# Chapter 183
“……”
“……”
“……”
Silence hung over the table where they had gathered to talk in the awkward atmosphere. D.S, Iyeon, Jeongheon, Young, and even the small girl that Young had been looking after the last time they met. Despite there being as many as five people, nothing could be heard except the sound of breathing.
Among them, Iyeon, who had been staring into space with a blank expression, turned his head to look at Young. Her face came into view, still expressionless but somehow awkwardly embarrassed.
‘You’re truly the stupidest hunter I’ve ever seen.’
‘Thanks for the compliment.’
Wasn’t it warm and friendly back then? And the ending was good too. He had spoken as if they were going to walk toward a hopeful new future! Feeling deeply deceived, Iyeon tugged at his hair in frustration, and D.S clicked her tongue disapprovingly as she pushed a glass of water toward him. After emptying the glass in one gulp, he felt somewhat calmer.
“…So.”
This was reality, no matter how much he didn’t want to believe it. Iyeon began with a gloomy introduction.
“Have you decided on stalker as your new profession?”
“……”
“……”
Jeongheon and Young looked at Iyeon simultaneously. Their eyes clearly conveyed the message: that doesn’t make sense. Wait, why are you looking at me like that? You’re the ones who got caught stalking! As Iyeon glared at them with wide eyes, D.S’s nonchalant voice cut in from beside him.
“I think you’re suspicious too.”
“What?”
What is she talking about now? Iyeon stared at D.S with rounded eyes. Regardless of the shock written on his face, D.S coolly pointed out the facts.
“It seems suspicious that you’re already acquainted with the intruders who broke into my house. You might be in cahoots with them.”
“No… Don’t associate me with these perverts!”
Iyeon burst out angrily. His outburst was immediately followed by two rebuttals, lined up like frog eggs.
“I’m not a pervert.”
“Not a pervert.”
“……”
Only the small girl remained silent, quietly sipping her water. This was familiar since he’d never heard her speak before.
“Then why are you all here like this?”
In response to his grumbling question, Young and Jeongheon glared at each other as if engaged in a staring contest. After an intense exchange of glances, Young lost. Reluctantly, she turned her gaze to Iyeon and opened her mouth.
“…You told me to apologize.”
“Look, you do know that apologizing and stalking aren’t the same thing, right?”
“I know.”
Young’s voice rose slightly, as if she felt wronged.
“I just found myself in this situation when I came to my senses.”
“You committed a crime instinctively?”
“Hey, stop nitpicking and just listen to us.”
Jeongheon, who couldn’t bear it anymore, covered Iyeon’s mouth, and only then did Iyeon quiet down. After heaving a deep sigh, Jeongheon began his explanation, which was fortunately much more coherent than Young’s.
After Iyeon had gone ahead to find Dr. Kim at the superpower factory, an awkward silence fell among the three people left behind.
‘What should we do with the remaining time?’
Jeongheon was the one who broke the silence. Iyeon had asked them to report in 30 minutes. He was asking what they should do during that time.
Young hesitated for a moment whether to answer the casual question. Jeongheon was an outsider and, truthfully, didn’t need to be here. Instead of staying together, it would be better to send him away before making the report.
As if reading her thoughts, Jeongheon asked again.
‘Have you ever reported an illegal research facility?’
Jeongheon was relatively young, but like most hunters, he had started working at a young age and was now in his sixth year. Moreover, since his ability was extremely useful for infiltration, he had experience being deployed in operations like shutting down illegal research facilities.
‘You don’t think you just call the police, do you?’
‘……’
Young, who had thought exactly that, kept her mouth shut. Jeongheon clicked his tongue as if he’d expected this.
‘This isn’t under regular police jurisdiction. There’s a specialized investigation unit, but only hunter companies have direct contact numbers. If you report it to the police, by the time the investigation unit receives the information and mobilizes, it would be too slow, and everyone who wants to escape will have already fled.’
‘Then you do it.’
‘Me? Pretend I’m not here. It’ll become troublesome if my company finds out.’
‘…What should I do then?’
In response to her blunt question, Jeongheon shrugged.
‘Well, since you’re a rookie who doesn’t do hunter work, reporting to the police wouldn’t raise suspicions.’
Can I punch this arrogant bastard? Young clenched and unclenched her fist without Jeongheon noticing as he continued speaking.
‘So, let’s gather people first.’
‘Why?’
‘Why, you ask?’
Jeongheon smiled wickedly.
‘If we gather them all together before reporting, none of them can escape.’
Gathering people scattered throughout the site was easy. Even for a short period, Young had been a close associate of Dr. Kim, the head of this factory.
They deliberately didn’t call for Dr. Kim. That was Iyeon’s responsibility.
‘Are there many people with those gems implanted?’
‘About three remain now. Many couldn’t endure the severe side effects and collapsed. Even those are only at Tier 2 level.’
‘That’s fortunate. We should be able to subdue them ourselves at that level.’
Jeongheon nodded and observed the people entering the container one by one. Despite the vast site, there weren’t many people. When Jeongheon had scouted earlier, there were many unused containers, so this scale was roughly as expected.
‘Is that everyone?’
‘No, some didn’t come. I don’t think they’ll come at all.’
Young replied indifferently. Before Jeongheon could ask why, someone helpfully provided the reason.
‘What gives a mere test subject the right to order people around? Do you think you’re someone important just because Dr. Kim gave you a job?’
An older man haughtily questioned Young. Judging by his white coat, he was involved in the research. His attitude was clearly that of someone addressing an inferior. The way he specifically referred to her as a “test subject” suggested he believed in a hierarchical relationship between them. So this was the issue. Before Jeongheon could furrow his brow, Young spoke.
‘I’m going to report you.’
‘What?’
Simultaneously, ice formed beneath everyone’s feet. Several people lost their balance and slipped on the floor where friction had been drastically reduced.
‘W-what’s going on!’
‘Seo Young! How could you!’
People who had come carelessly, assuming they were on the same side, screamed in shock. They couldn’t move an inch as they would slip with just one step. Meanwhile, those who still tried to escape were teleported back to their places by the small girl. Young ignored all their protests and signaled to Jeongheon.
‘You can tell who the superpower users are without looking, right?’
Jeongheon nodded. The facility’s researchers all wore white coats as if to advertise their roles.
There was no way the Tier 1 superpower users could defeat Jeongheon, a master of Cho Jeonryeok specialized in combat against humans. The internal personnel of the factory were eliminated in an instant.
‘I’ll go catch those who didn’t come myself.’
Young took out her staff and twirled it once, then nodded to the girl. It was an efficient choice since they roughly knew where everyone was. Jeongheon waved his hand casually.
‘Have a good trip. I’ll keep guard here. That should make the timing just right.’
However, ultimately, Young couldn’t capture the remaining people.
Just as she was about to teleport, a massive explosion sounded from outside.
BOOM! RUMBLE… The sound of the ground collapsing shook the entire site. At the ominous explosion, all three of them flinched simultaneously and looked toward the container entrance. The confined people also murmured in surprised faces.
‘What’s going on?’
Jeongheon and Young left the girl to guard the container and went outside to assess the situation. In the distance, near the site entrance, they could see a container collapsing in a cloud of dust.
‘No, is he making such a commotion just to catch one doctor… Is he okay?’
Jeongheon muttered as he stared blankly at the spectacular sight. Having seen Iyeon use his main ability, he wasn’t worried at all. But Young shook her head.
‘It’s not Jung Iyeon. That location is exactly opposite to where Dr. Kim would be.’
‘What? Then…’
‘Since there’s no demolition system here, it seems like another intruder. …Likely a high-ranking hunter. Perhaps a company-scale operation.’
Even as they conversed, containers near the collapsed one were sequentially partially destroyed. Hearing the successive explosions, it became confusing whether their gathering of people was for capture or rescue.
‘Shouldn’t we evacuate? Forget about reporting, we might die here.’
Jeongheon glanced sideways at the explosion site while asking. The direction of the attack on the containers was clearly aimed toward the deeper parts of the facility. And from a rough visual estimate, the container they were in was definitely in the path of this aggressive intruder.
‘We can’t leave all these people behind and run away.’
Young replied stubbornly. The 30 minutes promised to Iyeon hadn’t passed yet.
‘No, I don’t mean running away…’
As he was saying this, Jeongheon suddenly realized that the consecutive explosions had stopped. The eerie silence lasted only briefly before a completely different sound—CRASH—rang out from another direction. Both of them whipped their heads around.
The tallest structure on the site, made by stacking containers on top of each other…
…was now collapsing.
‘That place… looks like where that Dr. Kim would be.’
In response to Jeongheon’s dazed muttering, Young frowned. Her expression was a perfect affirmation.
Afterwards, there was silence for a while. The explosions approaching their area and the collapse of the large structure on the opposite side both ceased, and no sound was heard.
‘What’s happening here…’
With that bewildered murmur as background noise, Young checked her watch. It was almost 30 minutes. Just as she was taking out her phone, Jeongheon tapped her arm. When she looked up, dark figures were walking toward them from the distance.
