TS 051

It was a building designed to be recognizable as the Center at a glance, even from afar. The massive area, which occupied half of the island’s area based on Yeouido Park, was engulfed in acrid smoke. Flames were spreading from the top floor of a distant high-rise building.

“Leave the cleanup to the cleaning team and move out first.”

Instead of staring foolishly at the attacked building, Yoon Taehwa pushed his team members’ backs. The SUV, which had been parked at a distance, seemed to have avoided the Kraken’s attack and was intact.

“I’ll drive.”

Ha Na-eun sat in the driver’s seat. Yoon Taehwa, who knew her driving skills that could rival a racer’s, immediately got into the passenger seat. The car, spitting out a rough exhaust sound, shot forward like a spring.

Soon, the full view of the Center came into sight. Seeing the smoke rising intensively from only one area, it seemed that the entire Center had not been ambushed.

Yoon Taehwa used the terminal connected to the car to call the flight team.

“What’s the situation at the Center?”

– From the looks of it, it seems only one building was attacked. We have entered a state of alert. A part of the returning team has headed to the National Assembly Building.

“Which building was attacked.”

– It’s Wing H.

The fingers on his thigh twitched.

‘Were they after Pavel?’

If it had been a general terrorist attack, they would have certainly aimed for the main building. It had the highest floating population regardless of constitution, and it was the heart of the Center. As expected, it seemed the Ants were starting to move directly.

– The fire is currently being suppressed. Casualties are unconfirmed.

“Got it.”

The Center was now right before them. Yoon Taehwa checked the back seat through the rearview mirror. As if his gaze had been fixed this way, he unexpectedly met Han Suryeon’s eyes.

“..…”

The gazes entwined through the reflected light of the mirror gave a strange sensation. The other, who had been resting his head on his elbow propped on the door trim, momentarily drooped the corners of his eyes. The loosened eyes similarly created a relaxed atmosphere.

Yoon Taehwa stared intently at the gray eyes that were crinkling in a smile, unfitting for the situation.

‘He must have noticed that this was done to target Pavel.’

He knew that Han Suryeon’s objective was not Pavel, but Monomorium, who was behind him, but even so, his face looked excessively calm.

‘Well, from Han Suryeon’s perspective, there’s no reason to be shaken.’

The terror attack at the Center had nothing to do with him.

Am I any different? Yoon Taehwa thought cynically and broke eye contact first. At the same time, the car stopped with a heavy sound.

Yoon Taehwa tapped a familiar back and asked.

“What happened?”

“Oh, Team Leader.”

The round eyes slanted downwards. Seo Sichan shrugged and replied.

“It just suddenly went boom.”

“The other buildings.”

“The bomb disposal unit is on high alert right now. They’ve formed teams and are checking the entire Center, but it seems nothing else has been found so far.”

Whether it was misfortune or a blessing, the only bomb that had gone off was in Wing H.

When he looked up at the building, Seo Sichan elaborated. His prediction that he hadn’t been mobilized for the Han River incident because he belonged to a carnivorous species was spot on.

“They’re suppressing the fire, so I think we’ll have a rough number of casualties soon. I was worried we’d be short-handed since all the water-attribute Espers, except for the reserve personnel, were dispatched to the Han River, but thankfully, there were no major problems.”

“Team Leader Seo hasn’t arrived yet?”

“No. He said he’s going to search under the Han River one more time with the hyungs. He said since everyone else rushed to the Center, it should be fine for Seeker Team 1 to be absent.”

It was a statement typical of Seo Yeon-eum. Yoon Taehwa tilted his head back and stared at the smoking Wing H. His cold eyes narrowed thinly.

“…It’s the top floor.”

He couldn’t be certain because smoke was rising from all sides, but the point of ignition was very close to where Pavel had been staying.

Yoon Taehwa didn’t act hastily. From the Center’s perspective, it was advantageous for Pavel to be alive, but his life or death was uncertain anyway. It wasn’t like he had an ability to bring the dead back to life, and acting hastily wouldn’t solve the problem, so it was better to wait quietly.

Yoon Taehwa turned around and looked for Kim Su-an.

“Kim Su-an.”

“Yes.”

“You go to the infirmary and get treated first.”

It wasn’t a very severe wound, but it seemed it would be good to at least get it disinfected.

“There might be a poisonous substance, so get a blood sample drawn.”

“Yes.”

“Han Suryeon, Kang Jaemin. You two wait here. We might need psychokinesis.”

When he gestured with his head to the side, Kang Jaemin, who had been blankly staring at the burning flames, snapped to his senses and approached. At the same time, Hae Na-eun took a step forward.

“Team Leader, I’ll go to the medical team with Su-an.”

“Huh, Noona. I can go by myself.”

“I think he suffered mental trauma because I mentioned the Kraken’s genitals…”

“Ack! I told you to stop talking about it!”

“Alright. Go on.”

Seo Sichan, who had been standing blankly and listening to the conversation, blinked his eyes and then put on a sparkling expression.

“Wow. Did you really see a Kraken?”

“The breaking news must have been loud. I guess you didn’t watch the news.”

“It’s not a scene I was dispatched to, so what’s the point of watching. It just gives me a headache thinking about how the Center is going to get chewed out. But what’s this about genitals? Does that thing have one too?”

At the foolish question, Yoon Taehwa frowned but let out a puff of a laugh.

“Are you a kid?”

“No, it’s just because it’s interesting. Do you think the hyungs saw it too? I should ask them when they come later.”

As if he were quite excited, his ears popped up above his hair. How did this kid get into Team 1 when he still can’t control himself well? Seo Yeon-eum naturally came to mind.

“Were you at the Center the whole time?”

“Yes. I was bored, so I was walking around drinking coffee.”

“You saw the bomb go off too?”

“That’s why I’m in this state right now.”

Seo Sichan was in a similar state to Yoon Taehwa, who had just been dealing with a monster. The only difference was that Yoon Taehwa smelled of fishy water, while Seo Sichan smelled of acrid smoke.

“Explain the situation in detail.”

“It really just suddenly went boom. Ah.”

Seo Sichan, who had been looking up at Wing H, stroked his cheek as if he had just remembered something.

“It was a bit strange. It felt different from a regular bomb…”

“How was it different?”

“It felt like it only burned a certain area? It’s hard to explain in words, but it was strange.”

It reminded him of the bomb that was said to have been developed in the United States.

‘Was its name Acorn?’

Yoon Taehwa turned his head to ask for Han Suryeon’s opinion. He only saw Kang Jaemin watching the fire; the face that always followed him around was nowhere to be seen. Only then did he turn his body in the direction Kang Jaemin had been standing a moment ago.

“I told you to come to my side…”

Han Suryeun was standing there stiffly, as if he were nailed to the spot. He had a strangely sullen expression. His drooping eyes and puffed-out cheeks looked somewhat dejected.

“What are you doing?”

Seo Sichan, who had been joking around with Kang Jaemin, finally showed interest in Han Suryeon.

“Ah. You must be the new person in Team 1? I saw you at the terror scene last time… Ack! What the!”

At that moment, a small piece of debris that had fallen from the building landed on Seo Sichan’s head. Thwack, a rather cute sound was made.

“Ah, shit, that really hurts. Kang Jaemin, are you just going to watch?”

“No, I didn’t see it either.”

Seo Sichan clutched his head and glared up at the building. Short ears twitched between his large hands. Yoon Taehwa, who had been glancing at the scene, lowered his gaze to Han Suryeon again.

“Why won’t our Team Leader listen to me…”

Han Suryeon hung his head pitifully. The eyelashes that lowered with it created a sorrowful atmosphere. The cause of the suddenly fallen debris was obvious.

Yoon Taehwa laughed damply. The things he did to get his attention were just like a child’s.

Shin Ae-hi, sitting on the sofa, tilted her head back and closed her eyes. Her exhaustion was palpable. Not being ignorant of the reason she had been tormented, Yoon Taehwa chose to wait silently.

“What in the world is this?”

Shin Ae-hi, whose eyes had snapped open, straightened her head and slammed her fist on the armrest.

“It’s been a whole 18 years. The last time a monster escaped from a Gate.”

“And today, a Center building exploded.”

Yoon Taehwa responded indifferently.

“We’re going to get hammered starting with the evening news tonight.”

“It can’t be helped. Isn’t the Center a place where we barely avoid criticism even when we do well?”

“Hoo…”

An unspoken curse was felt in the long sigh.

“What happened to Pavel? It seems he did his job as bait properly.”

“I happened to move him to the bomb shelter this morning.”

Using Pavel as bait meant that she was going to find out where the information was leaking from. Shin Ae-hi had leaked different pieces of information about Pavel’s whereabouts to her close associates. If the place that had been attacked was the basement and not the top floor, there was a high possibility that the person who had heard that information had committed the betrayal.

This was the first time Yoon Taehwa was hearing the news that he had been moved to the bomb shelter as well.

“No wonder I had a bad dream, I guess being a mental type is giving me precognitive abilities too? To have it happen today of all days.”

“Have you secured the CCTV footage?”

“Yes. It’s being analyzed. I have the original, so there’s no need to worry.”

As if the problems that had yet to be solved were greater than the ones that had been, she licked her dry lips.

“Oh. Team Leader Seo said he found some strange traces on Bamseom.”

“Bamseom?”

“Yes. You’d know that it’s an ecological landscape conservation area, Team Leader Yoon. But he said there were traces of someone having stepped on the ground.”

It wasn’t difficult to connect the suddenly discovered monster in the Han River, the undetected dungeon, and the human traces.

“Monomorium must have started to move… It seems he’s a Shooter, as expected.”

“What kind of ability do you think he has?”

Yoon Taehwa was silent for a short while. He tapped his foot lightly and then slowly opened his mouth.

“Well. The most likely one is…”

There weren’t many ways to move a dungeon’s monster.

“an ability that can freely manipulate space.”

The person he ran into as soon as he came out of the Director’s office was none other than Han Suryeon.

“You look like you’re all sulky.”

“I’m not sulking.”

“Tuck your lips in before you speak.”

Yoon Taehwa let out a laugh that was like a sigh.

“When are you going to make time for me?”

“We’ll see.”

There was a mountain of things he had to check right away. It was obvious he would be called in and get an earful within an hour, so it was better to deal with a little bit of it before then. As he answered perfunctorily, Han Suryeon blocked his path.

“You…”

“…..”

“I think you promised you wouldn’t run away from me.”

A slow nod of his head momentarily tensed the air.