Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 108: True Dragon (1)

Hexa Core Armory headquarters, top floor of Castle.

Past corridors where the scars of civil war had yet to be fully erased, sat the private office of Ludwig Eisenhart himself.

The nameplate once bearing his brother Reinhardt’s name had already been removed. In its place hung a new one:

CEO Ludwig Eisenhart.

Beneath the weight of that title, Ludwig continued to conceal the turmoil within his heart.

“Hector, come in.”

Hector’s heavy footsteps reverberated through the floor as he entered the office.

The weight of his combat-grade synthetic body made even the specially reinforced floor tremble ever so slightly.

Ludwig gestured to organize several open files on his holographic desk as he spoke again.

“Have you reviewed the intel Dominic sent?”

["Yes. I’ve gone through all of it."]

Hector’s mechanical voice resounded.

Ludwig nodded, enlarging the hologram.

Red dots blinked ominously across the Babel map.

“Simulacrum. Masquerading as a construction firm while planting suspicious brain tanks all across Babel... And statistically, they're deeply connected to Aberrations...”

Ludwig fell silent for a moment.

His eyes reflected both fatigue and deep concern.

“The issue is, contrary to our expectations, Aberrations are becoming impossible to fully control. Those born from urban legends or public fear were at least predictable, but recently, we've seen more and more cases stemming from intensely personal delusions or phobias. And...”

["And misinformation and wild rumors about the Aberrations are making the uncertainty even worse."]

Hector picked up where Ludwig left off.

Ludwig gave a bitter smile.

“Exactly. Which is why we need to act first. Based on the data Hexa Core Armory has accumulated, we should formally classify and publish a rating system for Aberration types. At the very least, the public deserves to know what they’re fighting against.”

["...."]

Just as Hector opened his mouth to respond, red alert windows flashed simultaneously in both of their AR interfaces.

It was a signal that Hexa Core Armory’s headquarters was under attack.

Ludwig’s expression turned pale.

He stood quickly and moved to the massive window of his office.

“God...”

What lay outside was so surreal, it was hard to believe it was real.

A massive web of blue threads blanketed the central city of Babel.

It writhed like a living organism, devouring the city whole.

High-rise buildings tilted as they were entangled in the webbing, and the roads vanished beneath a flood of shimmering blue strands.

The neon signs and holographic ads that lit up the bustling downtown flickered and died the moment they touched the web.

Thousands of vehicles sat abandoned on the roads, slowly getting sucked into the threads.

And that web was now steadily—unshakably—advancing toward Hexa Core Armory’s headquarters.

“Issue a level-one emergency alert to all units! Mobilize every available asset to hold that thing off!”

As Ludwig barked the urgent command, sirens wailed throughout Castle.

Hundreds of combat drones burst from the outer walls of the building, firing flamethrowers and plasma cannons at the encroaching web.

But the web showed no reaction. It continued its advance, utterly unaffected.

["Sir Ludwig, I’ll head to the field to command directly."]

Hector turned to leave as he spoke.

Ludwig nodded, and Hector exited with brisk, heavy steps.

Left alone, Ludwig stared out at the disaster unfolding and let out a long, weary breath.

He had only just brought the civil war to an end and begun to restore stability—only for an even greater threat to arrive.

His dead brother’s face surfaced in his mind.

They said he had been controlled by Rina Cortez, but a gnawing suspicion crept up that maybe Reinhardt had been a part of all this from the start.

Outside the window, the web crept ever closer.

As the heart of Babel was consumed by the blue catastrophe, Ludwig clenched his fists tightly.

****

Paradigm Directive headquarters rooftop, Eastern Sector.

Dominic Krilov ground his teeth as he monitored the situation through his ocular implants in real time.

The massive blue web wrapped around the headquarters was inching closer, like a predator tightening its grip on trapped prey.

“Prototype 7—northern perimeter breached! Deploy immediate support!”

At Dominic’s command, a black shadow dashed along the building’s wall, heading north.

The prototype’s shadow clashed with the web, sparks exploding violently on contact.

It was a phenomenon born from the collision between incorporeal shadow and the glowing blue threads.

Zzzzt.

Where shadow met web, the space itself seemed to distort with a strange noise.

As if both forces were attempting to devour each other’s very existence.

‘It’s eerily similar to Jinlong’s technology...’

Dominic observed the motion of the web and recalled the past.

Jinlong Technologies—once the source of terror for all of Babel.

Their agents had used invasive tech that bore uncanny resemblance to this web.

Constant regeneration. Slow, relentless expansion. A hunger that devoured everything it touched.

“The energy levels of Prototypes 3 and 5 have dropped below 20%!”

The report only deepened Dominic’s grim expression.

The prototypes’ shadow abilities were the only thing capable of resisting the web, but they burned through energy too quickly.

At this rate, they wouldn’t last another hour.

“Retract all prototypes to defend the core perimeter of headquarters. Conserve energy at all costs!”

As his order was echoed by the soldiers, the shadows that had blanketed the building slowly began to retract.

The outer regions they abandoned were instantly swallowed by the web.

CRACK.

The sound of reinforced concrete being eaten away by the threads echoed ominously.

Not even hardened alloy or military-grade cement stood a chance against this thing.

“Damn it... Is communication still down?”

“No, sir. The AI Frame Network has been completely severed. We’ve lost all contact with Dino Park as well.”

At that report, Dominic exhaled a deep sigh.

This was no ordinary jamming. It was physical severance.

The web had even nullified the AI Frame Network—something once thought impossible to disrupt.

What was this thing?

THOOM.

The entire building shook violently.

The web had now enveloped the structure entirely and begun compressing it from all sides.

“This won’t do.”

At last, Dominic made his decision.

He would unleash his final contingency.

He pulled a key made of special alloy from inside his coat and handed it to the soldier standing nearby.

“Head up to the rooftop right now. Use this key to activate the device installed there.”

“Sir Dominic, that device...?”

The soldier clearly had no idea what the device was.

But the fact that Dominic was bringing it up now made it clear it was something critical.

He must have assumed it was the building’s final line of defense.

“That’s an order! Move!”

At Dominic’s command, the soldier hesitated no longer.

Clutching the key tightly, he sprinted toward the stairs.

The elevator had long since stopped functioning, wrapped in the web.

The soldier panted his way up the emergency stairwell, now swallowed in darkness.

****

On the soft couch in the Dino Park break room—

I was lying with my head resting on Amber’s lap, basking in bliss.

Her thighs were soft, firm, and cradled my head perfectly. Just the right amount of shadow fell across my face, so it wasn’t too bright.

It was the kind of lap pillow that made you sigh in contentment.

Usually, our schedule was too packed to enjoy these kinds of breaks. But today, by ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) sheer luck, Amber happened to have some free time.

Of course, she was still working—one hand manipulating a data pad—but even that was more than enough.

“Comfy?”

Amber looked down at me and asked.

Her blue eyes shimmered gently.

“Yeah. It’s perfect.”

When I answered with satisfaction, a faint smile traced across Amber’s lips.

Her hand lightly stroked my head.

On the TV, a surprisingly intriguing documentary was playing.

It was a show titled “Secrets of the Kiwi Factory”, presenting the kiwi production process in a deliberately mysterious and suspicious light.

[According to documents barely recovered from a hundred years ago, kiwis once grew on trees. So then... what are those creatures running across the fields? Are they truly kiwis?]

Listening to the narrator’s ominous voice, I closed my eyes.

A plush lap pillow and the white noise of a weird TV doc—perfect conditions for a nap.

Zzzzt. Zzzzzzt.

Suddenly, the screen distorted violently, and a completely different image appeared.

The first thing I heard was the sound of waves.

But it wasn’t ordinary wave noise.

It sounded heavy, cold, and sticky—an unpleasant sound that made your skin crawl.

“...?”

I opened my eyes and looked toward the TV.

A strange landscape was on the screen.

A sky filled with swirling black clouds.

The sun was nowhere to be seen, yet a sickly blue light seemed to leak from somewhere, casting a glow over the world.

And beneath that light... an island floated.

Calling it an “island” felt wrong. Its shape was too grotesque.

Like a giant lump of clay twisted by an enormous, violent hand, the terrain of the island was completely distorted.

Some sections spiraled upward toward the sky. Others bent at impossible angles.

The entire island was cloaked in blue mist, making its outline hard to discern.

“Amber, look at this.”

I pointed it out, and Amber turned to the TV.

Her brow furrowed slightly.

“Hacking? Or signal interference?”

Amber immediately activated her AR interface and began analyzing the TV feed.

Streams of data raced across her pupils.

Frequency scans, signal patterns, encryption protocols...

But strangely, nothing unusual was detected.

Just as Amber was about to head to the control room to run a deeper analysis, an alert chime rang out in the break room.

Our eyes shifted simultaneously toward the corner of the room.

It was the notification sound from the Pizza Demon summoning detection system—installed in that very break room.