Weak Class of Anti-Hero
Chapter 45: The Perfect Trap

Chapter 45: The Perfect Trap

We arrived at the edge of the cliff. The laboratory stood on its rocky island, a dark silhouette under the moon.

"So, what’s your plan to get in?" Yoo-Na asked.

"The infiltration will be simple," I said as I got out of the car. "But it won’t be in spiritual form. It’s too risky. If my body is discovered, it’s all over. We’re going in physically."

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I activated my new skill, MRC.

I thought back to the guards I had seen during my reconnaissance. I visualized their faces, their uniforms, their builds.

My body began to change. My bones cracked, my muscles rearranged. It was a dull pain, but bearable now.

In a few seconds, I was transformed. I had the face of one of the mercenaries. I had even recreated their uniform from my own clothes. It was a perfect disguise.

Yoo-Na looked at me, shocked. "You... you can do that?"

"One of my many talents," I said, my voice slightly altered to match the guard’s.

I looked at the ravine. "You, you’re going to create an ice bridge, thin and discreet, just above the water. So we can cross."

She nodded, already concentrating her power.

"Once we’re on the other side," I continued, "I’ll go first. I’ll use my Vocal Charm to lull the guards’ suspicions. I’ll tell them I have an order from Thorne for a prisoner transfer."

I looked towards the cells in basement 2 on the holographic map.

"My goal is to convince them to open the cells themselves. To incite them to release the test subjects. It will create the perfect chaos, and it won’t even come from us."

It was a bold plan. It rested entirely on my ability to manipulate them.

"And if they don’t believe you?" Yoo-Na asked.

"Then we move on to Plan B," I said, making my dagger appear in my hand before making it vanish just as quickly.

"And Plan B is much less subtle."

Yoo-Na did as I asked.

A thin, almost invisible serpent of ice formed over the dark waves, connecting the cliff to the island. It was a fragile bridge, but it was enough.

"After you," she said.

I crossed first, my balance perfect. She followed me, silent and graceful as a cat.

We reached the island’s shore. We hid in the shadow of the rocks, observing the perimeter.

A patrol of two guards was approaching. This was the moment.

"Stay here. Don’t move until I give you the signal," I whispered to Yoo-Na.

I stepped out of the shadows, walking with a confident stride towards the guards, as if I were on my rounds.

They saw me. They raised their weapons reflexively.

"Hey, it’s me, Park," I said, using the name of the guard whose appearance I had taken. I used my Vocal Charm, infusing my voice with a soothing familiarity and trust.

The guards relaxed. "Park? What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be on the cell level?"

"Direct orders from the doctor," I replied, my voice still calm. "He wants us to move the ’batch’ from Sector D. Apparently, there’s a problem with the containment system. We have to take them to the decontamination block."

The two guards frowned. This was clearly an unusual procedure.

"A transfer? Now? Nobody told us," one of them said, suspicious.

This was the critical moment. I strengthened my Vocal Charm, adding a hint of urgency and authority.

"It’s an emergency. The doctor was not happy. He said if we don’t do it right now, we’ll all end up as food for the failures. So, are you coming to help me, or would you rather I go tell Thorne you’re refusing to obey a direct order?"

The mention of Thorne and the "failures" had its effect. Fear replaced suspicion in their eyes.

"N-no, it’s fine," the first one stammered. "We’re coming."

They lowered their weapons and turned to follow me.

The trap had just closed on them. I had passed the first gate.

I gave a discreet signal to Yoo-Na, who emerged from the shadows and followed our small group from a distance.

The two guards led me inside the complex, letting me through the checkpoints without any questions. My disguise and my manipulation were working perfectly.

We descended through the levels. The air grew colder, the smell of antiseptic stronger.

We arrived in front of the large blast door of basement 2. The cell block.

There were four other guards stationed here, playing cards at a metal table. They looked up, surprised to see us.

"Orders from Thorne," one of my "hostages" repeated. "We have to move the D-batch."

The guards protested. "We haven’t received any orders."

I spoke up, my voice hard and impatient. "Thorne is losing his mind. There’s an Aura leak in Sector D. If we don’t move them now, they’ll all die and he’ll hold us responsible. So, open this door, now!"

The fear of Thorne was stronger than their respect for procedure. One of them sighed and walked over to a control panel on the wall. He placed his hand on it.

The heavy blast door creaked open.

A long corridor stretched out before us, lined with dozens of cells with reinforced glass doors. Inside, the prisoners, the "Stagnants," got up, their faces filled with a mixture of fear and hope as they saw us.

"Alright," I said to the six guards. "Let’s make this quick. Open all the cells in Sector D. We’ll gather them in the main corridor."

The guards obeyed. They began to unlock the cells, one by one.

The prisoners started to come out, hesitant, not knowing what was happening.

The chaos I had planned was about to begin.

And just at that moment, Yoo-Na appeared silently at the entrance of the corridor, her icy aura beginning to form around her.

The guards hadn’t seen her yet.

The trap was perfectly set.

As the last cell opened, something unexpected happened.

Some of the "Stagnants" were not so helpless. Their bodies began to transform. One of them grew claws. Another, a scaly skin. They were the subjects on whom the experiments had "almost" succeeded. Unstable metamorphs.

Seeing a chance to escape, they attacked. The first guard’s throat was slit before he could even scream.

Panic erupted. The other guards drew their weapons. The normal prisoners screamed in terror.

My chaos plan was working, but differently than I had intended.

It was the perfect moment to move on to phase two. I had to get to Thorne.

I looked for Yoo-Na. She should have been there, to secure the innocent prisoners and neutralize the remaining guards.

But she was no longer there. She had disappeared.

What the hell was she doing?

A bad feeling washed over me. But I didn’t have time. I had to keep going.

Still in the guise of the guard, I slipped through the chaos, heading for the stairs that led to basement 3.

I found the door. I opened it and entered a small decontamination airlock.

As soon as I entered, the door slammed shut heavily behind me. And so did the one in front. The ends sealed. I was trapped.

A figure emerged from the shadows at the other end of the airlock, behind a pane of reinforced glass.

It wasn’t Dr. Thorne.

It was the Director.

He looked at me, a disappointed smile on his face. "I’ve known about your plan from the beginning, Ji-Hoon."

He made a gesture. Yoo-Na appeared beside him, her face impassive.

"She’s the one who revealed everything to me," the Director continued. "Your little rebellion. Your plan of attack. Everything."

I looked at Yoo-Na, then at the Director. Betrayal. Again. I should have expected it.

I dropped my disguise, returning to my true form. I smiled, a smile full of infinite contempt.

"You really are a magnificent bastard, you know that."

The Director ignored my insult. He nodded to Yoo-Na.

"Go clean up this mess," he ordered. "Kill all the witnesses. The guards, the prisoners. Leave no survivors."

Yoo-Na nodded, without the slightest emotion, and disappeared. She was going to commit a massacre.

The Director turned his attention back to me. "And now, let’s deal with you."

"Back off," I said, my voice low and threatening. "I don’t want to kill you, but I will. Don’t force me to destroy you."

He burst out laughing. A genuine, amused laugh. "Go on, try. Show me what you’ve learned."

I didn’t hesitate.

I summoned my dagger. I used my Aura Blade, but I infused it with the power of the Void.

A slash of pure, silent, black and purple energy erupted from my blade. It cut through space itself, passed through the reinforced glass as if it didn’t exist, and sliced the Director in two.

It wasn’t a physical attack. It was a conceptual one. It erased his physical body. And it erased his spiritual body.

For a second, there was nothing. Just emptiness.

Then, particles of light began to gather. His body reconstituted itself, from nothing. There he was, intact, without a scratch.

He began to laugh like a madman, his arms raised in triumph.

"INCREDIBLE!" he screamed, his usual calm completely gone. "You managed to destroy my spiritual body! No one has ever done that before!"

He looked at me, his eyes shining with a crazed light.

"But you forgot one thing, Ji-Hoon. Something that only the most powerful know. The spiritual body of an Awakened is just the equivalent of a normal human’s soul!"

"We, we have another layer! I can regenerate from my astral body, even if my spiritual body is erased from existence!"

He pointed his finger at me.

"The souls of the Awakened are qualitatively superior to those of the Stagnant! That is the law of this new world! And I am at the apex of that law!"