"Jaegyeom, we should go too."
Jaegyeom was led by Yibin's hand and opened the back seat door in a daze. Caught on the way to the office, he was suddenly dispatched to the scene and was completely disoriented. It was the first time he had ever sat in the back seat instead of next to Chief.
As he opened the back seat door, he saw Yoon Taehee sitting in the driver's seat. Yoon Taehee, who had the engine running and was waiting, turned his head and looked at jaegyeom.
"Hi."
Yibin, who had squeezed Jaegyeom into the back seat, went to sit in the front next to Chief.
"Wow, Chief, your observation skills are amazing.
Jaegyeom was standing on the opposite side of the driver's seat. How did you recognize him? I was surprised."
Yoon Taehee smiled brightly and glanced at Jaegyeom through the rearview mirror.
"Right?"
As their eyes met, Jaegyeom unconsciously looked out the window.
"You don't need to be nervous, Jaegyeom. Today, you're not dealing with ghosts."
Kang Yibin briefly explained the mission to Jaegyeom.
Two days ago, one of the Undercover Department exorcists had gone undercover for a field investigation. The infiltration location was a place called 'Yeum Art Center,' where the Undercover Department exorcist disguised as a door-to-door sales representative but contact was cut off thereafter.
They confirmed through surveillance cameras that the exorcist entered the building, but there was no footage of them coming out. Thus, the Undercover Department concluded that something had happened to the infiltrating exorcist and requested support from the Exorcism Department.
The owner of Yeum Art Center was Kim Yekwon, the head of a welfare foundation.
The location of the exorcist, identified through a pager, had been recorded at Yeum Art Center for the past two days. Whatever the situation, the likelihood of them being held captive was high.
Therefore, Yoon Taehee and Kang Yibin were attending a charity event held at Yeum Art Center today. Since many outsiders would be present at the charity event, it was the perfect opportunity to hide their identities and infiltrate. The mission was to ascertain the whereabouts of the Undercover Department exorcist.
The black sedan carrying the three finally arrived at their destination. Yoon Taehee intentionally parked the car far from the event venue. The three of them shared special radio pins and began their final checks.
"Manager Kang, did you bring your weapon?"
"Of course."
Kang Yibin had hidden a jackknife under her skirt.
"Good. Then let's go in."
The three of them headed towards the entrance of the art center in a line.
A moment later, Jaegyeom, who was following Kang Yibin a couple of steps behind, glanced back at Yoon Taehee. Slowing his pace and watching Kang Yibin, he spoke in a barely audible voice as Yoon Taehee approached.
"Hey. Why do I not have a weapon?"
Yoon Taehee and Kang Yibin had weapons, but Jaegyeom had nothing. He had not yet been assigned a weapon.
"Why don't you have a weapon?"
In response to Jaegyeom's question, Yoon Taehee raised an eyebrow.
"You have the best weapon."
When Jaegyeom looked at Yoon Taehee with confusion, he poked his chest with his finger and said without blinking.
"Me."
"..."
Jaegyeom couldn't find the words and continued walking.
***
At the main entrance of the art center, a few staff members with in-ear pieces were guarding the entrance. All the staff were dressed in black suits, giving off a strange sense of intimidation. As they approached, one of the staff members flipped through a list.
"Welcome. What is your name?"
When Kang Yibin provided a fabricated name, the staff member glanced at Jaegyeom and Yoon Taehee behind her.
"Are the two behind you with you?"
"Yes, they are."
The staff member handed out pamphlets detailing the schedule for the charity event.
"You may enter."
The staff member politely gestured towards the entrance. Upon entering the building, they found a massive dome-shaped lobby. The art center had a total of three floors. The first floor was a convention hall, the second floor was an exhibition hall, and the third floor was a small theater. The charity event was taking place in the convention hall on the first floor.
The three of them walked along the red carpet laid out in the lobby and entered the convention hall. The interior of the hall was decorated like a hotel banquet hall. Round tables covered with white cloth were
placed at regular intervals, and a large stage was set up at the front. The number of attendees appeared to be around a hundred.
As Yoon Taehee was carefully surveying the hall, he suddenly narrowed his eyes.
It was just a charity event, but he couldn't help but feel that there were unnecessarily many security personnel. Just counting the number of security guards in the hall, there were nearly twenty. Since it was a formal event attended by high-value donors and sponsors, it was natural for the organizers to pay attention to security, but...
"Chief, what's wrong?"
As he stood lost in thought, Kang Yibin, who was next to him, whispered. Yoon Taehee shook his head, saying it was nothing. It might just be an overreaction.
"Welcome."
At that moment, a server in a white shirt and bow tie approached the three of them. The server politely offered them welcome drinks on a tray.There were three small champagne glasses on the tray, enough for the number of people.
"Thank you."
Yoon Taehee smiled and picked up a glass.
"Thanks."
Kang Yibin also naturally accepted a glass. Unlike the two, who acted effortlessly, Jaegyeom felt awkward in this situation. As he hesitated to pick up the glass, the server stared at him intently, as if subtly urging him to take it. Jaegyeom, sensing the pressure, finally took the glass.
"Have a great time."
The three of them clinked their glasses and exchanged glances while sipping the champagne.
It was a signal to scatter and observe the atmosphere before they began to move in earnest. Inside the event hall, people of all ages were gathered, regardless of gender. Judging by the sight of children running around, it seemed that many families were present.
As jaegyeom wandered around the hall, he opened the pamphlet in his hand. While looking at the building guide included in the booklet to gauge the internal layout, he suddenly felt something brush against his arm. Just as Jaegyeom turned his head to look around, he noticed a small marble-like object on the floor.
Curious about what it was, he picked it up and saw a child, around seven years old, looking at him with a toy slingshot in hand.
Jaegyeom approached the child, holding the marble.
"Hey. Is this..."
He was about to ask if it belonged to the child when the child suddenly dropped the slingshot.
"Wahhh... I'm sorry..!"
The child burst into tears unexpectedly, and Jaegyeom was taken aback. He had only intended to return the marble, but it seemed the child was frightened, thinking he was going to scold them. Jaegyeom's
expression was rather stern.
As the child began to cry loudly, a man who appeared to be the child's parent rushed over and bowed his head in apology to Jaegyeom.
"I'm sorry. Excuse my child..."
"Uh? Oh..."
Jaegyeom awkwardly accepted the apology. With the child crying, attention turned towards them. The man hurriedly took the crying child away.
What's going on? I didn't do anything...
As he stood there with a puzzled expression, he noticed the toy that the child had dropped.
"Oh? Excuse me... you left this behind..."
Jaegyeom picked up the slingshot and turned around.
But the child and the man had already disappeared outside the event hall.
What should I do? Should I go after them and return it?
Just as jaegyeom scratched his head, he saw Yoon Taehee and Kang Yibin waving at him from a distance.
He decided to put the slingshot in his pocket and walked over to them.
"It's better to move before the event starts."
Since it was still before the event began, there were people exploring or wandering around the center.
Once the event started, all visitors would gather in the hall, so now was the right time to move freely around the interior.
Yoon Taehee, checking the time on his wrist, continued speaking.
"Jaegyeom, you take the first floor, and Manager Kang will take the second floor. I'll go to the third floor.
Nodding at the instructions, Kang Yibin left first. Just as Yoon Taehee was about to follow, Jaegyeom hesitated for a moment and reached out to gently tug
at Yoon Taehee's jacket.
He turned around with a puzzled expression.
"What? Is there a problem?"
"Well, a little kid dropped this earlier..."
Jaegyeom took the slingshot out of his pocket and explained the situation.
***
Having initiated her infiltration first, Kang Yibin headed to the second-floor exhibition hall.
Pretending to look at the exhibits, she took out a hand mirror-shaped pager from her clutch bag. After glancing around, she pretended to check her reflection in the mirror while drawing a mark on the pager. The special tracking function was activated.
When the tracking function was set, she would receive a notification if she got close to another pager within a certain range. Turning off the pager would disable communication and location transmission, but fortunately, the Undercover Department exorcist's pager had been on for the past two days.
After leaving the exhibition hall, she headed to the opposite side. Next to the empty reception area was a hallway, where a temporary fabric barricade had been set up at the entrance to prevent people from entering.
According to the surveillance camera footage near the entrance, the Undercover Department exorcist had been recorded entering the center, but there was no footage of them coming out. This meant that they were trapped inside the building, likely in a location inaccessible to the public.
Kang Yibin took out her phone from the clutch bag she was holding. Casually holding the phone to her ear, she began pretending to make a call.
"Hey, sis. What's up? Oh really? No, right now I'm..."
While pretending to be engrossed in the call and keeping an eye on her surroundings, Yibin suddenly nimbly jumped over the barricade. Just as she successfully entered the hallway, she turned a corner
and was met with a fierce-looking security guard.
The guard glared at Kang Yibin with bulging eyes.
"You can't wander around here."
Goddamn it. she cursed inwardly.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know where the restroom was."
However, Kang Yibin was from the Undercover Department. Being specialized in infiltration, she was quite confident in managing her expressions. With a look that said she was truly sorry for bothering him, she asked sweetly.
"Excuse me, but where is the ladies' restroom?"
The guard raised his hand and pointed towards the lobby.
"Go towards the right elevator lobby."
"Oh, thank you."
Kang Yibin smiled brightly and turned her body. As she walked in the direction the guard indicated, she pressed her back against the wall as soon as she turned the corner.
Counting to sixty in her head, she stealthily approached the guard from behind. As she quietly got closer, she infused her hand with spiritual energy and swiftly struck the back of the guard's neck.
Thwack!
A crisp sound echoed. The guard turned around with a bewildered expression. He showed no sign of having felt the impact at all.
"...What is it?"
Kang Yibin looked at her hand with a very confused expression. She had intended to knock him out and take his ID to infiltrate, but for some reason, the guard remained unharmed despite the blow. Just as the guard was scanning her up and down with a suspicious look.
"Ah... um, there was a mosquito sitting there..."
She awkwardly laughed and brushed her hands off.
"It's early summer, and there are already mosquitoes?!
This is all due to global warming..."
As she rambled on, Kang Yibin finally spoke with a bright red face.
"I'm sorry..."
***
Less than twenty minutes after attempting the infiltration, Kang Yibin contacted them.
[Chief! There's a problem!]
"What do you mean?"
[l can't use... I can't use my spiritual energy!]