[[TL: A twist of the Korean saying: 꼬리가 길면 잡힌다 (You will get caught if your tail is too long)]]
[Team Mochi, Oct 6, Nd04-1642 Completion of Tropical Rainforest dungeon raid. Subjugated 231 monsters in 17 hours and 34 minutes. Fissure destroyed.]
[Team Lair, Oct 6, Mo17-0149 Completion of Ruin dungeon raid, Subjugated 188 monsters in 9 hours and 5 minutes. Fissure destroyed.]
[Team Lair, Oct 8, Participated in an urgent Gyeongwon Village rescue mission. 3 hours and 55 minutes, successfully rescued 38 people.]
[Team Mochi, Oct 11, KK18-9490 Completion of dungeon raid. Subjugated 595 monsters in 49 hours and 31 minutes. A casualty of four among other superhumans of the group. Successful rescue of isolated superhumans plus the destruction of the fissure]
…
Going through the records of the kids, Yu Jitae opened his mouth.
“Yeorum will win for sure.”
Bom looked back at him and shook her head.
“I’m sure Kaeul will win.”
They looked at each other for a long time. Soon, Yu Jitae opened his mouth with a solemn voice.
“It’s already the third mission for Team Mochi.”
“Team Lair is on their third mission as well.”
“What I mean is Team Mochi finished their mission yesterday.”
“I know. But that’s only a one-day difference?”
“You are looking down on one day too much. Do you not know how big of a difference that is?”
“How big of a difference is it?”
It actually wasn’t that big of a difference…
Although the ranks of the top achievers were decided by small differences, the overall flow of the missions was still several times more important than the difference of a day considering that there were still 100 days left.
Thus, he closed his mouth silently as Bom asked a different question.
“Why are you saying something different now, ahjussi? I thought you said Kaeul would win a few days ago.”
“I did. I still think the same.”
“Then why? Are you favouring Yeorum just because you taught her?”
“No. What about you. Aren’t you favouring Kaeul?”
“I am.”
“Because you taught her magic?”
“That too, but actually, I started hating Yeorum this morning.”
Saying that, Bom gave a faint frown.
“Again?”
“Yes. I just happened to glance at her watch this morning. Do you know what name Yu Yeorum saved my number as on her watch?”
“What name was it.”
“…”
She mumbled for words before heaving out a sigh, as if it was a word that she couldn’t dare voice out loud.
“Anyways, I was sexually harassed…”
“Oh no.”
“So I changed Yeorum’s name on my watch as well.”
“To what.”
“…”
It must have been a terrible name. After saying, ‘It’s nothing important…’ Bom stealthily walked away.
Why wasn’t she telling him any of the two names?
He turned his head to the side and found Gyeoul looking directly back at him. After the eye contact, she suddenly started throwing furtive glances at Bom.
Yu Jitae whispered to Gyeoul.
‘You know something, don’t you.’
Her head moved up and down.
‘What did she save Yeorum’s name as?’
Gyeoul placed her hands in parallel lines, perpendicular to her mouth. When he lowered his body, she started whispering into his ear.
‘……Kaeul’s stepping stone.’
Gyeoul immediately started giggling after finishing her words so Yu Jitae also unknowingly let out a smile.
Calling a person a stepping stone… It seemed that Bom was really upset. She didn’t even swear a single time when pouring a bottle of champagne over someone’s head, so considering her lexicon, wasn’t that almost the same as extremely offensive profanities?
Meanwhile, that in turn made him curious.
It meant that Yeorum had made her so upset with her naming. What exactly did Yeorum save Bom’s number as?
***
Yeorum and Kaeul’s heated competition was well underway and on the other side of the spectrum, there was also the heated competition inside the Association.
This side’s competition was between Jefferson who finally got the chance to do what he wanted to do, and Kang Ahjin who wanted more success after her initial success.
The day after he ordered for them to track Quasar,
Kang Ahjin located a base of the Anti-Association terrorist group, Quasar, in Inner Mongolia but only the remnants were in there, with none of the higher-ups and executives to be seen.
And on the day after that, under the command of Jefferson, a small group of elites tracked the executives that had fled from the Inner Mongolian base but all of them threw small grenades into their mouths and killed themselves without leaving any traces behind.
During the morning conference, Jefferson condemned Kang Ahjin.
“Ahjin. It would have been better if you were more cautious. It seems you were in too much of a rush and made it too conspicuous.”
“I admire a lot your relaxed attitude despite a potential terrorist attack that can happen anytime,” replied Kang Ahjin.
There were thorns in her words. Jefferson twitched his eyes.
“Jefferson. The fact that all 8 executives killed themselves when there was a possibility of catching them alive is a concern that should be addressed and improved first instead, is it not?”
“Improve, you say? What a convenient way to look at things. How would you capture terrorists that are running away with the resolve to die?”
Yu Jitae quietly watched them.
In the end, both of them had done well but were lacking the final 1%. They lost Quasar’s tracks that they had managed to find with difficulty and had simply alerted them that the Association was right behind their tail.
They probably wouldn’t stay silent.
And on the next day, Yu Jitae’s thoughts became reality.
While the Association’s forces were focused in Inner Mongolia, the enemies went for a different target. 30 soldiers in the Mongolian base of the Association located at the centre of Gobi Desert, was attacked and most of them were found as corpses.
*
South of Mongolia, Gobi Desert.
Taking his two assistants, Jefferson and Kang Ahjin, Yu Jitae inspected the barren site. There were signs of broken and burnt tent artifacts nearby, as well as corpses of animals and trash rolling around.
And in the middle was a large spear with human heads skewered in a row, seemingly there as an exhibition.
Letters were carved on the faces of the corpses with knives. His ability, [Fallen Babel (S)] allowed him to immediately read the words that insulted the Association.
Yu Jitae walked towards it and touched the face of the corpse that had the most number of holes in it.
“Ah, it’s not clean, Chief.”
Paying no regard to the dissuading words of the soldier, he pulled down the closed chin of the corpse. Then, he pulled the tongue out and on the tongue, behind the wriggling maggots was something blue. After dusting the maggots away, he scraped the blue thing with his finger and smelled it.
Along with the odour of the corpse was a familiar smell.
“Our analysis team is currently looking into the substance. Their current assumption is that it is poison.”
No.
This smell was that of KSR-08a. A not-so-famous yet strong hemostat that stopped bleeding.
It was a trace of torture. Since they had to survive for longer for the torture to continue for as long as possible.
He put the soldier’s tongue back in, and closed the wide-open eyes of the corpse.
“How many corpses?”
“There are 25 sir, but 5 of them seem to have been dragged off by beasts. There are blood trails.”
It was already close to a day since they had left, and there was no way he could catch them for the time being.
The geological location was a problem. The endless dusty gust of Gobi Desert had murky mana mixed in it alongside the grains of sand. This ruthless breeze erased all the traces of everything it touched.
The strength level of the opponents was another problem. The ones that had done this had such meagre presences that he couldn’t easily track them. If rankers had done this, he would have been at their door already, breaking their heads.
Another problem was that their course of action was different from previous iterations. Even five or six average superhumans would easily be able to dig a hole in the desert sand and hide themselves. There was nothing in this place that would stop them from doing so.
Even Yu Jitae, with his 90 years of service at the Association and close to 10 years of being near Mongolia, couldn’t think of any decent plans.
How should he catch these lowly weaklings?
If he were to walk across the desert for three days looking for tracks, he would probably find something but that wasn’t efficient. It would be a waste of time.
He was wondering what to do when the signalman of the troop shouted.
“An urgent message from the Association sir!”
“What message.”
“Quasar has sent a video to the Association!”
“When?”
“J, just then sir!”
His eyes twitched.
These guys had animosity against the Association. It was clear what kind of video it would be without even having to look at it.
Jefferson and Kang Ahjin came to his side as a hologram video soon appeared from his watch. A face of a man with buck teeth filled the entirety of the screen.
A foreign language started leaving his mouth.
– Hi there? You damned dogs of Association?
Kahahahahk! He laughed, as others laughed along from nearby.
Yu Jitae immediately thought to himself.
At least six voices.
They were in an enclosed space, with metal for the ceiling and the walls. It was a familiar sight – it was the inside of the large mana-activated desert-type armoured car, A50. The noisy sound of the engine was heard from behind and it seemed to be a video they took while driving somewhere.
– I am Kadan Nihum, you fu*kers. I am the son of Kurun Nihum who you f*ckers killed.
– Talking about the world’s order or something at the front while preparing for a war behind our backs, ey? It’s not gonna be as easy as you think.
– We will not run away. We will not submit ourselves to strength.
– God will judge you with justice.
– But you know who that god is?
– It’s me.
Once again, he laughed ‘Kahahahat!’ as others bustled from nearby. Kill! Kill! They chanted, as the man pointed the barrel of his gun somewhere.
The screen moved and revealed a man whose eyes and mouth were covered by a cloth. One of the missing young soldiers of the Association was there.
He seemed like a private, judging from his outfit. His tattered clothes showed wounds underneath and his entire body was drenched in blood, as tears flowed from his eyes.
– Nnn? Why are you crying? You’re touching my compassionate heart.
The man insulted.
– Open your stupid mouth. Oi.
– Hello? Ahh! Open it!! Ahh right. Very good.
– Now, you have two options.
– Between a gun and my thing, what do you want inside your mouth?
When the mouth closed from his words, the terrorist swung his spiky gauntlet and struck the young soldier in his chin. With a thud, the soldier’s chin broke and fell open. “Ouhh!” they yelled from the side.
– Ahh, lord! We are sending another retarded child of the witch Valentine. Where should this pitiful young boy go off to?
– He is a devil’s child, so straight to hell.
After a one-man show of praying and giving the revelation by himself, they laughed out loud before the gun blasted forth.
Bang!
Kang Ahjin twitched her eyes, as Jefferson also gave a menacing scowl.
Other people watching the video also let out gasps. The head of the soldier exploded as its innards spreaded across the armoured car.
Yu Jitae carefully observed all that.
– This is only the beginning. Please wait for the next one! Okay?
– God breast you!
The buck-teethed bastard touched his breasts that didn’t even exist. That marked the end of the video.
“This fuc*king son of a bi*ch–!”
Unable to hold himself back, Jefferson furiously asked with a shout.
“Oi! What did the headquarters say! Where are the coordinates of the origin of the video!?”
“They have been on it since they received the video, but it’s not clear sir!”
“For f*ck’s sake! It’s not even clear in a stupid desert! Are you telling me there are no clues at all!?”
Jefferson obstinately shouted as Kang Ahjin also started ordering her subordinates.
“Replay the video at 0.2 times the speed! Look for any clues!”
Meanwhile, Yu Jitae also replayed the video several times. The only traces inside the video included the dashboard that was accidentally caught by the camera as well as flashing images of the outside scenery that could be seen from the armoured car’s hologram display.
He had to find something from here.
Yu Jitae focused, and raised all his senses.
The time of his perceived world slowed down. He started paying attention to every single clue that could be spotted from the video.
“Put the map up.”
“Ah, yes!”
In response to his command, one of his subordinate soldiers hurriedly floated up the hologram map of Gobi Desert.
It’s not easy.
How was he supposed to look at a land full of sand all the way to the horizons and specify the location? It was different from when he was looking for the baby dragon that subconsciously released its aura.
Whether a regressor or not, it was impossible.
He was not a god.
However, after quietly going through the video several times, he discovered something – one object that could be used to specify the location.
The clouds in the sky were all in different shapes.
Today happened to be on the clearer side, with a great visibility of the distant skies. Inside the 3-minute video, the appearance of the clouds reflected on the hologram display were exceptionally clear.
He calculated the time. It had been exactly 17 hours and 31 minutes since the incident occurred in this place.
He analysed all the data in hand.
A50 weighed 17.8 tonnes, with the mana engine having a horsepower of 1950. It could climb hills up to 72 degrees tall, but going through a road filled with hills was not mana-efficient and they wouldn’t have enough mana stones.
They must have avoided the high hills. He could imagine their movement path.
He checked the dashboard.
They were running at 81km/h, with fuel hitting the bottom. It was almost completely empty and an empty fuel meant low output, with inability to use protective spells. There was no reason for terrorists to voluntarily run on low fuel.
This meant that they did not have spare fuel.
Lastly, he remembered something bizarre.
They killed the hostage inside the vehicle.
Question: Why would they do that when it makes the vehicle dirty?
Answer: Because they will get off soon.
In that case, all they would have to do is either clean the car or throw it away.
Question: When would people get out of their car?
Answer: When they are at their destination.
Opening his eyes, he looked at the skies. His vision intensified as the world began being pushed away with himself at the centre. The distant parts of the world beyond the horizons entered his sight.
He discerned all the clouds.
Comparing them to the data inside the dashboard and the outside of the armoured car, he drew seven dots on the map around the place he was currently in. Those were the places with similar cloud shapes.
“Season? That’s…”
He ignored Kang Ahjin’s words.
The reason there were still seven, was because the shape of the clouds in the nearby skies were changing in real time. Seven… there were still too many options, and besides, the enemy was still in motion.
It was then.
“We have received another video from the target!” shouted the signalman.
In response, Jefferson lamented once again. Knowing that the Association wouldn’t be able to easily backtrack them, they were openly provoking them like this.
“When was this!”
“Just then sir!”
Yu Jitae shouted.
“Send the video to me first. Now!”
“Yes Chief!”
The signalman sent him the video, and it was a similar video. A video about slowly decapitating another hostage with a knife.
They were still inside the same armoured car.
Scanning through the video at 8 times the original speed, Yu Jitae carefully observed the sky outside the armoured car before again raising his eyes to the sky around him and confirming the location of the clouds he had specified. Only one of the seven dots of the map showed almost exactly the same clouds as the video.
He drew a V on the map.
There you are.