The gate didn’t appear until long after I’d screamed my lungs out. Looked like the bastard had pre-set a timed escape.
Twenty minutes. More than enough time for that asshole to bolt after screwing me over.
Even though I knew he was long gone, the rage still burned, and I tore through Exam Room 5 like a madman.
“Goddamn it, where the hell did that piece of shit run off to?!”
As I ransacked the place like a petty thief, Seo Yoon-chae leaned toward Ra Ho-yeon and muttered,
“…Still, this is officially a Bureau of Awakened Ability Users–affiliated facility, right? I mean, it’s a government agency. Is it really okay for him to be causing this kind of scene, hyung?”
“…I dunno. But it’s true the Bureau screwed us over. Just let him be.”
His tone was half-resigned.
Whatever. I kept up my pointless search.
“Where the hell did that bastard go—huh?”
“Mmph! Mmm-mmph!”
I yanked open a cabinet and found a man bound hand and foot, gagged tight.
“Mmph! Mmm!”
I couldn’t understand him, but his eyes were begging me to untie him.
I stared carefully at the captive man.
A white lab coat. Same pale gray shirt and black slacks as the other staff.
“Are you… the real employee here?”
“Mmph!!”
He nodded so hard his head nearly flew off.
“…Hey. Untie him.”
Another victim, courtesy of that piece of shit. This guy was the real Bureau staff in charge of Exam Room 5.
***
Me and the members of Secreti untied the man first.
Then we headed straight to the front desk and laid everything out—how some lunatic intruder had nearly sent us on a one-way trip to the afterlife.
“T-That can’t be. Only authorized personnel are allowed in the Bureau’s testing facility.”
The staffer from Exam Room 1 shook his head in disbelief.
Now that I looked at him, his face seemed oddly familiar…
Wait a sec. Isn’t she Shin Yoon-hee, the Esper who’s also the current Bureau Director?
I’d done my homework on the current Director. I’d even watched the press conference during the recent Dungeon Break incident.
She’d tried to disguise herself with glasses, but not well enough to fool someone sharp like me.
I flicked my hand, gesturing for the real staffer from Room 5 to come over.
“Can you tell us what happened?”
“W-Well, this guy who looked like some flying squirrel was strutting down the hall. I’d never seen him before, so I asked who he was… and then he suddenly restrained me, shoved me into a cabinet, and even gagged me nice and tight.”
Sob!
The man, who looked to be in his thirties, broke down into loud, gulping sobs.
“…Ugh.”
Shin Yoon-hee pinched the bridge of her nose in clear frustration.
Nearby staff clenched their fists, their displeasure obvious.
“Director—er, I mean, sunbae! We can’t just let this slide!”
“Exactly! That bastard mocked and disrespected the Bureau. We can’t just bury this!”
The whole room was firmly on our side.
And now that the retest had confirmed my C-rank, none of the staff viewed me with suspicion anymore.
In fact, after hearing that some psycho had thrown a C-rank into an S-rank simulator gate, they were treating me like the ultimate victim.
“To think someone would harm a gentle, upstanding citizen like this… Even though the members of Secreti are ability users, you’ve clearly chosen to live as civilians. This is a direct challenge to the Bureau’s authority!”
Their stance was firm.
“…Haaah.”
I crossed my arms and waited for the Director’s response.
The middle-aged woman, her graying roots barely hidden, sighed and turned to the Room 5 employee again.
“…Do you remember what the intruder looked like?”
“I-I’m sorry. It all happened so fast. The moment he jumped me, he threw a bag over my head. I never got a good look at his face.”
“This is a problem.”
Shin Yoon-hee clicked her tongue.
I could tell she didn’t want the Bureau to shoulder the blame alone.
If this hits the news, people’ll call them incompetent for letting the perp escape—and slam the government while they’re at it.
When something goes wrong, someone has to take the fall.
They didn’t even know who the guy was—just that he might be a powerful Esper. He was so meticulous that he’d even destroyed all the CCTV memory cards.
We—and especially me—were clearly the victims here. The real staff member had been locked in a cabinet for who knows how long. But it was also the Bureau’s responsibility for failing to secure the testing center.
“What do you plan to do about this?”
Shin Yoon-hee closed her eyes in thought, then finally opened them with resolve.
“…What would it take for you to quietly let this matter go?”
“Direc—er, Sunbae!”
I grinned.
Gotcha.
Even if Hyun Je-ha had turned into some hush-hush Voldemort-level secret the government couldn’t reveal publicly…
This time, we were the victims too, so I wasn’t going to just walk away.
The Bureau clearly wanted to keep this from escalating, but the staff around her looked none too pleased.
“But we’re the Bureau. We have a reputation to uphold…”
“You’re saying we should just cover this up?”
Shin Yoon-hee fired back.
“No, you idiots. Of course we’ll try to track down the guy who waltzed in and out like it was his living room. I’m just saying let’s not make headlines about it.”
“But still—”
“Do as you’re told. I’m just a damn wage slave who has to keep the higher-ups happy, same as you.”
Compared to private guilds packed with elite Espers and Guides, government ability users weren’t exactly free to do what they wanted—they had to follow orders from above.
I’d fought on the front lines as one of those meat shields, so I knew all too well. …Which pissed me off all over again. Dammit.
My smiling face twisted into a scowl.
Shin Yoon-hee, mistaking my reaction for irritation, asked what we wanted.
“If you agree to keep this from going public, we’re willing to grant you one request within our power.”
Seo Yoon-chae, standing behind me, teased her lightly.
“Anything we want?”
“Well… not quite. As I said, we’re still government employees.”
“Aww, you had us going there.”
Seo Yoon-chae turned away, clearly losing interest. Cha Si-yoon, Shin Tae-boem, and Ra Ho-yeon didn’t seem that interested either.
Not that I could blame them.
They’ve got no reason to want anything from the Bureau.
But me? Different story.
If I could, I’d demand every last detail they had on Hyun Je-ha—make them cough up everything they knew.
I wanted to find Je-ha yesterday, but he was a ghost. Impossible to track.
The government probably had the best info on his movements. Even a hint would help. But making a direct demand would only raise suspicion.
So I went with the next best option.
“If you’re already offering, how about you make it two requests instead of one?”
Shin Yoon-hee’s brow twitched at my cheeky ask, but she didn’t shut me down immediately.
“…What exactly are you planning to ask for?”
Knew it. She’s a Director for a reason—didn’t flat-out say no.
Grinning, I laid out both my conditions.
“First, I want us to be granted permission to help track that bastard down.”
“…What?”
Shin Yoon-hee’s face twisted in disbelief, clearly not expecting that one.
“You want civilians to conduct an investigation? Absolutely not.”
“Oh, I’m not asking for full investigative authority. We just want to participate. And we’re ability users too, technically—not exactly your average civilians.”
She didn’t like the semantics and shot me a cold look.
“…This feels more like a personal vendetta than pure intentions.”
“And what’s wrong with a little revenge? It’s legal if the government approves it.”
The way I said it had her completely dumbfounded.
“……What the hell did you used to do? How is someone your age even saying this kind of thing?”
“As you know, I’m an idol.”
“…….”
Speechless? Yeah, same here.
“For the second thing—I want one-time access to the full national database of all registered Espers and Guides.”
At that, Shin Yoon-hee’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“…And what would you use that for? That database is government property. If it ever leaked to the public, it would be a major security breach. Access is extremely restricted.”
Her suspicion flared. Understandable. Good instincts. But I had a prepped excuse.
“To catch the bastard who screwed over innocent civilian ability users.”
“…….”
She stared at me for a long time.
The person who’d stolen Ahn Ga-hyun’s inheritance. The one Hyun Je-ha had shown interest in, however briefly.
Suspicious? Sure. But with a confirmed C-rank, there was no excuse to refuse me outright.
I shrugged.
Maybe I should call this a blessing in disguise.
I still wanted to wring that asshole’s neck for testing me like this, but if it got me access to key intel, I’d take it.
“Still not allowed?”
I hit her with my I’m just a harmless civilian! face, and she groaned.
“…Ugh. But that’s not exactly a small ask, either.”
Oh? Looks like she’s halfway there.
I quickly added a condition.
“Then how about this—grant us the right under the agreement that we’ll also cooperate with the Bureau when needed?”
“…You mean as civilians?”
“But we’re still ability users. And since we’re making two requests, just call us in when you need the help.”
“What if we summon you while you’re in the middle of a music broadcast?”
“Then just… don’t. Unless you want to get flamed by the fans.”
In other words: don’t call us unless it’s urgent.
“…….”
Her eyes practically screamed: What kind of deranged punk are you, anyway?
