Junhyuk looked at Elise, who frowned an said, “We’ve detected a wavelength. It’s a novice.”

He looked at the woman who had just gotten up. If she was hostile like the other poring infected, power activators, he would not hesitate to kill her.

Everyone had left, and n.o.body else was watching that place.

“Can you make sure?” Elise asked him as he looked at her.

He nodded and went over to the woman. Junhyuk opened the door and went inside the sealed room. The woman looked at him. One of her eyes was glittering green. Seeing that, he wanted to kill her, but he decided to suppress his feelings. Her other eye was showing him how nervous she was.

Junhyuk thought of her name and called it, “Eunmi Jung?”

“What?! Yes!”

The woman remembered who she was, and she answered him. While he still wasn’t sure if she was hostile, he was relieved.

“You were infected by a monster and transported here.”

“Infected by a monster?! But I’ve never seen a monster!”

“What is the last thing you remember?”

Eunmi thought it over before saying, “I was on my way to home when someone grabbed my shoulder. That is all. And his eyes…” She raised her head. “… He had eyes entirely green. Was he infected?”

She was making deductions and seemed fine, so he approached her and summoned the arm warmers and four items of the Pure Golden Knight set.

He asked her, “The infection has left your body, but do you feel anything strange?”

She stared at him.

“Strange?” She lifted her hand, touched her green eye and murmured, “Something is…”

As she did that, she extended her hand, and a green orb came out of it. The orb started circling her quickly.

Shocked by what had just happened, she asked, “Wh-what is this?!”

He returned the Pure Golden Knight items, grabbed a pillow and threw it. The pillow hit the green orb, and the orb disappeared. He had thrown the pillow with all of his mighty, even willing to use the Spatial Slash.

Once the green orb disappeared, he said, “It’s protecting you.”

“What’s happening?”

“Can you feel the cooldown?”

“About twenty seconds,” she answered.

It wasn’t as high-ranking as Jean Clo’s ultimate, but it could save her life. It could negate one enemy hit.

“It’s a protective power…”

It wasn’t dangerous, so they didn’t need to worry about it. The issue at that point was whether she could remain herself.

Junhyuk looked at Elise. He couldn’t see the other side of the gla.s.s from his side, but he said, “She has a power, but it’s not dangerous. What are you going to do?”

Eunmi looked in the same direction he was looking and asked, “Where am I?”

“You are at Guardians. Since the monster incident, we’ve been running some tests. We are checking to see if any of you pose any danger.”

“Pose danger?”

Junhyuk turned to her and explained, “There were some who were hostile. I must ask you: Do you ever think of killing anyone?”

“What? No!”

He looked at Elise’s direction again, and Elise said, “You’ve activated a power, so I have to run more tests. Wait there.”

Junhyuk waited, and when the door opened, Elise and Sora walked in. Junhyuk stared at her, and Elise approached.

“I can’t run her tests while doing the others.”

“You have Sora.”

“Because the power itself doesn’t pose a threat, I’ll run the tests myself.”

“Can I go home?” he asked.

“Yes. Sora will be here with me,” Elise answered.

Junhyuk looked at Sora. She could destroy the green orb with her regular attack and, by using her extreme speed, she could attack more than twice. Sora would be able to deal with Eunmi if there was a need for it.

He smiled.

“I’ll be going home. Work hard.”

On his way out, he stopped in front of Sora.

“Be cautious. There may be reason for why she has that odd eyed.”

“Don’t worry.”

He turned to Elise and added, “Don’t get close to Eunmi. Sora should run the tests.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”

Elise smiled at him.

“Sure. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t let guard down even though she has a defensive power. If something should happen, just run away.”

“You sounds scary, but I’ll do it. If I call, you should return.”

“Sure. Just run away if something happens.”

“Right.”

He looked at Eunmi. She looked flabbergasted that he was going home. Sora started speaking to her kindly, and Eunmi looked more relaxed.

Then, he approached Eunmi and stared at her green eye.

“Just be calm and do the tests.”

“Will it be OK?”

“As long as you don’t hurt anyone.”

He looked at her glittering green eye, not sure if it had come about because she had activated a power or because she had been infected.

He hoped it was not part of the poring’s influence.

—

Elise was diligently looking at something while pa.s.sing a notebook with over ten pages to Eunmi, who was solving the puzzles while scratching her head.

Those were personality tests, and she remembered what Junhyuk had said.

Why were they being so cautious around her? Did she want to kill people? No way!

She shook head and looked around. No one was there. The room was empty, and the walls looked very strong.

She raised her hand, and when her left eye gleamed, the green orb appeared. She was curious about what the orb was. It circled around her for ten seconds and disappeared.

“What is this? Why must I be treated this way?!”

Everytime she used her power, her left eye shone.

She sighed and went back to the problems, but the left side of her head started aching.

“Arrgh!”

She grabbed her head and wailed. Then, she grabbed the pages, staggered and fell from the chair.

When the door opened, Sora walked in.

“You OK?” she shouted

Eunmi pushed Sora away and barked back, “Don’t come near me!”

Sora was staring at her when she heard Elise’s voice, “Pull out your sword.”

Sora did so, and with it in hand, she stared as Eunmi got up slowly. She was still holding the n.o.body in her hand.

Her right eye was entirely white, and her left eye glittered green. That’s when Eunmi went after Sora.

Elise asked, “Can you restrain her?”

“I’ll try.”

Sora swung her sword without adding speed. She had had some experience in the battlefield, so her swordsmanship had gotten better, and regular people were no match for her. However, Eunmi moved unexpectedly. She strafed to escape the large sword and elbowed Sora’s neck.

“Ugh!”

Sora groaned and stepped back.

“Can you restrain her?” Elise asked again.

“I am not so sure now.”

“Then, get back out here. She can’t leave the room anyway.”

That was Elise’s decision. Eunmi only had a defensive power, so she wouldn’t be able to break through. Meanwhile, Sora nodded and backed up slowly.

Eunmi stared at her, baring her teeth.

At that point, Sora felt something eery, but she got out, and Elise closed the door.

“Don’t worry. This place is safe. It can even contain monsters. She can’t get out,” Elise said while pushing commands on her tablet and ordering Zaira. “Check on Eunmi and call Junhyuk. Tell him it’s an emergency.”

She looked at Sora and added, “Let’s check.” Seeing the feed from inside the room on her tablet, she frowned. “She is too relaxed.”

Eunmi touched the walls and took some steps back slowly. Elise watched her do it, all the while thinking that her power only served for defense.

Finally, Eunmi stood in front of the door and raised her hand. A green foam spilled out of her left hand and turned into a spear. Eunmi took a step back and stabbed at the door, destroying it.

Elise scowled.

“Sora!”

“Yes?”

“Hold me and use your high speed to run.”

Sora nodded and hugged her while saying, “Be careful.”

Elise hugged her back, and Sora sped out. By the time she was done, they were outside of the building, and Sora let go of Elise.

“You OK?”

“Argh!” Elise was about to vomit. “Zaira, seal the lab.”

Suddenly, the entire lab was being sealed off.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Zaira was closing all the doors, and Sora asked, “What now?”

Elise hesitated.

“The equipment to combat monsters is inside. We can kill Eunmi, but I want to catch her alive.”

“You want her alive?”

“She activated two powers. If we can study her, the value would be enormous.”

“How are you going to capture her?”

Elise answered nonchalantly, “Junhyuk will come.”