Chapter 124 - Chapter 121: Episode 119 - The Parachute
Kim Soo-ah, the Vanguard team leader, dropped the playful facade she'd been maintaining and spoke.
"Yes, come in."
The door opened, and the HR Manager walked in, accompanied by the new male recruit.
As for the recruit, he was a beauty who could barely have been twenty.
He looked so delicate that it felt like a light tap would make him collapse and burst into tears.
'He doesn't look like he belongs in field work... but I can't just send him back either. What the hell am I supposed to do?'
Usually, recruits came to find her on their own after being transferred from headquarters.
There was only one reason a busy HR Manager would personally escort a recruit.
'On top of that, he's a parachute hire... This is going to be a massive headache.'
Kim Soo-ah could already feel a migraine brewing.
It was incredibly rare for a "parachute" to be dropped into such a dangerous field site.
Most of them usually had weak backing.
However, if the HR Manager herself was involved, that assumption was clearly wrong.
Although she held the title of manager, she was from headquarters and was a fairly influential figure among those aligned with the current Hwaryong Guild representative.
Moreover, if they were sending a recruit to a field position, it would have been standard procedure to give her—the highest-ranking person in the field—a heads-up.
The fact that she hadn't been contacted meant she could guess exactly who his backer was.
'Probably one of the executives... and from the representative's inner circle, at that.'
Seeing the HR Manager arrive to pressure her, skipping the usual courtesies, confirmed her suspicions.
"Thank you for coming all this way."
Still, a mere field employee had no business picking a fight with someone from headquarters.
Considering his backing, she had to keep her true feelings buried.
The HR Manager made the introduction.
"This is Chief Lee Seon-ah."
'Lee Seon-ah?... That name sounds familiar...'
She had heard the name plenty of times.
It felt like it belonged to someone within the Hwaryong Guild.
There was only one reason he was starting as a Chief despite being a recruit.
He had clearly been brought in through a special recruitment for rare abilities—specifically, as a healer.
Once the HR Manager finished, he spoke up.
"I've joined through special recruitment for the special duties division. I look forward to working with you."
"I am Vanguard team leader Kim Soo-ah. We've got a handsome new face this time. Please understand that this is a dreary place with only women."
"I am Vanguard deputy team leader Kang Ga-eun. I look forward to working with you."
Kim Soo-ah had originally intended to use informal speech to establish her authority, but with the HR Manager standing right there, she couldn't risk it.
She knew a fair bit about the manager.
Although she was a generation above, they hadn't joined as hunters, so they didn't cross paths often, but she had learned through rumors what the woman hated most.
She knew the HR Manager despised those who used informal speech or looked down on their subordinates.
Even though they held the same rank, the manager's influence at headquarters meant she had to be catered to.
A short time later, after the HR Manager left, she took Chief Lee Seon-ah to the training grounds to introduce him to the waiting Vanguard members.
In the middle of it, team leader Kim Soo-ah received an urgent call.
"Deputy team leader Kang Ga-eun. They say a group that appears to be Scavengers has appeared in the area. Gather all the team members in front of the building; we need to move out as quickly as possible. Chief Lee Seon-ah, it's a shame your first job isn't a Gate mission, but you'll have to come along as well."
"Understood."
The deputy team leader began making calls to summon the team.
It seemed like a major incident had broken out on his very first day, so he asked the team leader.
"W-what happened?"
"The Han-il Guild requested cooperation from Hwaryong. Scavengers have been rampant ever since the high-ranking hunters disappeared... The conflict escalated, and now the Han-il Guild and the Scavengers have declared war. I didn't expect them to fight so openly in our region, but things are suddenly getting complicated..."
Seon-ah knew exactly who the Han-il Guild and the Scavengers were.
The Han-il Guild was the best in South Korea and the one that had founded the university he attended.
Both of the only two S-class hunters in South Korea belonged to them.
Scavengers were illegal, unregistered ability users, and he had seen them once before.
He had the memory of being kidnapped by Scavengers and violated by Minji right in front of Yu-rin's eyes.
As he followed the team leader out of the building, the members were gathering one by one.
Five minutes later, Kim Soo-ah confirmed everyone was present and led the Vanguard members toward the region where the war between the Scavengers and the Han-il Guild had broken out.
The Han-il Guild.
It was named after Lee Han-il, the first S-class ability user.
She was his grandmother, but she was quite old and had retired from the front lines.
The current representative was his mother, Lee Shin-ah.
His mother, who had become an S-class ability user six years ago, was just as seasoned as his grandmother.
Watching her, he used to feel like he could one day become an S-class ability user just like her.
However, it was a vain hope.
Having awakened at seventeen, he still didn't know what his ability was.
No matter the testing method, it remained a mystery.
At first, his mother poured her attention into him, but as time passed, she grew weary, and her interest faded.
From the moment his younger sister, Lee Ji-ah, awakened, he was effectively invisible to his mother and the rest of his family.
Three years after awakening, at twenty, he already knew what his future held.
Because his ability was unknown, he had been judged as D-rank, leaving him with no hope.
He would remain a supply team member for the Han-il Guild and eventually move to an administrative position at headquarters.
His dream of being a hunter had ended before it even began.
He had grown up watching documentaries and videos about his mother every single day, only to realize that dream was meaningless.
He resented everything.
He kept shouting, begging for someone to tell him what this ability in his body actually was.
But there was no answer.
Only those who mocked him for who he was now made him realize his reality.
"Heh heh heh... His mother is the representative, and his sister is already an A-class hunter who'll be a managing director next month, so how is he just an ordinary employee in this rural corner? It's really strange."
"Leave him be. In my opinion, he's pathetic. Let's just ignore him."
Mockery and indifference kept stabbing at his heart.
It wasn't just today or yesterday that things had become like this.
He had spent years wishing someone would pull him out of this hell.
Before he could finish that thought, the surroundings grew noisy.
"Attention! The Scavenger bastards have appeared again. The radar search results show they're currently coming toward the coastal boundary, so all team leaders should gather their members and assemble outside. Supply team members, remain inside and wait until the situation is over! That is all."
The branch manager shouted to the Han-il Guild members.
Each team leader began to gather their members and head outside.
"Hyun-ah, it must be nice that supply team members are told to stay behind. Heh heh heh..."
The combat hunters looked at him, mocked him, and headed out.
'If only I... had power too...'
His heart ached.
He just wished that this mysterious ability would finally awaken.
However, for her, hope had already had its wings clipped.
Most of the Scavengers in Asia lived in the North Korean region.
As the countries devastated by Gates became the base for Scavengers, the land of North Korea—where the state had collapsed—was perfect for them.
That land, which still had some infrastructure while remaining free from state interference, was heaven to the Scavengers.
In that place where they could use their abilities to their heart's content, the Scavengers would occasionally cross over to the land where ordinary people lived.
The purpose was simple: looting.
Since resources like food and clothing were scarce in their territory, they would occasionally invade to steal.
They called themselves the Ability User Liberation Front, but because they carried out acts close to terrorism, to ordinary people, they were no different from a band of thieves.
They were a breed no different from monsters.
Among such groups, a Scavenger named Seo Ju-ha, with an estimated rank of A, was quite famous.
Possessing stealth abilities, she was a terror to hunters everywhere.
Her ability to cloak not only herself but anyone she touched was far too overpowered.
The number of times entire platoons had been wiped out when over fifteen B-rank or higher ability users infiltrated and attacked from behind was already in the hundreds.
Even objects became stealthed, making the utility of her ability infinite.
Moreover, an A-rank stealth ability could gain the upper hand against even the same rank, unless they had a counter-ability.
As her ability evolved to A-rank and her physical capabilities strengthened, she was essentially untouchable, as even bullets wouldn't penetrate her.
Seo Ju-ha was currently leading her invisible ship and her subordinates across the Han-il Guild's West Coast boundary.