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Join the ServerGuilds founded by Awakened individuals, including Legion, were no longer strictly engaged in private corporate ventures for personal gain; they had successfully integrated into the national security and defense infrastructure.
While handling such threats was deeply familiar territory, the core parameters had evolved. In the past, the absolute priority had been the collective survival of humanity against the colossal threat of monsters. Today, the focus shifted toward domestic stability and ensuring the day-to-day safety of citizens against standard societal emergencies.
Society had finally reclaimed the baseline structure of a functioning nation.
However, a significant faction among the Awakened harbored immense resentment toward the government’s demands, arguing that their status as Awakened shouldn’t bind them to unconditional sacrifice without reciprocal benefits.
Naturally, the members of Legion—with Hae-jin at the forefront—never hesitated. The moment civilian safety was compromised, they actively moved to neutralize the threat with a operational velocity that left the official military forces in the dust.
Today was no exception. A group of rogue Awakened, fiercely disgruntled by the evolving social hierarchy, had instigated a high-risk hostage situation inside a crowded cinema complex. As a result, Hae-jin had been forced to maintain a hovering position mid-air for the past thirty minutes. The continuous drain of utilizing successive skills was pushing his physical stamina to its absolute threshold, yet he forced himself to maintain laser-sharp concentration. To make matters worse, the criminals had deployed a sensory obstruction barrier, completely blinding the team to the interior conditions and effectively sealing Hae-jin’s ability to unleash his high-yield skills.
Before the Director of the Awakened Management Bureau could issue an reckless, hard-line breach order, Hae-jin desperately needed to gauge the condition of the hostages. Hovering in the open air, his eyes searched the structure for a viable window to exploit.
“I’m at the ninth-floor exterior, but with zero visibility inside, I can’t confirm anything. What’s the status on the security feed?”
“Haa… if it weren’t for the hostages blocking my line of fire, I would have officially wrapped this up a lifetime ago.”
“Copy that.”
The moment Hae-jin signaled his confirmation, Jae-hyung delivered a crisp, truncated directive to the operatives waiting at their respective breach points.
In perfect synchronization with Hae-jin meticulously slicing through the window frame from above, a vanguard of Espers possessing flight capabilities launched into the air simultaneously, breaching the interior perimeter.
The cinema complex, which should have been bustling with civilian traffic on a typical afternoon, was choked in an eerie, absolute silence. The vanguard advanced through the corridors with extreme caution, actively suppressing even the baseline sound of their footsteps. Gradually, the distant murmur of human voices began to filter down the hall, tracing back to the primary lobby near the ticketing counters.
Confirming they were close enough to establish visual contact, the operatives melted into the architecture, carefully observing the crisis layout.
“Pl-please spare us… I’m begging you…”
“If it’s a matter of money, we will transfer whatever amount you desire… please…”
A group of terrified civilians lay completely huddled on the floor, trembling violently beneath the muzzles of the armed perpetrators.
“Shut your damn mouths! Another single peep out of anyone, and I will erase you on the spot.”
While the adults instantly clamped their jaws shut under the ruthless threat, an innocent infant nestled in its mother’s arms, completely oblivious to the danger, suddenly let out a piercing wail. Exploding with volatile agitation, one of the robbers aggressively discharged his firearm toward a nearby popcorn machine.
Bang!
Concealed securely behind a thick concrete pillar, Hae-jin systematically assessed the layout. Fortunately, a massive wave of civilians had successfully fled during the initial chaos, leaving approximately ten hostages—including cinema staff and patrons—under the captivity of three armed criminals.
Wiping out three low-tier criminals in a single breath was an incredibly elementary task for someone of Hae-jin’s caliber. The critical complication, however, was that unleashing that kind of destructive force risked collateral damage to the fragile civilians, who possessed absolutely zero baseline defense attributes.
It was an exceptionally delicate puzzle. Unless he systematically neutralized all three perpetrators simultaneously without triggering an alarm, a single panicked reflex from the criminals could result in immediate civilian casualties.
Furthermore, despite their status as active terrorists, the bureau had not officially authorized a termination order yet, meaning the primary directive was still apprehension.
Right then, Jae-hyung’s voice chimed through the comms.
To ensure his position remained entirely undetected, Hae-jin bypassed verbal comms and projected a direct telepathic transmission.
‘Three rogue Awakened are actively holding roughly ten civilians hostage, including an infant. Apprehension is non-viable.’
A heavy sigh leaked through the receiver, betraying Jae-hyung’s matching frustration.
‘I trust you. Make sure to emphasize that there’s an infant inside and that the perpetrators have already initiated live fire. That should tip the scales.’
Hae-jin held his breath, keeping his gaze anchored on the perpetrators’ micro-movements. The absolute microsecond a weapon was pointed directly at a hostage, he was fully prepared to execute them regardless of orders.
A few moments later, a heavy hand suddenly clamped down onto Hae-jin’s shoulder. Turning his head, he found Jin-woo, who had been monitoring the perimeter from the exterior. Hae-jin shot him a sharp look demanding to know why on earth he had abandoned his post, prompting Jin-woo to lean in and murmur in a low tone.
“Termination order has been officially cleared.”
“You breached the perimeter just to deliver that?”
“I wanted to establish direct overwatch for your rear in case anything goes sideways.”
Wearing an expression that clearly signaled he found the backup entirely unnecessary, Hae-jin shifted his focus back to the target zone, rapidly calculating the optimal area-of-effect for his skills alongside the distance separating the criminals from the civilian cluster. If executed perfectly, he could entirely obliterate the threats while keeping the hostages pristine. However, with human lives hanging in the balance, he required a strategy that guaranteed an absolute hundred percent success rate.
Hae-jin caught the eyes of three operatives waiting in nearby concealment, throwing them a precise, coordinated nod. Instantly capitalizing on the signal, an Esper specialized in defensive barriers bolted from cover like a arrow, embedding himself seamlessly within the hostage cluster. Before the criminals could even register the intrusion and react, a massive, impenetrable crystalline shield materialized around the civilians. In that exact fraction of a second, the remaining two Espers plunged into the cluster, establishing an absolute secondary line of protection.
Confirming the civilians were entirely insulated from combat blowback, Hae-jin raised his palm toward the three perpetrators.
Boom! Boom!
“Aaaah!”
Though the startled hostages let out panicked shrieks from within the safety of the barrier, Hae-jin maintained a relentless barrage to ensure the criminals didn’t possess a single window to mount a counter-offensive. Every single time a perpetrator attempted to scramble toward the civilian shield, a concussive shockwave erupted with a deafening crack, pinning them down.
One by one, the bodies of the criminals who had foolishly tried to exploit the hostages collapsed heavily against the floor.
“Mission accomplished.”
The moment he broadcasted the clearance to Jae-hyung and the regional command, Jin-woo stepped into the open, systematically guiding the shaken civilians out of the building one by one. Feeling a wave of mild vertigo wash over him from the rapid mana consumption, Hae-jin slowly walked out of the complex.
“Incredible work today, Hyung.”
“Honestly, I’d rather take down an absolute horde of a hundred high-tier monsters than deal with this political garbage. Seriously.”
“Tell me about it. My palms were sweating bullets the entire time.”
“The actual monsters are sitting perfectly quiet these days, so why on earth are these rogue Awakened acting out like absolute lunatics?”
“Because no matter the era, there will always be a faction of pathetic losers who prefer to blame the global system for their own personal failures.”
As they made their way toward the hastily assembled mobile command center, the officials dispatched from the Awakened Management Bureau turned toward Hae-jin, their eyes filled with immense admiration and awe.
“We are consistently indebted to your exceptional leadership, Representative Cha.”
“…Well, stepping up to handle these incidents once in a while does wonders for our corporate stock value.”
“We all know you’re simply being modest, sir.”
Hae-jin offered a slightly awkward smile, a sudden realization striking his mind. Ah… so this is exactly why Lee Chae is always nagging me to meticulously manage public perception and reputation.
While today’s successful extraction undeniably merited praise, the sheer volume of unrestrained adulation the public showered upon him for an operation he considered relatively minor was staggering.
Behind them, the rescued civilians were slowly filing out into the bright afternoon air.
And just like that, a mid-day hostage crisis instigated by low-tier Awakened who had lost their livelihoods due to the absence of active dungeons came to a definitive close.
You’ve got to see this next! Not Me, The Fans will keep you on the edge of your seat. Start reading today!
Read : Not Me, The Fans
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