Echoes of the Reverse Planet Chapter 252

Chapter 252: Stepping Stone

'He will surely try to prevent at least the annihilation of the research facility.'

The annihilation of the research facility by the Otherworld Managent Bureau's suppression.

As Baek Woohyun had thought when he first heard the Director's declaration, this was highly likely to lead to a reduction in Deus's influence over his story.

Even for Deus—who had read Isaac's intentions and reclaid the position of Otherworld God, thus securing his own ho turf—it would surely be a situation he did not particularly want.

No doubt he was preparing the ans to reverse a situation that was turning against him.

And it was clear that whatever it was would involve thods far more violent than anything seen thus far—a desperate last struggle.

It was obvious he had sothing else being prepared, given that after staging a hostage situation with the research facility remnants and throwing in just one lone Doppelganger, he had gone quiet.

Deus—who had been grating even when he simply interfered in Baek Woohyun's story to obstruct it at every turn—would have prepared a blade that was truly razor-sharp when he was serious.

The question was what ans he would co with.

"······."

This much, even Baek Woohyun could not guess.

It was because the ans Deus had at his disposal were so nurous. A creature that had steadily intervened through all manner of ans even before becoming the Otherworld God now had the Otherworld itself in his grasp.

A Doppelganger, a Half-Human Half-Insect, an Otherworld Lord—if he set his mind to bringing them out, the ans he could mobilize were inexhaustible. Even looking only at the large ones, setting all the minor ones aside.

On top of that, he was presud to be planning to run far wilder in this mission given how he had minimized his interference in the previous one.

'Let's not think too deeply about it.'

"Huu."

Baek Woohyun exhaled a long breath as if trying to empty his complicated mind.

Whatever the case, in the end Deus would want to push the story mission he was running toward failure, and to that end would put forward strong enemies.

Then if he smashed head-on through every enemy Deus brought out, there was no need to worry needlessly.

Therefore, what was needed was one thing and one thing only.

A state of mind thoroughly prepared for any situation.

A Transcendent who did not crumble from within had no reason to crumble before re external interference.

"Sunbae!"

"Good day."

Having settled his thoughts, Baek Woohyun turned to face Lee Yujin, whose expression was all smiles. Perhaps owing to the previous mission ending smoothly, her face showed a noticeably greater sense of ease.

Had the mission not been a complete success—hostages dying, for instance—she would likely have been in quite a fatigued state. While she could not match him in fighting at the front, the cleanup work would be considerably difficult as well.

Though that was a hypothetical unrelated to Baek Woohyun, who handled every mission beyond perfection.

"You really did wonderfully last ti! It was a consecutive mission and a sudden one at that, so I was quite worried—but as expected, you were you, Sunbae!"

"Not at all."

"Especially the fact that there were no casualties among the hostages at all—that was wonderful. There were quite a few overseas tourists as well, so it could easily have beco an even bigger problem."

Lee Yujin showered him with praise to a degree that Baek Woohyun found sowhat overwhelming—calling him the finest agent, saying he had saved the Otherworld Managent Bureau's face, and so on.

In truth, when considered carefully, it was not particularly exaggerated. In her eyes, he had truly handled to perfection a mission he had been recklessly thrown into.

All the more so because the research facility people had chosen to stage their hostage situation at the Lereian Hotel, which had many foreign guests, making it an affair that could have resulted in international embarrassnt.

······Additionally, in the unspoken thoughts she could not voice, there was also the fact that she could not give Baek Woohyun much in the way of reward beyond a shower of praise.

The Otherworld Managent Bureau, semi-independent though it was, was still a governnt agency, and its agents were civil servants paid wages from a budget.

Producing excellent results did not an they could hand out performance bonuses lavishly the way a private company could. aning this was her attempt to fill him with at least the honor of maximum praise.

"—Anyway, the fact that you've co to see now ans you want to receive a new mission, doesn't it, Sunbae?"

"That's right."

After a long stretch of the cringeworthy shower of praise.

Lee Yujin—with a look that said 'this should be about enough, shouldn't it?'—posed the question gently, and Baek Woohyun nodded without hesitation.

This was the easiest way to get involved in the war between the Otherworld Managent Bureau and the research facility—though it was one-sided, with the research facility being pumled by the Bureau.

"Sunbae, you really are···!"

Lee Yujin, unaware of Baek Woohyun's desire for revenge, clapped a hand over her mouth at the surge of emotion. As soone in a mid-managent role at the Otherworld Managent Bureau, she could not help it.

No sign of disliking any mission no matter how many he took, unperturbed even when dragged into urgent ones, and now showing up on his own asking if there were more?

On top of that, his success rate on every mission he took was a hundred percent! She could say with confidence—any mid-level manager would co to adore an asset like this.

"Let first explain the current situation. The new mission is related to it as well."

"Understood."

"Since the hostage situation last ti, the research facility has—"

After the hostage situation at the Lereian Hotel failed, the research facility ceased all its desperate struggling. They stopped the acts of terrorism they had been attempting haphazardly all over the place.

It was, of course, not that they had quit because it had been a disorganized attempt that produced only a small number of civilian casualties with nothing to show for it.

The research facility people had apparently concluded that remaining scattered left them unable to avoid being picked off one by one by the Otherworld Managent Bureau, and were in the process of converging in one place.

Upon investigation, a large research facility in Ilsan was their destination, and the Otherworld Managent Bureau had also set its sights on that location and was gathering personnel.

'The research facility people are converging.'

"An opportunity to deal with them all at once has arisen."

"That's right. The problem is what last act of desperation a research facility gathered in one place will pull."

Lee Yujin shrugged.

"This part is one where I have no idea what might co out. They're such a bizarre bunch."

"They are."

A research facility that had not hesitated even at human experintation while conducting bizarre research had now gotten its hands on a connection to the Otherworld on top of everything else.

There was no reason to be surprised at whatever ca out. It was also a place where research that had been conducted separately in various locations had converged.

Bluntly speaking, even a fusion monster combining a Doppelganger and a Half-Human Half-Insect coming out would not have been unnatural.—Furthermore, Deus had likely aid for exactly that kind of perception.

Because, as Isaac had briefly explained—enough for Baek Woohyun to understand—Deus's interference had to be asured against 'how justified is it?'

Bluntly speaking, to cause Baek Woohyun's mission to fail, he could simply throw in a thousand Half-Human Half-Insects, a thousand Doppelgangers, and every single Otherworld Lord.

Now that Isaac had blocked such unchecked interference, Deus was in a situation where he had to observe a minimum level of plausibility in his story interventions.

The research facility, having stopped sporadic terrorism, consolidating in one location. The synergistic effect occurring there. A situation where no one knew what might erge from the gathered research.

Those were precisely the footholds Deus would exploit for his interference.

"Should I head there directly?"

"No, Sunbae. There's no way we'd send you there alone."

Lee Yujin gave a small laugh at Baek Woohyun's question.

She knew well enough how strong he was, but there was no reason to throw him headlong into the enemy's main base alone. It was effectively an order to go and die.

If she were to give a similar directive, she would send him accompanied by the Otherworld Managent Bureau's finest agents. And among them, she herself would certainly be included.

"A mont ago I said the research facility was 'converging,' didn't I? Their full consolidation isn't complete yet."

"aning they can be cut off in the middle."

"Exactly! This is when we need to chip away at their strength as much as possible."

Lee Yujin smiled brightly as she pulled four sheets of docunts from a folder.

On them were the routes of the research facility forces that the Otherworld Managent Bureau had uncovered. Those who had not yet joined up—and were therefore defenseless against being picked off one by one.

She had likely been about to tell him to choose one. Had he selected one sheet, she would have distributed the rest to other agents.

But Baek Woohyun had no intention of going along with what she had in mind. Why yield prey that had been laid before him to others?

He had no particular greed for material things—but when it ca to revenge, he beca greedier than anyone. That was precisely who he was: an avatar of revenge.

He extended his hand and took all four sheets of docunts from Lee Yujin at once.

"I'll handle all of them."

"Isn't that a bit much, Sunbae?"

"It's fine."

Lee Yujin made a face that said 'did the praise work a little too well···?' but Baek Woohyun paid it no mind whatsoever. He did not particularly care what she thought.

He flipped through the four sheets quickly, confird their contents, and imdiately expressed his intention to depart. If he delayed, there was a risk the targets might succeed in joining up.

But did it matter, since at the end he planned to storm in and destroy even those already gathered?

'If that happens, so of them might not die by my hand.'

It was Baek Woohyun's conviction that revenge had to be carried out by one's own hand. No matter how long it took, no matter what ruthless ans were required.

Because revenge was ultimately self-satisfaction—the fury released by soone who had lost. There was no way to feel satisfied leaving one's own emotions in the hands of another.

Every one of them in the research facility, from the top all the way down to the bottom—he would have to personally tear every last one of them apart before the feeling burning inside him would cool even slightly.

"Co back safely, Sunbae!"

"······."

Taat!

Seeing Lee Yujin off, Baek Woohyun left the Otherworld Managent Bureau headquarters and imdiately kicked off the ground and leaped upward.

Moving from rooftop to rooftop—and when there was no other way, stepping even on the smallest footholds on building walls—his speed was remarkable. Enough to make even a decent car seem trivial.

Well, compared to a car that had to obey traffic laws on top of having other vehicles around, he running on his own body was entirely free.

Of course, it was considerably slower compared to when he flew through the sky using the Telekinesis build—but that could not be helped.

"······."

'Is that it?'

It was around then that Baek Woohyun—charging through the middle of downtown Seoul along a path a little different from everyone else's—spotted one of his target vehicles.

Unlike ordinary people who would have missed it from devoting all their attention to navigating across rooftops, he had more than enough room to look around him.

On top of that, he possessed senses that perfectly pierced through a considerable range around him, making it all the easier to notice the researcher and Awakener inside the vehicle.

'Let's go.'

Taat!

Once the enemy was confird, he did not hesitate.

Baek Woohyun imdiately leaped from the building rooftop and landed on top of the moving vehicle. A sudden impact—Kuung!—rang out.

At the sa ti, the inside of the vehicle grew frantic as it realized sothing had happened—but from the mont Baek Woohyun had locked onto them, their end had already been decided.

His eyes shifted to inverted eyes. Baek Woohyun drove his fingertips into the roof of the vehicle. His fingers sank right through the steel sheet as if pushing into a block of tofu!

Having secured his grip, it was now ti to tear off the packaging and check the contents. He ripped away the section of the vehicle roof he was not standing on in a single motion.

Kwajijik!

"What the—! He ripped off the roof?!"

"Enemy! Enemy!" "Shoot him!"

"······."

Inside the vehicle, now abruptly converted into a convertible, the researchers and Awakeners cried out in alarm. From their perspective, it was suprely terrifying.

A sudden impact, fingers sinking in from above, and through the torn-away roof—a demon with eyes of reversed black and white!

It was precisely the sort of scene one would only expect to see in a horror film where a monster appears.