Chapter 10: In the Shadow of Secrets

“Do you want to grab a drink today?”

It was a sudden remark.
Hannah, who had come to his office to report on the training, was looking out the window at the pitch-black leaves when she was startled and lowered her gaze.
Major Müller was signing documents with a scratchy pen, as if he hadn’t said anything.
She asked the top of his golden-brown head, as if disbelieving her ears.

“Right now, sir?”

“No, I mean after work. You’re leaving soon, right?”

When she just blinked without answering, Müller looked up and grinned.

“If you wait a little longer, you’ll be looking around and asking, ‘Are you talking to me?’”

“…Are you talking to me, sir?”

“Yes, if you have time.”

It was the first time.
Müller was, of course, a cheerful superior who loved to drink and be around people, but he wasn’t the type to arrange a private meeting unless it was a group gathering.
Especially not with a female subordinate who could be misunderstood.
It had been like that for the past two years.
She was unsure how to take it.
If it were work-related, he wouldn’t have said it in a way that suggested seeing her if she had time.
Hannah chose her words carefully and then quietly parted her lips.

“When I’m being treated, I only choose the most expensive drinks.”

“I guess I’ll have to be prepared to be completely fleeced. Then, there’s a place I know well in the old town, shall we go there? It has a decent atmosphere, and it’s a place where riff-raff don’t even set foot.”

The more she heard, the more personal it sounded.
Should she have politely declined?
She thought about it and stared blankly at Major Müller, whose chin was stubbly from the evening.

“Isn’t he your type?”

Zakar’s voice flashed through her mind, and she frowned slightly.
She couldn’t rashly judge the other person’s intentions without hearing them directly.
As if to shake off her thoughts, Hannah asked a direct question.

“Battalion Commander, I’m asking just in case I misunderstood, but what is the purpose of this meeting?”

Their eyes met again.
Major Müller, who she had always thought was easy to read, had an expression she had never seen before.
He pressed his temples with a tired hand and smiled as if in a difficult situation.

“I expected that, but I didn’t think you’d actually ask. For now, let’s just say it’s a date request.”

Hannah’s eyes widened.
At that moment, weeeeeee, the now all-too-familiar siren began to blare from outside the command headquarters.
The office phone rang around the same time.
Hannah watched Müller’s expression harden as he picked up the receiver, then lowered her head to her vibrating watch.

‘Large-scale Abaddon appearance in the Rain River Space Industry Factory Zone. Emergency shelter guidance…’

Her head went cold at the long, scrolling text.
A large-scale appearance, they said?

“Trouble.”

Müller’s murmur was faintly audible over the sound of the siren.
No, to be precise, it was thanks to the siren being blocked.
He, who had blocked the sound in the office, immediately picked up the common radio.

“This is Command to all units. All units currently on standby in the base, excluding reserve forces, are to be deployed to the Rain River site. I repeat, all units on standby are to be deployed to the Rain River site.”

The decision was swift.
Without further thought, Hannah saluted and left the major’s office.
Even as she led the 2nd Company, which was on standby, and boarded the transport vehicle, the urgent calls for help did not stop.

• “Request for support from the district autonomous police. Large-scale Abaddon appearance in the Space Industry Factory Zone A-707. Estimated 8…”

The transmission crackled with noise.
80 of them?
Hannah, sitting in the front of the rattling troop transport, frowned.
Maya, sitting in the driver’s seat, muttered with an anxious look.

“I’ve never heard of a large-scale appearance before. How many of them have appeared to require the support of all units?”

“They’re probably just being fully prepared. It’s a habit of the Battalion Commander, as you know.”

Her curt words eased the tense atmosphere.
But…
I have a bad feeling.
Hannah gripped the gun tightly, recalling the expression on Major Müller’s face when he first took the call.
An indescribable, ominous premonition ran coldly down her spine.
Military aircraft streaked past, shaking the vehicle from above, and the roads were already being controlled.

• “2nd Company. This is Command. Transmitting the location of the target building. It’s presumed to be the entrance where the Abaddons are coming up. Secure the target first.”

A satellite map appeared on the car’s windshield with static.
The rectangular building on the riverbank was located directly across from the district office and the government building.
Fortunately, it was an area with only factories.
Gauging the map, Maya turned onto the bridge.
Beside the bridge, where only military vehicles were lined up, the Rain River, a symbol of prosperity, shimmered black and beautiful.
And…
In the factory zone beyond, she saw an explosion with a bang, and an ominous plume of smoke billowed up.
As the black flames spread like a war, dozens of Abaddons clinging to the buildings like blood vessels faintly came into view.
At a glance, it was far more than 80.
So, 800?
Hannah, with a chill piercing her neck, kept her eyes on the city and just raised her hand to press the radio.

“Command, this is 2nd Company, requesting an EMP bomb drop. Requesting an EMP bomb drop on the factory zone. To end the current situation, we need to accept the losses and receive additional support.”

The noise became so severe as they crossed the bridge that it was unclear if the transmission had been received properly.
Nevertheless, she repeatedly sent the message.
‘We could die.’
It was a fact she had always known in her head, but it had been a long time since it had felt so real.
It was like being in the Abyss.
Her blood vessels pulsed with adrenaline.
This time, she turned the frequency to the soldiers, who would be on high alert.

“2nd Company, listen up and get this straight in your heads. No matter how many bugs we’re about to face, our target is not the bugs themselves. Our job is to plug the hole that the bugs are using to get into our precious home. We’ll leave the ones that are already outside to air support.”

Since they were at close range, her voice would reach them in the truck.
Many of the personnel were new to the field after the reorganization.
Even if they had undergone rigorous training, humans are still humans.
Just as a dog that has never met a lion will instinctively tuck its tail at its roar, the fear that survival instincts evoke in front of an Abaddon is different from war.
She knew that best.

“Permission to use the EMP bomb will be granted soon. We just have to hold out until then. We have received sufficient training, and there is no reason why we cannot complete the mission. We will definitely return alive. That is all.”

Her low voice, mixed with the sound of the wind and the propellers, was as straight as a sword.
A strong wind blew under the transport plane that was crossing the pitch-black night sky.
The machine gun bullets that the helicopter poured down like tudududu covered them as they ran.
Among the burning, writhing tentacles, Maya stepped on the accelerator according to her instructions.
There was no need to look at the map again.
The more cornered you are, the more your nerves are on edge, and it’s close to a sixth sense.
Any human who has rolled around in the Abyss can tell by instinct.
Where the epicenter is.
She saw rappels for a high-altitude infiltration on top of a building, so the 1st Company must have been given the same mission.
The noise was so extreme that communication was impossible.
Hannah watched the personnel descending to the rooftop and, at a similar timing, went around to the back of the building, where one wall was completely demolished.
No one hesitated.
On a hand signal, one of the soldiers breached the back door, and Hannah, who had checked the inside, unusually took the lead and entered.

“All clear.”

The interior, entered through the emergency exit stairs, was abnormally clean.
‘What kind of factory looks like this?’
Hannah frowned unconsciously.
The spacious hallway, where ten people could walk side by side, had security devices here and there, and signs warning of hazardous materials.
It looks more like a hospital than a factory.
No, more than a hospital…
The sounds of gunshots and explosions from outside were faintly muffled.
Perhaps because it had suddenly become quiet, she felt as if she had entered a deep blue dawn dream as she entered with night vision goggles on.
Hannah, who was cautiously continuing the search, saw something around the corner and gave a hand signal to stop.
A tall man was standing in the middle of the hallway with his back to them.
They could see him with their night vision goggles, but he couldn’t see them.
So, that was a human standing in the middle of the darkness.

“Nemesis, the anti-Abaddon special forces.”

No reaction.

“Put your hands on your head and get on the ground. If you do not comply with the instructions immediately, we will open fire.”

As she spoke, Hannah aimed the emitter straight at his head.
With a nod of her chin, one of the soldiers turned on a light.
At the same time that the man, who had been motionless, twisted his neck 180 degrees with a cracking sound, she pulled the trigger.
Pak.
The tentacle that had burst from inside couldn’t even come out properly and fell to the floor.
While the other soldiers hurried to search the next area, Hannah finished off the man’s head and checked the name tag hanging around his neck with the tip of her rifle.
Albert Clark, Abaddon… Cultivation Department.
For a moment, her brain stopped.
Hannah stared at the name tag for a moment, then silently raised her head and looked around the seemingly sterile hallway again.
It’s definitely not a factory or a hospital.
Rather…

“I don’t know the specific location. But you should know, Captain. The place where they keep and study the creatures brought from ‘down there’…”

It’s a research institute.
This was the 13th Military Science Research Institute.