Chapter 142 – The Enemy Within (Part Four)

*Crack!*

“Kuhk!”

The man, thrown back by the powerful impact, rolled across the floor.

The last blow had completely shattered his coat, and a large, dark blade was now embedded in his right leg.

He had tried to use his mental confusion ability during the fight, but it was useless.

Oh Yoon-ha was known to have the strongest resistance to special powers among all the Awakened in the world. Her very constitution effortlessly nullified most mental abilities, even without her conscious effort.

His three other comrades were already dead, their hearts and lungs pierced by four or five blades each.

The man gave up resisting and lowered his head.

The monster before him was on a completely different level.

“J-just kill me.”

“I will, you don’t have to rush me. But not right now. We have plenty of time.”

Oh Yoon-ha walked up to the man and delivered a kick to his abdomen.

As he collapsed, convulsing, she grabbed him by the hair and began dragging him away.

The man’s side was already pierced, blood oozing out, leaving a long red trail on the floor wherever she dragged him.

“Including you, all four of you seem to be at least on the cusp of A-Rank… Who the hell are you? I knew you were crazy for pulling something like this, but you’re no ordinary lunatics.”

Unnamed Awakened, their faces, names, and even their abilities completely unknown.

Yet, they possessed enough power that in most countries, they would struggle to find an Awakened stronger than themselves.

It was just their terrible luck who they ran into this time; a single team from Aegis or the Response Team couldn’t guarantee victory against these four.

“……”

The man being dragged across the floor kept his mouth shut.

Not expecting an answer right away, Oh Yoon-ha didn’t even glance at him as she searched for the entrance to the lower floor.

She could feel an alien energy from deeper underground, and finding its source was her priority.

Her senses were exceptionally sharp, and the energy radiating out was so unique that locating it wasn’t difficult.

“Here it is.”

In a deep corner of the complex underground facility, she found a heavily locked passageway.

A massive steel door, thick enough to resist most explosives without a scratch, blocked her path, but Oh Yoon-ha simply gripped it with her bare hands and pulled it apart.

*Screeeech!*

The thick door groaned open with a deafening noise, revealing a high-tech facility that was incomparable to what she had seen before.

A long, blue-lit corridor stretched out, a stark contrast to the dilapidated exterior. Researchers in white lab coats stared at her with terrified eyes.

There were more than twenty of them.

Seemingly aware of what had happened outside, they were already frightened, clumsily holding trembling firearms.

“Drop your weapons and back away. I won’t hurt you if you don’t resist.”

Oh Yoon-ha cautiously raised a hand in warning.

As researchers, they would be full of useful information, making them worth keeping alive.

The frightened researchers obediently followed her command, dropping their weapons and raising their hands.

But one of them, a woman, made a foolish choice.

The moment the panicking woman tried to pull the trigger, a blade flew from Oh Yoon-ha’s hand and passed through her head.

*Splat!*

The large blade utterly obliterated the woman’s head, leaving it unrecognizable.

The spray of blood sent some of the surrendered researchers into a dead faint.

Sighing as if exasperated, Oh Yoon-ha locked them all in a room and continued down the blood-stained corridor.

“Just ahead.”

She could feel the energy beyond another large steel door that appeared before her.

As she got closer, the feeling became clearer.

It was definitely alien, yet somehow familiar.

*Shink!*

The steel door was cleanly sliced in half, each piece falling in opposite directions.

Stepping through the opening into a large room, Oh Yoon-ha couldn’t believe her eyes.

“What in the world are these bastards doing…?”

A massive rift filled her vision.

The source of the alien energy was the waves emanating from a colossal Gate, over twenty meters tall.

And it wasn’t just a simple Gate; there were signs of all sorts of research being conducted on it.

Cameras and measuring equipment surrounded it.

There were also other unfamiliar, high-tech devices she had never seen before.

The rift pulsed as if about to activate at any moment, but it wasn’t spewing out monsters, seemingly suppressed by something.

“So you’ve finally found your way here.”

As she looked around in surprise, a man’s voice suddenly came from behind her.

Startled that she hadn’t sensed his presence at all, Oh Yoon-ha quickly spun around.

A familiar face came into view.

“What? What are you doing here? Coming to find me all of a sudden, and during an operation…”

“So even buying time was too much to ask. Not that I’m surprised.”

“What?”

*Crack!*

A sword flew toward her unguarded form, and the powerful impact instantly disabled her Defensive Coat’s protective function.

*Snap!*

And then, defenseless, Oh Yoon-ha’s back was broken in a single blow.

“Huk…!”

Oh Yoon-ha’s pupils dilated. She couldn’t even react properly, as if unable to believe what was happening.

The man moved to gently lay her on the floor as she fell backward.

But Oh Yoon-ha reached out with a trembling hand and clung to the man’s arm.

“Why… How could you…?”

Her voice trembled precariously.

Her eyes were filled with horror.

“I tried to persuade you many times, but your answer was always the same. I can’t just watch anymore. I need you to step off the stage for a while.”

The man spoke as he looked down at her with something akin to pity.

Oh Yoon-ha had so many questions for him, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

All the strength drained from her body, and she could no longer keep her eyes open.

Amid the swirling chaos in her mind, her consciousness faded.

***

“What on earth were you thinking, saying something like that?”

Lee Soo-yeon asked, tilting a glass of red wine.

Il-hyeon replied with a smile.

“Because I’m confident.”

“You…”

“I’m kidding. The truth is, I need to get stronger as fast as possible. I had to take that risk.”

It was also true that Oh Ji-seok’s constant provocations were getting on his nerves, but the S-Rank core was the main reason.

Given that the output of cores jumped exponentially with each rank, an S-Rank core was certain to contain an immense quality and quantity of Ether.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, but you have to be extremely careful. Regardless of an Awakened’s rank, it’s a dangerous environment where you could lose your life at any moment.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Il-hyeon nodded.

He was fully aware of the risks.

However, considering the masterminds behind all this, not taking this kind of risk was tantamount to waiting for an even more dangerous situation to arise.

“By the way, why did you insist on meeting just the two of us? Did you really just call me over to get my congratulations?”

Il-hyeon and Lee Soo-yeon were currently facing each other at a table in his home.

Just the two of them, sharing a drink.

“Congratulations are nice, of course… but this incident confirmed it for me. There’s a problem within Aegis. I used to think it was just a few people at most, but that was a foolish assumption. I felt I had to be careful even bringing this up inside Aegis, so I was looking for a suitable place.”

“You don’t have to go that far… No, I suppose it’s better to be cautious. So what’s your plan now? We lost the guy we caught so easily. And we can’t find any concrete evidence at this point.”

“The Jang Se-ho issue is actually a blessing in disguise. I have another way to track him.”

“What? Really?”

“I’m sure of it. I can find him no matter where he’s hiding.”

“That’s a relief. We might even be able to catch a bigger fish. But… with the teams’ upcoming schedules and your new position as Team Leader, it’ll be difficult for you to operate freely outside.”

She was right.

It was impossible for a team leader to roam around freely when Gates were popping up everywhere. In a way, he was now tied down, forced to focus on Aegis matters.

“About that… I have a piece that can move separately. It wasn’t originally intended for this purpose, but…”

“Is there a chance the other side knows about it?”

“No one else knows about it besides me yet. But I know I can definitely trust you, Team Leader.”

Il-hyeon said, looking at Lee Soo-yeon.

After draining her glass, she wore a somewhat ambiguous expression.

She let out a small laugh and poured more wine into Il-hyeon’s glass.

“So, what do you need my help with?”

“You’re planning on bringing Hong In-hwa to the team soon, right?”

“……? How did you know that?”

“I did some research a while back.”

Il-hyeon was well aware of Team A’s current situation.

In a situation like this, there was no talent they could recruit from the outside. There was only one option left.

The return of Hong In-hwa, a former member of Team A.

She was an exceptionally skilled woman, not at all inferior to her former teammates, and experienced enough to handle an Aegis-level incident on her own without any issues.

The only problem was her mental state.

She was born with a powerful ability and immense talent, but it turned out to be a poison for her.

As a side effect of awakening her ability, Hong In-hwa developed a severe emotional regulation disorder and suffered from extreme depression.

She had attempted suicide several times while active as a member of an Aegis team, which was why she was now confined to a psychiatric ward. However, her skills were so exceptional that they were considering bringing her back.

“She’s emotionally unstable, it’s true, but she’s not the type to turn malicious because of her ability. Of course, we’ll have to stop her from self-harming… but we’re not in a position to be picky right now.”

“I need her ability.”

“In-hwa’s ability?”

“Yes. I need you to conduct a separate investigation within Aegis.”

***

“Huh? Where’d he go?”

The residential building within the Aegis headquarters.

Ghost, having used his spectral ability to slip into Il-hyeon’s room, found no one inside.

He phased back out through the wall, scratching his head.

Il-hyeon had just been promoted to Team Leader, and he’d planned to pour a barrel of booze down his throat, but the man of the hour was nowhere to be seen.

“Hm? What are you doing here?”

“Ah, Hyeon-seo!”

Ghost exclaimed happily when Kang Hyeon-seo poked her head out of her room.

“I heard your brother got the Team Leader position, right? I came to congratulate him, but he’s not here. Do you know where he went?”

“Hmm… He’s probably at home by now? He said he was going to have a drink with Team Leader Lee Soo-yeon, just the two of them.”

Hyeon-seo said it casually.

But upon hearing her words, Ghost jumped in shock.

He was so startled that his spectral form dissipated, and he landed on his butt with a thud. He shook his head and muttered.

“Just the two of them… at his place? Drinking… late at night? Ohhh…”