They ran tests on Eunmi, and she seemed normal, but due to her injuries, she couldn’t move.

“This may be meaningless, but I still have to tell you something,” Elise told her.

“What happened to me?”

“You were infected along with other people. Do you remember?”

“No, I can’t remember. They were testing me…”

Elise had expected that answer.

“You’ve activated two powers. Can you feel them?” she asked.

Eunmi’s left eye twitched, and green foam came out of her hand and changed into a sword. She surprised herself in the process.

“What did just happen?!”

Elise understood now that she had activated two powers.

“This is beyond what I had expected.”

Elise walked over to her, and Junhyuk sighed and walked over to Elise. She smiled at Eunmi.

“Now, I am sure that you are still infected. We have to know how you’ll behave in the future. If not, you won’t be able to get out there and join the rest of the world.”

“You mean I have to be confined here?”

“You might lose consciousness again and kill many people around you.”

“Kill people?”

Elise showed Eunmi her tablet.

“This is you when you lost your memory.”

Eunmi was holding a spear and breaking down a door. She had lost her ability to reason, and one of her eyes was completely white while the other was green. She was shocked by what she saw.

“I’ll take full responsibility and cure you, but you have to cooperate,” Elise told her.

“Even if I want to cooperate, if this happens again, I will be unable to.”

“You can’t get out of this place, and you’ll regain your reasoning eventually. To prevent other people from being infected, I need your help.”

Eunmi was about to cry.

“I have to go to school.”

Elise looked at Eunseo, and Eunseo said, “If you help us, don’t worry about your grades. If you want, after you graduate, you can work for us.”

Eunmi stared at Eunseo. She was attending a second rate university and she would have a hard time finding jobs. However, if she could work for Guardians, wouldn’t that be a great opportunity?

“If you cooperate, we will compensate you as well,” Elise said.

“Compensate?”

Elise showed her the tablet again.

“Sign here. The signing bonus is $100 thousand, and you’ll be paid $1 million after the research is over.”

“What?!”

Junhyuk knew that amount was absurd for a college student. They could have offered more, but she was just a student, and they knew that it would be enough to entice her.

Eunmi was conflicted, and Eunseo chuckled.

“We will help you.”

She looked at Junhyuk and asked, “You aren’t going to dissect me, right?”

He laughed hard.

“You’ve watched too many movies. Guardians was established to protect the world, so don’t worry.”

She stared at him and said, “I’ll trust you.”

“Why are you trusting me?” he asked.

“You are ST Capsule’s model.”

“Riiight.”

He realized once again the power the media had. Junhyuk looked at Elise, who got Eunmi’s signature and smiled.

“Elise, I want to talk.”

“Sure.”

Junhyuk took her aside and asked, “I helped you now, things can’t continue like this.”

“I know it. I’ll try the iron soldier on her, and if the iron soldier can restrain her, I won’t need your help.”

“Where are you going to hold her?”

“I’ll dig a large hole. She has powers, but she can’t jump extremely high.”

He frowned.

“How you going to get in and out?”

“I have to check, but I’ll use an elevator. If she makes any problem, I’ll shut down the elevator.” She looked at Sora and added, “I’ll check if Sora can use her speed vertically. If so, the place will be really far down.”

“Can I go now?” he asked.

“Help me move her to the underground lab.”

“You have an underground lab?”

“I have to move some things around, but there is no place like it.”

He followed Elise toward Eunmi. The iron soldier lifted her, and he followed it. Sora, Elise and Eunseo followed him. They got on an elevator and moved underground, heading to Elise’s lab.

At the bottom, she opened a door to a room.

“I planned to bunk here, so stay here and cooperate.”

“Sure.”

Eunmi had already checked her bank account and seen that she had received the money, so she was cooperating.

“I’ll be going. If something happens, call me,” he said, looking at the group.

“Wait.”

Elise tapped her tablet, and his phone rang. He checked it and saw that he had received his pay.

“I hope nothing bad happens.”

“Don’t worry.”

Elise knew that if she had to call him, it would cost her money, so she would find other alternatives.

Junhyuk and Eunseo got back on the elevator, and he looked at her.

“I have to train now, but you should know, I won’t be able to go to the same Dimensional Battlefield as you this Friday.”

“What?!”

He calmly explained things to her, “In each battlefield, heroes can take up to five support powers. I have three powers, and Sarang has two, so they already had five extra powers. You’ll go to a different battlefield this time.”

Artlan wouldn’t drop either Sarang or him to take Eunseo, and she scowled.

“What do we do now?”

“Focus on staying alive. Get help from the allied heroes, and make them help you.”

She nodded.

“Understood. I have to make them realize they need me.”

“That’s about it.”

Her counterattack could help. She didn’t have any equipment boosting it, but its power was still ma.s.sive. If she got any items, she would be even more powerful. Also, she had her ring, and minions wouldn’t be any problem for her. She only had to be careful of novices and those ranked higher than that.

Junhyuk looked at her and said, “Just make sure no one finds out that you are a novice.”

“Sure.”

Her falling under abnormal narcolepsy had to be kept secret, so she nodded, and he smiled.

“Don’t worry too much. Sora came back, and so will you.”

“OK. Then, go on a date with me on Sat.u.r.day,” she said.

“What?!”

“Have dinner with me.”

He didn’t like the term “date,” but did not mind having dinner with her.

“Sure.”

Junhyuk bid her good luck and walked to the car he had rented and was now all dented.

“I’ll have to pay for that.”

He would do it and buy himself a new car. The following day, after a meal with Sarang, he would purchase a new car.

—

They ate dinner, and he got a car and bought one for Sarang too. Her new ID had been a driver’s license. Junhyuk still had to teach her how to drive, but she had a car now. Both cars would be delivered in a week, and because they had bought two cars, the dealer treated them like VIPs.

He told her about the living spirit and that he wouldn’t be able to call her. He wanted to focus on the living spirit.

“Don’t worry. We’ll meet again on Friday.”

“Thanks for understanding. I’ll see you on Friday then.”

“How did the poring situation happen?”

Junhyuk shrugged.

“This is only the beginning. It will spread to other countries. We have to kill porings. That’s about the best solution.”

“Whew! When I go to sleep, I still think about it.”

“He was infected and he wasn’t the person you knew. Don’t worry about it.”

“I know.” She looked at him and asked, “Are you coming to my training place?”

“No, I’ll focus on the living spirit.”

“Of course. Let’s train together next time.”

“Sure.”

He sent her home and went to a hotel. There, he closed his eyes and focused on the living spirit. The spirit travelled through the large pathways, and he did not notice the time pa.s.sing.

Junhyuk called Sungtae, who had found a cleaning company in the meantime and done other things. He told Sungtae that he would be there on the weekend and hung up to train with the living spirit again. Time pa.s.sed quickly.

It was Friday, and there were no monster attacks. He was in the middle of training when he got a call. It was from Eunseo, but he failed to pick it up immediately because of his training, so he called her back.

“h.e.l.lo?”

“You came back safely.”

“Since I was alone, it was tough.”

“I’m glad you made it back. Your chances of returning alive will increase with each success.”

“Thanks for saying that.”

He continued, “I’ll call you when I return alive.”

“Come back safe.”

He hung up and lay on the bed, focusing on the living spirit. The spirit did not get bigger, but he could feel it moving around the large pathways in his body.

A bright white light shone on him, and he felt that he was back in the Dimensional Battlefield, so he opened his eyes slowly.