I Became an Illegal Cheat User

78 – The 9th Hunting Squad (2)

Inside the Mobile Team 4 office.

“Your name is Lee Yujin?”

“That’s a nice name, but I wonder who gave it to you?”

“Of course, it must be your brother.”

“No, it could be your sister.”

Right now, I was surrounded by the members of Team 4, specifically the 9th Extermination Unit, just like I had been in front of the elevator.

“Yujin, how have you been all this time?”

“Did you go to school? Was anyone bullying you or anything?”

“You’ve really grown up well, haven’t you? Hah… I feel like I could die right now without any regrets.”

On my left, the male members spoke.

On my right, the female members chimed in.

The questions coming from both sides were becoming more than just awkward; they were exhausting.

In the midst of this, Terra sent me a message.

[Is this what you call being overwhelmed?]

It was just a simple text.

Yet, I could feel a sense of dizziness in Terra’s message, as if it resonated with my own emotions.

‘…Uh, yes, this is what being overwhelmed feels like.’

[I see.]

[Then I am feeling dizzy right now.]

[(ｏ﹃ ｏ)…]

I couldn’t bring myself to laugh at the drooling emoticon.

If Terra, who had no physical form, felt that way, then I was even worse off.

And above all, what troubled me the most was this.

“By the way, did your brother and sister leave behind any assets?”

“Wouldn’t they have? Surely they didn’t live without a single penny.”

“Yujin… you’ve been doing well, right?”

They only asked me questions I couldn’t answer.

“Haha… of course, I’ve been doing well.”

I’m sorry, but I don’t know.

No, I might not have been doing well at all.

After all, the place where the possession began was a shabby, run-down officetel.

And considering how little money I had when I bought things for the entrance exam, it seemed I hadn’t inherited anything from my biological parents.

Or maybe I wrote it in some random place before I possessed this body.

“Well, whether I inherited it or wrote it in some odd spot, it’s none of my concern.”

The person I am now is entirely different, and I’m in a comfortable state thanks to the royalties from the recipes I registered with the pension workshop.

So, I’m neither curious about nor want to know what my past was like.

Just as I was thinking this, someone placed a hand on my shoulder and spoke.

“Hey, don’t bother our Yujin, just watch the news or read an article instead.”

It was none other than Gray, who had briefly stepped away for work.

“Come on, you know how it is, sis. We don’t have time to watch the news or read articles. We’re too busy hunting down those damn corrupted b*stards.”

At the words of a male team member, Gray clicked her tongue, sounding unimpressed.

“Hey, you idiot. I’ve told you time and again, these days it’s faster to gather information and find them than to search for them yourself.”

Gray pointed to the large TV in the office and the smartphone in her hand as she continued.

“Just dig a little into the TV or the internet, and it’ll tell you where the corrupted or villains have appeared. So, Deokbae, stop running around and use your head, got it?”

“Ah… sis. It’s been ages since I changed my name to Skull, and you still call me Deokbae.”

“Skull, my ass. You look like the Hulk. Anyway, everyone, stay away from Yujin. I said, stay away.”

As Gray waved her hands to disperse the team members gathered around me, a younger male team member approached her.

In his hand, he held a smartphone displaying a portal article.

“Sis, I think the articles these days are strange.”

“Strange? How so?”

“Look at this.”

Gray glanced at the smartphone screen the male team member presented.

And as if she had discovered something, her expression twisted in confusion.

“…What is this? Why is it so biased?”

“Right? It’s really biased, isn’t it? These days, all the news and articles are like this.”

[It’s definitely strangely biased content, just as that person said.]

‘What’s the content about?’

In response to my question, messages that appeared to be article titles lined up below Terra’s message.

[Hero chasing villains destroys buildings.]

[Civilians injured in the battle between the corrupted and the hero.]

[Hero, are they really protecting the citizens?]

‘Wow…’

I can only marvel.

How can it be so biased?

I struggled to suppress the curse that almost slipped from my lips as I continued to glance at the headlines of the articles being listed.

And when the titles and content about politics, celebrities, and superhumans began to appear, the male team member showing the articles to Gray spoke up.

“As you can see, most of the news and articles these days are hostile towards heroes or certain superhumans.”

Just as the male team member said, everything in the current news or articles was nothing but hostile and sensational content directed at heroes.

That said, it’s not that there’s no mention of the fallen or villains, or the incidents caused by rifts.

However, even those were filled with negative content, undermining someone’s prestige or the authority of institutions like academies and associations.

Of course, there are genuinely pure articles that come up.

But they disappear as if they never existed after a few days.

“So, what I’ve been thinking is… aren’t there fallen believers in the major institutions right now? A lot of them, too.”

Oh, that’s sharp.

I admired him inwardly as I looked at the male team member.

Once again, just as he said, the major institutions, excluding the academies and associations, are almost entirely occupied by fallen believers.

So after the ‘Duel Season’ ends, led by the gods, the major guilds like Milky Way, Guardian, and Red Light, along with smaller guilds and the superhuman association, will join forces to actively hunt down the fallen believers.

And there are a lot, a lot of fallen believers in the government, media outlets, broadcasting companies, and so on.

Like a bomb had dropped, everything would be shattered, leading to a massive overhaul.

[So, will the country be clean in three months?]

‘No? That can’t be.’

If that were the case, I would have used ‘completely’ instead of ‘massively’ before ‘overhaul.’

‘Fallen believers, those b*stards are like cockroaches.’

No matter how many you kill, they keep popping up from somewhere.

‘So, there’s only one way to completely exterminate them.’

To wipe out all the named entities, apostles, and foreign correspondents they serve.

That’s the only way.

“…That makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“Right, just like the youngest said, aren’t there cockroach b*stards in the major institutions?”

“Sister, I think we should suggest this to the captain.”

Deokbae… no, Gray nodded seriously at the words of the member who had renamed himself Skull as he read the articles.

“Yeah, I think that’s the way to go.”

“Then we should contact the captain right away…!”

“No, the captain is currently very busy interrogating a trashy woman, so later.”

“Oh… right. She’s in the middle of an interrogation.”

Skull nodded in understanding and stepped back.

“Then for now, I’ll take Yujin to the base.”

“Yes, please do.”

“Yujin, let’s meet up in a bit.”

“…Yes, I’ll see you in a little while.”

[When you come back, aren’t you going to get bombarded with questions again?]

‘…That might be the case.’

[(⊙﹏⊙)]

Ah, I want to go back to the dormitory.

&

Ding.

[You are on the 3rd basement floor.]

The elevator doors opened.

A parking lot filled with cars came into view.

“Yujin, from here on out, you have to move only where I go, so you need to follow closely. Got it?”

“Yes, sister.”

At my response, Gray smiled softly and stepped out of the elevator.

As I followed her out,

Ziiing─.

I felt countless gazes upon me.

[Master, something seems off in this parking lot.]

[Every car here possesses ‘magical power.’]

‘Well, of course. All the cars here are ‘golems.'”

[If they are golems, aren’t they magical weapons like the rock golem or the black knight that you dealt with?]

‘Yeah, that’s right.’

I answered Terra’s curiosity while glancing at the nearby vehicles.

I could feel the golems’ gazes intensifying.

As if, at the slightest hint of a misstep, they would unleash their ‘transformation.’

I chuckled softly at their reaction and looked up.

“There it is, the beholder.”

The ceiling, which should have been shrouded in darkness.

Yet, thanks to the ‘Demon Slayer (S)’ effect of ‘unimpeded vision in darkness,’ I could see clearly through the shadows.

And in that darkness, a bat with an eye-shaped body hung upside down, watching me like a CCTV camera.

That beholder was the sole alchemist of the 9th Extermination Squad and the guardian of the base… no, it was the surveillance alchemical creature created by ‘Winry,’ the bamboo shoot.

For the record, all the golems here were also made by Winry.

[Incredible skill.]

As Terra said, ‘Winry’ is the second most skilled high-level alchemist after ‘Midas,’ the hope of the meager alchemical world.

But the problem is… Winry is quite the eccentric.

[Eccentric? Aren’t alchemists usually like that?]

‘That’s true, but… Winry is a different kind of eccentric from the usual alchemists.’

[What do you mean?]

‘She…’

“Yujin, we’re here.”

‘…It’s better to see for yourself.’

I postponed my answer to Terra’s question and looked at where Gray had stopped.

The spot she was standing on was marked ‘P3.’

And where her gaze was directed, there was a blank wall.

“Yujin, watch closely.”

As her hand pressed somewhere,

Click.

With the sound of something unlocking.

Zing.

A small section of the wall opened, revealing a ‘Morse Code Transmitter.’

“When the transmitter appears like this, you need to input the Morse code immediately. Otherwise…”

Before she could finish her sentence,

– This is your first warning.

A dry, mechanical voice echoed from the transmitter.

“You receive this warning. And after a total of three warnings, the emergency protocol will be activated, transmitting information to all our unit members, and this parking lot will be closed off.”

As Gray spoke, she hurriedly entered Morse code into the transmitter.

The answer to the Morse code she entered was, “The blade of the avenger knows no day without blood.”

In Morse code, it was ‘.– .- .-.. –. …. .–. . -.- -.. ..- / -..- . …- ..-. . …- -.- -.. ..-. / — ..- / — . …- -.. …- / ..-. . …- -.- ..- / -.- – .– –. -… . .-.-.-‘

– Input complete.

Once she entered the designated Morse code, the dry, mechanical voice returned.

Zing.

This time, a hole shaped like a ‘ㅡ’ appeared, into which something needed to be inserted.

In response, Gray pulled a dagger from her cloak and inserted the blade into the ‘ㅡ’ shaped hole.

Then, instead of the mechanical voice, a delicate voice, as if the voice changer hadn’t arrived yet, could be heard.

– Our grievance is.

“With hatred.”

– Our hatred is.

“With vengeance.”

– Our vengeance is.

“With death.”

– Evil is.

“With evil.”

With those words, Gray twisted the dagger as if unlocking a lock.

At that moment, a clunk echoed, and something opened.

Ziiing!

The wall to Gray’s right slid apart, revealing an iron door.

“Yujin, let’s go in.”

Gray withdrew the dagger and approached the iron door.

As she did, the door began to rise on its own, revealing another elevator.

“Now we just need to take this down.”

As she said, taking this elevator would lead them to the base of the ‘9th Strike Force.’

But she knew she must not act familiar.

“Is there another procedure besides this?”

I asked, feeling a bit silly.

“No, really, this is all we need to do.”

Gray playfully pinched my cheek and stepped into the elevator.

I followed him, getting into the elevator as well.

As soon as the metal doors closed, the elevator started moving upward, and then the doors opened again.

It seemed that the special procedure Gray had performed was reversing itself.

“…….”

“…….”

An awkward silence fell between us.

Rumble, rumble.

The only sound was the elevator moving.

But even that sound stopped soon.

“Yujin.”

Gray broke the silence, calling my name in a serious tone.

I turned to look at her.

“Unnie, oppa… no, don’t you want to see your parents?”

“…….”

She asked about my longing for my parents.

“I don’t know… I’m not really sure.”

I didn’t know what to say.

But it seemed like she took my words differently.

“I see…”

A hint of sadness crept onto Gray’s face as she looked at me.

It seemed like she was misunderstanding something, but I didn’t bother to correct her.

There was no need to clear up the misunderstanding, and I didn’t have the confidence to do so either.

“Yujin, take this.”

Gray said, pulling something out of her pocket.

It was… a faded photograph and a key.

“Sister, this is….”

“This is a photo taken a long time ago, with your parents. Normally, due to the nature of our unit, we shouldn’t keep such photos, but… I kept it anyway. To show you.”

At her words, I looked at the photo.

In the faded picture.

A young man and a young woman stood beside a ten-year-old boy named Gray, who was smiling brightly.

I focused on the young woman.

With a bob cut that fell to her neck, holding a cane… wait a minute.

‘Huh…? Isn’t this person one of the usurpers the principal showed us last time?’

I immediately turned my attention to the young man.

And the young man also bore the appearance of one of the usurpers known as the ‘Chaser.’

‘…What? So, my biological parents are usurpers… and foreign agents?’

No, this doesn’t make any sense.

I felt confusion rising in my mind.

No, it was beyond rising; it was already overflowing.

[Master, are you alright?]

‘Um… I’m okay, but it’s really confusing.’

[In such times, how about clearing your mind for a moment?]

[When the confusion settles and you can think calmly, then you can reflect again.]

Taking Terra’s advice, I took a deep breath and nodded.

‘That’s a good idea. Right now… there’s no way I’ll find an answer while I’m in this state.’

As soon as I thought that, the chaos swirling in my mind began to dissipate quickly.

I let out a short sigh and looked at Gray.

Then I asked about my parents’ names. Gray replied.

“My father is ‘Lee Seong-jin,’ and my mother is ‘Kim Ah-ra.'”

“Lee Seong-jin… Kim Ah-ra….”

As I engraved their names in my mind,

Ding.

It seemed we had arrived at the base, and the elevator doors opened.

“Welcome to the base of the 9th Suppression Unit.”

With Gray’s welcoming words, I stepped out of the elevator.

The vast expanse of space, filled with countless rooms and the latest devices and facilities that I had only seen in games, unfolded before my eyes.

“Originally, the devices shouldn’t be visible, but since there’s only one person currently staying in the facility, everything is set to visible mode except for one room.”

As she said, the rooms within the base are divided into ‘visible mode’ and ‘invisible mode.’

And the room that is completely invisible in ‘invisible mode’ belongs to the base’s recluse, Winry.

She rarely comes out of her room…

“Is that you? The son of Seongjin oppa and Ara unni?”

…What? Why is this kid out here?

I looked at the little one approaching me, dragging her white gown with a bewildered expression.

Indeed.

A girl with silver hair styled in twin braids, just like Asuka.

No, she wasn’t just a girl.

She was, after all, a fully-fledged 25-year-old woman.

Anyway, this little one, who barely reached my chest, was none other than.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Winry, the machinist in charge of this base.”

The quirky alchemist from the 9th Expeditionary Force that I intended to tell Terra about.