Chapter 25 – Memory (2)

The phone calls to Caroline and the branch manager were all from the association headquarters. After the calls, Caroline asked Sun-woo.

“Did you hear a voice too, Sun-woo?”

“Yes.”

“It seems the Summoners also think of Sun-woo as an association member.”

“Ugh, they always do things their own way.”

The branch manager shook his head repeatedly and stood up.

“It seems things have become busy. Since the Summoners have recognized Sun-woo as an association member, we’ll also accept Sun-woo as a temporary member. Please ask Caroline about the rest of your questions.”

He slightly bowed his head to Sun-woo and then went out to the secretary’s office to start giving instructions.

“Check the directors’ locations! And contact the police and the Prime Minister’s office!”

And Caroline and Sun-woo escaped through the secretary’s office that had instantly become chaotic.

“What exactly is going on?”

“It seems the association members who were tracking the drug’s source found the locations of manufacturing plants scattered across various countries. The association headquarters seems to be planning to destroy the manufacturing plants at the same time for security and find whoever started this.”

Caroline, who got on the elevator, continued speaking while pressing the basement 5th floor button for a long time.

“And the Summoner who was always watching us summoners noticed the plan and gave instructions simultaneously.”

“Then there must be one of the manufacturing plants in Korea.”

“Yes, and it’s not far from here.”

The elevator began descending as they left the noisy corridor behind.

“But what’s the relationship between a mission being given to me and accepting me as a temporary member?”

“Originally, the missions regarding this drug were only given to association members. Since a mission was given, Sun-woo has no choice but to perform missions together with our association members. We have no choice but to treat you the same for now.”

It seemed they also couldn’t help problems related to the Summoner.

“Then are we going there now too?”

“We have to go. But first, I want to give you the compensation I promised.”

With her words, the elevator came down to basement 5th floor. But the elevator didn’t stop and continued descending.

“This isn’t some spy movie…”

“We can’t help it. These are items that can’t be exposed to outsiders. Moreover, this country allows entry anywhere with just a warrant.”

The elevator stopped at the non-existent basement 6th floor. The platform door opened and a tightly locked iron door appeared again.

Beyond that, they passed through mysterious security devices like retinal recognition and voice recognition that you’d only see in movies, and finally passed through a security guard’s inspection before entering a large warehouse.

“Wow.”

Sun-woo’s mouth automatically fell open seeing the items displayed in the warehouse.

On one side, numerous types of personal firearms from ordinary rifles to anti-material sniper rifles were lined up, and on the opposite side, various defensive equipment from police gear to special forces protective gear were arranged.

“Almost all modern personal firearms are here. And only the best performing items are collected.”

It was exactly as Caroline said.

This place, where tens of thousands had been spent to collect only the best, was one of the cores of the summoner association, [Clean Earth]. The weapons and protective gear for the association’s combat summoners were prepared here.

“Association members come here when their weapons break, and when they want better protective gear.”

Other summons besides Sun-woo could register other weapons as their exclusive weapons if their exclusive weapons broke.

Moreover, since the clothes they wore were also summoned together, good protective gear was naturally important.

“This way.”

When Sun-woo was looking around frantically, Caroline called him. She called him to a place where various suits that didn’t match this place at all were lined up.

When Sun-woo approached with a puzzled expression, she asked Sun-woo about his body measurements and showed him a suit with a happy expression.

“That’s fortunate. I was worried about what to do if there wasn’t a matching size.”

The clothes she recommended looked like a uniform and also like a stylish semi-formal suit. But he couldn’t understand why she was recommending a suit.

“This is the compensation I mentioned before.”

Sun-woo’s confusion grew even more.

“Anyway, Sun-woo can’t use the weapons here. That’s why I recommended these clothes.”

Unlike her words, Sun-woo could use them if he had enough points, but he continued listening to her.

“Even though they look like this, these suits are the most expensive items among the protective gear here. Even at market price, they’re worth several billion won and can’t be obtained anywhere else.”

“Don’t tell me the clothes have bulletproof functions like in movies?”

“That’s right. They’re clothes with both bulletproof and blade-proof functions. The entire material is made of carbon nanotubes, so they can somehow block first-class swordsmen’s swords and ordinary rifle firepower. Well, there are problems like broken ribs though.”

Originally, these clothes were developed for support teams like the aftermath handling department. They had to handle work among ordinary people, so they couldn’t wear conspicuous clothing.

“But even combat personnel don’t always have just combat, and clothing too different from other dimensions looks strange to them. These days, combat personnel use them a lot too.”

“Then is the suit you’re wearing now the same?”

Caroline placed her hand on her waist.

“It’s fine, right? It’s a custom-made suit that took almost 6 months to make. It seems difficult to custom order though.”

Sun-woo finally understood why she and other aftermath handling team members appeared in suits.

If her words were true, it was clothes Sun-woo definitely needed too. He had managed to get by avoiding potions and major injuries so far, but basic protective gear was essential.

“I’ll use it well.”

“You must use it well.”

Seeing her beaming smile, Sun-woo couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. He felt like he was caught in an unknown spider web.

After choosing clothes, the two left the warehouse. Perhaps they had spoken in advance, taking the clothes out wasn’t very complicated.

Sun-woo changed clothes in the changing room next to the warehouse, and Caroline let out a low exclamation at Sun-woo’s appearance when he came out.

“Your style is amazing, isn’t it?”

Fortunately, the clothes were more comfortable than sportswear. Sun-woo, who ignored Caroline’s words, went up with her to the parking garage on the floor above.

The various vehicles in the parking garage made Sun-woo’s eyes dizzy.

“They’re association members’ cars. They’re parked in the company parking garage due to tax and management issues.”

Her tone, as if luring him to the association, seemed to have become a habit.

With her guidance, Sun-woo got into a heavy four-wheel drive off-road car parked on one side.

“Unfortunately, since we have to go to a battlefield, a sports car would be too much.”

Caroline looked regretful, but the car rushed out of the parking garage with tank-like momentum.

***

The contamination spread agent manufacturing plant in Korea was a factory in the Ansan industrial complex.

Operation time was 9 PM. It seemed the time was set to reduce damage to civilians.

Right on time, the area around the factory was surrounded by police without a gap, and association combat personnel from the metropolitan area gathered inside.

“The person who appears to be in charge has been confirmed to still be inside the factory.”

Next to the association members, a police official who seemed to have a high position was reporting to the branch manager.

When Sun-woo looked surprised at this, Caroline whispered quietly in Sun-woo’s ear.

“The association itself has been cooperating with various governments for decades, so unexpectedly strong cooperative relationships have been built. There are many association members and collaborators within those governments. This time too, it’s an operation conducted under Interpol’s name under the pretext of international drug eradication.”

Not only the Summoner but also the association’s capabilities were not easy to gauge.

Sun-woo counted the number of association members who had arrived and tilted his head.

“Around ten summons. I wonder if that’s a lot or a little…”

People in various special forces uniforms were checking their weapons. Their appearance, looking like mercenaries, overlapped with Michael’s image.

According to Caroline, it seemed summoning people wasn’t easy for the Summoners either.

They always summoned only small numbers of personnel to handle work and tried to handle missions without summoning as much as possible if it was the same dimension.

“Still, a third came. Fortunately, it seems we won’t need to deploy regular police.”

As seen before, people taking the drugs could become contamination sources at any time. They didn’t know what might happen if they conducted operations with ordinary police.

Before the operation started, Caroline introduced Sun-woo to other association members, but they seemed to already see Sun-woo as belonging to the same group as Caroline.

Well, standing next to her and wearing the same uniform as her, they had no choice but to see it that way.

‘Could she have planned this?’

But for Sun-woo, it wasn’t a bad situation.

Shortly after, operation time arrived. The association combat summoners’ guns were in firing position and killing intent flowed from their bodies.

“Operation start!”

With the branch manager’s words, the combat personnel began running toward the factory.

“Fighting! Do your best!”

Caroline clenched her fist toward Sun-woo. Sun-woo gave a bitter smile at her appearance, but he couldn’t fall behind if he wanted to gain points anyway.

Sun-woo also began running toward the factory following them, and when they broke through the locked door and entered the factory, he began using sorcery.

Rumble rumble.

The ground rose up and pushed Sun-woo upward. The ground continuously supported Sun-woo as he ran forward, and shortly after, he was able to climb onto the roof of the 5-story factory.

Sun-woo, who climbed onto the roof, gradually melted into the darkness and eventually became invisible. He had used illusion arts utilizing the darkness.

“Amazing.”

“I told you I chose well.”

“At that level, even the combat department would quite covet him.”

“Hmph, it’s already decided. He belongs to our side.”

“He’s not a full member yet. If he refuses to the end, it’ll all be for nothing, won’t it?”

“He’s already halfway over. Even if the honey trap doesn’t work, I can see the strategy.”

At her words, the branch manager shook his head.

While the two were talking, gunshots began to be heard from the factory. The battle with the enemy had finally begun.

***

When the gunshots rang out, Sun-woo was already entering the factory through the emergency exit on the roof.

The factory below seen from the 3rd floor railing was like a scene from a Hollywood action movie.

A gunfight was taking place between security guards and association members.

Somehow, the security guards protecting the factory were also armed with firearms.

They showed tremendous movement while shooting at the association members, and the association members also used their firearms to pour gunfire at the guards.

Sun-woo, who was carefully observing the fight, soon had to frown.

‘Am I too late?’

The factory was already considerably empty. Equipment like machinery was still there, but there weren’t many boxes left in places where goods had been stored in the past.

‘But it doesn’t seem like they took them outside?’

That’s when another enemy was caught by Sun-woo’s senses.

‘Behind!’

A sword shot out from Sun-woo’s phone and Sun-woo grabbed the sword while swinging it backward.

Clang!

Sparks flew and Sun-woo’s body was pushed straight back.

“Ho, you were a swordsman? A swordsman in this world. How interesting.”

A man with red eyes looked at Sun-woo, who had been pushed back, with curiosity.

But Sun-woo was too surprised to do anything else. The man before his eyes was older, but he was the man from last night’s dream.

“It wasn’t just a bad dream? Did I have a prophetic dream?”

But the other party’s behavior was strange. He looked at Sun-woo with a peculiar expression.

“Haha, what a connection. I didn’t expect to see you here again. It’s been 10 years. Did you end up becoming a summon?”

Sun-woo’s mind began to get tangled.