Chapter 19 – Freebie

The transport plane landed in the center of the building. Lee Soo-yeon left Ghost to guide Il-hyeon and headed toward the analysis team.

Ghost offered to use his ability to give him a tour, but Il-hyeon adamantly refused.

Visibly disappointed, Ghost settled for walking and dragging him along.

He had been brought here once before, practically kidnapped, but this was his first time getting a proper look around.

Claiming there wasn’t much to see on the upper floors, Ghost immediately took an elevator in the left building down to the basement.

While the upper floors were open enough for public tours, the basement was strictly controlled, accessible only to internal personnel.

“As you know, a company this big has more than just Awakened. The teams you’ll probably run into most often are… hmm, the Analysis Team, Research Team, and Backup Team. That coat you’re wearing looks half-shot, so let’s start with the Research Team.”

After descending quite a few floors, the elevator stopped, arriving in the basement where an incredible array of facilities came into view.

The vast grounds above were being utilized just as effectively underground.

Ghost told the awestruck Il-hyeon that unless you were a team leader, you’d rarely come down here except for equipment repairs or training.

Apparently, the Awakened didn’t like it much because there were too many employees and it was needlessly spacious.

After a short walk, they briskly entered the Research Team’s office, which had a sign that read “Team Leader’s Office.”

“Good afternoon!”

As the door flew open, a woman sitting at a desk, intently focused on a program, looked up in surprise.

“Ah! You scared me. Ghost? I’ve told you not to come in like that.”

“If I don’t, you never notice when I come in. This here is our team’s rookie!”

Ghost laughed cheerfully and pulled Il-hyeon forward.

The woman in the white lab coat shot up from her seat and approached him.

“Ah, I heard the rumors. The one Team Leader Lee brought in this time. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Choi Eun-chae, the Research Team Leader.”

“I’m Kang Il-hyeon. It’s a pleasure.”

They shared a light handshake.

Choi Eun-chae, who appeared to be in her early thirties, was a renowned figure in the scientific community, famous enough that even Il-hyeon recognized her.

She was particularly an authority on Ether utilization technology and was responsible for all technological development within Aegis.

As Il-hyeon stared at her with fascination, Choi Eun-chae also studied him closely before speaking.

“What kind of ability do you have to catch Team Leader Lee’s eye?”

“You’d do well to get on his good side, Team Leader. He’s the guy who can shatter cores with his bare hands.”

“Pahaha, isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?”

Choi Eun-chae burst out laughing.

Shattering a core with bare hands—it was an absurd claim.

But Ghost was speaking the absolute truth and didn’t back down.

“Ah, you don’t believe me. How about a bet? It’s been a while.”

“A bet? Okay, you’re on. If you try to weasel your way out of it this time, don’t even think about getting any more equipment from the Research Team.”

“Um… excuse me?”

Il-hyeon was flustered as the situation suddenly took a strange turn.

But things had already gone too far.

“The prototype that came out recently, made from an A-rank core. How about you give me one of those Defensive Coats?”

“Isn’t that a bit steep? We haven’t even given those out to all the team leaders yet.”

“Feeling like you’re going to lose already?”

“Well… I’m going to win anyway. In exchange, you have to promise you’ll cooperate properly with the next research project, and you’ll keep that promise this time, right?”

“Of course.”

The two often made bets on all sorts of topics, but they always ended in Choi Eun-chae’s victory.

However, Ghost, hoping to flip the script this time, sported a sly grin under his mask.

“He really does propose the most incomprehensible bets sometimes…”

Shaking her head, Choi Eun-chae muttered to herself and immediately walked over to a table in the corner.

She picked up a white, glowing Ether core from the tabletop and handed it to Il-hyeon.

“This is a B-rank core from a Clacker that came in from Australia last week. I know this is a silly thing to do, but please cooperate for a moment.”

‘A B-rank?’

At the mention of B-rank, Il-hyeon’s ears perked up.

A wave of gratitude toward Ghost began to well up inside him.

“I’ll give it a try!”

* * *

*Crack!*

The Ether shattered, and fragments rained down onto the floor.

It was on a completely different level from the E-rank cores he had been absorbing until now.

It felt like something that had been stuffy and congested inside him was finally cleared out.

He slowly savored the sensation.

The last time, he had used it in a hurry and couldn’t properly take it into his body, but this time, he had succeeded in fully absorbing it.

The once-confident Choi Eun-chae stood frozen in place, her expression hardened.

She seemed unable to easily accept the reality before her eyes.

Seeing this, Il-hyeon began to worry slightly about the cleanup.

Including the first time he encountered Aegis, he had now broken two B-rank cores.

He thought that even for a research team leader, losing something of that value must be a difficult situation.

But contrary to his thoughts, neither of them seemed to care much about one broken core.

“Haha! Got you, didn’t I? I’ve never seen that look on your face before!”

Ghost laughed triumphantly.

“No… what just happened… Is it an ability? It has to be an ability, right?”

Choi Eun-chae advanced on Il-hyeon as if to devour him, grabbing him as she asked.

The shock she felt was akin to watching an absolute, unquestioned formula crumble before her eyes.

“Uh… Yes, it’s an ability.”

“Right… It couldn’t have broken with pure physical strength. Then where did the Ether inside it go? An energy source of this magnitude?”

“I don’t know for sure, but probably… in my stomach.”

Il-hyeon offered an awkward smile.

Understanding the general meaning of his words, Choi Eun-chae nodded.

“I’ve seen all sorts of abilities while working here… but this is definitely one of the more peculiar ones.”

She knelt and picked up one of the fragments scattered on the floor.

The shard, which looked like an ordinary piece of glass, was slowly losing its light.

“It’s become malleable…?”

Choi Eun-chae muttered, pinching the fragment between her fingers and applying pressure.

The surface of the core, which wouldn’t budge even if hit with a bomb, had become easily bendable with her strength alone now that it was in pieces.

“This might be usable as a new material. There’s a long way to go, but still, this is completely…”

Choi Eun-chae, who had been rambling, paused to compose herself before continuing.

But she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the core fragment.

“A new path.”

Her tone was a mixture of excitement and euphoria.

Her gaze shifted to Il-hyeon.

Her eyes were filled with intense desire.

“Could I possibly get more samples? The research cores I have now are already allocated for other uses, so I can’t give you any more…”

“I have a pile of them at home, but they’re a bit old. Would they be useful?”

Choi Eun-chae grabbed Il-hyeon’s hands.

“Please!”

* * *

“Wow, you’re getting a really easy start on your first day, aren’t you?”

Ghost said to Il-hyeon as they were leaving the area after dropping off the damaged Defensive Coat with the Research Team.

He was right. Getting on the good side of the Research Team Leader like this had more than a few advantages.

On top of that, the Research Team had even requested to call on him when they needed additional fragments.

Of course, they would be the ones providing the cores.

‘Isn’t this all a bit too easy?’

It felt like everything was falling into place at once.

Ghost, too, was satisfied, having won the bet and secured new equipment.

As they walked and chatted amicably, Lee Soo-yeon, who was mixed in with a group of employees, spotted them and strode over from the opposite hallway.

“Ah, I was just about to look for you. Good timing. The cores extracted after the site cleanup have arrived.”

“What did the Analysis Team say?”

“They said there’s no solution for now. I heard it’s not just here; it’s causing a stir all over the world. They said it’s completely different from the cases where patterns have shifted slightly over time, so it’s going to take a while. We’ll have to be careful on our own for the time being.”

“Hmm… With the cycle approaching, all these strange things keep happening. It’s unsettling.”

Ghost said.

It was common for signs to appear as a cycle drew near, but this time was very different from usual.

The frequency of surprise Gates, which were typically rare, had noticeably increased. The number of inaccurate analysis results and high-rank Gates had also risen slightly for this time of year.

“There are even rumors that the third cycle will be tougher.”

Just twenty years. Humanity had only experienced four cycles, and it was impossible to accurately predict what would happen next.

“Anyway, follow me so we can settle up.”

“Settle up? Don’t you just deposit it into my account?”

“No, not you.”

Lee Soo-yeon was looking at Il-hyeon.

“Aha, then I’ll head on up.”

Ghost, who had been briefed on the distribution method beforehand, left without another word.

Il-hyeon followed her.

After a short walk, they soon arrived at the processing team’s area.

There were several corpses of different monsters, slathered in a white medicinal substance, and many people moving about busily amidst large equipment that looked like extraction machines.

In the somewhat chaotic scene, an employee approached and guided them to one side.

“This is your share.”

Lee Soo-yeon said.

A large bag sitting on a desk was filled with dozens of cores.

They were all D-rank monster Ether cores from the ones that appeared in Ulsan today.

“Is this much really my share?”

Il-hyeon asked in surprise.

As a rookie who was barely C-rank and had no experience, he hadn’t expected much.

But the Ether before him easily surpassed his expectations.

“The company made a mistake this time, and all the D-rank monsters from the 17th floor were allocated to you. The company’s half has already been taken out. We agreed on a 10 percent cash ratio, right? The money will be deposited the day after tomorrow.”

As expected of a global conglomerate, their processing was fast.

Il-hyeon gladly took the bag and looked around.

There were too many people.

“Um, it’s a bit difficult to absorb them here…”

“Ah, right.”

The two moved.

They entered an empty conference room, and Il-hyeon opened the bag on the long table, spreading the Ether cores out.

A smile naturally formed on his face at the pleasant sound and sight of the cores laid out before him.

He then began to absorb the Ether, one by one.

With the B-rank core he absorbed earlier and this amount, he felt he would experience a palpable increase in strength.

Lee Soo-yeon, perched on a chair, watched him absorb the cores with a look of endless fascination.

She spoke up midway through.

“What’s your first impression of this place?”

“It’s great. But there aren’t many other people around. I thought it would be full of famous Awakened.”

Il-hyeon said, looking around.

To be honest, he had been a little excited at the thought of meeting Aegis’s Awakened on his way here.

Famous names like Ryu Jin-tae, Han Sang-jin, and Jo Yoon.

But he hadn’t seen a single person he had been looking forward to meeting.

“Most of them are either overseas or on the standby team. Of course, it’s hard to see them here. Now that you mention it, I should probably explain.”

Lee Soo-yeon let out a small laugh and continued, explaining their future work schedule.

To cover the entire world and defend against Gates, Aegis operated with each team rotating between two systems.

The first was the dispatch team.

Since leaving from Korea would be too slow, these teams were pre-stationed on various continents or in different countries to prepare for urgent situations.

They primarily handled surprise Gates or high-rank Gates with short activation times.

And the second was the standby team.

Unlike dispatch teams, they weren’t stationed abroad but remained in Korea, handling high-rank Gates that occurred in other countries.

They took care of Gates that had more time but were beyond the capabilities of the host country, which had requested assistance.

Alpha Team was currently on a semi-break, only covering Korea, but they were scheduled to go back on standby team status starting next week.

“Standby teams don’t need to gather somewhere to wait. They just have to depart when they’re summoned. The dispatch teams are out there to handle the really time-sensitive stuff.”

“The dispatch teams must have it tough.”

“Well, yeah. Going abroad is fine, but you never know when you’ll be called into action, 24/7.”

Of course, Gates of a high enough rank to require Aegis’s intervention didn’t appear that often.

Even so, because they couldn’t stray too far from each other due to the unpredictable nature of Gates, it was certainly tougher than being on a standby team, where members could go about their own business and gather only when a case came up.

“Oh right, did you see the news article? The picture came out great. Haha.”

“Huh? An article?”

“You haven’t seen it. Go check the internet.”

At Lee Soo-yeon’s words, Il-hyeon took out the phone from his inner pocket.

‘What is this…?’

Il-hyeon frowned as he looked at the screen of the phone he had taken out.

There were over a dozen missed calls, and even more text messages.

On top of that, when he went to a portal site, his face was plastered right on the front page of the news.

‘Right. The barbecue restaurant…’

Il-hyeon realized just how conspicuously he had made his way to work.

The internet was already in an uproar about the new member of Aegis’s Alpha Team.

Speculative articles were rampant about his previously unknown identity and how a newly appeared Awakened managed to join Aegis.

There was even an article in a corner of the site claiming he was a promising talent secretly nurtured by Aegis.

“You’re already a celebrity. Congratulations.”

Lee Soo-yeon chuckled as Il-hyeon stood frozen on the spot.