Chapter 23 – Heads (Part One)

The mission in Tashkent was much easier compared to the one in Russia.

They dealt with monsters emerging from a single Gate, and the monsters themselves were weaker.

Aside from a few damaged buildings, the operation concluded without any significant harm to the city.

Arriving back at headquarters, an exhausted Il-hyeon stepped off the transport plane.

He was physically drained, having used his ability to its limit and fought against hundreds of monsters.

It wasn’t just Il-hyeon; the entire Alpha Team, filthy and reeking of disinfectant, moved to wash up first.

Although the coats’ purification function had activated, the Smoker’s poison was so potent that even a small amount could be dangerous to ordinary people.

Because of this, even the Awakened, whose bodies were slightly tainted with the toxin, had to be decontaminated.

The team members entered the far right wing of the building.

They opened a door marked ‘Authorized Personnel Only’ with a fingerprint scanner and headed to the fifth floor.

The hallway was lined with their individual personal rooms.

“Ugh! Phew, this smell. I’m heading in first.”

Ghost stretched and opened his door, stepping inside.

“Everyone, wash up and be out within thirty minutes. We have another schedule right after this.”

“Another schedule? Are we heading to another Gate?”

Il-hyeon asked in response to Lee Soo-yeon’s words.

Just as he was wondering why they would bother washing up if they were just going to be deployed again, she answered.

“Not that. It’s not like all we do is mindlessly hunt monsters. Oh, by the way, your room is right over there.”

Lee Soo-yeon smiled and entered her room.

A bewildered Il-hyeon was left alone in the hallway. He walked over to the door she had pointed out.

Then, like the other team members, he placed his thumb on the fingerprint scanner.

Once Il-hyeon’s fingerprint was recognized, the door clicked and opened automatically.

“What is this…?”

A stunned Il-hyeon muttered as he stepped inside.

He’d thought it would just be a simple shower room, since everyone had gone into their own rooms to wash up.

But what greeted him was a spacious area.

A luxurious room reminiscent of a hotel suite lay before him.

It had enough furniture and rooms to live in comfortably, and on one side, there was even a sauna and a large bath.

There was a cooling machine to help with physical recovery, a temporary Ether Sword, and even business cards with his name on them on the executive desk.

Not that he knew if he’d ever use them.

“Hah…”

For a moment, he genuinely thought it might be better to live here than go home, but he quickly shook his head.

He wasn’t the person he used to be; there was no need to live so frugally anymore.

‘Still… this looks like a great place to practice.’

After looking around the room for a while, Il-hyeon stepped into the bath and muttered to himself.

Here, he could freely practice the water manipulation he had only been able to try in bowls or the cramped space of his small bathroom.

He didn’t have much time, but he soaked comfortably and experimented with his ability.

The water gathered and dispersed, forming shapes and even floating gently in the air.

But he couldn’t continue for long and soon stopped.

He was already drowsy, and if he used any more energy, he felt like he might pass out right there in the tub.

Just then, a voice suddenly came from somewhere.

“Too bad. Go on, do a little more. It’s fascinating no matter how many times I see it. Like an upgraded version of telekinesis…”

“Agh!”

Il-hyeon jumped in surprise, splashing water everywhere.

A man’s head was poking out of Il-hyeon’s chest.

It was Ghost.

“Hey, what’s the big deal? We’re both men.”

“That’s not the point!”

Il-hyeon barely managed to calm his racing heart.

He’d been caught completely off guard.

It seemed Ghost was determined to haze the new guy.

Ghost, fully clothed, floated gently up to the ceiling.

“Do you pull these kinds of pranks on everyone else?”

“Well, you don’t just let an ability like this go to waste, do you? Of course I do. I even tried it on Team Leader Lee Soo-yeon once, back when I was new and didn’t know any better. Got caught and beaten to a pulp. Haven’t dared to try it on her since.”

Il-hyeon let out a dry laugh at Ghost’s words.

The guy was crazier than he had imagined.

“Ever tried the women’s bath?”

“If I were an invisible man instead of a ghost, I might have. But no, I’d rather not go to jail.”

“I think what you did before was enough to land you in prison.”

“It’s not like I saw her naked or anything.”

At nineteen, Ghost had been hailed as a genius from the moment he Awakened and had been on a roll, even successfully joining Aegis.

It was Lee Soo-yeon who had given the hot-blooded, immature young man his first taste of the harsh realities of the world.

“Anyway, what are you doing here?”

“I finished washing up and had nothing to do, so I dropped by. Got any questions? I’m taking them now. You have five minutes.”

Ghost said, now hanging upside down from the ceiling like a bat, his legs crossed.

Thinking it was a good opportunity, Il-hyeon asked him a question.

“What is this place? Do we sometimes stay overnight at the company?”

“Not exactly… It’s sort of like a waiting room for the Awakened.”

“A waiting room?”

“We usually use it when there’s an awkward gap between Gates, or like now, when we have a schedule after fieldwork. And… the team leaders tend to use them often, since they’re at headquarters a lot.”

In his common sense, it was far too extravagant to be called a waiting room.

When he first saw this place, he’d wondered how they used such a large building, but the scale was indeed on another level.

“Last time, the J-Team’s leader was living here after a fight with his wife. With his abilities, I just can’t understand why he lets himself be tied down like that.”

Ghost said, clicking his tongue.

He also recommended some of the strong liquor reserved for the Awakened inside the personal rooms and chattered nonstop about what the other teams were up to.

Il-hyeon glanced at the clock, saw that time was running out, and got up.

“Alright, just get out for a second.”

Ghost grumbled and phased through the wall. Il-hyeon finished washing up properly and put on a bathrobe.

“I guess… these are here for me to wear, right?”

Coming out, Il-hyeon looked through the numerous clothes in the closet.

His Defensive Coat, with its waterproof and purification features, was fine, but the clothes he’d worn underneath were all torn and filthy.

He picked out a few outfits he liked and put them on.

The sizes fit him perfectly, as if they had been tailored for him in advance.

After putting on his coat, Il-hyeon grabbed Ghost, who was snacking on things from the fridge, and left the room.

In the hallway stood another man, also wearing a black coat.

“What the, why are you two coming out of the same room? Don’t tell me…”

Jeong Jin-seong, who had been waiting outside, made a disgusted face.

“Ah! Don’t say things that give me goosebumps. Should I go into your room next time?”

“My mistake.”

“The other two have already gone ahead. Please proceed to Conference Room 3.”

A staff member approached the three men in the hallway and said.

Hearing that, Il-hyeon could guess what the remaining schedule was.

“Conference room? You don’t mean…”

“That’s right. The scale of the damage was a bit large this time, so it’s drawn media attention. Of course, they’ll have other things they really want to ask about.”

***

Unlike the quiet corner reserved for the Awakened, the main hallway was a bustling scene of people coming and going.

“Ah, you’re here?”

Behind the conference room, Lee Soo-yeon and Seok Pil-joon looked at the approaching group.

Like Il-hyeon, they had all changed into fresh clothes.

“When does it start?”

“When we walk in.”

As she spoke, Lee Soo-yeon’s gaze shifted to Il-hyeon.

“You’ve seen a press conference a few times, right? It’s not that hard.”

“Of course I’ve seen one. The problem is…”

“Then you’ll be fine. You get used to anything once you’ve been through it.”

Lee Soo-yeon patted his shoulder, then flung open the door and entered the press conference hall.

Swept in along with her, Il-hyeon was greeted by the sound of countless camera shutters filling the hall.

The spacious room was packed with reporters.

And it wasn’t just the familiar-looking Korean reporters; nearly half of them were from foreign press.

Even with Jeong Jin-seong and Lee Soo-yeon right beside him, the reporters’ attention and gazes were all focused on Il-hyeon.

The five of them sat at a long table at the front of the hall, and the press conference began.

An explanation was given about the situation in Irkutsk, Russia, where there had been considerable damage, and a rough estimate of the losses was announced.

Though, of course, it was scaled down several times from the actual damage.

Reporters soon fired off numerous questions, and Jeong Jin-seong calmly answered each one.

“The high-rank monster that has appeared nine times before has appeared again. Were there any changes?”

“There were no significant changes. Its habit of settling underground and multiplying remained the same, as did the importance of an early response. Although it was unavoidable, that is also why the damage was so great this time. However, the increase in the number of the ace monster, the Smoker, is something we will need to monitor.”

“Despite it being a surprise Gate of B1-grade with an activation time of only four minutes, your response was swift. Is there a secret to that?”

“We happened to be passing nearby for another operation, which enabled a quick response.”

Jeong Jin-seong answered concisely, and the reporter who had asked the question followed up.

“But even so, over 200 casualties is a significant amount of damage.”

“That’s correct. Despite luck being on our side, many people were hurt. It seems we need to recognize that the cycle is upon us and exercise caution.”

Up to this point, it was the usual monthly routine.

Now, to move on to the questions they were truly interested in, the reporters’ gazes converged on one spot.

Right on Il-hyeon.