126 – A Precious Treasure to Someone! # 3
Lee Joon-Hun’s warehouse where he wanted to meet me was a space that had his personal vault.
Clunk-.
As I inserted the old key into the wall, a metal door opened from the floor of the warehouse, revealing various cars parked in an exhibition-like manner.
“Wow, isn’t that a Bugatti Manabrake? The fastest car in the world! It’s a limited edition vehicle that supposedly surpasses 100 km/h in just one second!”
Lee Jin-A’s eyes sparkled at the sight of the black sports cars. She was truly interested in cars, often enjoying car-related videos.
It was only natural for her to be captivated by the cars parked in Lee Joon-Hun’s secret base.
I too felt my hair stand on end at the sight of the weapons hanging from the walls.
“Is that a beam saber? An early model, no less? They say the initial models explode once every thousand uses! Wow, I can’t believe I’m seeing this in real life. Is that a mini railgun? There’s even a power suit!”
If there was a secret and clandestine headquarters for heroes, this place definitely felt like it.
In a space that resembled the fantasies of men, my heart raced in various ways.
I thought to myself that I should create something like this once I earn a lot of money!
Ari also spoke up.
“Lee Joon-Hun. I’ve never heard of you having things like this? Didn’t all your belongings get mortgaged and confiscated by the government?”
“…….”
Lee Joon-Hun, the owner of this place, looked extremely restless.
He wore an expression akin to being caught with his hidden emergency funds, and in reality, he was in such a situation.
Ari is a public servant, after all.
At that moment, Illinois spoke.
“What is that red car…? It looks remarkably nymph-friendly…! It resembles Illinois’s red hair color perfectly…!”
“Huh? You’ve got an eye for detail? That’s a Lamborghini La Hecate model. It’s a vehicle that runs solely on mana, and there are only two of them in existence!”
“Indeed, it’s very gorgeous and perfect…! I love that it runs on mana in an nymph-friendly organic way…! From now on, this car will be named Illinois Car…!”
Swish-.
Illinois jumped onto the car and shouted.
Seeing this, Lee Joon-Hun became greatly flustered.
“…Illinois Car? What does that even mean?”
It was a rather chaotic scene.
I snapped back to reality.
“We don’t have time for this.”
Though I had been momentarily dazzled by the amazing secret base, we were on a mission to rescue our abandoned comrades.
Lee Joon-Hun also seemed to regain his composure and tightened his serious expression.
“Follow me!”
So I followed Lee Joon-Hun to another area where there was a machine glimmering with a black hue.
“This is a stealth silent helicopter. It’s a prototype made by the Osa Group’s military project team. It can neutralize detection devices like radars.”
It was a very large helicopter.
Large enough for all of us to fit in.
Even Yu Ara, who generally wouldn’t be interested in military or weapons, was highly impressed as she traced her hand around various parts of the helicopter.
“This is a great helicopter. Completely silent with a jamming device that emits interference waves? It would have made things so much easier for public servants if we had these earlier.”
Yu Ara is a doctor.
She must have thought about how wonderful it would be if she could fly around in a helicopter during emergencies to save people.
However, for some reason, Lee Joon-Hun’s expression grew increasingly dark, and he even started to sweat.
# # #
The helicopter, created with the essence of the 5th industry, was fast and quiet.
Before long, we found ourselves caught in a storm that had formed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Beeeeeep-.
An ominous alarm sounded from the cockpit, and Lee Joon-Hun warned with tension in his voice, “Hold on tight!”
Kaboom-!
Rumble-!
I hadn’t realized the ferocity of the storm from the news, but witnessing it up close was truly a disaster.
However, Oinui spoke as if she was in high spirits.
“It’s asking to open the door…! Oinui wants to capture this storm in a glass jar…! If I can train this storm, I’ll be able to summon rain whenever I want to grow golden apples and flowers…!”
Oinui wanted to capture the winds of the storm in a specially enchanted glass jar and take it home.
I had no idea how she intended to tame and nurture the storm, but what Oinui usually said was often astonishing and turned out to be true.
“But Oinui! If we open the door in this situation, we’ll get blown away!”
“Just trust Oinui…!”
Oinui was overflowing with confidence.
Beep-.
Lee Joon-Hun pressed a button, and the helicopter door slid open.
As if waiting for that moment, Oinui thrust her hand, still holding the glass jar, out into the open.
“Ah…! I missed it…!”
But the fierce winds caused Oinui to drop the glass jar.
The jar fell toward the Pacific Ocean.
Kalinoy, who was flying alongside the helicopter, squeaked in distress.
—Hoo, hoo…!
Swish-.
Kalinoy dashed down at a speed faster than the helicopter, catching the jar with her foot. Watching her, I felt a swell of pride.
“That’s Kalinoy for you!”
“Now let’s head downwards…! Our nymphs are closest to water but are also friends with the wind…! We can surely sense where the storm is weakest…!”
It was said that the short ears of the nymphs were very sensitive, making them adept at feeling the winds.
Including Oinui, the nymphs seemed to have quickly assessed the massive storm when the helicopter door opened, figuring out the best spots to infiltrate.
“I’m glad we brought the nymphs!”
I felt that believing in Oinui and the nymphs’ abilities was indeed the right choice.
Swish-.
Kalinoy was the first to dive into the storm.
Swoosh-.
Spinning and flying like a bullet, Kalinoy cut through the stormy winds as if clearing a cozy passage.
Soon, the helicopter passed through the storm without any issues, quickly reaching the eye of the storm, which was considered safe.
“…It was this easy? The last time we went through, it was all twisted and broken, what a mess!”
Lee Joon-Hun was greatly surprised.
He must not have expected the nymphs and Oinui to have such profound knowledge of nature.
Kalinoy’s performance was remarkably dazzling.
I thought I should treat her to grilled beef when we return!
Swish-.
The helicopter finally landed on the beach of the strange island.
—Hoo, hoo…!
Kalinoy, who had arrived first, waddled over to me, rubbing her wet feathers and head against my body.
I took out a towel and wiped the moisture off Kalinoy’s body, saying,
“Kalinoy, you did well! The tiger owl is truly amazing!”
—Hoo, hoo…!
Kalinoy spread her wings and bounced around joyfully, and the nymphs exclaimed, “This is a nymph-friendly beach…!”
Who would have imagined that such a peaceful shore could exist in that treacherous storm?
At that moment, Lee Jin-A knelt down, scooping up sand with one hand, murmuring softly.
“It’s an island that appeared suddenly with the storm, which wasn’t on the map. And what’s that tower…? The Tower of Babel…? It’s extraordinarily huge. It’s hard to take it all in.”
An island that materialized with the storm.
A gigantic tower rising on the island.
Although I had been forewarned by Lee Joon-Hun, seeing it in person was still overwhelming.
The tower soared into the clouds, and its width was something my eyes couldn’t even begin to measure.
“Look at this…! The storm has safely entered the glass jar…! No nymph can possibly capture or tame such a massive storm…!”
Swish-.
Oinui raised the glass jar high.
The jar was just plain transparent, but according to Oinui, it seemed she had succeeded in containing the winds of the storm.
Honestly, it was hard to believe!
“But I’m curious about what this is…!”
Thud-.
Coris, who had been running around the beach, pointed at something.
Between the rocks on the beach, a red helicopter was parked, and it bore a resemblance to the one we had arrived in.
The first to notice was Ari, being knowledgeable in various matters as a public servant.
“This is a Chinese helicopter. Senior, it’s a Black Ops helicopter! Black Ops is China’s covert operations team! It means the Chinese have landed here before us!”
Black Ops?
It was a name I hadn’t heard before.
An unknown secret operations unit, no doubt.
But the mention of China made me wary.
Since the 5th industrial age, China had become a country that was unpredictably like a rugby ball.
# # #
“Captain. A helicopter has landed on the beach.”
“Really? From where?”
“…We don’t know either. It’s an undetected and untraceable helicopter—.”
The woman referred to as the Captain opened her thin eyes, hidden in the shadows.
“It’s a helicopter that can penetrate the storm created by the T-class rift without detection. It must be Korea. The only country that can create something like that right now is Korea.”
Tsk-.
The woman clicked her tongue, recalling events from ten years ago.
Ten years ago.
When numerous rifts occurred in Korea, people around the world thought Korea would be destroyed.
And indeed, it was heading that way.
Soon, not just Korea but rifts appeared in various parts of the world, and for some reason, only China emerged unscathed from the calamity of the rifts.
A land of over ten thousand miles with a population of over a billion that suffered almost no damage due to the rifts. It was a miracle that inspired the billion populace.
—We live in a chosen land! We are the center of the Earth!
—Long live!
“Safe from the rifts, China.”
That became their slogan.
However, everything began to change when people started capturing and utilizing the things within the rifts to build magnificent towers.
“To follow the world of the 5th industry, we must seize favorable ground in this storm by any means necessary. And we need to recruit more Awakened.”
If they were teams dispatched from Korea, they must surely be formidable experts.
“Captain, what should we do? According to a recent report, there seems to be a man with a squirrel and a large tiger owl. I also saw a honey ant. They were really cute. Especially the honey ant, shimmering in gold, looked amazing.”
“What? A man with a squirrel, a large owl, and a honey ant. Surely there’s an unseen rainbow-colored spider as well! That man!”
Golden opportunity.
Could this not be referring to the current situation?
The only S-class Awakened in China, Xiao Xiao clenched her fist tightly.
“Inform all the Black Ops. We have added another objective. We will capture Haildo and take him to China.”
