Chapter 50: The Unseen Cargo

Though Sa-yoon now joked readily and reveled in comfort, lounging about like a cat in spring, his initial impression upon enlistment had been chilling, almost unapproachable. He rarely smiled, constantly wary of his surroundings.

Like a coiled python in its den, he pushed away everything that came near him.

“What did I refuse so cruelly?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

Sa-yoon fell silent, having no retort. That period had been one of profound isolation, when he stood alone against the world, rejecting all.

He had enlisted to find Myeong-ah, yet he had no one he could truly trust. It was a time when he plunged into a fiery pit, relying solely on a ring whose functionality remained uncertain.

During that tumultuous period, Sa-yoon possessed no luxury for a carefree romance. Moreover, he felt no inclination to extend courtesy to those who confessed their feelings after only a few casual encounters.

He viewed those who confessed to him with disdain. ‘What do they truly know about me to harbor such expectations and excitement?’ he would wonder. Suppressing the urge to confront them, ignoring them became his best recourse.

As time passed, relatively free of incident, and with Jung Hyun-woo even joining in to look after Sa-yoon, his personality gradually softened. These days, he found himself so overly relaxed that he felt he should actively cultivate a sense of urgency.

Chae-jun intently observed Sa-yoon’s expression.

“Indeed, you’re not the type to be pleased by a confession, Team Leader. In the past, you used to wear a grim expression and stare at the ground for days.”

Sa-yoon offered an ambiguous smile, deftly evading a direct answer. Chae-jun was right; Sa-yoon’s mood wasn’t bad. In fact, it leaned more toward pleasantness.

Han Do-hoon was different from those who had confessed to Sa-yoon in the past without any prior connection. They had shared many conversations and spent a significant amount of time together.

While he would still refuse Han Do-hoon if he were to confess later, the mere fact that someone liked him felt rather agreeable.

“I thought I knew Team Leader Sa-yoon quite well, but lately, he’s become so unpredictable…”

[This is the Control Room calling.]

Chae-jun’s grumbling was cut short as the narrator’s voice resonated from the speaker.

[This is the Control Room calling. Effective immediately, access to Gate A is prohibited. All personnel are to remain in their designated training rooms. Again, this is the Control Room. For approximately one hour from now, the use and access of Gate A are prohibited.]

At the sudden warning message blaring from the speaker, Sa-yoon and Chae-jun’s gazes simultaneously shifted. Sector A was around the main gate of the base.

As the main gate, it saw heavy foot traffic and was frequently used. It was a sector rarely ever controlled.

“What could be happening?”

Chae-jun murmured, gazing out the window. Sector A was quite a distance from Sa-yoon’s office, making it difficult to assess the situation from there.

“What time is it now… 11 o’clock. Was there any special schedule today?”

“Some of the dispatched personnel are returning. Besides that, there shouldn’t be any other schedules…”

Han Do-hoon’s unit had returned yesterday as the first wave, with the remaining unit members scheduled to return today. The commander of this second returning unit was Levian Christine.

Sa-yoon looked towards Gate A. Though unseen by his eyes, a pitch-black map unfolded in his mind. Predicting the distance and calculating coordinates, he sensed numerous biological reactions around Gate A.

They stood in neat rows, at regular intervals.

“It seems they’ve returned. A simple return report and entry should be the end of it. Why are they imposing a lockdown?”

The headquarters’ return report was not a particularly important procedure. It merely involved the unit commander reporting personnel, and the commander-in-chief approving it.

Sa-yoon glared at the direction of Gate A, though it was out of sight. A premonition of ill omen settled over him.

He had found it strange ever since foreign Espers were brought into the country, but now even the higher-ups were doing things they hadn’t done before. A strong, suspicious scent wafted through the air. Sa-yoon’s grip tightened on the windowsill.

He had a strange, powerful intuition that he absolutely needed to know why this control was being implemented now. Though Sa-yoon disliked getting embroiled in troublesome affairs, he felt that if he missed this opportunity, he might never understand the reasons behind the peculiar events unfolding recently.

“I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Team Leader! You just heard the announcement! They said not to even approach the gate!”

“It’s fine. After all, no one can detect things better than I can. It’ll be fine as long as I don’t get caught, right?”

Donning his jacket, Sa-yoon stood before the wall without looking back. He placed his hand on the wall, separating the concrete to create a space large enough for a person to pass through.

This was a method Sa-yoon often used when moving stealthily in a base where CCTV was ubiquitous. For reasons unknown, the space between the walls in this building was quite wide.

Though a complex tangle of pipes generally prevented human passage, it posed no problem for Sa-yoon. He precisely bent the pipes, carving a path just wide enough for one person to move through.

“You must be careful! If anything seems even slightly off, come back immediately!”

Leaving Chae-jun’s increasingly faint, worried voice behind, Sa-yoon headed towards Gate A without hesitation.

As he neared his destination, Sa-yoon slowed his pace. Once he was close enough to discern specific human forms beyond the wall, Sa-yoon breached the wall again. The controlled area around Gate A was utterly deserted.

He slipped into a secluded, dusty room devoid of CCTV cameras and caught his breath. It had been a while since he’d moved such a long distance stealthily, requiring more intricate micro-control than he’d anticipated.

Brushing the dust from his hair, he leaned against the wall and peered towards the main gate.

While Sa-yoon’s ability allowed him to sense biological reactions, it was difficult to determine precisely who was present. Ultimately, he needed to hear voices or observe them from a distance where visual identification was possible.

Looking out the window, he saw blond hair gleaming distinctively under the sun. The person at the forefront of the unit was Levian Christine. As Sa-yoon had expected, he seemed to be giving his return report after just coming back.

‘What is that?’

Next to Levian Christine was a small, sack-like object. The dark reddish-brown, indistinct sack was something Sa-yoon had never seen at the base. ‘Why would a foreigner use such a rustic item?’ he wondered, scrutinizing it more closely.

Sa-yoon’s eyes, narrowed in concentration, trembled slightly. The sack was undeniably moving subtly. Hurriedly scanning, he detected a single biological reaction beside Levian Christine.

‘Too large for an animal, yet too stable for a rain. This sensation… it’s like a person.’

Sa-yoon hastily clapped both hands over his mouth. He crouched, sinking to the floor, and stared at the ground. If his premonition was correct, a person was inside that sack. And the reason the sack was a deep reddish-brown was likely due to discoloration from a significant amount of blood loss.

‘What kind of mission did Levian Christine receive, to bring someone back under such strict control? And who is this person inside?’

“Who’s in there?”

A low voice emanated from outside the room Sa-yoon had secretly infiltrated. He had been too complacent, caught off guard by the unexpected situation. He hadn’t even detected someone approaching.

As Sa-yoon hurriedly tried to re-enter the concrete gap, a loud crash echoed from behind him. It was the sound of a steel door being shattered.

The doorknob, lying on the floor, was scorched black, emitting dark smoke. From behind the smoke, a tall man approached Sa-yoon.

“What are you doing here?”

“…Uh, it’s quite complicated to explain…”

Han Do-hoon, whom Sa-yoon had never expected to meet like this, frowned as he looked down at Sa-yoon.

“There was an announcement about a restricted area, wasn’t there?”

Han Do-hoon irritably rubbed his furrowed brow. Sa-yoon scratched his cheek, offering an awkward smile.

“I was confident I wouldn’t get caught, though. How did you know?”

“The temperature of an empty room is subtly different due to a person’s body heat.”

Han Do-hoon was truly a monstrous individual. Sa-yoon knew he was sensitive to temperature as a fire-related ability user, but to detect a person’s body heat in a room? It was a method he’d never heard of.

“How I knew isn’t the important part, is it? What exactly are you doing here?”

The question circled back to the beginning. What excuse could he possibly offer? Since he hadn’t considered the possibility of being caught, the words wouldn’t readily form. As Sa-yoon’s lips parted in hesitation, a flurry of footsteps grew louder from a distance.

Han Do-hoon sighed and pushed Sa-yoon’s back.

“Go before people arrive. You must have a way to get in here, right?”

Sa-yoon nodded and once again parted the space between the concrete. This was Sa-yoon’s trade secret, but there was no helping it now. Han Do-hoon’s eyebrows furrowed again as he realized how Sa-yoon had infiltrated.

“Truly…”

“Team Leader Han Do-hoon! What’s going on!”

At the shouts of his team members, Han Do-hoon let out a deep sigh, then turned and called out.

“I was mistaken. Nothing is amiss here. Search the other side.”

Sa-yoon gave Han Do-hoon a brief nod of acknowledgment and then closed the concrete, concealing himself once more. From Han Do-hoon’s actions, it seemed he had no intention of reporting Sa-yoon’s presence here.

Sa-yoon’s face was rigidly set, a stark contrast to the relief he felt internally. They had even used Han Do-hoon as a backup team to maintain security. Sa-yoon found it utterly incomprehensible what was truly happening.

He retraced his steps, walking back the way he came. He bit down hard until his jaw ached with tension.