novelraw Chapter 93
Chapter 93
Chapter 93
Countless voices went back and forth over the radio. I listened, then held the radio button down. A high pitched beeeep rang out over the channel.
It was originally a function meant to use that tone to send something like Morse, but it also worked as a way to shut everyone’s mouths for a moment of silence.
“Everyone keep it shut. If you keep yapping, are the fakes going to politely say, ‘I’m fake!’ for you?”
There was no point in panicking. What we needed to do now wasn’t chatter about this and that.
— Then what, do we use friend or foe armbands?
“They’d just copy them.”
As if that would help. If you have eyes, you hide at night, watch someone slip by, check their armband, then copy it and follow them.
What idiot would use that to tell friend from foe in a real fight?
It is just something they slap on soldiers during training because doing nothing would look bad and they feel like they have to do something.
Passwords would be a bit more useful. I spoke calmly.
“Everyone, do not answer anything. Just listen to my words.”
On the premise that they copied appearances, not memories, there was a method that was pretty useful.
“You all remember what we ate for dinner last night, right? If you meet, confirm that first. If they can’t answer, kill them.”
Last night’s dinner had been a special meal, prime beef chuck flap tail. If someone did not remember that, well… if their memory is that bad, getting beaten to death by another Hunter would practically be a natural death at that point, right?
With memory that bad, they would forget how to breathe soon and suffocate.
— We can’t hold out long like that. They will find out soon.
“Until they catch on, we can at least trim their numbers.”
Another question came right after. I could not tell who it was, since over the radio every voice blurred.
— What if they copied the memories too?
“Interfering with the memories of a sentient being is very hard.”
It was a whole different level from manipulating emotions or judging whether someone’s words and actions were genuine. To tamper with, uncover, or interfere in a sentient being’s experiences and memories was brutally difficult.
“Memory manipulation is not something a smelly ugly fatso pulls off by waving a phone in front of a girl.”
Memory and experience sat far above even emotion or reason. Bad memories produce bad feelings toward a certain target, and good memories make you hold good feelings toward something.
The same goes for reason. People marshal their experiences and memories to make the most rational judgment they can. Emotion and reason depend entirely on memory and experience.
Even the Paradoxical Flame needs massive output to burn memories away. I can’t handle Paradoxical Flame at that level right now.
— I see… got it. We can use that in a lot of ways.
“Do not say too much over the radio.”
Even without memories, they could still learn. By listening to our chatter, they could analyze us and act accordingly.
After I finished on the radio, I slowly scanned the surroundings.
“Who… are you?”
In a forest made of jewels, someone stepped out. Their face was covered with a white mask. Even their body gave no clue whether they were a woman or a man.
As I had already guessed from the radio, the voice was modulated.
Their clothes were a plain gray suit. The spear I usually used was gone too. They intended to stop us from identifying by weapons.
“So that is how we look to each other.”
It was obvious I would look the same to them. Sorting by appearance was definitely impossible.
“What did you eat for dinner last night?”
At my words the other let out an “Uh…” I rushed them at once. Who in the world wastes time trying to recall prime beef chuck flap tail from last night?
You answer immediately. Chuck flap tail is too delicious to forget.
I swung a fist, and they dodged. They let out a small exclamation.
“Thorough, aren’t you.”
Our bodies were completely equalized in performance. It looked like I could not simply overwhelm them with strength or speed.
Even so, my control over Paradoxical Flame still held. In the message that a jeweled bird scratched into the sand earlier, there had been a line that made one specific exception.
“Good choice. That is reasonably smart.”
If I could not control Paradoxical Flame, every harmful property that existed inside this Erosion Core would get burned away. The core of this Erosion Core would not want that either. You could call it a kind of compromise.
After a few more exchanges I caught an opening and smashed the bastard’s skull with a single punch.
With a crack, the head burst.
“It won’t last long anyway.”
Using chuck flap tail to filter them would be a miracle if it worked on fifty people.
I had asked first this time, but fakes could turn it around and ask us from now on. The one asked would have to answer to avoid suspicion…
Our dinner menu would spread among the fakes soon. In the meantime, another one approached me.
“What was on last night’s menu?”
The answer came back at once.
“Chuck flap tail.”
“Tell me your name.”
“Han Gyeong seok.”
At that, I nodded and asked again.
“Good. Name the university you graduated from.”
“…”
See. Found you already.
I had the personnel details of the people who came to subjugate Jaun Valley together. I would forget with time, but not this soon.
I rushed in, blocked his kick, clamped his leg, smashed his knee with an elbow drop, then pounded his face and removed him.
“Looks like they have something like a hive mind.”
I had figured they would at least use our radios to share info like, “Dinner last night was chuck flap tail.” There was no sign of the fakes sharing information by radio.
Either way, chuck flap tail was now useless. I shared that over the radio, then continued.
“Everyone, come up with your own questions you can use to tell them apart.”
The problem was that the question had to be appropriate, and the chance that other Hunters knew the personal details of the Hunters they were with was too low. Unless they were people who usually worked together.
In the end, we would have to use memories from the Jaun Valley subjugation to identify the fakes…
“That kind of thing is a common question.”
For example, if you asked, “What city did we attack most recently,” you could weed out one person right away. But if they turned it around and asked it back to get the answer, you could not use that question anymore.
“This is a headache, damn it.”
Muttering, I thought it over, then spoke into the radio.
“This is Yoo Chan-seok. I will fire a flare.”
Among the gear I brought were flares of course. When a hundred people had to operate inside an Erosion Core without help from an operator, bringing flares was basic.
I had about ten, and if I shot one into the sky it should be visible from pretty far. The sky of this Erosion Core was split like a mosaic and its colors changed madly, so it would be hard to pick out a flare, but…
We were Hunters. Even if your eyes went funny, if you could not see a flare, you might as well die here without complaint.
“If you confirm a flare has gone up, everyone move to that position.”
I left the radio on, loaded a flare, and spoke.
“I will fire on three. One, two, three.”
As my flare went up, nearly fifty other flares shot into the sky. Figures. I spoke right away.
“Any of the flares that went up will do. Go and kill them.”
It meant everyone but me was fake. A radio reply flew back at once.
— But then you will be attacked too, Hunter Yoo Chan-seok.
“That is fine. Even if you attack me, I will win anyway.”
Even with identical physical specs, skill and experience and savvy differed sharply.
Even if fifty of you rush me, I am confident I will win. This should let us filter out a few more fakes.
My head throbbed from overthinking. While I waited a moment, someone suddenly appeared.
“Jeez, you scared me. My liver almost dropped.”
“Livers don’t drop.”
The moment I heard that line, I answered at once.
“…Wait, are you?”
It was hard to imagine there were two people who would answer like that. Instead of answering, Han Sang-ah sprinted at me and came down with an axe kick.
I nudged her ankle sideways as the leg swung down from above, and the trajectory changed, slamming into the shimmering rainbow sand. With a thump the sand rippled.
I snapped out a hand, grabbed her arm, twisted a joint and threw her. Her head buried in the multicolored glittering sand and she did a handstand, upside down.
She snorted, blew sand from her nose in a rainbow puff, rubbed her nose, then spoke.
“Yeah. You seem like Yoo Chan-seok.”
“It is me, ya bastard.”
And you definitely seemed like Han Sang-ah. No matter how hard they tried to imitate, copying that woman’s personality exactly would be tough.
“Han Sang-ah, still good to see someone I know.”
“How did you know I am Han Sang-ah?”
How could I not? Spend two hours with Han Sang-ah and anyone would instantly recognize this was Han Sang-ah.
“Even if you deny it, I wouldn’t buy it.”
The unknown person standing before me was definitely Han Sang-ah.
“But just out of respect, let me ask anyway. What is your ultimate goal?”
“Club Shaddai.”
I nodded. Han Sang-ah fired back a question at once.
“The location of the first Erosion Core we subjugated together.”
“Gyodong Island.”
That made at least one we could sort out. Now we could beat down anything pretending to be Han Sang-ah. Honestly, I doubted any fake could convincingly imitate Han Sang-ah.
If I could find Jung Oh-hoon as well, we would at least succeed in identifying the headhunters.
“You memorized the other Hunters’ personal details too, right?”
At my words, Han Sang-ah nodded.
“I memorized everything. I can recite it from start to finish, and backward too.”
At minimum, we could identify the Hunters who ran into us for sure. Asking just age and family relations would almost certainly sort them.
While moving, Han Sang-ah and I encountered seventeen more Hunters. Thirteen were fakes. Four were real.
“I don’t see Jung Oh-hoon.”
At my words, Han Sang-ah answered.
“Maybe he died.”
“Jung Oh-hoon? That bastard trained with me.”
Even if our physical specs had been equalized, he would not be the type to just get beaten around somewhere.
“Besides, that guy is not the type to get taken down just anywhere.”
You do not get friendly with people from the back alleys just by being a nice guy.
Worry about the person who is worth worrying about.
“Either way, we need to gather.”
If we just wandered around trying things like this, there was no telling when it would end. We had to gather in one place, finish sorting quickly, then proceed to a public execution.
“It would be great if we could make a fire.”
The problem was, there was no living plant inside this Erosion Core. Everything was jewels shaped like plants. Even the monsters wandering this Erosion Core were all ghosts.
A world full of minerals and phantoms. If we wanted to gather people…