Chapter 103 – The Assault (Part Three)

Kicked out of the room so Song Jun-ho and Cha Yeon-hee could have a “serious talk,” Il-hyeon awkwardly scratched his head.

“What on earth are they planning to do…?”

“It probably won’t be a pleasant sight.”

Jeong Jin-seong, who had come out into the hallway with him, shrugged his shoulders.

He knew that with matters like this, it was best to just leave it to the professionals.

Il-hyeon, after a moment of unease, decided to drop the subject as well.

He’d heard the man was involved not just in illegal distribution and smuggling, but also kidnapping and human trafficking. He had no desire to discuss human rights with someone like that.

The two began to walk, planning to sweep the entire factory building to see if they had missed anything. Il-hyeon, looking at the boxes lining the hallway, spoke first.

“How did they manage to gather this many cores?”

“Oh, right. You can see Ether. What’s the condition of the cores?”

“There are no low-rank cores. They’re almost all C-rank… D-rank at the lowest.”

Given the sheer volume filling the hallway, even a stash of E or F-rank cores would be worth a considerable amount. But these cores were in a different league entirely, and mixed in were even some that looked to be B-rank.

“Hmm… is that so? Then the criminal organizations that have teamed up must have emptied their coffers to scrape this together. Though I have to wonder what they’re planning, considering money has always been their top priority.”

“Huh?”

Il-hyeon suddenly stopped in his tracks.

‘Wait…’

“What are you staring at?”

Jeong Jin-seong asked, noticing Il-hyeon gazing blankly in one direction.

His eyes were completely fixed on one of the identical-looking boxes.

Even as his companion spoke, Il-hyeon couldn’t tear his gaze away, stammering out a question.

“Uh… what’s going to happen to all the cores here?”

“Normally, the US federal government would confiscate them, but we have an agreement with them. Since we handled this case, they’ll be recognized as Aegis property.”

“I’ll still get my separate allowance for this, right?”

“Of course.”

Jeong Jin-seong looked at him, slightly bewildered, as Il-hyeon asked the obvious.

When dispatched on special assignments like this, agents are paid a separate salary by the company since they can’t acquire monster cores.

“Then, if it’s deducted from my pay, a few cores should be fine, right?”

“Well, yeah. Did you find something?”

“No, it’s not that…”

Il-hyeon trailed off, approaching the box he’d been eyeing.

It was quite heavy, but naturally, it was no problem for an Awakened. He carefully pulled one box from the stack, making sure not to topple the others.

“Ah… found a core with a pretty high output, did you?”

Jeong Jin-seong said, as if he finally understood.

But it wasn’t just “pretty high.”

*Click!* The box opened, and Il-hyeon was inwardly stunned by the sight.

‘Who the hell are these guys?’

A single box was filled to the brim with A-rank cores.

Il-hyeon hesitated, his mouth practically watering at the sight.

He thought he’d developed a fair amount of self-control, but right now, he was hit with an impulse as strong as when he’d first seen a core.

With such an immense amount of Ether right in front of him, it felt like he’d stumbled upon a chest of gold bars while walking down the street.

“Haha, I haven’t been able to absorb any cores lately…”

Feeling Jeong Jin-seong’s gaze on him, Il-hyeon forced a smile, the corners of his lips twitching awkwardly.

Unless you were Il-hyeon, there was no way to tell a core’s rank without equipment. And once it was consumed, there was no way to confirm its rank, even with a machine.

In other words, he could devour every single core here.

His conscience pricked him slightly, but faced with such a treasure trove, Il-hyeon’s Predation ability was furiously stoking his instincts. In the end, instinct triumphed over reason.

* * *

“Damn it, I ate too much.”

Il-hyeon muttered, shaking his head.

He had absorbed dozens of A-rank cores.

The densely compressed Ether wasn’t just circulating through his body; it felt like it was filled up to his chin.

Maybe it was because he was on a transport plane, but the constant rattling of the aircraft was making him feel sick.

Seeing his state, Cha Yeon-hee, who was in the middle of a mission briefing, asked gently.

“Mr. Il-hyeon, you were listening, right?”

“O-Of course.”

Their destination was a secret facility in Monterrey, Mexico.

Now that they had solid intelligence, all that was left was to raid the place.

However, according to the plan she’d laid out, they weren’t just going to break the barrier and charge in from the outside.

If they launched a direct assault, key figures could escape during the battle to secure the facility, or they could shred confidential documents and destroy the facility to leave no evidence behind.

Simply destroying this one location wouldn’t be the end of them, so securing more important targets first was the key.

That was why they were flying with the smuggler’s vehicle loaded entirely onto a large transport plane. The plan was to enter the facility in three trucks loaded with Ether, just as the smugglers usually did.

The top priority was to infiltrate from the inside, secure the unidentified research team mentioned in the smuggler’s testimony, the machine that creates Awakened, and any other important organizational intelligence, and only then, clean up the rest.

“We’re about to arrive. Everyone, get in your vehicles.”

Three trucks were parked inside the massive transport. Markus and Song Jun-ho got into the lead vehicle, Cha Yeon-hee and Il-hyeon into the second, and Jeong Jin-seong into the last.

To avoid suspicion, they had all changed their faces using Il-hyeon’s ability and were dressed in casual clothes, without any gear or Defensive Coats.

Just as Il-hyeon was about to get into the vehicle, someone poked him in the back.

“Do you know how to drive a truck?”

“Ah… right.”

Il-hyeon, who had unthinkingly opened the driver’s side door, gave an embarrassed smile and stepped aside.

He had a standard commercial license, but he’d never actually driven a truck before.

He was even less confident with a truck this size, especially one pulling a trailer.

Cha Yeon-hee, on the other hand, was a skilled operator who could handle not only various vehicles but also helicopters with ease.

As Il-hyeon walked around to the passenger side and got in, Cha Yeon-hee, now behind the wheel, spoke to him.

“We’ll have to fight soon… Are you capable of killing a living person? It’s a pretty different feeling from killing monsters.”

“I’ve already had that experience.”

“Really? That’s surprising.”

After the first terror attack, he had killed one of the culprits while defending the station.

He hadn’t ended the man’s life directly—the man had been cleanly obliterated by a train—but he had attacked with the full knowledge that he would be hit.

Intrigued, Cha Yeon-hee asked him again.

“How was it? Your first time.”

“It was… nothing.”

“Hmm, that’s rare. I couldn’t sleep for three days.”

She said with a low laugh, as if recalling an amusing memory.

Il-hyeon, on the other hand, felt strangely numb about it, to the point where he found himself odd.

He had always considered himself a moral person in that regard, even if his daily conduct wasn’t perfect. Thinking back on it now gave him a strange feeling.

Just then, Cha Yeon-hee pulled a pistol from her coat and screwed a long silencer onto the end of the barrel.

Watching the suppressor twist on with a series of clicks, Il-hyeon asked.

“Why bring a gun?”

“Even for an Awakened, nothing beats this when dealing with people. Not all our opponents will be Awakened. Want one?”

“No… I’m fine.”

*Thud!*

At that moment, the transport plane reached its destination, rapidly descending and landing on the ground.

The large rear door opened up and down, and the three trucks rolled out one by one.

The vehicle driven by Markus went first, leading the way.

“There’s no chance our friend will suddenly betray us, is there?”

“The possibility isn’t zero… but that’s a risk we have to take. For now, we have no choice but to trust and follow him.”

Cha Yeon-hee turned the steering wheel sharply.

The vehicles, which had been on a road, soon came upon a closed-off forest.

A checkpoint blocked the entrance, preventing both vehicles and people from passing. When Markus showed something, the guard let them through without a word.

As they drove deeper into the woods, they were greeted by a forest so polluted and rotten it was nauseating just to look at.

“Ugh… this is bad.”

“Tell me about it. It certainly looks like a place no one would want to enter.”

Cha Yeon-hee, however, was grinning as if she was enjoying herself, leisurely looking out at the scenery.

After chasing her target using every method imaginable, seeing it right before her eyes could only be a good thing.

After driving some way through the forest, which was contaminated by monster miasma, their surroundings suddenly began to shimmer.

Soon, the completely corrupted forest vanished without a trace, replaced by a normal-looking one. Right in front of them stood a high chain-link fence and a large facility.

Markus’s truck in the lead had stopped right at the facility’s entrance, where numerous armed organization members stood guard.

Among them, a particularly rough-looking man approached the first truck and spoke to Markus.

“You’re a little late.”

“No need to be so strict over two minutes, is there?”

“I’ll let it slide since it’s the first time, but if this keeps up, it’ll become a problem of trust. Then we’ll have no choice but to terminate our deal.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. The border checkpoints have been tight lately, so it couldn’t be helped this time.”

Markus said, trying his best to sound composed.

A single drop of cold sweat trickled down his right temple, but fortunately, no one noticed it except for Song Jun-ho, who was watching Markus’s every little move from the passenger seat beside him.

“Check the cargo.”

The rough-looking man said, turning to look behind him.

The organization members approached the three parked trucks and began to check them, opening each of the cargo containers.

Inside were boxes full of cores and various food supplies.

Not content with just checking the cargo, a few of them also gave the faces of Il-hyeon and Cha Yeon-hee in the front seats a quick scan.

But since they had already disguised themselves as Markus’s crew, the guards didn’t find anything unusual.

“No test subjects this time?”

“The people are for the next delivery.”

At Markus’s reply, the rough-looking man sniffed and slammed the cargo door shut.

Then he slapped the side of the trailer with his palm and shouted.

“Alright, pass!”

As the rough-looking man stepped back, the others also moved away from the trucks and dispersed.

Markus let out a sigh of relief and was about to quickly step on the accelerator when Song Jun-ho reached down and stopped his arm.

“Slow and steady. Don’t rush.”

Markus swallowed hard and nodded.