Energy Eater 2: Part 3
“Apologize for making you wait outside so long.”
“I don’t mind.”
Team Leader Chae Hoon accepted my apology with the same calm composure that matched his name perfectly.
“Hahaha. I’m a little curious about what kind of conversation you were having, but since it was obviously private, I’ll keep my curiosity to myself!”
“Exactly~. Being alone with the boss of Time River, who gets every man’s heart racing and wants to chat even if it’s just one line. Could it be that Jung Seoha is the ultimate man? Ho ho ho.”
…What a shameless auntie. She’s making me remember what Franc said earlier for no reason.
Director Lee Hyeryeong glanced at me with an expression that said she found my reaction absurd, then sat down with an awkward smile. Team Leader Chae Hoon and Director Kim Moohul followed suit, taking their seats and staring at me intently.
Director Kim Moohul was bouncing his legs and rubbing his palms in an excited manner, clearly eager to hear what would be said. Team Leader Chae Hoon looked curious about what had prompted them to send us outside.
Director Lee Hyeryeong had a relaxed expression, as if she’d ask later. But would she even get an answer?
“First, you know my ability is called Search, right?”
All three nodded in unison.
“Actually, my ability evolved again.”
It evolved, yes. After encountering the Energy Eater.
The three of them fell silent for a moment before their faces turned to ones of utter disbelief. It wasn’t the “that excuse doesn’t hold water” kind of disbelief, but rather “how did it evolve so soon after entering the Phase World?”
“So that’s why I hid it! I deliberately kept it secret because I knew you’d make that face. Anyway, while I was strolling around Iljasan with my expanded senses, I discovered the Energy Eater and contacted Hwayeon noona and Choi Soohan from the Survivor Protection Management Division.”
Team Leader Chae Hoon nodded heavily, while Director Kim Moohul’s eyes darted between us as if he had a question, then spoke the moment I finished.
“I heard the Energy Eater was far from you at the time. How did it come running at you? Energy Eaters don’t care about the Phase Power in living beings at all. Instead, they’re a species that panics and flees the moment they sense an ability user.”
“My ability evolved further, so I can now detect things all day long.”
Director Kim Moohul’s unexpected reply made him furrow his brow for a second… before his eyes widened dramatically.
“H-having it all day?!”
The shocked exclamation came from Director Lee Hyeryeong. Team Leader Chae Hoon stared at me with a blank expression, clearly stunned.
With Spatial Perception, Phase Power consumption had vanished entirely, maximum Phase Power had increased, and detecting for a full day was now possible. It was all true.
I had heard from Hwayeon noona before that most sensers felt extreme mental fatigue while consuming Phase Power and couldn’t maintain it for long.
“Yes. Somehow the Energy Eater came at me. Its speed was slow, so I could catch it, but then…”
“That thing was licking Seoha’s finger! Did you mean that when I use my sensing ability, Phase Power flows through my skin? So the Energy Eater detects the leaked Phase Power from outside and charges? It eats it, and its taste shifts from inanimate to living Phase Power, and its type changes too? But… then… that hypothesis…”
Director Kim Moohul cut me off with a shout, then slipped into his own world, muttering with a serious face.
Team Leader Chae Hoon and Director Lee Hyeryeong watched him, turned to me, and asked.
“So.” “So.”
…The two of them looked at each other at the same time, then Team Leader Chae Hoon gestured for Director Lee Hyeryeong to speak first. She bowed slightly and addressed me.
“So, does that mean you can detect without resting for twenty-four hours?”
“Yes. My recovery rate exceeds my consumption.”
Director Lee Hyeryeong stared at me with the eyes of someone who had just won the lottery. She had called me a miracle earlier too, hadn’t she? Franc looked equally stunned by the reaction.
Team Leader Chae Hoon glanced at Director Lee Hyeryeong’s dazed expression for a moment, then cleared his throat and spoke to me.
“Hrm. Impressive specs. But there’s something I don’t understand. A low-grade Energy Eater’s speed is at the level of a D-Class physical reinforcement user or someone who has trained their speed-based skills in the ability user store to the extreme. Yet according to Choi Soohan’s testimony, when she arrived, Seoha had already caught the Energy Eater. How did you handle its speed?”
“I’ll explain that part. The Energy Eater’s speed is proportional to the amount of Phase Power it has consumed. The more it eats and stores inside, the faster it moves. Conversely, the less Phase Power it has, the slower it goes. The Energy Eater that failed to secure Phase Power during the three-day siege was extremely emaciated. In short, it was starving and exhausted.”
“…I see.”
Team Leader Chae Hoon sounded as if he already knew. Still, the reason he asked was probably to hear my direct answer.
And Director Kim Moohul’s earlier words were wrong. I had pushed my Phase Power control to the limit and entered a state of mental acceleration (tentatively named). Ordinary sensers couldn’t have caught it?
Smiling inwardly at Director Kim Moohul’s strange support, I said, “It was pure luck. There were times when the Energy Eater ran in a straight line.”
I rolled up the sleeve of my right arm, revealing the scarred limb.
“I even got scratched a little while trying to catch it.”
“…Understood. But if you work with the researchers from the Ability User Association, you’ll gather even more information. I hope you’ll allow our independent research at the Defense Research Institute.”
Was this another goal of Team Leader Chae Hoon’s? And he seemed to accept it too easily. I had expected him to grill me with questions.
Phew. Maybe this counts as my first response matching Hwayeon noona’s? If we had gone to the second response, I would have had to lie to Hwayeon noona about receiving a Phase Stone by force.
Director Kim Moohul looked slightly uncomfortable with Team Leader Chae Hoon’s request, but he soon sighed and spoke.
“Indeed, the talent pool of the Aberrant Research Lab at the Ability User Federation is vast and deep. If they roll up their sleeves and participate in the research, it will greatly benefit the project.”
“Do I have the authority to decide that? I’m just a normal underage ability user.”
Director Lee Hyeryeong, who had been mesmerized by my ability for a long time, finally snapped out of it and looked at me.
“The boss has entrusted your judgment entirely to you. If you accept Team Leader Chae Hoon’s request, please leave the practical matters to me.”
“…Why?”
Team Leader Chae Hoon looked puzzled as to why Director Lee Hyeryeong was stepping in as the practical person.
“It’s temporary, but since Seoha is a member of Time River, that’s why. We accepted him as a temporary guild member under the formal request of his family and plan to protect him until he becomes an adult. Even if it’s temporary, a member is a member. You understand, right?”
Team Leader Chae Hoon glanced at Director Lee Hyeryeong’s beaming face and furrowed his brows slightly, then sighed. It seemed she was strong in practical matters, enough to make him reluctant to let her intervene.
In other words, Hwayeon noona had called me her right hand.
“May I?”
“If you permit it, you’ll owe the federation one favor. It doesn’t matter if you don’t, but it would help Seoha.”
Director Kim Moohul kept glancing at me while muttering something, probably still pondering the relationship between the Energy Eater and me.
“Then, Team Leader Chae Hoon, please discuss the practical matters with Director Lee Hyeryeong. I know nothing about the practical side.”
“Understood.”
Director Lee Hyeryeong smiled faintly at Team Leader Chae Hoon, making his brows furrow slightly. He clearly didn’t like it.
Team Leader Chae Hoon spoke in a somewhat deflated voice.
“…Thank you.”
I suppose the conversation ended there. I stood up from the sofa, and Director Lee Hyeryeong, Team Leader Chae Hoon, and Director Kim Moohul rose as well, offering me handshakes in turn. I shook each of their hands.
Only Franc knows everything about my current ability. She knew about the evolved Search ability and Mana Sieve, and all the mysterious events I had witnessed in the Phase World.
Well, Franc doesn’t know I’ve been unconsciously scanning the naked bodies of other women.
…It’s not deliberate, but unconscious scanning. Honestly, I don’t have the courage to say it.
If I say it and Franc calls me a pervert, what then.
Anyway, next are the family. Mom, Dad, and noona only know that my ability evolved into Spatial Perception and don’t know the exact functions. But after telling Franc, I effectively know about my ability at a similar level to her.
And Hwayeon noona.
Noona currently thinks I only have Mana Sieve and sensing ability. When I get closer to her in the team, I plan to explain the Spatial Perception ability to the family.
Hwayeon noona had suggested that if I lied clumsily, Team Leader Chae Hoon and Director Kim Moohul would notice immediately, so it would be better to lie that the ability evolved and make them think Phase Power was leaking from outside.
…It was close to the “eyes covered, hands clapped” kind of lie, but since I wasn’t actually lying, I accepted her opinion. Noona seemed to feel guilty for making me lie.
Looking back, Team Leader Chae Hoon and Director Kim Moohul seemed to have understood. As someone who knew all the previous context, the excuse felt a bit insufficient, but apparently the fact that I could now use sensing ability without limits was so shocking to them that it covered all other doubts.
“I feel really good.”
“What?”
“That Seoha has become a member of our raid team!”
“Even if it’s temporary, I’m glad too.”
“Ho ho ho. Once it becomes official and official becomes an executive!”
After finishing the conversation with the three of them, I greeted the principal teacher. The final class-ending bell rang through the school. And I was dragged by Director Lee Hyeryeong straight to the Time River raid team building.
When I asked why she was pulling my arm, she said it was for the contract. Hwayeon noona had also told me to follow Director Lee Hyeryeong after the conversation in the classroom ended, so I obediently followed.
And I saw it. The passionate, sensual red Ferrari.
Director Lee Hyeryeong drove a sports car that didn’t match her intellectual appearance, but it suited her figure and made me feel as if I were riding with her. It was oddly stimulating.
I hurriedly pushed away the image of Director Lee Hyeryeong’s naked body that popped into my head. Spatial Perception seemed to respond more to desire than to reason.
This is really troublesome! I need to get used to the control method quickly! Most of all, Franc’s gaze is scary. Could she have noticed that I was scanning the naked bodies of pretty women? I had just met her eyes, and she gave me a slight, unnoticeable expression of displeasure…
“I didn’t know you’d join the team where Hwayeon noona is the boss.”
“Do you know how much she suffered because of you?”
Huh? Hwayeon noona suffered? Why?
“Her anxious face… I can’t imagine.”
Director Lee Hyeryeong laughed with a snort, remembering Hwayeon noona’s cold expression.
“She looks cool and calm on the outside, but she secretly likes pranks and has a mischievous side. She’s very attentive to the people who come under her hands and takes good care of them. In short, she’s a real boss.”
That’s right. I had seen her cold, distant side since the first meeting on Friday, her sharp retorts, and even how her face turned red after being outtalked by Choi Soohan. I empathized deeply.
Director Lee Hyeryeong spoke about Hwayeon noona with genuine warmth and seriousness.
“Exactly. But why did she suffer?”
“Obviously because Seoha might leave for another team. Originally, three days ago, she should have gone to Seoha’s house with the contract, but because of the Energy Eater, it was delayed until today. While waiting in the camping trailer at Yongmunsan, she kept calling Siha every thirty minutes, worrying that someone from another team might come to Seoha’s house.”
I had wondered about that too. I consciously suppressed my ability at home to avoid scanning the family, so I didn’t know. But noona seems close to me. Calling her “noona” feels strangely intimate.
“I called her a few times, but she didn’t show any special expression?”
“Oh my, were you talking privately? She doesn’t talk about private matters even with men.”
Hwayeon noona is bad in many ways. With that face, responding coldly to men… I can see men jumping into the Han River in despair.
“No, I called her because I had some questions.”
“I see. Um~ Probably because she was embarrassed. The boss thinks showing emotions to others is embarrassing. But Seoha is Siha’s real brother, and I heard you were childhood friends even when you were little. So maybe she was even more embarrassed to show emotions.”
“That’s true. But it’s only been five days since I met noona again, yet I feel like I’ve seen her personality fully. Her surprised, angry, sulky, deflated, and dumbfounded expressions.”
“Oh my. You have good eyes.”
“Thanks to my noona, my eyes have improved a bit. Thinking about it, compared to six years ago, Hwayeon noona hasn’t changed much. She was a girl who didn’t show much expression because she was introspective, but she reacts sensitively to stimuli.”
“Waa~ The young boss. I want to see her too~.”
“If I see her, even as General Affairs Director, it might be a big problem… Um.”
Ah, my head hurts again. Whenever I think about Hwayeon noona, memories start to blur and give me headaches.
I frowned and pressed my temple, and Director Lee Hyeryeong looked at me with surprised eyes.
“Why? Is there somewhere on your body that doesn’t feel well?”
“No. It’s nothing. I just had a vague feeling of something coming to mind. Anyway, there’s one thing I’m curious about.”
“What is it?”
“The reason the ability user’s aptitude was made public, and that my aptitude has been revealed to my superiors.”
The Ferrari that matched Director Lee Hyeryeong’s body curves crossed the Hannam Bridge toward Yeouido. At the red light, pedestrians and passengers in buses stared at us from the car window.
At first I was distracted by the sleek Ferrari, but when I saw the attractive career woman driving and a young man sitting next to her, I was surprised again.
Director Lee Hyeryeong looked about in her early thirties, but upon closer inspection, she seemed younger, in her late twenties. With her intellectual appearance, rimless glasses, and professional women’s suit and skirt, it was impossible not to stare.
I wonder if she has a boyfriend or husband. If so, she must be truly blessed. A woman trusted by the boss of a major raid team, beautiful with a good figure… mmm. Good. She also seems to have a good personality.
“Um… Before the revision, the law was absolutely confidential regarding ability users’ aptitudes and representative abilities. But because of a Japanese administrator who exploited this, many special ability users’ personal information leaked to Japan.”
“I learned that in school. Because of that, Japan issued a huge amount of national debt and sold its ability users to other countries as compensation. Right after that, Hwayeon noona’s mother became president and carried out reforms, causing the economic growth rate to rise noticeably. As a result, the gap between our country and Japan widened.”
“Right, fuheuk. Exactly.”
…When I called the president “Hwayeon noona’s mom,” it must have stung her pride, so Director Lee Hyeryeong turned her head away and laughed.
Her laugh was quite cute. Not as much as Franc’s, but still cute.
I turned to look at Franc, who had been listening intently to our conversation from the back seat. She smiled at me.
“Hmm! After that, the Ability User Federation re-examined its systems. In the process, we discovered that many spies had infiltrated. After eliminating all the spies, the federation proposed at the IWO General Assembly that the three major ability user elements—except personal information—be made public.”
“Because of what you said earlier?”
“Yes. Naturally, at first there was a lot of noise about it being impossible and how to stop those with malicious intent from approaching using the public information. However, the situation was neatly resolved when the then-federation chairman and the only S-Class man in the world announced his position.”
Jeral Packard was S-Class? I’ll have to look it up later.
“What did he say?”
“Outstanding scholars gathered, analyzed massive data through simulation, and concluded that if the ability user’s ability cap, ability type, and current class were made public, malicious actions against ability users would decrease dramatically. However, the world doesn’t change that easily.”
“Oh…”
“The meeting became noisy again. Even though persuasion wasn’t enough, someone made a contrary statement. But the subsequent speeches made people inwardly distrustful while outwardly following the flow. Do you guess what Jeral Packard said?”
“That if anyone commits a crime, the Ability User Federation will retaliate?”
I said that at school. The Ability User Federation would legally retaliate in connection with the national agency.
“Right. Precisely, ‘The World Phase Ability User Federation will exert all its power to protect!’”
“Huh… Protecting all those ability users?”
“Not all of them? It’s only for those who reveal their information and need protection, providing maximum escort.”
“There might be people who value their families more than themselves. Considering the utility of hostages, protecting only ability users wouldn’t make sense, right?”
I naturally voiced the thought, and Director Lee Hyeryeong nodded with a smile. The waiting signal turned green, and Director Lee Hyeryeong’s slender legs moved, pressing the accelerator hard. Her thighs, slightly revealed under the suit skirt, twitched dynamically.
“Fufu. At first, based on the public information, people kidnapped not only ability users but also their families. Of course, it didn’t happen worldwide as expected. At the time, the federation had few groups powerful enough to ignore warnings.”
“But there were some.”
“Yes. Crimes targeting ability users occurred in five places. And as if waiting for the right moment, the Ability User Association rescued the kidnapped hostages in less than five minutes and began retaliating against the large corporations behind the kidnappers using the name of the World Phase Ability User Federation.”
“Wow. How did you rescue them in five minutes?”
Five minutes is the time it would take for a rescue team to wait near the house, right? Surprised, I asked, and Director Lee Hyeryeong smiled faintly and raised her index finger.
“Precognition ability user.”
“Ah…”
“There is a special area in the ability user headquarters where precognition and precognition ability users live. It’s an ultra-secret location whose location no one knows. Their main duties there are predicting Aberrant appearances, tracking precognition and criminal ability users. They actively used their precognition and prophecies.”
“Now I remember.”
It clicked. In reality, when an ability user tries to commit a crime, there’s a very high probability that the special task force of the Ability User Federation will intervene midway. General people whispered that ability users with the power to see the future were predicting crimes from headquarters, and it turned out to be true.
“After that, there were a few more kidnapping attempts, but all were blocked in advance, and the culprits were thoroughly punished. If there was a group, they announced the group and its affiliated companies, branded them as criminal organizations, cut off all transactions, and made them collapse quickly. No negotiations. All related parties, including the masterminds and perpetrators, were eliminated. Without any mercy, they were sentenced to the highest legal penalty as special criminals and thrown into Alcatraz without distinguishing between civilians and ability users. As a result, the world learned that committing ability user crimes means falling into hell, whether you’re a corporation or an individual.”
“Impressive.”
“Right. One-third of the world’s top thirty corporations changed, and once an impression is set, it’s hard to change, but they changed it in a short time. Thanks to that, most ability users started registering their personal information along with ability user certification, and now personal information registration is not just recommended but mandatory.”
Director Lee Hyeryeong spoke with unhidden admiration and respect.
I felt the same. How much speaking power and accumulated military and financial foundation does it take to implement such self-will targeting the entire world?
I thought for a moment about what kind of person Jeral Packard was, then spoke.
“So my aptitude and ability have all been revealed.”
“Yes. So you don’t have to worry about your family? The Ability User Federation’s protection, as well as Time River and the government, will dispatch security to protect your family.”
“Ahahaha… Why wasn’t this information made public?”
“People who need to know already know. But civilians don’t need it to live, and once you become an ability user, you’ll naturally know anyway. Moreover, ability users tend to have a slight sense of superiority, so they don’t want to share much about the ability user world with civilians.”
“That makes sense. But how did you know I was worried about my family?”
“Ah. Um… The boss told me directly.”
Hwayeon noona? It’s only been a short time since we met again. How does she know me so well. Ah, noona told me, didn’t she.
“Anyway, you don’t have to worry about your family. Rather, Seoha will become more troublesome. At the moment he becomes an adult, all 372 countries and groups will contact him at once. Of course, they’ll come even before that, but…”
“…Even though I’m in Time River?”
“It’s temporary, not official, right? It would be better to brace yourself. There’s data that 372 countries and groups will gather on the day a promising underage rookie like you becomes an adult.”
“Kek. It’s better for me to become troublesome than for the family to be affected.”
“Fufu. Our boss said the same thing. Seoha is a person who worries about family safety first.”
She even said that? Feeling embarrassed by Director Lee Hyeryeong’s admiring gaze, I turned my head to look out the window.
Suddenly, the 63 Building, rising tall beyond the blue Han River reflecting in the sunlight, came into view.
After listening to Director Lee Hyeryeong’s story, my mind felt at ease.
Why, in those novels where conspiracies are rampant, there are many stories where the villain kidnaps the protagonist’s family to threaten the protagonist, then brutally kills them later.
Because of that, when I learned my ability was not ordinary, the first thing that came to mind was that kind of thing.
Moreover, Mom is so beautiful that large entertainment agency street scouts swarm around her on the street, and noona is so stunning that she makes even me, her noona, unable to approach. If kidnapped, who knows what kind of hell she’d suffer?
So when I thought about it, my heart raced. But after talking with Director Lee Hyereong, I realized that part was resolved, and now I feel at ease.
“Did Seoha know? That our boss was worried about guarding his family.”
“Eh? You just said… Wait, did you mean long before I became an ability user?”
“Of course~. Ask the boss directly at the office where we’re going to arrive later.”
Hah… Somehow I feel moved? It’s making me feel sorry for having doubted noona.
But the look Director Lee Hyeryeong gave me carried a hint of conspiracy.
Um. It’s not really conspiracy, more like a cute little scheme… Is noona telling me she doesn’t want to reveal much? Is it a scheme to make a good impression on me?
If that’s the case, I’ll say it was a huge success. It didn’t even benefit her, yet she’s been protecting my family for a long time. She can’t help but feel affection.
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