Chapter 112 – Liberation (Part One)

“Phew…”

In a reception room within the prison, not the cellblock, Il-hyeon paced back and forth before letting out a long, weary sigh.

The unexpected situation had left his mind in a tangled mess.

Standing beside him, Seo Jeong-hwa also wore a grave expression, her arms crossed as she leaned against the wall.

“What in the world happened?”

Seo Jeong-hwa asked, unable to hide her bewildered expression, but Il-hyeon simply pressed a hand to his forehead, not even thinking of a reply.

It was all because of Kim Do-hoon, the man he had believed to be an imposter all the way here.

Since he and his research team had been discovered at the facility where the Awakened procedures were being performed, it was only natural to assume so.

But the man imprisoned here, even after being subjected to Il-hyeon’s illusion, truly believed himself to be Kim Do-hoon.

It wasn’t just a matter of being under powerful hypnosis.

Using the relevant data he had received from Jeong Jin-seong beforehand, Il-hyeon had bombarded him with questions that only the real Kim Do-hoon could know, but the man had answered every single one flawlessly.

Every memory he was supposed to have matched, and even the specialized knowledge from his time as a professor and a lead on major projects was perfectly intact in his mind.

‘Is he really Kim Do-hoon? Then the man who came from that other place…’

Cha Yeon-hee, who had nearly died after losing an arm, would not have lied to him in that situation. Il-hyeon was struggling to make sense of it all.

The man who had supposedly died in an explosion over there was somehow alive and well here.

And it wasn’t just Kim Do-hoon; the other researchers discovered at the facility were all in the same state.

“Could it be… an ability?”

“We have to assume so.”

Il-hyeon nodded in agreement with Seo Jeong-hwa’s speculation.

“The problem is, what kind of ability…?”

Il-hyeon tried to consider every possibility.

There couldn’t be a technology or ability that could duplicate a person. Perhaps the Kim Do-hoon imprisoned here was the original, and the one found in Mexico was a clone or a consciousness projection of some sort.

However, when Il-hyeon had interrogated the hypnotized Kim Do-hoon about this, the man himself had no knowledge of any such thing.

While the possibility that he was being used without his knowledge couldn’t be ruled out, the problem was that for the past twenty years, no ability even remotely similar to that had ever existed.

Considering other possibilities, the initial hypothesis that the Kim Do-hoon here was a double wasn’t impossible either.

They could have given a completely different person full-body plastic surgery and then transferred all the knowledge and memories.

However, an ability capable of such a feat would have to be a high-level mental power, the likes of which had never been seen before.

If it did exist, it would be on par with, or even superior to, Aegis’s D-Team Leader, Yoon In-hye.

“Do you have any bright ideas?”

Il-hyeon asked, turning to Seo Jeong-hwa.

But she could only shrug, having no brilliant ideas herself.

“Ah, damn it. I don’t know.”

Il-hyeon ran a hand through his hair in frustration and bowed his head.

In this state, with no concrete evidence, agonizing over dozens of hypotheses for hours would ultimately be unprovable and all for nothing.

He let out a frustrated sigh and opened the door, stepping out of the reception room.

‘Do I have to leave with nothing to show for it?’

His permitted time was almost up, and he would soon have to take the helicopter back to the United States.

The guards here were sensitive to every little action, making it difficult to ask for more time or actively do anything more to Kim Do-hoon.

It seemed they were being extra cautious, likely because their subject was a world-renowned, high-ranking Awakened.

*Whoosh!*

As he walked down the corridor and emerged above ground, a fierce wind slammed into his face.

The dark clouds and driving rain still constituted the worst possible weather, enough to make it hard for a normal person to even open their eyes.

Even atop this incredibly high structure, the waves felt threatening.

“But why is the fog so thick…?”

Il-hyeon muttered, looking around at the dense fog that swallowed the surroundings.

To him, the thick fog coexisting with such strong winds and pouring rain was an incongruous sight.

The damp, cold air and eerie atmosphere cast a heavy pall over the area.

Suddenly, Seo Jeong-hwa, who was behind him, tugged on his sleeve.

“Something’s wrong…”

“Wrong?”

“Why is no one outside?”

Seo Jeong-hwa said, her brow furrowed as she sensed something was off.

At her words, Il-hyeon quickly turned his head and realized she was right—there was no one on the surface.

When they had first arrived by helicopter, a considerable number of guards had been posted here.

They weren’t the type to go inside and rest simply because the weather was bad.

*CRACK!*

A flash of light was followed by a clap of thunder that filled the air.

In the brief illumination of the darkness, the figures of Il-hyeon and Seo Jeong-hwa caught sight of someone standing stock-still.

Finally noticing the presence, they flinched backward.

Even with the poor weather from the fog and rain, and despite the darkness, the distance was close enough that normally, neither Il-hyeon nor Seo Jeong-hwa would have missed the presence of another person.

They hadn’t noticed a thing until the opponent chose to reveal themselves.

“Be careful.”

Il-hyeon’s nerves were on high alert at the appearance of the unknown individual. He pulled Seo Jeong-hwa behind him.

His instincts screamed at him, signaling extreme danger, and his heart began to pound as if it would burst.

The person wore a pure white Defensive Coat, the likes of which he had never seen before, spattered with red blood.

He realized this person had not appeared with good intentions.

But right now, he had no weapon and no Defensive Coat.

His empty hands clenched into fists.

“Who are you?”

Il-hyeon asked warily, his eyes on the figure whose face was obscured.

The unwelcome guest in the white coat had their hood up and a mask covering most of their face.

All Il-hyeon could see was the shape of their mouth.

“Kang Il-hyeon… and the one next to you isn’t from Aegis.”

A husky female voice flowed from the stranger’s lips.

Amidst the downpour, the mysterious woman fixed her gaze on Seo Jeong-hwa and posed a question.

“What is your name?”

“You think I’d tell my name to a suspicious creep like you?”

Seo Jeong-hwa shouted, hiding slightly behind Il-hyeon.

In that moment, Il-hyeon used his transformation ability to form a longsword of black light from the ground, raising it as he took a stance.

His arm trembled slightly with tension.

‘Damn it, this is a first…’

A cold sweat trickled down Il-hyeon’s brow from under his rain-soaked hair.

Ever since awakening his Predation ability, his body had never frozen up like this in any battle against a monster.

He had always felt the thrill of a predator facing its prey, nothing more.

But this time, his instincts were sending non-stop warning signals.

*Run, if you want to live.*

“Tell me your name.”

“Sorry, but I can’t stand clingy guys. And even less so, women.”

The woman in the white coat took a threatening step forward, but Seo Jeong-hwa just sneered and raised her middle finger.

The woman closed her eyes for a moment, sighed, and drew her sword.

Then, she suddenly turned and swung her sword at the empty air.

*Slice! Crash!*

A large section of the door was sliced off and shattered. As it tilted, the bodies of several people, their heads severed from their necks, tumbled out onto the floor.

The guards inside, unable to make contact, had been about to come out to check, only to be struck down just before opening the door.

“A sword strike…?”

Il-hyeon muttered in spite of himself.

A slash so fast and sharp it was invisible to the naked eye had cleaved through thick concrete.

“Shall I tell you why I’m here?”

The woman turned her head again, and the brown eyes behind the mask stared at Il-hyeon.

Her gaze was as cold as ice.

“I’m here to release all the trash below into the world.”

“What…?”

Il-hyeon’s expression twisted at her words.

He had a rough idea of her purpose for trespassing in a place like this.

Attempts to break out a few prisoners from here were not unheard of, but after countless failures, no one even tried anymore.

As Awakened, they couldn’t even think of plotting anything inside the prison, which was flooded with immense amounts of electromagnetic waves. The surface where they stood would also emit a wave that neutralized Awakened abilities if an alarm was triggered.

On top of that, the prison’s air defense system was on par with a fortress. Whether they brought Awakened or non-Awakened to attack, a jailbreak was next to impossible.

But the woman before him was different.

She had already neutralized everyone on the surface to prevent any alarms from sounding, and her goal wasn’t to sneak out one or two people she was connected to.

Her tone dripping with contempt, she meant to break out every single prisoner below.

“If you do something like that…!”

“You have a rough idea of what will happen, don’t you?”

The woman cut Il-hyeon off, turning the question back on him.

“I’ll give you a choice. You can either stand in my way here, or you can take the one remaining helicopter in the east and go back. If you choose the latter, I promise I’ll let you go peacefully.”

“What about the guards who are still here?”

“As long as they don’t get in my way, I have no reason to strike first. But do you think the prisoners who’ve been locked up all this time will leave them be?”

Il-hyeon was silent for a moment. The woman waited for his choice without another word.

Seo Jeong-hwa looked back and forth between them, fidgeting anxiously.

Though she didn’t say it aloud, she was desperately hoping Il-hyeon would accept the offer and retreat.

The fact that Il-hyeon was hesitating meant that even he found this opponent to be a formidable foe. Moreover, after witnessing that terrifyingly fast sword strike, she was cursing her own hand for raising her middle finger.

But her hopes were short-lived.

*Crack!*

A large spike shot out from the metal floor, narrowly grazing the woman’s face.

Tilting her head slightly to dodge the attack, the woman showed a faint smile, as if amused.

“It seems you’ve made your decision.”

“Sorry, but I can’t let that happen.”

Il-hyeon raised his sword.