Chapter 111
Father’s order is to assemble all the leaders who can be summoned immediately in the conference room.
I quickly dressed and arrived at the conference room to find my father and the other officers seated with serious expressions on their faces.
My position, identified by the plaques in front of each seat, was right next to Consigliere.
Without saying a word, I take my seat and wait for the rest of the executives to arrive.
Finally, when all the chairs in the room were filled, my father spoke up.
“──I’m sure you’ve all heard the news, but Corleone is under attack.”
My father begins in a gravelly voice.
“Parnello.”
“Yes Don.”
“Show me what you have.”
Parnello stands up from his seat and keys the remote control.
At the same time, a series of photographs appeared behind him.
There were pictures of men in suits being brought into the facility and I can see the familiar badges on their chests.
“These are pictures of people being quarantined in the basement of the mansion. Most of them started feeling chills, vomiting, and dizziness earlier today, and shortly thereafter began to develop blisters on their skin, and now they’re unconscious. And even worse, they’re…….”
Parnello flips to the next picture.
It showed an eerily familiar scene.
“Area C.”
One of Corleone neighborhoods, made up of Asian immigrants.
It was also where he and Alessia used to patrol.
“We’re in Area C, and we’re starting to see a lot of people with symptoms very similar to theirs, so we’ve quarantined the entire area based on reports from our field agents.”
……They’ve already quarantined the area?
“We currently have two members of our organization on policing duty in Area C. Mikhail Alessia and Latte. They have been unreachable, with reports of a full quarantine of Sector C and that they will check on the situation.”
-Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
He taps his fingers on the table, listening intently, then glances at the officers.
“I’ll allow anyone who has questions, alternatives, or solutions to this situation to speak.”
Consigliere is the first to raise his hand.
“Apparently, the problem is caused by a disease, and that’s why you quarantined Area C?”
He nods.
“Yes, we believe it to be a fairly contagious disease, and while the members of the organization quarantined underground have been treated and stabilized, we don’t know what will happen to Area C. We’re planning to bring in priests and doctors to treat them as soon as we can get things under control.”
Father’s solution wasn’t wrong
The Corleone family donates a huge amount of money to the Catholic Church every year, so if he spoke up, they would definitely send priests to help him with the situation but it would take a lot of money and a lot of time.
That’s why I raised my hand immediately after my father finished speaking.
“……Yes Eugene. Do you have any questions?”
“──No. A solution.”
“What?”
At the mention of a solution, all eyes in the room turn to me.
“What do you mean, a solution?”
Standing up at my father’s question, I glance around the room and point to the picture of Sector C, which is completely unlit.
“The culprit must be Plague, a member of the Villain Alliance, for no one but he could have caused such a phenomenon in such a short time, and so visibly.”
“……Plague.”
I realized this was coming so I pulled a USB out of my cube and handed it to Parnello.
“Plug it in, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
With that, Parnello brought the material I had prepared back to the screen.
Plague’s face and information flashed on the beam projector.
“Villain name Plague. His ability is to transfer pathogens and viruses that he has accumulated in his body. The information about his abilities came from a private source associated with the Villains Alliance, and it is highly reliable.”
It was a lie, of course.
He’s a devious and paranoid villain. As such, very few people knew for sure about his abilities during this time, and very little was revealed.
But I was one of the few who knew more about him than anyone else.
Well, at least for as long as I’ve been playing CS.
So I’m trying to unpack what I know.
‘His personality makes this excuse work.’
Because he hasn’t exposed himself, there’s no one to refute anything I say.
“The disease he’s spreading has a point of origin, which must be dealt with before it can be contained and cured, and his powers are self-reinforcing, growing stronger with time. Stalling for time is……against us.”
With that said, I looked at my father and continued.
“Send in the elite forces of Corleone now, before the disease spreads further. We need to get rid of the plague.”
-Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
He drums his fingers on the table, ponders for a moment, then looks up.
“You mean we should send Corleone troops to a place where the disease is raging?”
“Yes.”
I answer firmly, and he strokes his beard as he continues.
“If we make a mistake, those who go there will also be infected with the disease and may die. Even if, as you say, we can capture Plague, we can’t drive them to the edge. And even if we do, we can’t just throw our people into a place where we don’t know what the aftermath will be. I’d rather-”
I’d rather go alone.
His muttered words caused the other officers to jump to their feet and stare at him.
“What are you talking about, boss!”
“It’s ridiculous that Don himself is going!”
“We’d rather go ourselves!”
“I’m absolutely against sending Don!”
At this, father gently raised his hand to silence the others.
Surely an Awakened of his caliber would be immune to most plagues by using his aura but in an emergency like this, the absence of the highest decision-maker in the organization would only cause more problems.
So──
“I’ll go.”
I said, raising my hand as if it were no big deal.
At this, his eyes snapped back to me.
“You mean you’ll go, Eugene?”
“Yes Don. I’ll go.”
“It is impossible. Didn’t I just say, how can I send you there?”
“I’ve already made all the arrangements.”
“……what?”
──knock ── knock
At the same time, a knock sounded from outside the conference room, and a moment later, Han Seo-Joon, carrying a bunch of boxes, entered the conference room and set them down on the table in front of us.
“I’ve got all the things you asked for, Master.”
“Thanks for the trouble. You can leave now.”
“Okay.”
After Han Seo-Joon left, I opened the box and took one of the ‘things’ out of it and showed it to my father.
“……What is that?”
“It’s a gas mask.”
A gas mask covering only the lower part of my face was my secret weapon for situations like this.
“No way, you’re going to head to Area C with just a gas mask? You know that if what you’re saying is true, the disease can’t be completely prevented by such an item.”
My father was right, the diseases caused by Plague power could not be warded off by ordinary gas masks or masks.
They’re effective, but they’re not foolproof.
This is why, even in the game, the bioterrorism of Plague was always feared.
──But.
If I had this, the story would be different.
“‘This is an item made of sandalwood charcoal, then condensed and placed in a filter. With it, you can be completely free from Plague’s abilities.”
This was a recipe I figured out during my time playing the game, and it was an item I created to counter Plague.
It’s called the Simple Disease Immunity Mask.
It’s an item I created in a fit of rage after being busted by Plague while playing around with various concepts, and it’s the item that made me a household name in the CS community.
[Title: I made this item because I was humiliated by Plague]
[Author: Dark Lord of the Underworld]
[Title: I made an item because I’m sick of getting fucked over by plague. I don’t understand why they made a setting that says you can’t use a mask to block a disease created by an ability.]
I stayed up for 5 nights looking for a recipe to make this, but I’m sharing it because I want at least one less player to die.
“Sandalwood Charcoal + Priests’ Blessing + Gas Mask”
[The effect is immediate and the user becomes completely immune to most diseases and respiratory poisons.
The disadvantage is that you have to change it because it’s a filter method? But the cost-effectiveness is great, so try to make it once…]
[ㅇㅇ : 엥? Those things make you immune to diseases and poisons? Then the cost-effectiveness is affected]
[YoriKingAmassingKing: Schweitzer from C-gal appears ㅋㅋㅋ]
[ㅇㅇ : I just made it, and it’s a great value for money. If you have full immunity to respiratory poisons and diseases with these ingredients, you can eat it cheaply…]
[└HotDogCoolDog : How frustrating, you’re creating an item but the reason is to kill Plague lol No, that’s why you killed Plague?]
[└Dark Lord of the Underworld: I strangled him with a rubber band]
[└HotDogCoolDog : Is he crazy or was that a real pansy play ㅋㅋㅋ]
[└A : Look at his level of insanity ㅋㅋ]
[└ал : pansman ㅋㅋㅋ]
‘CS Schweitzer’.
I was even called the ‘CS Medicine Prize’ and praised.
The effectiveness of the product was obvious so I wondered if this could be made in real life, but I was glad it was a game.
“…… When the hell did you start making stuff like this?”
My dad asked, touching the gas mask a few times and realizing it wasn’t something that could be made in a short amount of time.
“I saw that Plague guy post his declaration of war video, and I’ve been preparing since then. I apologize for not telling you beforehand.”
To say the least, I never thought he’d do something like this.
Not against another organization, not against another district, but against Corleone district.
It’s a good thing I remembered his personality from the game and prepared myself for him to do something weird, or I’d be in real trouble.
“No, no. It’s more our fault for letting our guard down.”
He stands up, picks up the masks in the box, and begins to examine them.
“So, how many do you have?”
“We were pressed for time, so we only made enough for 50.”
“Do you have a plan for going in?”
“Well, seeing as nothing unusual is happening anywhere else but Area C, I think there’s either the Plague itself or something spreading the disease in Area C. I’d like to take that out first.”
Presumably, the members of the underground quarantine organization were infected when they went out with father to hunt down Plague.
If you look at that, it’s probably Area C.
That’s where the culprit was likely to be.
“……You’re really going to go?”
“Yeah.”
Because I didn’t think there was anyone better suited for the job than me.
If I wanted to save the people in Sector C, I had to go now.
“……Yes.”
As if reading my desperation, he tossed the gas mask in his hand to me and looked at the officers around him.
“I’m going to delegate this entire operation to Eugene Han Corleone. Any objections?”
“””None.”””
“Unanimously. Eugene Han Corleone is hereby declared in charge of this operation.”
He puts his hand on my shoulder.
“Be safe.”
Not wanting to worry my father, who was looking at me with worried eyes, I smiled brightly and replied.
“I’ll be back.”
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