Chapter 251: Gift 3
After he finished talking to Artlan, he lay on the bed and focused on his gut, where the energy was stored. The living spirit had devoured the mana and grown stronger, and it moved around using the widened energy pathways.
The spirit wasn’t moving as quickly as when it was eating the mana, but it was still moving. Junhyuk could feel the shape of the pathways and the movement of the living spirit.
He was lying down comfortable, following its movement, and forgot about the time. Once the living spirit went back to his gut, he opened his eyes.
He was surprised by what he saw.
“What?! It’s morning already?”
He had followed the spirit around his body twelve times, and it was already daytime. Looking at the time, he shook his head.
“I have a lot to do today.”
The first thing he had to do was buy a new cell phone. He needed one under Max’s name. So, he checked out of the hotel and took a cab to the mall. There, Junhyuk body a new set of clothes. Then, he went to the restroom, put his old clothes in the Spatial Bag and changed into the new ones.
He walked out of the restroom wearing a black suit and headed to the cell phone store. There, he bought a smartphone. After that, he went back to the restroom and put on his mask.
Junhyuk headed to Guro. When he arrived at GST, he only saw the security team, so he smiled bitterly.
“I need to be more mindful.”
He needed secretaries and people to take care of the building. Junhyuk greeted the security team and went up the elevator. As soon as the doors to the ninth floor opened, he saw Sungtae standing there.
“I was worried.”
“About what?”
“You haven’t been in in a few days, and I couldn’t reach you.”
Junhyuk laughed.
“I am here to work diligently.”
He had resigned from Guardians, so he planned to be a lot more focused on GST. He and Sungtae went to Ganesha’s room, and Junhyuk saw things he hadn’t seen before.
“When did you get these?”
“Aren’t they cool? We needed more state-of-the-art equipment.”
Junhyuk laughed, and Sungtae handed him a card.
“The cards are here.”
He checked out the card with Max’s name on it and looked at Sungtae.
“Did you get your own card?”
“Yes.”
Junhyuk put his card away and asked, “Have you gotten a call from Brian yet?”
“Yes. He got in touch, and I gave him the cash.”
He looked at Catherine’s paperwork and ID and chuckled. Sarang would have a new identity now.
After looking around the room, he asked, “Did anything happen?”
Sungtae frowned and said, “Ganesha, show us the footage.”
One of the new purchases was a big-screen TV. On it, a scene from CCTV footage played out. When Junhyuk saw it, he frowned.
“What?! Why are they moving as a group?”
The video showed the Han River Park. Twenty people were moving as one group, and their movements looked strange.
“We searched for them. They moved like that and scattered. We are looking for them one by one, but what do you think we should do?”
Junhyuk grabbed his chin while thinking.
“Where did you first find them?”
“Yeouido and the Han River Park.”
“Yeouido?”
He frowned. A monster had appeared in Yeouido, a poring. He wasn’t sure if porings could affect humans, however.
“Continue looking for them them. Make sure no one else finds out about the surveillance.”
“Sure.”
Junhyuk looked at the other people working.
“We will go out to eat when everyone is here. Is that OK?”
“Certainly!”
Junhyuk nodded and added, “We need people to take care of the building.”
“I’m looking for cleaning company, what should I do?”
“If you find a small-sized company, buy them and have them merge with us.”
“Even if it’s small, it’ll cost us millions?”
“It’s fine. Our work is top secret, and nobody should get in without proper access. So, we do our own cleaning.”
“I understand.”
Sungtae did not want anyone finding out Ganesha either. Junhyuk pulled out Max’s new cell phone and said, “Install Ganesha’s app.”
“Did you lose your cell phone?”
“Yes.”
Sungtae installed the app.
“Only I have access to the GPS, so while your cell phone is on, I can track you through it.”
Junhyuk took a moment to think and put the phone away in the Spatial Bag. Sungtae frowned and looked at the screen.
“Ganesha, can you find my GPS location?”
[I can’t.]
Junhyuk laughed and pulled out his phone.
“I know what’s wrong, Ganesha,” he said and added, “Don’t let anyone track me without my permission, including Sungtae.”
Sungtae shrugged.
“I just wanted to look for you. If anyone tries to locate you, we will scramble the signal, and you will get a message on what is going on.”
“That’s nice,” Junhyuk said, nodding. “I have to go out.”
“Where are you going?”
“I have work to do.”
Junhyuk left. Once he got to the subway station, he went to the restroom, took off his mask and called Eunseo.
“Hello?”
“It’s Junhyuk.”
“Is this a new number?”
“Yes. I have to tell you something right now.”
Eunseo asked in a serious tone, “What is the matter?”
“I have to check all the CCTV footage from the area around Yeouido starting with last Thursday.”
“What are you looking for?”
“I’m searching for twenty people moving as a group.”
“Is it serious?”
“Yes. And ask Elise if porings can affect people for me.”
He didn’t hear her say anything else.
“I’ll over soon.”
“You’ve resigned. Will that be OK?”
Junhyuk took a moment to think and said, “Write up a contract for free. I’m not sure about what’s happening myself, but when I find that out, I’ll quit.”
“You’ll handle it yourself?”
“Yes.”
Junhyuk heard her laughing brightly on the other side.
“Come quick. I’ll get the contract ready.”
“Then, see you later.”
He hung up and focused on the subway. Before, when he had time, he tuned his muscles. Now, he focused on the living spirit. Previously, he had lost track of time whenever he focused on it, so he wanted to know how to do it while keeping track.
This time, he focused on the time while he felt the living spirit moving inside of him. Once the spirit returned to his gut, he sighed and said, “I can’t keep track of time and feel the energy along with it?”
He leaned against the door and looked out. Suddenly, he got a call from Elise and heard her voice when he picked up.
“Where did you find out about this?”
Junhyuk answered calmly, “That’s not important right now. Is it possible for porings to affect people?”
“We haven’t experimented it on people yet, but live monkeys can be affected.”
“People might be as well.”
“It’s possible.”
“Did you find them?”
“Five of them were spotted in Yeouido, doing their thing and causing problems.”
“We can’t solve this by ourselves. Can you track all of them?”
“I’ve started tracking their locations, but if this keeps up, more people will be affected.”
“I’ll be there soon. Let’s talk more then.”
“OK.”
He sighed and looked out the window. If porings infected people, there was no way to know what would happen. Could he actually be of help?
“We have to contain them right when they appear,” he murmured and balled his hands into fists.
Once he got to the Guardians HQ in Ilsan, he went to see Eunseo. She was looking at a big monitor inside her office. When Dohee announced his arrival, she got up from her seat. Her door opened, and Junhyuk walked in. Eunseo offered him a seat, which he took, and she handed him a piece of paper—it was his contract.
“I need you to sign it. You need to keep this a secret. You’ll give us advice concerning the poring situation, and we’ll hire you until the matter is resolved. We’ll pay you $1 million at signing. When the matter is resolved, you’ll get another million.”
“That’s not much.”
Dohee frowned after hearing him say that, and Eunseo continued, “There’s nothing we can do. We also don’t know if this matter will become a big issue.”
He wasn’t interested in the money. If he couldn’t prevent whatever it was from beginning, he would need Guardians’ and the government’s cooperation, so he signed it quickly.
“Where should I go?”
“There’s a command post being set up on the third floor. Let’s go.”
Junhyuk followed Eunseo, and the two of them and Dohee got on the elevator. Dohee stood ahead, and Eunseo grabbed his hand into hers.
He turned toward her. She blushed and turned her head away, so he interlaced his fingers with hers.
She tried to pull her hand away, but he didn’t let her. Only once they got to the third floor that he let go of her hand.
There were many computers on the third floor, and Soyeon and Tsubasa were also there. There was a group of monitors in the center of the room as well. Elise was on her tablet, and she waved at him and Eunseo when they entered.
“We found some of them, but what should we do now?”
“We have to work with the military and the police on this. Send them the documents requesting their cooperation.”
Eunseo looked at Soyeon and Tsubasa, and they started working on their computers.
Both of them looked at him, curious as to why he was there after resigning, but he paid them no attention.
Junhyuk walked over to Elise and looked over her tablet’s screen.
“Did you find anything on poring infections?”
Elise showed him what she had been looking at.
“Look at this.”