As soon as he got the tablet, he said, “Zaira, delete all videos and posts to social networks concerning the situation.”

[All information concerning this situation will be deleted.]

“The SWAT team has been deployed somewhere. Show me all CCTV footage from the surrounding area,” he continued.

Soon, each camera feed appeared on screen one after another, and Moonki, who was watching said, “You have a lot of experience.”

“I used to work for Guardians’ Administrative Department.”

“Are you saying you have experience going up against monsters?”

Junhyuk nodded, and Moonki looked at the monitor.

“Is it even possible to delete all information?”

“This is only taking place in South Korea in real time, so it’s possible.”

“That’s very effective.”

They talked, and the CCTV footage showed the SWAT team going into a house by breaking down the door, and the team members getting thrown away like ragdolls. SWAT started shooting, and the infected person appeared all bloodied.

“There’ll be a lot of casualties,” he said.

Moonki nodded heavily.

“They only killed one, but there were too many losses.”

Meanwhile, the door opened, and people came in. They had stars on their shoulders, and Eunseo walked in with them. They all sat down.

Junhyuk’s job was to mediate. He would take Elise’s place and make suggestions on how to proceed. He also wanted to know of any special symptoms the people infected by the poring could display. While he had seen one of them fighting against the iron soldier, he still wasn’t sure about what they could do.

The Army Chief of Staff, Daeil Kim, took a seat and looked at Junhyuk.

“Are you going to explain the situation to us?”

“I’m Junhyuk Lee. I’ll give you a short summary of what is going on.”

By using the tablet, he showed them the footage of how people were infected and of the iron soldier restraining an infected. After the video and the quick explanation, Daeil couldn’t hid his scowl.

“How many officers are on the ground right now?”

Taewoo spoke calmly, “Things looked dire, so we activated the SWAT teams. They are using five helicopters to carry out the mission. Meanwhile, the local police will arrest those infected whose locations we’ve pinned down.”

Moonki whispered in Taewoo’s ear, and Taewoo looked back at him.

“Show us the SWAT team in action.”

Junhyuk pulled up the CCTV footage of the shooting scene. To kill a single person infected by a poring, some SWAT members were sacrificed. Seeing that, Daeil got up from his seat.

“I have to talk to the president. Excuse me.” Then, he looked at the man sitting next to him and added, “Call Lieutenant General Han to prepare for a quarantine line. Tell Lieutenant General Kim to prepare as well.”

“Yes.”

Daeil went out, and the man he spoke to made the calls quickly. The defense command of the country’s capital was now directly involved, and Junhyuk felt that that was a significant improvement from only having the police involved.

Junhyuk looked back at the list of identified infected. A high school teacher was infected, and that teacher worked at Sarang’s high school.

He looked at Eunseo and said, “I have to go out and make a call.”

She took the tablet from him, and he walked out and called Sarang. The phone rang once, and he soon heard Sarang’s voice from the other end.

“h.e.l.lo?”

“Sarang, it’s me.”

“Big brother! Whose number is this?”

“I got a new phone.”

“Ah! Why did you call me?”

“Do you have a teacher named Woontak Dong?”

“Do you mean the history teacher?”

“Right.”

“What about him?”

Junhyuk remained silent for a moment before saying, “He’s been infected by a poring, and three hours from now, he’ll be able to infect others.”

“What should I do?”

“A SWAT team and the city’s military forces have been deployed. Go home early.”

“What about my friends?”

He started worrying. Did she mean to fight for her friends?

“If you want to fight, take him somewhere n.o.body can see you. However, I’m not sure what kind of powers infected people have. It might be better to fight where there are people around.”

Sarang answered a moment later, “Even if I have to summon my armor, I shall take full responsibility for him.”

Junhyuk was a bit worried, but he knew Sarang had the power to fight the infected without much danger to herself. She could kill a person with her lightning bolt.

“We know a few things. The infected have eyes completely green, and the one who fought against the iron soldier had superhuman speed. So, don’t let your guard down.”

“I understand.”

He hung up and went back inside. Daeil also came back and took a seat.

“This is unofficial, but a kill order has been given. The city’s military and SWAT teams will carry out the order. The police will establish blockades and quarantine lines.”

When Taewoo heard him, he felt relieved from the heavy responsibility.

“I’ll get it done.”

Junhyuk was still worried about Sarang, and Eunseo walked over and asked, “What is the matter?”

“It’s nothing.”

He decided to trust Sarang. He had fought alongside her many times, and she had stayed safe. She would be alright.

—

Sarang hung up the phone. She was still in recess, but turned to the person next to her and asked, “Did the history teacher come in today?”

“Who? Mr. Dong?”

“Yes.”

The girl shook her head and tapped the back of of the person sitting next to her.

“Do you know if Mr. Dong is here?”

The girl fixed her gla.s.ses and said, “I saw him in main office… He might have gotten eye surgery. He was wearing a sungla.s.ses.”

Sarang frowned. He ha to be hiding his eyes, which meant he was sentient.

She got up, and her friend said, “Recess is almost over.”

“I have stomach ache, so I’m gonna see the nurse.”

Once out of the room, she ran to the main office. After pa.s.sing a few students in the hallway, she went inside. All of the teachers stared at her, so she bowed heavily and asked, “I have a question for Mr. Dong.”

“Right. If you have a question, ask anytime.”

Her grades had gone way up, and her ranking was among the best in country, so the teachers were all supporting her studies enthusiastically. At that moment, the bell rang, and the teachers left. Sarang walked to Mr. Dong’s desk.

He has a book opened in front of him, but he wasn’t reading it.

“Mr. Dong.”

The teacher didn’t turn around, and she was sure of it then. She looked around. The only people in the main office were Mr. Dong, her and the P.E. teacher.

Sarang summoned her orb, held it on her hand and threw a pen toward Mr. Dong. He caught it instinctively, bearing his teeth at her.

She stared at him.

“You don’t remember your name, but you can still think. You came to school after all.”

Mr. Dong snarled, and she said, “Follow me.”

Sarang walked backward slowly, and Mr. Dong got up. He was getting close to her, but Sarang didn’t let her guard down, staring at him while going downstair.

Mr. Dong tried to attack her a few times, but Sarang gave off significant pressure.

She took him outside. There was a restroom behind the school building, and that was her destination. Once inside, Mr. Dong attacked her suddenly. He got down on all four, moving much like a spider or a dog. He was really fast. However, Sarang wasn’t surprised. She had experienced something similar in the past. To her, after having fought monsters many times over, he wasn’t fast enough.

She cast an Electric Blast on him. Those only paralyzed heroes, but it was entirely different matter for humans.

Craaack!

Mr. Dong got hit and stopped suddenly, but he wasn’t paralyzed. He was dead and completely charred. She sighed of relief.

“Whew!”

She hadn’t been close to Mr. Dong, but she had killed a person, so shock washed over her.

Suddenly, a green blob seeped out of Mr. Dong’s ear. After seeing that, Sarang stared at it and made a call with the cell phone in her hand. The blob tried to enter the sewer, but she kicked it. It hit a wall and splashed down to the ground.

She had called Junhyuk, and when she heard him answer, she said, “Big brother, I have something to ask you.”

“Did you kill him already?”

“He was already at school. I couldn’t wait. However, there is a problem.”

“Problem? What is it?”

“I killed him, but green blob came out of his ear, and it’s alive. It’s trying to get away.”

Junhyuk sighed.

“I’ll send a SWAT team and a gathering team. Just tell them you found him dead already.”

“Do I have to stay here and watch it?”

“We don’t have any answers, so I can’t tell you anything.”

Sarang looked around the restroom, found a bucked and placed it over the green blob. She put her foot on top of it when she saw the blob trying to get out.

“Send them quickly.”

“Of course! Right away!”

She wished no one would see what she had done. If other students saw her now, it could become a headache because people had seen her got into the main office.

Sarang continued to kick the green liquid as it attempted to leave the bucket.

—

Junhyuk looked at Eunseo.

“A high school teacher is dead. He had been previously identified, and green liquid came out of his ear. The liquid is attempting to get into the sewer, so we have to send a team out quickly. We can’t afford to lose a piece of poring.”

Eunseo whispered to him, “Is it Sarang’s school?”

“Yes.”

She nodded.

“I’m deploying three iron soldiers. Send one over to the school. The other two will go to check out those close to him.”

“You want to get them alive?”

“If possible. Elise needs more infected subjects.”

“Sure.”

By using Zaira, he deployed the iron soldier. It would help Sarang, so that she didn’t have to fight any longer.