TTOA Chapter 107

Just now, I was in the sky, and now I’m indoors.

Circular white lights were embedded in a row on the high ceiling. Hard, square marble tiles were laid on the floor, all black.

The interior of the Center gave the same impression as when I first saw the exterior grounds.

Spacious, systematic, and with an ideal sense of stability.

Kwon Jae-jin looked around, several closed doors lined up inside the hallway.

“Because of security, there are no surveillance cameras in the headquarters. That’s good for us.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s a place only generals can access. I need to focus for a moment.”

Seo Eui-woo turned his neck, cracking his joints. After shaking his wrists and shoulders, he slowly lowered his eyelids. His long, thin, unique eyelashes gently settled.

Even his breathing gradually slowed down, eventually stopping as if he wasn’t breathing at all. From him, frozen like a statue without a twitch, a static power flowed out.

A power sunk deep in the abyss. Coiled like a snake, it was immense, potent, and fascinating, but because its imbalance wasn’t completely resolved, it contained a sinister and ominous energy.

That power, invisible to the human eye, spread out in concentric circles from Seo Eui-woo. Like water seeping in silently, it took control of its surroundings, gradually increasing its domain.

Seo Eui-woo used his power with extreme caution so that the generals in the strategy meeting wouldn’t sense anything. It was like peeling off a layer of human skin without being detected, a difficult task. It was like removing only the epidermis above the dermis layer with a sharp, intangible blade without causing any pain.

If any of the generals in the meeting felt an unsettling omen, it would be over. If an emergency alarm went off, things would instantly become complicated.

Seo Eui-woo, scattering his power while holding his breath, was frozen still as if someone had pressed the pause button, but Kwon Jae-jin, standing beside him, felt his forearms trembling. Afraid of being a hindrance, he clenched his fists tightly, trapping the vibrations inside his palms. His fingernails dug into his palm, leaving crescent-shaped marks. Seo Eui-woo had cut those nails.

“……Okay.”

After some time, Seo Eui-woo slowly opened his eyes. His thin, dense eyelashes were lifted, revealing welcome gray eyes.

His eyes were dark and cold, as if deeply submerged in a black swamp.

“I’ve suppressed everything… You can go in now.”

Suppressed?

What?

Seo Eui-woo grabbed Kwon Jae-jin’s hand and pulled him along. He walked fearlessly down the hallway to the front of the huge headquarters room door. Then, without even giving Kwon Jae-jin time to prepare, he flung both doors open wide with telekinesis.

Inside was a conference room scene reminiscent of a photograph.

Everything in the incredibly vast space was frozen, so much so that one would unwittingly admire it.

The New Government’s flag on the front, the army, navy, and air force emblems hanging on the ceiling and walls, and even the generals sitting packed around the huge U-shaped table.

Everything visible was suppressed and frozen by Seo Eui-woo’s invisible power.

Even as the generals watched Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin enter the headquarters, they couldn’t even blink, let alone sound an alarm; they were frozen, barely able to roll their eyes.

“…Have you subdued them all?”

“Yes, it was a little tricky to do it without them noticing. Now, I’m going to touch their heads one by one, starting with this one.”

Seo Eui-woo stood at the end of the table. Sitting in that seat was Brigadier General Oh Seong-hwa, the Army Operations Commander. His title and name were written on the nameplate in front of him, making it easy to identify him at a glance.

Nameplates were placed in front of the generals sitting in a row above him as well.

From the lowest seats were the Army, Navy, and Air Force Operations Commanders, Defense Commanders, Special Commanders, Air Commanders, Logistics Commanders, Education Commanders, and Fleet Commanders, all holding the rank of Brigadier General. In the upper seats were the Army Chief of Staff, Navy Chief of Staff, and Air Force Chief of Staff, holding the rank of Major General. In the highest seats were the Central Military Commander and Central Military Vice Chief, holding the rank of Lieutenant General.

“…There’s no leader.”

Kwon Jae-jin muttered quietly, carefully examining the headquarters.

The seat of the Central Military Chief of Staff, corresponding to the highest rank of general in the military, was vacant.

Only a nameplate was placed on the table, but the person who should fill the chair was not there.

It was unknown whether he was absent, late, or had another reason.

“I need to find that out too. I’m going to mess with their brains anyway.”

That meant he was going to read their memories.

Seo Eui-woo placed his hand in front of Oh Seong-hwa’s head. No longer needing to be careful not to be detected, a ferocious power swirled and surged around his palm in an instant.

As his power gathered, his clothes fluttered, and the table vibrated and hummed. The medals hanging heavily on the chests of the generals collided with each other, making noise.

Among the solemn middle-aged men in their neatly tailored combat uniforms, twenty-year-old Seo Eui-woo, wearing a black turtleneck, stood out. Moreover, the turtleneck he wore was covered in dirt and dust from being on the ground, and wrinkled from Kwon Jae-jin stepping on it.

Finally, when Seo Eui-woo’s fingertips touched the center of Oh Seong-hwa’s forehead, the faces of the generals changed. The pairs of eyes looking at him shone with different lights. Whether the emotion reflected in their pupils was shock, resentment, fear, or something else, the generals, firmly suppressed so they couldn’t resist, watched Seo Eui-woo as if they were seeing a non-existent death god.

By now, everyone in this headquarters would have grasped the situation.

There was no one who didn’t know Seo Eui-woo, the first S-rank Esper, and there was no one who didn’t know Kwon Jae-jin, the dangerous factor and contaminant who had appeared in the Special Residential District, the S-rank Late-Blooming Guide.

The two of them had appeared side-by-side and were staging an absurd rebellion, so there was no way these powerful figures, who had risen to the high position of the national leadership through all sorts of chaos, couldn’t think.

These were people who had overcome countless crises to reach this position. Every one of them was a seasoned veteran, a monster filled with cunning. Even Brigadier General Oh, whose head was currently being rummaged through, wasn’t a dull simpleton who couldn’t be used, although his usual words and actions were a bit frivolous and he was particularly harsh to his subordinates.

Oh Seong-hwa was good at calculations, sensitive to power struggles, and, crucially, a ruthless man who could make even the merciless choice of driving his subordinates directly into deadly situations quickly and decisively if necessary. That was the quality needed for a commander in the current wartime situation.

“……!”

At that moment.

The moment Seo Eui-woo was using his mental-type ability on Oh Seong-hwa’s brain,

The highest-ranking seat, that of the Central Military Chief of Staff, was filled.

A man who appeared to be in his fifties suddenly appeared and sat in the chair that had been empty until just now.

He didn’t appear by teleporting like Seo Eui-woo.

Sitting in the imposing, large chair was a hologram that shone with a blue light. Beams were being projected from a projector on the ceiling, identically recreating the shape of a person.

The person in charge of the Center, the leader of the Espers, the four-star general.

Central Military Chief of Staff, General Choi Yul.

“Stop it.”

As General Choi Yul moved his solemn mouth, his voice echoed from the ceiling of the headquarters. There seemed to be a communication speaker with a transmitter-receiver attached to the projector.

“You’re trying to use a mental-type ability. Your goal must be to protect that Late-blooming Esper over there, am I correct?”

“……”

“You know what will happen if I sound the alarm, Captain Seo.”

…He’s been found out.

And in the worst possible way.

Kwon Jae-jin bit his jaw hard and stared at General Choi’s hologram with a serious expression. Seo Eui-woo also pulled away from Oh Seong-hwa’s head and glared at him fiercely.

General Choi hadn’t been absent from the strategy meeting or late. He had been attending the strategy meeting via video call through the hologram from the very beginning.

Since he wasn’t actually here, it was impossible to suppress him with power.

Of course, his head couldn’t be manipulated either.

It was impossible to subdue General Choi. Unless they found out his current location and went to capture him by teleporting.

On the other hand, General Choi could use his authority at any time. He could immediately sound an alarm at the Center via communication, urgently call in bodyguards and special task force members, and mobilize them all, forcing Seo Eui-woo to run away with Kwon Jae-jin.

They would be back to being fugitives again.

And with his hidden original power revealed to the world…

“Well, then, shall we start by formally introducing ourselves? I am Central Military Chief of Staff, Choi Yul.”

General Choi raised his eyebrows and placed his elbow on the table. His attitude was ordinary, which didn’t fit the dramatic situation. He looked more like the man next door than the head of the Center.

“Jae-jin, step back, move back.”

Seo Eui-woo scattered his mental-type ability and instead put a much thicker shield around Kwon Jae-jin. His black, gleaming eyes were sharper and more dangerous than ever before. Seo Eui-woo’s power, filling the space, vibrated ominously. It was precarious, as if it were about to explode at any moment. It was like walking on thin ice.