The All-Master of Cyberpunk

The All-Master of Cyberpunk,

Episode 11

11. Off the Wall

“Lee Do-jin… Chilgok D-class Hunter Shi?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Why is a D-class Hunter raiding alone?”

A checkpoint in District 5, Dong-gu, Daejeon Green Zone. Soldiers in jet-black uniforms alternated between looking at my ID and my face.

I couldn’t see much because I was wearing a military visor that covered half of my face, but it was clear what they were looking at.

It was a reaction I fully expected.

What kind of crazy D-class Hunter would go on a solo off-wall raid? While there’s nothing wrong with it legally, it’s not the most common perception.

“Is there a problem? Is there a ban in place?”

“Nothing like that, but are you serious? Things haven’t been great in the Yellow Zone lately.”

The more senior-looking soldier said as he handed back his ID. He sounds like he’s trying to talk someone out of dying.

But this time, I pulled out my special move.

“I’m from the liberation village, so it’s okay.”

“Ah.”

Soldiers shift their stance when they hear ‘that word’. The reaction to seeing a geek is now accompanied by two spoonfuls of pity.

I’m a hunter, after all, so they don’t seem to be overtly dismissive or disdainful.

After all, being a hunter means that you are officially a citizen of the Daejeon Green Zone.

As long as you’re not an illegal immigrant, there’s no reason for the soldiers to be hostile.

This was the reason why I sacrificed my soul stones to become a D-class hunter.

In this day and age, if you’re from a liberated village with an undefined status, you’re bound to be looked down upon or treated with suspicion everywhere.

“We’ve been identified! Open the gate to District 5!”

“Roger that!”

The senior soldier shouted as the identification was completed, and the massive steel wall, which must have been twenty meters across, began to part on either side.

The Iron Curtain was a barrier that completely isolated the Green Zone from the mutant-infested outside world.

True to its name, the front line is made of an alloy over a meter thick and tall, and its outer walls are lined with high-voltage wires that can fry most mutants just by touching them.

Plus a dense air defense system.

While it appears to have suffered a few setbacks, the rest of the city is still standing.

With gargoyle-like mutants rampaging just a few kilometers away, Daejeon has been able to maintain a semblance of city life.

‘Of course… that’s coming to an end.’

I remember seeing all sorts of bizarre-looking mutants crawling up the outer walls where the power had been cut.

It was one of the best scenes in all of Seoul 2056.

“Anyway, even if you’re from the liberated villages, stay away from the Suseong District. We’re on the verge of a red zone warning.”

“Has it been declared yet?”

“Yeah, I think they’re keeping an eye on it for now, but for whatever reason, the number of mutants has suddenly increased. Just yesterday, they said the outpost next door was raided.”

An outpost raid. The end of the Daejeon Green Zone seemed to be in sight.

As the soldier said, the yellow zone in Mercury District, which was barely holding on, would soon turn into a red zone that was completely out of control.

And if things continue as they are now, “the guy” could appear in the area in question.

“Thanks for the info.”

The lenses of his visor flashed red as I pulled a handful of bills from my wallet and slipped them into his hand. He opened his mouth in a slightly stunned expression and then returned the salute.

“Uh, ah, take care, loyalist!”

“I’ll be back in about four hours, and I hope you’ll take care of yourself then, too.”

“In four hours… ahhh. Yes, I’ll give my successor a heads up!”

“Take care.”

It’s always good to be properly named. It’s better for your mental health to keep things neat and tidy than to be sniffed at by soldiers who smell money.

Unless you’re an officer or an enlisted man with some experience, the pay for entry-level enlisted men and women is still pretty meager, so it’s a nice little gesture to give them some extra money.

I pushed past a grinning old soldier and hopped on my bike.

followed by the ever-present, heart-pounding roar of the engine.

“Let’s go then.”

I sprinted off into the old town, which had completely fallen apart.

* * *

The address I had received from Reverend Joo Kim sang-yup was a villa located near Yulha Station, also in the East District.

The subway station is located along a road that connects to a bridge over the Kumho River, a river that runs through the center of the city.

“So here we go.”

I parked my bike on the side of the road, which was filled with abandoned cars, and pulled the map out of my arms.

Currently, Daejeon could be divided into three main areas.

The Green Zone, which was walled off and maintained a semblance of urban life inside,.

The Red Zone, where the mutant virus was so widespread and the advanced mutants were so numerous that normal people couldn’t even survive,.

And finally, the Yellow Zone, located in the middle of the Green and Red Zones,.

The Yellow Zone is the same as the Red Zone in that it exists outside of the barrier, but because it is located closer to the barrier, the mutants have not completely lost control.

In gaming terms, it’s like a zombie zone: dangerous but still manageable for newbies if they’re careful enough.

That said, even within the yellow zone, there are people living their own lives.

The Liberation Village, a group of unidentified people, including refugees, and the Wild Dogs, a group of unauthorized hunters, were the most common groups in the Yellow Zone.

The National Guard outposts that the soldier mentioned earlier were more of a lookout post, so I wouldn’t classify them as factions.

Of course, such National Guardsmen and casual hunters are afraid of both the Liberation Village and the wild dogs.

‘They’re a very useful group in a pinch.’

I would never make such a short-sighted judgment.

Even if they’re weak compared to the ones that roam the Red Zone, there are still mutants roaming around that could easily tear a normal person apart.

Even if life in the Green Zone was easy, the moment you stepped outside the barrier, you had to keep your options open, because that’s when the real “survival” began.

I don’t want to end up like Kim Sang-yup, the master of my powers, who was only possessed.

“Is this the power zone of ‘Sky Road,’ which is nestled in Yulha Station with a department store on the right and Daejeon International Airport on the left?”

Haneul-gil.

It wasn’t bad.

As the faction that took over the sprawling Daejeon Airport as it is, Sky Road has a pretty good arsenal for a liberated village. It could handle sporadic raids from high-level mutants, let alone mid-level ones.

In Seoul 2056, there are also subquests available in the Liberation Village itself, so it’s worth visiting with that in mind.

In any case, in order to fulfill my end goal of saving Daejeon, I needed to align myself with the Liberation Village faction, as per the original story.

With the city’s destruction approaching even as we speak, it would be useful to have an inside track with the Daejeon Defense Force.

‘In that case, we should take the intersection and head north, then turn left. There’s a good chance the road to Suseong-gu is completely blocked.’

I mentally mapped out an escape route in case of emergency, then hopped back on my bike and turned toward Yulha Station.

The streets were littered with the remains of burned-out cars and collapsed buildings.

Only the gray, dust-covered signs of cosmetics shops vaguely hinted at a thriving business district. Even in the middle of the day, when the sun was up, the quiet streets were deserted.

[The dental health is also assured by nanomachines, and Daejeon’s Baron Ern dentist lives to 120].

[The first time I’ve ever been to a medical clinic, I’ve never seen a doctor who didn’t have a nanomachine, and I’ve never seen a doctor who didn’t have a nanomachine.]

The A3-type Android Regulation Act was passed by the main parliament! We will continue to go along with the wishes of the people. Representative Choi Hyun-soo, Democratic-Republican Party, Dong-gu, who lives together.

And with all the aimless banners fluttering around, I can’t help but feel like a ghost town, which is technically true.

Of course, no crowds means no mutants, so I arrived at the address without incident.

As I walked down the street, I found myself in a villa complex with rental signs on every building.

Almost all of the villas had rental signs on them, suggesting that the neighborhood had been a dead zone even before the apocalypse.

There was a department store nearby, which was a good thing since I was worried that a few mutants might have nested there.

Mutants were monsters that used humans or animals as vectors for their transformation, so the fewer people living there, the less likely they were to be found.

As a result, the buildings are in much better shape than their street neighbors.

Not a single one had fallen down, and not a single window was broken. Since there were no mutants, there must have been no battle.

“Ki-young… Ki-young Villa… Ah, I found it.”

I walked inside the oldest villa in the row, the only one that looked old. It was quite old, even by 2020 standards, not 2056. It’s a wonder the chipped brown brick exterior walls are still intact.

I pushed Harvard into the parking lot behind the villa and checked my pistol, which was still securely in its holster.

The gun was recovered during the Underdog Bikers seal-breaking. Haan gave it back to us because he preferred his old pistol.

Sure, it has a shockwave, but it’s weird to get a gun and not use it, right?

Fifteen rounds of ammunition. Three spare magazines. But I still hadn’t gotten the hang of the handgun, so I fiddled with it awkwardly.

I heard an unpleasant cry.

“Aaaaahhhhhhh! Yewoong!!!”

It was the sound of a cat, the kind you hear all the time in the original world. Normally, I would have just ignored it, but I leaned forward as I recognized the cry.

“……!?

A red tentacle instantly pierced through the asphalt with the sound of something solid breaking.

The curb I had just stood on cracked like a plank of wood.

I immediately drew my pistol and aimed upwards, and a cat puffed up atop the villa, watching me warily.

“Oh shit.”

Yeah, there’s no way there’s a normal domestic cat in the Yellow Zone.

“Look at those tentacles.”

Tentacles wriggling viciously on the cat’s back.

An intermediate beast-type mutant.

Commonly known as the Hellcat.

True to its name, it was a horrible beast worthy of hell.