Security Robot
The lower area is far more expansive than the other two. Naturally, it’s impossible to move around without encountering the infected.
[9 ters ahead on the left and 17 ters ahead on the right, one entity each. The two creatures’ lines of sight are blocked by a truck. Start with the one on the left.]
The dark street hid my presence, and the stationary cars provided excellent cover. By the ti the first infected noticed sothing was wrong, my military knife was already lodged in the back of its neck. As the blade pierced through the muscle and tore into the spinal cord, its knees buckled, and it collapsed.
Thud— I grabbed the back of its head and slamd it into the ground. Then, I switched my grip and drove the knife deeper into the torn spinal cord to immobilize it. Its head flailed about, but from the neck down, there was no movent—just its face dragging across the ground.
The infected are more resilient to pain and stronger than ordinary humans, but their senses are dull. Therefore, directly attacking the nervous system that controls their movents is effective. In fact, this thod is also effective and commonly used against humans.
After sheathing the knife, I picked up the fire axe and approached the second infected. We stood parallel to each other, with a large truck’s front end between us.
I whistled quietly, and it slowly turned toward .
Screech— The mont it spotted , my axe blade t its face a split second faster. Fortunately, the blade tore through both eyes and drove straight into the brain, killing it instantly. The crushed eyeball fluid and brain matter mixed and oozed out.
[Hurry and get inside the building. You’re too exposed outside, and I can’t track your position with the sensors.]
Following the marker on my PDA, I sprinted across the road and entered the building.
[The lobby is safe.]
This place was an administrative office. It assigned personnel from outside and dealt with various complaints. While the lobby was free of the infected, the PDA indicated movent in nearby corridors and rooms.
[This is an ergency situation. Please evacuate orderly according to the security team's instructions. Our company is not liable for any violent acts resulting from non-compliance, as stated in Article 23, Section 2 of the contract.]
Automated kiosks that issued various docunts were playing the ergency broadcast. There wasn’t a single employnt ad on the walls, advertisent, or piece of paper scattered on the floor that hadn’t been stained with blood.
[Six entities ahead.]
Beyond the lobby was a convenience store with glass walls, where I could see the infected. Thanks to the shelves, their view was mostly obstructed, so I could avoid detection by crawling on the floor. The problem was when I had to pass the entrance without any shelves.
I carefully positioned the headcam to just barely peek through the doorway.
[Wait a mont.]
"Screech!"
"Groooowl!"
I could see the staggering feet of the infected and bloodstains on the floor just beyond the glass. One of them had intestines hanging out of its belly, swaying as it moved.
[Now!]
I sprang into action, rolling twice to muffle the sound.
“How did they react?”
[They’re the sa. They didn’t notice we passed by.]
“Hm?”
[What is it?]
“Nothing, never mind.”
I was a little surprised that Artemis referred to us as “we.”
[From here on, it’ll be hard to rely on the fire sensors. Keep your eyes and ears sharp.]
We were heading to what could be described as a subway station. The residential areas had their own railway system. It wasn’t as grand as those found in major cities; it was just self-sufficient. Since space was limited, not everyone could drive a car, and buses had their capacity limits, so trams operated both above and below ground.
[Taking this route will get you to the power facility the fastest.]
The escalators were all stopped. The station resembled a subway station but on a much smaller scale.
“It’d be horrible for anyone with claustrophobia.”
Narrow corridors, cramped waiting room seats, and several bundles of thick cables stretched along the walls like arteries. The dim lighting amplified the eerie atmosphere.
Finally, I reached the platform, where a horde of infected greeted . There were quite a few of them.
"Screech!"
Many of the infected howling at had rubber bullets lodged in various parts of their bodies. Even non-lethal rounds can be dangerous if they hit just right, lodging into the flesh like that. But of course, that’s when the target is human.
On the ceiling were two civilian security sentry guns. There were hundreds of shell casings scattered below them, but what good were rubber bullets?
[Looks like so people relied on those sentry guns for protection.]
I could see several torn-apart corpses beyond the infected, and judging by the size and shredded clothing, most of them seed to be won.
"Screech!"
Now, it seed most of the infected had noticed , as they began to screech. The sight of them approaching, covered in bright orange and blue rubber bullets all over their bodies, was sowhat comical.
Click—
"Screeeeeech!"
Even though they were non-lethal rounds, the infected had been hit by so many that their joints or muscles might have been damaged, making their movents generally slow. Thanks to that, I could get close enough to blast them with maximum shotgun power.
Bang!
The tal pellets flew out, turning their faces into mush. For the particularly slow ones, I aid the muzzle right in front of their eyes and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The eyes evaporated, and the back of the head shattered, causing the face of the infected behind them to be covered in brain matter. Stumbling, it waved its arms in the air, likely from getting so of it in its eyes.
Thud— I took advantage of an opening and struck the face of an infected that charged from the side with the butt of my shotgun, then blew off the heads of two others approaching side by side with a single shot. Then, I fired again and again, turning each approaching infected into a headless corpse.
Click— After emptying a magazine, only three infected remained. Even those were in bad shape, having taken a few stray shotgun pellets while in the line of fire. There was no need to waste ammo on them.
Shing— I put away the shotgun and pulled out the fire axe.
"Screeech!"
Thud! Thud!
It didn’t take long to finish them off.
[Watch your back. It looks like a group is approaching, drawn by the gunfire. There are four of them.]
“I expected as much.”
Soon, a small group of infected awkwardly descended the escalator. They quickly spotted and widened their eyes in rage. Just as I was about to reload the shotgun—
Crash! The chest of one of the infected exploded violently. But it wasn’t who shot it.
"Screeeech!"
The infected, now flailing with a gaping hole in its chest, noticed a tallic hand erging from the wound. It tried to rip the hand away while drooling saliva and blood, but to no avail. Only its own nails broke off.
"Grrr…"
At that mont, the other infected turned to look behind them.
Whir— With a chanical sound, the infected with the hole in its chest was lifted into the air, its legs kicking as if it were dancing.
Whoosh— The tallic hand swung to the right, then back to the left, sending the infected flying nearly 5 ters away, where it tumbled and rolled. The owner of the hand, previously obscured by the infected, was finally revealed.
"A security robot? What’s it doing here?"
It stood about 180 cm tall, with a rcury-colored alloy fra and major parts covered in black engineering plastic. It didn't have the bulky, heavy look of a movie-like T-800, but instead had a much sleeker design.
[Not a single one of these was found along our route until now. It seems they were stationed separately from the security team under the orders of an overseer.]
The “overseer” here refers to the labor supervisors. The shelter's security team, made up of human guards, provides services related to the residents' criminal activities, disputes, and various security-related incidents. They handle what’s commonly associated with “law enforcent.” In contrast, these security robots exist solely to monitor and respond to workers. I’ll spare you the detailed explanation of why this division was made. In the words of the higher-ups, it’s for “more efficient task allocation.”
"Screeeech!"
By now, a fight had broken out between the security robot and the infected. Though calling it a fight was a stretch—it was more of a one-sided slaughter, or perhaps disassembly.
Rip— When the robot tore the neck of one infected, dark red blood gushed out. But the infected didn’t flinch and continued to charge. In fact, three thick tendrils shot out from the torn neck, wrapping around the robot’s neck.
Crunch— But what good is strangling a machine? The robot grabbed the tendrils and tore them off effortlessly.
"Screeeech!"
The infected, now spewing blood from both its torn neck and severed tendrils, flailed wildly before the robot’s hand smashed off the lower half of its face and sent it collapsing to the ground. The rest of the battle went similarly. The infected ignored their own bodies in their attacks, but none landed a aningful hit. The security robot quietly retaliated with deadly force and blew them apart one by one.
"That’s so serious power. I saw them test it when we first received it, but I didn’t expect this level of performance."
[It looks like its suppression power limiter has been removed. If it were set for worker handling, it would be locked and couldn’t exert that much force. That level of power is usually reserved for situations like prison riots.]
"Could this be the overseer’s doing?"
We had a few conversations over coffee, and he was a complete scumbag. It wouldn't be surprising if he operated with the limiter disabled all the ti.
[That's unlikely. Such an operation would require the authorization code of a governnt-affiliated technician.]
After tearing apart all the infected, the robot seed to notice . As it walked toward and stepped into the light, its full appearance beca visible. Even more striking than its blood-soaked tal body was its face.
“It looks terrifying, no matter how many tis I see it.”
The company prefers to use fear as a primary ans of controlling workers, since injuries during worker suppression can be troubleso. This philosophy is reflected in the design of the security robots. Its eyes are deeply sunken, exaggeratedly wide and white. A wide, slit mouth filled with teeth. Even though the security robot doesn’t eat or speak—its voice is a recorded playback—these features are there solely to evoke maximum fear in anyone who sees it.
“There was a popular YouTube series that showed people getting scared by this thing when it appeared suddenly at night.”
In the videos, not only people but also monkeys and cats froze with their fur standing on end. I heard the face was designed to instinctively repel animals.
“Well, I’m lucky. Things will get easier with this thing around.”
I pulled out the employee ID badge I had tucked away instead of a dog tag.
“System Administrator, Seo Jinsoo. Report your status.”
My authority is higher than that of the labor overseer, so I can override whatever orders he might have given.
"Grrr…" But the security robot just tilted its head slightly with a strange chanical sound, not stopping. Sothing was wrong.
“System Administrator, Seo Jinsoo. Stand by at your current position.”
“Co… Comam… Command confird.”
In the robot’s usual tallic, bass-filled voice, it stamred a few more tis before stopping in an awkward posture. It seed like it tried to assu the ‘at attention' stance, the default position for standby, but it kept convulsing slightly before it finally froze with its head hanging low.
[Be careful. It seems to have a malfunction. The CPU operating noise isn’t following a normal pattern.]
“Yeah, it’s obvious just by looking at it.” I took out the hacking tool and aid it at the robot.
“You’ll have to take care of this.” As I pulled the trigger, a blue light shot toward the robot’s head, and it reacted imdiately.
"Grrrrr!" It raised its head to look at , its mouth opening wide like a woman with a ripped mouth, revealing sharp steel teeth that glead in the light.
[Dodge! It’s going to attack!]
As Artemis warned , the robot charged at .
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