Chapter 137
ㅡSquish, squish
“I-Is it okay to just keep doing this..?”
“For us, this is our break time.”
“This is when we’re happiest.”
I visited the office our maids use. It's tucked inside Magok District on the west side of Seoul. There are brand-new computers, printers, and all sorts of office-looking things, but... of course, they're basically just decorations.
The maids fused with the computers look like they're just sitting in their chairs resting, but in reality they're processing around forty domestic and overseas partnership and contract inquiries per minute in their heads in real time.
With five of them also doubling as security consultants, the scope has widened enormously, and they're now handling the internet security of companies whose names you'd recognize.
If someone actually comes by to talk contracts, we tell them to come then. In practice, it's basically just a maid lounge?
I'm lying on the sofa that used to be in our house with my head on one of the maid sisters' laps, offering up my cheeks as a reward. The other maid sisters are massaging my legs too, so it's incredibly comfortable.
“Come on, Princess. Aah~”
“Aah.”
And I'm in the middle of devouring the ultra-expensive premium fruit another company employee brought to the office. Honestly, I'm so comfortable I want to stay here forever, and Ophelia is on the opposite sofa with her eyes closed, working.
“Hmm.”
“How should we handle it, Head Maid?”
“It's a tough call either way, whether we refuse or accept.”
“Eep, what's wrong, Ophelia?”
While Ophelia was handling her work, something troublesome must've come up, because she suddenly let out a deep sigh and said,
“We got a call from Quantum Harbor.”
“Quantum Harbor?!”
“Yes. It seems they want to form a technical partnership.”
“Hooeek...”
Quantum Harbor is Tesla's Hunter affiliate, a top-tier tech company involved in everything from future AI development to other tech fields. It's one of the seven biggest companies in the US with Hunter affiliates.
“It looks like they've taken notice of the Gyeonggi-area gate sweep we carried out during the pilot operation.”
“Wow, then isn't that awesome? Working with Quantum Harbor would be huge, right?”
“A technical partnership needs something both sides can give and take. It seems they think the soldiers we showed in the media during the pilot run are some kind of newly developed in-house technology.”
“Ah, um...”
In other words, we don't really have anything we can give Quantum Harbor. Of course, we're using a brand-new ultra-high-strength rare metal nobody else has managed to develop, but that's not something we sell anywhere else.
Besides, we already have a product on the market. Ignoring that and pushing for a technical partnership outright is basically saying they want the technology behind the soldier golems.
Quantum Harbor wouldn't need cybersecurity consulting, would it..?
“More than anything, I don't think we'd get much out of it.”
“Whaaat? Really? But it's Quantum Harbor?”
Quantum Harbor may be at the top of the mana/energy-type Hunter equipment field, but we don't need that right now. Ophelia is already developing engines on her own, and Grandpa Galahad is producing the materials needed for them.
There's really no need to bring Quantum Harbor's technology in. But refusing a tech partnership with a giant company the size of Quantum Harbor would look a little odd.
“Hmmmmm...”
“We need to raise our scale fast. Until then, let's put the partnership inquiries on hold.”
“Understood.”
It's kind of amazing that our company is already getting this much attention.
* * * * *
ㅡA gate has appeared. Citizens, for your safety-....
Yeongdeungpo-gu, Yeongjung-ro, near Kyungbang Times Square. At 11:14 a.m., a B+-grade open-type gate appeared.
A B+ or higher gate appearing in the middle of downtown Seoul is rare. From this level on, an alert message is sent in bulk to professional Hunters within a 25-kilometer radius.
Also, the siren volume, normally limited to 120 decibels, is raised to 130 decibels and activated.
ㅡKikikikikik..!!!
A wide boulevard was instantly paralyzed as sludge/slime-type monsters reeking of filth spewed highly acidic saliva, their bodies mixed with rusty scrap metal and rotten bones or flesh, and undead monsters such as Living Mail made of high-strength metal poured out in waves.
“Kyaaaah ㅡ !!!”
“Move the car!! You bastard!!”
On the congested road, some citizens abandoned their cars and ran on foot, while others pulled their cars out to the curb and drove along the sidewalk.
Of course, just because a gate appears doesn't mean you can drive on the sidewalk. In the middle of such chaos, if cars speed through a path pedestrians use, it's common to hit a few unlucky, innocent civilians.
There’s even a bill that imposes harsher penalties for driving onto the sidewalk to escape the danger zone when a gate appears.
“Get out of the way!! If you don't want to get hit by a car, get out of the way ㅡ !!!”
Of course, punishment only matters if you're alive to receive it. Some people with too much body fat to flee on foot after ditching their cars stayed in the vehicle and drove out of the congested road onto the sidewalk, and a giant SUV began charging toward a spot crowded with dozens of people.
ㅡVroooooooom
“The c-car!!”
“Aaaah!!!”
The SUV charged straight toward the place packed with people, and just before it was about to claim 17 lives at 67 km/h.
ㅡKWAAAANG!!!
Boom ㅡ !
Suri's front paw, dropping from the sky, slammed the SUV's bumper into the ground and prevented a catastrophe.
ㅡKikikikikik!
Thud ㅡ !!
Bradamante pried off the grotesquely crumpled door. After the airbag smashed into the driver's face and left them half-conscious, Bradamante dragged them out of the car, then slapped their cheek with a crack and stomped on them hard with her foot.
“Stand up and run on your own two feet, you pig.”
“H-Hiiik..!! I'm sorry!!”
* * * * *
Oh my gosh. Bradamante gets terrifying when she's angry.
Of course Bradamante is pretty tall too, but the other guy was an absolute mega-fat Giga-Dynamax-sized giant, so honestly I was a little scared too—and then she just slapped him across the face.
“Princess! The soldiers!”
“Ah, okay! Soldiers! Advance!”
ㅡFwoosh!
We arrived only eight minutes after the gate appeared, so the monsters hadn't spread properly yet. For now, it's fortunate that the monsters that did spill out are moving slowly. Still, it's a difficult gate, so they're not easy opponents.
ㅡClack..!
ㅡKiiik!
“Those guys are total bastards! Go and beat the crap out of them!!”
ㅡClack!!!
Undead monsters like these are tough even for professional Hunters unless they have proper corrosion protection or anti-gas gear. Look at all that rust on its sword—one hit from that thing and you'd get tetanus right away. Of course there are healers, but it's better to come out healthy enough that you don't need one.
ㅡCrash!!!
The mechanical soldier corps swept away the slimes and rotten corpse ghouls in an instant, and Minyum and Bradamante started keeping the powerful undead knight that looked like both the boss and the mid-boss locked down in a one-on-one fight.
ㅡShaaash!
The boss knight, who looked about four meters tall, could slice the asphalt beneath it like tofu with its sword swings, but of course Minyum dodged every strike with quick whoosh-sha-sha motions and then just quietly bonked it on the head—
ㅡBonk!!
“Hooeek. Its head's heart-shaped.”
Even so, the metal in its helmet must be pretty sturdy, because it didn't split in half. Instead, with its head now heart-shaped, it looked surprisingly cute from a distance.
But it still hadn't been converted by love, so even while staggering it kept fighting Minyum. Bradamante, together with Suri, was charging ahead at high speed, smashing the mid-boss and the many undead knights into pieces with a crash-bang-smash.
“Ugh, what a smell... Dangdang, give me a ride.”
ㅡGrrrr...
I rode Dangdang and evacuated to a spot farther away. Of course, Ophelia was also shooting monsters with a sniper rifle from a slightly farther spot.
ㅡBang!!
“Ah, there you are.”
Ophelia was standing on one foot on an absurdly thin green road sign like some kind of acrobat, shooting monsters and hitting every shot. I wondered whether she'd topple over from the recoil, but she was fine because she was tethered by invisible threads.
“It's a B+ gate, Dangdang! We've gotten this strong already!!”
ㅡGrrrr...
Naturally, you'd need about three B-rank subjugation squads to clear a gate like this safely. Of course, those things are dangerous to living creatures, so we had a little matchup advantage. But I still hadn't even brought out mana enhancement or Grandpa Galahad yet.
“W-what are all those things..?”
“We made it! It's the Eve Project!”
“What's the Eve Project!?”
Among the people nearby, the name 'Eve Project' was now firmly etched into their minds, so whenever that name appears on an open-type gate, they can feel at ease.
Seventeen minutes into the fight. Twenty-five minutes after the gate opened, Nova's Hunters arrived near Yeongdeungpo Kyungbang Times Square.
The road, which had been clogged by a few wrecked cars, had cleared somewhat as people moved their vehicles aside, and about ten minutes after a gate opens, the nearby traffic lights immediately start flashing red at a frantic pace to say, 'There's a gate ahead, so you can't go that way.'
Nova's signature black van screeched into a drift and quickly dropped off the Hunters from the 3rd subjugation team, but the situation was already almost over.
“What in the world is all this..?”
“Good grief... they're really fast.”
Arriving 25 minutes after an open-type gate appears is really fast. We're just way faster than that, and if you also have to prepare things like anti-gas gear, it takes a huge amount of time.
ㅡClatter..
At last, the boss knight's greatsword fell to the ground, and the giant body of the knight dropped to its knees with a thud, ending the situation.
“Good job, everyone! This is a bit dirty, so let's gather it all in one place, collect the loot, and head out!!”
ㅡClack!
“Well done, Princess. That was a very direct and high-level command.”
“Hehe.”
After the situation was over, the maids drove over in the Eve Project trucks and handled everything neatly. In the specially contamination-proof cargo truck, the loot taken from the undead monsters' bodies was collected and stacked in order.
“This is... rare metal.”
“Oh! Really!?”
“Yes, it looks worth taking.”
The slime monsters that had packed tons of scrap metal into their bodies were actually living rare-metal ore. So we just stripped out the slimy, filthy parts and took the metal.
ㅡClack!!!
“Huh? What's that?”
ㅡClack, clack!
“Eh..? You want that..? Go ahead and take it yourself...”
Minyum said she liked the boss knight's sword and wanted to take it for herself. Of course, the Living Mail armor is also rare metal, so we’re taking that too, but whatever—if Minyum wants it, what does it matter? The helmet's heart-shaped, though, so it's cute.
“Wow, this, this. We really won't need to go out to open-type gates anymore.”
“Ah, hello!”
I also chatted about various things with Hunter Ju Hayoung, the leader of the 3rd subjugation team whom we met last time at the Nova Training Center.
“We’re heading out now!! Bye-bye!!”
ㅡWhoooosh
After Eve and the Eve Project members left the area.
* * * * *
“ㅡTap, tap, tap....”
“Hmm, even up close I still can't tell.”