#070
“Are you the Baekho Guild’s 1st Combat Team?”
An Ability Management Bureau employee approached and asked. His expression wasn’t good at all.
“Yes, we are.”
Han Cheolyong stepped forward and answered.
“Have you identified what kind of mutant it is?”
“According to the students and teachers, it’s several dogs, a goat, chickens, ducks, pheasants, and rabbits. They were animals kept in various corners of the school, but they suddenly mutated all at once and attacked the students.”
“You called us for just that?”
Moon Bora asked with a frown.
The Bureau employee glanced around and lowered his voice before speaking.
“Mutants are appearing and rampaging almost simultaneously across the entire capital region. All the espers from our Bureau, as well as every guild in the capital area, are out dealing with mutants. We’re short-staffed, so we had to concentrate requests on the Baekho Guild, which has many hunters. Please understand.”
The employee looked troubled as he whispered.
“Have the mutants’ locations been identified?”
Han Cheolyong asked.
“They chased after fleeing students and have scattered throughout the school building. You’ll probably need to search the entire building.”
“Are there any people left inside?”
“We’re still confirming, but there are three missing persons whose escape hasn’t been confirmed.”
“How many entrances are there in total?”
“Four in total – one at each end of the building, and one each at the front and back of the center.”
Han Cheolyong nodded and turned around.
“I think it would be best to close off the front and back central passages and split into two teams to search.”
As Han Cheolyong shared his opinion, the team members immediately nodded.
“Then please completely seal off the front and back central passages.”
Han Cheolyong told the Bureau employee. The employee nodded.
“Have you found the cause of the mutation?”
Eunseok asked the employee who was about to turn towards the others. The employee hesitated. He quickly composed his expression, but Eunseok caught a glimpse of discomfort flashing in his eyes.
“Not yet.”
The Bureau employee answered briefly and hurriedly turned away.
“This might be due to a magic stone again, so we should try to recover it as well.”
Eunseok said, recalling the magic stone they found in the valley before. The current mutant situation occurring almost simultaneously across the region likely had the same cause. Or perhaps humanity, which had entered a period of stability for a while, was facing another major crisis…
“One team will enter from the left, the other from the right. And let’s have Taeuk and Eunseok look for the magic stone.”
Moon Bora suggested. Eunseok was inwardly displeased about not participating in handling the mutants, but firing guns inside a school building wasn’t a good idea to begin with. There was a risk of stray bullets causing unintended casualties if they flew out the windows.
Everyone nodded, seemingly without objection.
Han Cheolyong and Oh Seongeun left to enter through the left entrance of the building. Moon Bora and Shin Jeongho waved lightly and ran towards the right entrance.
“It’s just a few mutants, not a gate, so they probably won’t need us. Let’s hurry and look for the magic stone.”
Ji Taeuk said lightly as he started walking.
The animal enclosures were larger than expected. There were spacious pens set up for raising various species. But the space, which was likely created for the students’ emotional well-being, showed clear signs of damage and breaches everywhere.
“Let’s split up to search. Is that okay?”
Eunseok asked Ji Taeuk.
“There shouldn’t be any mutants around, so why not.”
Ji Taeuk nodded nonchalantly. Eunseok stared at Ji Taeuk for a moment before taking out the sub-pistol strapped to his ankle and offering it.
“Just in case, take this. If you see a mutant, shoot immediately.”
Ji Taeuk was about to refuse, waving his hands, but seeing Eunseok’s stern expression, he accepted the pistol.
“You start from the entrance, I’ll start from the back, and we’ll meet in the middle.”
“Got it.”
Ji Taeuk nodded. Eunseok checked Ji Taeuk’s hand holding the gun once more before turning and running towards the farthest enclosure.
The enclosures seemed to be directly maintained and managed by the students, decorated colorfully and cutely. Eunseok held a gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other, just in case, as he began carefully searching from the innermost part of the enclosures.
The enclosures were very well-maintained. Judging from the fallen feathers, this seemed to be an aviary for chickens, pheasants, or ducks. Eunseok gently sifted through the straw and sawdust on the enclosure floor with his toes, thoroughly searching for any sign of a magic stone.
Since the magic stone itself wasn’t very large, it took quite some time to search even one enclosure. During the search, occasional sounds of combat could be heard from the school building.
Although the search was tedious, Eunseok carefully examined every small corner without missing anything. Given that all the animals they were raising suddenly turned into mutants at once, the magic stone had to be somewhere in these enclosures.
Just as he finished thoroughly searching one enclosure and moved on to the next, he stepped on a peacock feather. Before starting a detailed search, Eunseok scanned the overall appearance of the enclosure. As he was briefly sweeping his gaze over the tree standing in the center of the enclosure-
Flash-!
Something reflected the flashlight beam.
When he shone the light again, he could clearly see something yellow glittering in the center of the tree’s branching limbs.
Found it.
Eunseok holstered his gun, held the flashlight in his mouth, and started climbing the tree.
As he climbed up, gripping the branches, he soon saw the yellow magic stone. It was smaller than the one they found in the valley.
This size might be about a B-rank boss level.
Eunseok thought to himself as he carefully extracted the magic stone wedged between the branches and put it in his pocket. Just as he was about to jump down to the ground-
“……!”
Instinctively, the moment his feet touched the ground, Eunseok rolled to the side.
Thwack-!
Something struck the spot where he had landed. Eunseok didn’t have time to identify what it was before springing up and hiding behind the tree.
Thwack! Thwack!
The sound of something repeatedly striking the tree trunk rang out. Glancing at where he had just landed, Eunseok saw the ends of tranquilizer darts stuck in the ground. This wasn’t an attack from mutants. It was human.
Eunseok leaned his back against the tree and drew his pistol from its holster. Instead of making any rash moves, he reached to press the emergency call button on his watch. Or rather, he tried to.
Thwack-!
A strong impact hit the forearm that was about to press the watch. The shock caused his finger to miss the button. Eunseok extended his forearm in the direction the shot came from, taking a defensive stance. He was using the expensive forearm guard he had purchased to block the incoming darts.
Thwack! Thwack!
Another impact immediately struck his forearm. But this time it wasn’t just one shot. The forearm guard blocked one, but the other deeply embedded itself in the back of his hand. By the time he realized it, his hand and arm were already numb and fell limply.
Those who confirmed Eunseok had been hit closed in on the enclosure. Moving his eyes, he counted four. They were approaching from all directions.
Instead of aiming at them, Eunseok used his hand that wasn’t yet paralyzed to pull the trigger of his gun, aiming at the ground.
Bang-!
Fortunately, he managed to fire one shot. Eunseok was the only one in the 1st Combat Team who used a gun. Hearing this sound, everyone would quickly realize that Eunseok was in a bad situation.
After firing once, Eunseok let go of the gun without hesitation. Then he pulled out the tranquilizer dart stuck in the back of his hand. Half of his body was already nearly paralyzed. The numbing sensation was spreading rapidly through his body. Pulling the trigger once was the best he could manage.
His body slid down the tree trunk he was leaning against. His vision began to darken. Faces wearing black ski masks drew closer, and their hands reached out towards Eunseok. Eunseok, pretending to be completely limp, suddenly raised his hand and yanked off the mask of the one right in front of him.
“You…!”
As Eunseok’s eyes widened, one of the men behind approached and gripped his shoulder. Then immediately-
Bzzzzt-!
A strong electric shock coursed through his body. His already paralyzed limbs convulsed uncontrollably. A hand wearing a black glove covered Eunseok’s eyes, as if telling him to stop resisting. Just as darkness enveloped his vision, the consciousness he had been desperately clinging to also blacked out completely.
