Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

182 – Large-Scale Spread

Myung-jun raised the barrier blocking the entrance to the outpost and immediately drove the tanker truck into the base. After parking the truck in the training ground, he began frantically searching the base. However, the soldiers who had been wandering around the base just two hours ago were nowhere to be seen.

“Did you find them?”

Seeing Kei running towards him, also searching the base, Myung-jun asked. Kei shook his head and replied,

“No. It’s as if they’ve all evaporated. Not a single one is left.”

“What’s going on? If the Synapse Parasite had realized we were abducting the infected, the entire unit should be dead.”

At that moment, Kei, with a horrified expression, said,

“Hyung.”

“Why did you think they would all commit suicide if the Synapse Parasite found out?”

“Because individual infected can’t stay more than a certain distance away from the Synapse Parasite.”

“What if that’s possible?”

Kei suggested that if the Synapse Parasite’s command to the infected was to “self-destruct if you move beyond a certain distance,” it could also issue a command with the opposite meaning. Realizing the implication of Kei’s words, Myung-jun’s face showed a look of realization.

He had always warned against having fixed preconceptions about the behavior of monsters, yet he had fallen into the trap of assuming their behavior was fixed. Myung-jun had thought the self-destruct behavior of infected beyond a certain distance from the Synapse Parasite was a kind of instinct. But what if, as Kei suggested, it was a command given by the Synapse Parasite?

Instincts cannot be altered, but commands can be changed. This meant that the Synapse Parasite could have ordered the dozens of soldiers remaining in the base to scatter.

Understanding the gravity of the situation, Myung-jun looked at Kei with an urgent expression and said,

“Kei.”

“Yes.”

“From now on, as the Clan Master, I’ll take full responsibility for everything. Deactivate your bionic suit and track the locations of the infected.”

“But my olfactory abilities make it difficult to identify who the infected are.”

“I’m not asking you to find the scent of the infected. I want you to track the locations of the infected soldiers who were in this base.”

With that, Myung-jun walked towards the laundry drying rack behind the barracks. He handed a military uniform shirt to Kei and said,

“There are plenty of items used by the soldiers who were in this base. With your ability to distinguish all those differences, tracking the remaining 64 soldiers should be a piece of cake, right?”

Hearing Myung-jun’s words, Kei smiled with relief. He removed the helmet of his bionic suit and said,

“Well, that’s precisely my area of expertise.”

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Kei immediately began his tracking. He first wandered around the base, imprinting the scents of the 64 soldiers he needed to find in his mind. Although some of the scents belonged to individuals he had already abducted, this posed no problem for Kei. He only needed to track the scents of those who had most recently left the base.

After memorizing all the target scents, Kei turned his head towards the nearest scent. Pointing in that direction, he said,

“This way!”

Before Kei could finish speaking, Myung-jun dashed in the indicated direction, holding rapid cooling capture devices in both hands, retrieved from the tanker’s passenger seat.

As Myung-jun sprinted beyond the base perimeter, he encountered two soldiers standing guard to prevent the infected from escaping.

“Stop! Move and we’ll shoot!”

Despite the urgent shouts from the two soldiers, Myung-jun did not slow down at all. Although the bionic suit he wore was on the weaker side in terms of defense among power armors, it was still capable of easily deflecting bullets from the soldiers’ rifles. As Myung-jun had anticipated, the soldiers hesitated to fire even as they shouted, “Stop! Stop right there!”

“Damn it! What do we do? Do we really shoot?”

“Do you know who he is? What if he’s an EDA operative?”

“He looks like a civilian in that outfit, though.”

Hearing their conversation through the external microphone, Myung-jun glanced down at his appearance and chuckled. He then removed the optical converter attached to his chest.

‘To their eyes, it must have looked like a civilian in casual clothes was charging at them with the speed of a power armor.’

If Myung-jun had approached them wearing the power armor from the start, the soldiers wouldn’t have told him to stop. In South Korea, anyone moving in such gear was most likely an EDA operative. However, with the optical converter on, Myung-jun appeared to be a civilian in jeans seemingly flying through the air, which confused the soldiers and caused them to try to stop him.

The soldiers reacted similarly when they saw Kei speeding towards them right behind Myung-jun.

“Stop! Stop right there!”

“What the hell?! Why are you doing this all of a sudden?!”

Fortunately for the soldiers, Kei stopped obediently in front of them, unlike Myung-jun. With a similar expression of realization, Kei deactivated his optical converter and explained the current situation to the soldiers. The information Kei provided was then relayed through their radios to their commander, Major General Park Chan-Hyung.

Park Chan-Hyung, a man who harbored deep resentment towards Myung-jun and eagerly awaited any mistake from him, burst into laughter upon hearing the report from the soldiers monitoring the perimeter. He then spoke to the operations officer who had delivered the report.

“Let’s go!”

“Excuse me? Where to?”

“The fact that all the soldiers have escaped means that the operation attempted by the EDA and the Liberal Clan has completely failed. And with their manpower, it’s impossible to track down over 60 escapees. We’ll need to establish a larger-scale perimeter. If necessary, we might even have to bombard the locations where we suspect the infected are hiding.”

With a fiery gaze, Park Chan-Hyung looked at the operations officer and said,

“I need to reclaim my lost command authority.”

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***

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After explaining the situation to the soldiers, Kei followed Myung-jun, noticing a small LED light blinking inside his helmet. Knowing that the light indicated an incoming communication request, Kei hesitated for a moment before putting on his helmet without slowing down. He then connected the call, which was undoubtedly from Soo-Jeong.

[Kei. Who told you to take off your suit?]

The first thing he heard was Soo-Jeong’s slightly angry voice. She had always insisted that no one should remove their suit inside the infected base, out of concern for her clan members.

“I’m sorry, noona. It was Myung-jun hyung’s order.”

[Order?]

Soo-Jeong knew well that Myung-jun preferred to use the word ‘request’ rather than ‘order.’ So, the moment Kei mentioned ‘order,’ she realized that Myung-jun’s directive was a decision made under urgent circumstances that necessitated disobeying her command as the vice clan master. She quickly erased her anger towards Kei for disobeying her and spoke to him in a serious tone.

[Explain.]

Kei explained to Soo-Jeong that they had revisited the base to secure additional infected individuals, only to find that the entire unit had disappeared in less than two hours. He also mentioned that they had no choice but to remove their equipment to track the fleeing soldiers. Understanding the situation, Soo-Jeong spoke to Kei in her usual gentle voice.

[Alright, I understand that it was unavoidable. Next time, I’ll make you a custom bionic suit so you can use your abilities without such risks.]

“Thank you, noona.”

After ending the call with Kei, Soo-Jeong immediately contacted Myung-jun and asked if there was anything she could do to help manage the current situation.

[Is there anything I can help with?]

“Please retrieve the infected we’ve captured in a frozen state. We originally planned to open the back of the empty tanker and load them inside, but since we’re moving on foot now, we’re just wearing our suits.”

[Got it. So, I should follow your route and retrieve the frozen soldiers with the Shadow Hawk, right?]

“Exactly.”

[Alright. Before you move to the next location, let me know your route. The capture devices you’re carrying won’t be enough, so I’ll drop additional devices along your path.]

“This is what they mean by being in sync.”

[Leave the support to me. What should we do with the captured infected?]

“The methods for extracting and isolating the infected are already programmed into the medical pods. Since we’re short on medical pods in the subspace, just perform emergency measures on patients with relatively stable incisions and take them out of the medical pods. Then, put the new infected in, and the medical pods will handle the rest.”

[I’ll do that. Kei mentioned that the infected are currently spreading the infection to other victims in real-time. What’s your plan for the newly infected?]

“With over 60 infected spreading in all directions, control is already impossible. For now, we can only pray that Mr. Seung-Ho develops the cure as quickly as possible.”

[That’s a tough gamble.]

“It is a tough gamble,” Myung-jun agreed.

“But then again, when have we ever done anything that wasn’t difficult?”

[That’s true.]

For the two of them, situations with this level of risk felt more familiar. After finishing their conversation filled with mutual trust, Soo-Jeong stood up to launch the Shadow Hawk. However, before she could step out of the tent, armed soldiers entered and pointed their guns at her. The sudden and unexpected situation left Soo-Jeong visibly shaken.

“What is the meaning of this?”

An all-too-familiar voice answered her question from outside the tent.

“Don’t be afraid. This is merely a precaution for your safety.”

Moments later, the owner of the voice peeked into the tent where Soo-Jeong was.

“Nice to see you again, Vice Clan Master Han Soo-Jeong of the Liberal Clan.”

“Park… something-or-other Major General? I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name. But I’m more curious about the current situation than your name. Can you explain what’s going on?”

Hearing Soo-Jeong’s demand for an explanation, Major General Park Chan-Hyung gave a smile filled with disdain. He drew the pistol from his holster and said,

“You’re a smart person, so it shouldn’t be hard for you to understand the current situation. It’s exactly as it appears. Since your operation has failed, I’m taking over command with the authority given to the field commander.”

This was a situation that would have frightened most young women, but Soo-Jeong remained unfazed. Instead, she gave a sardonic smile and countered,

“Aren’t you afraid of the consequences? Or are you confident you can handle the aftermath?”

“Of course, I’m afraid of the consequences. Even a single member of the renowned Liberal Clan could easily annihilate the forces I’ve brought. But I’ve also heard a rumor.”

Chan-Hyung pulled back the slide of his pistol with a click, aiming the loaded weapon at Soo-Jeong.

“There’s a rumor that the vice master of the world’s greatest awakener clan is, surprisingly, an ordinary person with zero combat ability.”

This was Park Chan-Hyung’s ‘worst gamble,’ targeting the moment when the combat-oriented awakener members, Myung-jun and Soo-Bin, were absent.