Chapter 140 – The Enemy Within (Part Two)

Il-hyeon’s expectation that things would go smoothly after capturing Jang Se-ho himself was completely off the mark.

While they were interrogating him at headquarters, someone broke him out and escaped.

The way it happened was even more problematic.

Not a single one of the many high-ranking Awakened present, including the team leaders, noticed a thing. On top of that, all the CCTV footage being recorded was corrupted, making it impossible to track them.

They had definitely accounted for every variable, and the interrogation room where Jang Se-ho was held had been sealed off from external ability interference with a special electromagnetic field.

A disaster that defied all common sense had occurred in the brief moment Team Leader Yoon In-hye had stepped out during the interrogation.

She had at least managed to uncover five of their backer’s hideouts, and Raven’s Awakened had swiftly raided them, but the locations were already empty.

An ability that prevents the reading of spatial memories had even been involved, so no evidence could be found at their completely wiped hideouts.

In the end, all they had learned was Jang Se-ho’s name. They had made no progress on their objectives or identity.

*Tap, tap, tap.*

Ryu Jin-tae, the Daepyo, drummed his fingers on the desk with a grim expression.

His action carried a hint of nervous irritation.

The silence that briefly filled the Daepyo’s office was a testament to the gravity of the incident.

“To be hit right here at headquarters, of all places… How did something like this happen?”

“This is not something we can simply let slide.”

Lee Soo-yeon, standing before the Daepyo, spoke.

Ryu Jin-tae sighed and shot up from his chair.

“And if we don’t? Do you have a better idea?”

“We need to find the one who helped him.”

“That sounds like you’re saying there’s a traitor in our midst.”

“There is.”

Lee Soo-yeon replied.

Her tone was firm, filled with conviction, not mere suspicion.

“It’s the only explanation.”

A faint smile touched Ryu Jin-tae’s lips at her answer. He walked around his desk to stand before her.

They stood face to face, their eyes locked.

Then, Ryu Jin-tae slowly posed a question.

“Alright, then. Who does Team Leader Lee think the mole is?”

A momentary silence enveloped them at his direct question.

Even in the strange atmosphere, Lee Soo-yeon’s expression remained resolute, while Ryu Jin-tae watched her with an unreadable face.

Just as she slowly opened her mouth, seemingly having made a decision, Il-hyeon, who was standing beside her, interjected.

“If we track him now, we can catch him again.”

Il-hyeon was confident about the escaped Jang Se-ho.

But Ryu Jin-tae shook his head.

“No, there will be no more tracking.”

“Excuse me…?”

“Team Leader Lee has already heard, but we can’t afford it because of the Gate problem. Things were quiet this weekend, but then three S-rank Gates appeared on Saturday night. Fortunately, they haven’t activated yet, but they’re all scheduled to pour out monsters sometime next week. Judging by the trend of Gates appearing today, Sunday, the real crisis will begin tomorrow. If we waste any more time, we’ll be in serious danger.”

As he said, this cycle had brought the largest and most difficult cluster of Gates yet, and not just Aegis, but the Response Team and related agencies worldwide were on high alert.

“In that case…”

“It means it’s time to stop your individual activities and return to your main duties. Not just you, but Team Leader Jeong Jin-seong will be returning as well. You did an excellent job catching that man, but leave the rest to Raven, the interpersonal team, and come back.”

“Just a moment. If you could give me a little more time…”

“Oh, and our existing teams won’t be enough to handle all those Gates. You said you gained two new team members after killing Asu and Marka, right? We can form a new team. And add another team leader.”

Both Il-hyeon and Lee Soo-yeon were startled by Ryu Jin-tae’s words.

“A team leader?”

“Then, could it be…”

“That’s right, Team Leader Kang. I’m counting on you.”

***

Aegis’s Alpha Team.

That was the name of the team Il-hyeon would be leading from now on.

The team leader position, given to Il-hyeon less than six months after he joined Aegis, was an unprecedented, radical promotion.

And to match that radical promotion, the team’s name was just as unconventional.

Unlike the existing teams named in alphabetical order, Il-hyeon’s team was designated ‘Alpha’ under Ryu Jin-tae’s insistence that it needed to be distinguished as a special team with all five members being A-rank Awakened. In truth, it possessed enough strength to be considered the most powerful team.

There was Hyeon-seo, the first created by Il-hyeon using the core of the variant monster ‘Nightmare’; Seong-won, who appeared after killing the ‘Giant’; and finally, the two who joined using the cores of the twins ‘Asu’ and ‘Marka’.

Even excluding the summons who weren’t formally contracted, no other single team possessed such power.

*Team leader…*

Il-hyeon stopped in his tracks, lost in thought.

An Aegis team leader was a hero admired by the entire world, an incredible position he couldn’t have even dreamed of before gaining his powers, but right now, it didn’t feel real.

Lee Soo-yeon, who had left the Daepyo’s office with him, spoke first.

“…Congratulations, for now. I knew you’d do well.”

“Thank you. But honestly, something feels off.”

“It can’t be helped. It’s just bad timing, happening right after such a chaotic incident.”

Lee Soo-yeon let out a short sigh.

Il-hyeon’s mind was just as cluttered.

It wasn’t just about having let Jang Se-ho slip through his fingers so pointlessly.

He was confident he could catch the man again, now that he’d done it once.

Astrid had seen Jang Se-ho’s face as clearly as he had, so she could track his location with her ability. As long as he was on Earth, she could find him.

If anything, he would now lead them to their hideouts and more of his comrades. It was as if a minnow they’d once caught had become bait, now swimming into the belly of a much larger fish.

They might know about his own ability, but there was no way they knew about Astrid’s wide-range tracking power.

But the fact that they’d extracted one of their own from Aegis headquarters without any resistance was a serious problem.

It was logically impossible, and just as Lee Soo-yeon had said, they had no choice but to suspect a spy within their ranks.

And not just a few ordinary employees, but a group that included several high-ranking Awakened from various teams.

“Il-hyeon… or should I call you Team Leader Kang now?”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Haha… Anyway, normally, I’d buy you a drink. It’s a shame.”

Usually, when a new team leader emerged from one’s team, it was customary to treat them to so much alcohol they’d pass out drunk as a form of celebration.

From Lee Soo-yeon’s perspective, Il-hyeon was the only team member she had personally recruited in her long career as an Awakened, and she had long looked forward to one day doing the same for him.

But with the massive number of Gates they were scheduled to deal with starting tomorrow, it was an inopportune time.

*Drinks… alcohol.*

Il-hyeon stood blankly for a moment before his eyes widened, as if struck by a sudden idea.

He moved closer to Lee Soo-yeon and said.

“Then let’s just go for drinks. We can just have a few to celebrate.”

“What? But we don’t have time. There’s a team leader meeting soon, and starting tomorrow afternoon, the field will be flooded…”

“Then let’s go to my place after work tonight.”

“Wh-what?”

***

“It’s a relief to hear Team Leader Jeong Jin-seong is returning. I was worried since his return kept getting delayed.”

Seok Pil-joon said as they walked down the hallway.

Jeong Jin-seong, who had been out due to an injury, hadn’t returned long after his expected recovery period, and his teammates had been worried about him.

Of course, the official story was that he was almost fully recovered and was taking a vacation while he was at it, but it was hard to believe a team leader would be absent for such a reason in the current climate.

“Um… Team Leader?”

Seok Pil-joon called out to Lee Soo-yeon, who had been walking in silence for some time.

Startled from her thoughts, Lee Soo-yeon belatedly nodded.

“Oh, uh. Right… it’s a relief.”

Her mind was completely occupied with thoughts of Il-hyeon’s sudden invitation.

*To just invite me to his home like this… could it be…*

A slight blush crept onto her cheeks.

“*Ahem*, no, that can’t be it.”

Seok Pil-joon gave her a strange look as she muttered to herself and shook her head.

Noticing his gaze, Lee Soo-yeon felt a little embarrassed and fixed her eyes on the documents in her hand.

It was a list of candidates to recruit for the team.

With Il-hyeon, his summons, Hyeon-seo, and Seong-won—all of whom had become a significant part of the team’s strength—moving to a new team, their power couldn’t be fully replenished even with co-leader Jeong Jin-seong’s return.

They were back to having only four members, including the team leaders, just like before they recruited Il-hyeon. They needed to recruit at least one new member.

Of course, among the available candidates, almost none met the requirements of Aegis’s Team A, let alone Lee Soo-yeon’s standards.

In a critical situation like this, there was no time to nurture a promising rookie like Il-hyeon or teach someone from the basics. They had to pick people who could be deployed to the field immediately without issue.

That meant only high-ranking Awakened with extensive experience and power that exceeded the minimum expectations—those who could pull their weight at Aegis right away.

Among the more than twenty files she held, only one candidate satisfied both conditions.

“Are you really thinking of bringing him back?”

“It’s not like we can afford to be picky. We don’t have a choice.”

“Ghost is going to hate it when he hears the news.”

“That’s certainly one thing to look forward to.”

A faint smile appeared on Lee Soo-yeon’s face, but she stopped in her tracks a moment later.

The smile had vanished from her face.

“I’ll tell you the results of the meeting when it’s over, so go get some rest. I have something to discuss for a moment.”

“Understood.”

Seok Pil-joon nodded and left.

Lee Soo-yeon strode toward the person whose eyes had met hers.

A slender woman in a neat blouse, her hair tied back in a tight ponytail.

“I heard Il-hyeon was made a team leader. Congratulations.”

Team Leader Yoon In-hye of Team D, who had been standing in the empty hallway, greeted the approaching Lee Soo-yeon warmly.

The news that Il-hyeon was taking over a new team had already spread to the Awakened of other teams.

“You… how exactly did you handle this incident?”

“It’s a shame we lost Jang Se-ho, but that happened while I was away from the room.”

“That’s the secondary issue. You, of all people, interrogated him for thirty minutes, and all you got were a few empty hideouts?”

“My ability didn’t work well on him, maybe because I’d just gotten back from the field. As you know, mental abilities are useless when you’re fatigued.”

“Ha. That’s not even funny. Do you really think that makes any sense?”

“I know what you’re thinking. And I also know that you’re gravely mistaken about something.”

“Don’t you dare read my mind.”

Lee Soo-yeon took a step forward, radiating a menacing aura.

But Yoon In-hye, with a frustrated expression, simply sighed and shrugged.

“The meeting is about to start. Are you going to stand here doing this? Look, the star of this meeting is on his way.”

At Yoon In-hye’s words, Lee Soo-yeon’s gaze shifted.

Il-hyeon appeared, accompanied by four Awakened in black coats.