Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 21: That Pizza (5)

Black Bio Plant’s Freezer Storage.

This place, sealed off from the heat and noise outside, was unusually quiet.

Cold air hissed as it circulated through the vents, and the frost coating the metal shelves glinted with a silver sheen.

I sat with my back against the wall, savoring the chill creeping slowly up my spine, while biting into another slice of pizza.

Nom nom.

The pizza was still frozen and a little stiff, but the taste held up.

Exactly the kind of quality I’d expect from a place I approved of.

“I” stared at me with a look like I was some kind of lunatic.

As if to say, “That doesn’t even taste good. Why are you eating it?”

They’d been making that face ever since they made that digital-pizza knockoff after watching me eat the real thing.

“You want some?”

I offered a cold slice, still chilled from the air, but “I” quickly shook their head like it was the worst thing imaginable.

“Kyuu...”

Mecha-Agu, curled up beside me, let out a soft sound.

There was still a fist-sized hole in his belly, but it looked like he was slowly healing.

The edges of the hole were gradually drawing together.

A machine wound, healing on its own... how the hell does that even work?

Though honestly, it wasn’t healing all that fast.

‘What would happen if I shoved a pizza crust into that hole?’

Thoughts like that kept bubbling up whenever I looked at Agu.

Heh.

As I snacked and spaced out, I slipped the final slice into my mouth and turned toward the area controlled by Hexa Core Armory.

“Having a map really makes this easier.”

I muttered while scanning the AR projection in my field of vision.

The map had been made by Amber, using the data Victor had risked his life to recover, combined with the internal layout of the Black Bio Plant.

Amid the tangled maze of pipes and corridors, the region occupied by Hexa Core Armory was marked in red.

Using Agu’s optical camouflage, I made my way forward—and immediately sensed the change in atmosphere.

Hexa Core Armory’s area was drastically different from Titan Tech’s.

There were no gangsters like the Low-Tech Street crowd, and the entire site was staffed with corporate personnel.

People in white lab coats, like researchers, and black combat suits, presumably guards, bustled everywhere.

If Titan Tech had been a loose mix of gang members and engineers, Hexa Core Armory was strictly corporate and research-heavy.

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Even the air smelled different somehow.

The vibe of the staff was also off.

Titan Tech had felt a bit lax, but Hexa Core radiated tension—like a rigid, top-down military chain of command.

Strange, how two megacorps could be so different.

Apparently, corporate culture was still a thing—even after a hundred years.

Then again, both were still evil, cyberpunk-as-hell corporations, no matter what they looked like.

After a year as a mercenary, you pick up stories whether you want to or not.

Megacorp stories were no exception.

And every one of them was horrifying in its own way—no wonder people didn’t trust these corporations anymore.

Amber had once said, offhandedly, that it was inevitable.

If you don’t exploit, you fall behind the other megacorps—and if you fall behind, they’ll tear you to pieces.

A brutal world where the only way to stay where you are... is to exploit.

Basically, a cyberpunk version of the Red Queen Hypothesis.

****

Agu’s stealth field turned out to be even more effective than expected.

Just maintaining some distance was enough to avoid Hexa Core Armory’s security sensors.

Using that, I slipped past corridors and labs until I reached the spot where I expected to find the prototype.

What I saw:

Black cables dangling from the ceiling.

And connected beneath them—a soldier, presumably a prototype of Hexa Core Armory.

An exoskeleton suit of interlocking black armor plating, intricately ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) fitted.

A faint red glow leaking from the chest.

A high-tech helmet, clearly replacing natural vision with sensors.

Of course, I wasn’t just going off appearances.

I could feel it.

That energy.

Almost exactly like the one I’d felt from Conrad, the boss of the Concrete Family.

The same crimson pulse, churning from the chest.

‘Take this thing out, and it’s over.’

Not that I really knew if destroying the prototype would actually bring pizza production back online.

Before the fight began, I transformed my right hand into a blade.

The whole MK Girl thing was a lost cause anyway—might as well finish this quickly.

Stepping out from Agu’s stealth field, I walked into the center of the corridor.

The blue light radiating from my body flared brighter. Energy spiraled from my chest, gathering fast.

It followed the circuit patterns etched into my skin, dancing along the surface of the blade.

And the moment I charged at the prototype—

A flash of red.

And a searing pain shot through my entire body.

My vision blurred—and I noticed a small hole had been blasted through my torso.

‘!!!’

Only after the hole was there did I hear it: the sound of air burning.

I smelled it, too—burnt flesh and ozone.

‘A rifle... that fires Heart Drill energy?’

In the prototype’s hand was a rifle unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

****

Deep within the Hexa Core Armory zone of the Black Bio Plant,

Richard Hawk, lead developer of the Circle Project, wiped the sweat from his brow as he stared into the floating hologram screens.

Complex energy waveforms and biometric signals flowed across his vision without end.

“Stability at 67%... Better than before, but still not enough.”

He manipulated the screen with his fingers, fine-tuning Circle’s condition by minute degrees.

The Circle Project was expected to completely redefine the nature of combat in Babel, but it remained deeply unstable.

Even after hundreds of adjustments, they still hadn’t found perfect equilibrium—countless test subjects had already died to its volatility.

A recording of last week’s “incident” still sat on the system’s monitors.

Circle’s energy had suddenly destabilized, a red glow pouring from the subject’s eyes—followed by an uncontrollable slaughter of everyone nearby.

Three researchers had died in that one event.

“There’s gotta be a solution.”

Richard muttered with irritation.

“Don’t tell me the answer is something stupid like ‘willpower.’”

But the data didn’t lie.

The few test subjects who had successfully controlled Circle shared a single trait—not something physical, but something immeasurable: mental resilience.

Richard’s mood soured further when the report of Titan Tech’s sudden withdrawal came in.

No stated objective. No known reason. Just a sudden retreat.

Hexa Core Armory staff had investigated the area where Titan Tech had been stationed, but they found no clues explaining the withdrawal.

Only one thing was certain:

There had been a battle.

Destroyed equipment. Scorched walls. Strange energy residue left behind on the floor.

“Blue energy residue, huh...”

Richard glanced again at the photos the investigative team had sent.

As he kept thinking, a flash of red suddenly spread across his AR display.

[WARNING – PROTOTYPE #77 – ENGAGED IN COMBAT]

Richard immediately halted his work and opened another screen.

A live feed streamed directly from the prototype’s visual system.

“Cat ears?”

Expecting a standard intruder, Richard was momentarily stunned by the image.

A cyborg... with cat ears.

But the ridiculous appearance vanished from his mind almost immediately.

There was something far more important in the feed:

Blue light flowing through circuit patterns.

The energy radiating from that body looked nearly identical to Circle.

“A leak? No... If it were a leak, there’s no way they’d be ahead of us. Then—?”

Richard stood up, speaking aloud.

“Prepare for engagement. We’re going to eliminate the unidentified cyborg that attacked us.”

Whether it came from Jinlong Technologies or some other megacorp, one thing was clear:

That cyborg was using an energy system similar to Circle.

And it looked far more stable than theirs.

In other words, it was worth studying.

As Richard moved out, a squad of soldiers glowing with red energy followed behind him.

****

The moment I noticed the enemy preparing to fire a beam, I clenched my teeth and charged forward.

“Optical weaponry?!”

The thought barely formed—I was already moving.

The Ring in my heart spun faster, lighting up the blue circuitry on my skin even brighter.

A red beam exploded from the prototype’s rifle.

Time felt like it slowed.

The beam heated the air as it tore toward me. I twisted my body to evade, but I couldn’t dodge it completely.

No matter how fast I was, I couldn’t outrun light.

I gritted my teeth and pushed in, swinging my blade with everything I had.

The blue trail it carved shredded everything in its path.

Walls and support pillars sliced like paper. Steel-reinforced concrete and alloyed structures were meaningless before my blade.

But the prototype was faster than expected.

The moment it saw the blade’s path, it dropped low and avoided the strike, then rolled sideways to widen the gap.

It raised the optical weapon again without a sound.

Red energy began to gather in the rifle’s barrel, and I started to move erratically, dodging diagonally to avoid a direct line of fire.

“Ghh!”

Even with my movements, the red beam pierced my left shoulder.

It felt like my flesh was melting.

Then a second beam grazed my thigh—another hole opened up.

I clenched my jaw again and rushed the prototype.

Its movements showed sharp logic, adaptive thinking, and experience.

Nothing like those Heart Drill-infected lunatics consumed by madness.

“A sane Heart Drill user... Damn, that’s annoying.”

But as time passed, the fight started to shift in my favor.

The prototype’s movements were slowing. The beam output weakening.

I, on the other hand, was still fine.

A few holes in the body? Barely injuries.

It probably had to limit its energy output to avoid succumbing to madness.

As the prototype’s energy ran dry, the moment I’d been waiting for finally arrived.

It stepped into the range of my blade.

“Got you!”

I swung—and cleaved the prototype clean in half.

But just then, I felt something move behind me.

Red glints, flickering irregularly in the darkness.

“...”

A sense of dread crept up my spine as I turned around slowly.

The red glints were multiplying, growing in number down the length of the hallway.

“...No way.”

A quiet breath escaped me.

Marching down the corridor—more prototypes.

Identical to the one I had just fought.

So many, I couldn’t count them with both hands.

Each one clad in the same black exosuit, helmet, and wielding the same rifle.

In perfect synchronization, they all raised their weapons.

Red energy gathered at every barrel, bathing the dark hallway in blood-colored light.

“This is really bad...”

I tried to pivot and run—but it was too late.

Dozens of red beams fired at once, ripping through the air toward me.

The Ring in my heart spun violently, gathering every ounce of energy I could muster, but—

Dodging all of them was impossible.

“Shit...”

I braced for impact, expecting the unbearable pain of my body melting.

Instinctively, I squeezed my eyes shut.

And in that moment, a warm liquid surged around me, wrapping me in a cocoon.

‘...?’

When I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by shadow—black and strange, enveloping me completely.

A shadow, breaking apart in pixelated fragments.