but security robots armed with guns and electric batons, which must have been hidden somewhere nearby, appeared.

“There’s a lot of them.”

Of course, no matter how good a can's weapon was, it was still a can.

As he was leisurely destroying all the security robots, this time, heavily armed people rushed in.

Judging by the word guard on their chests, were they the security team?

In fact, the word "security" didn't really suit them.

Even the military special forces he had seen outside wouldn't have that much equipment.

They moved in unison, spread out, and simultaneously aimed their guns at Ho-cheol.

The red laser that shot out from the end of them was aimed at Ho-cheol's forehead.

The man who was the only one holding a sword instead of a gun raised the faceplate of his helmet.

“Who are you, and what were you thinking, causing a scene like this?”

Ho-cheol answered nonchalantly.

“Well, I heard a traitor got a job here. I came to scold him, but the building is bigger than I thought. It’ll be a job to find him.”

“A traitor? You came to throw away your life for such a pathetic reason?”

“Ah, I know you want to set a mood and say something cool. But I'm not going to listen anyway, so stop talking. Most importantly…”

He waved his hand as if to tell him to be quiet.

“No matter how I am, I'm not on the level of sharing a table with a house dog. Can't you just call the owner of the house?”

“Heo.”

The security team leader scoffed as if genuinely dumbfounded.

He wasn't even angry because he had said something so absurd.

Who in the Battleground would dare to say such a thing to them?

He felt it was no longer worth talking to him.

He turned around and said.

“Kill him. If we’re curious, we can just read his memory from his corpse.”

At his command, the security team opened fire.

It was not an ordinary gun and bullet, but a form that received energy from within the Black Oskopf building and fired it, which was closer to a laser than a simple bullet.

Moreover, its power was not of a kind that could be dodged or blocked even with an Augmentation Trait.

Had the security team leader walked a few steps?

He momentarily stopped at the chilling sensation he felt at the back of his head.

He slowly turned his head and checked behind him.

And for a moment, he was utterly astonished.

Ho-cheol was standing right behind him.

And behind Ho-cheol, the twenty members of the security team were all on the floor, rolling around in a miserable state.

But Ho-cheol was completely fine, except for the edges of his clothes being slightly burned or having holes here and there.

“I thought it was a gun, but a laser came out, so I was surprised. But listen.”

Ho-cheol tapped one of the fallen guards with the tip of his foot.

“In the end, even if you raise the output to a similar level, there's something invisible that can't be replaced with just equipment specs? That kind of thing has a pretty big weight, you know. When you get to this level.”

On the outside, he acted nonchalant, but inwardly, Ho-cheol was impressed.

He understood why the state was so desperately trying to prevent items from the Battleground from coming out.

This was beyond the realm of a simple support item.

The security team leader was about to draw his sword, but Ho-cheol was faster.

He swung his crystal sword and cut off the hilt of the sword the security team leader was about to draw.

“That sword isn’t just a sword either, it’s probably a magic wand full of some mysterious functions, right? Sorry, but I didn’t come here to experience future technology, so I’ll see you later.”

Then he held the sword in a reverse grip and struck the security team leader's temple.

That was the security team leader's last memory.

After that, a few more security teams came, but they could not stop Ho-cheol.

In fact, he rampaged even more and made a mess of the first floor of the building.

About five minutes passed.

Ho-cheol swept his sweaty hair up and tilted his head.

“The owner of the house still hasn’t come down even after all this. Well, maybe he’s not here or something?”

The security guards on the floor momentarily doubted their ears.

What did this bastard just say?

Yet Ho-cheol nonchalantly scratched the back of his head.

“Then I'll be back in 15 minutes, so tell him to come out and wait for me properly this time.”

Leaving those words, he briskly left the lobby.

He went into a suitable alley and hid.

It wasn't that he had a physical problem.

In fact, it was Black Oskopf that had the problem.

Just pushing them relentlessly would not get the desired reaction.

He had to give them some time to catch their breath.

Right now, it was just a surprise attack, but they would only feel a real sense of urgency when they were crushed even after having made full preparations.

As he was killing time for a while, as if someone was watching him, the communication device he had put in his pocket vibrated with a woong woong— sound.

“Hmm.”

After thinking for a moment, he took out the communication device from his pocket and pressed the call button.

A flustered voice immediately came from the other side.

“Wh-what are you doing!”

The voice was slightly modulated, but it was clearly Charlotte.

Despite her scream-like protest, Ho-cheol was relaxed.

“Ah. Well. It was part of the original plan.”

“I didn’t hear about it.”

“We didn’t exactly agree to share our plans with each other.”

“Even so!”

“It won’t be a hindrance. That should be enough.”

Since there was no room for refutation, she clamped her mouth shut.

However, she couldn't help but feel a little upset.

“……Alright. Then we’ll go according to our plan from now on, right?”

“No?”

“Eh?”

To the dumbfounded Charlotte, Ho-cheol added shortly.

“I’m going to Black Oskopf.”

“Why?”

“That was just a warning. This is the main event.”

“Wait a moment! At the very least, you have to share your next plan with me…!”

But Charlotte's plea did not reach Ho-cheol.

“I’ve arrived, so I’m hanging up.”

“No, most importantly, if you go back now, it's obvious that a first-class hunter will be waiting…!”

Before she could finish her words, he hung up the communication device with a click.

Ho-cheol turned his gaze and looked straight ahead.

“It's not polite to keep talking on the phone when someone has come out to meet you.”

Perhaps they had cleaned up in the last 20 minutes, the lobby of the headquarters was empty.

A man stood in the center, staring blankly at Ho-cheol.

“A villain, a terrorist, yet you have that much courtesy.”

“But I'm being so polite, and for you to have no basic manners, that doesn't look very good. The owner of the house should come out.”

Ho-cheol tilted his head.

“So who are you?”

The man raised his hand and brought it to his back.

In his hand when it came back to the front was a small toy bow.

The bow was barely the size of a palm.

The arrow was also a toy that you would see in a stationery store.

Aiming the bow at Ho-cheol, he said shortly.

“A hunter.”

Ho-cheol chuckled.

“Well, you’ve got your concept down.”