Chapter 34 – Questions (Part Two)

The gray space regained its color.

The frozen world began to move again; only the man with half his head blown off and the imminent explosion remained suspended.

“What the hell!”

Startled by the unexpected explosion, the Aegis team members all retreated.

Although some time had passed since Jeong Jin-seong had frozen the space with his ability, to them, it felt as if no time had passed at all.

Il-hyeon looked around, trying to grasp what was suddenly happening.

Jeong Jin-seong had one arm outstretched.

He gestured with his eyes and said,

“Go on ahead.”

“…Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

Lee Soo-yeon asked worriedly.

It was difficult to gauge its exact power, and judging by the red energy about to explode, it was no ordinary threat.

“Of course. You think something like this could hurt me?”

he replied with a smirk.

An ordinary explosion couldn’t even scratch him.

Besides, he was wearing the new model Defensive Coat, so there was no way it would be a problem.

Il-hyeon’s eyes widened at the sight of the swelling explosion, frozen like a photograph.

‘Is this the ability I’ve only heard about?’

Despite being on the same team, he had never seen Jeong Jin-seong’s ability in person.

It was a powerful ability, but it required him to stand perfectly still, so he never felt the need to use it against ordinary enemies.

More importantly, since joining Aegis, he had yet to encounter an enemy strong enough to require both Lee Soo-yeon and Jeong Jin-seong to fight together.

“Hm? When did you guys get here?”

Il-hyeon said, looking at the creatures squeaking beside him.

Two of the mice he had summoned had returned at some point and were now perched on either of his shoulders.

He was slightly bewildered that he hadn’t sensed their approach, even though they were his own summons.

It was downright eerie.

“Alright, everyone, pull back! Get going before you drain my energy.”

Jeong Jin-seong said, looking around at his team members.

At his word, the two teams, excluding him, began to move out of the blast radius.

“Hah, those disgusting bastards.”

Lee Soo-yeon seethed.

She didn’t know what kind of trash organization was behind this, but any group that would pull a stunt like this on their own member’s head was clearly insane.

“Did they plant an explosive in his head?”

Seok Pil-joon, who had been running alongside them, stopped and asked once they had put some distance between them.

But Lee Soo-yeon shook her head.

“No, even for an Ether bomb, it’s impossible for something so small to emit that much energy. It’s probably an ability from one of their Awakened. A B-rank or higher, at least.”

With her exceptional senses, she could roughly gauge the power of the suspended explosion just from the energy it was emitting.

“If they have a B-rank Awakened, they must be a fairly large organization… In that case, there can’t be many candidates, right?”

“Right.”

She nodded.

Considering they possessed a high-ranking Awakened and items that were strictly forbidden worldwide, it was highly likely the work of an international criminal organization.

“The problem is, none of the potential candidates have a plausible motive for doing something like this.”

Even the IRC, the largest and most prominent international Awakened criminal organization, had always taken great care not to provoke Aegis or the governments of a few powerful nations.

It was obvious they were no match, and there was simply nothing to gain by picking a fight.

But to suddenly start interfering with Gate defenses around the world, indiscriminately?

It was absurd.

Setting aside the manpower and money invested, it was tantamount to declaring war on every Awakened corporation and government in the world.

And it wasn’t as if they stood to gain anything from it.

“Then is it a terrorist group?”

Ghost muttered.

The only ones who would commit such a bold act without pursuing profit were terrorist groups.

“I don’t know…”

The problem was, terrorist groups around the world had been wiped out long ago.

With the threat of Gates, unlike in the past, leaving terrorist groups unchecked was too risky; there was no telling what they might do amidst the chaos.

This was before anti-Awakened weapons even existed, and the international community had deployed a massive number of Awakened from all over the world to completely eradicate them.

Ever since, any budding signs were thoroughly stamped out, and it was believed that no faction capable of such an act existed.

“Well, it’s not impossible that one has resurfaced.”

“Anyway, they messed with us, so they need to be taught a lesson. I’m too pissed off to let this slide.”

Ghost said, displeased.

They had suffered in more ways than one because of the analysis errors whose cause they hadn’t known.

Beyond the daily schedules getting thrown into disarray, several dangerous incidents had occurred during missions.

Other teams even had members with long-term injuries, and they ended up grilling the innocent analysis team for it.

“Of course, we will. The jammer is intact, so if we hand it over to the analysis team…”

*BOOM!*

A deafening roar erupted from behind them as a violent explosion went off.

It seemed Jeong Jin-seong had checked his GPS and released his ability.

But there was a problem.

“Ugh! What is this?”

The team members’ faces contorted as they tumbled to the ground.

The aftershock reached all the way to where they stood, sending shrapnel flying and shaking the ground.

The scale of the explosion far exceeded their expectations.

“Goddammit!”

Lee Soo-yeon rushed ahead first, with the other team members following behind her.

‘This is definitely not B-rank level…!’

She bit her lip hard.

Everyone had let their guard down.

An unheard-of ability that planted something in a person’s head and detonated it.

They had naturally assumed it wouldn’t be very powerful.

If it had enough power to threaten even them, it made no sense that neither the ability nor its user was known until now.

But the impossible had just happened.

As they rounded the building, Jeong Jin-seong came into view.

“Are you okay…!”

Lee Soo-yeon couldn’t finish her sentence.

He was in a terrible state.

Thrown by the blast, he lay amidst the rubble of a shattered building, blood trickling from his head.

His Defensive Coat was completely destroyed and sparking, and his right arm was covered in noticeably severe burns.

“I’m fine. No… it stings a little.”

Jeong Jin-seong said from within the wreckage, glancing down at his arm.

Seeing him like that, Lee Soo-yeon’s expression hardened.

She put a hand to her communicator and spoke harshly.

“Get the transport down here, now!”

* * *

“Send the scene reconstruction results to the analysis team as soon as they’re out. Make sure to keep a tight lid on this internally so no useless rumors spread. It won’t go to the media, but leaks are the problem.”

“Understood!”

The staff moved about busily.

After Jeong Jin-seong’s injury, Aegis headquarters was in an uproar.

Not only was it revealed that the jammer was the cause of all the recent analysis errors, but one of Aegis’s team leaders had fallen into a trap set by the organization behind it.

It was a difficult story to accept.

All internal personnel were being mobilized to find out who was behind this and why.

Lee Soo-yeon walked around emanating a murderous aura, and unsettling rumors about a mysterious new hostile force began to circulate.

The other teams at Aegis were also on high alert after hearing the news.

A hospital room in Aegis headquarters.

Jeong Jin-seong lay on the bed, blinking his drowsy eyes.

A man knocked before opening the door and walking in.

“How are you feeling?”

Ryu Jin-tae, the head of Aegis and one of only four S-rank Awakened in the world.

He was one of the three legendary figures who had saved the world from crisis in the harsh environment of the past when the Gates first opened.

Now in his late thirties, faint wrinkles were etched on his face.

“Well… I think I’m okay.”

Jeong Jin-seong greeted his visitor with a long yawn.

He didn’t think his injuries were that serious.

He had experienced injuries like this countless times during his life as an Awakened.

To be honest, it was the first time since becoming an A-rank, but he didn’t want to make a big deal out of a few burns.

“You don’t look fine at all.”

“Haha, are all the test results in?”

“Your right arm will need at least six months to fully recover. Active duty is obviously out of the question.”

Ryu Jin-tae said, looking down at his arm.

His right arm, where the Defensive Coat’s protective function had shattered first, had sustained the most severe injuries.

“Then two weeks should be enough.”

Jeong Jin-seong said with a grin.

Even among Awakened of the same class, his recovery rate was remarkably fast.

“I wish that were the case. For now, don’t worry about anything and just get some rest. I’ll have everything sorted out in the meantime.”

“Understood. It’s been a while since I had a vacation.”

He said, shifting his body, and quietly gazed out the window.

He could see countless people coming and going even now.

“Sir, do you have any idea who might be behind this?”

A never-before-seen type of ability with absurd power.

Ryu Jin-tae hesitated for a moment at Jeong Jin-seong’s question.

Then, he shook his head.

“No, not at all.”

“Hmm, I can’t get a read on it either. By the way…”

Jeong Jin-seong, who had been looking out the window, slowly turned his head to look at Ryu Jin-tae.

“There’s one thing you should know.”