Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 89: Dominic (1)
A high-priority Titan Tech aircraft cut through Babel’s skies, gliding forward without a single tremor. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
Its destination was clear.
The wreckage of the Nexus Node headquarters—recently struck by a terrorist assault carried out by the one now dubbed the Pizza Demon, “A.”
Inside the aircraft, in a wide and quiet cabin, Titan Tech’s Director of Development, Dominic Krylov, sat sunk deep into a leather chair, silently reviewing holographic documents.
Beside him stood his loyal adjutant, Beren Hoffman, quietly assisting him.
Dominic’s eyes swept swiftly across streams of complex data and analytical reports.
As his fingers sliced through the air, new files popped up on the holographic display.
Most of them were related to MK Corporation.
“MK traces at the Black Bio Plant, the Makina Cult’s AI virus, and now this Nexus Node incident...”
Dominic muttered in a low voice.
His face carried heavy fatigue, but also a determination that refused to be subdued.
Other megacorps—and even most of the other Titan Tech directors—barely gave the name MK Corporation any attention.
After all, it had been fifty years since they were defeated. There was no reason to still care.
Fortunately, the rules forged after the Great War were still being upheld.
But in time, even those rules would lose their meaning.
“Fools...”
Dominic was different.
Not once had he forgotten the existence of MK Corporation.
To him, they were the ones who ruined this world—and without a doubt, the greatest threat that would someday return to menace Babel again.
“Preliminary investigation team has submitted a report, sir.”
Beren’s calm voice snapped Dominic out of his thoughts.
When Dominic looked over, Beren immediately projected new data onto the screen.
It was supplemental information gathered from the Nexus Node headquarters ruins.
Dominic flicked through the report via the AR interface with practiced speed.
His eyes stopped on a specific paragraph.
“Just as I thought...”
The words slipped from his lips, barely audible.
The report confirmed that within the rubble of the Nexus Node building—particularly the areas most heavily saturated with grotesque biological contamination—traces of a unique energy had been detected.
It was an unstable, potent, and unknown energy pulse—one that had recently been observed, though rarely, at MK Corporation-linked scenes.
“This energy pattern... MK traces are starting to show up more and more.”
MK activity had been appearing with increasing frequency lately. To Dominic, it all felt like the overture to something worse.
What bothered him most was how rushed MK’s recent movements felt.
He closed the report and brought up a wanted poster on the screen, its tone almost absurd.
It was a drone-captured photo from the Veritas Correctional Facility raid, showing A flashing a peace sign at the drone mid-flight.
It looked nothing like a person with a 100 million credit bounty on their head.
“Seems like MK and ‘A’ are in opposition...”
Dominic murmured to himself—
BEEEEEEP!
A piercing alarm exploded throughout the aircraft cabin.
All the lights flashed red in sync, declaring a state of emergency.
[High-energy heat source approaching! Multiple missiles confirmed!]
[Initiating evasive maneuvers!]
The AI pilot’s urgent voice rang out as the aircraft suddenly jerked into a violent maneuver—so intense that any normal human would’ve blacked out from the pressure.
In his augmented vision, Dominic saw dozens of light trails streaking toward them through the windows—each trailing a black tail, screaming through the sky straight at the vehicle.
He assessed the situation instantly.
Pulling up the external camera feed, he saw the missiles locked onto them relentlessly.
As if they already knew the evasion pattern of a Titan Tech high-priority aircraft.
This wasn’t some back-alley gang ambush.
“Beren, stop all signals pinging back to Titan Tech, now—!”
But before he could even finish his order, a cluster of missiles slammed into the aircraft despite its evasive moves.
BOOM! CRASH!
Explosions roared in succession, sending the craft into violent turbulence. The interior lights flickered in and out as the cabin rocked.
Trailing black smoke, the aircraft began to nosedive between the towers of Babel’s vertical cityscape.
****
The faint sound of a TV buzzed in the background inside the Seoul Dino Park’s break room.
Om nom nom.
I lay back on the bed, finishing off the pizza Luna had made me, and slipped into one of the most critical dilemmas in the world.
Namely: there was no way Luna could handle the ridiculous volume of pizza I needed to consume by herself.
There was no universe in which a little kid like Luna could spend all day baking pizza—and even if she did, it’d still be impossible to keep up with my demand.
Sure, her older sister Celine was helping out as much as she could, but she wasn’t a trained chef. Her assistance had clear limits.
At this rate, either Luna was going to collapse from overwork... or I was going to suffer a nightmarish fate: pizza shortage.
“I’m gonna need to hire another pizza chef... no way around it...”
But where... and how was I supposed to find one?
Should I start getting regular deliveries from a Black Bio pizza shop?
Or maybe I should just go all-in and host something like the “Pizza Demon’s Belly: Babel Pizza Championship” to scout skilled chefs?
It was a fun idea just to imagine, but also kind of a pain in the ass.
While I was tangled up in that headache of a thought, the TV conveniently switched over to a news report about Nexus Node—the place I’d smashed to bits a few days ago.
A man with his face blurred out appeared on the screen.
[Good evening. This is Babel Network. Regarding the recent destruction of Nexus Node’s headquarters, which has shocked the entire world, our team conducted an exclusive interview with an anonymous internal source. For safety, the subject’s face and voice have been altered.]
He identified himself as an employee of Nexus Node and began cautiously speaking about the incident that brought down HQ.
[First, are you aware of the internal controversy surrounding the bio-contamination issue within Nexus Node?]
[Bio-contamination? That’s... news to me. At least in my department, I never heard of any research like that going on.]
His voice trembled slightly, but his words ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) were firm.
The interviewer, however, didn’t seem to believe him—pressing him with sharper questions.
[According to what we’ve learned, the bio-contamination inside Nexus Node appears to have been ongoing for quite some time. What do you make of that?]
After hesitating for a moment, the man exhaled deeply and responded.
[... That might be true. Even if we all work at HQ, what we know depends entirely on which building we’re in. The one that got destroyed... that building housed the team researching Nexus Node’s most advanced technology.]
[And by ‘most advanced technology,’ can you be more specific?]
[It was known as the “Cube Project.” To work in that building, you needed a special qualification called “the One Who Sees.” Honestly, I don’t really know the details of that title either.]
As this lesser-known megacorp intel began to spill out, the interviewer leaned forward with renewed interest.
[“The One Who Sees,” huh? Do you have any idea what kind of test or ability that referred to—anything at all?]
[Well... I always figured it was some kind of adaptability test tied to the Cube technology. But... now that the building’s gone and the Cube vanished with it, it’s all just pointless speculation.]
[In light of the incident, what do you think will happen to Nexus Node going forward?]
The man let out a long sigh, his expression growing more conflicted.
[Honestly... Nexus Node might lose its spot as a megacorp. The blow from this incident... it’s going to be worse than anyone expects.]
With that bitter forecast, the interview came to an end.
“Huh. ‘The One Who Sees,’ huh...”
It was a pretty interesting interview.
So the worms needed a specific type of human...
Not that it mattered anymore, now that the worms were gone.
****
I’d already eaten the rest of the pizza while watching TV without even realizing it—and a thought struck me.
“Yeah, Luna really can’t keep up with how much pizza I eat...”
With a mix of concern and boredom, I quietly crept toward the kitchen where Luna was working.
If she looked too exhausted, I was fully ready to go kidnap Uncle Tony from Black Bio Pizza to make sure Dino Park’s pizza supply stayed solid.
But what I saw inside the kitchen was nothing like what I expected.
“Child No. 1! Grab the pizza from that oven! Before it burns!”
Luna’s clear, commanding voice filled the kitchen.
Responding to her order, a small figure wearing a white chef hat with the number “1” on it waddled across the floor on stubby legs—heading straight for the oven without a second thought.
[Pizza!]
Completely unfazed by the blazing heat, the Child walked out of the oven carrying a piping hot, delicious-looking pizza.
Nearby, Child No. 2 was flattening the dough with all their might, while Child No. 3 drizzled tomato sauce over it with artistic precision.
Luna oversaw them with a serious expression, stepping in with the occasional compliment or word of encouragement.
Now that I thought about it... Luna looked less tired than usual, and the Children had been bothering me way less often lately.
“Hmm. Looks better than I expected...”
Luna looked like she wasn’t overworked, and the Children looked like they were having fun. That was a win-win.
I quietly closed the kitchen door and headed back to the break room.
Then I collapsed onto the fluffy bed, waiting for my next delicious pizza.
Heheh.
That’s when the alert sound went off in the break room.
It came from Ember’s custom-built ‘Pizza Demon Summoning Detection System.’
“...”
Wearing the universal face of someone who did not want to deal with this crap right now, I walked over to the system console.
On the hologram display, a red dot was blinking—marking the coordinates where the summoning ritual had been detected.
And the location... was completely unexpected.
[Summon detected. Location: Titan Tech Eastern Branch, rooftop—top floor.]
...Why the hell there?
