224 – HGL 224

“……”

Yoon Ga-eul was sitting in a desolate space. In a dark and narrow room resembling an interrogation room, there was only a steel desk and chair. The man who brought her here left, only telling her to wait. It felt like an interrogation room of the Awakened Management Bureau. No, it was exactly the same.

‘Did they make it like this on purpose?’

It was possible. The interrogation room of the Awakened Management Bureau was said to be the number one space Awakened hated. It might be to suppress the Awakened. Ga-eul stretched her legs out for no reason. She should have brought an English vocabulary book.

How much time had passed? She didn’t know because there was no clock, but it seemed like several tens of minutes had passed. The number of songs Ga-eul hummed in her head had exceeded 10. She looked around. Was there a Magic Mirror here like in the Awakened Management Bureau interrogation room? Were they watching her from outside? She knew she shouldn’t panic, but her body wouldn’t cooperate.

‘If I had more experience….’

The last time she saw J, he was being kicked and rolling on the floor. Had he gone through hardships he didn’t need to because of her? Ga-eul rubbed her sweaty hands. If she kept digging into the ground like this, there would be no end. She tried to think of something else.

‘Hyung… he said.’

Ga-eul bit her lip hard.

‘How did he know about me?’

Ga-eul’s personal information was top secret even within the Awakened Management Bureau. A high school senior, a minor, and a mental-type S-class Awakened with no combat ability whatsoever. She had all the conditions to be swayed by all sorts of strange people. The only information the public knew was that the new S-class Awakened was a minor and would start activities after becoming an adult.

‘Where did the information leak from….’

Ga-eul gnawed on her thumb’s nail and skin. She was anxious. She had a sense of duty to stop Doomsday, but she was too powerless. She received J’s help when she was dragged into the Destroyed world, and while others risked their lives to fight, she was kidnapped in a place like this, singing about stopping Doomsday, but when the time came, she was useless….

‘Aren’t I too useless….’

Was she given too much ability? Heavy thoughts overlapped. Her body felt heavy. Powerlessness and guilt weighed down on her. She couldn’t do anything in front of the dying people. She just ran away from them. Even the ceiling light seemed to be scolding her. Ga-eul buried her face in her hands.

At that moment.

“Ah, did you wait long?”

A voice came from the speaker in the corner. It was a gentle male voice. Ga-eul’s shoulders twitched. She raised her head and looked at the speaker. The man beyond the speaker said.

“I’m sorry. I made a precious guest wait for a long time…. The situation is what it is. I’m really sorry.”

“…….”

“My brothers brought you here a bit roughly, didn’t they? I apologize on their behalf. I clearly told them to treat you with respect since you’re a precious person….”

A gloomy look lingered in the man’s voice. Ga-eul didn’t let her guard down and glared at the speaker. The soft voice said.

“Um, since you’ve waited a long time, shall we get to the point? Yoon Ga-eul, you can read the Fragment of the Destroyed world, right?”

“…….”

“You knew about Doomsday before anyone else.”

He knew everything, about Ga-eul.

Everything.

Ga-eul swallowed. They said this group despised Awakened. She clenched her fist tightly and stared at the speaker. Would they say she was pathetic? They might say her ability was a waste…. It was all true, so she couldn’t argue.

However.

“You’re really amazing.”

A completely different reaction than she expected came back. Ga-eul’s eyes widened. Clapping, clapping…. The man beyond the speaker was clapping. The clapping stopped, and a gentle voice was filled with pity.

“You must have had a hard time alone…. You must have seen the devastated scene swept by Doomsday every night. Even though you didn’t want to.”

“…….”

“A young student endured that fear alone. You’re really amazing.”

‘…Huh?’

Strangely, tears welled up when she heard the gentle voice and words. Ga-eul quickly lowered her head and bit her lip. She blinked quickly to wipe away the tears. The man didn’t stop.

“I know about Yoon Ga-eul’s sacrifice. Among people who don’t believe in Doomsday, among people who believe this distorted peace will last for a long time, you must have been constantly struggling with fear alone.”

“…….”

“But.”

The man said with emphasis.

“Doomsday has come.”

“…….”

“Of course, it’s not your fault. And….”

The gentle voice whispered.

“Ga-eul is not alone.”

“…….”

“Well, I also remembered the Destroyed world. Not as clearly as Yoon Ga-eul, though.”

Ga-eul raised her head sharply. Laughter was mixed in the gentle voice.

“So I started gathering people. To stop Doomsday. Because we couldn’t be destroyed again.”

“…….”

“Ga-eul.”

The soft voice whispered.

“We need your power. More than anyone else.”

Ga-eul clenched her fist tightly. Her nails dug deep into her palm.

‘Ah~’

Eui-jae squatted in front of the man and put on his gloves properly. The man was foaming at the mouth and collapsed. Judging by the rise and fall of his back, he seemed to be alive.

‘He’s rushing me like crazy.’

Thanks to that, he couldn’t even change his clothes properly. He was planning to take away the gown and clothes if possible. Eui-jae sighed and got up from his seat. A gray hoodie was clearly visible through the unbuttoned front of the protective suit. He lightly slung the collapsed man over his shoulder and picked up the tablet that had fallen to the floor.

‘I’ll have a use for it if I take it.’

He couldn’t waste time. Someone would become suspicious. Eui-jae headed to the room where he had been trapped. The room was still full of white smoke. And in the middle of it, there were shattered handcuffs, a badly broken leash, and a man who had passed out with his eyes rolled back.

Eui-jae put the man he was carrying down next to the first guest who had passed out, and then tied their ankles together with the broken chain. They would have to work hard at a three-legged race to escape.

‘I don’t know what kind of gas it is, but….’

He tore the gown to make a new mask for the man who had his protective suit taken away, and diligently unlocked the tablet by borrowing the tablet owner’s finger. Eui-jae bowed politely with both hands together and came out of the iron bars. He zipped up the protective suit properly and rolled his eyes. Could he walk around wearing this?

He escaped because he thought it was an opportunity, but when he tried to move, his feet wouldn’t come off easily. If Lee Sa-young was here….

‘Hyung, do you even think?’

‘When are you going to fix the habit of moving your body first….’

‘Is your head just for decoration?’

He would have condemned him with all sorts of scary words. Eui-jae rubbed his arms like a cold person and smacked his lips. But who knew when such a good opportunity would come again!

‘First.’

Eui-jae looked through the iron bars. The researchers, their ankles tied together and leaning on each other, were clearly visible. As expected, it was a structure that was easy to see from the outside. Eui-jae swiped through the tablet. It was some kind of data. Unidentifiable numbers and red and blue graphs were densely written. He couldn’t find any Korean.

‘Aish.’

Eui-jae frowned and moved the tablet away a bit. It was then.

A black and round thing suddenly popped out from the shadow under his feet. The round head looked around. And his gaze went up. Their eyes met.

“Eung?”

He could see the eyes behind the black sunglasses narrowing slightly.

“…Eueung?”

It was Very Small Miracle Mingi Seo. He was a bit dusty, but he looked okay, so Eui-jae was a little relieved. Min-gi Seo tilted his head, scanning Eui-jae up and down. Eui-jae lowered his mask a little.

“It’s me, Mr. Min-gi Seo.”

“Ah, you’re the customer, right? I was wondering if I came to the wrong address. I almost attacked you. What are you doing right now? Where is this?”

“Um, I was trapped and then escaped. I think it’s probably Prometheus’s base.”

“…….”

“…….”

Min-gi Seo collapsed on the ground and wailed.

“No, really, customer!”

“Ah, don’t shout! We’ll get caught!”

“Why are you here? No, how did you even know to come here in the first place? I couldn’t even find these guys’ base!”

‘Isn’t the last thing he said the main point?’

That’s right. Min-gi Seo was more distressed by the fact that Eui-jae had found Prometheus’s base, which he couldn’t even find, than by the fact that Eui-jae had been trapped. Min-gi Seo only had his upper body sticking out from the shadows, and he couldn’t contain his anger, so he pounded the floor with his fist. This made him want to tease him for no reason. Eui-jae made a V sign.

“I was kidnapped. Pretty good, right?”

“Damn it, you used a cowardly trick that I could never use even if I died and came back to life….”

“Why is this cowardly? I came all the way here with my acting skills.”

“Kueueuk….”

Min-gi Seo, who was struggling, suddenly raised his head.

“Oh, what happened to your cell phone?”

“Ah, it broke earlier.”

“So you couldn’t receive the call….”

Min-gi Seo rolled his black eyes and looked around, then said in a serious voice.

“I’m only telling you this because it’s between us.”

“Yeee.”

“The Guild Master is really pissed.”