Episode 55. Star counting night (7)
“Shh.”
“… … !”
I can’t afford to wait for mental preparation.
I grabbed Nayeon Eom’s wrist as she tried to push my chest down, lifted her up, and pressed her stomach with my other hand, forcing her waist against the cabinet wall.
Beep.
Immediately after that, there was the sound of a card key scratching and the door opened. I closed the cabinet door a short distance later.
“Oh hey. Why is it that after I was transferred here, there are accidents and sh*t.”
Are you a researcher? It seemed that he had come to this room looking for something, and he started to rummage.
‘It’s a big deal. In order to see the situation outside, I had to turn my body upside down and enter the cabinet… !’
Because I rushed in, there was only one thing I could see. It was only Nayeon Eom’s neck.
Because the door could only be closed by crouching, their bodies were in close contact as if they were overlapping each other.
While resting carefully so as not to hear even the sound of breathing, I felt more nervous because I couldn’t look outside.
‘Just go. Please go find the things you want.’
In the game, I only thought that I would be envious when the main character and the heroine were in this kind of situation. Since I became the person in charge, envy was only concerned with the fear of being caught, so physical contact didn’t even come into my head.
“ah! Here it is. and. these nerds. Why did you put this important thing in here? Does this look so funny?”
It looks like you’ve finally found what you’re looking for.
Now, all you have to do is get out.
Tumble.
The sound of footsteps as if they were heading towards the door they had been waiting for so long.
“right. They said you could evacuate, so you should bring extra clothes.”
moment.
The accident circuit has stopped.
A moment of desperation where you can neither do this nor that. The steps that only knew how to go out eventually came to the front of the cabinet where we were.
“!”
I hugged Nayeon’s face into my chest.
and.
Sigh.
The cabinet door opened.
[Activates ‘Emotion Implant’.]
It wasn’t heaven for him. It was natural to bet on myself to stay calm.
‘calm down. You don’t have to suppress it right away. I’ll watch the situation till the end.’
From here on, you have to work your way through pure improvisation. I really wanted to use the means of suppression only in the last and worst situation.
“you… … . oops. hehehehe!”
“… … .”
The guy started laughing.
Not yet.
“Hey~ Did I come in without notice when you were having fun? anyway it is Not much to do here.”
“… … Tsk. Did you find out in the end?”
“Don’t get caught, you bastard! Look at the way these guys talk. Did you do it here on purpose to enjoy the thrill even though you knew there was a risk of being caught?”
“Go back when you’ve seen it all.”
“okay okay. go go It’s rough. Anyway. Everyone pretends to be a nice researcher and enjoys everything they enjoy behind the scenes.”
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Just like that, it seemed like he was about to go out toward the door again.
“ah. But can I ask you something?”
The boy spoke again.
‘I bet that guy. Did he fool around knowing that we were intruders?’
I don’t know if I really need to suppress it now. I slowly made up my mind and prepared to show my nature.
“What.”
“you. Are you wearing rubber?”
“… … what?”
“Wear the rubber and do it. You know that famous incident? 9 years ago or 10 years ago? In the past, a couple of our seniors were mistaken for cycles and drew two lines. In the end, it was used as a test subject, but it died because the injection was wrong in the middle.”
“know. I know it well.”
“Ugh. It must have been painful to see him being subjected to an experiment where his blood clots were burnt. If you don’t want to look like that, behave well. I’m sorry for laughing earlier, so I’m going to throw some away. If something is ambiguous, it’s almost a 100% strike, so wear it tight.”
Took.
There was a sound of something falling to the floor.
I still didn’t move.
“What are you doing? I don’t pick it up.”
“Okay, go quickly.”
“oh. I don’t think you all entered there in a combined state… … .”
“Go!”
“Nungnung. I get it.”
Click.
Immediately after confirming that the door was closed and the sound of footsteps receding. I let out a long sigh and finally got out of the cabinet.
‘thank god. This was also a situation that came out in the original, so it was a mess. It would have been dangerous otherwise.’
Hiding in a cabinet in the original game and unlucky enough to get caught. Only once, when entering a cabinet with a female colleague. As the current situation unfolded, an event occurred that made it possible to avoid a crisis.
“What are you doing there? Stop coming out because you are completely far away.”
“uh? Ah, ugh, ugh!”
Eom Na-yeon walked out of the cabinet, hesitantly. It seemed to be conscious of the situation a while ago.
It didn’t matter because I was in a present state with the emote implant, but she wouldn’t.
‘At times like this, it would be right to pretend not to know.’
Whoops.
Seol Chae-hwa’s drone, which had been hiding in the corner, approached us again. I thought it was going well, so I decided to talk to her to change the mood.
“Seolchaehwa. Perhaps the face of the researcher who just left. did you put it in the video? I kept turning around to hide my face, so I didn’t see it.”
“please wait for a moment. I’ll show you with a drone hologram projector.”
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Jiing.
Before long, the shape of a man appeared above the drone. Is this the guy who was teasing us earlier?
‘I am not an AS key holder. I thought if I had it, I would go after it again and bring it back.’
Researcher suppression should only be done to those who can see a clear advantage. The moment even one person is subdued, the already tight time attack time becomes shorter.
“Let’s hurry. There are mountains of places to look at.”
“… … .”
Seol Chae-hwa’s drone leaves the room first, and I follow after it. Then, suddenly, I couldn’t feel the presence of someone following me, so I turned around and saw Eom Na-yeon, startled, with her hands behind her back.
“huh? why? what? Do you have something to say?”
“what. It’s startling.”
“Ahahahaha. Nothing. Let’s go.”
I shrugged and took the first step.
“Hacking completed.”
“good. Let’s move.”
A CCTV in the corner of the hallway was neutralized by drone hacking and moved forward. I found a few more rooms in the middle, but the results of the search were all bang.
“uncle. There is a very large iron gate in front of me.”
“That’s the firewall I was talking about.”
“aha.”
Even if there is no hacking, there is no way for CCTV, which periodically rotates the monitoring direction. If you twist your body, you can somehow use the blind spot to avoid it.
That firewall was incapable of such a bypass. All roads leading to the next area are blocked by firewalls. If you couldn’t hack it, you had to get a card key from the researcher to get through.
‘If it’s the [Gamma Ray Sword], which is Yoosung’s natural special move, he’ll be able to tear it like a piece of paper.’
There was no point in discussing this. Do I have that ability? Eom Na-yeon has only a defense-specialized nature, so she has no talent to break through that firewall.
“I’ll ask you to hack that door too.”
“The next area is connected to each other very organically. Judging from how it was designed, you might run into people often from over there.”
As Seol Chae-hwa’s drone approached the firewall card key reader, I glanced behind me for a moment.
“Why is that, Uncle?”
Eom Na-yeon, who was standing next to her, tilted her head.
“There is no hiding place at this corner.”
At least, you have to turn around the corner of that hallway that runs about 7m to get to the nearest room.
in other words.
‘If that firewall is open. If there is a CCTV right in front, it will be found out.’
Coincidentally, the placement of the CCTV was also random, and because of this, it was quite notorious in the original work. There is a structure that can only be found out if you are unlucky because of the so-called ‘however CCTV deployment’.
“Then what shall we do? You can go back to other zone routes. I have to go round, so it will take more time.”
Seol Chae-hwa’s drone, which was about to hack, froze and stopped, probably conscious of my words.
I shook my head.
“It’s there, here or elsewhere.”
The best I could do here was this. Check whether there is presence or not through the firewall through sense control.
I’m really sorry.
There was a movement that could be felt on the other side of the wall.
‘I can feel the presence in the room, so I won’t see you as soon as the firewall door opens.’
The map that Seolchaehwa obtained is only a rough structure of the building. We haven’t found out the location of the room or the location of the CCTV, so we have to be as careful as possible.
「I will open it. Get ready.」
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Jiying.
The door opens.
and.
“under… .”
“why?”
When I let out a short sigh, Eom Na-yeon is puzzled.
‘It’s the first time I’ve ever experienced something like this.’
The moment the firewall door opened, I sensed that the presence in the room I had sensed earlier was about to come out toward the hallway.
Beep.
The moment the firewall door opens enough for one person to pass through, the door that I felt the presence of earlier opens with the sound of the lock being unlocked.
Eom Na-yeon finally grasped the situation and moved to the side of the hallway, startled. He hid behind a firewall that hadn’t been opened yet. So did I.
“Now what?”
Um Na-yeon asked, lowering her voice as much as possible.
“For now, don’t stand there, stand behind my back. You have to hide naturally so that your body and face are not visible. I’m going to smoke one more time.”
I was wearing the researcher’s gown I had previously worn. As if she knew, she jumped up and came up behind my back.
and.
“let’s go.”
By the time the firewall door was open enough for two people to pass through. We naturally squeezed through the gap and went inside.
“hmm?”
The person who opened the door and came out into the hallway. A female researcher wearing a white coat like me met our eyes.
‘I want you to misunderstand me like that lesser guy.’
Unfortunately, luck didn’t follow the two times.
“you. It’s the first time I’ve seen you.”
At first, it looked like I was worried for a while when I saw my white gown.
[‘Mental Acceleration’ is activated.]
Time for a little thought here.
The opponent is too far away to stun with the power of nature. Then, all that remains is to emotionally neutralize the opponent through the Emotion Implant.
Before coming to this institute, I thought of the new natures I had experimented with Kang Ah-ram in the vehicle.
‘The second ability of Delusion Practice. I could use the power of changing perception, but that consumes too much mental power.’
One was put on hold, so the other is left. Demagogue’s second ability. The power to arbitrarily set the emotions the other person will feel in relation to my actions.
This was less mentally consuming than the delusion practice. It was the same even if I used the Demagogue and the Emotion Implant. It means that the area that interferes with cognition consumes more mental power than emotion.
I raised my forehead with one hand and smiled.
“I came here recently. I realized that I had left my employee ID in the middle of my research. So I was on my way to get it, but I met all these pretty sisters here?”
[Activates ‘Emotion Implant’.]
[‘Demagog’ is activated.]
It instilled fear in the researcher I met on the grounds outside the lab. I didn’t intend to do that here.
‘A suppression method that can work because the opponent is a woman.’
A reliable means that has already been proven to be effective several times. It was ‘love’.
“uh… ? that, right? I see?”
Why did you choose love over fear? It was because of the specificity of the place I am now.
Outdoors, if the opponent screams or trembles with pestilence, you can quickly deal with it on the spot and run away. On the other hand, since it is indoors, activities are greatly restricted, so it was necessary to stick to the calm method.
“sister. Are you busy right now?”
“I asked why you were busy… ?”
“If you’re free, on the way to the dorm with me, in a place you can’t see… Would you like to go quietly?”
“Ha ha ha? What is it? what, what?”
I still maintain a kind smile toward the perplexed researcher. Naturally, one step at a time.
“no way. Pretending not to know I’ve heard it all. Seniors here. Do you think there is such a culture? I like that.”
“Yeah, but… … .”
“ah! Do you really want to say something about my opponent?”
“How bad! You’re the perfect S-class here! and. But why haven’t I heard the rumors? If a handsome guy like you was appointed here, rumors would have already spread… .”
good. This distance was enough.
I naturally opened my arms as if asking for a hug, and the researcher, who was already completely fascinated, embraced me in my arms without resistance with a bewildered face.
“I guess so. Rumors could have spread.”
“uh?”
“I am not a researcher here.”
As I put my hand on the nape of the neck of the researcher I was embracing and pushed the feeling of comfort to the extreme, her body collapsed as if I had been sedated.
“uncle. You didn’t use that ability on me, did you?”
As I lifted the fainting researcher up in a hug, Eom Na-yeon asked a stupid question.
“What a buzzing noise. If it did, you’d get an alarm saying your vitals chip detected and prevented mental interference. Because you are a nature specialized in that class.”
“Yeah, but… .”
“I understand that you were conscious about the cabinet work a while ago. If you keep immersed in that, you won’t be able to concentrate properly on your mission. Stop calming down and move.”
“yes… … .”
I moved the fainting researcher back into the room she came out of earlier. Next to me, Seolchaehwa’s drone follows.
“By the way, are you okay? It seemed that he was reluctant to subdue the researcher as much as possible.”
“This researcher deserved it.”
Saying that, I started rummaging through the pockets of the researcher’s clothes. First of all, I checked the employee ID that was worn around my neck. If you look closely, you can see that the card key is put together on the back of the employee ID.
“It’s a normal card key. Did you read that the card key was hidden there in a moment?」
“okay. I’ve got the Park Seon-hoo I met outside, so you should keep one for Eom Na-yeon. If the drone crashes, we will have to use it for emergencies.”
“Wow!”
I turned the card key round and round and threw it away, and Eom Na-yeon hesitated and received it.
“Is there anything else you’re looking for?”
Even after retrieving the card key, I additionally rummaged through the researcher’s arms.
“That card key was just a bonus. There is something else I am looking for.”
A list of AS key holders in Park Seon-hoo’s memory. One of them was this woman who passed out right in front of my eyes.
‘If you do it once, you have to do it once even if it’s a billion times. is not it?’
I finally picked up the AS key I found in my arms and smiled.