I Became a Scoundrel of a Chaebol Family-Chapter 486: 46. Intrusion

“So. In the end, they made that choice.”

The Headquarters Director’s face remained expressionless.

Even after hearing the shocking report that Biotech and Militaris had deployed a massive combined force in front of Abyss bases across the Korean Peninsula.

The officer delivering the report even found himself wondering, could this be false?

But no—what he carried was unmistakably the truth.

Biotech—or rather, Militaris—had finally drawn its sword.

To erase Abyss from the Peninsula.

“Director, the first engagement is expected in about one hour. There’s... there’s no time, sir!”

“Yes. I see it too. As expected. The predator leaves no opening.”

“What—?”

“When hunting, a predator tears into any weakness it sees without hesitation. If the throat is bare before you and you don’t lunge, are you still a predator?”

“...”

What the hell was he babbling about?

And in a situation this dire, of all times!

This could be the very moment Abyss suffers the most catastrophic loss in its history—an absolute crisis!

“How far has the evacuation progressed?”

“...Not ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) nearly far enough. We’ve barely managed to exceed thirty percent.”

“Thirty percent... meaning the other seventy remains here.”

“Yes! All still on the Peninsula! We must urgently come up with countermeasures!”

“What about Director Han?”

“...After we received her report half a day ago that she secured all S-types, nothing further. The special unit as well.”

“I see.”

Half a day without contact.

It might not mean anything unusual—but the Director trusted his instincts. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“So in the end, she’s stepped into the jaws of death.”

“Sir?”

“Nothing.”

The Director turned his chair, facing forward.

The officer who had been reporting startled and took a step back at the sight of his grotesque half-ruined figure.

“You’re dismissed.”

“Sir?? B-but...!”

“I’ll resolve the Peninsula issue.”

“Resolve... is that even possible...?”

The man remembered.

That horrific spectacle that had briefly revealed itself above the artificial island owned by the Koryo Group’s scoundrel heir.

The endless procession of warships, stretching so far even orbital sensors could not capture its end.

And this man claimed he could resolve such a thing...?

“If your definition of resolve happens to match mine.”

“...?”

“Think of it as an experiment of sorts.”

Still speaking incomprehensibly to the end, the Director received the man’s stiff salute and watched him leave.

“Yeon-a.”

The Director spoke into the air.

And the air replied.

— Yes. Speak.

The AI that governed all systems of Abyss Headquarters—the so-called Nonexistent Zone.

The Director called her Yeon-a.

“Proceed as I said earlier.”

— ...

Even as an AI, she paused, as though weighing an immense calculation.

— Irreversible changes are expected. Do you truly order execution?

“The path of no return—I’ve already walked it many times.”

— Understood. Executing command.

The voice vanished.

The Director sat in silence, lost in thought.

++++

On the Korean Peninsula, there were a total of fourteen Abyss bases.

One had already been seized by Go Muyeol. The other thirteen were now under assault.

Go Minji, commanding the entire force, stared hard at the enormous operations board.

Munch, munch.

Her cheeks bulged with snacks until she swallowed, then turned her gaze naturally toward Minji-ah, who had become her de facto adjutant.

“The all-out assault begins in an hour, right? Call it about an hour of operations... then maybe eight hours in total with cleanup. Everything finished.”

“That fast...?”

Even with overwhelming force, to end everything in such a short window was nearly impossible.

And against Abyss, while also aiming to extract valuable information?

At least two or three days would normally be required.

But the details Minji-ah imagined for the operation and the details Go Minji held were very different.

“Ah, I didn’t mention this?”

She shoved the last potato chip into her mouth, tossed the bag aside, and sucked her fingers clean.

“Mmm, this time we’re not taking anything~.”

“...What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. Nothing at all.”

Dragging such a vast force here, yet taking nothing? What did that even mean?

Then why come? Surely not just to burn the enemy to ash?

“Listen carefully, sis. We gain nothing here. Everything—without a single exception—will be erased. Whether it’s data, resources, or people. Understood?”

“...”

Spoken with uncharacteristic seriousness, it froze even Minji-ah’s face.

When she first heard Go Minji would lead a great force on campaign, she thought it was just another of the Go clan’s reckless pranks. But seeing her face now—it wasn’t.

Could this... have come as a formal order from above?

If above Minji, that meant Go Min-young.

Or perhaps even Go Youngman himself.

Indeed. This scale of deployment always felt excessive.

Then was there something inside Abyss so dangerous it demanded absolute eradication?

Why—why go this far—

Stop it, Mina. Get a grip.

She shook her head violently.

With the Go clan, probing deeper never led anywhere good.

The less you saw, thought, or felt—the better.

Even for one of the closest collateral lines.

“Yes, I will obey, miss.”

“Though I do feel a little bad for you~. You probably prepared for this campaign hoping to harvest something, right? Should I lend you a precision satellite scan later?”

“N-no, it’s fine... I’ll just do as you intend, miss.”

“Good? If you need it, tell me, okay? Hee~”

Go Minji smiled with the face of someone amiable.

But Minji-ah knew well how sinister that face really was.

Damn it... I hoped to at least secure an S-type.

She swallowed her frustration and forced herself to focus.

Since things had come to this, that possibility was already—

“Hm?”

At that moment, one operator reacted strangely.

And soon that reaction spread through the whole team.

“Detecting high-energy output from the enemy!”

So the enemy had realized.

If the energy output was so high even the ops team was shocked—well, given their brazen advance, discovery was inevitable.

“From where exactly? Be specific—”

“From all of them! All thirteen bases are concentrating massive energy! Even here, right in front of us!”

All thirteen Abyss bases—emitting massive energy?

Could it be—

“...Huh?”

Go Minji’s weak mutter.

And as if on cue, colossal explosions engulfed both bases and fleets.

++++

Boom.

The ground shook like an earthquake.

Moments later, the roar followed.

A massive detonation.

“What was that?”

“I’ll check.”

Seunghee tried to assess the situation, then opened her eyes wide as the feed came in.

“...Reports confirm enormous explosions across the entire Peninsula. Thirteen locations in total.”

“Thirteen...? That number’s suspicious.”

“They match exactly with Miss Go Minji’s Abyss targets.”

“Heh... locations?”

“So far, perfectly aligned.”

So—

That thunderclap just now was Minji’s doing?

“...Quite the fireworks.”

As expected of a psychopath butcher—such dazzling spectacle.

Even here, on an artificial island off Incheon Harbor, the tremors and sound had carried all the way. How blazing did it have to be?

“Tone it down, will you. You’ll break the Peninsula’s hymen.”

++++

“Ah... fuck...”

Go Minji staggered to her feet, having been thrown across the deck.

She scratched irritably at her tangled hair and looked around.

Fortunately, aside from people rolling everywhere and gear scattered, there wasn’t major damage.

“M-miss! Are you all right??”

“My ankle’s twisted, damn it!! Fuck!!”

Her left foot throbbed.

She had landed badly while being tossed about.

Go Minji grimaced, rotating her ankle, groaning in pain.

“R-report—give me damage reports!!”

It was Minji-ah who first pulled herself together.

At her cry, the operators scrambled back to their stations to read the fleet’s condition.

“C-casualties—”

That colossal energy from all thirteen bases—

It had been self-destruction.

The bases had poured everything into vast explosions, engulfing the Biotech and Militaris fleets massed outside.

A blinding flash, mushroom clouds rivaling nuclear detonations, flattening everything in their radius.

But—

“S-so far no, no significant casualties reported—”

“No casualties my ass!! I twisted my ankle, didn’t you hear?!”

“Eeeek! S-sorry! Casualties severe! Commander’s ankle—!”

“Goddamn it.”

Go Minji’s flagship dreadnought had blocked all damage with its own anti-air field, while the other fleets had knights launch instantly from their titans, each deploying personal anti-air fields.

So in the end, while formations were badly shaken and many were thrown about, there was no meaningful damage.

Only the commander herself was furious.

“Move.”

“Y-yes.”

Shrugging off Minji-ah’s support, limping to the operations board, Go Minji stared at the vast craters on the screen, her face blank.

“...That was the target?”

“Yes, miss. The explosion erased it all without a trace.”

“All thirteen?”

“Yes, all of them...”

The fleets were intact.

But tragically, the self-destructed bases had vanished without a shred left behind.

Of course—they had self-destructed.

“So nothing remains? Completely vaporized?”

“Yes. Nothing remains.”

“....”

“....”

Go Minji exhaled through her nose.

“...Then mission accomplished.”

“...”