By Zephyria 
—Bang, bang!
Soon after, with two gunshots, Shin Jadu and GoodLuck were killed. Seeing this, Mo Yeon-hu reflexively and quickly hid behind a nearby tree.
‘What is this…?’
It wasn’t that he hadn’t expected Kim Factory to be a spy. In fact, he had suspected it to the point of near certainty. However, the reality unfolding before his eyes was on a completely different level from the vague imagination he had held in his head.
‘What the hell!’
Everything happened in a matter of seconds, leaving him no time to react properly.
—What is going on?!
Of course, those more shocked than Mo Yeon-hu were Shin Jadu and GoodLuck, who had been killed by Kim Factory.
—Was Kim Factory’s ID hacked? Why is he doing this!!
Even after being killed by Kim Factory, Shin Jadu still couldn’t believe the situation.
At that moment, a sharp mechanical sound echoed across the battlefield.
Alliance Emergency Notification
A red notification window flashed at the top of the screen.
📌 Alliance Emergency Notification – Miu 📌
⚠ Alliance Members near the core, assemble at the core immediately.
⚠ If you spot Kim Factory, kill him on sight.
As soon as he grasped the situation, Kwon Mi-eon had immediately posted the emergency notice. The content was concise, but its impact was immense.
—What does this mean?
—What? Why Factory-nim?
—Huh?!
In the instant the voice chat room was thrown into chaos, Kim Factory quietly left the room. Then, as if they had been waiting, Alliance Members flooded into the chat.
—What was that notification just now?
—No, if GoodLuck Hyung and Jadu Hyung died, then could it be….
—What the fuck is happening! Factory is the culprit?!
—Ding! Ding!
—Kim Factory was here until just now. What’s up?
—This person completely left the voice chat room?
—Jadu Hyung-nim, GoodLuck Hyung-nim, why aren’t you answering!
—Ding!
—Where is the Alliance Master?
—Ding!
—Guys, what was that notification? It was sent by mistake, right? A glitch?
—Be honest, who’s playing a prank right now?
—Ding!
—Ding, ding!
—Are we moving to the core? But the attack here is…!
—We can’t move! We have to block the attack!
—Why is the attack suddenly like this…!
The voice chat room was absolute bedlam. Most wanted to head straight to the core, but they seemed tied down at the outer wall, and GoodLuck and Shin Jadu, who should have been leading and calming them, could say nothing. Because.
—The spy… was Kim Factory….
—Ha… Kim Factory isn’t picking up the phone.
Even GoodLuck, who was famous for his strong mental fortitude, stuttered as if he were dumbfounded. Shin Jadu also seemed to be calling Kim Factory privately, perhaps driven by an extreme sense of betrayal, but it appeared he was immediately rejected.
—…Momo-nim, it’s too noisy there… Since it’s practically the same as being in a call with us anyway, would you like to join us over here? I’ll send an invite.
“Ah! Yes! Kwon Mi… no, Miu. My audio is overlapping, so I’ll hang up and enter the voice chat room.”
—I prefer the call, though.
Kwon Mi-eon muttered with a hint of regret, but Mo Yeon-hu immediately hung up and joined the voice chat room via the link Shin Jadu had sent.
—…….
—…….
However, the voice chat room he entered was silent. They needed to devise a way to handle the situation immediately, but the shock of being betrayed by a trusted Alliance Member had paralyzed the two men’s thinking. It was Kwon Mi-eon who broke the silence.
—Yeon-hu Hyung, I see a dot over there, that’s you, right?
“Ah, yeah.”
—What is Kim Factory doing right now?
Kwon Mi-eon asked, having noticed that Mo Yeon-hu was the only Alliance Member left on the scene after Shin Jadu and GoodLuck died.
“He’s just standing still… Why is he just standing there?”
Contrary to the expectation that he would destroy the core immediately, Kim Factory remained motionless. At those words, Shin Jadu let out a sigh and explained.
—He’s waiting for the cooldown so he can attack the building.
“Cooldown?”
—Yes. If you expel an Alliance Member within the Alliance Territory, you can attack each other for 10 seconds immediately after, but after that, attacks are impossible for 3 minutes.
This was a system Mo Yeon-hu was hearing about for the first time. A question immediately arose, and he asked back.
“Then why didn’t Kim Factory detonate the parasitic bomb within those 10 seconds? It would have been the chance to blow up the core….”
Because if you read the description of the parasitic bomb carefully, it said it would explode even if the caster attacked.
—That’s because the attack permission range is limited to users. Immediately upon expulsion, Alliance Territory objects are locked as protected targets for the expelled person for 3 minutes and 10 seconds.
In other words, Kim Factory had neutralized the nuisances, GoodLuck and Shin Jadu, within the 10 seconds where slaughter was permitted. And the reason he wasn’t running away was…….
“Then, he was given about 3 minutes to escape, but instead of escaping… Kim Factory is waiting for the 3 minutes to pass, when the mutual invincibility wears off, to blow up the core?”
—100%~.
Since he could attack Alliance Territory buildings after 3 minutes, it was clear he was waiting for that.
—Then Factory was the one selling the coordinates of the buildings throughout this Siege Warfare~.
—It must have been Factory. No wonder he kept saying he wanted to be in the Resource Squad when we were organizing the teams….
—He’d always been like that, so I didn’t even suspect him.
Shin Jadu’s voice was filled with indignation.
—We all trusted him! Since when? No, why in the first place did a Mage attach himself to the Mechanic side?
—Who knows….
—Ha, no. Then who on earth can we…….
The two of them still seemed unable to return to reality, the shock remaining immense.
—But Momo-nim, you suddenly asked to change Kim Factory to a hostile relationship. Did you happen to know everything? Actually, that’s why I invited you to the voice chat.
“That is.”
Mo Yeon-hu’s lips trembled. He thought he would feel relieved once the spy was found, but hearing the voices of those genuinely upset by the betrayal made it difficult for him to speak.
“I was just suspicious…. Looking at our situation, it seemed like only the Resource Squad, who can move freely, could leak the coordinates, so I just noticed….”
—I guess I was the only one who didn’t know. I feel like this is my fault. I trusted people too much.
Shin Jadu let out a self-deprecating laugh. GoodLuck was also silent for a while.
—Are you two not going to snap out of it?
Just then, Kwon Mi-eon’s cold voice woke them up like a splash of cold water.
—Is this the time for this? The core will blow in 2 minutes. We need to give orders and fix this.
That was right. Now was not the time to be discussing the culprit.
—I’m sorry….
—My apologies!
Since there was essentially a giant landmine called Kim Factory in front of the core, both of them immediately apologized at Kwon Mi-eon’s words and moved.
—For now, both of us are waiting for respawn. The Alliance Members seem to be having a mental breakdown, so I’ll go talk to them.
—Alliance Master~ please protect the core. Looking at how things are going… it seems the Mechanics also know about Kim Factory’s situation.
“Are there any Alliance Members nearby who can come?”
—Looking at the logs, it seems impossible. Right now, the walls are collapsing, Alliance Members are dying, it’s chaos.
—Besides, some of them seem to be just stunning people without killing them? To stall for as much time as possible~.
Because the Mechanic Alliance was launching a fierce offensive, not only were the 47 Alliance Members dying like crazy, but it seemed they were also holding back the remaining personnel to prevent them from reaching the core.
—Honestly, even if they ran now, I think they’d be late~.
Furthermore, the core’s location was almost in the center of the Alliance Territory, so even if the other Alliance Members ran from the outer wall now, they would be slower than Kwon Mi-eon.
—I think I’ll arrive first, so please tell the other Alliance Members to guard the wall well.
In the end, the only person who could move immediately was Kwon Mi-eon.
—……Ah, we’re really fucked. It would be great if we could respawn quickly and provide backup. This is driving me crazy.
—Sigh. I’ll head there with a kit as soon as I respawn. I’ll go to the Alliance Members first~.
—Yes.
As GoodLuck and Shin Jadu left the room where they were talking with Kwon Mi-eon, the surroundings became quiet again. Glancing over, it seemed the two had entered the Resource Squad voice chat room where the Alliance Members were gathered.
—Rustle.
Just then, a scratching sound reached his ears. Mo Yeon-hu immediately focused on the screen. Kim Factory had begun to move. He stealthily hid himself in the thick brush on the opposite side.
‘Did he not see me?’
Since he could no longer see the Alliance GPS, Kim Factory didn’t seem to notice Mo Yeon-hu’s presence behind the tree. Seeing him enter the brush, he would probably hide there until the cooldown ended…….
‘I should tell Kwon Mi-eon immediately that Kim Factory is hiding there.’
He had no intention of just watching. Just as he thought he should share the coordinates immediately.
‘…What is that?’
A gun barrel peeking slightly through the brush. The place it was pointed at was exactly.
‘The parasitic bomb?’
Kim Factory’s intention was clear. As soon as the cooldown ended, he intended to directly hit and detonate the parasitic bomb embedded in the core. Once the parasitic bomb exploded, the core would vanish without a trace.
‘Well… it’ll be fine.’
Anxiety surged as he saw the pitch-black tip of the gun, but Mo Yeon-hu forced himself to suppress it.
‘Kwon Mi-eon is coming anyway. If he arrives and kills Kim Factory as soon as the cooldown is over…… huh?’
However, upon checking the GPS, Mo Yeon-hu realized that the current situation was quite desperate.
‘Why is he so far?’
Kwon Mi-eon’s position was further than expected.
“Kwon Mi-eon. When will you arrive?”
—In about 1 minute and 30 seconds.
“What about a Mount??”
—I’m already riding one.
Mo Yeon-hu’s face turned pale as he cross-referenced the time Kim Factory was expelled and turned into a hostile relationship with the logs.
—I think I’ll arrive almost exactly on time.
The time Kwon Mi-eon arrived overlapped with the time Kim Factory’s cooldown ended.
Moreover, Kim Factory only had to fire the parasitic bomb to end it, but Kwon Mi-eon had to kill him. The conditions themselves were overwhelmingly unfavorable for Kwon Mi-eon.
‘Then, in this situation, the person with a chance to stop Kim Factory in time is…….’
Mo Yeon-hu stared blankly at the GPS. A blinking green dot on the map. The only member of 47 closest to Kim Factory’s gun barrel.
‘Me?’
Who?
‘Me?’
I’m supposed to do that to him?