As I left Hayoon and headed home, I received a group message from the company.
I felt a bit relieved that the message had come, but at the same time, I was annoyed.
Still, the relief outweighed the annoyance.
At least it meant I wasn’t fired.
Plus, when my mind was in a mess, sometimes it was better to focus on something else.
It was the middle of the night, but maybe once I got moving, my head would clear up a bit.
I quickly went to the daycare center to grab my battle gear, then sneaked out while others weren’t looking.
I caught a bus to the company.
I put on my combat uniform, spoke the company’s provided battle cry, and got into the van.
Then we headed toward an unknown operation area.
But still, I remembered the event.
“Today’s battlefield is here,”
James, one of the leaders, said.
“Yes, at first glance, it looks like a house. And that’s because it is.”
James spoke as he looked at the confused combatants of the team.
The place where we had gathered was near where I lived.
Well, actually, it was a bit further than that.
We had to cross the street and climb a hill, so it wasn’t exactly next door.
But it was still within walking distance.
It was a bit anticlimactic.
We had driven all the way there only to find that the location was so close to my home.
For security reasons, they never revealed the operation area in advance, but moments like this made me want to complain.
“But there are illegal activities going on in that mansion. We received intel that one of the key figures of the Galactic Federation is hiding in the facilities there.”
James walked in front of us, explaining.
“That’s why we’re targeting that mansion.”
We were positioned in front of a mansion—right in front of the house we were supposed to target.
Even so, it felt a bit awkward to park the vehicle right in front of the house and talk about such things.
And the walls were so high that it didn’t seem like it would be easy to break in.
We had entered this area in a van, which was situated a bit higher than the house itself.
“We’re going to infiltrate using the zipline. Try not to harm any civilians too much. Though they probably won’t dare to report us to the government, it would still be problematic if there were casualties when the police arrive.”
No one responded to that.
The mention of the police had clearly made everyone nervous.
“There’s no need to worry too much. It’s just a precaution. Our company has everything planned out.”
Noir Corporation had openly allied with the government.
And the government, as long as it was related to containing the Galactic Federation, turned a blind eye to certain illegal actions.
The Galactic Federation, with its extraterritorial privileges, and the company exploiting those same privileges—both sides were villainous to the core.
“Our mission is to find evidence that the Galactic Federation member is inside the facility in the mansion’s basement. A simple smartphone photo will suffice. Ideally, we’d bring that individual out with us, though that’s unlikely. However, we should still gather information. There are originally four people living in the house.”
James explained seriously, lowering his voice.
“A middle-aged couple, their teenage daughter, and the housekeeper. The daughter is currently hospitalized and not at home, and the husband is busy with work, so he won’t be back today. The housekeeper and the wife should be asleep by now, so the mission shouldn’t be too difficult. By the way, the daughter’s bedroom is on the second floor, and the couple’s bedroom is on the first floor, as well as the housekeeper’s. The other rooms are either empty or used for storage.”
…The hospitalized daughter?
That felt a little off.
James smiled slightly as he looked at us, then put on a mask.
“Then—”
James pulled a small device from his pocket and pressed a button.
Pew. Pew. Pew.
The gunshot near the wall was fired with a somewhat dull sound.
Despite the weak sound, the bullet flew accurately and with force, embedding itself deep into the ground on the other side of the wall.
“Let’s go.”
The first person to move was the team leader.
He glanced at me, as if sensing some competition from me.
Following him was the person who had been standing beside me, Jiguppa.
Three zip lines were set up.
There were about twenty combatants, including myself, so we had to be quick to get everyone through.
I sighed lightly and followed behind the three people, taking my turn on the zip line one by one.
Bii bii bii.
The circuit status was at 70%.
My body weight was supported well enough by my hands gripping the zip line.
Honestly, the zip line was pretty fun.
The landing afterward wasn’t so fun.
The zip line was set up for a purpose, so there was space for a safe landing, but this one was a temporary, hastily made line, so I ended up landing right on the ground.
The dark night made it hard to gauge distances.
But it wasn’t just a fall; I was able to use a roll to get back up and appear somewhat natural.
“Alright. Everyone, move quietly.”
We crouched down and moved slowly.
There didn’t seem to be any guards here.
I figured that no matter how big the house, there wouldn’t be guards right at the entrance.
The team leader didn’t leave the task of opening the door to me this time.
The house was large and grand, with enormous windows.
It reminded me of the houses I used to see in movies, the kind where people secretly live underground.
The team leader, perhaps thinking breaking the front door would be too risky, used a blade to make a round hole in the glass door.
He skillfully caught the broken glass so it wouldn’t fall and carefully laid it outside, then rolled in a smoke grenade that emitted tiny particles.
“Hah.”
Then red lasers appeared densely on the glass.
This wasn’t the usual security system you’d see in a normal house.
It seemed like the company’s intel was reliable, at least.
How much must they hate the Galactic Federation to go this far in their defense?
Though there were lasers, they weren’t that threatening.
The company didn’t care much about the lives or safety of the combatants, but they did provide some support until the operation was nearly successful.
The team leader pulled out something that looked like a grenade.
He pulled the pin and rolled it inside.
With a soft poof, a smoke-like effect filled the air.
After a few seconds, the red lasers disappeared.
I wasn’t sure how it worked.
EMP? Well, as long as it worked, that was all that mattered.
We quickly moved inside.
Since this house was just a regular home except for the secret facility in the basement, I figured there wouldn’t be any major security in the living areas.
The team leader must have thought the same way, as he motioned for us to disperse.
Although we were part of a group of malicious forces, we had fought together regularly, so we had decent coordination.
In fact, I thought we were probably better at it than those magical girl teams.
The problem was how quickly we would be taken down if things went wrong.
The team leader, possibly intending to investigate the first floor, pointed at me and indicated the second floor.
What a hassle.
Since it was a “basement” facility, it made sense that the entrance would likely be on the first floor.
And the mechanism to open it would probably be there too.
That meant it would be more dangerous, but even a small success would look good on our performance reviews.
Fine.
I’d made my mark in the past, so this time I’d let them take care of it.
My goal was simply not to get fired.
I led the way with Jiguppa and the other members following behind.
They had said that the daughter’s room was only on the second floor.
Well, that made things a little easier.
Since the daughter was hospitalized, there wouldn’t be anyone on the second floor.
I made sure to keep my footsteps as quiet as possible and began to move slowly.
I looked around, signaling one by one to check the rooms as I moved through the narrow hallway, which had two rooms on either side.
It wasn’t a great hiding place, but it wasn’t problematic either.
The hallway wasn’t as wide as I’d imagined.
There was only one window at the end, so it didn’t feel very open.
However, thinking back to the outside, the room windows were large and offered a pretty clear view.
We figured there probably wasn’t anything special to find, so we split up to quickly check the rooms and head back down.
Just then…
Creeeak.
The door opened.
The person about to enter the room and I, along with the others, froze in surprise.
A girl of about my age stumbled out, rubbing her eye and yawning loudly.
She looked pretty disheveled.
It was a narrow hallway with nowhere to hide, and as soon as she came out, she saw one of the combatants opening the door across from her room.
He was wearing a black helmet and tight black clothes.
“Huh?”
The girl made a surprised sound, and immediately, I dashed toward her.
Before she could scream, I clamped my hand over her mouth.
Her eyes widened.
She had her hands and feet free, but it seemed like she had no intention of resisting.
This situation was probably a first for her.
Yeah.
It was her first time.
“…”
The girl I had subdued was the daughter of the woman who had caused such a scene when she came to find me earlier that day.
But why was she here?
I frowned.
“Mmff!”
The girl, realizing what was happening, began to struggle.
She reached up to grab my helmet, but I quickly jerked my head back.
Other combatants rushed over to restrain her limbs.
We cautiously flipped her over, then used our multipurpose zip ties to bind her thumbs and wrists before sealing her mouth with tape.
“…”
It felt… like I was becoming a real villain.
After restraining her, we all exchanged looks.
“…”
Now what?
Even though I looked at their faces, the team members only shrugged or shook their heads.
Well, we had to take her downstairs.
Leaving her here alone would be too risky if she managed to escape.
I sighed deeply.
Then I remembered what the team leader had told me earlier about going upstairs.
Surely, he didn’t intend for this to happen on purpose, right?