Licorice (2)
Near the top of a mountain in Bangladesh.
A man wearing a ghillie suit disguised as bushes lay face down, taking deep breaths.
Then he brought his eyes to the telescopic sight of the large sniper rifle he was holding and activated his special ability.
‘There you are.’
A mind that moves as if sucked through a scope.
It extended to a place that could not be properly observed even with the highest magnification scope, and soon illuminated a place dozen kilometers away.
Krrrrrr— Kwakwang!
It wasn’t something that could be seen with the eyes.
The sounds from that place were transmitted to him as if he were actually there.
‘Is it over already?’
A building collapses with a loud noise and smoke rises in puffs.
The surrounding area was in ruins, as if it had been bombed.
And the sniper could spot his target, slowly walking out of the middle of it all.
‘What a monster.’
It wasn’t long before we heard that he was approaching our base.
Thanks to the preparations being done in advance, it didn’t take long, but does it make sense that everything is already finished?
“Phew.”
He took deep breaths to calm his heart, which was starting to beat faster and faster due to the agitation, and calmed himself down again.
For a sniper, excitement was like poison.
“Target acquired. We will begin work immediately.”
[Are you sure you’re okay? He’s dangerous. None of the warriors who’ve gone out to eliminate him have returned unharmed.]
“Ha! No matter what, it’s just a living organism. If life stops, it’ll still die.”
He communicated with the person he was telepathically connected to and took out something the size of his palm from his bosom.
A large bullet with a body that has a strange black sheen and is densely inlaid with gold patterns.
The sniper, who had been quietly staring at the object that could be better called a grenade, slowly pushed it into the large sniper rifle he was holding.
Of course, that gun was no ordinary item.
‘The Gigant Slayer that has shattered countless skulls of giants as tall as buildings. And it is the highest purity instant-death bullet that has even brought death to the giant champion. Do you think you can withstand this?’
Because the materials needed for production were so rare and the process was so difficult, bullets of this purity were something that he only used in really important situations, even for someone of his origin.
These are extraordinary artifacts that somehow allowed humans to establish their own territory even amidst the waves of giants that covered the world.
And the sniper was the hero who saved the country by shooting the giant champion who was called the being of fear.
He looked through the scope again to confirm his target.
‘···What an overwhelming sense of oppression. Even though I’m only observing from this distance.’
Target point about ten kilometers away.
There was a large, hulking man walking out, leaving the completely destroyed building behind.
A being that calls itself ‘Lion’s Tale’.
His naked torso was covered in muscles that were breathtaking to look at, and tattoos that added to his ferocity were adorning it all.
Plus, there’s the unidentifiable beast head on his head.
His appearance against the backdrop of a collapsed building made him seem like the very embodiment of destruction.
‘···Maybe it really will fail.’
Even he, who had been through all kinds of chaos, couldn’t help but have such thoughts.
But that doesn’t mean I’m going to quit my job now.
His current location is more than ten kilometers away from the target point.
Because he was confident that he could get out of there before the bastard got there.
Thump— thump—
My heart rate slowly slowed down.
At the same time, information about the target point began to feel clearer.
From temperature and humidity to air flow and target movement.
And finally, the moment when the sniper’s heart stops completely.
Bullets were fired from guns enhanced by his abilities.
Likewise, it took less than a second for a bullet affected by the ability to reach its target.
Throw—
The lion’s body shook with the shock wave.
The upper body is bent back as if it would fall backwards due to a strong external force.
Because of that, it was hard to see clearly, but the sniper was sure of it.
‘That’s right!’
That his sniper shot hit the target’s head straight.
Once it’s right, it’s over.
The instant death force that spreads from the brain, one of the most important organs in the human body, will immediately permeate the entire body, and even if someone has near-immortal regenerative powers…
“Huh?”
But that thought didn’t last long.
At his sight, he let out a sigh, slowly releasing his tension.
Because the image of the target slowly raising his bent upper body came into view.
Crack— crack—
And those bullets were very familiar to him.
Biting and chewing between the teeth visible under the beast’s head.
A pair of glowing odd eyes looked straight in his direction.
Even though it was a distance where their eyes should never have met, a cold chill ran down the sniper’s spine as he felt his eyes lock.
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“···Operation failed. Location discovered.”
[Damn it! Get out of here! That guy is a monster. At that distance, he’ll reach where you are…]
A series of loud noises could be heard beyond the telepathy, but the sniper had no time to pay attention to them.
‘You stopped it? By biting it with your teeth?’
A bullet fired unexpectedly from over ten kilometers away, flying at a speed exceeding 30 times the speed of sound?
The destructive power contained there would be enough to cut through even a titanium alloy block as if it were a sheet of paper, but where did all that tremendous energy go?
But, despite the confusion, his body had already completed all preparations.
He quickly put all his equipment into the subspace and stood up.
Then he activated the special jetpack on his back and glanced in the direction of his target.
‘It’s a monster that’s even more out of line than I thought. There’s nothing I can do. I’ll back off for now… huh?’
Then a green light filled his vision.
Phew!
His thoughts were completely dark.
[···#%$@$?!]
A telepathic signal from somewhere called out to him urgently, but it did not last long and soon dispersed into the distance.
It was impossible for a headless corpse to receive telepathy.
***
“Hmph! Did I get it?”
Harley, who had been maintaining a cool pitching form and had his eyes half-closed, scratched the back of his head.
It was good that he spat out the lump of metal that he had been chewing on in his mouth and threw it with all his might, but because the distance was so far, he couldn’t be sure whether it hit or not.
“Well, that must have been true. I made it fly back to where it came from.”
“Jewel Eye: Force”, which manipulates the surrounding energy to create mystery.
It was a power that was difficult to use on Earth, where there was no special energy, but because the energy contained in the bullet was so great, it was actually easier to use it in reverse.
Because I chewed hard and crushed all the existing traits.
‘By the way, this is the last one, and the income isn’t as good as I thought. As expected, they’re quick to react.’
Harley rubbed her chin as she walked in the direction the sniper had come from to check the results.
He was currently traveling around Southeast Asia, destroying the remaining branches of the Bancheonhoe one by one.
Unlike other avatars who are working hard and being productive, isn’t he only capable of destroying things?
So, I started visiting each place one by one, starting from the places where their locations were revealed.
‘Anyway, those who run away and hide are the ones who are the ones who are the cool ones.’
Most of the branches had already withdrawn long ago.
Most of the ones who remained were just leftovers, used as bait, and then thrown away.
It seemed that in order to properly root out these bastards, it would be necessary to start from the head.
An entity that decides the overall course of action of the Buncheonhoe above the branch managers in charge of each region.
‘Oracle···.’
Harley’s gaze turned west.
A large country bordering Bangladesh and one of the most populous countries in the world.
To where India is.
“Tsk, anyway, I’ve finished everything that needed to be done right away… What do I do now?”
There was no need to rush back right away.
Unlike other avatars, his status was only symbolic and did not require him to do anything.
He had suddenly disappeared and returned several times already, and his acquaintances had assumed that it was the same.
“···Well, then should I try working part-time for a bit?”
He, who had been lost in thought, smiled faintly.
Isn’t there one agenda item that you are most concerned about right now?
‘If you want to be sure, it would be best to watch from right next to you.’
It felt a bit excessive to send Harley here for something like that, but it didn’t matter since there was no work to do anyway.
You can think of it as inspecting the area you have been protecting while also preventing accidents caused by terrorism.
“Hahaha! Then where should we go… Oh, first of all, I need to check where the sniper shot came from.”
And after a while.
The image of Harley, who had been collecting unexpected surprise gifts that had been abandoned after losing their owners, disappeared as if washed away.
***
“What, what the heck is this···.”
Jin So-ran, whose eyes were twitching, could not continue speaking and just opened her mouth.
Because I had once seriously pursued this path, I could immediately recognize how great the song I was hearing was.
“What do you think? This is much better than the previous one, right?”
“Is it better? It’s just better···!”
She unconsciously answered out loud to the melody still ringing in her ears, but then shut her mouth tightly.
The person who had been away for a while returned and suddenly realized who the person in front of him was.
‘Where on earth did you get something like this? And in such a short amount of time? Was it already completed? But this…’
Jin So-ran, with a confused expression, stared blankly at Heinz.
Then he looked down at the magical tool in his hand and then looked back at him several times.
It was by no means her fault that she looked so screwed up.
‘How? It’s like… it’s perfectly suited to our children’s voices!’
Immediately after I played the recorded song to Heinz, he showed up a few hours later with a stern expression on his face and threw this magical tool at me.
A magical tool with voice recording and playback functions.
It was not a very popular item among Howard Industries’ products, as there was an alternative called a recorder.
There was some demand for it because it can be used in environments where electronic devices are disrupted due to radio interference or EMP.
But the problem was the music contained within it.
‘Ha, this is really···.’
A beautiful melody that doesn’t sound like it belongs to Inse, flowing along a cheerful rhythm like K-pop.
But inside, there was a darkness that could not be hidden.
The shadow that exists behind the bright melody that sings of hope.
Just listening to the music, I could faintly feel the sweet scent of blood, but a deadly temptation that I knew was dangerous but could not resist reached out to me.
Like the seduction of a beautiful vampire.
‘Is it possible to express this just through playing?’
Jin So-ran swallowed dry saliva.
It wasn’t just about emphasizing decadence.
To ensure that it does not feel burdensome, the design was meticulously tuned to ensure that it could be enjoyed by people of all ages, genders, and nationalities without any resistance.
‘This is it. This is the only song that fits Licorice’s debut song.’
The song I had been preparing had already completely disappeared from my head.
Since it was a song I received for a lot of money from a famous composer, I thought it wouldn’t fall far behind the songs currently ranked #1 on domestic music charts, but…
It couldn’t even be compared to this now.
“Who is this?! Who on earth composed this song! Oh! If I had known there was a composer like this before, I wouldn’t have wasted my time. As expected, it’s Lord Shi! As expected, I still have a long way to go. Could you introduce me to this person? I’d like to commission him to compose other songs too….”
Her face was flushed and she was constantly radiating excitement.
Heinz took a step back from her and slowly stroked her chin while waiting for her to calm down.
‘The effect is better than expected? Well, since Jin So-ran is also a vampire, it would have been easier to empathize with the song.’
This new song is not just about Elven Kingdom’s musical style.
Since the previous cultural invasion had already provided a basis for understanding the music of the Earth, it was not difficult to remove the sense of dissonance and fuse them into one during the composition process.
Harris, who could feel Heinz Jr.’s temperament whenever he wanted, was in charge of the entire process…
“Well, I don’t know since I’ve never done any external activities. Composing is just a hobby, so it would be difficult to assign separate work to him.”
It wasn’t all that surprising that a song like this came out in one day.
“···Phew, I’m so excited. I think you’re an acquaintance of Lord···. Oh, then what should I name the composer?”
Jin So-ran seemed to sense something in Heinz’s reluctant attitude to give a detailed explanation and asked cautiously.
Of course, he had no intention of taking on separate work, and he had no intention of hiding his identity, so he answered nonchalantly.
“Harris.”
“Harris… is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s Harris.”
The faceless genius composer who professes mysticism—it was the moment when Harris made his debut on Earth.
***
Since the most important song in the debut was changed, everyone had to move quickly.
Naturally, the members of Lycoris had to work harder than before, but no one was dissatisfied with that fact.
Because they were already completely absorbed in the changed song from the moment they heard it.
“Hmm, maybe it would be better to swing your arms a bit more here?”
“Sister! Let’s try again.”
“Yeah, that would be a good idea.”
Unlike the previous songs where I had to force myself to fit in, this song fits like a tailored suit.
There was nothing lacking or overflowing.
There was no need to stress about learning the song from scratch, because everything came together harmoniously as long as I sang the song as I wanted.
“Filming is over! Move quickly! We’re going into editing right away, so the rest needs to be done by the end of the day!”
“What? You’re saying you’re booked up? Then double the money… No, just give me what I want! If that doesn’t work, tell me. I’ll talk to the people who booked before.”
Since Heinz, the master of the blood alliance, personally took the lead, everything proceeded quickly as if sailing with the wind.
There was no way that he could stop them from mobilizing all their connections and pouring in unlimited amounts of talent and money.
The quality that was bound to decline due to time constraints was covered by overwhelming financial resources.
“Okay! Thank you for your hard work!”
“Whew, good. Check carefully to make sure you didn’t miss anything!”
Time passed like that.
One day, as D-Day approached.
An additional manager has been assigned to the Licorice team.
Even though he was a new employee, he had the title of director.
It was obvious to anyone that he was a parachute appointee, but no one complained about it.
“Hahaha! Nice to meet you! You can call me Director Hal.”
“What should I do?”
“Explorer! Your pronunciation is off. This is Director Ha. Please take care of me from now on!”
A man wearing a suit that seemed to burst, covering his muscular body, and black sunglasses.
Because no one had anything to say to the new recruit who looked more like a gangster than a manager.
