Chapter 35 – Questions (Part Three)

*Whoosh!*

Countless symbols and pieces of information flashed ceaselessly across the monitor.

The names of illegal organizations, their size, areas of operation, tendencies, and all sorts of other characteristics.

A massive amount of data was stored within.

The screen stopped precisely on one of them.

And on the other side, a photo appeared of the man Il-hyeon had captured, back when he was alive.

The tattoo on his neck in the photo perfectly matched the organization’s symbol on the adjacent screen.

“Del Rojas, a cartel based in northern Mexico. We’ve identified about 350 members. They used to focus mainly on drug trafficking, but recently they’ve been expanding rapidly and started getting involved with Gates.”

Shin Jae-ha, the deputy head of the analysis team, said, pointing at the screen.

Dressed neatly and wearing glasses, his face was noticeably haggard.

With a major incident like this, the first team to be ground down was always the analysis team.

“Hmm.”

Lee Soo-yeon, who had been listening from across the table, tapped her long index finger against the desk.

The two of them were alone in the room, which looked like a small conference room.

“That region again?”

The cartels of Central and South America, notorious for ages, were still infamous.

These numerous criminal organizations, born from the combination of corrupt politics and poor public security, had not disappeared even after the world changed with the Gate crisis, and they continued to maintain their power.

Furthermore, since the cartels were deeply involved in their countries’ politics and economies, after the emergence of Gates and the Awakened, they even began to officially acquire Gates from the government, obtaining and distributing illegal Ether.

Thanks to this, the region was also home to many well-known Awakened criminal organizations.

“What’s the level of their Awakened?”

“Not very high. The guy caught at the scene that day was the only one with a decent ability, but his combat skills were practically amateur level.”

It was no coincidence that he had been so helplessly subdued by Il-hyeon’s summon once his ability was figured out.

“Their size is mediocre, and their Awakened are low-level. How did a group like this get their hands on a jammer?”

Lee Soo-yeon said, leaning back in her chair.

A Gate frequency jammer wasn’t something that could be made just anywhere.

It required a fairly high level of technology, and since it was strictly prohibited and monitored by every nation, acquiring one was difficult.

It was nearly impossible for even a major organization to possess something like this.

Moreover, it made even less sense for a group of only 350 people to be operating all over the world.

“It really looks like they were hired by someone else. Any information on who’s behind them?”

“Not a clue yet. Judging by their activities so far, they don’t seem like the type to work under someone else or run errands. You’ll have to find that out for yourselves. Knowing your personality, there’s no way you wouldn’t go to the scene yourself.”

Shin Jae-ha said, slumping into a chair.

The Lee Soo-yeon he knew was not one to stand by when a member of her team was injured.

Especially since the injured party was Jeong Jin-seong, someone she had worked with even before joining Aegis, it was a given.

“Understood.”

Lee Soo-yeon nodded at his words.

Now that they knew the enemy’s identity and base of operations, neutralizing them would be a piece of cake.

She had already sent a summons to her other team members, planning to fly to South America immediately and annihilate the organization.

“What about other leads? Is the analysis on the jammer still not done?”

“What? Of course it’s still being analyzed. We just found this out overnight and reported it to the Director a moment ago. I’m telling you separately because you asked to be the first to know, even though I’m swamped…”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Please get it done as fast as you can.”

As his nagging began to show signs of starting, Lee Soo-yeon waved her hand dismissively.

Shin Jae-ha stared at her blankly and muttered.

“Of course we have to do it fast. We went through hell because of those bastards.”

He was sick and tired of how much they had suffered due to the continuous Gate analysis errors.

Every time an error occurred, they got chewed out from all sides, and the company’s Awakened who had been in direct danger were in an uproar.

And to think it wasn’t an internal problem but the result of someone messing with them from the outside.

They were bastards who deserved to be torn to shreds.

“Ugh, just thinking about it makes me angry again.”

Shin Jae-ha chugged from a water bottle sitting next to him.

Watching him, Lee Soo-yeon glanced at her watch and said.

“Well, I should start getting ready to leave.”

“No, that won’t be necessary.”

The door burst open and someone entered.

“Director?”

The two, who had been sitting in their chairs, shot up reflexively.

Director Ryu Jin-tae stood in the doorway.

He looked at Shin Jae-ha as if he had known he would be in this room and said.

“Could you please give us a moment?”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

Shin Jae-ha quickly exited.

As the door clicked shut, Lee Soo-yeon, remembering his words, spoke up.

“What do you mean, it won’t be necessary?”

“Exactly what I said. A different team will be handling the Mexico mission.”

At his words, Lee Soo-yeon’s expression quickly hardened, as if she hadn’t expected this at all.

One of her team leaders was injured, so she naturally assumed their team would be dispatched to the scene.

A team leader had enough discretion to make such a decision, and their choice was usually respected.

But not this time.

Ryu Jin-tae gave an awkward smile, walked over, and pulled out the chair opposite her to sit down.

“May I ask for the reason?”

“Even if the opponent’s strength is inferior, person-to-person combat is full of variables. It’s dangerous, and you never know what might happen. We have a counter-personnel team, so there’s no need for a general team to go, is there?”

A special team designed to subdue other Awakened, not monsters.

This team, meant to deal with criminal groups, was composed of Awakened who possessed abilities crucial for interpersonal combat, such as specific ability types or resistance to enemy abilities.

The problem, however, was that general teams had been deployed in such cases just fine until now, depending on the situation.

“Tell me the real reason, not just something like that.”

“That is the real reason. That ability that appeared this time. You’re aware that it’s very different from other cases.”

That explosion, which erupted from inside the head as if something had been planted there.

No matter how caught off guard one was, an ability with that kind of power was absolutely dangerous.

If a similar trap existed there, it wouldn’t be strange if someone else died or was seriously injured.

“Ghost and I can handle it to some extent with our abilities. Besides, an ability of that magnitude can’t be implanted in multiple people simultaneously. Not unless we’re dealing with an S-rank Awakened.”

Lee Soo-yeon said.

She had, of course, thought about that ability.

She herself could withstand it using her own power, and Ghost could ignore the explosion entirely.

Furthermore, even Joo Hye-jin, with her incredible sensory perception, hadn’t noticed any unusual presence until just before the explosion.

This meant that even a counter-personnel team wouldn’t have a silver bullet.

“Of course I trust you, Team Leader Lee… but I don’t want to risk even that slight danger in this situation. Especially with Kang Il-hyeon on the team.”

“……?”

Lee Soo-yeon was bewildered when Il-hyeon’s name unexpectedly came from Ryu Jin-tae’s lips.

And when she heard what he said next, she couldn’t hide her astonishment.

* * *

Three helicopters cut through the Seoul sky, and a short while later, all the members of Team A, except for their team leader, had gathered.

Il-hyeon, who hadn’t had a chance to check on Jeong Jin-seong in the chaos, had intended to see him today, but he was told Jin-seong had already been moved elsewhere.

‘He seemed to be looking at me with a strange expression…’

Throughout the hurried flight back to headquarters on the transport plane, Jeong Jin-seong’s gaze, fixed on him, had felt incredibly peculiar.

He wasn’t sure if it was just because Jin-seong was disoriented from his injury, or if it was just his imagination.

“They said the mission was suddenly canceled. What’s going on?”

“If you’re asking me…”

Il-hyeon trailed off with a shrug.

He had heard they were going to crush the cartel responsible for the last attack, but he’d received the updated news in the helicopter on the way here.

With the mission abruptly canceled and handed over to another team, they were currently on standby.

“How did this get pushed through? There’s no way the Team Leader would have just let it go.”

“I can’t accept this.”

Seok Pil-joon protested as Ghost muttered.

Already loathing criminals, he felt a strong animosity toward this incident.

He immediately went to find Lee Soo-yeon, likely to hear the reason why the mission had been passed to another team.

Meanwhile, the remaining two stood idly in the hallway.

“Mr. Kang Il-hyeon, Mr. Ghost! The research team is looking for you both!”

A passing employee shouted to them.

At that, Ghost looked at Il-hyeon and let out a sigh for some reason.

“Ah, I’m not going. You go on ahead.”

‘What’s this about?’