# Chapter 118
After informing everyone that Ben had agreed to participate in the plan, everything flowed smoothly afterward. Detailed plans began to form with Ben at the center.
“The first thing we need to do is deal with the barrier.”
“But the barrier…”
Peace’s building has a superpower nullification barrier installed throughout. Only a select few authorized personnel can use superpowers inside the headquarters. To allow many people to use their abilities in enemy territory, they had no choice but to remove the barrier.
“To eliminate Peace’s barrier, we need to deal with the barrier ability user.”
“Can we estimate their location?”
Even if they infiltrated early to deal with the barrier ability user, the operation would be meaningless if they couldn’t find them in time. Fenil seemed to be concerned about this too as she shook her head, but as if to say there was a method, she raised one corner of her mouth.
“That’s why we decided to ask Zenon.”
I knew Fenil and Zenon were in contact, but I didn’t know they had discussed such matters. So that’s why she could confidently say she could save him.
It was a relief that we wouldn’t have to meet Zenon as an enemy.
“Zenon? That traitor?”
But there was someone who had the exact opposite reaction to my relief. Melia, who slammed the table hard as she stood up, showed more agitation than ever before.
“He’s agreed to help us.”
Melia turned her head sharply toward Haylen, as if asking if it was true.
“Our strength alone has limitations.”
Biting her lip hard while looking at Haylen, who calmly confirmed, Melia suppressed her emotions and sat back down. She knew that if Haylen had permitted it, it wasn’t an issue she could oppose.
“But before that, we need to remove the bomb implanted in Zenon’s head.”
“Bomb?”
“Yes. That’s the reason Zenon is bound to Peace.”
I’d been curious about why he couldn’t leave despite his hatred, and it was a bomb… S-class superhumans like Zenon might not be easily affected by Ben’s mind control. Especially him, being a barrier ability user.
So Peace must have installed a bomb in Zenon. After all, the best way to use Zenon was to threaten his weakness or his life.
They were truly detestable bastards. Others seemed to share the same thought as everyone was frowning. Except for Melia.
“Why… help him?”
Can’t we just let him die? The latter part was whispered, so it wasn’t clearly audible, but I could roughly guess.
Zenon was a spy, so it was natural for her to hate him. He had deceived them for as long as 5 years, so the sense of betrayal must be immense. It’s even strange how easily the others forgive Zenon.
I knew why Zenon had no choice but to be a spy, and with what feelings he was spying, but others wouldn’t know that.
“Without him, this operation would be compromised.”
Melia wanted a more fundamental answer than that, but Fenil avoided it as if she knew nothing. To explain the reason, she would have to talk about Zenon’s past.
Fenil must have judged that she couldn’t be the one to speak about his past. That was something Zenon had to say himself.
“So we first infiltrate, remove Zenon’s bomb, and then deactivate the barrier.”
“I’ll do it.”
I spoke without hesitation at Alex’s murmur. I thought it would be good to infiltrate early since I knew the internal structure of the headquarters well. But Fenil stopped me.
“No, I’m thinking of assigning that to Melia.”
Why is Fenil putting Melia and Zenon together?
Operating with negative emotions increases the probability of danger. Moreover, Melia wasn’t very familiar with the structure of the headquarters.
Melia, who hadn’t expected Fenil’s words, remained frozen for a few seconds before finally opening her mouth.
“…Understood.”
As if to prove she was doing it forcibly, Melia’s expression remained slightly distorted.
“Kay, I’ll ask you to rescue Alice.”
“Understood.”
Although there was a tense atmosphere like walking on thin ice, Fenil spoke to me without paying attention to it. All I could do was nod while reading the situation.
I couldn’t help but be concerned because I could imagine how Melia might be feeling, even though I couldn’t see her expression as she had her head down.
Fenil continued the meeting leisurely without bringing up unnecessary topics.
“What about the other people?”
“Kill them all—”
Haylen, who had spoken without much thought, looked at me once and then closed his mouth. Was he concerned that I would oppose? If everyone is killed, there’s a high risk that ordinary employees would be caught up in it.
For example, someone like Tade. There were people who had treated me kindly when I infiltrated Peace, so I didn’t want to kill indiscriminately.
“Let’s kill those who participated in Raymon’s plan and spare the rest.”
As if reading my thoughts, Haylen immediately changed his words. Killing people while distinguishing between them was more difficult than just killing them all.
“How to distinguish…?”
Melia, also concerned about this fact, raised her head and asked. I quietly placed a file on the table.
“Ben sent me a list.”
In fact, I had been worried about this part for a while. I couldn’t just oppose without offering any solutions.
But as someone without hacking abilities, there were limitations to obtaining information about the involved parties. So I asked Ben for help.
I was planning to contact Zenon if Ben refused. I thought Ben would refuse because even though he had joined the plan, his sense of betrayal hadn’t disappeared.
However, contrary to my expectations, he sent me the list of those who had participated in Raymon’s plan without much comment. He said not all of them were involved, but that was enough.
The rest was within the realm of what I could investigate on my own. As Ben said, not all of them were involved, but even if they didn’t actively participate, they were still criminals.
* * *
Ben tilted his head at the sudden phone ring and checked the message. Since this phone was given by Kay, the only one likely to contact him was Kay.
“People who participated?”
He muttered as if he didn’t understand. The message asked him to send a list of people who had participated in the Director’s plan.
Although it was qualified with “if you know,” it was difficult for Ben to know as well. He only carried out orders and didn’t directly participate.
But he couldn’t just say he didn’t know. If they couldn’t distinguish, they would have no choice but to kill indiscriminately. He also didn’t want innocent people to die.
“What did you say?”
At that moment, Tade, who had been looking at the monitor, turned his head to stare at Ben.
“Ah, they’re asking me to distinguish between people.”
“How?”
Tade, who seemed to be interested, pulled a chair up to Ben. Since he was someone unrelated to the experiments, Ben chose his words carefully.
“Well… like good people and bad people?”
He knew it was something to be scoffed at, but he really couldn’t think of anything else. Ben examined Tade with an awkward smile.
But contrary to his expectation that Tade would laugh it off, Tade, who had been thinking deeply about something, nodded lightly.
“That’s easy.”
“Can you do it?”
Could Tade also be a superhuman? Ben asked him with anticipation. If he could distinguish, things would go smoothly.
After pondering for a moment, Tade opened his mouth as if it wasn’t a difficult problem.
“I can tell just by looking.”
For Tade, bad people were covered in dark energy, so there was no reason for it to be difficult for him. It was a problem he could fully grasp just by looking.
Ben looked at such a Tade with sparkling eyes. It was a puppy-like gaze, as if he wanted something.
“…Then can you help me?”
Normally, he should refuse. Once you help, they might continue to ask for help afterward. For Tade, who had been hiding his abilities with the goal of living normally, it wasn’t particularly welcome.
But just this once, he decided to grant Ben’s request.
“It might be good to have an S-class hero owe me a favor.”
He didn’t think Ben would spread his secret or abuse it, and despite appearances, he was S-class, so it wouldn’t be bad to be on his good side.
* * *
Looking at the documents projected as a hologram, Alex let out an exclamation.
“Wow… All the people I suspected are here.”
Like me, he must have done his own investigation. I should ask Fenil one more time in case there are people I missed, but…
Fenil, who seemed to have already thought of that, asked for the file to be handed over. She probably wanted to take a picture. But since I had intended to give the file to Fenil from the beginning, I said there was no need to return it and handed her the file.
She began to scrutinize the file and laptop with sharp eyes.
“So now we’ve identified the people to spare… what about the test subjects?”
Most of the test subjects are like Alice, physically weak people. It would be difficult for them to escape on their own. But leaving them would be no different from killing them. We had to move them as safely as possible.
“I’ll put them in the cards.”
Melia was the perfect person for this job. As if she knew it herself, she raised her hand without hesitation. Melia’s ability was Trump. It was an ability to store anything in cards, including living beings. So by storing people in cards, they could safely escape to the outside.
Recalling Melia’s ability, it hit me again that Fenil had tried to kill me that day. With Melia’s ability, she could have safely transported Alice.
Even if caught, she could have safely moved the card. Sending me instead of using such a good ability meant they had anticipated the failure of the operation from the beginning.
