Chapter 37: To be a star
Sang Hun Lee stared at the picture in front of him, trying to make out who the woman could be. Could it be a foreigner? No. Liu Yuning had already said that was not the case, and Sang Hun Lee trusted Liu Yuning’s judgment. What about a chaebol? It was possible. Maybe a hidden talent or a developed soldier under one of their projects. After all, there were rumors about some chaebols trying to create artificial Awakened.
He lifted his eyes to meet Choi Ae Ran as he contemplated whether to ask her, but then he remembered his current condition. His fists clenched as a bit of rage bottled out of him, but he quickly composed himself. Even if he no longer had his Concept Heart, he should keep control of himself. But still...
How could he now face her?
He could only sigh in resignation. He still wasn’t sure what had happened yesterday to make him lose all his abilities. From a Stage Four Exarch to now...
He wasn’t sure what he was now.
Maybe he should have taken the offer to leave this life of a soldier and just return to normalcy. Yet whenever such thoughts came into his mind—
No...
His abilities weren’t gone. They felt like they had been sealed. After all, he could still feel his own spirituality and Meaning. There had to be an answer to his condition somewhere. Even if he was useless now in terms of abilities and in the field, he could still help in other areas.
He turned his eyes to the sketch in front of him.
Why did the woman look so familiar to him?
Yet... his mind couldn’t help but draw a blank, almost the same way it did whenever he tried to remember what had happened to him yesterday. He only remembered appearing near the church, finding those cult members, then suddenly feeling a huge pain in his heart before collapsing.
Did he maybe meet that woman there? Was she responsible for his memory loss?
That couldn’t be it, could it?
After all, the woman was at Hanseoung Academy, which was a great distance away. But then again, Liu Yuning had mentioned she had a teleportation ability, didn’t she?
Han Lee couldn’t help but laugh at the sketched portrait before him. He was struggling so much to find any connection to this woman, so unwilling to give it up. Maybe he just wanted to find something to clutch onto.
In all possibility, the two scenarios might not even have any correlation with each other.
For now, he should focus on getting any available knowledge concerning the anomalous, whether it be through the Bureau or by other means.
He needed to get his abilities back. Fast.
"Captain."
A male voice suddenly broke through his thoughts.
"Little Jun Hwa?"
"Yes, Captain. I just wanted to know if you’ll be joining us for the briefing."
"Yeah, yeah. Let’s go in. We must catch these lunatics, whatever it takes."
----
In a room filled with agents of various ranks and specialties, whether field operatives or logistics personnel, they sat tightly packed as they looked toward the screen projecting a series of images. At the center stood an analyst explaining the situation.
"Based on what we’ve managed to decrypt, the message suggests that some kind of game or event is going to take place at a location where those carrying the three skull tattoos will gather. We still haven’t identified where that location is, so there’s not much we can do with that lead yet.
"What concerns me more are the skulls. They keep appearing alongside references to their precious works, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence anymore. Death has always been closely associated with their ideology, so it’s worth treating those sightings as connected until we have evidence otherwise.
"The scandals from this morning are quite relevant, as every incident seems to revolve around provoking change in one form or another. That’s consistent with what we know about the Children of Entropy. Their Archetype is the Impermanent, and historically they’ve interfered whenever they believed society had become stagnant.
"They’re difficult to predict because they rarely follow a straightforward objective. They create situations, then let events unfold on their own. That makes it hard to tell whether the scandals were the main objective or simply part of a larger operation.
"I think Liu Yuning and his team will agree with us on this. If there’s something I’ve overlooked, they should be able to point it out."
The young man said as he gestured toward Liu Yuning, who simply nodded before speaking.
"I think the deductions are right. We should try and round up everyone who was marked by the tattoos. That way we can make sure we have a way to bait them out. Even if they don’t show up, at least we can shelter the innocent."
"But what if we’re wrong and this is just another distraction?"
A voice suddenly cut through the room.
It was Sang Hun Lee.
"The Children of Entropy are very cunning. Wasn’t Hanseoung Academy a misdirection? They might be doing the same thing here."
"Yes, but we can’t gamble with lives. So what do you suggest we do?"
Sang Hun Lee thought for a second.
"They always like to visit hospitals, especially those with people on the verge of death, and heal them. Or they’ll go to burning buildings and save people. They incite crowds that feel unfairly treated, causing chaos, or appear at political rallies. They go after what the media covers to make a name for themselves and carve out their own version of change and progress."
"What has this got to do with anything?"
"They go where people desire attention. Don’t you remember the former mayor’s issue with the road that had the sinkhole in it? The new mayor is headed there for today’s unveiling. I doubt they’d miss that."
"That’s a bit far-fetched, isn’t it, Captain?"
"But we should try. They usually go for newsworthy events, and something like this should be right up their alley. I know this might not be ideal, but we should also keep an eye on the area this evening."
"You want us to divide the team for this?"
"Yes... but not necessarily divide it. We can keep those with the tattoos underneath the city, using the subway right below the function. That will allow us to keep them moving and under surveillance while we keep an eye on the event above. The two teams will coordinate."
The room fell silent.
Everyone was in disbelief at what he was suggesting, yet all they could do was wait for the Bureau Head’s answer.
The Bureau Head could only sigh before nodding.
"We’ll go through with Captain Sang Hun Lee’s suggestion."
Soon enough, the teams were set. One team headed to the event launching the newly built road, where the mayor would take a ceremonial drive around it, while another took the subway beneath it.
Sang Hun Lee wanted to join the team but was denied access to the mission. Yet his blood refused to calm down, so he sneakily left the area and headed there himself, taking that particular subway and hiding among the civilians, just as his fellow agents did.
The team that had been tailing those with the tattoos soon enough brought their victims in. After all, even though they could only use ten percent of their abilities during the day, they still had those abilities, making it easy for them to hone in on the people who bore the skeleton tattoos—both those who had been involved in the scandals and those who hadn’t.
Sang Hun Lee tucked himself into a corner as he watched everyone get into position, ready for the mission. Just as he himself thought the operation would pass without incident...
He saw a woman.
Dark hair. Deep eyes. Her body was covered with tattoos.
Wasn’t that the girl from the sketch?
He tried to get a better look at her, still unsure whether she was the same woman.
Suddenly, he felt a strong pull toward her—something completely inexplicable, making him question what that feeling was. Through that pull, he could feel a bit of his Meaning begin to move through his body, as if a small lock had been opened. Yet the sensation quickly disappeared as she moved farther away from him.
Sang Hun Lee instinctively rose from his seat and began to smoothly follow her, trying to see what she was going to do and why he could feel his abilities whenever he was close to her.
Then he saw it.
The tattoos around the people began to glow, faint threads flowing back toward her.
Was she... part of the Children of Entropy?
The people around them didn’t seem to have noticed anything.
Neither had the agents.
What was going on?
Before he could do anything, a wave of notifications rang out. Every phone in the subway suddenly lit up.
Even Sang Hun Lee’s own phone.
He turned to look at it, only to see the message.
Welcome to the Game.
Before he knew it, a sudden, blinding light engulfed the entire area, swallowing everyone within it.