The Question (1)
“So… Is it because of this?”
Jeong Jin-seong’s voice quivered as he looked at the object.
The disturbance device is a black, square-shaped device, with a red light flickering at its center.
It’s an instrument that could deliberately interfere or distort satellite or telemetry signals if placed near the gate.
Lee Jeong-hyeop approached. “It’s the first time I saw anything like that”, he murmured after looking closely.
More than half of the people gathered around didn’t even know that Analytical Disturbance devices exist.
Gate operation disruptors such as these are strictly prohibited worldwide.
Deliberately distorting the signals is considered a terror attack, as it brings danger not only to the Awakeners but also to the citizens around the area.
Even unauthorized access to gates is already considered a serious crime; bringing a device such as this guarantees a long prison sentence.
The man Il-hyun caught looked around with anxious eyes.
High-ranking Awakeners surrounded him.
Just by looking at their faces, their strength and power were obvious, even if he didn’t know all of them.
Even if he had ten lives, he wouldn’t be able to escape.
Lee Soo-yeon looked down at him.
“Everyone is here now; you need to tell us who you are,” she commanded.
The man naturally did not understand Korean. A simultaneous interpreter was placed on the man’s ear.
“Tell me what group you’re with and what your purpose is here. Do you realize what you were caught doing? You cannot escape.”
His crime was not simply scavenging or trespassing. It was probably the cause of all the analytical errors that occurred in the B0 gate incident.
This was serious terrorism.
The man replied with hesitation. “I…I can’t talk. Just hand me over to the police.”
Lee Soo-yeon grabbed the man’s ear and pulled it. “Oh, can’t you understand what I said? We were in danger because of you, do you think we’ll just hand you over to the police?”
The man trembled with fear because of her threatening attitude.
“All the people have gathered, and now I need to tell him who I am.”
Lee Soo-yeon said, looking down at the man.
The man naturally did not understand Korean, and she put a simultaneous interpreter in one ear of the man.
“Tell me where you belong and what your purpose is here. Do you know what you were caught doing? You shouldn’t be thinking about moving on.
This work was different from Scavenger or trespassing.
It was also highly likely that it was related to all the analytical errors that had occurred so far in the event of serious terrorism.
It wasn’t hard to get over with a smile.
“I… I can’t speak. Just hand it over to the police.”
The man replied with hesitation.
“Oh, can’t you understand the words? We weren’t the only ones who got hit by you, but you think you’re going over there if you hand it over to the police?”
Lee Soo-yeon grabbed the man’s ear and pulled it.
The man trembled with a frightened face because of her threatening attitude.
However, he can never tell them what he knew. He shook his head, vigorously. “No! I really can’t say…”
Cho Yoon stepped forward. As he did, shadows began to rise from behind the man. “I don’t think this is going to work. Let go…”
The shadows suddenly started to strangle the man.
The man was also an Awakener and was stronger than the general public, but he was feeling faint at the strength of the shadows’ grip.
Choking sounds and pained moans filled the air.
“What are you doing? We cleaned up your mess last time. Stop it!” Lee Soo-yeon turned angrily at Cho Yoon.
Cho Yoon showed no sign of retreating at all. “Again, that was an accident. It shouldn’t have happened.”
Less than a year ago, Cho Yoon interrogated two felony criminals he had captured in the field of operations.
He got the information he wanted, but one of the criminals died, and the other was in critical condition by the time the interrogation was done.
No matter how huge the crime is, murdering a captured criminal is a serious crime in itself.
However, in this world where gates endlessly opened, the government knew that Cho Yoon was irreplaceable.
The incident was covered up; the media was silenced, and Cho Yoon got away with a warning and a fine for the “accident”.
“Stop it!”
Lee Soo-yeon was losing patience. She stepped in front of Cho Yoon.
Nevertheless, he stood still and stared back at her eyes directly.
What an intense situation!
Jeong Jin-seong suddenly stepped in and cut the shadows with his sword.
The shadows were cut cleanly and fell off the man.
The man was barely breathing; he rolled on the ground while coughing terribly.
“You can’t solve it by fighting,” Jeong Jin-seong told the two team leaders as he put his sword back.
Cho Yoon smirked. “So… what are you going to do now, then?” he said bluntly.
Ghost butted in. “Isn’t it all solved if we have Team Leader Yun? Team D is in Seoul right now.”
Jeong Jin-seong nodded. “Yes, that will fix this.”
It was no use to keep quiet if they have Team D’s team leader with them.
The man who has recovered started to struggle violently.
“No! I’ll never speak! If I say a word-“
Suddenly, the man’s face distorted as if it was being crushed!
Quaaang!
His skull exploded!
The moment that the red energy of the bomb was about to burst out and injure the group, the world turned gray.
Rather, a wide bubble covered the group, and everything inside was turned to gray.
Everything within that bubble stopped moving.
The man’s head shattering and the skull fragments flying – it was stopped where it was, floating in the air.
“Ah, to think that I would have to resort to this…”
Jeong Jin-seong murmured, as his arms remained outstretched.
He was the only one who could speak. Everyone else was frozen in spot.
It was because of Jeong Jin-seong’s rank A ability, [Stop].
It is a monster-like ability to stop anything – monsters, people, even space.
No matter how strong a monster or an Awakener was, they would not be able to move within the ability’s range.
Of course, there were weaknesses to this ability.
He can’t move while using this ability. This is why Team A had two team leaders.
His [Stop] ability, partnered with Lee Soo-yeon’s attack – nothing could withstand them.
Also, he can’t select a singular target while he used this. Everything within that area would stop.
It also uses a lot of power.
This is why he rarely used this ability in battle.
“I’m getting tired… I have to limit the range,” he said.
He used his ability in a quick reaction and didn’t have a chance to control the range.
He was planning to limit the area to just contain the explosion, and let the other team members move freely.
However, he was surprised at what he saw. His eyes widened.
Two mice jumped to Il-hyun. Il-hyun usually made mice search for citizens hiding within site.
Jeong Jin-seong wasn’t surprised because he was afraid of mice.
It was because the mice were moving inside the bubble.
Squeak!