Chapter 95 – An Unexpected Face (Part Four)

The helicopter vanished from sight, and the four of them—Il-hyeon, Seo Jeong-hwa, Hect, and Jeong Jin-seong—opened the door and stepped into the villa.

Inside, the villa felt comfortable and cozy, with a fireplace casting a warm, yellow glow over the wooden interior.

It looked like an ordinary villa in a quiet mountain resort, with nothing out of place.

“Keep your shoes on, but knock the dirt off first.”

“Are you really okay?”

“Good as new.”

“Don’t tell me I was the only one who didn’t know?”

“The others didn’t know either, so don’t worry. Very few people on the inside were aware.”

Even on his own Alpha Team, the only one who knew Jeong Jin-seong had recovered from his injury quite some time ago was his co-leader, Lee Soo-yeon.

“I get suspended once and end up going through all sorts of things.”

“You did the right thing in the Middle East. If you hadn’t stepped in, Soo-yeon would have been disappointed.”

Creeeak.

Jeong Jin-seong, who was leading the way, opened a door beneath the stairs and descended into a deep basement.

Il-hyeon and Seo Jeong-hwa, who had expected to be led to the living room, followed him in confusion.

It was a storage room, cool and cluttered with miscellaneous items. In one corner, bottles of wine and liquor were stacked high.

Jeong Jin-seong approached one of the walls and placed his hand on it.

With a grinding sound, a passageway opened up.

A white corridor, a stark contrast to the gloomy basement walls, greeted them.

Eyes wide, Il-hyeon and Seo Jeong-hwa stepped into the corridor. After they passed through another steel door at the end, a vast space unfolded before them—something they never would have imagined existed beneath a small villa.

“You’ve arrived?”

“Any new leads while I was gone?”

“Yes. We have one source, but we need to observe it for a while longer.”

Including the man who spoke to Jeong Jin-seong, about ten Aegis employees were bustling about, busy with their work.

It was a situation room lined with dozens of computers, a facility of considerable scale.

“I’ve been working here with Raven ever since I recovered from my injury. As secretly as possible, of course.”

“What? You never said we’d be seeing the Crows!”

Hearing this, Seo Jeong-hwa shot Il-hyeon a resentful look.

Aegis was one thing, but Raven’s Awakened were infamous in the criminal underworld.

Though she had resolved to relax as much as possible, given her precarious situation, she was clearly a little intimidated by their notorious reputation.

Of course, Il-hyeon hadn’t known either, so there was nothing he could do.

“But why Raven, all of a sudden…?”

Raven was already active in this area, so he wondered why Jeong Jin-seong’s involvement was necessary.

“We’d been detecting some unusual movements behind the scenes even before this terrorist attack. Though no one imagined they would pull off something this big.”

“Unusual movements?”

“Yeah. It sounds unbelievable, and I didn’t believe it at first either… but criminal organizations all over the world are uniting. Led by major players like the IRC, they’re either forming alliances or being absorbed. And it’s all happening far too easily.”

“What? How could news like that not have gotten out?”

“There have been no official announcements or mentions, not even internally. They just suddenly stopped all their conflicts, big and small, and their turf wars. Then, as if on cue, they started cooperating.”

Out of nowhere, the world’s criminal organizations were joining forces.

He didn’t know how many groups were involved, but it sounded absurd.

Nevertheless, Jeong Jin-seong continued his explanation.

“In any case, we needed to investigate and keep them in check. Even though Gate generation was at its peak, team members would occasionally help out at Raven’s request. They couldn’t be away for long, but since I was about to return from my injury, there was no risk of word getting out, so I’ve been helping them full-time.”

As the story poured out, Il-hyeon glanced at Seo Jeong-hwa from time to time, but she kept her lips tightly sealed.

He looked to her, hoping she might have some insight, but her expression was hard to read.

“But we were just as blindsided by this large-scale terror attack. We have no idea how they did it. We didn’t detect any production or movement of explosives.”

Il-hyeon’s expression grew complicated as he listened.

It wasn’t good news.

It meant they were vulnerable to follow-up attacks, and indeed, the world was already reeling from continuous acts of terror in various locations.

The government was only just managing to hold the line with its response.

“Ms. Seo Jeong-hwa?”

“Y-Yes?”

“None of the Raven folks are here yet, so you don’t have to worry. And even when they do arrive, they won’t treat you roughly.”

“Haha…”

Jeong Jin-seong said with a kind smile.

Seo Jeong-hwa could neither laugh nor cry, letting out only a hollow chuckle.

“We’re going to start with a few basic tests. We need to check your physical condition before we look inside your head, so I hope you understand.”

“Ah… Yes, of course.”

At Jeong Jin-seong’s gesture, an employee came over and led her to an examination room.

“The other two aren’t here?”

“They went to meet an important guest.”

Hect, who had been standing quietly nearby, asked the question, and Jeong Jin-seong answered.

He nodded as if he knew who the important guest was, then excused himself to report that the primary target had arrived safely.

From the sound of it, he was stationed at this base to act as a liaison between the CIA and Aegis.

In the meantime, the two weasels that had been perched on Seo Jeong-hwa’s shoulder scurried over and clambered up Il-hyeon’s body.

Seeing the weasels sprawl out limply on Il-hyeon’s hand, Jeong Jin-seong asked with amusement.

“Are these new members of the family? They’re even wearing hats.”

“The family’s grown quite a bit since the beginning.”

Il-hyeon followed Jeong Jin-seong, who was looking for a place to talk.

He learned about the tests Seo Jeong-hwa was undergoing: an Awakened assessment including an Ability measurement, some light questioning, and a lie detector test.

They had to confirm whether she was a spy beforehand. It would be a huge problem if she had an explosive device planted inside her, like what happened to Jeong Jin-seong, or if she was a double agent sent to extract information.

“And if she is a spy…?”

“We’ll have to deal with her.”

It wasn’t hard to understand what ‘deal with her’ meant.

It was a rather grim statement, but he said it matter-of-factly, without batting an eye.

Reading the slightly uneasy look on Il-hyeon’s face, Jeong Jin-seong asked.

“What, getting attached already? If she did deceive us, we can’t let her live now that she knows this location.”

“It’s not that… She just doesn’t seem like a bad person. Annoying, maybe, but not bad.”

“I sincerely hope so, too. The success of obtaining crucial information depends on it.”

Jeong Jin-seong entered an empty room and handed Il-hyeon a stack of documents from the table in the center.

“You know why you’re here, don’t you?”

“Yes. Since I can’t go out in the field because of my suspension, it’s better to help here.”

“That’s not the only reason. I can get your suspension taken care of. With emergencies breaking out on both fronts, the international organizations won’t make a fuss about an early return to duty. It’s your choice.”

“It’s fine. I wanted to teach the bastards behind this a lesson anyway, so this works out perfectly.”

It was certainly unexpected to be given a choice between handling Gates or dealing with the masterminds of the terror attack while under suspension, but Il-hyeon’s choice was already made.

Stopping the Gates was important to him for many reasons, but he knew nothing would feel right as long as these maniacs, who openly attacked dense civilian populations, were left unchecked.

With countless Gates already appearing, his acquaintances and parents could never be truly safe until these culprits were caught.

He had planned to hunt them down on his own during his suspension, so being able to join this effort was a welcome development.

“Good. First, you need a clear picture of the situation, so I’ll give you more details. This is a list of the organizations that have teamed up. It only includes the ones of a significant size.”

Il-hyeon took the documents he was offered.

But the list he held was even more shocking than he’d anticipated.

It included everything from drug cartels and terrorist groups to assassin guilds, mafias, and even organizations with strong religious leanings.

The sheer number of organizations, each with vastly different ideologies, goals, and structures, bewildered Il-hyeon.

To top it off, the list even included two organizations that had been mortal enemies.

It was hard to believe such a thing was possible.

“This is… beyond anything I imagined.”

“Right? I thought it was a joke at first, too. What’s clear is that the IRC is at the center of this union.”

The IRC was a massive organization that meddled in affairs across the globe, dabbling in anything that made money—drugs, Ether smuggling, black market finance, human trafficking, contract killing, fraud, you name it.

Because of its reputation and scale, which far surpassed others, the media always portrayed it as an axis of evil.

“But there’s no way they could have pulled this off alone. What is certain is that there’s a mastermind behind them. Someone hiding deep in the shadows, with unbelievable power. Finding them is our primary objective.”

Aegis and Raven’s Awakened were powerful, but they were still a minority in terms of numbers.

The large-scale operations to wipe out the countless organizations spread across the world were left to the authorities; for now, they were focusing all their efforts on uncovering the mastermind.

“Oh, and don’t mention this to anyone. Not even Ghost or Pil-joon.”

“Keeping quiet is the easy part… but why go to such lengths?”

Il-hyeon couldn’t help but ask.

First, he’d hidden his recovery from his own teammates, and now he had to hide the fact that he was working here from them, too.

It seemed they were being overly cautious about information leaks.

“If you only worry about the outside, things are bound to leak. In fact, most of the information circulating within Aegis has gotten out. Even things that were kept secret from regular employees. It means there’s a mole, even among the Awakened.”

Il-hyeon was quite surprised by Jeong Jin-seong’s answer.

He’d never imagined there could be an enemy within Aegis.

“We don’t know how far their reach extends, so we can’t trust everyone.”

He hadn’t been called here just to make use of valuable personnel who couldn’t handle Gates due to suspension.

He was chosen because his abilities were relatively unknown, and no one would find it strange if he didn’t go out into the field under the current circumstances.

If the enemy discovered the identity of their pursuer, they would be able to counter his abilities more effectively, a situation best avoided.

Besides, Il-hyeon’s abilities were exceptionally useful.

“I almost lost an arm, and you’ve prevented two major disasters. That’s the level of trust you need to be above suspicion.”