Chapter 78 – A Second Family (Part Three)

Pfft! Il-hyeon spat out the mouthful of sand.

The fierce winds whipping across the middle of the desert were laced with sand, desperately trying to force its way into his eyes and nose.

“Working even in a sandstorm like this. You won’t find a dirtier, more dangerous, or more difficult job anywhere else.”

Ghost grumbled as he watched the sandstorm swallow the hazy surroundings.

He was sitting silently with Il-hyeon on top of a sand dune.

“We finished without a hitch, so that’s all that matters.”

Il-hyeon, wearing black goggles and a mask that covered his nose and mouth, replied.

Below the dune, the corpses of countless monsters lay strewn about.

Ghost wiped the sandy dust from his watch screen and checked the schedule.

“Let’s see, what’s left… Egypt, Algeria, Bolivia, India… Thirteen more? I guess we’ll be done after circling the globe three more times.”

“Why are you so full of complaints today?”

“It’s sudden overtime. I finally had some really important plans lined up, but they notified me this morning, and now everything’s ruined.”

Ghost grumbled, clearly displeased.

He’d been putting in a lot of effort to woo a woman he had his eye on lately, and it seemed his plans had been wrecked.

As he said, they were usually notified by the day before at the latest, so it had been a surprise to get the news just this morning.

But it couldn’t be helped.

Unlike before, the activation times for the Gates appearing recently were getting shorter and shorter, which was causing problems for the analysis team in planning and assigning teams to sites in advance.

“Quiet. Should we just leave the Gate, then? Stop chattering and get ready to move.”

“Ugh…”

Lee Soo-yeon appeared from behind and grabbed Ghost’s head as she spoke.

The three of them had finished the mission in the middle of the desert without much difficulty, despite the harsh conditions.

To deal with the countless Gates appearing, they had to split into the smallest effective teams possible. Hyeon-seo and Seok Pil-joon were on standby on the other side of the world, awaiting a Gate activation.

Just then, an Aegis transport aircraft descended toward them.

When the door opened, the sandstorm blasted inside. The three of them quickly scrambled into the aircraft and shut the door.

“Ugh.”

They threw off their goggles and masks, then vigorously shook the sand from their bodies and hair.

Il-hyeon plopped into a seat first, and the fox that had been hiding in his coat to avoid the sand poked its head out.

His other summons were with Hyeon-seo’s group, which had fewer people.

After shaking out her long hair, Lee Soo-yeon operated a screen inside the transport and began the briefing for their next mission.

“As you can see, the next site is a B4-rank Gate in Egypt. There are no towns nearby, so we don’t have to worry about evacuations. Twenty-five minutes until activation.”

“Wait, B4? It’s not like we’re pre-cycle or anything. Can’t someone else handle a B4? We’re busy enough as it is.”

Ghost complained.

Of course, a B4-rank Gate was still considered quite high-rank.

But there were plenty of other skilled organizations besides Aegis that could handle a Gate of that level.

The Big6, obviously, and even other major corporations like Union could manage it if they assembled their main teams.

Besides the Korean corporations mentioned, there were a good number of renowned companies and Awakened in the United States and the European Union. Even the combined forces of the Egyptian government’s Awakened would be enough to face it.

However, it wasn’t as if those forces were just sitting around, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.

“No one else has the available forces to take it on at that time. Everyone is swamped these days. But the monster generation time is short, so we should be able to clear it quickly and move on.”

Lee Soo-yeon said with a shrug.

The unprecedented increase in the number of Gates was making things difficult for everyone, not just them.

As Aegis got busier, so did everyone else.

As they were passing through the Middle East, a sudden emergency communication came in, and the aircraft came to a halt.

In the past, he would have been bewildered, but now Il-hyeon had a good idea of what was happening.

A high-rank ambush Gate must have opened nearby, causing chaos, and they, being in the vicinity, would have to divert and handle it.

And he was right.

“An A5-rank ambush Gate just appeared in the middle of the city right ahead. It’s filled with multiple ace monsters and is already active. We’re taking it, so we’re going down.”

“Understood! Frankly, this is better.”

Ghost replied, pulling his mask back on.

In the short time it took the transport to move over the Gate area, they quickly gathered all their gear and prepared to open the door and descend.

“Wait, hold.”

But everyone froze at Lee Soo-yeon’s words.

With one hand on her communicator, she was in contact with the analysis team, but the conversation was taking longer than expected.

“Shouldn’t we get down there quickly?”

Il-hyeon asked, looking anxiously at his watch.

If a Gate with such a fast activation time appeared in the middle of a city, there was no way an evacuation could have been carried out in advance. Every second mattered.

Civilians would be dying while they waited.

Boom! Just then, the sound of an explosion from below reached them inside the aircraft. Ghost looked around, puzzled.

But Lee Soo-yeon, who hadn’t answered, frowned deeper and deeper, finally saying something shocking.

“We are not to intervene here.”

“Oh, is another team already on site?”

“No, no one. We have to abandon this area.”

“What?”

Completely blindsided by the unexpected statement, Il-hyeon stared at Lee Soo-yeon in shock.

“Wait, that doesn’t make any sense. Why?”

“It’s the will of the international organizations. The Security Council has designated them a sanctioned nation, so they can’t receive international aid. That includes Awakened corporations. We are, by principle, forbidden from intervening.”

Lee Soo-yeon let out a short sigh and began to explain the situation to them.

The nation below was in a complex situation, ruled by a dictator and embroiled in a coup and civil war.

Political and religious interests were intricately entangled, and the civil war, which had dragged on for years, had caused severe harm to civilians, adults and children alike.

International organizations stepped in, unable to stand by, but they were powerless to resolve the conflict. The stagnant civil war showed no signs of ending.

Furthermore, both sides ignored all recommendations from the international organizations trying to mediate the dispute. The government forces carried out massacres in rebel territories, while the rebels committed indiscriminate acts of terror, both blatantly violating the strictly enforced treaty prohibiting Awakened from intervening in wars.

In response, the international organizations sanctioned the nation, passing a resolution that blocked all forms of aid, including assistance from other countries’ Awakened for Gate appearances.

It was a severe sanction, even blocking support from Korean corporations that handled eighty percent of the world’s high-rank Gates. However, both the government and the rebel forces, whose Awakened strength was superior to that of other nations of similar size, were not afraid of the sanctions.

Even now, excluding those who had died in the civil war, they still had two B-rank Awakened and over forty C-rank Awakened.

Thanks to them, they had been safe from the Gates that had opened over the past two years.

But when the cycle changed and an A-rank Gate—an ambush Gate, at that—appeared without warning, the situation was completely reversed.

Their two Awakened, who were on the lower end of B-rank, were nowhere near enough to handle the Gate.

Moreover, this Gate was composed entirely of ace monsters: one A-rank monster and about ten B-rank monsters.

Even if they gathered every Awakened in the country, without any truly high-ranking individuals, they would all just be slaughtered.

The government and rebel forces belatedly requested help, but with the disaster already upon them and no time to spare, the two sides couldn’t even coordinate their positions.

The international organizations stated that assistance was impossible without a proper compromise and promise, so both sides hastily entered negotiations.

But the emotional rift between them was deep, and their opposing factions had complex, intertwined interests. Even as people were dying, their positions did not easily align.

The international organizations had expected as much, but they intended to use this opportunity to make an example for other nations and, at the same time, tame this unruly problem child.

Unlike in the 2010s, global media was now tightly controlled, so there was no need to worry about public opinion in matters like this.

“It’s not like human lives are a joke…”

Il-hyeon muttered, biting his lip hard.

That the people who had already suffered because of a senseless war were now being sacrificed due to the stagnant negotiations of both sides—it was absurd.

“And we’re just going to stand by and follow such a ridiculous order?”

“This isn’t a problem for us to judge and solve. Right or wrong, the higher-ups are in a standoff.”

No matter how powerful Aegis was, they couldn’t ignore the word of international organizations.

Even the South Korean government, whose voice on the international stage had grown due to its many high-ranking Awakened and significant control over Ether, couldn’t intervene rashly in a situation like this.

While high-quality Awakened had become a crucial measure of a nation’s strength, it wasn’t everything.

Just as the sudden appearance of Ether didn’t change the world’s reserve currency from the dollar to the won, superpowers like the United States were still economically dominant and possessed even more Awakened as a result.

“They acted like they didn’t care, and now this happens… Half the country might get wiped out. They’ll probably try to deal with it belatedly after that.”

Lee Soo-yeon said with surprising composure as she gazed out the transport door.

They were maintaining a high altitude to avoid being attacked by the monsters, but with their Awakened eyes, they could see the situation below clearly.

A city being destroyed, and overwhelming monsters running rampant, impossible to stop.

Then she glanced at Il-hyeon, as if to gauge his reaction.

“Are we really just going to pass by?”

“Yes. We have no choice.”

“Then I’ll go alone.”

“…Alone?”

Lee Soo-yeon looked at him with a rather surprised expression, but Il-hyeon’s resolve was firm.

He picked up the sword that was leaning against his chair.

“If several of us go, there’ll be no excuse, so we can’t help you. As team leader, I can’t go in your place either. On top of that, you’ll have to face internal disciplinary action.”

“I don’t care.”

“Every single monster on site is dangerous. The B-rank monsters are on the stronger side of their level… It’ll be dangerous alone, won’t it?”

“I’ll have to find a way.”

Il-hyeon answered her questions curtly.

He seemed slightly angry, and when she didn’t try to stop him, he jumped out the door without hesitation.

Falling without a parachute, Il-hyeon transformed the wind mid-air, summoned a hawk, and rode it as he flew off.

Lee Soo-yeon silently watched Il-hyeon jump, looking down at the scene below.

“Your acting has improved.”

“Hm?”

“You knew he would have jumped out on his own anyway, didn’t you?”

When Ghost said this, staring at her with his arms crossed, a faint smile appeared on Lee Soo-yeon’s lips.

“Still, I’m a good judge of character. A guy like you would’ve just passed by.”

“Hey, are you serious?”

“Hahaha!”

Lee Soo-yeon burst into a cheerful laugh.

Ghost also walked to the door and looked down.

Still, it wasn’t a site he could handle alone, so it was true that he was worried.

“Will he be okay on his own?”

“He’ll be fine. If things get dicey, we have Hyeon-seo…”

With her spatial leap ability, Hyeon-seo could go help Il-hyeon at any time.

Lee Soo-yeon recalled the incident between Hyeon-seo and Heo Yu-ra and tapped her fingers against the wall she was leaning on.

People might think she was wary of Hyeon-seo because of the recent incident, but that wasn’t true.

Despite the concerns of Representative Ryu Jin-tae, who had heard the report directly, Lee Soo-yeon had actually defended Hyeon-seo’s and Il-hyeon’s abilities.

She had even compromised on the use of the ability related to summoning people, agreeing to give up a core they had been trying to obtain from another source.

After the incident in Australia, when she asked Hyeon-seo why she had done it, she had simply said she was ‘angry.’

It was clearly an excessive act and worrisome in some respects, but she thought that, in a way, it might have been a very human choice.

Having worked with her as a teammate for over a week, she knew well what Hyeon-seo was usually like.

With the danger cycle still far from over, and with damage increasing and high-ranking Awakened growing short-staffed, she saw Il-hyeon’s abilities, including Hyeon-seo, as the solution.

Clank!

After seeing Il-hyeon land safely, Lee Soo-yeon pressed a switch to close the aircraft door against the howling wind.

Her windswept hair settled.

“Besides, he’s not the same rookie we had to worry about every little thing for, is he?”

“True… you’re right.”

“Let’s trust him with this one.”