Sawon tilted his head. Not knowing what was going on, Ji Hayeon blinked and looked back and forth between him and his own chest. Then, from beside the motorcycles they’d ridden, a drained voice drifted over.“Gu Sawon. Why the hell do I keep getting tangled up with you.”Mok Geonho was slumped against his bike. Director Kwon had sent him along as insurance for the Institute operation. One of the few first-class hunters with both the power and the standing to talk back to Sawon like it was nothing. Sawon calmly tightened Ji’s jacket.“Who told you to be in my intake class?”“You think I wanted to be in your class.”“Then blame your fate.”“Tch.” Mok Geonho let out a disgruntled click of his tongue.Sawon tapped Ji’s chest twice, light little thumps. The once-loose combat uniform now hugged his body snugly. Sawon went back to the bike, grabbed his sword, and clipped it to his waist. He stuck his comm device in his ear and pulled the neck-gaiter-like mask up to just under his lips. Unlike Ji’s, his own combat gear was barely fastened, hanging loose.“Chief. I’ll protect you, so stay quiet and follow behind me. Got it?”Ji’s eyebrows twitched at [N O V E L I G H T] that. He strode past Sawon and went to the bike. Then he took the one remaining sword and strapped it onto his own waist. Watching him, Sawon’s eyes narrowed.“What. You don’t trust me? You think I can’t even keep you safe?”Ji ignored him completely. Mok Geonho chimed in from the side.“Chief. Gu Sawon might look like the least reliable bastard alive, but his skills are solid. Don’t worry too much.”“I’m not worried.”Ji drew in a deep breath, then glared at Sawon.“Take care of your own body.”Temper on him, seriously…“Yeah, yeah…”Keeping his spiritless gaze fixed on Ji, Sawon pressed the button on his comm.“Connect to comm line N3. Participating members, CODE number 16, CODE number 17, CODE number LP102.”Pale brown irises met his eyes. Even in full gear, Ji still looked to Sawon like a helpless baby animal. Wild and unpredictable, liable to bolt in any direction, but someone you couldn’t get mad at. Someone who kept catching his eye so he couldn’t just leave him, someone he had to protect. Maybe because Nine kept coming to mind. That déjà vu washed over him again.Why is it that every time I look at this bastard, I keep thinking of Nine…– CODE 17 connected.Mok Geonho’s voice came through the comm. Ji’s followed soon after. The hunters on guard at the entrance asked,“Are you going in now?”Ruffling his own hair, Sawon let out a sigh. He drew his sword and glanced toward the Institute entrance. The security staff there were all wearing grim expressions.“Commencing operation.”At his words, the two hunters manning the door each put a hand on the cutoff device on their backs.“Door open.”At the same time, a hologram prompt popped up in Sawon’s field of view.He was standing still when suddenly, like something had just occurred to him, he whipped his head to the side. Pulling the comm from his ear, he spoke.“Chief Ji. My job is to protect you, you know?”Their eyes met.“So don’t ever show me your back. Got it?”Ji’s face twisted.Sawon moved only his lips.In exchange, I’ll help you do whatever you want.I’ll clean up the aftermath too.The blue membrane wrapped around the building vanished in an instant. Shoving the comm back into his ear, Sawon went inside. Ji and Mok Geonho rushed in after him. The Institute swallowed the three of them, and the barrier immediately closed over the building again.Thump.The second the barrier snapped back into place, their ears went muffled. Their footsteps echoed back at them. As Sawon pulled his mask up, Mok Geonho and Ji raised theirs to the bridge of their noses as well. Sawon pinched the fabric at the bottom edge of his mask between thumb and index finger. Embedded there was a thin Metena chip, about a quarter the size of a coin. With a soft click, the button engaged, and a transparent film spread across the black mask.Crackle.Sawon’s voice came through the comm.– Hit the sound suppressor. From here on, we only talk over comms.The Metena film caught his voice as it tried to leak past the mask and erased it. His words could only be heard through the comm now. Mok Geonho pressed his own suppression button.Click.Crackle.– Ugh… I hate this. It feels so suffocating.A film spread over Ji’s mask too.Crackle.– Our voices could agitate the Deaters.Crackle.– Yes, Chief.Like flipping a hand over, Mok Geonho’s attitude changed.Crackle.– Quite a different reaction from when it’s me, huh, Mok Geonho?– You and the Chief aren’t the same thing.– Man. I oughta…Sawon swept a dubious gaze over Mok Geonho. Ji gestured to the right.– We need to go to B4 first.First, they’d stop by the records room on B4, change the access permissions, and pull the data. Then they’d head up to the forty-third floor and disable the second-layer security. With the authorization change, they’d back up everything here as well and bring it out—that was Ji’s goal.Sawon asked,– So we go down to the basement, back up to the first floor, then take the high-rise elevator?Ji shook his head.– There’s a direct elevator from the records room to the central lab. We can take that.– Elevator?Sawon’s eyes widened. There were two layers of meaning packed into the single word he shot back.There’s an elevator down there?And:You can ride an elevator?Two things.The reason he didn’t unpack it out loud was that Mok Geonho didn’t know about Ji’s hidden handicap. On top of that, knowing Ji’s personality, he obviously wouldn’t want his weakness exposed. This was the guy who practically flinched out of his skin at the thought of showing his scars.He really plans to ride it? Can he actually handle it?His stare bored into Ji. Ji turned his head away and took a couple of steps to the right.– …Let’s just get moving. Dragging this out won’t help anything, ngh—!With a sharp yank, Ji’s body was pulled off balance and tipped backward. His back collided with Sawon’s chest.– What are you doing?– Don’t move. Look ahead.Wrapping his arms around Ji, Sawon stared straight forward. From around the corner at the end of the T-shaped corridor, something heavy was approaching.Crackle.Mok Geonho reported.– Deater, ten meters ahead. Its energy’s so faint I almost missed it.Like Awakened and Heukgu, Deaters emitted a certain kind of energy. It had the same texture as an Awakened’s Metena—but the higher-ranked they were, the harder they were to sense. At this distance, they should’ve noticed it long ago, and even now, what they were feeling was faint. That meant it was a high-grade Deater.Mok Geonho tightened his grip on the coiled metal whip in his hand. Sawon hugged Ji tighter around the stomach and said,– We keep combat to a minimum. Don’t move. Stay still.Mok Geonho nodded. The owner of the steadily nearing presence came into view. He pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek.– That thing… no matter how you look at it, that’s a melt-type, right?The creature had three long tongues dragging along the floor. Its silhouette was troll-like, its skin wobbling like jelly. Blister-like swellings bulged over every inch of its body, leaving no gaps. With a pop, one of the blisters burst like lava, and ichor oozed out. A single drop hit the floor and hissed, sending up smoke. It was the same type of Deater as the one that had wrecked Ji’s wrist.We get a pain-in-the-ass one right out the gate, huh.Sawon’s arms tightened around Ji.– Shh. Quiet.Thanks to those bursting lesions, melt-type Deaters had hypersensitive skin. They could detect even minute vibrations. The rustle of fabric, footsteps—there was no telling what might set it off. All three of them held their breath and stayed perfectly still. Fortunately, the Deater passed down the corridor and disappeared around the corner on the far side.Is it just going to keep going?Sawon wanted to avoid a fight as much as possible. It wasn’t the Institute’s structural integrity he was worried about. Ji was the problem. It had only been a few days since his Metena overreaction; there was no way he was going to force him to use Metena again already. He wanted to get Ji out of here in one piece, as gently as he could. Maybe the Deater understood that, because its presence faded completely.Crackle.Mok Geonho spoke softly.– Is it gone?All three of them kept their eyes fixed straight ahead. Even the faint energy they’d barely sensed before had vanished. The arms around Ji’s waist gradually loosened.– Looks like it just passed us, right?“Kkii!”Right then, Nine answered his words with all the enthusiasm in the world. All three pairs of eyes snapped to Sawon’s wrist. Nine had poked his head out of the guard and was beaming. A curse slipped out of Sawon’s mouth.– Ah, fu…!He should’ve told him to stay quiet!Screeee-eee-eeech!The Deater’s shriek rang out.Thud-thud-thud! Squelch-squelch-squelch!With pounding, slapping footsteps, it burst back into view at the end of the corridor. Wherever its dripping ichor hit the floor, smoke rose in sizzling bursts.Ha… I’m gonna lose it.Shoving Ji behind his back, Sawon drew his sword.– Mok Geonho, prep for combat.

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