Chapter 21: Secret Agent (4)
The “Mad Witch” was a crazed villain who turned the entire city of Daejeon into an ice age.
If the Guild masters of Crystal Guild and Guardian Guild hadn’t stepped in, the disaster might have spread across the entire Chungcheong region.
She possessed terrifying power, but even more than that, she was a mysterious figure whose appearance was completely unpredictable.
Like a dungeon gate that appeared without warning, she was a sudden calamity.
‘She must have been forcibly awakened through Black Rose and driven insane from continuous experimentation.’
Jin-young could only speculate as much.
Right now, before she became a villain, she didn’t have much power and wasn’t in a dangerous state.
But even without Black Rose experiments, she might eventually gain strength someday.
As long as she wasn’t placed in an environment that would turn her into a villain, a top-tier Hunter could be born.
Each such Hunter would make Jin-young’s remaining life much easier.
Jin-young had Na Ji-hwan look into the terrified woman’s personal information.
“Don’t worry. I’m Intelligence Department Investigator Na Ji-hwan. Could you tell me your name and age, miss?”
“E-Eun Ji-eun. I’m twenty-one.”
“Thank you, Eun Ji-eun. Where do you live?”
“Uh… Yuseong-gu, Daejeon…”
“That’s enough. It’s fine. Do you live with your parents?”
“……”
The moment her parents were mentioned, tears welled up in Eun Ji-eun’s eyes.
Her gaze slowly turned toward the corpses.
Tears streamed down her face.
As her paralyzed mind returned, she couldn’t control her emotions upon realizing she was the only one who survived.
Na Ji-hwan had experienced this kind of situation more than once or twice, but each time it fueled his hatred toward villains.
He thought he should at least get her home safely.
Just then,
Jin-young spoke up.
“There’s a secret research lab under the National Monster Research Institute belonging to the Intelligence Department, right? Let’s take her there.”
“Huh? There?”
“Right now, Eun Ji-eun is in an abnormal awakened state due to Black Rose. We need to monitor her condition since we don’t know what might happen.”
And there was also something Jin-young wanted to investigate personally.
『I don’t want to eat that mana. It’s useless even if I do. But it’s definitely strong.』
‘We need to look into it properly.’
Jin-young said to Na Ji-hwan,
“Then let’s head to the NMRI. Bring her along.”
Na Ji-hwan sighed at the pitiful state of affairs and escorted Eun Ji-eun toward the car.
***
Upon arriving at the National Monster Research Institute in Gwangmyeong, Jin-young, Na Ji-hwan, and Eun Ji-eun headed to the controlled-access elevator.
The Intelligence Department’s secret research lab was located underground here.
Since Jin-young wasn’t yet an official agent, he passed through thanks to Na Ji-hwan.
Ding—
The cylindrical elevator doors opened, and the three boarded.
The interior had a simple yet futuristic design, like something out of a sci-fi movie.
During the ride, Eun Ji-eun—who had spent time calming her emotions in the car—finally spoke for the first time.
“Am I going to become a lab rat now?”
“Huh? Why would you think that…?”
Na Ji-hwan opened his eyes wide in disbelief.
“I’ve heard rumors. That the Intelligence Department kidnaps people for weird experiments.”
“Where did you hear such nonsense?”
“There are tons of posts about it on internet communities.”
“……”
Na Ji-hwan was at a loss for words.
Still, seeing Eun Ji-eun’s mood improve slightly put him at ease.
Ding—
The elevator reached the underground secret research lab.
Jin-young and the others stepped into the brightly lit facility.
Researchers in white lab coats were everywhere, completely absorbed in their work and paying no attention to the group.
Na Ji-hwan, familiar with the layout, walked past them straight to the office of the secret research department head.
Ding-dong.
“This is Na Ji-hwan, Director.”
The door slid open automatically, and the group entered.
A middle-aged man in a white lab coat stood up and approached them.
He was Director Kim Jeong-moon, head of the secret research division.
“Welcome, Agent Na. These people with you are unfamiliar faces…”
“This one here is a hunter who will soon become a new secret agent. Since a code name hasn’t been assigned yet, it’s difficult to introduce him in detail.”
Kim Jeong-moon turned his gaze to Jin-young and greeted him.
“I’m Director Kim Jeong-moon. It seems we’ll be working together before long.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Jin-young bowed his head lightly in response.
Na Ji-hwan then introduced Eun Ji-eun.
“This woman was a civilian discovered during an operation—no, an unregistered awakened individual, Ms. Eun Ji-eun. She awakened through abnormal means due to an experiment by Dark Horse.”
“I see… The fact that you survived at all is a miracle. Did you, by any chance, drink the black liquid?”
At Kim Jeong-moon’s question, Eun Ji-eun nodded.
Na Ji-hwan spoke again.
“I’d like to conduct several tests on Ms. Eun Ji-eun. Even if someone consumes Black Rose, the usual result is that the quality of their mana is inferior, but the type itself should still be the same. However, Ms. Eun Ji-eun’s mana appears to be an entirely different kind.”
“A different type of mana… Are you referring to black mana?”
“It’s different from that as well.”
“Hm… In that case, it’s certainly worth examining.”
“Thank you, Director Kim.”
Na Ji-hwan bowed to express his gratitude.
In truth, none of those words were his own thoughts.
He was simply repeating exactly what Jin-young had told him.
It carried far more weight for someone firmly established within the Intelligence Division like Na Ji-hwan to speak, rather than Jin-young, who wasn’t even an official agent yet.
At that moment, Eun Ji-eun spoke up.
“So… I really am going to become a test subject, right? Aren’t I?”
“That will absolutely not happen. Think of it as a slightly longer medical checkup. Once that’s finished, we’ll send you back home, so please don’t worry.”
After listening quietly, Eun Ji-eun gathered her courage and spoke.
“No. I don’t mind being experimented on. Just… please make me strong.”
“What are you saying—”
“I’m going to take revenge on the people who killed my mom and dad.”
Jin-young caught the fighting spirit in her eyes as she spoke.
He now roughly understood how the “Mad Witch” had come to be.
Back then, there had been no environment capable of restraining her rampage—no one to help her.
But if there were people who could guide her properly…
‘In this life, she could become not the Mad Witch, but the Witch of Salvation.’
***
Jin-young was dispatched to suppress villains that had appeared in Gimpo City.
Originally, it was an issue for the city hall’s public servant hunters to handle, but due to the large number of villains, support had been requested.
Gimpo chronically lacked civil servant hunters, so situations like this weren’t uncommon.
Jin-young briefly wondered if he would need to step in personally, but with Inspector Kang Tae-woo from the violent crimes unit also present, there was nothing left for him to do.
“So it’s that Black Rose drug case again. It just keeps getting worse.”
“It really does.”
Jin-young nodded at Jin-sol’s words.
At this point in time, the name Black Rose hadn’t even spread yet, let alone the idea that it was a drug.
The reason it became known at all was entirely thanks to Jin-young.
First, Lee Cheol-ho was eliminated. Then Jeon Soo-yong. Most recently, even Dark Horse’s Dangsan branch had been wiped out.
Because of that, the name Black Rose spread through the media.
If negative awareness of Black Rose continued to grow, the number of casualties caused by it would decrease in the future.
That was exactly what Jin-young wanted.
A quiet, peaceful world where troublesome people no longer existed.
Of course, there was still a lot of work left to do to reach that point.
“Let’s leave the cleanup to Gimpo City Hall and head home.”
“Good work, Team Leader.”
After parting ways with the support team—Jin-sol and Shin Ji-ho—Jin-young was about to leave as well.
“Hunter Chae Jin-young.”
He stopped at the voice calling him from behind.
“Inspector Kang. How have things been lately?”
“I actually have something I need to talk to you about.”
Although Kang Tae-woo had successfully wrapped up today’s villain organization crackdown, his expression looked dark.
Jin-young had a rough idea of what the issue was, but he waited for Kang to speak first.
“The case involving Director Lee Ju-hong… it’s connected to far more places than I expected. The prosecutors are refusing to issue a search-and-seizure warrant, and the section chief says we shouldn’t even begin without one.”
“Sounds like Lee Ju-hong’s bribed quite a few people. Or maybe he’s got leverage over them.”
“I heard Director Lee is on very good terms with the chief prosecutor at the Central District Prosecutors’ Office. The prosecutors are probably having headaches because of pressure from above.”
Jin-young had even gathered evidence and handed it over, thinking arresting Lee Ju-hong would be straightforward.
But Lee’s position was far more solid than he’d anticipated.
“…Should I just erase him?”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing. In any case, if you force the investigation, Inspector, you might end up having to take off your uniform.”
“I don’t care if I lose my badge. What pisses me off is that it might all end without stripping those corrupt bastards of theirs.”
Kang Tae-woo wasn’t only known as the violent crimes unit’s mad dog among villains.
As far as Jin-young remembered, in the future Kang would be dishonorably discharged after investigating corrupt high-ranking officials in the National Police Agency.
After that, Jin-young had transferred to Renard without hearing any further news, so he didn’t know what became of him.
“I’m not saying I’ll drop the investigation. I just wanted to let you know it’ll probably take longer than I expected.”
Kang Tae-woo’s eyes were unwavering.
Jin-young liked that about him. And because of that, he couldn’t allow Kang to be chased out of the police force like this.
After all, he needed him to remain a police hunter for a long, long time—handling all the dirty work.
“Inspector. If the warrant issue gets resolved, do you think you could push things forward?”
“Hm… I won’t know until I try, but it’d be a lot easier. The section chief would probably change his stance too.”
“Good. Then lie low until the warrant is issued.”
***
A shabby commercial building, third floor—an abandoned fortune-telling shop no one ever visited.
This was one of the Intelligence Division’s many secret safehouses.
Director Jeong Bo-hoon of the Intelligence Division believed this was the perfect place to appoint a new secret agent.
After all, it was his favorite spot.
Jin-young, dressed in a black suit with a red tie, stood facing him.
“Thank you for joining us, Hunter Chae Jin-young. Thanks to you, the security of the Republic of Korea is in safe hands.”
Jeong Bo-hoon said this as he extended his hand for a handshake.
“I have a terrible illness, so…”
At Jin-young’s response, Jeong Bo-hoon nodded and withdrew his hand.
He assumed there must be a reason for refusing.
“Now then. As you already know, secret agents are given a cover occupation and a codename. You’ll keep your current workplace as your cover job, and your codename has been decided as ‘Psycho.’”
“Psycho?”
“Don’t misunderstand. It’s short for ‘psychokinesis.’”
“That meaning works for me.”
Honestly, Jin-young didn’t care what his codename was.
What he was looking forward to were the classified information and resources the Intelligence Division would provide.
Jeong Bo-hoon laid out various items on the desk.
Starting with car keys, anti-eavesdropping earphones, agent-exclusive reinforced suit and boots, a new smartphone and watch, and more.
There was also a mask molded to look like a real human face.
A so-called “fake face.”
It had undergone special mana processing, making it impossible to see through with low-level skills.
Various other pieces of equipment were issued as well.
Jin-young discarded anything useless without hesitation and stored only the necessities in his subspace inventory.
Once everything was settled, Jeong Bo-hoon spoke with a grave expression.
“Normally, we wouldn’t assign a major mission to a rookie agent. But you’re an exception. There’s a task I intend to entrust to you—just as you wanted.”
“……”
“The SP Guild’s Hongcheon Contaminated Zone recovery operation. Your first mission is to determine what kind of scheme they’re plotting there.”
“Is it alright if I wipe them all out?”
At Jin-young’s indifferent question, Jeong Bo-hoon’s vision went dark.