‘This is…’
It was because he detected Seo Hae-il’s very faint wavelength nearby.
The subtle trace left a very short trajectory like light flashing for an instant and disappeared.
However, there was no way Moon Woo-shin would miss Seo Hae-il’s wavelength of all people’s. It couldn’t be a mistake either. At least for him, it was impossible.
“What are you doing?”
Ban Jeong-hoon, who’d already stood outside the door, turned around. It was almost simultaneous with Moon Woo-shin, who’d been standing still staring at the window showing nothing, coming to his senses.
While erasing his expression without showing it, faint tension swept down his spine.
Moon Woo-shin thoroughly examined Ban Jeong-hoon’s face. Only faint irritation about not moving quickly, there were no signs of noticing anything at all.
“It’s nothing.”
Along with a stiff answer, he walked in large strides to follow. Only after all the gazes of Ban Jeong-hoon and those waiting outside left did he harden his expression.
‘What the hell is that bastard doing again?’
I really can’t let my guard down for even a moment.
***
Seo Hae-il stared as if glaring for a while at the back of Moon Woo-shin’s head disappearing with that Chairman bastard.
‘He said with his own mouth they were close, and it’s true.’
His mood felt strange. Even though he already knew it and even received direct confirmation from him, witnessing it before his eyes was a completely different dimension of feeling.
It was stranger because everything was unfamiliar. Moon Woo-shin politely bowing his head to someone too, but most of all, the point of acting as if Seo Hae-il wasn’t even in his mind was especially.
Rather if he picked fights or gave jabs at least, but not giving any reaction, not even a glance like a complete stranger passing on the street was very unfamiliar. Even at the moment they first faced each other, it wasn’t this distant. Now it felt like being some extra. A role like Gangster 3 who couldn’t even be a supporting character.
Subtly hiding his appearance as if protecting the Chairman from Gangster 3 who was a spy, leaving somewhat hurriedly. To Moon Woo-shin that would be natural, even he would probably have acted that way, and while understanding the situation with his head, he strangely felt displeased.
‘Telling me to buy cigarettes at the convenience store?’
With an errand perfectly matching the role added, defiance surged.
Hae-il, who’d been standing forlornly in the parking lot with no one left, moved quickly the moment he made a decision.
First he ran to the convenience store right next to the building and bought cigarettes. Just this once, he didn’t want to do as Moon Woo-shin instructed, but since it was better to have an alibi to roughly explain with than nothing, he endured.
Originally he’d planned to search inside and outside the building after buying those shitty cigarettes… his mind changed.
‘I need to know what the hell those bastards are talking about.’
While unfolding a plan that had grown considerably bolder in his head, Hae-il decided to use items he’d been carrying just in case.
There were several items he’d newly received support for when he made contact with Choi Ji-yeon last time. He didn’t know the day to use them would come this quickly though.
Originally items made from Magic Stones were mainly only things useful in Gates. It seemed they were also developing things usable for intelligence work recently.
Whether it was because Magic Stone reserves became abundant, Espers and Guides’ Gate conquests became easier, or employees handling this kind of intelligence work increased, he couldn’t know, but in any case, it was very useful to Hae-il currently, so it was good.
The first thing he received was a wave interference device shaped like a bracelet. An item using Magic Stone wavelengths to prevent being recorded by recording devices like CCTV or cameras. However, it couldn’t correct people’s memories, so he had to avoid encountering anyone.
“Hello.”
Hae-il, who calmly entered the building while leaving a greeting to the security guard, immediately entered the first-floor bathroom.
After hiding the cumbersome cigarettes and phone whose location might be traced in one inconspicuous corner, he wore the bracelet. And secretly escaped toward the emergency stairs avoiding the security guards’ eyes.
There weren’t many people remaining on the upper part of the building until this late night. He, who ran soundlessly up the empty stairs and reached the 5th floor in one breath, instead of the door leading to the hallway, extracted his body through the window facing outside.
On this building’s outer wall, structure decorations thin like railings protruded regularly at consistent intervals. It was a width barely enough for one foot, but for Hae-il, that much was sufficient.
Hae-il, who climbed onto the narrow gap with light body movements, stuck his body flat to the wall and slowly moved sideways while reaching up to grab the structure above. Once he gained center and learned the trick, speed increased.
The target point was the room right below Moon Woo-shin’s office, a terrace. Reaching the target point was quite fast for moving precariously with bare body at 5 floors’ height in midair.
Hae-il, who landed soundlessly inside the terrace, quietly steadied his breath once, then more carefully killed his presence and permeated into the darkness. Even if darkness and the bracelet covered eyes, he had to hide sounds and presence himself.
He quietly put one hand inside his chest and took out the second item. An eavesdropping device with the exact same appearance as a coin.
‘The height seems sufficient.’
The office where Moon Woo-shin was on the floor right above had a panoramic window, so he just needed to reach out to the bottom corner of the window and attach the bug. Though the bug couldn’t penetrate thick walls, it could hear conversations beyond glass well enough.
Hae-il rolled his eyes upward to gauge the height once, then climbed to the edge of the railing at the position closest to the wall. With the bug in one hand and the other hand grabbing the wall-side structure to balance his body’s center.
The terrace’s railing was thinner and slenderer than the structures he’d stepped on and moved along until now. Hae-il, who precariously maintained center, very carefully reached out his hand.
Thanks to his tall height, attaching the bug to the very bottom of the window wasn’t difficult. He succeeded in attaching the bug to a corner of the glass window with only fingers barely hooked to be as inconspicuous as possible.
Hae-il, who carefully descended without letting his guard down, stuck to a position invisible even looking down from the upper floor. When he inserted the in-ear that was a set with the bug into his ear, sounds from inside the room began to be heard faintly.
— At the desired time, at the desired position, if we can create Special Gates… …the world under my feet… Complete overthrow.
Hae-il, who was listening carefully not to miss the constantly breaking sounds, flinched in surprise.
‘Controlling Special Gate generation at will?’
He was talking about absurd things as if possible… and it felt ominous because it didn’t seem like groundless confidence.
Wasn’t Gate something that couldn’t be conquered as of now, an unknown thing? Whether Ban’s technical level exceeded the Special Abilities Agency, whether this was really possible, whether the Special Abilities Agency was aware. Countless questions that bloomed in an instant stirred inside his head.
He hoped for more detailed stories to leak, but only silence close to stillness continued for a while.
It was confusing whether they’d left the room or were just silent.
When Hae-il carefully stepped onto the railing again, faint speech leaked out again.
— Have these report to work under me starting tomorrow morning. — …Even civilians? — We need more ability users now, right? Who knows if there might be someone among them who manifests late. Like you, Woo-shin.
This time the conversation was heard without breaks.
No wonder. During time in this building, he’d never seen that Chairman bastard once. It seemed the place where he stayed was separate. Though he didn’t know what it was used for, he also remembered for now that some organization members were being taken.
That Moon Woo-shin manifested late was unexpected information. He seemed like the image of someone who would’ve had abilities from birth.
Before thoughts could extend in other directions, footsteps were heard. It seemed they were about to leave the room already.
‘Leaving damn quickly.’
Acting so happy to see each other, I thought they’d stay quite long.
Hae-il, who chewed curses inside, hurriedly got up. He had to recover the bug and go down before them to also recover the phone and cigarettes he’d left in the bathroom.
Even in the rush, after removing the bug with minimum movements so as not to be reflected in the window, he pushed it well into his chest along with the in-ear.
It was then that he lost center. Though it was just briefly shaking while moving quickly, in that moment Hae-il changed his plan.
‘Let’s just fall like this instead.’
Jumping down is definitely faster than running down.
Hae-il, who confirmed with his eyes there was nothing below the building, threw his body into midair as is. The process of removing the ring and generating cushioning material at the landing point flowed like water.
Going in and out of Gates, he’d experienced utilizing abilities this way more than once or twice. Now even without using much water, he could catch about his own body.
It was when he was adjusting wavelengths very delicately to reduce traces as much as possible.
