* * *
Kang Yigeon immediately communicated with the Enterra team via the radio.
“Team Leader Go. Check the boxes right now. There is an NPC corpse.”
-What? An NPC… Wookwon! Open the box!
Seohwa reached into the crate.
From the pocket of the severed leg’s trousers, crushed chocolates and candies spilled out.
Which Awakened person had given these to the sweet-loving NPC?
Or had a cultist used these sweets to lure the NPC into a secluded spot?
-Dammit… these psycho bastards.
-Ugh.-This is too horrible… how could they do such a thing…
The group took a moment to recover the remains.
An NPC is not a living being.
They are dolls equipped with artificial intelligence created by the system for the smooth operation of the Market.
A human hadn’t been dismembered; a doll had simply been broken.
Yet, knowing that fact, they still felt rage and sorrow.
Even if the NPC didn’t look human—even if they were just a square shape—there was no one here who wouldn’t mourn in this moment.
Not if they were human.
“If you consume a part of the corpse within five minutes of killing the NPC… the Market building recognizes you as an NPC… The cultist opens the door from the inside and lets the rest in… Since the NPC corpse contains lethal poison just like monsters… the cultist dies within ten minutes…”
It meant the cultist who let the elders and soldiers in was likely a cold corpse inside the Market by now.
“How did you find out that fact?”
“We are curious too… how that person found out…”
That person?-Did someone tell them?
It was right then.
Gathered the first clue about ■■■!
Conditions met. Hidden Mission Event triggered.
This is a linked mission.
– Phase 1 / 3 –
Mission Content:-Collect clues for ■■■
Success Reward:-Unlock the meaning of ■■■
Failure Penalty:-End of the World
This mission is strictly confidential!
Everyone will be in danger the moment you reveal it ⸜( ⌓̈ )⸝
What on earth…
■■■? Clues?
And the penalty is the end of the world?
“Hunter Lee Yuje.”
Seohwa relaxed his stiffened expression and looked up at Kang Yigeon.
“Yes?”
“Does anything about ‘that person’ come to mind?”
“No. Not at all.”
“Then why was your expression…?”
“I was just frozen in shock. My face is so plain that it must not show properly. What a shame.”
“…….”
Kang Yigeon seemed suspicious, but he soon dropped his doubt.
Seohwa struggled to calm the storm raging in his heart.
If everyone would be in danger if it was revealed, he didn’t know what this was, but he had to hide it as much as possible.
-Since it’s come to this, we have to enter the Market. We need to get items and capture the elders. Vice Guild Leader, Hunter Wolf, and Hunter Lee Yuje, return to your spots and wait.
-You want us to take the test? We’ll fail anyway. It feels bad, but wouldn’t it be better to just lure another NPC? We have Hunter Anise’s detox potion.
-Ugh… I absolutely cannot kill an NPC. I can’t eat one. It’s too cruel. It feels like cannibalism!
The sound of retching could be heard over the communicator.
Anise didn’t make a fuss like Cho Wookwon, but her face was pale.
They were certain to fail the test.
However, they didn’t feel right about creating a new NPC sacrifice either.
While everyone was deep in thought, a cultist appealed with glassy eyes.
“Let us put on clothes…”
“…….”
“We do not fear death… we came here to die… but we do not wish to die miserably… we want to dress ourselves and die with dignity…”
The group had absolutely no intention of protecting the dignity of the cultists.
While Awakened people are called “good,” they aren’t agape-style lovers of all humanity, nor are they benevolent and merciful to everyone.
In fact, most Awakened thoroughly ignored the human rights of villains.
Even now, no one thought the naked restraint was excessive.
They only sensed something suspicious in their words.
“What do you mean you ‘came here to die’?”
Anise asked sharply.
However, the cultist groaned and lowered his head, refusing to answer.
As time passed, the effect of the truth serum began to fade.
“Hunter Anise. Do you have one more?”
“I do, but since he’s a non-Awakened and has no resistance, he’ll just lose consciousness if I give it to him.”
“Team Leader Go. A New Humanity cultist mentioned they came here to die. Interrogate the Enterra cultists.”
-Yes, Vice Guild Leader.
In the meantime, Seohwa set aside his confusion regarding the hidden mission and scanned the interior of the tent.
Countless wooden boxes.
One box contained the NPC corpse, and another was filled with bombs.
The rest were all empty.
‘You’ve come to interfere with our grand cause!’
‘We came here to die…’
Putting together the words of the cultist bastards…
-Gaaah, these crazy bastards!
-Brother! These guys are truly insane!
“What is it?”
-Vice Guild Leader, the Enterra guys swallowed poison and attempted suicide. We’ve knocked them all out for now, but I don’t think we can interrogate them further.
Anise pulled out a potion.
“It can’t be helped. I’ll use the weakest one I have…”
“It’s a bombing.”
Seohwa tapped the empty boxes with his cheap magic wand.
“These boxes must have been full of bombs too. The elders and soldiers went into the Market building to plant bombs. Those left here probably intended to detonate them on signal.”
“Surely not those bombs from earlier? The target-tracking ones…”
“The thickness of the wood for these three boxes is different. The things kept in here weren’t small. They were much larger and heavier. Probably something like the Type 679C bomb.”
Anise’s face turned deathly pale.
“That’s a building-demolition bomb! Just one is powerful enough to blow up a 100-story building, and if there are three…!”
“They must be planning to sink this entire island.”
Along with countless Awakened people.
It wasn’t that there had never been terrorist attacks aimed at the Market before, but since it was a confrontation between Awakened and non-Awakened, they were usually easily suppressed.
Even if Evil Humans joined in, they were like child’s play compared to the sheer number of Awakened here.
A terrorist attack on a place where so many Awakened gathered had never succeeded even once.
That was why terrorist organizations usually staged protests by attacking civilian areas.
However, detonating three large Type 679C bombs on Market Island was a completely different story.
The power would be at the level of the Pompeii volcanic eruption; except for a very small number of high-ranking hunters, everyone would be annihilated instantly.
How on earth did they get such bombs?
“What is the scheduled detonation time?”
When Kang Yigeon asked, the cultist chuckled even in his hazy state.
“Soon… the first step for our grand cause will…”
If successful, it would be recorded as the most horrific terrorist attack since the birth of the system.
If this was just the “first step,” one couldn’t imagine how grand the actual “D-Day Project” was.
Kang Yigeon shared this information immediately.
It was shocking and alarming news, but there wasn’t even time for that.
-I’ll go drag an NPC over right now. Hunter Anise, please prepare the detox potion.
“What I have isn’t an antidote for NPC poison. It might not work.”
-Surely they won’t just die.
“How irresponsible…”
“Wait a moment. There’s another way.”
Seohwa cut in.
“If the goal is to confuse the Market wall into recognizing us as NPCs.”
Seohwa looked at Kang Yigeon’s expression.
“Let’s call Yoon Youngin.”
“Pardon? The fiancé? What are you going to do calling a non-Awakened person!”
Unlike Anise, who was shocked, Kang Yigeon didn’t even bat an eyelid.
“How did you know?”
“Hunter Wolf, who noticed first, gave me a hint, and Mr. Kang Yigeon gave me the confirmation.”
Kang Yigeon is never the type of person to put a non-Awakened person in a dangerous place.
Because he was consistently good across all timelines, Seohwa could be certain that Yoon Youngin was an Awakened person.
“What is it? What, what? What about the fiancé?”
“Yoon Youngin is an Awakened person. Likely of the self-hypnosis type.”
“Holy crap. It was-a fake engagement!”
Of course that’s the first thing she says…Seohwa narrowed his eyes at Anise, who was hopping around in delight, when Cho Wookwon’s voice shouted over the radio.
-I told you it was a fake! For the Vice Guild Leader, there’s only Hunter Seohwa. I knew it!
‘Is that what’s important right now? The island is about to sink…’
“Mr. Yoon Youngin. Are you listening? You need to come here.”
When Kang Yigeon spoke calmly, Yoon Youngin sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
-Um… I also really want to protect people from terrorism, but… I really am a non-Awakened person. We really are engaged because we love each other…
“Mr. Yoon Youngin. You are not a non-Awakened person.”
-Pardon…? What are you talking about… I want to awaken too… but I’m so sad that I can’t, why would you poke at my sore spot like that…
‘Yoon Youngin, Top Agent of the Universe.’
Anise’s eyes went wide.
The sound of Cho Wookwon stifling a laugh could be heard.
Kang Yigeon recited those words two more times.
These words, uttered with a completely expressionless face, were the keyword to break Yoon Youngin’s self-hypnosis.
Exactly three seconds later.
-Ah, fuck.
A gruff voice, without a single drop of moisture, spoke up.
-These psychopathic bastards are planning a terrorist attack in a place crawling with Awakened? Did parasites eat their brains? The level of these idiots’ thinking is serious. Let’s just slice these vermin into pieces and feed them to the poor sharks. No one will know if you guys just keep your mouths shut.
The ‘Top Agent of the Universe’ had quite a foul mouth.
* * *
