Face to Face
“What business?”
When Jeon Dok-jin asked back, the commander of the 15th Division spoke up again.
“They came saying they want to join the investigation team for the Monster Hole.”
“Who came? And don’t they know we can’t just let people in on a whim?”
The National Safety Group was an agency under the Ministry of National Defense, yet in practice it wielded influence equal to any independent power. As an organization with five hundred Awakeners under its command, its director, Kang Jung-gil, held a position that allowed him private audiences not only with the Minister of National Defense but even with President Jeong In-su. Jeon Dok-jin himself, as deputy director, routinely met alone with the vice minister—and with the minister whenever a critical decision required it.
Matters that could be resolved at the deputy director’s level simply were. That alone showed how much weight the National Safety Group carried as a government institution.
“What kind of clueless idiots show up out of nowhere demanding to be added to the investigation team?”
The guilds currently working with the National Safety Group were three lucky ones chosen from among the many of sufficient size. Naturally every guild wanted a share of the glory that came with investigating a Monster Hole. But that was impossible. Guilds above a certain scale all applied through the National Safety Group’s subordinate site; three were selected at random and notified.
Walking up and asking to be included was the height of shamelessness.
“Go back and tell them. The guilds on the investigation team applied fairly and were chosen fairly. We can’t break protocol and add anyone just because they ask.”
“Understood.”
The 15th Division commander left. Alone again, Jeon Dok-jin returned to the documents.
In the end… do we have no choice but to go inside the Monster Hole?
He searched for alternatives, found none, and felt the headache building.
Then the 15th Division commander returned.
“Deputy Director.”
“What now?”
“They’re asking to send just three people in as observers.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
The sheer absurdity of the request twisted Jeon Dok-jin’s rough features into a scowl. He had always been hot-tempered and fierce—a veteran of the Special Forces who had been seconded to special operations and even served in Iraq. The National Safety Group had been founded the moment he left the military; when they selected their first hundred elite Awakeners, he had been among them. As an elite special-forces soldier who had seen real battlefields, he displayed outstanding skill and leadership as an Awakener and rose to deputy director.
Without Kang Jung-gil, he would have been more than qualified to lead the entire National Safety Group. In fact, Kang Jung-gil left most administrative work to him unless a truly critical decision was required, and Jeon Dok-jin carried out every assigned duty with steady competence.
“I think you’ll have to go see them yourself, sir.”
“Did they give their names?”
“They did.”
Jeon Dok-jin rose from his seat.
“Lead the way.”
If they still refused to back down after learning they were dealing with the commander of the National Safety Group’s 15th Division, they were not people to be taken lightly.
He stepped out of the camping vehicle and followed the 15th Division commander toward the barricaded entrance. Roughly thirty people stood there. Opposite them, Awakeners of the 15th Division in combat gear faced them like a special-response team. The moment Jeon Dok-jin approached, the men of the 15th snapped to attention.
He stopped in front of the man who clearly led the group—a neatly dressed figure in his early thirties with sharp eyes, a high-bridged nose, and a handsome face.
“I am Jeon Dok-jin, deputy director of the National Safety Group. Who are you people to cause a disturbance here?”
The eyes of the men behind the handsome stranger hardened, as if offended by the casual tone. But when the man raised a hand, none of them stepped forward.
“So you are the deputy director of the National Safety Group I’ve only heard about. A pleasure to meet you. My name is Im Seong-woo.”
“Im Seong-woo?”
“I serve as guild master of the Cheonseong Guild.”
“Cheonseong?”
At the name, Jeon Dok-jin’s gaze changed.
“I see the deputy director is already familiar with our Cheonseong Guild.”
How could he not be? After the Jungang Guild and its subordinate organizations, Cheonseong was the fastest-growing force. Word had it their membership already exceeded the one hundred fifty of Gangrim Guild, once the strongest in Seoul. Jungang had passed three hundred; Cheonseong had gathered half that number—and the figure was almost certainly higher by now. The real problem was that Cheonseong Guild belonged to one of the nation’s top ten conglomerates. And Im Seong-woo, its guild master, was the eldest son of Chairman Im Jang-han and the heir apparent.
“I’ve heard of you, yes.”
Knowing he faced Executive Director Im Seong-woo of the Cheonseong Group, Jeon Dok-jin adjusted his speech. The men behind Im Seong-woo looked as if they had expected nothing less.
“I understand more than a hundred National Safety Group Awakeners are stationed here. Is that correct?”
“It is.”
The 15th and 14th Divisions alone numbered over one hundred fifty. Add the personnel from the three guilds and the total exceeded three hundred Awakeners. That many superhumans were dug in at this site. Distant guild Awakeners had even come out to watch, sensing something was happening.
“And the guild-affiliated Awakeners number about the same, I assume?”
“…They do.”
Im Seong-woo’s detailed knowledge made Jeon Dok-jin’s expression harden. Information that precise could only have come from inside sources. The National Safety Group was not composed solely of Awakeners; administrative work required seconded civil servants and newly hired staff. Extracting information from them would not have been difficult.
“As I said, every Awakener on the investigation team was dispatched—fifty from each of the guilds selected through a fair process. Even Executive Director Im Seong-woo of the Cheonseong Group cannot receive special treatment.”
“Which is why I’m asking that only three of us, myself included, be allowed in as observers.”
“Impossible.”
Jeon Dok-jin’s flat refusal darkened the faces of the men behind Im Seong-woo.
“Have you investigated the Monster Hole? You haven’t even entered it yet, have you?”
“……”
“A Monster Hole does not disappear on its own. There is only one way to make it vanish: go inside and eliminate every remaining monster.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“While founding the guild and expanding our influence, I studied a great deal. The more I learned, the more questions I had. So at the guild level—no, at the group level—we used every connection we had to gather information on Monster Holes. Do you know what thought struck me then?”
“How would I know what you were thinking?”
“I wanted to see it with my own two eyes. That is why I came.”
“……”
“But if you remain this stubbornly opposed, there is nothing more I can do.”
“If you intend to lean on the group’s influence, I suggest you abandon the idea. The National Safety Group may fall under the Ministry of National Defense, but no government official can freely pressure us.”
On paper the agency answered to the Minister of National Defense. In reality the minister could not casually interfere. That was the special status of Awakeners—living human weapons, each one a superhuman. An organization of five hundred such people could not be treated lightly. And Jeon Dok-jin’s confidence rested on more than that.
His fiery temperament, his special-forces background, the battlefields he had walked—all of it was tempered into disciplined responsibility as deputy director because he sincerely followed the man who was director: Kang Jung-gil. He had never forgotten the divine power Kang Jung-gil displayed after joining the National Safety Group. Alone, Kang Jung-gil had subdued and cleaned up every notorious Awakener across the nation. He was the only ordinary human Jeon Dok-jin truly respected and acknowledged—an ordinary man who had earned the title of The Absolute.
As long as Kang Jung-gil remained director, no one could shake the National Safety Group. Not even a top-ten conglomerate like the Cheonseong Group.
“Deputy Director, you seem to be under a misunderstanding.”
“What misunderstanding?”
“I am not trying some underhanded scheme to force my way onto the investigation team with the group’s influence.”
“……?”
“I…”
Saaaah…
In that instant a mist of Psychic Energy began to billow from Im Seong-woo’s body.
“I am saying I will enter with my own power, openly and without shame.”
“Kh—!”
Jeon Dok-jin’s face contorted. An overwhelming force had begun to crush his entire body.
Th-this is enormous!
The crushing pressure only grew stronger.