Ch.135135. The Jaegers’ Meeting

# Yeager Council

Unlike the meetings hosted by the three major guilds and the association, this one is different. This gathering summons all Yeager guilds across the nation.

Due to distance constraints, the council is primarily convened via video conference.

Since the official term “Yeager” became known in history, this council has been held in Korea exactly three times.

This is the fourth time.

The agenda is none other than the battle between two monsters.

A werewolf and a monster named Void are fighting each other.

Since they clashed in broad daylight, they were clearly captured on CCTV and mobile phones.

Numerous guilds were shocked by their confrontation.

“Why are they fighting each other? Has there ever been a case like this?”

“I’ve seen Mahanaga and the Spiral Goat fighting in a crevasse. Is this similar?”

“But in that case, they were fighting over territory in a crevasse. Have there been instances of monsters fighting during a Break?”

“To begin with, during Breaks, they usually attack humanity in unison. Are we still waiting for research results on this?”

Commotion was spreading everywhere.

The power of those monsters was at a level that was painful to even discuss.

“What’s the identity of that monster? How can attacks penetrate the Void monster?”

“Its face is strange. There’s an unnaturally attached child’s face.”

“What’s with that wolf? It has all those things hanging… It could attack, but is it actually saving people? Is that the famous monster that rescues humans?”

“No, what we should focus on now is how their forms suddenly disappeared. Something different from those two placed them in another space and then brought them back.”

“Come to think of it, there’s a gap in time, right? They disappeared once during the battle. Seeing how the Void monster was saved from the brink of death, there must be someone hiding.”

Numerous eyes were analyzing these incidents, mainly focusing on the monsters’ strength and origins. The commotion was growing.

What quelled this uproar was the appearance of the Named ones.

Dokgo Jun and Park Tae-sang, who had returned from Mexico, made their appearance.

Even among the many guild members, Dokgo Jun and Park Tae-sang exuded an overwhelming presence.

As soon as they took their seats, they viewed the battle footage.

Park Tae-sang cleared his throat.

“Hmm. You’ve already analyzed those two monsters, so that’s fine. The issue is why they’re fighting here. The cause of the battle between the two monsters is important. Where it all began. With police cooperation, we discovered an interesting fact. It’s that…”

“They attacked an Academy student named Do Jong-hyun. You all know his face. He’s quite famous.”

As Dokgo Jun stole his words, Park Tae-sang’s expression crumpled.

“Don’t steal my lines.”

“Right, right. Sorry about that.”

Dokgo Jun shrugged and stepped back. Park Tae-sang provided additional explanation.

“This student and the Academy security team were attacked. But since the fight took place near Do Jong-hyun’s home, it’s certain that he was the target. We debated intensely about why they would attack this boy. With this nitpicker here.”

Dokgo Jun and Park Tae-sang looked at each other.

“But the police came up with unexpected results. There was an internet cafe near the Academy, and people who entered during a specific time period died.”

The guilds’ gazes sharpened.

“That means they had ‘some reason to kill’ that originated from that internet cafe?”

“Yes, killing a specific user at that internet cafe was important. So we searched hard for anything related to that time period. And we found something interesting.”

Soon, someone’s warning message appeared before them.

“It’s an anonymous email warning to prepare for a situation lasting over 15 days. This address was used by someone who accessed as a non-member. Interestingly, this incident occurred right after this report was made. What do you think this means?”

“So that story is true.”

Dokgo Jun provided additional explanation.

“That’s right. Whether an insider or not, someone who needed to hide their identity secretly sent a warning, and the enemies noticed it.”

“So that’s why they attacked people during that time period. Wait, how did they obtain such information? The warning was clearly sent to Yangju City…”

“Yangju City requested a police investigation, and the enemy came looking. Moreover, they tracked and killed people in a ‘human-like’ manner rather than barbarically. In other words…”

“A mole.”

Park Tae-sang interrupted again. He cleared his throat.

“There’s a mole in the police. We need to carefully consider how to deal with the fact that the party we most urgently need to cooperate with has been compromised. It won’t be easy to identify them.”

The weight of this statement was enormous. No, it revealed a truth they wanted to ignore.

Monster and human civilization were not unrelated.

At most, there were human monsters. They would infiltrate and incite, but never reveal their true identities.

But monster-humans were originally human. This means yesterday’s police officer could become today’s monster-human, and yesterday’s Yeager could become today’s monster-human.

It means they know how to utilize human civilization.

Even in the bloated Yeager organization, traitors and monster-humans could emerge at any time.

This was the reality that Park Tae-sang and Dokgo Jun were conveying. And right now, they were using human civilization to kill people.

This could happen again in the future.

Park Tae-sang proposed renewing the security system for this reason.

“There’s much to say about this case. Why did the whistleblower choose that specific internet cafe? And why did monsters and monster-humans fight? Do they have factions like us? There are many questions, but first, we need to secure our own ranks. From now on, this council will need new security procedures. Therefore, we’re changing them starting now.”

Indeed, because of this incident, the entire world was urgently re-examining security systems.

Making them more stringent and thorough.

Park Tae-sang and Dokgo Jun concluded the meeting. Their expressions were grim, as if they knew the difficult path ahead.

“Really, absolutely no recording devices in important meetings… It’s inefficient, but…”

“There are Yeagers who can store voices or have recording-like abilities. We need to keep them out too. Banning abilities… well, that would endanger us too. So it’s impossible. We need to reduce the variables somehow. Nothing is scarier than information leaks.”

Dokgo Jun took out a cigarette.

“You still smoke? Don’t you think about your age?”

“It’s stifling. We need to somehow dismantle the gates.”

“Many people oppose that, right? Well, even in our time, there were people who made their living from them.”

Another concern of theirs was that humanity had developed factions regarding the gates.

Many desire the income and prestige gained from the gates.

This is different from the mindset of wanting to exterminate monsters.

With vested interests at stake, it’s difficult to give up easily.

Park Tae-sang also felt a headache coming on.

“This won’t be easy.”

“First, we need to find a way to dismantle the gates, then convince them to leave only a few. They’re getting stronger. While we’ve been wasting time fighting endlessly emerging monsters.”

“It will take time. But you’re carefully avoiding mentioning that.”

Their gazes cautiously surveyed their surroundings. Of course, there was no one skilled enough to hide from these two.

Dokgo Jun took a deep drag of his cigarette.

“Do Jong-hyun. That guy is suspicious. I feel like kidnapping him, legally or otherwise, and making him spill the truth.”

“Stop it. Do you want to hold another apology press conference? If you do something like that, your authority will vanish.”

“Being in a high position comes with irritating responsibilities.”

One of the issues they didn’t bring up in the meeting was Do Jong-hyun.

Dokgo Jun had suspected Do Jong-hyun for a while, but interference operations and confrontations with Eun Se-rin prevented him from finding out properly.

He had suspicions but needed concrete evidence to confirm them. However, when he tried to obtain that evidence, he faced government reprimand and the humiliation of having to hold an apology press conference.

So he was observing for now. But then an incident that triggered his instincts appeared.

Do Jong-hyun was involved again. Moreover, Do Jong-hyun was also connected to the Yoo Deok-min incident before.

“Remember when there was an assassination attempt before? Someone anonymously sent warnings? Some people survived because of it, while others ignored the warnings and died.”

“Are you saying this case is identical? Wait a moment? As I recall, there were warnings for dozens of people. How would he know when and where they would all be carried out? Unless he’s an insider…”

“The police shared something interesting. The VPN company being threatened to provide information isn’t really an issue. That’s what those kinds of companies do. Good VPN companies automatically delete records. Ah, I’m getting off track. While tracing back their route, they also checked the previous warning messages.”

Park Tae-sang recalled the data Dokgo Jun had shown him then.

He couldn’t make a connection.

Strangely, Do Jong-hyun moved so discreetly that he wasn’t even caught on vehicle dashcams, except for entrance CCTV.

“Didn’t that kid buy multiple computer seats at the internet cafe for a game event?”

“Yes, I can’t be certain. Anyone could have sent messages from those seats while they were logged in. They were all non-members too.”

“So Do Jong-hyun is involved in this incident as well? So there seems to be a connection, but you can’t confirm it?”

Dokgo Jun nodded with a slight smile toward Park Tae-sang.

“Correct. Park Tae-sang, you think simply but always see clearly. It’s not direct evidence but a connection. Do Jong-hyun also has entry records for the internet cafe we tracked then. Isn’t that suspicious enough?”

“So during the wolf monster and Mahanaga incident, a monster appeared and dealt with Yoo Deok-min. In other words, that boy has a connection with these monsters?”

“Right. It’s suspicious. Why do they only appear around Do Jong-hyun?”

“Even if we want to press him, the boy is mostly a victim in most situations, isn’t he?”

That’s right. Do Jong-hyun is often forcibly involved. But Dokgo Jun was even more suspicious.

“Right. That’s also a problem. It’s suspicious that he keeps getting entangled by coincidence, but there are many excuses, making it hard to press him. That’s precisely why we should be suspicious.”

“Is there any chance that boy is the whistleblower? If he were the whistleblower, they would know his face.”

“What’s making my head spin is exactly that. If he’s the whistleblower, the other side shouldn’t be unaware of his face and should at least know his techniques. Did you see that Void monster-human? It blankly took the opponent’s attack and got damaged. That means it predicted the attack wouldn’t normally work. It was hit without knowing the opponent’s specialty.”

“They don’t know each other? So they are factions? But I don’t understand. If he’s not the whistleblower, then why? Isn’t it standard for human monsters to incite those around them like cult leaders? They gain people’s trust and use that trust to cause great harm.”

Unlike the typical human monster pattern, they just deal with monsters and disappear.

If they were human monsters, they would have used that power to disrupt people and aim for division.

Dokgo Jun judged this to be the enemy’s strategy to divide humans until the very end.

“Until the very end, they might make us doubt and believe they’re innocent, then stab us in the back. The three major human monsters did that too. If they hadn’t been accidentally exposed after holding out… they would have been our reliable seniors.”

“If that’s not the case…”

Here, Park Tae-sang thought of something slightly different.

“Considering he’s mostly a victim and was even kidnapped, Do Jong-hyun might not be a human monster after all. But what if he’s connected to the monsters?”

“…”

“What if monsters are lending him power? That would explain why he’s easily kidnapped or injured, and why that monster appeared near the boy.”

“…You’re going too far. This time, you’re thinking too simply. Why would monsters help a boy who has nothing? Besides, it’s strange that he knows inside information so well. It’s impossible to know internal affairs unless it’s himself.”

“Hahaha! Right? Well, it was too much of a delusion. Monsters helping humans…”

The two shared an incredulous laugh.

Do Jong-hyun was definitely on their watchlist. However, the end of the year is too busy to act on it.

The White Dragon Guild was scheduled to leave for Chile around December 20th due to a monster incident there and return on the 31st for the year-end ceremony.

But on the 16th, before they departed for Chile, Dokgo Jun received an irrefusable meeting request.

“What? Do Jong-hyun?”

It was Do Jong-hyun who had come to see him.