Chapter 39 – The Calm Before the Storm (Part Three)

“Yes, yes. I remember. Fancy seeing you here.”

Il-hyeon, who had never dreamed he would see her again, let out a disbelieving laugh and greeted her warmly.

It was back when he was struggling just to get a few cores without any proper gear.

Seeing the person he met back then was a pleasant surprise.

“I was right, wasn’t I? I said we’d meet again once you became successful… Still, I never imagined you’d join Aegis in less than a month. I was truly surprised.”

“What, you’re here, Miss Reporter? And you two know each other?”

Ghost, who was already acquainted with Park So-yeon, chimed in, intrigued.

“Yes. We met once shortly after he Awakened. That was when monsters were unleashed on Seoul because of that surprise Gate, right?”

“Wait, you two know each other?”

This time, it was Il-hyeon who asked abruptly.

Ghost and Park So-yeon nodded simultaneously.

A flurry of question marks filled Il-hyeon’s mind.

There was no particular reason for an Aegis Awakened to be close with a reporter, yet Ghost knew her.

Not only that, but the other Awakened on the scene last time had recognized her too.

It would have made sense if she were a famous, well-known reporter, but that wasn’t the case.

After their strange first meeting, Il-hyeon had searched her name.

If she were a famous reporter, it would have been easy to find her online.

But there wasn’t much information.

All that came up was her name and the articles or videos she had produced.

And for some reason, many of them had been hidden from public view.

“She’s joined us on-site a few times. Are you here for the same reason this time?”

“No, that’s not it. I came to Spain for personal reasons. But then I heard Aegis’s Alpha Team was coming to Madrid, so I came to see if it was really you, Il-hyeon. I couldn’t believe you’d already taken down a B-rank monster.”

“He does progress a little quickly.”

Il-hyeon was stunned by the first part of the conversation.

“Wait a minute, you went to an operation site together? With a reporter?”

Il-hyeon asked again, as if he had misheard something.

Even for a reporter, unless she had a death wish, entering a site that was at least B-rank—the minimum for Aegis—was unthinkable.

No matter how prepared she was, it was tantamount to suicide.

Besides, Aegis would never permit someone who would obviously be a liability to join them on-site.

“She’s not just any ordinary reporter.”

“Hmm, that sounds a bit strange when you put it like that.”

Ghost began to explain her identity to Il-hyeon.

Park So-yeon was an Awakened.

Not only that, she possessed a special power and was a skilled fighter, ranking among the top C-rank Awakened.

It was just that the members of Aegis were all monsters; in reality, her level of skill was enough to be recognized as a top-tier veteran anywhere in the world.

Normally, she would have no reason to be a reporter.

Not in terms of money, fame, or any other aspect.

The reason she worked as a reporter despite all that was simple.

The disasters happening all over the world, the Awakened who were injured and killed in them, and the helpless civilian victims.

She had witnessed it all firsthand, up close.

But those facts were never made known to the world.

She grew to have a strong aversion to the media outlets that distorted the truth and the governments that controlled them.

She quit her not-so-short life as an Awakened and began to go to the front lines herself to report.

She could enter sites without any problem, places where other ordinary reporters would have died dozens of times just by getting close.

She captured the harsh realities of the world on her camera and did her best to inform the public.

Thanks to that, she was practically blacklisted by several governments, but she didn’t care.

“You can tell just by looking around. No one feels a sense of urgency about the Gates. While it’s all becoming a joke, on the other side, people are dying. The victims only realize something is wrong when they come face-to-face with a monster. On top of that, the deaths of the Awakened are covered up, and the focus is only on high profits and popularity. It’s completely absurd.”

Park So-yeon said.

With the media under control, she was virtually unknown to the general public, but she was quite famous among the Awakened.

A considerable number of Awakened sympathized with her cause.

Lately, there was a tendency to view Gates as a means for Awakened to make money, even if they were risking their lives to save people.

In some foreign countries, there was even a sense of exclusion and hostility towards the Awakened.

In places with poor public security, Awakened often fell into criminal organizations, so good news about them was suppressed while the bad news spread more widely.

Naturally, this led to discrimination and conflict against the Awakened.

Of course, no one dared to touch high-rank Awakened, but it was a different story for most others.

They too were within the bounds of the law, and the non-Awakened were the majority.

“Many are suffering because of the government’s flawed policies. I’m going to change this reality. I have to inform people, even if just a little, of the hidden truths and instill a sense of caution.”

Listening to her, Il-hyeon was impressed.

He knew people lived their lives in all sorts of ways, but he never imagined a case like this.

She could have lived a comfortable life without lacking anything, just by going out to a site every now and then, but she had abandoned wealth and stability to choose a completely different path.

“That’s amazing.”

“Amazing? You’re the one who’s truly amazing, Il-hyeon. It took me three years just to reach C-rank, but… it’s embarrassing to even compare.”

Il-hyeon had reached B-rank in less than a month.

It was an unprecedented speed in the last twenty years since the Awakened first appeared.

Conscious of this, they had coordinated their stories during his first interview, telling the press he had been Awakened for over three months, but his rapid growth still became a hot topic.

“But I heard you joined some broadcast station last time. I guess that didn’t work out either?”

Ghost asked.

Park So-yeon replied with a bitter smile.

“I left. Haha, I’m back to being a freelancer. They said they’d air it as is… but when I brought them the videos and photos, they cut out all the provocative parts before using them. I guess I got my hopes up for nothing again.”

Many places coveted Park So-yeon’s connections and abilities.

One of the broadcast companies had lured her in with good conditions, claiming they would support her in revealing the truth, but in the end, they didn’t broadcast any of the real substance.

It was aggravating, but it wasn’t the first time it had happened.

“What do you think, Il-hyeon?”

Park So-yeon suddenly asked him.

“Uh… um, about what?”

“Do you think it’s a necessary evil to downplay the scale of the damage and hide the facts about the Gates from people to avoid chaos?”

Having thrown the question, Park So-yeon stared intently at Il-hyeon’s face.

Her calm expression was overlaid with a peculiar look—a mix of curiosity, expectation, and various other emotions—directed at him.

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Il-hyeon, who had never deeply contemplated the issue, fell into a moment of thought.

In that interval.

“It’s time to move.”

An Aegis staff member approached and said.

The interviews had all finished, and it was time to depart.

Ghost looked at his watch and said.

“Looks like we have to go. Since you’re here, why don’t you say hello to the Team Leader?”

“No, it’s alright. I’m sure you’re all busy. It was nice seeing you again. I’ll see you next time.”

Unable to hear Il-hyeon’s answer, Park So-yeon waved with a somewhat disappointed expression.

She slipped into the crowd, and her figure quickly disappeared.

* * *

Il-hyeon boarded a long, armored vehicle fit for a president.

He rode in a separate car with just Lee Soo-yeon to discuss the terms of his contract.

He had only been told that now that he had reached B-rank and could function as a proper team member, not just a promising rookie to be looked after, he would be getting a new contract.

Il-hyeon’s eyes went wide when he was presented with the noticeably improved terms.

The terms were better than what most of the other team members had, but Il-hyeon could only take her word for it, having no way of knowing for sure.

Then, the conversation turned to Park So-yeon, whom he had met just a moment ago.

And her question.

“Well… that’s a topic we’re divided on ourselves.”

Lee Soo-yeon said.

“Is that so?”

“Of course. Deceiving people is definitely wrong, but I’m also against revealing everything.”

“That’s surprising.”

Il-hyeon had thought that, given her personality, she would naturally be against hiding the truth from people.

But Lee Soo-yeon’s thoughts were different.

“It’s true that the governments are hiding too much right now. I agree that people should be informed to a certain extent so they can be cautious, and I do cooperate with the reporter… but if we were to reveal every single fact now, the amount of social chaos it would cause… it would be beyond anything we can imagine.”

“Hmm…”