Chapter 97 – Commencement (Part Two)

“Let’s have some tea.”

That was what Yoon In-hye had said to Il-hyeon, who had been on high alert.

And now, they were sitting alone in the room, just the two of them.

The pristine white wallpaper made Il-hyeon feel a little more anxious.

His heart was pounding, wondering if she had read his thoughts and discovered the true nature of his ability.

He tried to think of an excuse, but if she had truly read his mind, any attempt to talk his way out of it would be useless.

She would know he was racking his brain right now.

“I don’t make a habit of reading people’s minds, so please relax. It makes relationships unnecessarily exhausting.”

Yoon In-hye said leisurely, noticing how stiffly Il-hyeon was holding his teacup.

“People have all sorts of thoughts they don’t share. If I read every single one, I’d just end up getting hurt. Right now… I was just reading your expression.”

Il-hyeon let out a sigh of relief at her words, which she delivered with a reassuring smile.

For a moment, he suspected she might have read his mind after all, but her explanation made sense.

The unfiltered thoughts people had before speaking them aloud were likely messier than one could imagine, so it would be stressful for the person reading them.

He had no personal experience, but it occurred to him that reading minds might not always be a good thing.

“Is there a particular reason you wanted to see me alone…?”

“I was curious.”

As Yoon In-hye set down her teacup, a soft clatter echoed through the quiet room.

“I just wanted to talk with you at least once. There are a lot of unusual things about you, aren’t there? The way you suddenly appeared, strongly recommended by Team Leader Lee Soo-yeon, who usually shows no interest in recruiting new members. Your ability, which you keep carefully hidden from the outside world. The way you scouted two A-rank Awakened who were completely unknown to the public. Your unprecedented rate of growth… and so on?”

His heart sank with every word she casually uttered.

Words he might normally dismiss made him anxious coming from her, given her ability.

“I suppose… I am a bit unusual.”

Il-hyeon replied, trying his best to hide his expression.

With a light laugh, Yoon In-hye crossed her legs, leaned forward, and asked him.

“How are you finding this line of work? It must be tough, becoming an Awakened at a time like this.”

“I’ve gotten used to it, so it’s fine.”

“That’s a relief.”

The two continued their conversation, but she didn’t press him about his ability or other sensitive topics.

Their chat consisted of trivial matters.

Yet, for some reason, he felt a considerable amount of pressure even during their casual conversation.

“I see you’re working here during your disciplinary period. Will the work be all right? I imagine you’ve never harmed anyone directly before.”

“I’m not worried about that.”

“Ah… you do seem that way.”

“Pardon?”

“No, never mind. By the way, are these little ones your summons?”

Yoon In-hye pointed to the white ferrets stretched out on top of Il-hyeon’s head.

The hat-wearing ferrets were hard to miss, and she had heard a lot about Il-hyeon’s summons.

Alpha Team had suffered a series of personnel losses: Jeong Jin-seong’s sudden injury, Il-hyeon’s disciplinary action, and the deaths of two team members during a mission.

Despite all this, their combat strength hadn’t significantly weakened.

This was partly thanks to the two A-rank Awakened Il-hyeon had summoned, Kang Hyeon-seo and Choi Seong-won, but the contribution of his summons could not be ignored either.

Even though Il-hyeon couldn’t go out into the field due to his suspension, his summons remained with the team, leading the charge in various situations and displaying skills superior to those of an average Awakened.

“Both of them seem to like you a lot, Il-hyeon. You must treat them well.”

“You can read their thoughts too?”

A startled Il-hyeon shifted in his seat and asked, and Yoon In-hye nodded.

The targets of her ability were not limited to just humans.

She could read the thoughts of any living creature with emotions, whether animal or human.

“Then can you read the thoughts of monsters…?”

“No, the only thing I can read from monsters is the emotion of hatred. It’s like their minds are completely broken, with nothing else there.”

To humans, monsters were truly cursed beings with whom no communication was possible.

‘So it’s impossible with monsters after all. But that one back then…’

Il-hyeon recalled the monster he had encountered beneath the Russian mine, which he had momentarily forgotten about.

That queen spider monster had not only possessed enough reason to assess their respective strengths and refrain from attacking immediately, but it had also spoken human language perfectly.

The incident was so shocking and defied all common sense that it was reported to the government and academic circles on a limited basis. However, since the creature was trapped and had died underground, they were left with only a single case, unable to determine the cause or any correlations.

Just then, Jeong Jin-seong burst through the door.

“The examination is finished. I don’t know what you two are talking about so intently, but everyone’s busy, so let’s get started.”

Seo Jeong-hwa’s Awakened examination was over, and he was calling Yoon In-hye to get to the main point.

Yoon In-hye nodded and stood up without hesitation.

“It would have been nice to have more time… what a shame. I hope I didn’t keep you against your will?”

“Not at all. Haha…”

Il-hyeon replied, breaking into a nervous sweat.

She hadn’t pressured him or been unpleasant at all—in fact, she had been quite kind—yet he felt a sense of gratitude toward Jeong Jin-seong for entering the room.

The two of them stood up and left the room. Outside, several Awakened, including members of Raven, had gathered.

As Il-hyeon turned his head and looked them over, he was overcome by a strange feeling.

High-ranking Awakened from different teams, including two of Aegis’s team leaders, a CIA agent, and inside the interrogation room, a woman who until yesterday had been part of a large-scale terrorist organization.

Sometimes, he felt out of place being in the midst of people like these.

“Cover the window so no one can see from the outside. You know?”

“Right. I’m counting on you.”

Yoon In-hye, having rolled up the sleeves of her shirt, went straight into the interrogation room.

The blinds came down automatically, completely covering the window.

The window had been designed so that the person inside couldn’t see out, but this time, the goal was to prevent those on the outside from seeing in.

“Uh…? Yoon In-hye?”

Seeing Yoon In-hye enter, Seo Jeong-hwa immediately recognized her.

As an Awakened, it would have been harder not to know her name.

“Seeing as you know my name, this should be easier.”

“Are you going to read my memories?”

“That’s right. They need the location of the facility where the Awakened procedures are being performed.”

She too had been briefed on the situation by Jeong Jin-seong and had a general idea of what information was needed.

But Seo Jeong-hwa shook her head.

“I’m afraid that’s impossible. The locations of the facilities are top secret. I don’t even know where the one I was at is located, let alone any others.”

“Whether you remember or not is irrelevant to my finding out.”

“How can you possibly find out something I don’t know…?”

“Because what I’ll be looking into isn’t your memory, precisely. It’s your subconscious.”

“My subconscious…?”

“I heard you were brainwashed during the procedure. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then, Ms. Jeong-hwa, I apologize in advance.”

“Pardon…?”

Yoon In-hye, having offered a sudden apology, took another step closer.

Seo Jeong-hwa, sitting in the chair, looked up at her in bewilderment.

“This is going to hurt. A lot.”

* * *

A scream echoed from within the soundproofed room. A short while later, Yoon In-hye emerged from the interrogation room.

In contrast to her initially neat appearance, the top button of her shirt was undone, and her hair was somewhat disheveled.

“So? Did you find the location of the facility?”

“All I got was ‘northern Mexico.’ They didn’t just erase her memories through brainwashing; they completely blocked any way of knowing the location during her entry and exit.”

“Damn…”

Jeong Jin-seong, who had been full of anticipation, sighed, unable to hide his disappointment.

Still, it wasn’t a complete failure; they had at least narrowed down the search area.

The problem was that the narrowed-down area was still far too vast.

“Carlos Niguez, Marcus Lopez.”

Just then, Yoon In-hye, who had reached back to untie and retie her messy hair, suddenly spoke two names.

Then, holding a hair tie between her lips, she continued to speak.

“Those are the names of two key figures that were most clearly embedded in her subconscious. I’ll send you their faces now.”

Yoon In-hye lowered one hand and snapped her fingers.

Astonishingly, the faces of two men and several scenes began to flash through the minds of everyone present, including Il-hyeon.

It was Yoon In-hye’s ability to transmit memories.

“Hoo, this is more than enough.”

“Carlos Niguez… he’s a figure in Mexican politics. I never imagined they’d be directly involved with him… I didn’t see this coming.”

Song Joon-ho and Cha Yeon-hee, the two Awakened from Raven, said with satisfied nods.

For them, a clue this significant was as good as having nearly solved the case, even without the exact location. It was a better outcome than they had anticipated.

“There was a pretty powerful suggestion in place, which gave me some trouble. For it to be this strong even when her brainwashing is unstable… they’re more vicious than I thought.”

Having looked inside Seo Jeong-hwa’s mind, she had witnessed the vivid, stomach-turning scenes of the experiments.

After finishing tying up her hair, Yoon In-hye checked her phone, which had received a notification.

The brief window of time she had managed to carve out was nearly over, and it seemed the number of Gates was surging again.

“This should be enough, right? I need to get going.”

“Yeah, you did well.”

“Then I wish you all the best of luck. Oh, and it would be best to leave her untouched until she wakes up. She’s in a highly unstable state right now.”

She was referring to Seo Jeong-hwa, who was passed out in the chair inside the room.

Il-hyeon had been worried about what on earth she had done to make the woman scream, but he had kept quiet after Jeong Jin-seong told him to trust her. He was secretly relieved that it was over safely.

Just then, Yoon In-hye, who was walking away, suddenly stopped and looked toward Il-hyeon.

‘Hm?’

Their eyes met. Yoon In-hye stood as if she were about to say something, but she soon pressed her lips together and walked out the door.

Seeing the mix of concern and wariness in her eyes, Il-hyeon scratched his head, wondering if it was just his imagination.

* * *

*Creeak.*

After passing through the passage between the walls and leaving the basement, Yoon In-hye’s calm expression turned grave once she was out of sight.

It wasn’t because she had learned the identity of the terrorists she’d been briefly told about, nor was it because she had read the shocking memories in Seo Jeong-hwa’s subconscious.

Ever since she had arrived, Yoon In-hye’s attention had been focused on something else entirely.

She went straight up to the villa and leaned against a wall, supporting herself with one hand.

Then, she shook her head once and wiped a hand down her face.

‘An SSS-rank… What did I just see? And on top of that…’