Chapter 116
Operation Halla Landing (1)
Foundation Korea Branch, Seoul Headquarters.
Normally, the central control room would operate with calm, methodical instructions—but today it was thrown into chaos.
“Damn it! How many communities have been attacked now?”
“Only in the metropolitan area, twenty-one locations have been confirmed! Including the provinces, it’s too many to count… Additional reports are coming in!”
As reports came in, the situation worsened. Without time to even grasp the scope, attacks were happening simultaneously not just in Seoul, but in Busan, Daejeon, Gwangju, and across the country.
And somehow, all communications with regional Foundation branches had gone completely dead.
Because of this, reports of nationwide attacks were flooding into Seoul HQ, paralyzing operations.
“Damn it! Where are all the branch heads at a time like this?”
“They’re all unreachable after attending a meeting!”
“Send people there immediately!”
The problem was that each community’s leadership was absent, attending that meeting.
This made the situation even worse. Without leaders, each community was paralyzed, unable to make decisions, and blocked from communicating with each other. They had to fend for themselves without Foundation support.
“Terror… this is terrorism…”
Hong, the section chief of the Rift Containment Division, held his head in despair.
The nightmare of a sudden emergency mobilization was resurfacing.
“What? The branch heads aren’t reachable either?”
“Yes. They’re at the meeting, and we can’t get through. Personnel have been dispatched, but it will take time to assess the situation.”
“…Damn it.”
Even the head of the Foundation was unreachable.
To suppress a nationwide incident like this, a decision from a branch-level leader was necessary.
Without the commander’s approval, any action taken by Chief Hong alone would be considered overstepping authority.
‘If I act on my own, I’ll be held responsible later!’
Even if he ordered the staff to move, the entire Foundation wouldn’t follow a mere section chief blindly.
Hong sighed and glared helplessly at the phone.
Just then—
“What are you dawdling for? Why haven’t you issued the deployment orders yet?”
“Rachel!”
Hong’s face lit up at her arrival, mixed with frustration and pleading.
“What am I supposed to do, huh? Why does crap like this keep happening right after I get promoted? And where the hell is the branch head? What do you expect me to do?!”
Normally, he would never show weakness in front of Rachel—but now was not the time to worry about appearances.
And he couldn’t blame himself either. Trauma from the 12/3 incident had him on the brink of panic.
But Rachel didn’t have an immediate solution either.
The absence of the branch heads was critical, but the real problem lay elsewhere.
In the player society, one deeply rooted fundamental principle always interfered:
First Principle: Do not intervene in conflicts between players.
This had always been a limitation.
Unless it was an outright illegal act—like the Second Principle, “Killing fellow players or stealing soul stones is strictly forbidden”—the Foundation could not interfere in player disputes.
And the current situation? Scattered attacks were happening across various communities.
Since it wasn’t clear who was behind it—or even if it was a community dispute—there was no justification to act.
They were bound by the First Principle.
‘If only the branch head were here…’
With branch head authority, they could declare an emergency and suppress the chaos first, before later reporting.
Even though the headquarters would investigate afterward, the immediate situation could be managed.
But with the branch heads absent, it was impossible.
“I wish the branch head were dead…”
“What?!”
“Honestly. Then I wouldn’t have to sit around doing nothing.”
Absurd as it sounded, it was true. In the branch head’s absence, a department head or section chief could temporarily exercise the branch head’s authority.
But now, with no confirmation of his survival, time just dragged on.
The absent person had become an obstacle, blocking even a hint of resolution.
“Damn it. They talk about tough measures, but when it matters, they’re nowhere to be found. What the hell is this?”
Rachel sighed, scratching her neck. She had known from the start that this guy would cause a massive problem someday.
Just not like this.
‘First, figure out what we can do immediately.’
What could she do as the management section chief?
Right now, she had to make the best use of the given situation.
Rachel crossed her arms, deep in thought.
The last instruction from the branch head to management was “Revise the regulations regarding out-players.”
Because of that policy, the range of actions considered illegal had been greatly expanded.
Failure to meet performance, unreported activity, obstruction of official duties—various behaviors were now restricted.
This had caused nationwide discontent, leading to the current chaotic situation. Cooperation from other communities was hard to expect.
While these regulations were the main cause of the chaos…
‘Looking at it another way, it means management now has more room to intervene than before.’
“Yeah…”
“Hmm? What?”
Rachel snapped her fingers, a sudden idea striking her. Hong looked at her, puzzled.
She immediately contacted Kyle.
-
Senior? I’m swamped—why…
“Were traces detected to identify the attackers?”
-
Yes. We identified the culprits. It seems personnel from Halla were behind it…
“Hmm. I see.”
-
Yes… unfortunately.
If this were a normal investigation, knowing the culprit’s identity would have been a relief.
But in a player world bound by the First Principle, knowing the culprit was worse.
If the culprits were players, they couldn’t intervene.
“…According to the rules.”
Rachel’s mind raced.
The branch head’s expansion of the “illegal activity” definition included unreported activities.
Any unreported use of force, especially disguised actions, was illegal under the current strict measures.
‘The first step is set.’
But this alone wasn’t enough.
They had determined the culprits were Halla-affiliated. Each could be apprehended for illegal activity—but that would just result in a foolish attrition war.
‘Catching them one by one is useless. You have to burn the whole hive.’
What they needed was a basis to label Halla itself as a problem group.
Previous strict measures had already set a precedent for treating entire communities as out-players.
Once designated as an out-player group, “suppress first, report later” is allowed despite the First Principle.
“Wait, that means…”
Hong realized something, and Rachel smirked.
“One more confirmation and we can lock them all up.”
The final step: on-site verification.
[Communications at the meeting venue restored! All communities, please coordinate with your representatives…]
Hearing this, Rachel picked up the phone.
-
…Rachel?
“Choi Seong-cheol. You’re at the meeting, right? Community Halla isn’t there?”
Despite the meeting being arranged at Halla’s request, their absence meant…
-
No.
“Exactly.”
A clear violation of an emergency order.
Judging by the composition and movement of the terrorists, it strongly suggested community-level directives.
“This evidence is enough.”
Nothing stood in the way of labeling Halla as an out-player group.
After ending the call with Seong-cheol, Rachel cleared his throat and shouted, using his wave ability:
“Attention, everyone─!!”
His voice cut through the control room, silencing the room.
“Effective immediately, management will take control. Community Halla and its sympathizers are designated out-players and will be apprehended.”
“Wait, but the Rift Containment Division—”
One officer tried to object. Hong interjected:
“Follow the orders of the Management Section Chief.”
“Chief…!”
“The operation has shifted from suppressing a riot to apprehending out-players. This is management’s responsibility.”
Even the hesitant officers nodded.
Rachel continued:
“Right now, what we need is cooperation from other communities.”
With communications with the regional branches down, they had to rely on communities still capable of action.
The problem: within hours, most communities were already nonfunctional.
However, one stronghold remained.
Community Baekwoon, based in Mount Baekwoon, Jeollanam-do.
Despite being secretive, it was sizable, and its current leader remained inside.
For now, it was the only place capable of withstanding the attackers.
But that was just the current situation.
Assassins who had cleared smaller surrounding communities were now converging on Baekwoon, preparing for a siege.
‘For now, Baekwoon is the last line of defense.’
If they held out, it might be possible to regroup surviving communities for a counterattack.
But supporting them was difficult.
Baekwoon was at the southern tip of the region. Even starting immediately, it would take at least four hours.
Whether they could survive alone that long was uncertain.
“What the hell should we do…?”
Bang───!!!!!!
Crash! Boom! Smash!
Suddenly, a section of the headquarters collapsed in a massive explosion.
It was as if hit by a mortar shell.
“Damn it! They’ve already reached here…!!!!”
The attackers had even carried out terrorism at the Foundation HQ.
Rachel rolled up his sleeves, gathering wave energy in his hands.
“Who do they think this is… huh?”
His brow furrowed, teeth gritted, and his eyes narrowed at the figures emerging from the dust.
One massive figure and another silhouette that looked small at first glance.
“Ugh… this is useless. How does Ken even control this?”
Even after causing chaos, he spoke as calmly as ever.
“…Nam Se-hyun, what are you doing?”
“Ah, it’s a bit urgent.”
Sure, it was urgent—but did it really have to be so chaotic?
At this point, nothing surprised them anymore.
He had been causing mayhem for a while.
“What now?”
“Nothing major. I thought you might need my help.”
Help? Not obstruction?
“You’ve been having trouble contacting Baekwoon, right?”
“…!”
Despite barging in unexpectedly, he had pinpointed exactly what was needed. Rachel’s eyes widened.
