TS 068

Han Suryeon entered the stark white space with an indifferent face. It had already been two days since Pavel had woken up. Finding out which location he was imprisoned in under the guise of protection, and obtaining an entry permit, were not difficult tasks at all.

Pavel, who had been dozing off, sitting like a sick chicken, finally seemed to notice the presence and raised his head, pressing his eyelids.

“Heok!”

The sickly complexion unique to someone who has just woken up from a long sleep vanished with a startled expression. Han Suryeon easily blocked his voice.

“Why do you look so surprised? You knew I was at the Center, didn’t you?”

He smiled lightly, as if throwing a joke at a friend he hadn’t seen in a long time, and sat on the edge of the bed where Pavel was bound. A large hand shot out in an instant and went for the man’s neck.

“You’re going to shut up, right?”

The pale face nodded.

“Behave.”

Han Suryeon whispered sweetly and removed his hand. At the same time, Pavel coughed violently.

“Cough, cough! Keuheuk, keuk…”

A grating, metallic sound mixed with his thoroughly damaged voice. Han Suryeon, with a smile on his lips, stared at Pavel with an observing gaze. The man, who had been coughing for a long time, stealthily flinched, as if checking his mood.

“Have you been well? It’s been a while… no, it’s been a little over ten days, hasn’t it.”

“Since you rummaged through my head without permission, it would be about that long if we count from then.”

Pavel used formal language to a man who was much younger than him.

This was Korea, not Russia. There was no reason to treat Han Suryeon as a leader, as in the hierarchical guild, but strangely, informal language wouldn’t come out. It was the same even though the language he was using was Korean, not the familiar Russian.

“I was curious whether you had really fallen into a coma, or if you had just run away, avoiding the Center’s eyes.”

“..…”

“If you died before you woke up, I would never know who killed Nikita, would I?”

“It wasn’t me! I’m sure I told you through someone!”

“I know.”

Han Suryeon answered with a pop.

On the day he had put Kim Dohee under suggestion and found the bomb shelter, he had looked into Pavel’s head himself. It was to grasp the full story of the incident on the day Nikita was killed.

“But that doesn’t mean you’re not at fault.”

A mental-type ability was needed to look into a person’s head. So what he had used was a crystal.

It was possible to store an Esper’s or a Shooter’s ability in a high-grade crystal. It was a fact that had been discovered by chance while researching ways to calm an Esper on the verge of going rampant.

Of course, just because an ability was stored in a crystal didn’t mean that anyone could use it. There was a prerequisite that only a person who could handle that energy could use it.

If one used a crystal without knowing, their body would crumble, unable to overcome the energy contained in the mineral. To put it extremely, it was almost impossible for an A-class Esper to use a crystal containing an S-class Esper’s ability.

Both the method of pouring an ability into a crystal and the method for another person to use that crystal were extremely tricky, so it was not a widely known story.

“It’s not like you’re not a pawn of Monomorium.”

“Th-that’s…”

Pavel chewed on his lips, which were white with chapped skin.

“Well, I’m not really interested in you or that bastard’s objective.”

Han Suryeon lightly tapped his fingertips.

“Why did you infiltrate Kasatka?”

“..…”

“Were you trying to poach guild members?”

Pavel licked his dry lips with an anxious look. Han Suryeon immediately read the affirmative answer.

“I was looking forward to it, but this is boring… To think you’d infiltrate for such a reason.”

It was a purpose so obvious that he had actually thought, ‘it can’t be.’ Han Suryeon placed his arms behind him and leaned his upper body back slightly. The fingers that were touching the mattress revealed his uncomfortable mood.

The most important element in maintaining a group was not money, but people. Money was just an additional element for buying people. It meant that he could understand infiltrating a guild for the purpose of winning over guild members.

However, since Monomorium himself had started to move, he had been expecting a grand reason. The fact that it wasn’t was quite disappointing.

“It seems it’s true that the Ants are not what they used to be. For the top brass to move directly to win over guild members.”

“I-I will give you information.”

“Information? What information?”

Han Suryeon’s eyes widened.

“I told you I’m not interested in the Ants… Why are people related to this side so desperate to bring me anything? They’re so self-important.”

He had no great ambition to annihilate a terrorist organization. The reason he had come all the way to Korea chasing Pavel was also for the simple reason that he thought he could meet Yoon Taehwa if he cooperated with the Center. If it hadn’t been for that, he wouldn’t have bothered to take on such a troublesome mission himself.

‘Though I have to take the results.’

Those results were not information related to the Ants.

“Seeing you turn your back on him so quickly, it seems you’ve completely fallen out with Monomorium.”

Pavel shut his mouth, as if he had been hit where it hurts.

“I heard from the Director that you fell out because of a negotiation. Was the negotiation about your ability… Did they want to put your ability in a crystal and you refused?”

Silence was affirmation.

“I don’t know why everyone is so scared.”

Han Suryeon easily guessed the reason why Pavel had refused.

It had been less than two years since the fact that abilities could be stored in crystals had been revealed. Since the risks were great but the utility was also high, most people didn’t know about it, thanks to everyone keeping their mouths shut to monopolize the related information.

Kim Hye-na had discovered it first, but Han Suryeon didn’t hastily conclude that only Kasatka knew that fact. Just looking at Pavel’s reaction, it was clear that the Ants also knew that fact.

‘Someone either sold the information or they discovered it by chance like us.’

In a situation where they knew of such utility, the reason Pavel had refused Monomorium’s order was obvious.

‘He ran away because he was scared.’

In a situation where there was not much information accumulated through research and experience, not many people were brave enough to recklessly pour their ability into a mineral or use a crystal to use another person’s ability.

But wherever you go, there are always people who charge in without fear. Whether it was simply out of curiosity, or because of the confidence that it was no big deal for them.

One of them was Han Suryeon. Han Suryeon had begun to use crystals, risking going rampant.

There was no particular reason. It was interesting, and when he actually tried it, he was excited by the precarious sensation of something he wasn’t used to. Above all, it was useful in many ways.

The reason he was able to recognize the remaining energy in Shin Ae-hi’s crystal, and the reason he was able to put Kim Dohee under suggestion by using a mental-type ability as if it were his own, was thanks to his proficiency in using others’ abilities.

“Sc-scared?”

Pavel, who had been silent for a long time, barely managed to speak. His eyes were unfocused, as if tracing some point in the past.

“If I had accepted that proposal, I would have had my ability sucked out and died like the others!”

The others? Han Suryeon tilted his head askew.

“I-I… was wrong.”

Is Monomorium exploiting ability users? Just as he was weighing various possibilities, Pavel offered an unexpected confession. Han Suryeon raised one eyebrow, just like Yoon Taehwa would.

“I-I should have just lived as a Kasatka guild member… It was a wrong judgment.”

It was a boring confession filled with regret.

“It’s okay.”

Han Suryeon answered kindly, like someone who would embrace everything.

“Y-Yes?”

“You made your choice… and that’s not something you should apologize to me for, is it?”

Pavel’s face hardened. Having been a Kasatka guild member for quite a long time, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize the meaning behind Han Suryeon’s bright expression.

“But thanks to you, I caught the other pawns well.”

Han Suryeon once again recalled the time he had rummaged through Pavel’s head. The reason he had deceived Kim Dohee’s eyes and rummaged through his head, even at risk, was to see the incident of that day from Pavel’s perspective. It was better to ferret out the traitors in the guild by any means necessary.

‘I passed the list to Hanna right away, so by now…’

Two people were involved in Nikita’s death. Because he had only peeked into the memory that had proceeded from Pavel’s perspective, he couldn’t grasp the exact causal relationship, but it seemed they had tried to win her over and failed.

“I left the disposal to the team members, it must be quite a sight by now.”

Gulp. The sound of Pavel swallowing his saliva echoed in the quiet space.

“You’re not unaware, are you? Why do they call my team the Crows.”

The handcuffs bound to the bed rattled, making an unpleasant sound.

“Heuk, euk… Heok, heok. I-I’ll cooperate with the Center, heuk, and live quietly. I-If you just give me one chance…”

“Hm?”

Han Suryeon’s eyes widened, as if to ask what he was talking about.

“You killed a Kasatka guild member, how can you live quietly?”

Subsequently, his curving eyes were as innocent as a child who didn’t know they had done wrong.

“Heok, euk…”

“Well, I might let you live if you answer what I ask well.”

The prey took the bait that was thrown at it.

“A-Ask me anything. If it’s something I know, I’ll tell you, e-everything!”

“Monomorium.”

In fact, Han Suryeon had not a shred of interest in Monomorium. That is, until he found out that his purpose for infiltrating the Center was Yoon Taehwa.

“Why is he interested in our Team Leader?”

“Team Leader? …You mean Yoon Taehwa?”

“Yes.”

Pavel, while looking puzzled, poured out the information he knew.

“I understand it’s because of his ability… To prove the superiority of abilities, they also need someone who can neutralize them at once.”

“Hmm.”

“A-And he used to say it like a habit, that it would be nice to have someone like that by his side.”

“I see.”

Han Suryeon leisurely got up from the bed. As Pavel flinched, the handcuffs rattled again. The handcuffs, made to restrain Espers, could not be broken no matter how much force he put into them.

“You have to know that your belly will burst if you’re greedy, right.”

“W-What?”

“There are stupid bastards who only know after their bellies have burst…”

The man who had smiled, his face crumbling, reached out his hand without hesitation.