Chapter 19 - Free (1/2)

Free

The plane landed in the middle of the building, and Lee Su-yeon entrusted Ghost with the supervision of offloading protocol of the rest of the team and then headed for the analysis team.

Ghost tried to look around using his abilities, but Il-hyun didn’t allow him to and refused.

He was not so thrilled about that, he walked quietly and dragged him towards the inside of the building. It was his first time to see it properly.

Ghost said there wasn’t much to see upstairs, so he went downstairs using the elevator on the left side of the building.

The upper floor had an open visitors’ lounge while the basement was a high-security area where only authorized personnel were allowed to enter.

“You know, there are a lot of different teams in this big company besides the Awakening, Il-hyun said.

“Before going out into battle, I always pass by the Analysis Research Team. They are the ones that made my defensive coat. The coat I’m wearing was tasted halfway, so let’s go see them.”

After going down a few floors, the elevator stopped on the underground floor. Once the doors opened, huge facilities came into view.

Ghost looked around the grounds with admiration and told Il-hyun that he is not allowed to access that floor unless he was a Team Leader or Repairer or Equipment Trainer.

There were too many employees, and the grounds were vast, so the awakened people didn’t like it.

After walking around for a while, they went to Research Team’s office. The door had a plaque with ‘The Team Leader’s Office’ inscribed on it.

“Hello!”

When the door flung open, the woman sitting behind the desk looked at her visitors with surprise.

“Ah! This is a surprise! Ghost you shouldn’t come to my office like that! What if I wasn’t here? Is this a member of the new team?”

Ghost laughed happily and grabbed Il-hyun.

Suddenly, a woman itin a white gown, jumped from her seat and approached him.

“Oh, I heard rumors. I heard that this Team Leader brought a lot of good this time. It’s nice to meet you.”

“This is Choi Eun-chae, the Head of the Research Team.”

“This is Kang Il-hyun.”

The two shook hands lightly.

Choi Eun-chae, who seemed to be in her early 30s, was a prominent celebrity in the scientific world, so Il-hyun was familiar with her.

In particular, as the authority of Ether Utilization Technology, she was responsible for the development of all technologies within Ages.

Choi Eun-chae also stared at him and asked, “what kind of abilities do you have in your eyes? You should be able to see the team leader well in the future. He’s the one who breaks the core with his bare hands.”

“Fuhaha, you like kidding too much!”

Choi Eun-chae laughed.

It was ridiculous to think that someone could smash the core with their bare hands.

However, Ghost spoke only the truth and did not step back.

“Oh, you don’t believe it? Would you like to bet on it after a long time?”

“Bet? Okay Cole. If you stick out flippers this time. And don’t even think about using equipment from the Research Team.”

“Well, excuse me?”

Suddenly, the environment in the room became a bit awkward, and Il-hyun felt a little embarrassed.

But the situation soon passed.

“I would like a pair of defense coats made of A-rank cores that were prototyped a while ago.”

“Isn’t it too strong? That hasn’t been done for any of the team leaders yet.”

“Are you already afraid you’ll lose the bet?”

“Hey! I know I will win anyway. Are you saving this time for the next study?”

“Of course.”

They often bet on all kinds of topics, but always ended with Choi Eun-chae’s victory.

However, Ghost who was wearing a cheeky smile behind his mask, tried to use this opportunity to reverse the results.

“Sometimes, I bet you don’t really understand.”

Choi Eun-chae, shook her head and immediately walked to the table that was placed at one corner of the office.

Then, she climbed on top of it and took the ether core that was shining white and passed it to Il-hyun.

“This is Clarke’s B-rank core that came in from Australia last week. I know it’s stupid, but please just listen for a second.”

“B rank?”

His ears perked up with curiosity on hearing the word ‘B rank.’

Suddenly, a grateful heart began to spring up in Ghost’s chest.

“You have to try!”

* * *

Crack!

The ether shattered, and the debris fell on the floor.

It had a different dimension from the E-rank cores that he had previously absorbed.

It felt like his stomach was getting pierced somewhere and absorbed it slowly.

Last time, he couldn’t take it into his body because he was in a hurry, but this time, he completely absorbed it.

Choi Eun-chae, who was confident in herself, didn’t move from her spot. Her face hardened.

It seemed like she was having a hard time accepting the unfolding reality in front of her.

Il-hyun, saw the look on her face and got worried. He was concerned about post-processing.

Aside from his first encounter with Aegis, he had already broken two B-rank cores.

Even though she was the Head of the Research Team, she thought the situation might be difficult since one of them was broken.

“Haha! Had you eaten one before? I had never seen you like that before!”

Ghost laughed happily and smiled.

“No!  What happened? This is one of your abilities right?” Choi Eun-chae asked.

She approached him with weak steps and held onto him. She was shocked just like the collapse of an absolute formula no one would have suspected.

“Uh! Yes, this is correct.”

“Okay. You can’t break it with pure strength. So where did the ether in this go? What amount of energy does it have?”

“I don’t know, but maybe it will be in my stomach.”

Il-hyun smiled awkwardly.

Choi Eun Chae nodded when he understood what she meant.

“I stayed here and saw all the stellar intellect… It’s definitely a unique feature among them.”

She bent down on one knee and picked up one of the debris that had fallen on the floor.

Fragments that looked like ordinary pieces of glass were slowly losing light.

“Is transformation possible?”

While holding the piece with her finger, Choi Eun-chae, applied pressure on it, it was easily bent with her strength.She murmured.

“Maybe it could be used as new material. There’s a long way to go, but it’s completely amazing.”

Choi Eun-chae, spoke spontaneously, and then after calming herself down for a moment, continued her speech, while the gaze towards the core piece still remained.

“It’s a new way.”

Her face held a mixture of excitement and curiosity.

Her gaze turned to Il-hyun, with an intense desire.