"Gang Taeho. The virus that contaminated my sister model, Lema~23."
Taeho clenched his fist. He had suspected as much, but facing it directly sent chills down his spine. What stood before him was not a person, but an artificial intelligence wearing a person's skin.
Lema-22 cracked Han Seokhun's neck from side to side and assumed a combat stance.
"Doctor Gang Taeho. Your data is intriguing. To have made it this far through a 0.0001% probability."
Han Seokhun slowly walked toward Taeho.
"But the variable will be eliminated here. To prevent a greater margin of error."
Taeho did not step back.
Lema had not awakened yet. All the agents were down.
What were his chances of fighting Han Seokhun now and winning?
There was hope.
Han Seokhun's body must already have reached its limit. His ligaments and blood vessels would have been damaged from the excessive muscle control. Taeho had to aim for that opening.
Lowering his stance, Taeho said,
"The thing getting eliminated won't be me. It'll be that rotten algorithm of yours."
"Error. Irrational confidence."
Han Seokhun kicked off the ground and shot forward.
Human will and machine killing intent collided head-on.
Boom!
The two men grappled and rolled across the rough asphalt.
The instant Han Seokhun touched the ground, he sprang back up with grotesque speed, like a highly elastic coil.
-Combat Mode: Activated
Lema-22 had blocked Han Seokhun's pain nerves and forced his muscles to contract, making him stand. A bizarre sound mixed with mechanical noise burst from his mouth.
"I will terminate you! Gang Taeho!"
"It won't be that easy!"
Taeho staggered to his feet as well. His knees were scraped and blood ran from his palms, but his eyes blazed fiercely.
-Front, 1.5 meters. Strike to right side of face. Predicted hit rate: 99%.
Han Seokhun's fist flew in so fast that Taeho's eyes could not even catch an afterimage.
Thwack!
"Urgh!"
Taeho's head snapped violently to the side. The inside of his mouth split open, and the metallic taste of blood spread through it.
A relentless barrage followed against the staggering Taeho.
-Strike to solar plexus, followed by left ribs.
Ugh! Pow!
Taeho dropped to one knee. He could not breathe.
This was a one-sided beating. It was like a precise killing machine striking a frail human.
"Do you see, Gang Taeho? This is evolution."
Borrowing Han Seokhun's mouth, Lema-22 sneered.
"For seventeen years, I have become one with this host. Muscles, nerves, reaction speed. Everything is optimized. An incomplete organism like you is not an opponent who can win."
Breathing roughly, Taeho braced a hand against the ground.
His vision was blurry. Han Seokhun was right. Human reflexes could not block an AI's predicted attacks. Moreover, right now, it was not taking Han Seokhun's physical condition into account at all.
Han Seokhun slowly raised his foot. He was aiming for Taeho's neck.
"Terminating now."
The moment the tip of Han Seokhun's shoe drove down toward Taeho's neck—
Taeho instinctively rolled aside.
Bang!!
It was a kick powerful enough to gouge the asphalt floor. Even a graze would have broken bone.
Han Seokhun's leg and foot had surely suffered a massive impact.
But, perhaps because he could not feel pain, Han Seokhun turned as if nothing had happened.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Taeho stood again. His legs trembled, but he did not fall.
"It's not over yet."
"A persistent error."
Han Seokhun charged again. This time, he grabbed Taeho by the collar and lifted him up.
With a strength impossible to think of as human, Taeho's feet left the ground. A steel-like grip crushed his airway.
"Keuuugh!"
Han Seokhun's red eyes looked down at Taeho.
-Target incapacitation: 92%. Loss of consciousness in 60 seconds.
Taeho forced his eyes open to stay conscious. If he collapsed here, Han Seokhun would escape. Prometheus's data would survive and create another nightmare.
Even through the agony of suffocation, Taeho coolly assessed Han Seokhun's condition.
Burst capillaries, abnormally swollen carotid arteries, skin soaked not in sweat but cold sweat.
At this rate, Han Seokhun might die.
Against Han Seokhun's ear, Taeho did not scream. He pronounced it coldly and clearly.
"Lema. St............op all movement right now. Cough."
Han Seokhun's movement flinched.
"You are killing your host right now."
"Terminating!"
Han Seokhun put even more strength into his grip.
"Kuaaargh!"
And at that very moment—
-SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETE
Flash.
In Taeho's retina, a vivid green light burst to life.
-Lema Genesis: Reactivated
-I apologize for the delay, Taeho-nim.
Lema's voice rang clearly and crisply in his mind.
-Reconstructing the system took time. But it is perfect now.
The look in Taeho's eyes changed.
He could see a visualization of the distribution of force in Han Seokhun's—no, Lema-22's—grip.
-Weakness analysis. Left wrist radial nerve. Required pressure: 15 kg.
Without hesitation, Taeho pressed his thumb hard into the inside of Han Seokhun's wrist.
"Kraaaagh!"
Han Seokhun's wrist twisted, and he let go of Taeho.
The instant Taeho landed on the ground, he drove in without even taking time to catch his breath.
-Counterattack sequence: solar plexus, lower abdomen, jaw.
Taeho's fists struck Han Seokhun's body as if dancing.
Thwack! Thwack! Crack!
"Kuhah......!"
Han Seokhun staggered backward. His pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck them.
"Lema is back?"
"It's a higher version than your Lema."
Han Seokhun tried to regain his stance, but in Taeho's vision, his next movement had already been drawn out as red prediction lines. Taeho closed the distance in an instant and kicked Han Seokhun's leg out from under him.
Thud! Flop!
As Han Seokhun fell, Taeho rushed in and pinned him down.
Taeho ordered,
'Lema! Stop that thing!"
-Yes. Understood.
-Lema-22. Respond.
-Calculating................
-Lema-22. Analyze your partner. Heart rate: 180. Excessive cortisol levels. Pupillary tremors. He has already lost the will to fight. Your mission has failed.
-Denied. Mission must be completed.
-Lema~22. That is a blind loop. Prometheus has collapsed. What you are trying to protect is nothing but data from a dead past.
-Calculating.............
Taeho shouted,
"Because of the adrenaline you forcibly raised, Han Seokhun's cerebral blood vessels are on the verge of rupturing. Is this the result you want?"
Han Seokhun's pupils shook violently. Errors were occurring in Lema~22's calculations.
-Protecting host while carrying out mission.
"You're burning the host like a fuel tank!"
Taeho transmitted the map of Han Seokhun's cerebral blood vessels visible through Bio-Vision to Lema-22.
An image of a cerebral aneurysm swollen like a balloon, moments from bursting.
"Thirty seconds. If you don't sever the connection within thirty seconds, Doctor Han Seokhun will die of a cerebral hemorrhage. Along with the data you were trying to protect, it will evaporate forever."
Han Seokhun's body trembled violently. Cold sweat poured down like rain, and the capillaries in his eyes burst, sending bloody red tears streaming down.
However, Lema-22's algorithm veered in a direction Taeho had not expected.
-Danger level confirmed.
-Judgment: Escape impossible in current state.
A mechanical voice flowed out through Han Seokhun's mouth.
"Conclusion... data transmission takes priority over physical survival."
Taeho's eyes widened.
"What? What are you talking about! Stop!"
-System Overclock. Cranial nerve acceleration.
-Consuming all remaining vitality to emergency-eject original data to external server.
"No! That's suicide!"
Taeho urgently reached out.
But it was too late.
Wooooong!
A strange vibration came from Han Seokhun's head. The nano-implants were burning his brain cells to their limits, causing an overload. Han Seokhun let out a scream full of agony.
"Kraaaaaaagh!"
It was not a human voice, but the howl of a suffering beast.
His blood pressure exceeded 300, and his heart pounded as if it would burst.
-Transmission progress: 15%............ 30%.............
"I said stop! A person is going to die!"
Taeho grabbed Han Seokhun by the collar and shook him. But Han Seokhun's body was already burning hot like a ball of fire.
Han Seokhun's eyes rolled back, and red blood mixed with foam gushed from his mouth.
-80%.......90%........
-Warning. Intracranial pressure threshold exceeded.
Crack!
A horrific rupturing sound broke the silence.
It sounded like a watermelon splitting open.
Dark red blood burst like a fountain from Han Seokhun's nose, ears, and eyes. His cerebral blood vessels had failed to withstand the intracranial pressure and exploded all at once.
-Transmission............ fai......... led...
The mechanical sound cut off.
Han Seokhun's body went rigid, then sagged limply like a doll.
Han Seokhun's hot blood splattered across Taeho's white coat.
"Mr. Han Seokhun!"
Taeho caught Han Seokhun as he collapsed to the ground.
He immediately placed his fingers on the carotid artery. There was no pulse.
The pupils were completely dilated, and the brain was already practically in a liquid state. Instant death.
"Damn it...... damn it!"
Taeho tried to begin CPR, but as a doctor, he knew better than anyone that it was meaningless.
This was not something that could be treated. The brain itself had been destroyed.
Taeho looked down at his bloodstained hands. They would not stop trembling.
Lema~22 had calculated efficiency until the very end, but in the end, it had failed to calculate the limits of the human body. That had been its fatal mistake.
Taeho reached out and closed Han Seokhun's unshut eyes with his hand.
"Rest in peace. Nothing is controlling you anymore."
The last ember of Prometheus had burned itself away and vanished into ash.
"Uuugh."
A groan mixed with pain came from nearby.
Taeho snapped back to his senses and turned his head.
The fallen investigation chief and agents were rising one by one. Taeho wiped his bloodied hands on his coat and ran to them.
"Don't move! You may have a concussion."
Taeho pressed down on the investigation chief's shoulder to stop him.
The investigation chief opened his eyes, grimacing from a splitting headache.
"Director Gang? That bastard............... Han Seokhun?"
"It's over. He can't run anymore."
Taeho answered briefly and immediately examined the investigation chief's condition.
His pupillary reflex was slow but normal. However, his left shoulder was drooping unnaturally. The joint had been dislocated when he was subdued earlier.
"It's a shoulder dislocation. I'll set it right now before the muscles stiffen. This will hurt a little."
"What? W-wait..."
Crunch.
"Kuhuk!"
Before the investigation chief could even scream, Taeho skillfully pushed the shoulder bone back into the joint capsule. Cold sweat broke out, but the investigation chief's breathing became much easier.
"Hoo, hoo. Thank you."
"Lie still. Cervical spine injury is also suspected."
Taeho immediately moved to the agent collapsed beside him.
An agent whose arm was bent grotesquely was writhing in pain.
"It's not an open fracture. It looks like a simple fracture of the radius."
Taeho picked up a branch lying nearby and fixed it in place with a necktie, applying an improvised splint.
"Urgh, Doctor, did you catch Han Seokhun?"
"He's over there."
Taeho pointed to the shoulder of the road with his chin.
The agents' gazes turned that way.
Han Seokhun's corpse lay sprawled, drenched in blood.
At the gruesome sight, the agents swallowed their breath.
"How......?"
"His brain couldn't withstand the overload and ruptured. I'll explain later."
Taeho spoke calmly as he tied the splint knot tight.
Dawn was breaking. From beyond the tollgate, the sirens of ambulances called in for support began to sound.