Ji Hayeon stood up.“There’s nothing more to discuss. I’m going.”Gu Sawon turned his body to the side at once. His chair spun with a whirr.“You’re going? You? With that— mmph!”A thwack rang out as Ji smacked his palm over Sawon’s mouth.“Ow… damn, that really hurt….”Without even glancing at him, Ji spoke to Director Kwon and Kim Inhee.“You know better than anyone that there’s no alternative.”Kim Inhee nodded with a gloomy expression. Then he let out a small sigh.“Two or three people is appropriate. If we don’t want to provoke the Deaters, we cannot increase our numbers beyond that. Sending a small team into a Deater nest sounds dangerous, but in some ways, it’s actually the safest method.”Sawon rubbed his lips and waved his left hand loosely. Director Kwon jerked his chin at him.“Where the needle goes, the thread follows, is that it?”“You’re stating the obvious.”Sawon said it as he slouched back in his chair.“Hm… the smaller the team, the better the prep has to be. At any rate, not today.”Ji fixed him with a cold stare. Sawon didn’t care and kept talking.“Not tomorrow either.”His chair creaked as it rocked back and forth. Watching the faint standoff between the two, Director Kwon finally spoke.“The schedule’s already set. We go in three days.”It was the time limit the medic had assigned—when Ji would be considered recovered. It was also the timing Sawon had intended to say. He turned his chair and gave Director Kwon a half-lidded glare.Why bother having meetings if they already decide everything themselves?The Central Bureau was more authoritarian than Sawon had expected. Without strict hierarchy, it was impossible to control the overflowing energy of hunters. So most missions were handed down as simple notices. This time was no different—except they dressed it up as a meeting because of the researchers.A show for their sake.The moment the meeting ended, Sawon walked to the end of the hallway. Fingering the cigarette pack in his pocket, he stepped out to the balcony. Inside the room, Ji was speaking with the Institute survivors. As Sawon tapped a cigarette free and put it to his lips, a large shadow appeared beside him.“Gu Sawon. Do things properly this time. Don’t screw up.”Director Kwon murmured in his deep voice. Sawon snorted.“When did I ever screw up anything? I’ve only ever cleaned up.”“You got a conscience? If you’re gonna lie, at least wet your lips first.”“It’s the truth, isn’t it.”Instead of replying, Kwon clicked his tongue. The conversation paused, then resumed.“This isn’t a spot built for guys like you to smoke.”Yet he took out a cigarette as well. When Sawon reached for his lighter, Kwon ignited a small flame at his fingertips. Sawon touched the end of his cigarette to it and smiled.“I doubt that ability was meant to be used like this.”Director Kwon was stamina-type, with fire-attribute Metena. Back before he became a director—before Nine’s Miracle—he’d been the leader of Rescue Team 1. Sawon exhaled smoke and looked him over.“That all you had to say? ‘Don’t screw up’?”Since taking the director’s seat, Kwon had tried to keep personal and official matters separate. Meeting Sawon outside his office meant he had something real to say. He took a deep breath.“Well? Spit it out. I’ve gotta chase after Chief Ji when he comes out.”“You asked why we’re doing the modification research.”Sawon turned fully toward him. He had asked about the new project last night. Even hearing the outline, it hadn’t made sense. Ji testing it on his own body despite severe side effects was insane. The director and institute chief pushing the research forward were no better. Injecting stamina-type Metena into an intellect-type Awakened was about as dangerous as transfusing the wrong blood type. The image of Ji coughing blood and staggering flashed in Sawon’s mind, making him knit his brows. Something about it felt dirty.“If something happens to Chief Ji, who’s taking responsibility? You just gonna shrug it off as losing another researcher?”“Chief Ji is important personnel. Don’t say unlucky crap like that.”“Then why the hell push him this far?”Kwon clicked the pen clipped to his chest. Metena activated, forming a transparent barrier around them—a spherical soundproof dome. He ran a hand through his neatly combed hair, messing it up, and leaned an arm on the railing.“Recently, the number of Awakened has been dropping. Combat-types are down thirty percent, intellect-types ten. Meanwhile Heukgu appearances are increasing, and Deater attack power keeps rising. The upgrade rate of Amplifiers can’t keep up. It’s been getting worse for the last three years. We’re doing our best to keep the statistics from leaking, but at this rate, the number of hunters will plummet exponentially. And the gaps—we’ll have more and more of them.”Sawon thought back on the sites he’d been dispatched to. Now that he thought about it, he’d been intervening physically far more often lately compared to the past, when his job was mostly containment. He rubbed his wrist and squinted.“So that’s why you’re trying to convert intellect-types into stamina-types?”“This idea was Chief Ji’s. Even before it became an official project, he was researching alone.”Doing that insane crap all by himself. Was he in a rush to die?“The goal is to further strengthen stamina-type abilities and give stamina-type abilities to intellect-types. But the side effects are still too severe to put it into use. Still, there’s been some progress.”The data on the forty-third floor had been collected at the cost of Ji’s life. Kwon placed his cigarette on his palm and closed his fist. Flames surged, and the cigarette turned to ash. He blew the ashes away and clapped a heavy hand on Sawon’s shoulder.“You know Chief Ji’s personality. Please handle things well. He’s important—to us and to the Institute.”The memory of Ji writhing in pain flickered in Sawon’s mind. His mouth tasted bitter.“To me he just looks like a lunatic.”Kwon held out his palm. Sawon extinguished his cigarette there. As the ashes scattered, a loud noise echoed from the meeting room. Ji was coming out. Sawon lifted a hand.“Going ahead.”Kwon nodded and tapped his comms. A hologram popped up in Sawon’s view.“This is the guard manual for Chief Ji. I noted a few things, so check it.”“Yeah, yeah.”He answered half-heartedly and flicked the hologram upward to read it.“S40972….”That’s my room.Sawon turned to Kwon with a frown.Is he crazy. Sleep together, really?Guard duty wasn’t supposed to mean twenty-four-hour surveillance. Seeing someone when awake was enough; why did he have to keep him beside him even when asleep? There was no place or time to complain.“I want to rest a little.”Ji said it first. Whatever conversation he’d had inside, his pale face had gone even whiter.“I’ll escort you to the dorm. Follow me.”Sawon jerked his chin toward the elevator. He’d barely taken a step when someone tugged sharply on his elbow.“…?”“Let’s take the stairs.”“This is the twenty-eighth floor. We need to go up to the sixtieth.”“You can’t walk that much?”Sawon laughed under his breath.“It’s not me. You can’t walk. Did you already forget I carried you earlier?”“…I’m fine now. I can go up alone.”What the hell is wrong with this guy.Annoyance crept in. Hearing Ji’s story from Kwon had lit a fuse of irritation. Sawon grabbed Ji’s forearm.“Stop talking crap and follow me. Don’t tell me suffering on purpose is {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} your hobby?”Ji tried to say something else, but Sawon cut him off.“If making yourself suffer isn’t your hobby, is making other people suffer your hobby then?”Ji stared at him with his pale face. Sawon ignored it and pulled him along.“I’m not into suffering, so let’s just take the elevator like normal people.”“Then you take it.”Sawon tightened his grip and added one more line.“I’ve got limits too. Are you a kid? Even Nine doesn’t throw tantrums like this. I’m your guard, not your slave. You have zero consideration for people—none. Were you like this to your previous guards too? What’s wrong with your personality?”Half serious, half teasing as he mocked him. Ji bit his lip hard, then shook off Sawon’s hand and strode toward the elevator.What the. So he is going to take it.Even though he’d won the little power struggle, it didn’t feel good at all. Sawon shook his head and followed.I won. I definitely won.“…Why does it feel so damn lousy.”

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