With blurry vision, Lee Eunha could see Lee Taeseong’s face. She blinked several times before weakly opening her mouth to speak.
“Team… Leader?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“This… isn’t a dream, right? Are you really the team leader?”
“Yes. This isn’t a dream.”
“Thank goodness… Then I’m just going to rest for a bit.”
Lee Taeseong nodded.
Moments later, Lee Eunha lost consciousness.
Seeing her face soaked in blood, Lee Taeseong could easily guess what must have happened here.
Covered in blood from head to toe, Go Young-hee walked toward Lee Taeseong. She was sobbing uncontrollably.
It meant she was incredibly relieved and overjoyed by the situation.
“Waaaah! Team Leadeeeeer Lee Taeseooong!”
“You okay?”
Go Young-hee nodded repeatedly through her tears. Only after seeing Lee Taeseong did a wave of relief hit her. Though her body was torn in places and blood was flowing freely, her life wasn’t in danger.
If anything, it was Lee Eunha who was in more critical condition.
Staring at Jack, who was trapped inside a transparent cube, Lee Taeseong murmured,
“That… did Assistant Manager Lee Eunha do that?”
Sniffling, Go Young-hee replied,
“Yes. If she hadn’t used her ability… I’d have been hacked to pieces by that crazy pervert by now.”
“You did well. Get some rest.”
“O-okay…”
Lee Taeseong gently laid the unconscious Lee Eunha on the floor, then stepped up to the cube.
The navigation device in his hand, Anna, spoke up.
[That guy is the chainsaw maniac, Jack!]
“What kind of guy is he?”
[Like I said earlier, he’s a total lunatic. I wouldn’t go near him if I could help it. He talks to his chainsaw all the time, cuts people up and cooks them, and he’s a total pervert when it comes to women. He’s beyond saving.]
“He’s not that different from you, is he?”
[Excuse me? What are you talking about! I’m nothing like that freak! We’re fundamentally different!]
“……”
Inside the cube, Jack didn’t even glance at Lee Taeseong. Instead, he kept pressing his chainsaw against the wall.
Vrrrrrrrrr!
[Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Daaaamn iiiit!]
He looked extremely frustrated that things weren’t going his way. Lee Taeseong simply stood there, watching Jack with no particular expression.
[Oh! It’s cracking! I can finally get out! What’s that? Because of you? I know that! You little rascal! I always appreciate you, you know that?]
Because the caster, Lee Eunha, had passed out, the cube had lost its function.
Vrrrrrrrrrrr!
Finally, Jack succeeded in breaking through the wall and escaping.
[Ha ha! I’m free at last! Huh? You’re happy too? Me too, Tommy! Let’s enjoy the real party now!]
Lee Taeseong muttered under his breath,
“Do I really have to bring this piece of trash back alive?”
Among the entities Choi Harin had asked to be captured alive were ‘Chainsaw Maniac Jack’ and ‘The Deceiver.’
Jack was included because he was an extremely rare “growth-type entity” and also due to the ego weapon he possessed, the chainsaw “Tommy.” Not only did the tool have a will of its own, but the two shared a kind of symbiotic relationship.
To the researchers at Tree, ‘Jack and Tommy’ were an incredibly fascinating sample.
The same was true for the Deceiver, but unfortunately, he had crossed the line and ended up dead, rendering the matter meaningless.
Jack looked at Lee Taeseong and spoke in a sharp tone.
[Who the hell are you to stand there like that? Where are all the ladies? What’s that, Tommy? That slick-looking guy kidnapped the ladies? That won’t do. I can’t allow that.]
“……”
[All pretty boys must die! I’ll kill them all! What’s that, Tommy? He’s not a pretty boy, just good-looking? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! That’s not truuuuuue!]
As if someone had hit his berserk button, Jack went into a frenzy and charged at Lee Taeseong.
“I’ve never seen such a lunatic in my life.”
Without moving an inch, Lee Taeseong stared blankly at Jack and swung his hand like a blade.
Slash! Slash!
He didn’t even draw a sword. He merely waved his hand a few times in the air.
But then—
[Huh? What is this? What did you say, Tommy? My body’s been chopped up? No way. You’re scared? You’re saying we can’t beat him? What’s wrong with you all of a sudden, Tommy?]
Jack’s entire body had been sliced precisely into 25 pieces.
Staring at what had instantly become slabs of meat, Lee Taeseong said,
“Looks like the chainsaw understood the situation better than its owner. Honestly, the chainsaw seems smarter.”
[It hurts. It hurts. What did you say, Tommy? You’re hurting too? No, I don’t want to die. There are still too many women I haven’t tasted. What, Tommy? You still want to kill more people?]
Lee Taeseong grabbed Jack’s severed head and crushed it.
“You’re so damn noisy, I want to kill you just to shut you up.”
Honestly, he was dying to kill the guy, but he held himself back for the mission.
Freezing both Jack’s head and Tommy the chainsaw, he opened a subspace and threw them inside.
Inside, the tall spirit was busy reassembling Anna Kreuzen’s body piece by piece. Startled by the sudden intrusion, it yelled,
“Popo!?”
“Play with that too, Popo.”
“Popo (Don’t throw weird stuff in here)!”
Lee Taeseong shut the subspace again.
Watching the scene, Anna spoke in disbelief.
[What are you doing with my body…]
“You want to go in too?”
[No.]
Anna resolved to never challenge Lee Taeseong again, even if the sky fell.
In her eyes, the most dangerous being on this ship wasn’t any entity—it was undoubtedly Lee Taeseong.
When he returned to Go Young-hee, Jameson Carter and Mark approached from a distance.
“Holy shit. What the hell happened here?”
“Team Leader Lee Taeseong, are you all right?”
They had just finished sweeping up the remaining entities on the second floor.
“I’m fine.”
Before long, Lee Eunha regained consciousness.
Taeseong briefly explained to her and Go Young-hee how he had come to be here.
Later, the American managers joined in, and everyone began sharing their experiences.
Then, Mark spoke.
“Then for now, wouldn’t it be best to head to the engine room on the third floor and join up with Team Leader Song Jaejoong?”
“I think so too. Mark, the situation isn’t looking good. Some creature bastard dares to imitate me. It’s better to move with as many strong administrators as possible.”
Lee Taeseong remained silent, and Go Younghee looked hesitant.
At that moment, Lee Eunha spoke up.
“Administrator Mark. I’m sorry, but may I ask you a question?”
“Of course, feel free. Administrator Lee Eunha.”
“Since the entities escaped, have you had any contact with Team Leader Song Jaejoong?”
Mark shook his head.
“No. This is actually the first conversation I’ve had with any Korean-side administrator since then.”
As Lee Eunha’s expression hardened, Mark asked carefully.
“Is something wrong? Is there a problem?”
“…When I spoke to Team Leader Song Jaejoong, he clearly said he’d made contact with the American administrators. He also said we’d regroup in the engine room on the third floor.”
Only then did Mark seem to grasp the situation and responded in a more serious tone.
“At the very least, I know nothing about that. What about you, Team Leader?”
Jameson Carter also shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“……”
A heavy silence fell over the group. If their words were true, then Song Jaejoong had lied.
Mark murmured.
“That’s strange. Why would Team Leader Song Jaejoong lie about something like that?”
After a moment of deep thought, Lee Eunha replied.
“…Maybe he was trying to lure us in.”
“Lure us?”
Nodding, Lee Eunha called out to Lee Taeseong.
“Team Leader Lee Taeseong.”
“Speak.”
“Team Leader Choi Harin said the reason for this breakout was because an entity with mind control abilities had disguised itself as an administrator, right?”
“That’s right.”
Lee Eunha now turned her gaze to the American administrators.
“Were either of you aware of that detail?”
Jameson Carter and Mark answered at the same time.
“Disguise? First I’ve heard of it.”
“What are you talking about?”
Lee Eunha continued.
“I hadn’t heard the details either until now. So here’s the question—who exactly did Team Leader Choi Harin hear all of this from?”
After a brief pause in thought, Lee Taeseong spoke.
“…Song Jaejoong.”
Lee Eunha nodded.
“That’s what I think too. The one who passed false information to Intelligence, who possesses mind control powers, and who could have released the entities directly.”
“Are you saying Song Jaejoong is the entity disguised as an administrator?”
Lee Eunha shook her head.
“What if he was never disguised at all?”
“What do you mean?”
“No matter how lax the security at Tree is, could they really fail to notice if an administrator sent on this kind of mission was actually a disguised entity? I don’t think so.”
“Then what?”
“The incident wasn’t caused by an entity disguised as an administrator… but by an administrator with mind control abilities who caused it from the beginning.”
“So he betrayed Tree.”
“Exactly. As you know, Team Leader, there’s a fine line between administrators and entities. If someone had a different goal in mind, betrayal is always a possibility—yes, even for someone at the team leader level. Of course, this is all just my speculation.”
Lee Taeseong said:
“We’ll know for sure once we see it for ourselves.”
They headed straight to the third basement floor. Unlike the first and second floors, it was eerily quiet.
Lee Taeseong opened the engine room door. The group’s expressions stiffened as they looked inside.
“……”
“……”
The engine room was filled with corpses. Piles of bodies, all in various forms, were heaped like a mountain. Among them were not only administrators, but entities as well.
The walls were covered in writing and strange symbols drawn in blood.
ThiIsISAllForTheGreatOneThisIsAnOfferingIAmTheOnlyPriestOfThatBeingTheCrowIsComingTheCrowIsComiNgTheCrowIsComingThisPlaceIsAnAltarMadeForHimThISWholePlaceIsAnAltarAndYouAreAllOfferingsWorshipAndServeTheGreatOneComeMyLordMyGodMyFatherIWillOfferMyHeartAndMyInTestines
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