Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

175 – Temptation

As Myung-jun moved the supply boxes from the 2.5-ton truck by himself, he began to doubt whether his plan had failed. Despite exposing himself for a long time while moving the supplies and being seen alone by several passing soldiers, none of them approached him.

‘Should I just knock them out openly?’

Contemplating a more aggressive approach, Myung-jun quickly dismissed the idea. Knocking out one or two soldiers might be easy, but it was nearly impossible to incapacitate the Inspector hiding within their bodies simultaneously. Even if he succeeded in knocking out a soldier, if he couldn’t subdue the Inspector hidden inside, it would immediately self-destruct, using its highly acidic blood to dissolve the soldier’s internal organs.

The only way to prevent this was to rapidly freeze the soldier’s body before the Inspector could react. While modern humanity lacked the technology to revive a human from such a rapid freeze, this was not an issue for the Liberal Clan. Using their advanced technology, which far surpassed human science, they could revive a human frozen in an instant.

The detailed capture plan devised by Myung-jun and Soo-jung involved using a medical pod capable of restoring even cellular-level damage. They planned to use a rapid freezing capture device that could lower the temperature of a human-sized organism to -120 degrees Celsius in one second, freezing the body of an isolated infected soldier. The medical pod would then restore the damaged cells caused by the rapid freeze.

This method, causing extensive cellular damage, was not something to be used lightly, but they had no other choice. Without such a method, capturing a living Inspector, which would commit s*****e at the slightest hint of danger, was impossible.

Reflecting on this, Myung-jun continued to act as a soldier diligently moving supplies alone. Finally, a soldier approached him and spoke.

“Why are you moving the supplies alone? Didn’t you come with an assistant?”

Turning to face the woman who spoke in a nonchalant tone rather than the typical military manner, Myung-jun felt a surge of triumph. Standing before him was a female non-commissioned officer whose appearance matched the description of an ‘infected’ officer provided by the EDA.

Concealing his excitement, Myung-jun saluted the officer with the casual demeanor typical of a sergeant.

“Loyalty. Sergeant Cha Min-jun from the 3rd Division.”

“No need for formalities. We’re not even from the same unit, so don’t be so stiff.”

As she smiled, Myung-jun began to understand why the soldiers in this unit had been infected so quickly. The woman standing before him had the kind of beauty that would be more fitting for an idol than a non-commissioned officer. Her natural charm shone through even the modest makeup typical of female soldiers, making her look like the kind of woman who might be nicknamed ‘Kim Tae-hee of XX Company’ or ‘Song Hye-kyo of XX Division’ in military urban legends.

With a voice as sweet as her appearance, she spoke to Myung-jun.

“Is it hard? Do you need some help?”

“I’m fine. I can handle this on my own.”

“I didn’t mean I’d help you myself. I meant I’d call other soldiers to help. Or do I look like I can lift something this heavy?”

She burst into a cheerful laugh and then, in an exceedingly kind voice, picked up a small box and said,

“I’ll help with a few light ones. We can’t leave all the work to a guest from another unit.”

‘South Korean soldiers already have a weak resistance to women, and with someone like her, even the officers would be 100% susceptible.’

Unfortunately for her, Myung-jun was completely unaffected by her charms. His current girlfriend, Soo-jung, possessed a beauty that far surpassed the woman standing before him, even without any effort to enhance her appearance.

While the female officer tried her best to lower Myung-jun’s guard by helping him move the boxes, to Myung-jun, who knew everything, her actions seemed like the lures of a mantis trying to ensnare its prey for infection.

However, the objective of this mission was to act as if he was falling for the temptation, so Myung-jun deliberately displayed a demeanor as if he were captivated by her charm.

“Even moving small boxes with your help makes the work feel ten times easier.”

“Oh, it’s not that much. But where are your assistant and the co-driver?”

“They went to the admin office to report the supply quantities. They said it would take a few hours to verify the supply records.”

“So, you have to move all of this by yourself?”

“Not entirely by myself. I have a beautiful officer like you helping me, don’t I?”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Mean what?”

“That I’m beautiful.”

Watching the female officer flirtatiously brush her hair aside, Myung-jun cursed inwardly. He thought about the soldiers who had likely met a tragic end, falling for her temptation and feeling a deep sense of betrayal in their final moments. He vowed to ensure that the Inspector controlling this female officer would meet a horrific end.

With a soft voice, he responded to the approaching officer, “You shouldn’t do this.”

“What do you mean? An officer approaching a soldier? Or perhaps this…”

Startled, Myung-jun quickly stepped back, increasing the distance between them. Her slender fingers had almost touched the power armor hidden under his disguise.

Seeing his reaction, she looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Why are you backing away like that?”

For someone who had always succeeded in her seductions, Myung-jun’s reaction, as if he had seen a wasp, was incomprehensible. To dispel her suspicions, Myung-jun hurriedly came up with an excuse.

“I-I have a girlfriend!”

“Oh, I thought it was something serious. It’s fine. I’m not trying to seduce you. Besides, we just met today, right?”

“You weren’t trying to seduce me?”

“Hohoho… No, I just wanted to get a bit closer. Even though my rank is higher, it’s not a bad idea to be on good terms with sergeants, who are the real power in each unit.”

“Your way of getting close is quite unique.”

“Really? Everyone else seems to like it.”

“Then I guess everyone else didn’t have a girlfriend.”

“Such loyalty. I like it.”

Having narrowly avoided suspicion, Myung-jun slowly picked up the supply box he had dropped. With a seemingly regretful expression, he walked deeper into the supply warehouse. Moments later, he heard the heavy door of the warehouse slowly closing behind him.

“What are you doing?”

“Well, I should be asking you that. Why does a man with a girlfriend look so regretful?”

She began walking slowly towards him.

“Did you know? The most secluded place in our unit is this supply warehouse.”

“What do you mean?”

“It depends on how you interpret it. Which will you choose? Having a memorable time that you’ll remember for the rest of your life, or going back to a mundane military life, forever regretting what you missed today?”

As she spoke, she began unbuttoning the collar of her uniform. Unable to continue the charade any longer, Myung-jun looked at her with cold eyes and shouted,

“Now!”

In an instant, Soo-bin and Kei, who had been hiding behind a stack of boxes, leaped into the air, knocking over the pile. They threw cylindrical devices at the astonished female officer.

“Activate rapid freezing capture device!”

“Activate bio-signal jammer!”

Seeing the two of them throw different devices, Myung-jun also extended his hand and shouted,

“Activate void shield generator!”

The supply box that Myung-jun had been moving split in half, revealing a semi-transparent blue energy field that quickly surrounded the female officer.

It was a multi-layered trap that Myung-jun had prepared in advance to prevent the capture target from emitting any bio-signals in case of an emergency. The three types of capture devices deployed almost simultaneously by the three of them worked at full power before the target could even comprehend the situation. These devices instantly froze her body, blocked the spread of any warning pheromones she might release, and created an almost perfect field to prevent any bio-electrical signals from escaping her body.

Inside the field, the female officer, who had been trying to seduce Myung-jun just moments ago, was now frozen solid with a startled expression, isolated within the containment field.

“Looks like the capture is complete, but… what’s that in her mouth?”

Kei, inspecting the woman’s condition after the capture, was horrified to see something inside her mouth. A fresh-looking parasite, poised as if ready to escape, was frozen in place, resembling a transparent slug with visible internal organs. Kei made a disgusted face.

“So, she seduced other soldiers and then inserted this slug-like thing into their mouths when they were alone? Ugh… just thinking about it makes me shudder.”

“The real problem starts now. The rapid freezing capture device works quickly but doesn’t last long. Plus, it seems they’ve noticed that her bio-signals have been cut off from outside,” Myung-jun said.

Indeed, outside the supply warehouse, they could hear the urgent voices of soldiers calling for assembly at the warehouse. Kei looked at Myung-jun with a worried expression and asked,

“What if they all commit s*****e because their comrade was captured?”

“They probably don’t realize she’s been captured alive. They’ll just assume she’s dead because the connection to the synapse entity was severed. So, our only task now is to get out of here without being detected with our frozen prisoner.”

With that, Myung-jun removed the optical converter attached to his chest. His appearance, which had been that of an ordinary soldier, quickly reverted to an SF-style power armor. He then attached the optical converter to the barrier surrounding the female officer. The semi-transparent energy field around her began to transform into an opaque, box-like structure.

Moments later, Soo-bin, seeing the perfectly disguised supply box, spoke to Myung-jun.

“This looks like a regular supply box from the outside, right?”

“Yes.”

“And our job now is to get this supply box out of the base by any means necessary.”

“Exactly.”

“Then leave the rest to me. Captain, you take responsibility for loading the supply box onto the truck.”

With that, Soo-bin roughly tore off the optical converter attached to her chest. Her appearance, which had been that of a female non-commissioned officer, quickly reverted to her slim figure clad in power armor. Simultaneously, the supply boxes around her shattered, and eight glowing rings emerged, orbiting her body.

“Let’s go!”

With Soo-bin’s spirited shout, the rings rushed forward, blowing the massive supply warehouse door off its hinges. Instantly, the infected soldiers surrounding the warehouse began firing their weapons.

-Tatatatatatata!-

Although full-auto fire, rarely used during actual military service, was unleashed from all directions, not a single bullet managed to penetrate the fantastic trajectories drawn by the eight moving rings. These rings, her trademark, could operate up to eight at a time and had an ‘automatic defense’ feature that blocked all incoming attacks with optimal trajectories without her having to consciously direct them.

Amidst the hail of bullets aimed at her, Soo-bin walked forward slowly, as if she were out for a leisurely stroll. She then stood in front of the truck they had arrived in and said,

“Go!”

Her command to ‘go’ carried the implication that she would hold off the entire base’s firepower alone while the others escaped with the prisoner.