Chapter 14 - Choice

Choice

“Mhh.. Huh?”

Il-hyun opened his eyes slenderly in bed.

It was surprisingly daytime, and the sunlight was peeping in through the blinds that covered the windows.

He glanced around.

It was not a familiar place.

He was inside a fairly large white room and was lying in a hospital bed. The structure of the hospital’s single room was a bit different, and he felt uncertain in many ways.

Il-hyun, who traced his body, woke up slowly after identifying that his body was intact. He didn’t know exactly where he was, but he was glad that it wasn’t a detention center.

He was out of energy, so he had to maneuver his head to get out of a moderately stupid position.

“Right… It didn’t work at that time.”

Il-hyun sighed a little after recalling his performance at Songpa.

Honestly, it was a disheartening memory.

At that moment, he poured out everything he had, but in the end, it was completely blocked by the A-rank awakened.

If he knew this would happen, he would have just absorbed the ether.

He discovered a new use for cores through predation, but it was too wasteful after considering the value of the B rank core.

It was the worst-case scenario.

He had started working as a scavenger to get ether without having to reveal his abilities, but it took just one accidental mistake to ruin everything.

He was flustered at himself as he anticipated what was going to happen.

“But, where is this place?”

He could only recall up until he collapsed, so he couldn’t figure out why he was lying in a hospital bed rather than a police station. He wasn’t seriously injured either, so the police wouldn’t have had him hospitalized.

He approached the window, raised the blinds, and looked out.

It was a building with a familiar design.

A massive U-shaped structure immediately caught his eyes.

Many busy people, vehicles, varieties of ground transports, and helicopters were parked in the middle of the building. Some helicopters even took off and landed.

Il-hyun was not entirely certain, but he believed that he had seen it on TV before.

It was the headquarters of Aegis.

“Crazy… What is this?”

Il-hyun witnessed the spectacle outside the window and became nauseated with apprehension.

Abduction. Confinement. Torture. Dissection.

Many conspiracies of corporations and governments that he regularly saw in movies came to mind.

Il-hyun shook his head and denied the thoughts.

He touched his face.

It was returning to its original appearance. When he lost consciousness after losing, his face naturally became distorted.

Someone was approaching the door.

Il-hyun could hear the sound of footsteps.

He was startled and twisted toward the door.

After a while, a woman came in.

“Are you up?”

Lee Soo-yeon said in a calm voice.

Unlike before, she was not wearing a coat and was dressed comfortably without weapons.

“I just did what scavengers do, and I broke the ether.”

Il-hyun said it as it was.

Although it was an unspeakable situation, he was the one who did the illegal scavenging and invaded the field first.

In the process of running away, he used a B rank core, which was a precious resource worth tens of billions of dollars at will.

But why were they kidnapping him?

“I think there’s a misunderstanding. It’s not like that.”

Lee Soo-yeon said with a smile on her face.

She took a water bottle from the small refrigerator and handed it to him.

The thirsty Il-hyun accepted it, but couldn’t take it to his mouth with her gaze fixated on him.

“I didn’t know your address, and I wasn’t handing you over to the police, so I brought you here instead since there’s a bed.”

“What are you talking about? Didn’t you hand me over to the special forces?

“I changed my mind. I decided to cover it up quietly instead. I didn’t hand you over to the police, and I don’t intend to ask for anything. Don’t you know how much the ether that you broke is worth?”

Lee Soo-yeon smiled curtly.

Il-hyun sighed upon hearing her words, but on the other hand, he was suspicious of his current circumstance.

Lee Soo-yeon continued.

“It was a quite impressive show you put up back there, even though you made a big mess, I can’t deny that it was spectacular. I mean, you made a snake out of a building.”

No matter how expansive their authority was, the snake was so large that there must have been many witnesses and remnants.

“I told them that it’s a new monster, how frantic must the government be right now?”

Monsters that prey on nearby objects have already appeared many times in the past, so it wasn’t unusual. But, of course, none of them were ever at this scale.

The government had continued to ask for the new monster data, but she ignored them all. Unlike conventional companies, Aegis was not a government subcontractor.

It was a unique partnership.

Especially when they went abroad, the point was even more noticeable.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Should I speak directly? The scavenging that happened in the past two weeks was you trying to hide your abilities, right?”

Il-hyun’s facial expression stuttered.

If you were handed over to the police, it would have already been known in the preliminary prosecutor’s office.

“Did you even test my intentions while I was unconscious?”

“No way.”

“Then how?”

“You were not greedily taking the core. You also lead the way to people’s rescue. You seem to have the ability to absorb the ether of the core. As well, you seem to have a reason to remain hidden and become stronger while avoiding affiliations. Then isn’t it obvious?”

Lee Soo-yeon had unveiled his situation approximately.

Il-hyun shook the water he had received earlier.

“I think the minimum you have is B rank, and the rest of your skills are A… No, the ability to absorb ether may be an S rank.”

Il-hyun didn’t react to her thesis.

He wasn’t stupid enough to say, “No, it’s all SSS rank.”

“If you have any S-ranks… Well, it’s definitely a level that I’ve never seen before. It was a good choice. I wouldn’t have been involved in annoying things like this if It wasn’t worthwhile.”

S-rank abilities alone will attract attention from all over the world. If he had an S-rank and two A-rank skills, they would have struggled to take him here and there.

“Anyway, I saw the possibility and wanted to make a suggestion. Soon the cycle is coming back, and I don’t want to see that talent rot.”

Lee Soo-yeon, who came to the front, made eye contact with Il-hyun.

“How about joining our team?”

Il-hyun, who was surprised by the sudden development, stepped backward.

“Ah, so wait… Are you scouting me to Aegis? Join the team? Team A?”

“What? If you are uncomfortable, you can also talk to other teams.”

“No, not that…”

Il-hyun hesitated.

It was totally unexpected that he was offered to join in this way.

“One team member doesn’t like it, but I’m for it. It’s not a place where you need to publicize yourself just to get some work.”

Unlike other companies, Aegis was reached out to by the countries for help first. As long as his abilities were certain, it didn’t matter. Lee Soo-yeon had observed his potential and possibilities herself, so it wasn’t an issue.

“You will have access to cores too.”

To be honest, it was a fantastic condition for his situation.

He was worried that she might have been cheating him somehow.

Il-hyun pondered.

“Can I refuse this…”

In fact, in his current situation, they could have just forced him to accept.

However, Lee Soo-yeon smiled and shook her head.

“Aegis is not a place that holds people. Even if you refuse, you won’t be abducted or handed over to the police, so choose whatever you like. However, I can guarantee that there will not be a better option than here wherever you go.”

* * *

Il-hyun came home from the vehicle he had boarded from Aegis.

He hadn’t provided a conclusive answer yet, as he still needed time to tidy up his cluttered thoughts.

Meanwhile, Lee Soo-yeon had a conversation with the staff of the medical team.

“Someone said that this team leader is a blind-eyed person, but this is the first time I’ve seen it.”

“Team C also has a lot of potential prospects, so we can’t do anything.”

“Do you think that friend will be like Lee Taehee?”

Lee Taehee.

He was the best prospect they had.

At the age of 19, Lee Taehee had two ranked A abilities.

He was already a member of the A-class C team and was expected to become the fifth S-class awakener after being a big shot A-class awakener.

“No, he will be more than that. Don’t you know? He will be the next representative to lead the whole company.”