Chapter: 17
Black Agent
Ddiriririri─!
The ringtone of a smartwatch rang out through the serious atmosphere of the conference room.
Once. Briefly.
As if it were some kind of signal, Kim Cheolho, the Director of the Hunter Management Agency, abruptly stood up and left the conference room.
“Yes, I’m taking the call.”
[I’m here. Mugunghwa-1.]
A calm but subdued voice came through the smartwatch.
[You’ve probably already heard, but….]
“…Yes.”
[An additional demand has come from the United States.]
“What do they want this time?”
[Officer Lee. They want his identity.]
For a moment, the Director felt as though he had been struck in the head.
[The United States wants either Jack Rich’s identity to be disclosed… or for him to be handed over. Naturally, they want the latter more.]
“That’s an outrageous demand!”
This was practically robbery.
If your own country was in danger and you were asking another country for help, you should at least have some conscience.
But what America was doing now was nothing short of blackmail.
[I’ll do everything I can to prevent that. The future of our country is at stake.]
“Yes! Exactly!”
[But….]
An uneasy silence hung in the air.
[I think we’ll have to comply with this mobilization.]
Neither of them wanted to admit it, but this was the reality South Korea was facing.
“……”
[We want to challenge Gwanaksan Tower ourselves, but….]
There was no need to hear the rest.
They had to abandon their own country’s future and accept the unreasonable demands of a more powerful nation.
And this was something that could happen again at any time in the future.
Just thinking about it made his blood boil, but there was only one choice available to them right now.
[I’ll try to buy as much time as possible… but tell him about this for now. We have to block any improper approaches.]
“Understood! Mr. President!”
Breaking through the icy atmosphere, a small laugh was heard from the other end of the watch for the first time that day.
[I told you, I’m Mugunghwa-1, you fool.]
“Yes! Mugunghwa-1!”
Another laugh came through.
[You’ve been working hard. I’m always grateful to you. Continue to do your best.]
“I’ll do my best… I’ll do my very best…!”
Kim Cheolho’s throat tightened as feelings of injustice, frustration, and sorrow surged through him, along with guilt and gratitude toward the President, who still trusted him.
But this was not the time to be swept away by emotion.
It was time to calmly handle the work that had been entrusted to him.
Before disbanding the personnel assembled for the Gwanaksan Tower assault, there was something he needed to tell Officer Lee.
That although Officer Lee had given them an opportunity, unfortunately, things had turned out this way.
That was the proper order of things.
Suddenly, the Director remembered when he had first entered this building.
An empty office with nothing in it.
Construction materials scattered everywhere, and not even the bare minimum furnishings that could be called presentable.
It had only been a few weeks ago, yet it already felt like a distant past.
Even then, Officer Lee had always been the same.
He had always maintained the dignity of a civil servant with his upright posture and attentive manner.
“Officer Lee, I have something I’d like to discuss with you privately for a moment.”
However, when Kim Cheolho’s eyes met Officer Lee’s, he felt that something was strange.
He still had his usual diligent demeanor, but there was something different mixed into it now.
Something like a solid rock.
He looked as though he was filled with absolute certainty.
His deep gaze turned toward Kim Cheolho.
At last, the solid rock rose to his feet and took a step outside.
“I’m sorry about this, Officer Lee.”
The Director was genuinely apologetic toward me.
After a long sigh, he continued.
“We’re going to cancel the Gwanaksan Tower assault.”
Knowing what must have happened before those words could be spoken, I calmly replied.
“You don’t have to.”
“I understand how you feel, Officer Lee. America… huh?”
The Director, who had been speaking rapidly as if he had prepared everything beforehand, suddenly began hiccupping.
I poured him a glass of water from the water dispenser in the hallway and held it out.
The Director downed the entire glass in one go before staring at me.
“What did you just say?”
“There’s no need to cancel it.”
“What?”
“There’s no need to comply with America’s mobilization request either.”
The Director started hiccupping again.
“No, then….”
I poured another glass of water from the dispenser and brought it over.
The Director took the glass from my hand and hurriedly gulped down the water.
“America must be in a difficult position right now too.”
“That’s right.”
“They’re mobilizing Hunters from all over the world, but….”
They couldn’t be certain.
They couldn’t be certain that this assault would succeed.
Even John Howard, the world’s No. 3 ranked Hunter, had already died.
They could easily imagine how difficult the assault would be.
But they had to at least appear to be doing something.
That was necessary for the country to remain intact.
If they did nothing, Washington could be paralyzed by angry mobs starting today.
After all, if the capital was going to collapse in a week anyway, anyone could come to the conclusion that it would be better to plunder it in advance and run.
In fact, if this had happened in another state, America might have already issued an evacuation order for the entire population.
That would have been much easier and safer.
But the fact that it was the capital of a country carried a symbolism that sometimes outweighed all of those considerations.
“America’s best option right now is probably to delay the deadline as much as possible.”
That was exactly what America was doing.
Give the citizens hope that the assault might succeed a week from now, thereby reassuring them.
Delay the unrest for a week.
Protect the capital of the country until at least then.
But that wasn’t a true solution.
It was merely delaying the time of destruction.
The real solution was to develop enough strength to conquer Floor 50.
And for that, they needed time.
Perhaps this was the miracle America desperately wanted right now.
“I know how to do that.”
<This is how Operation Sweep-All will proceed!>
Ms. Sua brought up the operation chart on the monitor.
<In other words, it’s a two-birds-with-one-stone operation.>
It was currently 8 a.m.
The Director and I were in Ms. Sua’s office.
After checking my item, the Director had hurriedly devised a new plan.
“Officer Lee! You really….”
The Director stopped speaking for a moment, seemingly overcome with emotion.
“Here you go.”
I handed him another bottle of bottled water, which he promptly drank.
“Right. The cards have been dealt back to us, so let’s set up the board and play a great hand.”
And that was how the plan began.
Operation Sweep-All.
Ms. Sua and a Black Agent I had never met before would also participate in this operation.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Eric.”
He was tall, seemingly of Northern European mixed descent, with light brown eyes.
His face was sharply defined, almost like a statue.
His appearance was striking enough to immediately draw attention even from a distance.
Spies generally fell into two categories.
Those who blended naturally into their surroundings because they had an ordinary appearance, and those who approached important figures and extracted information through their beautiful appearance.
Eric seemed to belong to the latter category.
“Eric specializes in this kind of operation, so I specifically called him in. He’s also an Awakener.”
“For the time being, I’m also affiliated with the Hunter Management Agency.”
“Nice to meet you.”
I naturally extended my hand for a handshake.
“Ah….”
But Eric looked troubled.
Perhaps experienced Black Agents received training for things like this too?
“It’s okay.”
Just as I was about to withdraw my hand, the Director chuckled and spoke.
“Eric’s bare-handed right now. That’s why, isn’t it? If you make physical contact with your bare hands, your ability activates immediately?”
“If you mean his ability….”
“Eric is an enhancement-type ability user. If you shake hands with him like this, your memory will probably improve a little.”
“Yes. My ability is specialized in this area. Anyone who makes contact with me can temporarily recall past events with perfect accuracy. It doesn’t matter if I’m wearing gloves.”
‘This area,’ huh?
Could he be some kind of torture specialist rather than a spy, someone who enhanced the other person’s memories before torturing them to extract information…?
“……”
Spies generally fell into three categories.
Those who naturally blended into their surroundings, those who extracted information using their extraordinary appearance, and those who extracted information through torture….
“Officer Lee, is there anything you’ve lost recently?”
Come to think of it, I had lost a USB at the office not long ago.
It contained supplementary handover materials I had organized for a new civil servant who had joined the district office as my replacement, since they kept asking me about the same tasks through OnTalk.
I had been quite troubled because it had disappeared.
“You should be able to remember it.”
“Ah, yes. That’s how people around me usually use my ability.”
“More convenient than I expected.”
I extended my hand again.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Yes, I’m Eric. Nice to meet you too.”
The moment I grabbed his hand, I felt as though a refreshing breeze had passed through my brain.
And then.
The USB sitting on the shelf beside the monitor.
The draft plan I had written a month ago.
A car key that had disappeared several years ago.
An English test I had taken when I was in middle school.
Specific memories like these flashed through my mind, and then….
Perhaps something had triggered it.
Something vaguely surfaced in my mind.
I was underwater.
Small hands and feet.
It was a memory from when I was seven years old.
I opened my eyes underwater.
I could see the deep, deep ocean, so deep that it seemed black.
‘Come here.’
A voice.
Yes, I heard a voice.
It was a voice I had heard many times before.
And then.
Splash─!
My mother came cutting through the water.
Bright light seeped through the bubbles rising around her.
‘Jihoo!’
“Officer Lee!”
The Director grabbed my arm and shook me.
“Are you all right?”
“Officer Lee! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen because of me. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
I could say that because I truly was fine.
If anything, I even had the thought that perhaps I had found a clue.
I had forgotten something important.
“I saw something from when I was young.”
The Director looked somewhat puzzled.
“Eric’s ability should normally only go back about a week, though?”
At that moment, Eric spoke with a troubled expression.
“There seems to have been some kind of error in my output.”
Regardless, it was an extremely suitable ability for a spy.
“That’s fascinating.”
That was my honest impression.
“Anyway, Eric will help us. He’s made a lot of friends in America using this ability. Ms. Sua, bring up the operation chart again.”
<Yes! Should I bring up the photos too?>
When the Director nodded, CCTV captures of the three special-recruitment Hunters appeared on the monitor.
All of them had been taken in front of Gwangjin Chemical.
“We confirmed that these three used to work as mana stone couriers.”
At the Director’s gesture, the next photograph appeared.
This time, it was a photograph of Officer Choi, who had joined around the same time as them.
“Officer Choi Hyungwoo is clean. But considering when he joined….”
<I filtered out all the Hunters who joined afterward!>
“So ultimately, we only need to verify these four.”
Now only one piece of information remained on the monitor.
Stop America’s unreasonable demands.
Proceed with the Floor 36 assault on Gwanaksan Tower as scheduled.
Identify the infiltrators who have entered the Hunter Management Agency.
“The Association might actually see this as an opportunity. An opportunity to prove the Hunter Management Agency’s incompetence. We’ll turn that against them.”
“Turn it against them…?”
“We’ll leak a clue that we can handle the situation ourselves. Then the Association will probably try to interfere. First, we’ll set up separate locations for negotiations with the United States. About three places.”
Eric nodded at the Director’s words.
“You’ll leak different pieces of information to each one? And make them believe they’re all genuine negotiation sites?”
“Exactly! One will be real, and the other two will be decoys. We’ll leak the information to Officer Choi and the three others at the same time while keeping them isolated separately. We can probably just send them to different dungeons beforehand.”
JW Marriott Washington DC: Actual negotiation site, 14:00
Graham Georgetown: Three special-recruited Hunters, 15:00
Washington Hilton: Officer Choi, 15:00
“We deliberately scheduled the real negotiation one hour earlier. We’ll handle everything collectively once the situation is over. Officer Choi may be different, but I’d say there’s a 100% chance with those three special recruits. Well, this is practically the final verification procedure anyway.”
<All three locations have been reserved!>
“Our Black Agents will already be at the locations where the three and Officer Choi are. We’ll also station some staff there as cover. If they’re spies from the Association, they’ll make some kind of move beforehand.”
<That’s why all the places we reserved are hotels with convention halls.>
“If Officer Choi passes this verification, I’m going to immediately promote him to Officer.”
Just when it seemed the operation meeting was coming to an end,
Ddiriririri─!
“I’m taking the call!”
The Director was about to leave the office when he turned around and came back inside.
“Yes, yes. Officer Lee and Eric, yes, Ms. Sua is here with us too.”
After speaking for a while, the Director switched the call to speakerphone.
Seeing this, Ms. Sua rapidly tapped the keyboard.
Tsharararak!
Something resembling a thick soundproof wall descended along the wall, wrapping another layer around the entire office.
Then a voice came through the smartwatch.
[I’m currently on the phone with the American working-level officials. Ah, I’m Mugunghwa-1.]
“How are the negotiations going?”
[Same as before. Nothing has changed. They’re still insisting on the 200% tariffs. Or they want Hunter Jeong Eunseo sent over.]
“Are they willing to negotiate?”
[No. They say it isn’t a request but an order. They have absolutely no intention of negotiating. That is America’s current position.]
The Director raised his voice, clearly agitated.
“An order?! Is that something you say to an ally?! Considering their situation, they should be begging us to come and help them…!”
As expected.
When someone had a fire at their feet, their field of vision tended to narrow.
Even when that someone was an entire country, it was no different.
Even if there was another path, they wouldn’t easily believe it.
I stepped closer to the smartwatch and spoke.
“Are you currently connected to the American side?”
[Yes.]
“Then please tell them we’ll resume the conversation in ten seconds.”
“Officer Lee, ten seconds?”
The Director and Eric looked at me with puzzled expressions.
But ten seconds was enough.
It was exactly enough time for me to use the item.
<Time Delay Ticket ×115>
<Granted upon achieving the first clear of an S-grade or higher Tower.
Extends the Tower’s deadline.
The Towers currently available for application are Gwanaksan Tower, Hwanseongul Tower, and Seopjikoji Tower.
Additional Towers can be added using mana stones.>
I inserted the mana stones into the item description.
<Would you like to add a Tower to the list of applicable Towers?>
“Add. America’s Washington Tower.”
Now there was only one thing left to do.
“Use Time Delay Ticket.”
