Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 103: Strangeness (2)

As the evening glow over eastern Babel burned crimson between the high-rise buildings, an emergency call blared through the Tactical Command Center of Chimera Arms.

“Emergency deployment signal. Security ID 23-439-1.”

Marcos Hernandez, captain of Chimera Arms’ First Unit, frowned as he checked the coordinates displayed on the tactical monitor.

The location was a theme park called Dreamland, which had recently signed a security contract with Chimera Arms.

“Prep for deployment. We leave in five.”

At Marcos’s order, the unit began moving with practiced precision.

Chimera Arms had once been just a small-to-medium-sized security firm, but the recent upheavals in Babel’s power structure had caused it to grow rapidly.

As he checked his tactical gear, Marcos thought silently to himself:

“The timing couldn’t be better.”

The civil war inside Hexa Core Armory.

The terror attack at the Titan Tech lab and the ousting of their Director of Development.

While the mega-corps in the same field stumbled, Chimera Arms had aggressively expanded, not wasting a single opportunity.

Hexa Core Armory and Titan Tech had suffered damage that wouldn’t be easy to recover from in the short term. If things continued as they were, Chimera Arms was on track to reach mega-corp scale within a year.

And the bizarre phenomena erupting across Babel were helping them along.

Grotesque creatures kept emerging endlessly from the shadows of the city, as if spontaneously generated.

Some of them were more than even well-established companies could handle.

As a result, demand for Chimera Arms’ professional security services had skyrocketed.

Boarding the armored vehicle, Marcos scanned the faces of his soldiers.

More than half were recent recruits.

Hastily hired to make up for losses sustained in their last operation.

“Don’t get too tense.”

When one of the rookies anxiously fidgeted with his weapon, Marcos gave him a reassuring tap on the shoulder.

But even within Marcos’s own heart, unease had begun to take root.

“Something changed after Lex Chroma’s broadcast.”

The infinite regeneration shown by the Fluorescent Lizard on air, and Lex Chroma’s horrific demise.

Once that broadcast went viral, monsters with similar traits began appearing in droves.

Creatures soaked in that same neon fluorescence—beasts that regenerated endlessly, just like the lizard that had headlined Lex Chroma’s final show.

“It’s not like monsters are watching TV and committing copycat crimes...”

And yet, strangely enough, the explosion in these regeneration-type creatures had coincided almost exactly with the spread of that broadcast.

Outside the window, Babel’s neon signs streaked past.

They passed the edge of the city’s commercial zone, and a dark, desolate landscape spread out before them.

And finally, they arrived at the park entrance, with DREAMLAND engraved into a rusted iron arch.

“We’ve arrived, sir.”

Marcos nodded at the driver’s report.

But something was off.

It was far too quiet for a site that had issued an emergency call.

At the very least, a representative from the requesting corporation should have been there to brief them—but the entrance was deserted.

“Operator, try establishing contact.”

The comms officer kept attempting to connect, but there was no response.

A bad feeling crept in—but now that they were on site, they had no choice but to confirm the situation.

Marcos issued his orders calmly.

“Split into two squads. Squad One, with me—enter through the front gate. Squad Two, flank from the side. If you encounter a threat, neutralize first.”

The soldiers disembarked and formed up.

Gravel crunched ominously beneath their boots.

Once, this place must have echoed with the laughter of children. Now, only an eerie silence hung in the air.

Marcos switched his ocular implants into tactical mode and gave the signal.

The First Unit of Chimera Arms began its infiltration of the amusement park.

****

Click. Click. Click.

Sharp shutter sounds broke the stillness of the abandoned park.

That crisp sound echoed too cleanly—making it all the more chilling.

Marcos crouched behind a toilet stall partition, every muscle tense as he held his breath.

Cold sweat trickled down his spine.

“What the hell is going on...”

The memories of just an hour ago played vividly in his mind.

The moment the unit passed through Dreamland’s front gate, the world twisted.

As if a giant hand had wrung the very fabric of reality like a soaked rag—space itself distorted.

In the blink of an eye, the unit had been scattered into the park’s central plaza.

The entrance they’d used was gone without a trace, and in the sky, an ominous gray aurora danced.

It was just like stepping into a Corrosion Domain.

Holographic photographs were scattered all over the ground.

Even just falling into the center of a silent theme park should’ve been unsettling enough—but once they looked at the photographs, the dread intensified.

Inside the photos were grotesque scenes.

People writhing in agony with both eyes gouged out.

Their mouths were stretched in soundless screams, and black-red blood endlessly streamed from the hollow sockets where their eyes had been.

And then, the nightmare began.

Eyes began falling from the sky in droves.

No—flying was more accurate than falling.

Eyeball implants, soaked in blood, hovered through the air, snapping like old camera shutters.

Click!

The first casualty was Private Rodriguez, one of the rookies.

An eyeball flashed directly in front of his face.

In that instant, his body froze—and transformed into a holographic photograph.

In the photo, he was screaming with his eyes torn out.

The blood pouring from his empty sockets ran down his cheeks.

Then, his bloodstained eyeballs floated up to join the rest in the sky.

“Scatter! Find cover!”

Marcos’s command rang out, and the soldiers broke formation, running in every direction.

But the eyeballs pursued them like living creatures.

A soldier hiding behind the carousel—another who dove into the ticket booth—one after another, they turned into photos.

Gunfire was useless.

The eyeballs only wobbled briefly when hit, then resumed floating.

Grenades were no better.

Even when blasted to pieces, the fragments reassembled themselves, regaining their original form.

Of thirteen soldiers, only Marcos had survived.

He’d barely managed to escape to an old bathroom on the park’s outskirts.

The only company he had now was the stench of mold and the sound of water dripping from rusty pipes.

Drip. Drip.

The steady drip of water gnawed at his nerves.

Outside, the eyeballs still floated through the air, clicking like camera shutters.

The sound drew close, then faded again, over and over.

“I have to contact headquarters...”

He kept trying to open comms through his AR interface, but it was useless.

Just like inside a Corrosion Domain, all external communications were completely cut off.

How much time had passed?

An hour? A full day? It was impossible to tell.

In this place, even the passage of time felt warped.

Tok. Totok. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Another drop of water fell.

But this time, it landed on Marcos’s shoulder.

And the droplet wasn’t cold.

If anything, it was lukewarm.

Sticky, even.

Slowly, Marcos tilted his head upward.

Above him—hanging from the bathroom ceiling—was a single eyeball staring down.

It dripped blood, and the way it focused on him almost looked like... a smile.

“You’ve got to be kidding—”

Click.

That was the last sound Marcos ever heard.

Silence settled over the theme park once again, and in the sky, even more eyeballs began drifting, searching for new prey.

****

The lounge at Dino Park was wrapped in its usual peace.

I lay # Nоvеlight # sprawled on the giant bed, flipping through channels with the remote.

“Just reruns again today...”

Lex Chroma’s final moments played on the TV—again.

Babel’s networks seemed more focused on recycling old content than producing anything new.

Circling endlessly around me was a black cat.

The fluid cat I’d picked up and named Water Pig.

Ever since I gave it that name, it had stayed glued to my side, meowing as if protesting.

“Meeaaaooong.”

The longer, more mournful its cries got, the more it seemed clear—it really didn’t like the name.

But I wasn’t going to change it.

It was Water Pig. End of discussion.

Instead of jumping up onto the table near the bed, Water Pig dangled from the railing.

Its liquid-like body sagged downward with gravity, a truly ridiculous sight.

“What the hell is it doing?”

The moment that idle thought passed through my head, Water Pig let out a sleepy yawn.

Seeing that, the kids gathered around like they’d just discovered something amazing.

[Teeth!]

[Water Pig teeth!]

[Cool!]

They pointed excitedly at Water Pig with their tiny fingers, babbling with wonder.

Some of them opened their mouths wide, showing off their own teeth.

With both hands raised to their cheeks, they let out loud “Raaawr”s.

They were trying to imitate a tiger, maybe—but to my eyes, they just looked adorable.

Startled by the sudden attention, Water Pig slid down from the railing and vanished beneath the sofa.

But the kids didn’t give up. They crouched down and kept calling for it, peeking under the couch.

[Water Pig’s running away!]

[Hide and seek!]

It was just a small, peaceful moment in our everyday life.

Watching scenes like this always calmed me.

Just then, the lounge door opened and Amber stepped inside.

But today, her expression was unusually grave.

“A, we just got a cooperation request from Dominic.”

Still sprawled on the bed, I turned my head toward her without getting up.

“What’s going on?”

Amber opened her AR interface and scanned a report as she spoke.

“Something strange happened at a theme park in the east. Chimera Arms’ elite unit disappeared completely. Even the team sent to investigate hasn’t made contact.”

I hopped off the bed in a single motion.

It sounded like it was related to those recent bizarre creatures—no doubt about it.