Chapter 35 - Guess I'll Start a Fight
A cybernetic eye.
Also known as a mechanical eye, its base function is naturally that of a camera.
Without getting into complex explanations, it serves as a primary storage unit for visual data.
That artificial eyeball, with its tangle of fine wires in place of an optic nerve, looked like it might still move even now.
It was the sole witness and the only clue in this Rumpumpumpum terror incident.
Who even thinks to pick something like that up?
Jin was genuinely impressed.
"Jecki. You finally earned your keep!"
"...? Wait, what do you normally think of me?"
Jecki looked briefly wounded, but when Jin raised his blood-red right hand out of the water and gave him a thumbs-up, he finally let out an awkward smile.
The reckless one was happy,
The timid one grinned.
Amidst the chaos, the only technician among them stepped up.
"Give it here."
Snatching the mechanical eye from her sibling's hand, Jenny examined it closely with a cautious gaze before abruptly standing up.
Jin was just about to push himself up as well when—
"Stay down for another hour. Try getting out, I dare you."
The pointed finger and the icy warning that followed froze him mid-motion, forcing him to sink back into the ice bath.
Ah, it's so damn cold.
Isn't this going to shrivel me up?
He found himself thinking.
The house where the Jecki-Jenny siblings lived was a detached studio apartment on the outskirts of South Downtown.
For someone like Jin, who had lived alone before, it was a familiar size.
Probably around 8 to 9 pyeong, give or take?
It was the perfect space for a single occupant, but the siblings had split it in two and made it work.
Even their bed was a single size, so they took turns—one sleeping on the couch each night.
Anyway, Jin was now visiting their home.
Stepping out of the bathroom, he thought, Ah, I should've at least brought a box of fruit juice, chiding himself for arriving empty-handed—such a quintessentially Korean thing to do.
Not that the siblings seemed to care about that at all.
Dressed in clothes borrowed from Jecki (his original ones had been burned), Jin quietly plopped down on the couch.
As he awkwardly surveyed his surroundings, someone gave his shoulder a couple of taps.
It was Jecki.
Without a word, he slid over a bag of potato chips.
Jin took it without thinking and suddenly found his mind going blank.
Come to think of it, have I ever visited someone's home before?
Tilting his head in mild confusion, he instinctively ripped open the bag.
"How's your body holding up?"
The question came from Jenny, her eyes fixed on the monitor.
The sound of her typing formed the background noise of their conversation.
Her hands were moving quickly, but her tone was flat.
Jin grabbed a handful of chips and answered.
"I did my hour. Can't do more."
"Yeah, yeah. Good job."
Jenny smirked as if she expected nothing less, and Jin got up from the couch, walking over to the triple-monitor setup.
Leaning his arm on the back of Jenny's chair, he asked,
"Did you find anything?"
"Almost nothing. The malware wiped out most of the data. Oh, and by the way, this logic—it's Berserk."
With that, Jenny tapped a key.
A program window abruptly popped up on the center monitor.
Inside, a bright red mass with a web-like, grid-patterned surface pulsated—
stretching, shrinking, stretching again.
Then, without warning, it slammed violently against the inside of the program window.
Jin blinked and asked,
"This is Berserk?"
"Yeah. An illegal malware banned by the city government."
Jenny sighed, pointing at something.
Following her gaze, he saw the mechanical eye connected to the computer through a cable.
"As soon as I hooked it up, it tore through the security program and tried to break in. I barely stopped it. When I checked it multiple times on an external device, it seemed dormant, but... If that wasn't a coincidence, then they must've used a stealth process."
A stealth process.
That rang a bell.
Probably something he'd picked up from Po.
As Jin nodded in understanding, Jenny fiddled with the mechanical eye and added,
"If the shooter from Junk Plaza was in the same situation... Jin, like you said, this might really be a terror attack. Random people suddenly going berserk and committing indiscriminate acts of violence..."
She bit her lower lip, staring at the monitor before shifting her gaze to Jin.
"Anyway, like I said earlier, Berserk wiped out almost all the data. If I had to put a number on it—98.7% loss. Even for the remaining bits, I can't guarantee a full recovery. But if you want, I can give it a shot. What do you think?"
Jin answered without hesitation.
"Please do."
After all, Rumpumpumpum had been attacked.
He had only calmed down from his blinding rage.
Even now, just thinking about the shop engulfed in flames made his blood boil, leaving him in desperate need of a target to unleash this anger upon.
And it was all because, despite its terrible food and lousy service, he had unknowingly grown attached to that place.
He hated dwelling on his difficult past, but that shop had been the first place he visited, clutching unfamiliar bills in his hand.
It reeked and was filthy, yet no one seemed to care.
A worn-out speaker hummed a song in the background as if to comfort him.
And the waffles he had forced down—each bite, for some reason, had caught in his throat...
Ugh.
Enough of that.
Thinking about it just made him want to smash everything to bits.
With that, Jin collapsed onto the sofa.
Crunch, crunch.
As he massacred a bag of potato chips to vent his frustration—
Jecki, watching him closely, timely pushed over another bag of snacks or an opened can of something, ready to eat.
They had known each other for over a month now.
Noticing the burning rage in Jin's expression, Jecki's thoughtful and perceptive actions revealed an attempt to soothe him.
Of course, the downside was that Jin was devouring food as if he meant to bankrupt the household.
Oh, right.
He was a big eater.
Just as Jecki, now growing anxious, was about to stand up and head out to buy more—
"...Got something. And it's a big one."
His younger sister's words saved him.
With a relieved sigh, Jin immediately walked over to the computer.
He leaned against the chair's backrest, arms crossed, and focused on the screen that Jenny was showing him.
Bzzzt—
Bzzzzzt—
The screen flickered with a distortion effect known as a "glitch," the visuals breaking apart before stabilizing just enough to form a shaky image.
Beyond the first-person view, a man's face, blurred beyond recognition, came into focus as he spoke.
[Good choice. You won't regret it.]
[...There won't be any problems, right?]
[How many times do I have to tell you? There won't be. Just make sure the processes don't clash. That much, you can handle, right?]
[Fuck. Fine. I'm sending the money now.]
A brief silence.
The man stared into space for a moment before nodding.
Though his expression was unclear, his voice carried an unmistakable hint of amusement.
[Good. The deal's set. Here's the package.]
The man slid a small case across the table.
The person in the video took it with trembling hands, fingers brushing over the flame-shaped emblem engraved on the surface.
Then, the screen broke into static once more.
"...Solard."
Jecki, who had crept closer at some point, muttered under his breath.
Jenny, too, parted her lips in surprise.
"I'd heard rumors that leaked Magic was being sold in secret... but I didn't think it was actually true…"
Jin furrowed his brows at her words.
No wonder this felt familiar.
This was exactly like that bastard Edmund Nilsson's situation.
For a moment, the thrill of uncovering a lead made his eyes gleam—
Then, narrowing his gaze, he asked,
"Why's the seller's face so blurry?"
"He's doing illegal business. He must have a distortion device. Still, this isn't bad—sometimes, their face and voice get completely erased."
"So we can't find him?"
"No. There are ways."
With that, Jenny grabbed the keyboard and mouse.
Here's what happened next:
From the 30-second clip, Jenny extracted background details and ambient sounds, piecing them together like a jigsaw puzzle to reconstruct a 3D model of the location.
Then, she accessed Downtown's network and used her file to scan for structurally similar buildings.
To Jin, who knew nothing about this stuff, it looked no different from a reverse Google Image Search—
And, to be fair, the core concept was indeed similar.
Before long, Jenny spoke up.
"There are three possible locations. The one with over 70% similarity is here."
"...A vape shop?"
Jin's gaze landed on a screen flashing with obnoxiously loud advertisements.
The ultimate flavors you won't find anywhere else!
888 unique combinations!
Private rooms available!
Tons of sex toys!
All at King's Groom!
Ugh.
Too much.
Jin straightened his posture and rubbed his eyes.
Jenny leaned back in her chair.
"This is as far as I go. Not sure if it helped."
"It totally did. Thanks."
"...Wait, you're heading out now?"
Jin had already started walking toward the door when Jenny's voice called after him.
"Why?"
"Shouldn't you rest and go tomorrow? It's late, and you should think about your body."
At her reasoning, Jin simply shrugged.
He raised his right arm—now peeling, revealing patches of white skin—
Then flexed his solid biceps.
"See? It's already healed. I'll see you next time."
"Huh? Jin?"
Leaving behind a startled voice, Jin turned around, opened the front door, and stepped outside.
The siblings, who had been watching his retreating figure vanish before they could stop him, exchanged glances and let out a small, incredulous chuckle.
***
King's Groom
Officially, it posed as a vape shop.
In reality, it was an underground club that concocted and sold all kinds of liquid-based drugs.
Once inside, people became so intoxicated that they could no longer tell if they were on the floor or a bed, whether they were kissing a man or a woman—its reputation for that kind of excess was notorious.
And now, Jin made his entrance.
"…Go ahead."
The guard at the entrance gave a small nod of approval.
Just like at Steel Arms before, Jin passed through King's groom's security without issue.
It was as if he had a permanent free pass.
Handsome face, tall stature, well-built physique—
Even while waiting in line, he had already drawn plenty of sultry gazes.
So what was an "entrance cutoff"?
Jin entered boldly, as if to say, Who's going to stop me?
Then, at an unexpected moment, a firm grip landed on his shoulder—
"Leave your weapons here."
The guard's low voice halted him.
Jin, looking somewhat sheepish, unfastened the holster from his waist and handed it over.
"...!"
Perhaps the weight was unexpected.
Jin watched with a faint smile as the guard, his expression briefly stiffening, placed Gravis into storage.
With that, he continued through the long corridor, passed the glass door held open by a bowing staff member—
And was immediately greeted by a surreal sight.
A dim space bathed in languid violet light, people scattered about in a daze, inhaling deeply from their cigarettes with vacant stares.
The music, slow and subdued, made the entire atmosphere feel distant from a typical club.
Of course, judging by the way people swayed listlessly, this place was no different from Steel Arm's place in terms of intoxicated madness.
Jin stood still, thinking.
Now what?
He had made it this far—
But what came next felt unclear.
As he stood with a hand on his hip, lost in thought,
someone suddenly snaked an arm around his waist.
"First time here? Need a little guidance?"
A woman with chrome-plated skin.
Her face, polished to a mirror-like shine, rested on his shoulder.
"Uh?"
Jin recoiled.
He couldn't handle this kind of aesthetic.
If a white person was white because they were white,
and a Black person was Black because they were Black,
then what the hell was this shining thing?
Chrome person?
He was losing it.
"Shy, aren't you?"
Even as he floundered, the Chrome Woman pressed closer,
her hands slithering over his body like a serpent—
Just before her fingers could brush somewhere dangerous, Jin blurted out without preamble:
"You guys sell illegal data chips here, right?"
"..."
Chrome Woman's eyes turned cold in an instant.
"…Who the hell are you?"
And then—
[(Premonition!) Contagious Will 2]──────
Investigate the traces of Berserk.
Reward: Perk XP 2,500
─────────────────
"You shouldn't move."
Jin turned his head slightly, feeling the cold edge of a blade at his throat.
Ironically, his expression was more relaxed than before.
So this was the right place, huh?
That made things simple.
"Guess I'll just start a fight then."
"What?"
In the next moment, Jin twisted Chrome Woman's wrist with a sickening crack—
And before she could even scream, slammed his forehead into her face.
Blood arced through the air.
It was red, not silver.
That was a relief.
Thinking that, Jin kicked her in the stomach as she clutched her broken nose.
With a resounding crash, her body slammed against the wall.
Then, taking in a deep breath, Jin bellowed at the top of his lungs—
"OWNER, COME OUT HERE—!!"