Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 73: Rina Cortez (3)

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Heavy footsteps pounded through the temporary hangar belonging to the Ludwig faction of Hexa Core Armory.

Their source was a man clad in a towering steel exo-frame—Hector.

He walked slowly toward the center of the hangar, listening in silence to the report being delivered by his adjutant, who followed beside him.

Tension and exhaustion were etched clearly across the adjutant’s face.

Every word out of his mouth was grim.

“At dawn yesterday, the supply base in Sector N-17 fell to Reinhardt’s forces. Most of our defenders were either killed or surrendered.”

“Also, intel has confirmed that three directors from the Third Development Division defected to Reinhardt’s side.”

Hector simply nodded, saying nothing.

It was all within expectations.

From the very beginning, the Ludwig faction he supported had been at a disadvantage in every conceivable way compared to his brother’s—Reinhardt’s faction.

Shareholder structure, deployable troops, even political influence within the board.

Everything tilted in Reinhardt’s favor.

Right now, the Ludwig faction was barely holding together thanks to Hector’s strength alone.

Had it not been for Hector and his subordinates, this civil war would’ve ended long ago with Reinhardt’s overwhelming victory.

It was Hector’s intervention that turned the tide and created a brief stalemate during the early days of the conflict, when they were being steamrolled without resistance.

In truth, many within Hexa Core Armory had been perplexed by Hector’s decision.

Before the civil war broke out, Hector had even maintained personal ties with Reinhardt.

And yet, Hector had chosen not to side with Reinhardt.

That decision was driven by two things: the fact that Rina Cortez had attacked him—and the stench of rot emanating from Reinhardt’s camp.

The same hellish stench he’d encountered fifty years ago, on the battlefield of that nightmare war with MK Corporation.

Unfortunately, that same stench clung heavily to Reinhardt.

To Hector, it was an omen—a sinister warning.

Of course, such instinctive suspicion couldn’t be made public lightly.

There was no concrete proof.

But Hector trusted his instincts.

Having survived countless battlefields, his survival sense was more reliable than any analytic system.

Even after the report ended, Hector remained silent for a while.

The only sound in the hangar was the low mechanical hum of his heavy exo-frame in idle motion.

Finally, he spoke.

["Understood."] 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Just a single word.

He asked no follow-up questions, gave no additional orders.

Then Hector began walking toward one side of the hangar, where Ludwig’s temporary office had been set up.

He paused before the tightly sealed steel door.

On the other side was the other pillar of this precarious war—waiting for him.

****

The heavy steel door slid silently sideways, revealing the interior of Ludwig’s office.

It was a makeshift space crammed into one corner of the hangar, but signs of an effort to maintain at least a semblance of dignity were evident.

A banner bearing the Hexa Core Armory insignia hung from the wall, and in the center stood a high-end holographic desk that looked expensive.

“Ah, you’ve come. Hector.”

Ludwig lifted his head from behind the desk to greet him.

Fatigue and worry clouded his face, but the instant he saw Hector, a faint wave of relief passed through him.

In this hopeless situation, Hector was the one person he could trust and depend on.

Hector dipped his head slightly in silent greeting.

Ludwig had long grown used to the man’s wordless manner.

Right after the war broke out, Hector had joined Ludwig and frankly confessed his suspicions about Rina Cortez.

He needed a clear reason to justify not siding with Reinhardt—and he also hoped Ludwig would grasp the threat Rina posed and remain on guard against her.

That bizarre warning about the stench of a great war.

But to Ludwig—who had long sensed that his older brother Reinhardt had changed into someone unrecognizable—it was easy to believe.

As a result, Ludwig became the only person, aside from Hector, who knew the truth of Rina Cortez’s danger.

He trusted Hector’s instincts—the instincts of a legend from Babel’s war-torn past—and used every channel in his information network to monitor Rina’s movements, secretly feeding all findings to Hector.

With a subtle gesture, Ludwig signaled Hector to come closer.

His expression flickered with something unfamiliar—a blend of excitement and tension.

“Hector, I have news for you.”

His voice dropped low.

He tapped the surface of the holographic desk.

A three-dimensional blue map projected into the air.

It depicted the eastern outskirts of Babel in intricate detail.

“The ‘witch’ you’ve been watching has finally left her nest.”

Ludwig’s gaze sharpened.

A red dot blinked on the map, moving along a designated path.

Rina Cortez’s current location and predicted trajectory.

“Recently, we detected some of Hexa Core Armory’s funds being funneled into an unidentified facility in the eastern outskirts. We’ve been monitoring it—and today, Rina Cortez herself was confirmed heading there.”

Hector’s crimson mechanical eyes locked onto the map.

His internal systems kicked into analysis mode, calculating Rina’s movement pattern and possible destination.

She was heading toward a recently-constructed Hexa Core warehouse.

“Looks like the opportunity you spoke of has arrived, Hector.”

Ludwig’s voice was thick with both hope and anxiety.

["At last..."]

A low, metallic growl seeped from Hector’s synthetic vocal cords.

In Hector’s assessment, Rina Cortez was the true core of the Reinhardt faction.

Reinhardt himself—just like the other directors—was likely under some form of control.

Ludwig had come to agree with that assessment, especially after seeing his brother’s bizarre behavior in recent broadcasts.

Hector stared at the map and made his decision.

A chance to end this scattered, hopeless war.

A chance to eliminate the source of every anomaly.

The assassination of Rina Cortez.

But it was a deadly gamble.

There was a high chance the place she was heading to was a trap, and the size of her escort detail was unknown.

On top of that, the Ludwig faction lacked the manpower to carry out a large-scale operation.

That meant the assassination would have to be carried out by Hector alone.

A one-shot, all-or-nothing gamble.

“This mission will be extremely dangerous. Are you certain about this?”

Ludwig asked, his voice tight with concern.

["I am."]

Hector’s answer was short.

His voice didn’t waver in the slightest.

He was already fully prepared.

If this was the only chance to turn the tide and scrub the stench of war from Hexa Core Armory, there was no room for hesitation.

["Then I will depart."]

Hector gave a brief nod of respect to Ludwig, then turned toward the office door without pause.

His heavy footsteps once again echoed across the hangar floor.

****

A grotesque tank filled with hundreds of brains.

The moment they discovered it, a cold voice rang through the subterranean chamber.

“So many things I still have to do... and the rats come crawling in.”

The voice came from behind them. Reflexively, Ember and Victor turned.

A woman stood there.

Even in the dark, her glowing blue eyes were vivid.

The face they’d seen before—during the Hexa Core Armory "Circle" tech demonstration broadcast.

Rina Cortez.

Without hesitation, Victor drew the heavy hand cannon from his waist.

Ember also moved without pause, repositioning the long anti-tank rifle slung over her back.

There was nothing stranger than assuming someone who managed and maintained that kind of horrific tank would be friendly.

Their instincts screamed that the woman before them was extremely dangerous.

Ember locked the rifle’s buttstock firmly into her shoulder and, in the blink of an eye, opened a direct emergency comm to Scarlet through the AR interface.

The message transmitted by thought alone—silent, neural-level communication.

<Scarlet! Requesting A for backup! Right now! Coordinates locked—underground chamber!>

But Scarlet’s reply was grim.

[Ember! I can’t reach A! Comm channel’s completely dead! Hold out with Victor as long as you can! I’ll find something!]

Scarlet’s urgent voice was layered with static and the chaotic sounds of frantic movement, barely audible beneath the noise.

“A’s support is uncertain.”

Ember let out a small breath, briefing Victor on their current situation.

Their strongest ally, A, was off the board.

“We’re in for a rough one.”

Victor nodded, his expression calm.

Rina Cortez hadn’t moved as she watched their short exchange.

Something like a faint smile flickered at the corners of her lips—but it wasn’t mockery. It was the detached ease of a predator staring down prey.

The air in the underground chamber grew thick with the tension of battle.

Then, the silence shattered.

Srrrrrrrrrk...

The grotesque brain tank began to descend into the floor.

It was the starting gun.

The fight began—violently, unilaterally.

Victor dashed through the chamber, firing the heavy hand cannon in a ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) relentless rhythm.

His reinforced leg implants propelled him with explosive acceleration. Using terrain and cover, he constantly changed position to confuse Rina.

Shells from the hand cannon smashed into pillars and walls, erupting with deafening force—but Rina danced just out of reach of each blast, narrowly avoiding shrapnel and shockwaves.

Ember cloaked herself in optical camouflage and moved like a ghost through the chamber.

Keeping a calculated distance from Victor, she tracked Rina’s movement, adjusting for precision sniping with her anti-tank rifle.

The rifle’s report was dull, but its destructive power shook the entire space.

And yet Rina evaded even that—dodging those deadly rounds as if she could see the future.

As a high-level executive of a megacorp, Rina Cortez was absurdly fast.

Her physical abilities far surpassed even those of elite mercenaries fitted with top-grade combat implants.

But Ember and Victor were at the top of their fields—hardened veterans.

As time passed, Rina slowly began to lose ground.

Something’s off. There’s a delay in her movements...

Even as Ember pressed the attack, she didn’t miss the strange sensation creeping in.

Rina’s movements were precise and efficient—but her reaction time didn’t quite match her speed.

It was like watching a remotely controlled machine.

Rina dove into the air to avoid a shell Victor had launched from his hand cannon.

It struck where she’d just stood, blowing up in a massive cloud of dust and debris.

“Got her.”

That was the one moment Ember had been waiting for.

She pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The projectile was a concentrated energy penetrator, specially modified by Nexus Node to take out Titan Tech’s heavy tanks.

BOOM!

With a blinding flash and thunderous roar, the shot exploded dead center in Rina Cortez’s chest.

The shockwave blasted through the entire chamber. Dust and concrete rained from the ceiling like a storm.

Victor stared into the rising smoke cloud and murmured cautiously,

“Did we get her...?”

But just as the words left his mouth—

The smoke began to clear.

And from within it, Rina Cortez stepped forward—unharmed.

Her clothes were a bit scorched. Her body, untouched.

Worse—an ominous red aura now shimmered faintly around her. It hadn’t been there before.

To have taken a direct hit from an anti-tank rifle and emerge without a scratch...

It resembled the unblemished corpse they’d found in the abandoned factory.

Ember’s face turned rigid.

A low breath escaped her lips without her realizing.

“Heart Drill...”