Soward’s outstanding shooter colleagues had all either contracted with an organization called Cat Food Warehouse, which was considered the government’s secret agency, or devoted themselves to the FBI or the military. However, she chose the CIA because its vision matched her ideals. Compared to other groups, she was guaranteed her own discretion when completing missions for the CIA.
The sick man lying in the bed asked Soward, “How…did you find me?”
A disgusting stench permeated this room, but it wasn’t coming from his breath. Instead, it came from the bandage that was wrapped around his heavily injured face. He had been changing the dressing on his left eyeball whenever pus and blood would flow out, and the odor emanating from the wound was extremely strong.
Soward was aware that he was suffering from a type of plague, but it wasn’t a disease found on Earth. From what she knew, Osiris’s squad members were primarily the Awakened who dealt with the plague, but he was definitely not one of them as they were in Korea now. They always followed Osiris wherever he was.
Therefore, Blood, who had recently expanded his scope beyond LA to the entire state of California, was likely to be an American Awakened. He also appeared to be the person who was also handling the plague.
“Get out of my house right now. I don’t talk to the FBI!” the man yelled at Soward.
She responded, “If I were the FBI, then I wouldn’t have been this nice. The FBI would scorn you by shouting that they would send you to jail, but I’ll pay you. I compensate those who share precious information with me.”
She threw an envelope toward the man’s bedside. As soon as it fell on the bed, several dollar bills spilled out of the thick envelope that was filled with dozens of bills.
“We never ask informants to testify in court. All you need to do is to point at some things and then take the money. I don’t care if you spend that on buying drugs or somewhere stupid.”
“...Point at things?”
Soward glanced at the television, which was revealing a chaotic scene. There were civilians treating the Awakened like celebrities, protestors condemning the violation of human rights in microchip transplants, a minority denouncing the crimes committed by the Awakened, and various media outlets competing to cover as many scenes as possible. The noise of what was going on showed just how overwhelming it was.
Soward said, “Just point if an Awakened named Blood appears. That’s your duty for now.”
“What the heck… are you talking about? B…Blood?” he stuttered.
“You might not have grasped the situation, but you are no different than a dead man. Tsk tsk.”
Soward clicked her tongue loudly as if she wanted him to hear her. Then, she opened a picture on her smartphone and shoved it into the guy’s face. The picture was hideous, and the guy had seen several sickening scenes like that before.
When he had put the dead body in a container filled with hydrochloric acid after committing a murder, the body was crushed, resembling the image. However, it resulted in a mushy mass of meat as it didn’t fully dissolve in the liquid. Then, he buried the meat in the wasteland and covered it with cement such that wild animals wouldn't smell it.
Despite the task being cumbersome, it was the perfect way to dispose of and hide the body from others.
“Why are you showing me this?” he asked.
Soward stated coldly, “This is what you will look like in five days. Every single part of your body will melt. A few hours later after I leave, you wouldn’t even be able to see anything. You wouldn’t even have a tongue left to scream. Well, no one will hear you even if you scream.”
Soward also added that the man’s hiding place was excellent.
“...Fuck off. Do you think I’ll even flinch at your words?”
She smiled grimly. “Blood must have said the same thing yesterday, right? But what was the result? You lost your men, and you have become nothing but a guy with the plague.”
He snapped, “Were you there? Fucking FBI. You guys were watching everything, but pretended that you didn’t see anything?”
“Oh my gosh, I’m not from the FBI. You are deaf.”
Soward shifted her gaze towards the television, which had grown louder. Whenever a well-known figure from the Awakened community - be it a sports star or a celebrity - was featured as Awakened, the commotion among the people intensified.
All the cameras were focusing on one Awakened, and Soward also knew him. The 49ers quarterback appeared in a suit. She wondered if he spent years leading a group in the Stage of Advent due to the nature of a quarterback leading a team’s attack.
However, it didn’t seem like it as he paid tribute to another Awakened who appeared at the same time. The hierarchy of the Awakened was being revealed right there.
At that time, she heard a trembling voice from the bed.
“Hey, you. Can you fix me?” he asked.
Soward turned her head around with a smile.
“If you cooperate faithfully, I will connect you to a healer. So I advise you to save your money and spend it then.”
At that moment, her attitude did a complete 180. Unlike before when she simply asked him to point out Blood, she now demanded that he explain exactly what was going on. It was hard to get a full picture through wiretapping alone.
There had been multiple incidents caused by the Awakened in the past month, but Blood was the central figure of the major incidents. This wasn’t only because he had quickly gained control over the drug gangs in LA and expanded his influence throughout California. It was also because new drugs were being distributed with LA as the epicenter.
Soward already knew that monster blood contained ingredients that caused negative hallucinations, but Blood’s drugs seemed to have been evolving over time even though they were based on it.
The latest variety of medication in circulation was significantly more potent than the first one. Within a mere month of its release, it had proven to be the most effective in alleviating pain and decreasing adverse hallucinations. Furthermore, it also enhanced the user’s physical capabilities.
Drugs were originally under the jurisdiction of the Drug Investigation Agency (DEA), but this was why Soward was tracking Blood and his drugs. Blood put the drug into circulation not because he wanted to make a profit.
‘He was testing the drugs on the drug addicts.’
***
Undoubtedly, the FBI was a much larger entity than the CIA. Nevertheless, their approach to investigations was inherently limited, given the relatively few intelligence reports they received. On the other hand, the CIA’s focus on preserving individual privacy necessitated the acquisition of vast amounts of information, which served to reinforce their intelligence system.
That was why Soward was devoted to paperwork, which the FBI would consider to be trivial. She had received all the clues and figured out who Blood was. She also added her personal opinion that Blood was absorbing drug gangs into his own for the purposes of testing new drugs instead of trying to make a profit.
Since approaching the Awakened was dangerous, her investigation was conducted only through informants. However, she was confident that her paper would attract Langley’s attention who was on the seventh floor.
However, she hesitated before sending the report because she thought the people on the seventh floor would use this information on a political matter.
‘Wouldn’t it be better to wait a bit more?’
The FBI was politically active and had deep ties to Congress, and the CIA had also taken the same path in recent years. She was perplexed by the reason for this change, but Langley frequently received visits from Washington politicians. The head of a department even made frequent trips to meet with him.
Soward looked at those coming into the building with a serious look. This time, Washington’s big-name politicians, including the head of the department, were pouring in at once.
“What is going on?” Soward asked her co-worker.
The person responded quizzically, “Have you not heard about that yet?”
Soward pretended to type instead of responding, creating the impression that she was too preoccupied with her work on the documents to care about others. Then, her co-worker whispered, “The data was leaked.”
Soward immediately gnashed her teeth.
‘Is it Panama again?’
The leak of information from Mossack Fonseca, the tax avoidance firm based in Panama, once caused panic on the seventh floor before. As Wall Street became chaotic, Washington declared a state emergency. It was the CIA’s responsibility to take care of the mess.
At first glance, the current situation was similar to that moment. The nobles, who had previously maintained their composure by threatening war with China just a few days ago, were now visibly angry and blushing with frustration.
There was nothing in the world that wasn’t done by money, but Soward was particularly outraged when it involved black money on Wall Street. Every time she delved into the root cause of the CIA’s deterioration, Wall Street was there.
The financial empires, with Jonathan Investment Finance Group at their core, wielded tremendous monetary influence. Though it was a harsh reality, given the times, it was especially bitter for her to witness the organization she had risked her life for over a decade undergo changes.
Her co-worker continued after reading the concerns on Soward’s face, “It’s not from Wall Street.”
“Then?” she asked tersely.
“It’s from Korea. The World Awakened Association. They found circumstantial evidence that the identity of an Awakened was leaked. Sooner or later…”
He stopped talking as soon as he spotted the deputy director who was heading to the seventh floor approaching Soward along the way.
She followed him into the conference room after he made a gesture at her. The meeting room was still warm as the heated controversy that took place a few minutes ago still remained there. There were only Soward and the director now in the room, but the director frowned as he wasn’t complacent with the meeting.
“These people believe they are warriors fighting for freedom. You know what is going on, right?”
“I heard the association’s server was hacked.”
“Yes. Seeing that multiple hackers attacked at the same time, it must have been planned. The association and Washington are both mad. The hackers must not have a clue of what they have done.”
The director appeared nervous, as evidenced by his frequent glances at his watch while making the statement.
“The data was sent to the site specializing in disclosure, so they will upload a video about it soon.”
“To what extent was the data leaked?”
“His section, level, and nationality. Up to that point. If it had been leaked beyond that, then the association would have actually done something.”
Soward sighed in relief.
‘Thanks to the association, the Awakened are under control. However, if the association starts using force into the international community, things will get hectic like a reckless locomotive.’
The deputy director said, “We have identified the hackers, so we will step in.”
He finally instructed her to proceed to the location and provide support to his team. He actually meant that the CIA needed to take part in the first joint operation without any conditions.
She commented.“The hackers must be Americans.”
He grimaced. “Unfortunately, yes.”
Soward felt bad that the extradition clause under the UN agreement was happening for the first time in her home country. The United States, the world’s most powerful federation, was the first victim of the agreement that sacrificed national sovereignty.
‘Our government will lose ground when the public finds out about Blood.’
Soward frowned as she felt like she had also changed along with the association over the past decade since she was considering her government’s stance.
“Hurry up, when there is room for us.”
“Okay, sir.”
Right when she got in the car to head to the strike force’s marshaling area she accessed the Internet, recalling the anxious look of the deputy director. As she expected, the materials updated on the disclosure website were being covered as breaking news.
“Authoritarian governments are sustained through conspiracies, and the greater the authority and conspiratorial nature of these governments, the more disruptions to the world occur due to the leaking of information. Whistleblowers from around the globe are using the 'power of truth' to bring about change, helping people to see the fallacy of their beliefs in the political elite, financial elite, and national systems, and to abandon their illusions about democracy. In this way, the world is being transformed."
It had been a while since the founder of the disclosure site exiled himself to the Ecuadorian Embassy in the United Kingdom. However, his words still remained on one side of the website to welcome visitors. Soward touched the latest data on the main screen.
This novel is available on .com.
「 The World Awakened Association: The Awakened Around the World
April 20th, 2018. We obtained reliable information on the status of an Awakened registered in the World Awakened Association, and we are here to make it public. 」
Click.
「The World Awakened Association: The Awakened Around the World
From April 18th to 19th of 2018, the World Awakened Association completed the registration of 182,329 Awakened. Lee Tae-Han, the President of the association, stated, “Unregistered Awakened will not have protection under the agreement with the United Nations, and the jurisdiction over them will lie in countries around the world as previously agreed.”
As of the time of disclosure, nothing is known about the unregistered Awakened. In response, the World Awakened Association established an organization to grasp the status of unregistered Awakened. They also emphasized that the task will be done under the cooperation between the association and the UN member states.
The following list is the status of the registered Awakened.
[1] Odin ― Section: Ender / Level: 600 / Nationality: South Korea
[2] Mary ― Section: Challenger / Level: 559 / Nationality: South Korea
[3] Osiris (Joshua von Karjan) ― Section: Challenger / Level: 533 / Nationality: Germany
[4] King of Hell (Jonathan Hunter) ― Section: Challenger / Level: 530 / Nationality: USA
[5] Caliber (Kwon Seong-Il) ― Section: Challenger / Level: 501 / Nationality: South Korea
[6] Hera (Deborah Belluci) ― Section: Challenger / Level: 499 / Nationality: France
[7] Chiron (William Spencer) ― Section: Challenger / Level: 499 / Nationality: UK
[8] Warrior of Sword (Lee Tae-Han) ― Section: Challenger / Level: 485 / Nationality: South Korea
[9] Hades (Balter Schneider) ― Section: Challenger / Level: 482 / Nationality: Germany
…
[182328] Tiger (Jamal Khan) ― Section: Bronze / Level: 75 / Nationality: India
[182329] Katana (Murai Aita) ― Section: Bronze/ Level: 62 / Nationality: Japan 」
Soward felt compelled to read through the data, even during such an urgent moment, because of her curiosity about Blood. She couldn’t help but speculate about his ranking among the Awakened, given how rapidly he had risen to power in the world of gangs with his formidable superpower
She was confident that he would be one of the strongest Awakened due to his aggressive moves that made gangsters in the area panic. However, she was bewildered by the results.
“Just… gold?”
The world was shocked by the information about Odin.
[Breaking News: ‘Ender,’ a section higher than Challenger, exists. The one and only Ender, Odin.]
[Breaking News: Odin is Korean. Cassandra’s statement “Korea is the sanctuary of Awakened” turns out to be true.]
However, it was more shocking for Soward that Blood was only in the gold section.
‘Considering that a Gold Awakened has already established dominance over the streets of California, how much more powerful will Ender be?’
Only then did she realize why the Awakened freaked out whenever Odin was mentioned.
‘A man of such power is the same human as us…’
She also couldn’t understand why he was staying so quiet.
For now, there were two things she had to do. Rather than looking up at the unknown area that she couldn’t even reach, she had to solve the issues in front of her. One was to capture the criminals who had succeeded in hacking the association’s server, and the other was to stop the distribution of drugs that were evolving day by day.
When Soward was about to start the car, a creepy sound chilled her spine. Two red eyes in the darkness were staring at the back of her head from the backseat.
“I’m sorry that I’m just in the gold section.”
“Blood…”
Swoosh!
It was unclear to Soward how and from where Blood’s fist had struck her. His punch was quick and vicious, resembling a venomous snake attacking its prey as it slammed into her cheek. Despite the excruciating pain and the sensation of her skin tearing, Soward managed to stifle the scream that threatened to escape and didn’t look back.
“There is no need to shiver. I brought good news, so you should be happy about it.”
There was a red pill placed on Blood’s hand as he stretched his arm toward her.
“This is a finished product. You were the first one who crossed my mind. You have been looking for this, right? Why don’t you try it? Come on.”