Test (1)

Swaaa—

Hot water poured down. The cramped, one-pyeong shower was quickly filled with steam.

Gyeo-ul looked into the mirror through the vapor. He couldn’t focus. When he wiped it with his hand, a strange boy appeared. Gyeo-ul tilted his head together with the boy. It was different from when he was alive. The difference wasn’t in appearance. It was the fabricated emotions and the forced expression. The play was continuing even now. To the audience of another world, the unadorned Gyeo-ul would probably be just a boring clown.

The handprint on the mirror faded. The unfamiliar boy became only a silhouette. Gyeo-ul lost interest. He closed his eyes. The sensation of water running over him felt good.

There was plenty of time given. This wasn’t a purposeless break. It was advance preparation for disguise. He was scheduled to receive special makeup, starting from his face to his upper body. The person in charge, who had come by early, told him his passenger cabin number before leaving. He’d said, “There’s plenty of water and electricity, so take your time and enjoy.”

The only tools were soap and a shower sponge. The soap smelled like used cooking oil. That was about the quality of supplies being dropped offshore from San Francisco.

He scrubbed his whole body thoroughly with the sponge. His body was harder than before. This was thanks to the muscle added as a byproduct of enhancing his combat power. The changed combat ability meant a changed sense. He would need more time to adjust.

After finishing his shower, Gyeo-ul put on a new uniform. It was the combat suit of “Orca Black,” a fictional private military corporation created by the CIA. He gathered up his weapons and stepped out of the locker room.

The whole hallway was chaotic. Wires spilled out haphazardly, crawling across every surface. Sometimes there was a wall, sometimes not, as though interior construction had halted midway. But if you looked closely, it was a design favorable for defense. For those unfamiliar with the layout, it would be easy to get attacked from all sides. There were obstacles arranged for gunfights, traps not yet activated, and gun ports disguised to be invisible.

Gyeo-ul knocked on the door when he reached his destination. Tap, tap.

“First Lieutenant Han Gyeo-ul.”

“Come in.”

A rough voice answered. Gyeo-ul went in. Inside, it was arranged almost like a hair salon. Unfamiliar, though suited to its purpose. The person in charge closed his book, smiled, and offered him a seat.

“You arrived earlier than expected, Lieutenant. I thought I’d have to wait longer… Please, have a seat first. Leave your top over here. Before we start, I need to check your skin condition.”

The man sanitized his hands and sprayed something on Gyeo-ul. Then, with his large hands, he began kneading Gyeo-ul’s face. If you ignored the purpose, it was quite an odd scene.

After taking several skin measurements with some devices, the man wore a look of regret.

“This is truly rare, such good skin… It’s a shame I have to ruin it, I almost feel bad for you.”

But he didn’t hesitate. Whirrr—the sound of a device spraying chemicals. Like painting on a canvas, he quickly altered the impression of Gyeo-ul’s face. At the same time, he listed precautions.

“This makeup doesn’t come off easily. But it isn’t permanent, so you’ll need touch-ups every ten days. Permanent makeup is possible, but I can’t bring myself to permanently ruin your face, Lieutenant. And the higher-ups wouldn’t leave me alone, either.”

He chuckled and went on.

“If you fall into the sea or get doused in saltwater, make sure to come see me that evening. Try not to use too much soap when washing—just rinse off with water as much as possible. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of water, so you won’t need to worry about feeling grimy… Shall I repeat that one more time?”

“That’s okay. I remember.”

“Good. Next, do you have any allergies?”

He asked, holding a thin syringe. A small amount of clear liquid was inside the barrel. Gyeo-ul checked his self-diagnostics (thanks to his intelligence reinforcement) and answered.

“No. Nothing like that.”

“Excellent. This is a drug that causes skin trouble. It’s great for giving that ‘been-doing-drugs’ look. Normally, makeup’s enough, but since your face is so well known, it makes me uneasy, Lieutenant.”

He brought the needle closer. It would sting. Subcutaneous injections in the face felt unpleasant, like being bitten by bugs. It didn’t stop at just one; he jabbed Gyeo-ul several more times, at the nape and on his body. The quantity administered was minuscule, but the reaction was immediate. Gyeo-ul felt itching spreading over him.

The person in charge took a photo. He tapped away, apparently sending it off to a few people. Since his new face could easily get him mistaken for an enemy, it made sense.

The man declared the job done.

“It’s finished. Now you’ll need to head to the briefing room. You probably don’t know the way, so I’ll guide you.”

As Gyeo-ul collected his uniform top and weapons, he asked,

“I haven’t heard yet—what’s your name and position?”

“Oh, I didn’t introduce myself? My mistake. It just doesn’t feel like this is the first time I’ve met you, Lieutenant Han.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m Oliver Talbot. Basically, I’m in charge of tactical planning here, but I occasionally take odd jobs like this. Makeup is a side gig. It’s a specialized skill, so I get an extra bonus for it. Haha.”

It didn’t match his burly appearance. Gyeo-ul shook his hand lightly.

“I’ll be counting on you for a while, agent Talbot.”

“Not at all. Everyone here has high hopes for you, Lieutenant. There will be plenty of tough moments, but please do your best to the end.”

In the briefing room they moved to next, joanna could be seen flipping through documents. It wasn’t that others weren’t there, but she somehow felt isolated. Her face was impassive, but her shoulders were tense. She glanced at the two newcomers, then went back to reading without much interest.

“That’s odd. Did she not get the photo?”

Gyeo-ul sneaked a glance at Talbot. Well, maybe it wasn’t intentional. After all, Gyeo-ul and Joanna had only arrived yesterday. Even if Joanna wasn’t on Talbot’s distribution list, it wasn’t strange. Of course, that also implied that Team Leader Chadwick hadn’t done his job.

Since there were no assigned seats, Gyeo-ul took the spot next to the FBI detective. Joanna glanced at him suspiciously, went back to reading, then cocked her head and looked again. Gyeo-ul smiled.

“Is it that hard to recognize me?”

“Oh my God, it’s Gyeo-ul?”

The guarded atmosphere shattered instantly. Her face was now full of delight and surprise.

“You’re already in disguise! You look absolutely disgusting and sly!”

“……”

Chuckles burst out from the other side of the table. Joanna hurriedly tried to compose herself, her nape turning red.

Team Leader Chadwick was dozing, snoring softly. No one woke him. Apparently, there was still time left. Talbot approached and gave Gyeo-ul the same document as Joanna’s.

“These are details you’ll need to familiarize yourself with as quickly as possible. There’s brief personal info on agents involved in the operation, the distribution of forces in the bay, results of past operations, and deployment statuses of allied units you may need to request support from in emergencies. You may carry the file on the same floor as the briefing room, but not elsewhere. Once you’ve reviewed it, please return it to the operations intelligence office next door. It will be shredded on the spot. Understood?”

Gyeo-ul nodded. If it was on the same floor as the briefing room, that included the quarters as well. Pause. Talbot, about to return to his seat, spoke again.

“Let me borrow that for a second. I’ll mark the pages you should look at before the briefing starts.”

“Thank you, that’s thoughtful.”

Talbot’s thick hands moved-nimbly. When Gyeo-ul looked closely at the calluses, 【Insight】 activated. He was likely highly skilled in knife fighting and had well-trained grip strength.

Snap, snap, snap, snap—pages folded mechanically. He finished quickly.

While taking back the file, Gyeo-ul sized up the rest of the group. There didn’t seem to be any real combatants. Most were probably CIA agents. Still, the overall threat level his senses picked up was quite high. The only exception was Team Leader Nathan Chadwick. Maybe his disguise was the result of reinforcement.

‘No way someone incompetent would be team leader.’

What could he be hiding, and how much?

After Talbot left, Gyeo-ul flipped through the pages. The first section folded was an overview of the situation inside the bay. There was info about the Golden Gate closure. The United States had deployed five nuclear submarines here. No other submarine would be allowed to enter or leave. But there were some unfamiliar terms mixed in.

“Hey. What’s SOSUS? Says here it’s at the Golden Gate.”

Joanna turned her head at his question.

“You know what sonar is, right?”

“Yes.”

“Simple version: that’s a bunch of those, lined up on the seafloor.”

“Aha.”

Sonar was like underwater radar, except using sound waves instead of radio waves. There were two types: active, which sent out sound and caught the echoes, and passive, which only listened.

Joanna continued,

“In the Golden Gate, along the coastline, and inside the bay, there were SOSUS lines installed in case San Francisco ever needed to be defended. The problem is, the control center was in Monterey. What’s restored now is only the part blocking the bay entrance. The rest is abandoned. There’s not even a power supply.”

Monterey was about 100 kilometers south of the San Francisco metropolitan area, and it had fallen during the initial outbreak on the West Coast.

She mentioned that the same surveillance network existed along the entire US coast, near Canada, on US island territories, and even in key allies like the UK’s overseas possessions and Japan.

“Unsettling, honestly. Maybe it’s not my place as US military, but did this country want to control every ocean on earth?”

The FBI detective gave a wry smile.

“They were that afraid of nuclear war. At least until the Great Plague, that was the most likely scenario for the world to end. A single nuclear missile volley from a submarine would wipe out all the big cities on the East Coast. People became obsessive. Doesn’t it sound familiar, Gyeo-ul? The way people become selfish when their lives are at stake.”

“Hmm… Now that you mention it.”

“So that’s why we need to hunt down those damned Chinese subs.”

The last voice was Team Leader Chadwick, recently woken up. Joanna closed her mouth.

The intelligence team leader looked at Gyeo-ul with sleepy eyes and smiled. He fished a cigarette out of his pocket, lit it, and took a long pull, embers glowing red. He didn’t seem inclined to consider others. Then he exhaled fluffy smoke into the air, wearing an ecstatic expression.

‘No, that’s not a cigarette.’

Gyeo-ul furrowed his brow. The smoke Chadwick exhaled smelled odd. Acrid like tobacco, but something even closer to a stench. Marijuana.

“Team Leader Chadwick.”

“What is it, Lieutenant?”

“Your taste in herbal remedies isn’t my business, but could you refrain indoors? It forces everyone else to partake.”

Looking around as he spoke, Gyeo-ul noticed no one but Joanna seemed to mind.

Oh. Chadwick let out a mysterious exclamation and wore a mournful face.

“Lieutenant Han, I take it you haven’t set fire to herbs before. Anyway, I apologize. Sorry. Everyone here does it, so I guess it just became a habit. Haven’t really had a chance to be polite.”

But he didn’t put it out, dithering instead, then asked slyly,

“But Lieutenant, it’s really not bad, you know? Healthier than cigarettes. Fantastic for stress relief. What do you say, want to try one now? I’ll give you one.”

“No thanks. It dulls my body.”

“Oh dear.”

Other intelligence agents chuckled quietly. Chadwick eventually stubbed out the joint on the desk. It must have been his usual seat, as there were countless identical marks there.

Then new people entered—solidly built combatants. The man at the front scanned the room, pinned his gaze on Gyeo-ul and Joanna, and scowled.

—————————= Author’s Notes —————————=

#SOSUS

The control center mentioned in the story is right above Monterey Regional Airport. If you’re bored waiting for the next chapter, try finding it on a map. Maybe it’ll help with the realism… or not?…

#Q&A

Q. 사람이DA: @There’s a limit to love. That’s the opposite of the Millesians. Maybe those ultra-rare Millesians could be considered mentally ill…

A. Statistically, I do think it’s a mental illness. But because it’s beautiful and beneficial, it’s just not classified as one. 🙂

Q. svjk: @As always, that place is a real mess… But it’s bitter to see reality ruled more and more by materialism, where money can buy anything.

A. Money is opportunity cost and power. Capitalism inevitably turns people into commodities. Not that any other system is better. Haha. That’s why I prefer social democracy as an author. Although, seeing the reality inside Sweden, it isn’t necessarily all good either.

Q. 라시아이언: @Looks like something huge happened out there in the real world—losing countries and people flocking somewhere else… I thought it was a cyberpunk dystopia full of megacities, population overflows, and ultimate capitalism under company rule. I’m curious—what sort of dystopia plagues humanity here, I wonder, heh heh…

A. There wasn’t a disaster in the outside world. Workers just came to earn money. Korea’s been luring people in with Afterlife Insurance. Basically, they pay you little but offer that Afterlife Insurance benefit.

Q. Nesstor: @Lately I’m recharging my childhood in real life… Maybe it’s inertia, but I seem to be adapting to the “childhood” here. ㅠㅜ The very fact that humanity fits the label “so maddening you could go crazy just by looking”…

A. That’s strange. I don’t think there’s ever been a “so maddening you could go crazy just by looking” scene in this novel.

Q. RGZ95: @Whoa… Heroes of the Storm pregnancy bread is too much… I like restaurants, but hmm, even I think that’s too far. 8.8

A. Then, how about making it with Sudden Attack 2?…

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