Nam Ju-hyeon quietly retracted the hand she had extended and blinked at Do Chae-hee’s question.
“A plan?”
Her expression was as if she was hearing that word for the first time in the world. Do Chae-hee, who became exasperated, opened her mouth.
“There must have been a reason you sent me that envelope. Isn’t it to deal with them? There must have been a reason you needed me.”
“Hmm, that’s right. I needed someone to dig into your case a bit.”
“But you have no plan at all?”
At Do Chae-hee’s words, Nam Ju-hyeon continued in a nonchalant voice.
“I don’t know. Handling such investigations isn’t my area of expertise.”
At those words, Do Chae-hee involuntarily gaped. How can there be such a shameless person!
“You need to think of the answer. Think about how you can break this case well.”
For Nam Ju-hyeon, she was just returning the words she had heard, but to Do Chae-hee, it was the most irresponsible statement of all.
The trust that had sprouted like down feathers completely collapsed.
I should have guessed from the moment she came here in such an appearance. As expected, the woman in front of me is not trustworthy at all.
Do Chae-hee sighed.
“Why!”
But if the information in the envelope was true, a proper investigation was certainly needed.
“Though it should be the police investigating such matters, there must be a reason you sought me out from the Awakener Crimes Department.”
Do Chae-hee, who had organized her thoughts to some extent, opened her mouth.
“Normally, I would have to formally apply for a search warrant, but…”
“I told you they’re opponents that can never be caught by such methods.”
“Yes. So we need to use other methods.”
Do Chae-hee’s eyes shone.
* * *
Do Chae-hee, standing in front of the research institute of Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals where drug manufacturing and development take place, exhaled briefly.
Perhaps because it was the building playing the most important role within Hyeonmu Pharmaceuticals, the security at the entrance was strict.
Several-meter-high cement walls were erected around, and there was only one entrance at the front.
It could be to prevent leaks of confidential information, but from the perspective of someone who had examined all the materials N had passed on, it felt unsettling.
The first thing that blocked her was a barrier to stop vehicles. The barrier seemed to be operated unmanned as there was no one around. Do Chae-hee lightly jumped over that barrier with both feet.
The next thing that blocked her was an iron gate. Oh ho, it’s getting more interesting. Do Chae-hee put strength in her legs and launched her body into the air. After easily jumping over the 3m iron gate, what blocked her path was a security guard with a surprised face.
“Uh, what business do you have here?”
Do Chae-hee calmly continued speaking.
“I am Team Leader Do Chae-hee from the Awakener Crimes Department. I came after receiving a report that awakener crimes are occurring inside here.”
Do Chae-hee took out her ID from her pocket and handed it over. The security guard who received that ID handed it back with a startled face as if he had touched something dirty.
“S-still, you can’t enter without a warrant.”
It was an expected response. Do Chae-hee continued without being flustered.
“I came after receiving a report. That an awakener is committing crimes down there in the basement.”
“Huh?”
At those out-of-nowhere words, the security guard opened his mouth with a bewildered face.
“You may not know, but according to the Special Law on Awakener Crimes, public officials belonging to the Awakener Crimes Department can enter any scene where an awakener is committing a crime without any warrant.”
The Special Law on Awakeners. Originally created to oppress awakeners, but Do Chae-hee used it in reverse.
No one would have expected someone to use this law like this. To begin with, Do Chae-hee was the only one in the Awakener Crimes Department with the guts to use the law in this way.
Normally, Park Cheol-wan would appear before things got this big and drag her out, but Do Chae-hee had not reported today’s operation to anyone.
There was no one here who could stop her.
The security guard, who finally understood what Do Chae-hee was saying, raised his voice.
“So I’m asking you to step aside.”
“Hey!”
Do Chae-hee boldly stepped past the security guard who was trying to block her with a bewildered face. She lightly lifted her body like when she jumped over the iron gate and easily passed over the security guard’s shoulder.
The security guard froze at that inhuman movement.
Though she saw the bewildered security guard contacting someone by radio, Do Chae-hee stepped forward without hesitation.
From now on, it’s a race against time.
Many people had already gathered at the entrance to block Do Chae-hee. Do Chae-hee’s eyes shone.
“I’m in the middle of official duties. I ask for everyone’s cooperation.”
“You can’t just come in like this!”
“I clearly received a report. That an awakener is committing crimes inside here. I cannot leave this place until I confirm that report is not true.”
The security guards who saw Do Chae-hee speaking without any tension even after seeing the gathered guards hardened their faces.
‘She’s not listening to reason!’
‘This woman has no intention of listening at all!’
Do Chae-hee smiled brightly.
“I kindly ask for your cooperation.”
“What cooperation! Get out of here right now!”
The security guards belatedly tried to grab Do Chae-hee who was trying to enter, but though she looked delicate, her strength was no joke.
“Ugh, aaargh!”
Do Chae-hee easily neutralized those people.
The security guard whose arm was bent by Do Chae-hee’s hand screamed and stepped back. It was such strong force that one might suspect his arm would have broken if he had resisted a little more.
“W-what strength!”
Do Chae-hee added as if she had just remembered:
“I am a 6-Circle awakener. Please step back as you might get hurt.”
At those words, silence fell among the security guards.
They thought she wasn’t an ordinary person, but a 6-Circle awakener!
Why on earth would a 6-Circle awakener come here? At that level, shouldn’t she be conquering Gates instead of having business at this research institute!
No, she said awakener, not hunter, so maybe it’s unrelated to Gate conquests.
Unfortunately, there was no one who could stand up to a 6-Circle awakener.
“You’ll get hurt if you keep doing this, please step back.”
Unlike the words that could sound quite polite, her actions were relentless. Do Chae-hee quickly dealt with the men rushing towards her.
“Ugh, uuugh.”
Soon, security guards started piling up around Do Chae-hee.
Do Chae-hee, who piled up the people in one place, dusted off her palms, tap tap.
Her nickname ‘mad dog’ wasn’t for nothing.
People looked at Do Chae-hee with disgusted faces.
After that, no one stood in Do Chae-hee’s way. The researchers whose eyes met hers each stuck to the wall while holding their breath.
Do Chae-hee pushed aside the researchers without hesitation and entered the corridor. Excessive enforcement, various disciplinary actions that would befall her after this incident, and numerous reports she would have to write.
All worries were postponed for later.
Do Chae-hee recalled the structure of this research institute in her head again.
The information N provided included the place Do Chae-hee must check.
The administrator-only area that comes after passing through the corridor connected to the lobby.
It was a place that could only be entered with a key card.
“Eeeek!”
Do Chae-hee, who grabbed the wrist of a researcher trying to run away from her, smiled brightly.
“I’ll borrow this for a moment.”
Do Chae-hee, who snatched the card hanging around the researcher’s neck, walked briskly to the door and swiped the card.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
“What cooperation! Hey, wait a moment!”
The person who belatedly realized his card had been taken screamed, but Do Chae-hee didn’t even pretend to listen.
The corridor she entered after opening the door like that led to another corridor. As she passed through several corridors and doors like that, Do Chae-hee didn’t encounter anyone.
Do Chae-hee raised her voice towards the empty corridor.
“Ahem, this is Team Leader Do Chae-hee from the Awakener Crimes Department. I’ve been dispatched in response to a report that an awakener is committing criminal acts here. I request cooperation with the investigation.”
It was an awkward tone as if reading from a Korean textbook, but Do Chae-hee didn’t care at all.
A few security guards who had managed to recover chased after Do Chae-hee, but perhaps because of what happened earlier, they couldn’t rush at her. The security guards who gradually gathered carefully followed behind Do Chae-hee.
A wall of people created around her. Though an ordinary person would naturally feel pressured, Do Chae-hee was relentless.
At the end of the corridor, another door blocked by a key card could be seen. Do Chae-hee swiped the card without hesitation.
But unlike before when it opened without problems, this card didn’t open the door. Did they stop it in the meantime? Or was this researcher’s authority not enough to enter here?
‘No choice then.’
Do Chae-hee, who shrugged her shoulders, stood to the side and raised her arm. Then she forcefully struck her elbow towards the glass window.
The door fell off with a cracking sound.
Unlike other places, the inside of the research lab she arrived at after tearing off the door like that was cool. It seemed the temperature was actually several degrees different from the outside. Do Chae-hee narrowed her eyes and examined the inside.
She felt sick as it reminded her of the research lab at Bomnal Orphanage she had entered before.
Though the facilities were much better and it was larger than that place, except for that, it was so similar she could be mistaken. From the dazzlingly white floor and wallpaper to the framed pictures hanging on the walls here and there.
Is such experimentation really taking place here? At that moment, someone opened the door and appeared.
“W-what is this! How on earth did you come here?”
Do Chae-hee spat out the same excuse as before to the researcher blocking her way.
“I heard that a crime involving an awakener occurred inside here.”
“That’s impossible! Where do you think this is? A crime, that’s nonsense.”
But her attitude was somehow strange. As if hiding something, she desperately tried to block Do Chae-hee.
Do Chae-hee instinctively realized.
This is it. The evidence she had been searching for so desperately must be here. At that moment, someone standing close to the wall put their hand on the emergency button.
‘That won’t do.’
Do Chae-hee tore off a button from the lab coat of the researcher in front of her.
“Ugh, uwaah!”
Do Chae-hee’s pupils momentarily turned purple.
The button Do Chae-hee threw accurately hit the fingers of the person trying to press the emergency button.
“Aaaagh!”
The man who was hit on the back of his hand immediately clutched his hand. Though it was just a button, the button thrown by a 6-Circle hunter with mana infused was destructive as if it momentarily weighed several tens of kilograms.
Clatter. The button Do Chae-hee had thrown fell to the floor.
Do Chae-hee straightened her posture and said:
“As I said, I am clearly in the middle of official duties. Please cooperate.”
Tap tap, Do Chae-hee dusted off her crumpled jacket and slowly opened her mouth while making eye contact with the stiffened people.
“If you won’t cooperate, I have no choice but to use force.”
Everyone realized at her strength that instantly neutralized a security guard with just a small button. There was no way to stop Do Chae-hee.
Do Chae-hee, who slowly walked forward, opened the door that had been tightly closed.
And there she discovered.
Numerous people trembling while looking at her.
The moment she faced them, Do Chae-hee immediately raised her phone. And she called the person she could trust the most.
“Kim Yong-won, bring our team members here right now.”