Chapter 19: The Masked Briefing

“We’re here. But…”

The taxi driver glanced into the rearview mirror, hesitating before adding a question. “Why are both of you wearing masks?”

“It’s a special day for us,” Kang Seokjoo replied with a smile. He spoke in Nornian.

Jungwon, who could speak English but only knew basic Nornian phrases like ‘hello’ and ‘how much,’ couldn’t understand the exact words. Yet, they could intuitively guess what the taxi driver had asked.

“He was talking about the masks, wasn’t he?”

“Was I?” Seokjoo feigned ignorance, his expression unreadable behind his mask, as Jungwon pressed him.

“He was staring straight at our faces, so what do you mean, ‘was I?’ He was laughing at our masks, wasn’t he?”

“Laughing? No, not at all. He complimented us, saying they suited us wonderfully.”

‘So he *was* talking about the masks,’ Jungwon thought, letting out a deep sigh. Even while waiting for the taxi, they had felt countless gazes fixed on them, all because they had been wearing their masks the entire time.

Jungwon had asked if it was truly necessary to wear them before arriving, suggesting they could simply put them on at their destination. But Seokjoo had been adamant, citing ‘immersion’ as his reason.

Fortunately, Seokjoo had chosen a mask with a subdued design, as Jungwon had requested. The unfortunate truth, however, was that even with a plain, unadorned gray mask, he still managed to stand out.

Perhaps it was due to his model-like physique, or maybe an inherent aura that drew attention even when he remained still. Thinking of it that way, Jungwon felt a flicker of relief that they, too, had worn a mask, keeping their face hidden.

****

They had finally reached their destination. The address on the invitation indicated a location slightly removed from the city center—the very building TEFT had recently constructed.

“Even if it’s for the completion ceremony… I’m surprised they’re holding the briefing here,” Jungwon murmured, gazing at the elegant ‘T.E.F.T’ logo etched into the building’s facade.

TEFT, steadily expanding its presence overseas, had erected this towering skyscraper in Norn to serve as its new headquarters, a testament to its growing influence. Now complete, the building was hosting a commemorative briefing.

However, given TEFT’s typically reclusive nature toward outsiders, Jungwon hadn’t expected them to actually invite people into the building.

“They’ve only finished construction; they haven’t moved in yet. So there won’t be any key personnel around,” Seokjoo explained.

“Even so… isn’t it strange that they’re opening it up to outsiders at all?” Jungwon felt a profound sense of unease. Seokjoo, with an unperturbed expression, nodded in agreement.

In front of the towering structure, numerous other masked individuals were milling about, undoubtedly all attendees for today’s briefing. The area was quite secluded, with few passersby aside from those invited. This isolation made the sight of so many masked people seem less unusual.

As they approached the building, a guard, solemn-faced, addressed them.

“I’ll need to verify your invitations. May I have your names?”

Seokjoo, wearing his gray mask, smiled smoothly as he presented his invitation. “David.” He uttered a name that wasn’t his own in English, his voice remarkably natural. Jungwon felt they truly needed to emulate his audacious composure.

“I’m… John.” Jungwon, too, stated their name as calmly as possible. As the guard meticulously checked the invitations, Seokjoo let out a quiet chuckle beside them.

‘Laughing here, no matter how amusing, would only make us look suspicious. Is he out of his mind?’ Jungwon glared at Seokjoo with dagger eyes from behind their mask, but he merely pretended not to notice, looking away.

Fortunately, the guard only confirmed the names on the invitations, ushering Seokjoo and Jungwon into the building without a hint of suspicion.

Upon entering, they saw a folding chair positioned near the entrance. A man in a white suit, adorned with an elaborately designed red mask, sat there. Though his mask obscured his precise expression, his intense gaze following Seokjoo and Jungwon as they passed made Jungwon uneasy.

‘Is he a TEFT employee? What is he doing just sitting there?’ Jungwon scrutinized him with a dubious eye. Just as they were about to proceed further inside, the man spoke.

“Excuse me.”

‘Who is he calling?’ Jungwon paused momentarily, but since the man hadn’t clearly indicated them, there was no reason to stop. They continued to walk slowly, when the call came again.

“The one in the gray mask.” Both Seokjoo and Jungwon were wearing identical gray masks. Jungwon instinctively glanced sideways, only to see Seokjoo striding purposefully toward the elevators, not even bothering to feign a stop.

“The tall one in the gray mask?” The call persisted. Jungwon, letting out a small sigh at Seokjoo who still acted as if he hadn’t heard, followed and tugged at his sleeve.

“He’s calling you!”

“Oh, was he calling me?” Seokjoo grinned, a look of feigned surprise on his face that Jungwon found absurd, as there was no way he hadn’t heard. Only then did Seokjoo, with brazen nonchalance, approach the folding chair where the man sat.

“You were calling me, weren’t you?”

The man in the white suit, who had been sitting with his legs crossed, adjusted his posture and abruptly posed a question. “Are you a non-Awakened?”

“I am.”

“It’s nothing, really. You just have a rather unique aura about you, you see~”

Unlike the composed Seokjoo, Jungwon was startled by the question. It was a relief that their mask concealed their expression.

‘Did he notice? That he’s not a non-Awakened but an S-rank Esper?’ Yet, today Seokjoo had suppressed his aura to such an extent that even highly sensitive individuals would struggle to detect it. Even Jungwon, who was accustomed to feeling overwhelmed by Seokjoo’s distinct presence whenever he was nearby, couldn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.

“Could you give me your hand for a moment?”

“Is this… some kind of religious inquiry?” Seokjoo asked with a wry smile. ‘The man seems to be a TEFT Esper, but is he really allowed to be this rude? He certainly doesn’t come across as an ordinary job seeker,’ Jungwon mused.

‘If his Esper identity is exposed here, what should I do? Should I pretend I knew nothing? Perhaps it would have been better to act like strangers from the start.’

Seokjoo, still smiling, extended his hand. The white-suited Esper held his hand for a moment, sitting in silence. At first glance, it truly felt as if Seokjoo had been caught by a religious proselytizing group, just as he’d joked.

Soon, the man tilted his head and released Seokjoo’s hand. “Ah… my apologies. You are indeed a non-Awakened. Occasionally, among individuals with such unique auras, there are some who are Awakened but live as ordinary people without realizing it. I merely wanted to confirm, so I hope you don’t take offense.”

“That’s a shame. To think I wasn’t a hidden Awakened after all,” Seokjoo replied casually, then walked back to Jungwon’s side as if nothing had happened.

‘I’ve heard that some Espers possess the ability to read the aura of others to determine if they are Espers, even if they don’t have special abilities themselves. Was that man one of them?’

Jungwon knew that asking how he passed the test here would only make them look more suspicious, so they remained silent and headed for the elevator. It was fortunate that the imposing Kang Seokjoo was standing right beside them; if they had pretended to be strangers, the man might have tried to verify Jungwon as well.

Perhaps Jungwon’s common name, John, and their unusually plain mask had also played a part.

They took the elevator up to the briefing hall. The elevator was made of transparent glass, offering glimpses of the building’s interior on each floor, and panoramic views of the cityscape outside.

“It looks like they spent an enormous amount of money building this.”

“A briefing for new employees means they must be hiring, right?”

“Right? It would be wonderful if I could work here.”

Jungwon heard the chatter of the other passengers in the elevator. There were five people in total. To Jungwon’s perception, the two people conversing didn’t seem to be Espers or Guides. Only the last man, who remained silent, emitted a faint aura, suggesting he was a low-rank Esper.

“Excuse me, are you an Esper?”

“No, I’m a non-Awakened.”

Suddenly, one of the chattering passengers addressed Jungwon. When Jungwon replied without hesitation, the other person’s face lit up.

Jungwon was slightly flustered as their eyes met with the rather cute yellow mask. ‘Did everyone really put so much effort into choosing their masks? Was Seokjoo not so strange after all?’ In any case, the passenger’s eyes gleamed as they spoke.

“I’m the same! I’m just an ordinary person, and I applied when TEFT announced they were recruiting attendees, then completely forgot about it. I honestly thought I wouldn’t get in. But I was so happy when they contacted me! To be honest, I’m quite excited.”

“Ah… is that so?”

“They said the competition rate for attendees was quite high. Don’t you think they called us because they intend to hire us? Especially since finding a job has been so tough lately~”

The passenger’s talkative nature somehow reminded Jungwon of Espresso, the YouTuber they had met recently. It made Jungwon wonder if the passenger should try becoming a YouTuber if job hunting was so difficult, but Jungwon merely nodded silently.

‘There’s no good to come from causing a disturbance in a place like this.’ However, the quiet man, the last passenger, seemed to hold a very different opinion from Jungwon. As if cutting off the yellow mask’s continuous chatter, he let out an annoyed click of his tongue.

The yellow mask, startled by the sound, turned to look at him. The man shrugged his shoulders, then muttered, loud enough to be heard, “A briefing for calling in idiots with no abilities whatsoever… What is TEFT thinking?”