Chapter 62
After the barbecue disaster.
I naturally thought Kim Yang would want to go to some expensive restaurant.
Isn't that what social media influencers usually do?
Go to an expensive restaurant, take a ton of pictures, and eat food that's gone cold.
But what Kim Yang actually asked for was simpler than I expected.
“Street food?”
Kim Yang nodded briefly and looked around. Then she grabbed me and started dragging me along at once.
“Th, that one.”
“Meat buns? You're going to fill up on something like that?”
“B-boss. S-sightseeing.”
I wanted to say I'd been here several times already, so what sightseeing was there to do?
But Kim Yang kept hurrying me along, so I had no choice but to follow.
What followed was much the same.
As we walked while eating meat buns, Kim Yang would whine about going somewhere else.
There, too, we'd eat a few snacks and then look around some more.
After about two hours of that, I was starting to get tired.
We took a short break on a bench in front of the park fountain.
Before I could even catch my breath, Kim Yang came up wanting to take a selfie with her phone.
“P-pose.”
“Where else is as relaxed as our company? Employees can even take selfies with the boss.”
“T-this is workplace socializing, boss. D-don't mistake it for being popular with the employees.”
“…….”
“Y-you young-forty. You look thrilled to death.”
Kim Yang giggled as she teased me and stuck close beside me.
“T-taking it.”
Click, click!
She snapped the shots even though I wasn't even smiling. Then she nodded in satisfaction and started editing them.
But these days, photo-editing apps are no joke.
“Hey, why did you turn me into a woman?”
“Pfft!”
With a few quick swipes across the photo, I, who had been a proper man, had suddenly turned into a woman.
I once heard that modern technology getting too good was its own problem, and Cyber City had proved it.
Was this one of those cases?
“Oh, you're posting it?”
“Why would you post that?”
“I-it's funny.”
Is this the vibe these days?
“Do whatever you want.”
It wasn't even my face anyway.
So I let it go and stared blankly up at the sky.
Kim Yang hummed as she uploaded the photo to social media.
'How peaceful.'
Starting tomorrow, things would probably get pretty busy.
If things went badly, I might not even be able to go to work.
Because I'd lifted my restrictions and used my power to catch the devil.
Maybe that was why.
“Hey, Kim Yang.”
“W-what?”
“Wanna go somewhere else?”
I suggested it because I wanted to enjoy this peaceful time a little longer, but Kim Yang, who had been staring at me, frowned.
“Y-you young-forty.”
“Hey.”
“W-workplace socializing. D-did you get too good at it?”
“Hey.”
“D-don't get the wrong idea. You'll get hurt.”
“Forget it. I'll go alone.”
When I stood up, she hurried to my side and gave a faint smile.
“U-um. Let's watch the magic show.”
“A magic show? If you watch something like that, you definitely have to pay.”
“H-hurry.”
In the end, I was dragged off to watch a street magic performance because of Kim Yang's relentless urging.
* * *
Above the salty scent of the sea and the rough waves.
A woman on a rubber boat slowly approached the tower.
The light field unfolding from the hand she held up toward the sky reflected the light, completely hiding her and the boat.
The woman who had reached the tower was Zhao Yuran, an assassin with a mechanical body dressed in Murim-style clothes.
A garbage-disposal vessel approached the boat.
Unlike the other floors, this tower was located in the Pacific, so people would casually dump trash and waste into it.
For environmental preservation, the Third-Floor Tower Management Bureau had assigned people specifically to clean the nearby sea.
The small boat and the cleaning vessel came alongside each other.
From inside the vessel, a man with a bushy beard came out and asked,
“Are you Zhao Yuran?”
“Answer: affirmative.”
“I heard your way of talking was unusual, and they were right. Get on. The elevator to the Fifth Floor is about to leave.”
Like a stowaway crossing a border.
Even in the tower, there are ways to move up to another floor by abnormal means.
It takes enormous capital, and the success rate is extremely low.
But even so, people kept using it.
Zhao Yuran had spent simple but grueling days since failing to assassinate Cheonjong, the son of the Minister of Rites.
She had taken a boat from Busan and reached here, the center of the Pacific.
A journey that was brutally arduous.
However, her mechanical body, trained internal energy, and the boat's engine made it possible.
Once she got aboard, the bearded captain immediately pulled out a suppressed pistol and shot the boat.
The deflated boat sank straight into the sea, erasing the evidence.
Then the captain held out a large bag.
“Practice it. Make sure you can fit inside here. We'll have to disguise you as luggage and sneak you in.”
“Answer: affirmative.”
Zhao Yuran immediately slipped into the luggage bag. She had already tried it on the way down, so if she disassembled both arms and tucked in her legs, it fit perfectly.
“Hah, that's impressive. Can you hold your breath?”
“Answer: affirmative. Three hours possible.”
“That should be enough.”
The captain glanced over and nodded in satisfaction. Holding her breath wasn't a feat of Cyber City's technology, but a method using internal energy.
She had simply followed the method used by Murim masters who fought while holding their breath underwater.
Part of her body might be mechanical, but Zhao Yuran was, after all, from the old Murim.
She could use internal energy.
And so the vessel naturally collected the surrounding trash and headed back to the tower.
Zhao Yuran looked up at the small shadow cast across the sky.
It wasn't that she had noticed the shadow.
It was more that she had no choice but to look up because of an even greater force.
Floating in the sky was a woman dressed in a business suit.
Her gaze, looking down from above, was fixed squarely on Zhao Yuran.
“Warning, danger.”
“Huh? What are you saying—”
The bearded captain still hadn't grasped the situation. The moment he raised his head following Zhao Yuran's gaze, his legs gave out and he collapsed.
“Y-y-yu Yena—!”
One of the strongest in Floor 3's Earth sector.
One of the Seven Extremes, Yuseong (流星) Yu Yena.
“Zhao Yuran. You are under arrest on suspicion of inciting inter-floor conflict, preparing large-scale terrorism, anti-tower order crimes, and attempted subversion of the national order.”
Incitement, terrorism, inter-floor crimes. National subversion.
The charges pouring down were each one too serious to brush aside.
Whoosh!
The sound of the sea rushing in could be heard.
Yu Yena's telekinesis was lifting the vessel itself.
Unlike the vessel being raised upward, Zhao Yuran and the captain were crushed as if nailed to the deck.
'Observe.'
Yu Yena entered Zhao Yuran's field of view. The built-in simulation ran more fiercely than ever.
[Defeat.]
[Defeat.]
[Defeat.]
[Defeat.]
[Defeat.]
[Defeat.]
[Defeat.]
[Defeat.]
[Defeat.]
.
.
.
[Victory.]
“……!”
Zhao Yuran's eyes sharpened.
A thread of hope found after the endless string of defeats.
[Victory Probability 12.27%]
Of course, the odds were still low.
But then—
“Yes, we've got her. We'll transfer her immediately.”
Yu Yena, who had started a call on her phone, turned back toward the tower.
[Victory Probability 35.01%]
“Has Juseon not arrived yet? He's coming down now? Then that works out perfectly.”
The probability kept climbing.
“Don't treat him too roughly. Hm? Personal feelings? I don't have anything like that.”
[Victory Probability 77.21%]
The moment she judged this side to have the upper hand.
In an instant, she condensed her strength, broke free of the restraints, and lunged.
Kwoom!
Internal energy surged through her whole body.
She kicked off the vessel and leaped upward, both arms detaching at the same time.
The detached arms transformed into blades and swept in on Yu Yena from different directions, while the main body launched a kick.
A three-pronged assault.
Even a Seven Extreme would die if they let their guard down in real combat—
“Cyber City's calculation module always provides the best choice.”
With Yu Yena's calm voice, the victory probability began to plummet steeply.
“The one thing people mistake after running dozens of simulations in their heads is this.”
[Victory Probability 0.02%]
[Defeat.]
[Combat Not Approved.]
[Escape Impossible.]
[Surrender Recommended.]
“You forget that in reality, you only get one chance.”
Crack-crack-crack!
“Aaaaargh!?”
“That's why Cyber City's mercenaries are easy to deal with.”
Both of Zhao Yuran's arms and her whole body were bound in midair. Under the overwhelming telekinesis, she couldn't even breathe, let alone move.
“If you give them the option with the highest probability, they'll crawl right over on their own.”
* * *
“B-boss. S-shall we get dinner?”
“Aren't you tired? Ugh, I'm sore all over and just want to go home quickly.”
The Third Floor, back again after taking the tower elevator.
I'd been dragged around by Kim Yang all day, so I didn't have any strength left.
On the other hand, Kim Yang was full of energy.
“I-I'm buying. L-let's eat.”
“What are you buying?”
As we walked while making small talk on the way to catch a bus to Seoul.
People in suits blocked my way. They were only wearing suits, and nothing about them revealed their identities, but
the dangerous scent that stabbed deep into my nose made it clear: these were the real deal.
“Mr. Kim Juseon.”
The man at the front showed me an ID badge from inside his pocket.
“We're from the Tower Management Bureau. Please come with us.”
“B-boss?”
Kim Yang grabbed me worriedly.
I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.
“...I didn't expect them to be this fast.”
“I happened to have business here. The timing was perfect.”
A woman's voice answering my murmur came from behind the men in suits.
As they split to either side, Yu Yena strode up and stood in front of me.
She gave a sidelong glance at Kim Yang over my shoulder and asked, slightly askance,
“Did you go on a trip or something?”
“You knew I was going to the Fourth Floor.”
“...Sorry, I just wanted to be a little petty.”
Unlike the shrugging Yu Yena, the atmosphere around the men behind her grew increasingly grim.
“I can explain, so don't make such a big deal out of it.”
“Explain.”
Yu Yena murmured in a low voice and replied somewhat sadly,
“No matter the reason, the Management Bureau won't accept it.”
“…….”
“Still, let's go. I'll speak up for you.”
The story continues off the page
Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you