Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 5: Mercenary A (4)

"Huff. Huff."

The harsh air scraped my throat like a blade.

The man forced his exhausted legs to keep moving, dragging them forward as he continued to run.

His face was pale, and sweat poured from his brow like rain.

His lungs had already surpassed their limits, and it felt like they were on fire.

Each breath of oxygen felt like a tear through his chest.

The legs that struck the ground felt as if they had turned into lead.

‘I can’t run anymore...’

With one last burst of strength, the man made his way toward a hidden corner at the end of the hallway.

He threw himself against the wall, his body scraping loudly against the floor.

The clanging sound of mechanical parts colliding with one another filled the air.

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Moments later, the man cautiously peeked around the corner to survey the hallway.

The hallway, shrouded in darkness, was oddly empty.

"Ha, I’m alive."

A wave of relief washed over him.

Finally, he exhaled the breath he’d been holding in for so long.

The pain in his lungs began to subside slowly.

‘If I survive this... I’ll have to get my lungs replaced.’

He glanced at his left arm.

The foreign metal arm had cracked slightly, and a faint blue glow leaked from it.

Though several parts of his body had been modified with mechanical implants, his lungs had remained natural.

Now, he deeply regretted that decision.

He hadn’t even had a proper rest, and he had been running non-stop.

Constantly being chased by implementations trying to kill him.

The distorted space that could slice off his limbs with just a misstep.

The cursed space where even the direction of gravity could not be predicted.

And among all of this, the most terrifying thing was the massive implementation relentlessly pursuing him.

He was being chased by a giant implementation.

A body at least twice the size of a regular implementation, with a massive blade extending from one arm. The mere sight of it was enough to stop his heart.

What was even more disturbing was that this beast didn’t hesitate to attack other implementations, either.

‘...’

The man fell into thought.

He had never heard of implementations fighting each other, but he couldn’t quite understand what it meant.

After all, he wasn’t an AI Assimilation expert.

In fact, he was a regular mercenary, desperately trying to avoid AI Assimilation.

‘I was lucky. Really...’

Looking back at the escape, it was clear that his survival was mostly due to pure luck.

Running away just as the massive implementation squeezed the space around him.

At the crucial moment, the giant implementation appeared and destroyed the other implementations.

It almost felt like the monster was actually helping him.

Strangely, when he managed to escape from the monster, everything seemed to fall into place, like some miracle.

But such thoughts didn’t last long.

Grind.

The chilling sound echoed once again.

The massive steel blade scraped across the concrete floor.

‘It’s him...’

The moment he felt the air grow colder, the man knew it was time to run again.

He bolted, knowing that the deadly strike was coming for him.

The wall he had been hiding behind split in two as the concrete shattered, pieces flying in all directions.

‘Helping me, my ass!’

The man clenched his teeth and began running again, his tired legs screaming as he pushed forward.

His breath rose rapidly, the pain in his chest almost unbearable.

His vision was beginning to blur.

‘If I survive this... I will definitely replace my lungs...’

He kept repeating to himself, trying to keep his consciousness intact.

If he fell, he’d die.

If he stopped, he’d die.

The only path to survival was to keep moving forward.

The massive implementation, watching from a distance, slowly began to pursue him, its heavy steps echoing in the distance.

****

Endless calls continued to fill the air.

[■ ■ ■ ■]

That indecipherable sound seemed to constantly whisper something to him.

But he ignored it, following Aria as she led the way.

Deeper into the AI Assimilation zone, we delved further into the distorted reality.

The walls wavered like a lake, and black particles, resembling pixels, floated upward, defying gravity.

With each step, the reality around us grew more alien.

Aria kept checking the signal on her receiver, guiding the way.

Her helmet displayed complex data patterns, and the device on her wrist blinked with blue holograms.

We walked for what seemed like hours.

Suddenly, Aria stopped and turned toward me.

"Signal lost."

Her voice echoed slightly from inside the helmet.

I looked at her, puzzled, and Aria quickly began explaining.

Her words were filled with terms like "space distortion," "signal degradation," and "law reversal," but the meaning was simple:

‘The signal is now pointing toward the heart of the AI Assimilation zone. Further tracking is impossible.’

"Hmm..."

"I don’t have the decryption tech for the core of the Assimilation. But the corporation might have it."

With those words, Aria shook her head slowly.

Well, if it was a technology exclusive to the corporations, it was clear that mercenaries like us wouldn’t be able to do much.

I began to wonder if it was time to give up. Just as that thought crossed my mind...

[■ ■ ■ ■]

Thud. Thud. Thud.

With the sound of heavy footsteps, an unknown noise approached.

"Implementation!"

The footsteps were heard not only by me, but Aria too, as she immediately shifted and took cover behind me.

But, unfortunately for Aria, her height meant she couldn’t hide behind me.

In that moment, like a scene straight out of a horror movie, a massive implementation suddenly appeared right in front of me.

Without any warning, as if it had materialized from thin air, it stood before me.

A phenomenon that seemed to defy the laws of physics.

"Whoa, it’s huge."

I couldn’t help but look up in awe as I tilted my head back, gazing at the giant implementation.

It was easily 3 meters tall.

Its one arm had grotesquely transformed into a massive blade, resembling a giant scythe.

It looked like a monstrous amalgamation of pixelated shadows.

As I stared up at it, the implementation let out a sound only I could hear.

[■ ■ ■ ■]

At the same time, I heard the sharp whistle of wind coming toward me.

Swoosh.

Without thinking, I leaped into the air, kicking Aria, who had been hiding behind me, far away.

As I shoved Aria aside, my arm was sliced off cleanly, spinning through the air.

'!'

It was becoming strangely familiar to watch my own body parts dance through the air twice in one day.

'Ah, when I exercise, I always get hungry...'

I couldn’t help but think as I looked at my own arm floating through the air.

****

"Ah..."

Aria murmured, watching the battle between A and the implementation.

She was so focused that she didn’t even realize she was making a sound.

Swoosh.

With her vision enhancement implants, she could barely see the lightning-fast strikes coming from A.

A lowered her body just enough to avoid the blow and then, with a swift motion, kicked the implementation with her other foot.

Thud!

The sound of human foot colliding with the implementation was completely unnatural—the implementation took a step back.

A fought with impossible techniques, landing blows from every impossible angle, while the implementation’s strikes couldn’t even graze her clothes.

She truly was a master of combat.

A was showing exactly what it meant to be a mercenary who relied on nothing but her fists in an era of bombs and guns.

What’s more, she had sacrificed one of her hands to protect Aria!

"Incredible..."

I had worked with her before, but seeing this side of her was completely new.

Honestly, I had always thought of A as a lazy, disinterested person.

But today, at this moment...

That perception had been completely shattered.

With that kind of performance, it didn’t matter if she was lazy.

It didn’t matter if she ate pizza like it was an addiction.

As A stepped on the implementation’s blade and launched herself into the air, striking the implementation’s head with her heel, I muttered softly.

"Amazing..."

****

After watching the giant implementation slowly dissolve into the air, I walked over to the corner, retrieving my severed arm.

'Ah, I’m hungry...'

It wasn’t that I was truly hungry, but after such intense physical activity, I always had a craving for pizza.

Well, I wasn’t sure if that was the same as hunger, but a year ago, when I had no money, it made a huge difference.

If this were real hunger, I’d have starved to death by now.

"A, are you okay?"

At that moment, Aria approached, asking about my condition.

I gave her a simple nod, then checked the surroundings once more.

'?'

Something strange flashed in my vision.

AI.

It was an AI.

It looked very similar to the one I’d seen at MK Corporation, but unfortunately, this wasn’t the same one.

From the slowly disappearing corpse of the implementation, the AI stared at me with a blank expression.

As I started walking toward the AI as if I were drawn to it, Aria called me, her voice tinged with confusion.

"A?"

But I didn’t answer her. I just kept moving toward the AI.

The moment I did, the space around me began to distort even more.

As if I was heading straight toward the core of the AI Assimilation zone.

The floor began to wave like water, and small, star-like lights fell from the ceiling.

The more the phenomenon intensified, the more the AI’s form became clear.

It stared at me with its expressionless face, but strangely, I felt like it was in pain.

I slowly reached out my hand toward the AI.

The AI just stared at my hand silently.

Tap.

And when my hand finally touched the AI, I felt a strange sensation coursing through my body.

It was a slimy ‘something’.

I tried to focus and understand exactly what it was, but that sensation vanished almost instantly.

Once that feeling faded, the AI’s physical form began to slowly dissolve into light, disintegrating into the air.

It was as though the pixels that made up its body were floating upward, vanishing into nothing.

Its face remained expressionless, but it almost seemed relieved.

At the last moment, the AI raised its dark, twisted hand toward me.

'?'

But I couldn’t understand what that gesture meant.

Was it an AI-style salute?

Or did it mean something else?

With that final gesture, the AI dissolved into °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the air.