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Baek Ho entered the parking lot while still on a call.
“I’ll let you know the time and place later. Yeah, thanks, Elise.”
Sophia silently watched as he approached the car. She didn’t ask why he had gone back upstairs. But when she noticed the Undeadog doll was gone, it was obvious… he must have given it to the man’s daughter.
‘Gruff on the outside, but soft inside.’
Unlike some, he wasn’t suited to be a commander.
Thud…
As soon as Baek Ho got into the car, he frowned at Sophia.
“What? Do I have something on my face?”
“Ketchup.”
Sophia smiled faintly and pointed to the red stain on his cheek. The smile faded quickly.
“…Is this blood?”
“Oh. I shot a few gang members on the way down. They picked a fight out of nowhere.”
“Ah… I should have gone with you.”
“Don’t bother. I can protect myself.”
“No. You’re a necromancer, so you always have to be careful. You’re not like us… we can resurrect. And there are limits to prosthetic modifications. Besides, these days necromancers’ combat skills are lacking. You’re practically like a normal person with a bit of magic.”
“…”
“Never go out alone without a familiar again. Got it?”
“…Mm.”
Baek Ho tilted his head and started the car.
“You sound like you’re nagging me.”
“‘Nagging’? I’m saying this because I’m worried.”
“Worried about me? Why?”
“Because…”
Because you’re the commander’s son?
As Sophia searched for an excuse, Frank leaned forward from the back seat.
“Because she likes you.”
“Huh? What nonsense… “
“Quick, play I_Vu’s ‘Because I Like You’!”
Baek Ho shoved Frank’s face back and started the engine. The old car roared loudly, showing its age.
“I_Vu! I_Vu!”
Frank slapped the ceiling and shouted.
Baek Ho pressed the switch near the wheel, and Frank jerked back in surprise.
From outside the tightly closed window came his shout: ‘My head almost got chopped off!’
“Seatbelt.”
“Where are we going? The address on that paper?”
“Yeah.”
“Hm… If it were me, I’d wait at Deiven’s house. He dotes on his daughter. He’d probably stop by at least once.”
“I see.”
“The Central Authority agent probably thought the same and stayed there, partly to watch the girl. If you don’t trust that, you could always check the last place Deiven was caught on camera… “
Before she could finish, Baek Ho pressed the switch again.
A cheerful melody filled the car.
Scritch-scritch~
At I_Vu’s bell-like voice, Sophia closed her mouth. She shot Baek Ho an annoyed look for cutting her off.
“Looks like D likes I_Vu too?”
“So-so. But for the record, I wear the same underwear as Frank.”
“Good heavens…”
Chop-chop~
Baek Ho pressed down on the accelerator and kept speaking.
“And not the house. It would only make his family suffer.”
“…I didn’t think that through.”
I’ll keep you in the freezer~
“But really… underwear?”
“You want a pair too? Got plenty in the trunk.”
“No.”
Keep you forever~ Because I like you~
“Anyway, just trust me. I’ve got a pretty good intuition.”
The address on the paper led them to a small general store.
Under a flickering neon sign, a crowd had gathered. An employee struggled to deal with them.
“What kind of bullshit is this!”
A man with a jaw like a steel block shouted at her. The others joined in, demanding to know why their Undeadogs weren’t in stock when today was the promised delivery.
“God, enough already!”
The employee clutched her forehead.
“I don’t know either! The boss says he doesn’t know! The factory isn’t sending them! If you want answers, go to them!”
The car radio crackled with the news.
Vroom…
Baek Ho’s car left the residential area and entered the manufacturing zone.
Here, away from the city center, low-rise buildings stretched across wide blocks, the air carrying a harsh acrid smell.
<…After the rebel terrorist attack, the government convened an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures. The attack targeted critical urban facilities…>
Through the car window, familiar sights flashed by.
A megabuilding under reconstruction.
A neon-worshipping cult temple.
A half-collapsed shopping mall reserved for the Undead.
<With less than half a year until the election of the supreme commander: a comparative evaluation of Commander Baek Ho’s and Commander Masamune’s service records…>
They reached their destination after passing a massive crematorium shaped like a furnace.
“You don’t use autopilot at all?” Sophia asked.
“My ex-girlfriend died in a car hacking accident,” Baek Ho answered evenly.
“Oh… I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“It’s fine. She was still a student, so she became a Reaper right away.”
After parking, they stepped out.
Baek Ho stretched and remembered the first thing she had said to him after the accident, when they met again.
‘You… know me?’
Pulling his collar up, he looked ahead at three gray megabuildings.
They weren’t as tall as the residential-commercial towers, but their bulk sprawled wide, intimidating in their own right.
“Smaller than I thought.”
“That’s because they’re not Mega Corp.”
Sophia came to stand beside him.
“These companies aren’t even worthy of being called corporations. No matter how hard they flap around, they’ll never match Mega Corp. Especially compared to the Big Seven…”
‘The more I see her, the more she talks.’
Ignoring her, Baek Ho opened a Smartbone window. He connected to the Undeadog manufacturer easily… he’d done part-time work recently, infusing their dolls with dark magic.
The boss of the Undeadog factory was stout, his gold prosthetic arm gleaming, red jewels glinting in place of pupils. His clothes screamed wealth… designer brands, luxury trinkets.
And on his hip, an artifact revolver.
‘Oh… an artifact?’
Baek Ho licked his lips, tempted by the engraved brand logo.
“Wow, an honor to meet you.”
The boss forced a smile, eyes darting toward the door.
“If you signed a new contract two weeks ago… I remember! The box assembly was sloppy, right?”
“…”
“Of course, I’m kidding~ Haha. So, what brings you here? Pay issue? Then you’d need the legal team, you know.”
“It’s not that. It’s about a request…”
“Oh, right, you also work as a Fixer. Go ahead. How can I help?”
“The dolls meant for District 29, Building A8 never got delivered… “
“Wait a sec. I’ll check right now.”
The boss fiddled with his prosthetic, scanning the air.
“Let’s see… 29… A8… Huh? That’s a workers’ residential zone. What would they even do with Undeadogs there? Unless they’re knockoffs.”
“…Knockoffs?”
“Yeah. Lots of places these days sell robots without dark magic and pass them off as Undeadogs. Bastards. I’ll sue them all.”
He scowled, shaking his head.
“Some places even hand out paper slips and call them reservation certificates. Tch. Why trust something with no data?”
Baek Ho slipped the paper back into his pocket.
“…Figures. Looked like a scam from the start.”
“Exactly. To us, it’s obvious. They’re conning people with necromancers’ precious dark magic. We should just turn the lot of them into Undead. Don’t you agree?”
Baek Ho left empty-handed.
Outside, Frank and Sophia sat sipping coffee on a sofa.
“Smells good.”
“Frank wouldn’t know.”
They looked up and waved as Baek Ho returned.
“Did the meeting go well?”
“Why so fast? Did it fail?”
“…Let’s go.”
He brushed past them with long strides.
What was he supposed to say to Sophia?
He had insisted she trust him, had dragged her along with confidence. His reasoning had been solid: Deiven, hunted by the authorities, couldn’t survive long inside the city. Surely he’d want to leave.
But could a father who adored his daughter really run without seeing her again?
Wouldn’t he at least want to give her a birthday gift… an Undeadog?
And the only way to get one now was theft.
But Deiven didn’t seem like the type to steal another’s purchase. Stores were too heavily monitored by cameras.
That left only one option: the factory or the delivery trucks.
‘I thought he’d steal a truck, but…’
Turned out, Baek Ho had been wrong from the start. They’d been scammed.
With that realization, he was certain… Deiven wouldn’t come here.
Sigh…
Sophia approached softly.
“Doesn’t seem to be going well.”
“…”
“May I lead from here? We don’t have much time.”
Should she?
Would he really become a Fixer dragged around by some unknown broker?
“…Lead the way.”
He didn’t insist further. Delay could cost Deiven’s life. Pride wasn’t worth that.
“Yes, wise decision.”
“Right.”
As Baek Ho trudged toward the elevator…
Bang…
The office door burst open.
The boss bolted out in a panic, phone at his ear.
“Shoot! Just kill them! If the damage spreads, it’s on your head!”
Baek Ho stroked his chin, watching him rush off.
‘Kill them? Damage?’
Intruders?
…Deiven?
“Hey!”
Baek Ho called out. The boss ignored him, running downstairs.
Baek Ho followed.
“D! Where are you going!”
“Taking a shit?” Frank called after him.
Moments later, Baek Ho reached the production line.
Unlike the spotless upper floors, this place stank of smoke and rot. The repetitive clang of machinery pounded against his skull.
It felt like stepping into the belly of a broken-down robot.
{!Warning!}
{Spell smog detected.}
“Damn it…”
Baek Ho pulled a small chip from his pocket and pressed it to his nose. Pouring dark magic into it, the chip expanded into a mask, covering his mouth and nose.
He scanned the area.
On one side, the boss stood in a gas mask, revolver raised.
Bang…
A shot rang out.
‘Deiven?!’
Baek Ho rushed closer, peering over the boss’s shoulder before the man noticed him.
“…What the hell.”
The floor was drenched in blood.
Scattered bodies… half-naked, stripped to their underwear.
One was freshly shot.
Three more torn apart by teeth.
The rest barely clinging to life.
“Get a grip!”
The boss smashed the butt of his revolver into a man’s skull. His gas mask slipped sideways, revealing a scarred forehead beneath long hair.
“Sorry about that.”
The scarred man adjusted his mask casually.
“That Reaper bastard couldn’t even handle a single zombie!”
“We can’t move properly with this smog. One wrong move and the whole place blows.”
“That’s why I said kill them before they turned into Eaters!”
“Ha… How are the three of us supposed to handle so many? In this state, you can’t even detect prodromal symptoms. Look.”
He pointed to a corner.
More half-naked people crouched there, trembling.
Baek Ho’s face twisted.
Their ribs jutted out, their skin gray, cheap mechanical scraps jammed crudely into their bodies.
Closer to corpses than people.
“People? You call those zombies people? And you… stop backtalking! Do you know how much I’m paying you… “
The boss’s voice cut off as his eyes rolled toward Baek Ho.
“…Sir Necromancer? What are you doing here?”
Baek Ho ignored him, stepping closer to the trembling Undead.
Bloodshot eyes.
Dark veins spidering across their faces.
Their symptoms were too advanced. They were on the brink of turning Mad Eater… feral zombies that devoured their own.
“…”
The smog hung thick, warping the air like ghost interference. Forcing people to work here without masks… it was basically murder.
“I asked what you’re doing here.”
The boss loomed behind him, revolver twitching in his grip.
He was human, not Undead. He could pull the trigger. And he looked ready.
“You bastard, lower than a dog…”
Baek Ho’s voice dropped cold. He turned, meeting the boss’s eyes.
“‘Lower than a dog’? Harsh words.”
The boss didn’t flinch. He looked down on Baek Ho… just a necromancer running errands. If needed, he’d put a bullet in his head.
“Don’t meddle. Stick your nose in, and you’ll regret it.”
“I’m not nosy,” Baek Ho said evenly, stepping forward.
“Good. Then get the hell out.” The boss waved toward the exit.
“But I can’t just ignore shit like this. It’s a disease. A sickness.”
“Ha… So what? You gonna kill humans for the sake of corpses?”
The boss’s golden arm twitched, coiling like a snake baring its fangs.
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