Chapter 61 – Earning Your Keep (Part Two)

“Wow, it’s amazing.”

Hyeon-seo said, gazing at the cityscape of towering buildings outside the window.

The view of 2030s Seoul from the helicopter was breathtaking to anyone who saw it.

But as she leaned her head to look outside, the shoulder of Il-hyeon’s loose-fitting shirt she was wearing began to slip down.

The awkward sight made him instinctively look away.

It wasn’t like the shirt had slipped down much, and one might think he was overreacting, but her figure was rather exceptional.

“Could you pull up your shirt?”

“Ah, yes.”

He had planned to leave early and buy some clothes for Hyeon-seo on the way, but things had gotten a little complicated.

The helicopter cut swiftly through the sky, and it wasn’t long before they arrived at headquarters.

Il-hyeon gathered his four summons, holding them in his arms as he stepped out of the aircraft.

“You’re here?”

The team members had all arrived before Il-hyeon.

He had been up early, but getting his summons and Hyeon-seo ready had made him the last to prepare.

“What’s going on?”

“Monsters are continuously emerging from underground without any sign of a Gate. A team of Awakened over there is investigating, but it could be a pretty serious situation…”

Lee Soo-yeon, who was speaking while checking her communication device, stopped mid-sentence when she saw Hyeon-seo getting off behind Il-hyeon.

“Who’s that next to you…?”

“Ah… well, how should I explain this.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Kang Hyeon-seo. I’ve heard a lot about you all.”

Just as Il-hyeon was struggling for words, Hyeon-seo stepped forward, smiled brightly, and bowed her head.

Standing before others, she suddenly seemed more mature.

“Your girlfriend…?”

“Or is she your sister? You have the same last name.”

Lee Soo-yeon and Seok Pil-joon looked flustered by her sudden appearance, while Ghost, who had looked dead tired until a moment ago, now had his eyes wide and sparkling at the sight of a beautiful woman.

“No, I was born yesterday.”

“…What?”

“I’ll just explain.”

Hyeon-seo’s completely random remark made the team members exchange glances, and Il-hyeon, unable to watch any longer, stepped in.

But her response was the problem.

“Yes, Master.”

“Hmm?”

“Ugh… you’re into that kind of thing?”

The expressions of the team members looking at him instantly soured.

Whatever dreadful thoughts were running through their minds, it felt like the trust he had built up over time was crumbling in an instant.

Il-hyeon’s face turned pale, and it took quite a lot of time to clear up the misunderstanding.

*

“If that’s true…”

Lee Soo-yeon, having heard the full story from Il-hyeon, glanced over at her.

No matter how you looked at her, she was a person, completely identical to them.

From the way she spoke, the way she breathed, the movement of her eyes, to the puff of her breath in the cold.

And yet, she was summoned from Il-hyeon’s ability and a monster’s core.

“How am I supposed to process this.”

“Honestly, I can’t believe this one. How does she look like she came from a monster… no, a core?”

The team members said.

It seemed they were having a hard time accepting it.

“Is it that strange?”

“I can understand everything else, but this…”

Il-hyeon had shown abilities beyond common sense several times before, but this was different.

Creating a person was on a whole other level.

There had been an ability that created puppets in human form with a similar appearance once before, but this was different.

Lee Soo-yeon glanced at her watch.

“I’d like to hear the full story, but we don’t have much time. Let’s talk again after we get back. We’ve been delayed too long. And Hyeon-seo…ssi, it would be best to leave you here for now.”

Lee Soo-yeon, unsure how to treat her, hesitated for a moment before speaking.

They didn’t know the extent of her power yet, and the site was dangerous enough to warrant an emergency summons.

Unlike his other summons, this wasn’t a suitable place to bring her along just to test her abilities.

“Yes, that sounds like a good idea.”

Il-hyeon, who thought the same, agreed without another word.

Hyeon-seo, on the other hand, looked a little dejected and crestfallen at Lee Soo-yeon’s words.

The phoenix approached her, hopped onto her shoulder, and gently patted her back.

It was an amusing sight, as if the two shared a bond from both being born of Il-hyeon’s ability.

Il-hyeon checked the time and hurriedly gathered his gear.

While checking if his communicator was working properly, he took a card out of his wallet.

It was a high-end card, the kind that was said to be issued only to the top 0.001% VVIPs.

Il-hyeon had received an invitation a few weeks ago and had gotten it issued, as it was time to change his card anyway.

“First, you should buy some clothes that fit.”

He was a little worried she might bankrupt him with food, since the card had no limit.

Hyeon-seo took the black card and nodded as if she understood, and Il-hyeon spoke again.

“And don’t say things like that outside. No, don’t say it inside either.”

“You mean ‘Master’?”

“Yes, that.”

“Okay.”

The team members had already boarded the waiting transport aircraft, and Il-hyeon, having finished his preparations, quickly boarded with his summons.

Hyeon-seo waved at him.

*She’ll be fine on her own, right…?*

*

“Is this the place?”

Below the open door of the transport, a village came into view.

Smoke billowed here and there as if it had been attacked by monsters, and destroyed buildings were visible.

But amidst it all, not a single monster could be seen.

The transport approached the outskirts of the village, where monster corpses were piled high, and the team members disembarked.

All the residents had evacuated, and about ten men gathered around after spotting the group.

Seeing they were all wearing Defensive Coats, it was clear they were the Awakened team that had been dispatched first.

“It’s an honor to meet you. Though you seem a little late.”

A fierce-looking man who appeared to be the leader, Dmitri, spoke, and the translation function of their communicators kicked in.

Their affiliation was Team Grid, a private Awakened team composed entirely of B-rank or higher Awakened.

Among groups not working under governments or corporations, it was rare to find one with such strong combat power.

They were an extremely famous team in Russia, too.

Among them, the team leader, Dmitri, was top-tier even for a B-rank.

He was often evaluated by experts as having the skill to join Aegis.

Of course, he had no intention of doing so, making it a moot point.

Urgently dispatched due to the appearance of monsters without a Gate signature, they had quickly dealt with the creatures attacking the village first.

When they first appeared, their numbers were small, and there were no ace monsters mixed in, so they were easy to clean up.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Even though no Gate had opened, monsters continuously emerged from the ground in the surrounding area.

After repeating the extermination process three or four times, they determined it was beyond their team’s capacity and requested support from Aegis.

*Rumble!*

As the two teams of Awakened met, the ground suddenly shook, and just as they sensed something was wrong, the creature revealed itself.

*Screeeech!*

The earth tore apart as if exploding, and a hideous giant spider burst out from within.

Its thick, brown torso roared as its four-way split mouth gaped open, and its hairy legs were nearly as thick as pillars.

The monster that suddenly appeared from below tried to stomp to death a member of Team Grid who had been knocked over.

But Il-hyeon reacted instantly, throwing his sword, which flew through the air and struck the creature squarely in the head.

*Splat!* Green fluid burst out, and the staggering, giant monster collapsed sideways, taking a fence with it.

“Ugh.”

As he approached and pulled out the sword, more fluid gushed out, and Il-hyeon grimaced.

He wiped the messy slime, which was hard to clean off, from his sword.

“Whew, impressive.”

“What happened? They said no Gate waves were detected in the area.”

Lee Soo-yeon asked the impressed Dmitri.

It was Aegis’s analysis team, not just anyone.

There was no way they would have mistakenly missed a Gate nearby.

“Of course not. I looked through the records. Twenty years ago, a Gate appeared in the mine located near here. It was a high-rank Gate, difficult to handle, so they had no choice but to blow up the mine and bury it.”

“So they’ve been alive all this time.”

Lee Soo-yeon said.

His explanation made sense of the phenomenon of monsters continuously appearing without a Gate signature.

“Exactly. They’ve been breeding deep underground all this time and are only now making their way out. According to the records from back then, the location where the Gate appeared was…”

*Fzzt!* A holographic map appeared in mid-air.

The detailed layout of the sealed mine was displayed, with the presumed location of the Gate’s appearance marked.

But upon seeing the location, the team members’ expressions hardened.

“This is…”

The Gate’s location was right at the very end of the mine.

The problem was its incredible depth: 525 meters.

Now it was clear why these prideful men had quietly given up, requested help from Aegis, and were willing to hand over the site.

This wasn’t a Gate they could handle.

“If this thing collapses, we’re goners, no questions asked.”

Ghost said, placing a hand on his hip.

As he said, it was extremely dangerous.

Fighting on the surface already caused surrounding buildings and the ground to be overturned and destroyed; if they were to fight inside the unstable earth filled with monsters and get buried in a collapse, it would be over.

At that depth, an Awakened’s rank wouldn’t matter.

Yet, they couldn’t just not enter and clear it out, with monsters continuously digging their way to the surface.

Even if they blew up the tunnels the monsters had dug from the outside, it would only buy them some time and ultimately just increase the number of monsters.

“There’s probably an incredible number of monsters packed down there.”

Dmitri said, pointing at the underground section of the hologram.

Even without knowing their exact breeding speed, these monsters had been underground for the past 20 years.

The number was likely immense.

Even if successful, the operation would be incredibly time-consuming.

The reason for the early emergency call for the Alpha Team was likely because the other teams were already engaged elsewhere and couldn’t be pulled away.

He looked at them as if asking, *You think you can handle this?*

With the thought that even for them, such a hostile environment would be too much.

But Il-hyeon and his team members just smirked and prepared their gear.

“Just give us the coordinates and any info you have on these things.”

Lee Soo-yeon said, pulling on her black fingerless gloves.

Naturally, there was no way they were backing down after coming all this way.

*

*Click!* Hyeon-seo stepped out of the taxi.

The *clack-clack* of her heels drew the gazes of the men—no, of everyone passing by.

“Whoa, who is that…”

“Is she a celebrity? I’ve never seen her before.”

She wore jeans that highlighted her slender legs, with a black jacket over a light gray turtleneck.

Il-hyeon had told her to buy clothes, but she had little interest in fashion and quickly bought whatever caught her eye.

Besides, she barely felt the cold, so there was no need to bundle up.

But that alone was more than enough to capture people’s attention.

The casually chosen clothes came together to create a perfect picture, which, combined with her face and figure, gave her the aura of a top model on her way to a photoshoot.

Unaware or perhaps unconcerned by the stares, she calmly entered a shop on the side of the street.

The interior looked quite luxurious; it wasn’t an ordinary restaurant or clothing store.

It was an Awakened gear shop.

“Welcome!”

A female employee in a uniform approached and greeted Hyeon-seo.

Awakened gear, even items that a non-rookie Awakened wouldn’t use even if given for free, started at exorbitant prices.

From an Awakened’s perspective, since their lives were on the line, they had no choice but to invest in their gear, no matter how much it cost.

Moreover, while most Awakened were supplied by their companies or could purchase gear at a relatively low cost, places like this primarily catered to ordinary civilians.

Naturally, the prices were higher.

This was a place where the wealthy bought items for self-defense or collection, or where enthusiasts interested in the world of the Awakened purchased gear.

Swords, spears, Defensive Coats.

As she browsed the various items preciously on display, something caught her eye.

A Defensive Coat, hanging inside a glass case in the middle of the store.

“I’ll take this one.”

“Excuse me?”

It was a high-output coat made with a B-rank core.

An item that could be considered excessive for a civilian who wasn’t even an Awakened.

The store only had one on hand for display, and the price tag below it had an incredible number of zeros.

The store didn’t actually expect it to sell; it was mostly available for rental.

Of course, there was a demand for such items, but people who could afford them usually purchased them through other channels, not here.

“The price is quite high, so it might be a bit much…”

Just as the employee was about to dissuade her, Hyeon-seo stylishly took out the card and presented it.

The employee stopped talking, taking an involuntary sharp breath.

“P-Please wait a moment!”

*I’ve always wanted to try this.*

Hyeon-seo chuckled to herself while maintaining a straight face.

It was a scene you often see in dramas.

Though, in reality, she had never actually watched one.