Chapter 56

Boom! Crash! Kaboom!!

“Ahhh!!!”

Every time the girl swung her furry, beast-like arms, the sound of destruction followed. The researchers were in a desperate situation, running for their lives.

“Save me!!”

Crash!!

“Gotcha.”

The girl, who had kicked the desk where a researcher was hiding, smirked evilly as she looked at him.

“Kyaaak!!!”

Listening to the researcher’s screams, me, Uchi, and the researcher… (let’s just call him Betrayer1 for clarity) quietly watched the scene unfold.

Sweating profusely while running, the researcher locked eyes with us, who were just standing there.

“P-please, save me!!”

He shouted at us, begging for help.

“Why are you asking us for help?”

“Good question.”

Do they not know we came with her?

Me and Uchi tilted our heads in confusion, looking at the researcher.

“W-we don’t care about our lives, but please…!! Just save the research data!!”

Then, the researcher knelt down and bowed deeply to us.

“Hmm…”

He seemed genuinely desperate and sincere.

But…

“Thing is…”

“We’d love to help, but…”

“What.”

Crash!!

It’s already destroyed.

Hearing the loud noise, the researcher turned his head to see the shattered computers and scattered papers.

“Kyaaaaaaak!!! My, my thesis!!”

Crack!!

“My research data!!!”

Kaboom!!!

“My newly remodeled personal lab!!!”

“Kyaaaak!!”

“My research!!!”

It was a pit of despair.

“Hmm. The tea smells nice.”

“Where did you get the tea and cup from?”

Listening to the wails echoing around, I sipped my tea.

“Isn’t it uncomfortable drinking like that??”

Uchi, who seemed bothered by me lifting my mask to drink, questioned me.

“It’s fine.”

“You could just take it off…”

Uchi kept whining, but I had no intention of showing my face.

‘If this is the last time we meet, or even if we meet again, as a villain, how can I show my face?’

Besides, right now, I’m not even affected by the organization’s perception-hindering abilities.

So it’s best to keep it covered.

“Why don’t you take off your mask first?”

“My mask?”

Uchi fiddled with his lower-face mask.

He seemed to ponder for a moment.

“Ah, a monk’s secrets must be kept. How can you ask me to reveal my face!”

“……”

He’s hopeless.

He tried to laugh it off with a hypocritical remark.

“..Haha, just a monk’s joke!”

He must have seen my expression and tried to pass it off as a joke, but it was too late.

I reaffirmed my decision to never see him again after this.

Boom! Crash!!

“Ahhh! Not this!! Please!!”

While Uchi and I were chatting, the researchers were screaming, trying to stop the girl from destroying the data and machines.

Thwack!

“Kyaak!!”

Well, it didn’t seem like they were much help.

“Someone calm this monster down!!”

“Calling her a monster is a bit harsh.”

She’s my precious child now.

Sure, we’re not blood-related and just met today, but since she came to me on her own, she’s my child from today.

‘If we were to measure her by villain standards, no, even by hero standards, she’d easily be S-class.’

Plus, if the project experimented on her is what I think it is, I can’t let her go.

I plan to use her fully, so even if they tell me not to raise her, I’ll find a way.

‘Heh…hehe…’

I suppressed a laugh that threatened to spill out, my body trembling.

“Doryeong…”

Uchi looked at me with a concerned expression, unsure how to interpret my behavior.

“Doryeong! I’m so proud of you!”

…Thanks.

I didn’t feel like arguing, so I let it slide.

“Someone help!!”

I sipped my tea, enjoying the girl’s destruction show.

“Uh, uh!! Hey, hey!! Help!!!”

A group of researchers finally noticed us and shouted in our direction.

More accurately.

“Senior Researcher!!”

They were shouting at Betrayer1.

“Hmm~?”

Betrayer1, with his hands tied and a collar around his neck, snorted and looked at them.

“Who’s this? Our junior researchers?”

“Senior Researcher! Please save us!!”

The researcher prostrated himself on the ground, crying.

I glanced at him, then turned to look at Betrayer1.

“So you were a senior researcher.”

“Huh? Yeah, well, I am now.”

If he was a senior researcher, in company terms, he’d be at a manager level.

Plus, at Z Bio, promotions are based solely on achievements, not just tenure.

So being a senior researcher meant he had some impressive accomplishments.

Pretty impressive, huh?

“Se, Senior Researcher…”

“So, what are you going to do about him?”

Are you going to save him?

I felt a shock, like finding out a lazy roommate was actually the building owner.

I stared at Betrayer1 with a bored expression.

“Nah.”

“Huh?”

An unexpected answer.

They seemed shocked, not expecting their trusted senior researcher to act like this.

“Well~ I already sold all the information here, so what can I do~”

“W-what?!”

He laughed creepily, and the researchers were stunned.

Each reaction is a treat.

“Honestly, even if I saved you now, I’ve already betrayed you, so I’m a dead man to the ‘higher-ups.'”

“W-we’ll pretend we didn’t see anything!! We’ll pretend, so please!!”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just join us for a higher chance of survival?”

Betrayer1 smirked.

“Ahhh! You traitor!!”

The researchers tore at their hair, venting their frustration.

“Sorry~”

Betrayer1 smirked at them, not sorry at all.

Well, that’s all the talking done, right?

“Attack.”

“Rawr!”

At my command, the girl charged at the researchers.

***

Fizz. Crackle…

“Ugh…”

“Oof…”

The lab was almost in ruins, with researchers lying unconscious.

“Phew…”

“Are you satisfied?”

“Yup, feeling refreshed.”

The girl breathed in deeply, smiling contentedly.

I gently patted her head.

“Hehe…”

‘Now, let’s erase the remaining data.’

More accurately, I plan to move it safely to our organization.

Not just this project, but any useful personal projects, I’ll take them all.

“Researcher, is there a separate data storage area here?”

“Uh, from what I remember, it’s over there…”

Following Betrayer1 to a corner, we found a securely locked room.

Beep beep-!

Clank…whirr…

After entering the password, the door creaked open.

“Everything here is intact?”

Inside was a large supercomputer.

Betrayer1 went to the connected monitor and tapped the keyboard a few times.

“There’s no new data since the last auto-save a few hours ago.”

Meaning, the computer here contained everything about the Ability Amplifier experiment.

“However, there’s a lock on deleting the data, so it might take a while…”

“I’ll handle the deletion.”

I took out a USB and plugged it into the computer.

“What’s that?”

“I have a capable helper.”

Helper?

Uchi looked puzzled, but I ignored him and called someone on my phone.

Ring ring-

“H,hello…Older Brother?”

“Please do as we discussed.”

“J-just a moment.”

Narin answered the phone in an awkward voice, unlike her usual self.

Before storming the lab, I had asked Narin to hack, so she started hacking without question.

After a while.

“It’s done…”

“Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Narin.”

“…It’s nothing! Just moving and deleting some data.”

Well, bye!

Narin quickly said goodbye and hung up.

‘After yesterday, I didn’t talk to her, so it’s understandable she’s awkward.’

I chuckled and put my phone back in my pocket.

“Let’s go.”

“A-already done?”

“Wow…!”

“You must have a capable ally.”

Narin is quite capable.

She’s already extracted all the information and deleted everything in this short time.

“Let’s talk outside.”

“Alright!”

“Okay!”

My temporary team nodded.

As we walked out, Uchi suddenly turned to look at me.

“But what about destroying the evidence?”

“There’s a way, don’t worry.”

‘I plan to blow it up spectacularly.’

Just before leaving, I scattered remote bombs around and exited.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Everyone out?”

Once everyone was outside.

Click.

I pressed the detonator in my hand.

Boom! Crash! Kaboom!!!

“Ah, the lab!!”

“Pop goes the weasel~ pop~!!”

Watching the lab collapse from below, I smiled in satisfaction.

Explosions are art!!

---