Chapter 13. The Watcher, No. 8 (2)
No. 8 extended a hand toward him as though offering mercy.
“No. 6. We were partners, and I don’t want to hurt you. So return quietly.”
It sounded as though he was promising not to punish Yukgap if he simply took that hand.
Yukgap shouted firmly.
“Shut up! I don’t belong to you anymore!”
Ever since the moment he had eaten kimchi...
Ever since that spicy, sharp flavor had struck at his lost memories...
One belief had remained clear.
He belonged only to himself.
Victoria immediately agreed.
“That’s right! Yukgap is our chef! Who said you could just take him away?”
“A chef?”
No. 8 gave a small laugh.
Then he asked mockingly,
“Are you really cooking with monomolecular cutters?”
“What’s wrong with that? It’s better than killing people.”
Yukgap answered bluntly.
He had no intention of hiding it.
No. 8 sighed and pulled a strange device from his pocket.
It looked almost like a megaphone.
“A weapon that fails to perform its purpose has no value.”
He raised it toward his mouth.
Yukgap immediately went pale.
“Everyone, get down!”
Victoria, who did not understand the situation, only tilted her head.
“What is that?”
“That’s his overtechnology weapon!”
No. 8 spoke a strange sound into the device.
“Beeeeeeeeeeep!”
His voice expanded into a massive vibration.
A deafening blast slammed through the restaurant.
At the same time, a tremendous impact struck Yukgap and Victoria like they had been hit by a truck.
“Damn it!”
Yukgap immediately pulled Victoria into his arms.
He clenched his teeth and endured the enormous force with his own body.
“Ngh!”
Even while simply standing there and taking the attack, pain tore through his muscles as if they were being ripped apart.
“Aaaaaah!”
But he had not blocked everything.
Victoria cried out sharply from within his arms.
Robert immediately rushed forward while beeping.
[Danger! Danger! Danger! Protect the Doctor!]
Robert’s body hummed.
Massive armored plates rose from his body.
He wrapped himself around Yukgap and Victoria.
The tremendous vibrations crushed and warped Robert’s armor, but he did not move.
He continued shielding Victoria.
“A-Are you okay?”
Once the brief storm finally passed, Yukgap looked down at Victoria.
Blood was running from Yukgap’s ears because of the attack.
“What was that?”
Victoria looked dazed.
Yukgap painfully explained.
“That bastard uses a Noise Gun that turns sound waves into ammunition. Each shot can hit with the force of a battering ram.”
“So it wasn’t just a megaphone.”
Victoria clutched her ringing head.
Robert stood in front of them, covered in cracks.
[...Severe thirty-percent internal equipment loss detected. Continued activity judged impossible...]
Robert spoke through distorted mechanical noises.
He was clearly badly damaged.
“Looks like this scrap heap is broken.”
Yukgap looked at Robert with sympathy.
Victoria also stared silently at Robert, who had protected them at the cost of his own body.
“Looks like Robert is the only reason we’re still standing.”
Nearby, Seryun spoke weakly.
His body had been twisted at a bizarre angle and half-embedded into the wall.
“Excuse me... could someone please worry about me too?”
He had only come to eat and somehow ended up caught in a fight that had left him in a ridiculous state.
Yukgap answered casually.
“You’re a Lich. You won’t die anyway.”
“I still feel pain!”
Seryun protested bitterly.
Being undead made him feel like nobody treated him as a person.
“What will you do?”
No. 8 aimed the Noise Gun at Yukgap.
“I would rather not create unnecessary casualties.”
Yukgap stared at him in disbelief.
“That’s a strange thing to say while pointing a weapon at someone.”
“A threat means nothing without impact.”
No. 8 aimed the Noise Gun at Victoria instead.
Then he chuckled.
“Or perhaps eliminating the outsider hiding you will change your mind.”
Yukgap immediately stepped in front of her.
“Stop! Victoria doesn’t know anything! She thought I was just some homeless wanderer and hired me as a chef!”
“Then will you return quietly?”
No. 8 asked again.
His voice remained polite.
But unlike before, there was now a seriousness underneath.
If Yukgap refused, he would attack immediately.
The No. 8 Yukgap knew was absolutely capable of that.
“Yukgap, duck!”
Victoria suddenly shouted.
At the same time, a large hose appeared from the side.
A thick brown liquid sprayed out.
It poured directly over No. 8’s head.
The moment it touched him, his body began smoking and grotesquely melting.
“Aaaaaagh!”
No. 8 screamed as his flesh melted while he was still alive.
Because it was a complete surprise attack, he had no chance to dodge or defend.
“You break into someone else’s restaurant without permission, and then you hurt our precious waiter!”
Victoria shouted sharply, her face stiff with anger.
She held a large hose dripping with brown liquid.
“And now you’re trying to steal away the chef, the very core of our business? There’s no way I can forgive you!”
Victoria glared coldly at No. 8 as he melted.
Yukgap stared in horror.
“What the hell did you spray on him?”
“My steak sauce! I spent all last night working on it!”
Victoria answered proudly.
Yukgap stared at the horrifying remains of No. 8.
“That’s steak sauce?! It melted a person!”
Victoria quickly defended herself.
“It became more acidic than I expected, so I was still adjusting it.”
“What the hell are you making?!”
Yukgap had no idea when steak sauce had become a dangerous chemical capable of dissolving people.
Either way, this was their chance.
Victoria grabbed Yukgap’s hand.
“Forget that! This isn’t the time. Let’s run!”
“What are you planning?”
“Just trust me.”
Victoria ran toward Robert, who was still barely functional.
She placed her hand on the back of his head and shouted,
“Emergency situation. Serial number N-342401. Code Red! Code Red! Robert, switch to manual operation mode!”
A red light appeared in Robert’s eyes.
[Voice identification complete. Switching to manual operation mode.]
Mechanical sounds followed.
Robert’s body began rearranging itself.
Metal parts folded and locked together.
Before long, he had transformed into a massive motorcycle.
“Get on! Let’s escape for now! If we stay here, the whole restaurant might get destroyed!”
Victoria climbed onto the driver’s seat with practiced ease.
Yukgap jumped on behind her.
“Where are we going?”
“I don’t know! Just run!”
Victoria accelerated without thinking.
Leaving behind the ruined restaurant and No. 8, whose body was already beginning to regenerate, she drove straight through the glass door.
Glass shattered in every direction.
Victoria kept her eyes forward.
“Hold on!”
Then she accelerated.
Vroooom!
The motorcycle raced through the winding back alleys and entered an outer road.
“You’re surprisingly good at driving!”
Yukgap shouted from behind her.
Victoria grinned.
“I practiced whenever I had time, just in case we ever needed to make deliveries!”
The motorcycle sped through the dark, empty road.
Yukgap looked around and spoke grimly.
“We won’t be able to escape far. The Twelve Archons have strong regeneration. He’ll recover quickly and follow us.”
“He’s still a person. Surely he can’t catch a motorcycle.”
Victoria answered confidently.
Yukgap suddenly asked an unrelated question.
“Do you know the only mammal capable of true flight?”
“That’s...!”
Before Victoria could answer, a massive shadow appeared above them.
A familiar laugh followed.
“Hehehehe. How amusing. We used to hunt prey together, and now we’re chasing each other.”
It was No. 8.
But he no longer looked like before.
Black fur covered his body.
Thin membranes stretched between his strangely bent arms and his sides.
Enormous ears, almost as large as his face, rose from his head.
His red eyes and sharp fangs gleamed clearly in the darkness.
Most importantly...
No. 8 was flying through the air while chasing them.
“...What the hell is that?”
Victoria asked in horror.
Yukgap sighed.
“No. 8’s true form.”
He looked at his former partner, who seemed to have become part of the dark night sky.
“That bastard is a chimera fused with a bat. He’s the only one among the Twelve Archons with the ability to fly.”
No. 8 flapped his wings and quickly caught up.
His sharp claws gleamed as though ready to snatch Yukgap from the motorcycle.
Realizing he was getting closer, Victoria quickly turned the handlebars.
“Let’s go into the underground roadway! We’ll be safe inside!”
She drove into a dark underground tunnel.
But Yukgap shook his head hopelessly.
“It won’t help.”
He glanced behind them.
No. 8 continued following without hesitation.
Even inside the narrow underground roadway, he flew with ease.
“No. 8’s assigned role is Watcher. He can use ultrasound to instantly map structures within forty kilometers. It’s impossible to escape his surveillance.”
