TTOA Chapter 110

#110

A suffocating stillness. The silence stretched on.

The prolonged standoff pushed the tension, taut enough to snap, to its breaking point.

Chief Choi’s blue hologram flickered so violently that his expression was barely discernible, and the faces of the generals, weighed down and stiffened by the Esper ability, were deathly pale. Beads of sweat had long since soaked through the backs of their uniforms.

“…Is that so.”

After a long silence, an aged, cracked voice came through the transmitter.

“You’re not trying to negotiate, but to threaten. You’re warning me that if I don’t comply, you’ll overturn the entire board.”

“Chief Choi started it first. And you’re the one who set up this board.”

“……”

Chief Choi pondered.

He was a leader who had held military power for ages and commanded a solid organization. Though conservative, he was not mediocre.

Therefore, he reached the most rational conclusion he could.

Knowing the classified information about the Creature Wave meant that those two had other backers. At the very least, senior or principal researchers from the Research and Development Department.

The backer must be among the generals. Only the generals knew Chief Choi Yul’s catchphrase. Someone among the brigadier generals, major generals, and lieutenant generals might be a traitor.

Dealing with Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin without grasping the reality of these forces was an impossible decision.

He could order an immediate alert and issue combat orders with all his might, but the outcome was obvious. Those in high positions had a lot to answer for. Like it or not, the responsibility for this situation would fall squarely on Chief Choi Yul’s shoulders. In any case, it would be difficult to avoid accusations of being an incompetent commander who failed to properly manage Espers.

Chief Choi Yul would have to take responsibility for the situation and step down from the front lines in disgrace, and those who survived this turmoil would manipulate the Center as they pleased. And surely, that was the main body of the group that put Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin at the forefront.

In order to find out who was hiding in the shadows, he had no choice but to agree to any negotiation first. There was no reason not to make empty promises.

“Alright, I will listen to your wishes…”

Chief Choi swallowed his bitterness and replied.

“You said you would prepare for the Creature Wave? I will take the lead.”

Of course, Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin had no backers at all.

The shadowy figure Chief Choi suspected was merely the singularity of the regressed Kwon Jae-jin.

“…Are you serious?”

Kwon Jae-jin frowned, his black eyebrows furrowed at the unexpectedly cooperative answer.

“I don’t understand why you’re asking. Wasn’t it you who held the generals’ leashes and made threats? Besides, the research content was poor and only at the hypothesis stage, so it was rejected. It’s not that I didn’t take the Creature Wave seriously. There’s no harm in preparing.”

“……”

“I will also carefully consider the system reorganization. I should put the reorganization plan for the first quarter of next year on the agenda for the next strategy meeting. You know that we can’t change a structure that has been fixed for so long overnight, and it would be better to focus on the Creature Wave than for us to wage an all-out war here and shed blood meaninglessly.”

“……”

“So, what do you think? I’ve stepped back… no, two steps back, so I want you to cooperate with the military. Withdraw your ability.”

Kwon Jae-jin silently closed his mouth. Doubt blossomed in his clear black eyes.

The knife had been passed over, and even though he had achieved the desired result, he couldn’t readily accept it because Chief Choi’s intentions were unclear.

Frankly, he didn’t expect Chief Choi Yul to agree so readily. Even if he was outwardly trying to appease while secretly harboring other intentions, as Seo Eui-woo pointed out, it was a surprising answer.

As he was pondering, Seo Eui-woo coldly muttered.

“…Jae-jin, are you really going to negotiate with that bastard like this?”

At the end of the glance, Seo Eui-woo’s nose was covered in unpleasant wrinkles. He seemed very displeased that Jae-jin kept talking to Chief Choi.

On his chilling, waxen face, a predator’s eyes flashed. He looked as if he wanted to bite his neck and kill him.

“What’s wrong? There’s no need to back down now that we’ve come this far. Just leave it all to me… and do as planned.”

Seo Eui-woo’s ability swelled uncontrollably. Kwon Jae-jin, surrounded by the shield, was safe, but the generals were not. No one could breathe properly. Their lungs seemed about to burst, and the blood vessels throughout their bodies seemed to be in reverse.

“Heeuk…!”

“Ugh……”

The generals, with their eyes wide open, trembled. Those from Esper backgrounds were relatively resilient, but those from ordinary backgrounds were soaking their pants. It seemed like Seo Eui-woo would explode if they dragged it out any longer.

“…I know. What will happen if Seo Eui-woo steps in.”

Kwon Jae-jin turned his head and whispered into Seo Eui-woo’s ear. It was a low voice so that others couldn’t hear it. It seemed that none of the generals had time to eavesdrop on the conversation, but it was necessary to be careful because Chief Choi would hear it.

Abducting the generals, rummaging through their brains with Mental-type Ability. Being chased, fighting, going to catch Chief Choi Yul… If they chose the path of confrontation, there was no need to argue with Chief Choi. In the first place, it was true that he came to the Center to manipulate the generals’ minds with Mental-type Ability. That was the original purpose.

“But our plan is already ruined. It’s too late to quietly smooth things over. If we start an all-out war with the Center, we’ll be in danger, and other Espers will be in danger too.”

He certainly didn’t trust Chief Choi, but there were parts of his words that he could nod to.

There was no need to shed meaningless blood.

Until now, there had miraculously been no deaths, but no one knew what would happen if the fire spread into an all-out war with the Center. Abducting all the generals, manipulating their brains, and fighting the Center while in that state, and catching Chief Choi, was, in fact, too dangerous an adventure.

Moreover, the Creature Wave was just around the corner.

Even if they barely succeeded in manipulating all the generals’ brains and catching Chief Choi, what would happen to the Creature Wave if the Center used up all their military supplies and the Espers suffered severe damage?

In a situation where they were about to go to war with countless swarming creatures, they couldn’t rashly call for sacrifice.

So, it would be better to hold hands with Chief Choi Yul here.

Even though they knew they were hiding knives behind their backs, they would shake hands amicably in front of them.

“It’s just a temporary truce. It won’t last long.”

At most, it would be until the Creature Wave passed.

“No more, no less, just until we get through the Creature Wave. If it’s just until then…”

“No, I won’t allow it.”

Seo Eui-woo retorted, roughly distorting his eyes.

“Don’t be so generous. These bastards are all the ones who tried to kill Jae-jin… They created a search party and ordered Jae-jin to be captured and dissected.”

“……”

“It’s like shaking hands with a time bomb that could explode at any moment. I can’t leave any unstable elements near Jae-jin. Let’s just end it.”

Seo Eui-woo grabbed Kwon Jae-jin’s waist as if snatching him away and hugged him violently. His fiercely bright blue eyes were sharp to the point of being terrifying. They were murderous eyes.

“Since it’s a bomb that’s going to explode anyway, let’s just detonate it now…”

Their touching bodies were hot, and their colliding arms were stiff. Seo Eui-woo’s muscles, hidden beneath his clothes, bulged out sharply.

“Negotiations, broken.”

At the same time Seo Eui-woo spat out those words, the entire headquarters vibrated violently. Tables were overturned and chairs soared into the air.

The bodies of the generals, who had been panting precariously, were all lifted into the air, and in a flash, they were piled up into a giant human ball.

Seo Eui-woo frowned unpleasantly, as if he didn’t want to put up a shield for the generals, and drew up his ability. He was planning to teleport with all of them.

Chief Choi Yul showed difficulty at the shocking sight.

The hologram, which had been flickering violently, went out as soon as he realized that Seo Eui-woo wasn’t bluffing.

The voice being transmitted also crackled and cut off sporadically.

“Thi… ! What about… confirmed…”

“Seo Eui-woo! Not yet, let’s not act rashly!”

“Kwon… You… to the clan… a reward…”

“Eui-woo, Eui-woo!”

Kwon Jae-jin grabbed Seo Eui-woo’s shoulder in a hurry. His dry fingers caught on his clothes, and the elastic black turtleneck that was caught stretched out. The clothes were pulled, revealing Seo Eui-woo’s neck. There was no dog tag identification tag there.

“Stop it. I clearly said no. I said no…”

“No… the voice.”

“What?”

“Can you hear it? Did you hear it?”