Ghost was reviewing the mission roster when she turned to Hae-eun.

“Where’s Shylock? I don’t see him on here.”

At the mention of his name, Shylock’s wrinkled lips curled into a smirk.

“Hah!” he barked. “That beating you gave me ten years ago, Ghost, left me in no shape for fieldwork.”

He tapped a long scar on his forehead with a fingertip before looking back at Hae-eun.

“I’ll run the on-site command post and provide support. The commander will have her hands full with the double-booking, so I’ll take charge of the Product Transport Team.”

Hae-eun smiled and nodded, as if this had already been arranged. “I’m counting on you, Shylock.”

“However… assign me a decent assistant. With the rest of the team deployed, I’ll be short-handed.”

“Got it. In that case…” Hae-eun hummed thoughtfully. “Let’s see… anyone here with a good head on their shoulders?”

“Ah, um…” Jae-hee Han cautiously raised his hand. “If you don’t mind someone who talks a little funny… could I recommend a friend?”

***

“So that’s why I got dragged out here desu…?” Status Window muttered, looking less than thrilled.

Jae-hee gripped his friend’s shoulder and nodded emphatically.

“I got stuck on a team with those scary mafia types all by myself! You won’t have to be on the front lines. Just stick with the old man, keep an eye on things, and help me out!”

“That old man scares me too… What help could I be desu? I think I’ll just head back—”

Just then, Hae-eun’s voice carried over as she addressed the other prisoners.

“The base reward for this mission is 300,000 Credits. Each team that completes its objective gets an additional 200,000. If we pull off the double-booking without getting caught, that’s another 200,000 on top.”

“…”

Status Window’s ears perked up. He turned back to Jae-hee with a benevolent smile and nodded.

“How could I refuse a friend’s request desu? You can count on me desu, Boy-kun!”

“Thanks, Window! You’re the best!”

Hae-eun continued, appointing the team leaders.

“Jail Mojik will lead the Monster Suppression Team. Romeo will lead the Product Transport Team.”

Romeo gave a silent nod, and his partner, Juliet, shot him a deadpan thumbs-up.

Jail Mojik, however, looked far from confident. “Me? The Suppression Team leader? Commander, I’ve been feeling off ever since the last mission.”

“Your condition doesn’t matter. Just give good orders. The only criterion for a team leader is the ability to give orders.”

And as the leader of Deck 2, she couldn’t exactly refuse. Realizing she was stuck, Jail Mojik reluctantly accepted.

“All right, we’re short on time, so I’ll brief you on the specifics while we’re en route to Daegu. Oh, and one more thing!”

Hae-eun pointed a finger at Jae-hee. “Boy, you asked me something earlier, didn’t you? ‘Is this okay?’”

She was referring to the question he’d asked about the double-booking.

Jae-hee nodded, bewildered, and Hae-eun winked, her scarred face somehow charming.

“It’s ‘Okay Dokay’!”

“Huh?”

“That’s the mission name.”

Spreading her arms wide, she announced it one more time for good measure.

“Mission Name: ‘Okay Dokay’! Move out!”

It was another one of her atrocious jokes.

His head spinning from the commander’s consistent, terrible taste, Jae-hee let out a small sigh and glanced to the side.

He was horrified by what he saw—Ghost and Shylock, both struggling to suppress their laughter.

No way… They actually like this kinda thing?

And so, with the full support of the middle-aged and elderly contingent, Mission: Okay Dokay began.

Thwup-thwup-thwup-thwup—

A transport packed with convicts lifted off from the deck of the prison cruise.

***

Inside the transport’s cargo hold, everyone was checking their equipment. Jae-hee, too, received his new gear.

“Boy! Delivery from Grease Gal.”

“I’ve been waiting for this!”

He received a sheath designed for his shortsword, Mountain Child. It had a trigger on the side and a fixture for attaching a cord.

Jae-hee tied the cord to the sheath, then fastened the other end to the pommel of his sword.

With hilt and sheath now connected, he slid the hilt into the sheath’s opening, seating it upside down. The blade jutted out from the top, ready to be launched.

“Now, if I pull the trigger! Bang!”

“So you shoot the shortsword?”

“Yep! And then I just reel in the cord to retrieve it! Like this.”

Ghost scrunched her brows. “When would you ever use this?”

“For a surprise attack in an emergency! A sudden bang! would be effective, don’t you think?”

“In an emergency, you’re going to draw your sword, flip it over, stick the hilt back in the sheath, aim at the enemy, and then pull the trigger?”

“Uh.” Jae-hee stroked his chin, thinking. “A bit complicated, maybe…?”

“You’d be better off just carrying a backup pistol.”

“No guns!” Jae-hee declared with grim determination. “Hybrid builds are the mark of weakness! You gotta go all-in on one stat to avoid being a bricked character. I went with the sword tree, so I have to keep dumping all my points into sword stats!”

“…Who fed you this bull?”

“My buddy Window!”

Status Window, who had been listening nearby, nodded as if proud of his pupil, pleased that Jae-hee had remembered his advice from the auction house.

Ghost pressed her fingertips to her forehead.

“Reality isn’t a game, Kid. While it’s true that sticking to one path without distraction is the surest way to reach the top, there’s nothing wrong with using other tools if you need them.”

“Oh, really?” Jae-hee scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

“I honestly thought you’d say the opposite, Master. Something like, ‘Don’t you dare touch anything but a sword! What is this secondary gadget?!’”

“What kind of boomer do you take me for?” Ghost clicked her tongue. “I believe in using any tool that proves useful.”

“Then why do you only use a sword, Master?”

“Because the sword is the King of All Weapons, the finest of all arms. Why on earth would you use anything else?”

“…”

Realizing she’d let her true, old-fashioned self slip out, Ghost cleared her throat. 

“Ahem! Anyway… I doubt it’s practical for a surprise attack, but you could probably use it to throw your shortsword at monsters from a distance.”

“Oh, you think it’ll work?”

“That shortsword is Gate Gear. It’ll do a hell of a lot more damage to a monster than a regular bullet.”

As they were discussing the new equipment, Hae-eun entered the cargo hold, shouting, “Everyone ready for deployment? Good. We’ll be arriving in Daegu shortly. I’ll explain the plan before we get there.”

A beam projector mounted in the hold cast an image onto the wall.

“This is a schematic of the entity designated ‘Crying-X.’”

The image was ridiculously simple: a small nucleus floating inside a large circle.

Jae-hee muttered, looking unconvinced. “It really does look like… a balloon.”

“It’s not like a balloon. It is a balloon,” Hae-eun explained.

The monster, Crying-X, possessed the ability to inflate its body. It was currently in its inflated state; the small, nucleus-like object at its center was its true form.

“Normally, it can only inflate to about ten meters. This time? It seems to have gotten a little carried away.”

Hae-eun slapped her fist into her other palm.

“In other words, if we hit it with a strong enough external shock, the shell will deflate like a popped balloon. Then we can retrieve the main body.”

Listening to the explanation, Jae-hee frowned. It sounded less like a giant monster and more like one of those inflatable mascots they put up for a store’s grand opening.

“A simple structure means a simple plan!”

Hae-eun clapped her hands once and pointed a finger at the Monster Suppression Team.

“Step one! The Suppression Team pops the balloon.”

Her finger then swung toward the Product Transport Team.

“Step two! The Transport Team grabs the body and runs.”

Finally, she pointed at herself.

“Step three! The commander is happy.”

“…”

The plan was almost insultingly crude, but that was really all there was to it.

The Suppression Team would unleash its firepower to break the monster’s shell. 

The Transport Team would then retrieve the main body from the shrunken creature.

The Suppression Team would submit the destroyed shell to the Gate Defense Bureau as proof of completion, while the Transport Team would deliver the retrieved body to the mayor of Daegu.

“The situation is changing by the second, so I’ll give detailed instructions on-site. For now, just keep this three-step strategy in mind.”

A map appeared on the screen. The location of Crying-X was marked with a red dot on the western outskirts of Daegu. A new, blue dot appeared to its north.

“We’ll land at the blue point and set up a temporary command post. I’ll command the Suppression Team remotely, and Shylock will command the Transport Team.”

Thwup-thwup-thwup…

Jae-hee could feel the transport descending. They were nearing the operation point.

Hae-eun quickly wrapped up.

“The Product Transport Team will switch to ground vehicles and execute their mission from there. The Monster Suppression Team will remain on the transport and continue the operation from the air. No questions! Prioritize on-site directives. That is all!”

Ghost patted Jae-hee on the back before heading over to the Suppression Team.

Status Window gave him a little “See ya later desu!” and waddled over to where Hae-eun and Shylock were conferring.

“…”

Jae-hee looked nervously toward the Product Transport Team.

The four scary-looking mafia types in leather coats were whispering among themselves before they all turned to glare at him in unison.

“Eek…” His eyes watered as he whimpered, “Why is it only me…?!”

***

Thwup-thwup-thwup-thwup—

The transport landed, and everyone disembarked except for the five members of the Monster Suppression Team.

Hae-eun, Shylock, and Status Window prepared to issue commands from the temporary command post.

The Product Transport Team switched to ground vehicles to approach the monster, while the Monster Suppression Team would continue by air.

Having landed only briefly, the transport lifted off again. The target was not far.

“…There it is,” Ghost murmured quietly.

On the outskirts of the city, which had been turned into a sea of fire, stood a colossal, round, lion-like creature.

Aside from its immense size—nearly a hundred meters tall—it looked so round and cuddly, like a children’s character, that it didn’t feel particularly threatening.

“I’ve never seen such a cute monster before…!” Bookworm exclaimed, pressing her glasses right up against the transport’s window.

“Looks like it would pop if you just poked it. Did they really need to send us?” Jail Mojik said, her voice relaxed.

“Just get us close. I’ll smash it in one hit,” Powerbomb muttered, cracking his knuckles.

As he spoke, the transport circled, drawing closer to the airspace above the monster.

That’s when it happened.

“…?”

As the transport entered its range, the stuffed-lion-like monster’s face snapped toward them.

Its round, button-like eyes betrayed no thought as they fixed on the aircraft.

“…Is that thing,” Ghost began, a note of unease in her voice, “looking at us?”

Slowly, the monster’s enormous mouth began to creak open.

“Warrrgh…”

The very air seemed to tremble, and the sky fell silent.

Then, a ferocious breath attack blasted from Crying-X’s gaping maw.

“WRAAAAAAAAAAH!”

FWOOSH!

“…?”

Watching the massive torrent of flame hurtle toward them, Jail Mojik muttered a single, deadpan line.

“They didn’t mention this.”

WHOOOOOSH!

The pillar of fire consumed the transport completely.

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