Chapter 14: The Sealed Apartment
A sealed apartment district in northern Gyeonggi.
Apartments where no one lived anymore were perfect places to be used as secret meeting spots.
Quiet, labyrinthine, and above all, full of empty rooms.
〈Unpleasant.〉
Ar, cradled in Diesel’s arms, spotted shadow-shaped spirits drifting through the apartment complex and bristled all its fur.
Places where people had stayed for long periods inevitably accumulated spiritual energy.
In particular, negative spaces where many lives had been lost due to war retained that energy far more strongly, and such energy tended to draw in spirits that dwelled in the material world.
〈Don’t worry about it. They probably aren’t interested in us either.〉
Ignoring the shadow spirits and heading further inside, I soon saw a familiar face in the distance.
“Over here, Mr. Diesel!”
Alfred Park greeted Diesel, waving his arm high in the air.
Like Fixer Alfred Han, one of his eyes was pitch black.
“Why are you out here?”
“The leader told me to come out and greet you. Since you usually operate in Seoul, I figured you wouldn’t know the geography around here very well, so I thought I’d guide you too.”
It seemed that Alfred Park had added his own thoughts to the order given by the hacker Zeon.
“There wasn’t really a need to go that far. Has everyone already arrived?”
“Yes. Mr. Jason came first to check whether this place was safe. Mr. Zeon arrived just now.”
“Then he must’ve been the very first one here.”
Information only the first arrival could know.
At Diesel’s words, Alfred Park burst into laughter.
“That’s right. It’s become a habit.”
While exchanging pointless small talk as we walked, we found ourselves at the destination before we knew it.
The living room of an apartment spacious enough for a family of four.
Perhaps they had left in a hurry when abandoning the place, because all kinds of belongings were still there.
They were simply in a heavily worn state from the passage of time.
“You’re here?”
A burly orc greeted Diesel in a deep, heavy voice.
“That’s Jason. He’s a physical guard and also works as a shaman.”
He broke into a wide smile and extended his hand for a handshake.
“I’m Diesel.”
“Right. So you’re that famous magician. The one who even awakened White Bear.”
Jason asked, his eyes sparkling.
His expression made it clear he had a mountain of things he wanted to ask.
Instead of answering, Diesel simply gave a small nod and looked around.
Then he spotted a small-framed hacker fiddling with a cyberdeck in the corner of the living room.
Wrapped so tightly in thick gear and wearing a heavy mask, not even a sliver of skin was visible, let alone his face.
The only exposed parts were his hands—both of them gleaming prosthetics plated in gold.
[Why are you late?]
Hacker Zeon abruptly spat out the words in a mechanically modulated voice.
At that curt attitude, Diesel responded in kind.
“Late? I came on time.”
[No, you’re late. Precisely 0.374 seconds.]
“Haha, what’s with that. Making a fuss over something like that.”
The orc beside him laughed good-naturedly, but Zeon did not.
[Do you not know that on the battlefield, life and death change in milliseconds? In 0.374 seconds, I can hack that android bastard and make him pull the trigger on his handgun.]
Zeon rambled on while staring at Diesel through the lenses attached to his mask.
But Diesel frowned instead and replied.
“You must be mistaken about something. I wasn’t late.”
[What? I’m telling you that you were. Look, I even recorded it right here, and you’re still denying it—.]
Zeon picked up his cyberdeck to show Diesel, then suddenly trailed off.
[W-what.]
Panic could be felt from behind the mask.
[N-no…… I definitely checked…… It was 0.374 seconds late……]
Muttering to himself, Zeon checked the cyberdeck’s monitor again, but the zero displayed on the screen did not change.
Naturally.
Just moments ago, Ar had hacked his screen and subtly altered the text.
〈Easier than expected.〉
Diesel spoke to Zeon, who was standing there blankly, unable to say a word.
“What did I tell you? I said I wasn’t late.”
[…….]
“Are you really not going to apologize after accusing an innocent person?”
At those words, the silent Zeon suddenly turned to Alfred Park and exploded in anger.
[You……! Isn’t this because you didn’t do your job properly! You trash machine bastard…….]
“Pardon……? What do you mean by that? I only greeted Mr. Diesel exactly as you instructed, Mr. Zeon…….”
[I told you to come as slowly as possible!]
“Didn’t you say ‘as safely as possible’? I’m sure that’s what I heard…….”
[Shut up!]
Diesel could roughly grasp what was going on.
‘So he was trying to break my spirit before the job even started.’
As the leader, Zeon probably found Diesel’s reputation rather burdensome.
That was understandable. There was no newcomer anywhere who had single-handedly faced the megacorp weapon AT-71 and awakened the demi-god White Bear.
That was why he must have planned to crush my momentum early on and seize control.
‘He probably didn’t want to see a rookie Ghostcatcher getting out of line in a job he was leading.’
[You stupid robot vacuum that can’t even understand simple words……!]
“Zeon, that’s enough. Alfred Park here is a half-android with full human rights.”
As Zeon’s words grew increasingly harsh, Jason tried to calm him down.
But Zeon didn’t stop and continued firing off his words to the end.
[Ha! Human rights for a machine that’s finished the moment it gets hacked…….]
Finished the moment it gets hacked.
Finding that remark rather amusing, Diesel let out a sneer and said,
“That applies to you too, doesn’t it?”
[What did you say……?]
“You wouldn’t be able to do anything if you got hacked either.”
[What are you—.]
Having been hit right where it hurt, Zeon couldn’t continue for a while.
As an extremely awkward silence settled among the Ghostcatchers, Jason clapped his hands twice and spoke up.
“Alright, alright, things got a bit tangled right from the start. Let’s begin with introductions first. Hm?”
At his words, Zeon let out a long sigh and then spoke.
[Hoo……. Fine. The name’s Zeon. My position is hacker. And I’m the ‘leader’ of this operation.]
Emphasizing the word leader, Zeon tossed a small chip toward Diesel.
[It’s a secure communication chip. From now on, we’ll only be contacting each other through this. Plug it in now.]
“Looks like you’re not using a closed channel.”
[We don’t use that kind of sloppy communication.]
“Closed channels aren’t necessarily insecure.”
The orc countered Zeon’s words.
But all that came back was a snort of derision.
[That’s how it looks to ignorant guards.]
“Khmm…….”
[In the Electrosphere, there’s no such thing as a truly ‘closed’ connection.]
That wasn’t wrong.
However, precisely because of that, the security of a closed channel depended heavily on the skill of the hacker protecting it.
In a way, Zeon’s behavior like this was also proof that he lacked confidence in his own abilities.
[Enough idle talk. We’ll move straight to the preliminary work.]
Zeon spoke while pointing at two heavy mechanical devices in the corner.
[Jason and the android, carry those. Diesel, you escort Jason. The location is the sewer and river to the south of here.]
“What’s the objective?”
When Diesel asked, Zeon looked up at him and replied.
[Guiding nearby spirits.]
Elemental spirits of the material world were often used for business purposes.
Electric spirits that powered power plants, fire spirits that burned waste at incineration facilities, and water spirits that purified water and sewage systems were especially well known.
Interestingly, there were voices opposing this practice as well.
They argued that spirits were also a form of life and should not be handled recklessly.
But in a world where corporate profit was valued above all else, such voices were, unsurprisingly, ignored.
However, even in this dystopian world, environmental groups that had stubbornly survived were by no means easy opponents.
The client for the job Diesel was participating in this time was one such environmental group.
They wanted the water spirits in a wastewater treatment facility to be set free.
‘It reminds me of Little Sister.’
What Sis had tried to protect were Electrosphere spirits rather than elemental spirits of the material world, but their mindset was probably the same.
[Diesel, have you arrived at the location?]
[No. Not yet.]
[Hurry.]
Zeon issued the command in an irritated tone.
Ironically, the ones who should have been irritated were Diesel and Jason, who were trudging through the stench-filled sewers.
“Just bear with it. Hackers are usually like that, aren’t they.”
Jason said with a sigh.
“In my experience, most hackers are petty by nature, and with their good memories, they tend to hold grudges terribly well. There’s even a saying not to get on a hacker’s bad side. So don’t worry too much and just endure it.”
“I’m not particularly bothered.”
That wasn’t an empty phrase.
There were far more important things to worry about than something that trivial.
Of course, that didn’t mean he intended to tolerate rudeness forever.
The moment Zeon crossed a certain line Diesel had set, he planned to respond properly.
“By the way, there was something I wanted to ask earlier…….”
“Go ahead.”
“Well…… are you really that Ghostcatcher who awakened White Bear?”
“Yes, well……. That’s right.”
At Diesel’s answer, Jason couldn’t hide his excitement and continued speaking.
“So it was true! What did White Bear’s original form look like? Was it really about the size of a small mountain?”
“Not quite a mountain, but it was about the size of a decent building.”
“My goodness, a building……. What about its appearance? Some say its face looks like a polar bear, others say it’s closer to a gray bear.”
“It looked similar to a polar bear.”
After a while of one-sided questions and answers, Diesel asked in return this time.
“You seem very interested in White Bear.”
At that, Jason let out a hearty laugh and said,
“What orc in the world wouldn’t be interested in White Bear?”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. It’s only natural that orcs, who revere strength, would be drawn to White Bear, which symbolizes strength itself.”
White Bear symbolized strength.
Diesel recalled the battle from that night and shuddered slightly.
“Anyway, thanks for telling me. I’d like to see it with my own eyes someday.”
“It’s awakened from its long sleep and actively moving around, so won’t there be a chance someday?”
“Haha! Then I’d have no greater wish!”
As they talked and walked, they soon arrived at their destination.
This time, the orc contacted Zeon.
[We’ve arrived.]
[Why are you so slow?]
[The sewer was more slippery than expected.]
[Then install the equipment and contact me again.]
They were standing in a wide chamber where sewers converged.
Jason walked to the center and set down the round mechanical device he had been carrying on his back.
‘So this is the device that lures nearby spirits.’
After finishing the installation, the orc contacted Zeon again.
Then the device began operating with a low humming sound.
Diesel immediately felt a response from the spirits around them.
〈Ar, are you okay?〉
Worried that Ar might also be affected by that frequency, he glanced into his arms.
But perhaps because it had no effect on Electrosphere spirits, Ar merely tilted its head and looked at Diesel.
“Hm, looks like the spirits are already reacting. Let’s get out of here quickly.”
Perhaps because he was both a physical guard and a shaman, Jason’s sensitivity to spirits seemed fairly good.
As they turned around to leave the sewer—
‘Something’s wrong. This is too much.’
The moment he sensed the ominous presence, an unfamiliar wailing sound echoed from behind them.
“What the…….”
Facing the source of the noise, Jason muttered without even bringing his weapon to hand.
Soon, the deeply pooled sewer water began to writhe, slowly taking on a shape.