Save Me, Scrapper!

At Sawon’s shout, Nine startled and sprang straight up. The glass vial in Nine’s hand flew far off into empty air.
The movements of a frightened beast were fast and nimble—so much so that neither Awakened had any chance to get control of the situation.
Clang!
The vial struck a piece of equipment and bounced away. Thankfully, the glass itself didn’t break, but the cluster of spores inside scattered from the heavy impact.
Ji Hayeon quickly picked up the vial. Inside, the spores were speckled across the glass, stuck like grains of sand that had been tossed inside.
“Unbelievable.”
Sawon dragged a hand down his face and glared at Nine.
“Nine.”
In response, Nine let out an indignant series of squeaks, as if to say you’re the one who startled me, so why are you mad at me? Ji Hayeon began scanning the surroundings.
“I don’t see any spores with the naked eye. Ha… I’ll need to bring equipment and check properly.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. You didn’t do it on purpose. You too—check if you see anything scattered. Your eyes are better than mine.”
What was done was done; this wasn’t the time to argue over fault. Sawon pushed his Metena output to the maximum he could manage and scoured the entire area. Wherever he pointed out a spot, Ji Hayeon collected it.
They moved quickly and dealt with the situation, but neither of them felt completely at ease.
“There really isn’t anything left, right?”
“I don’t see anything.”
Sawon answered. Only then did Ji Hayeon let out a breath.
“If you can’t see it, then it’s not there.”
Sawon withdrew the Metena he had been concentrating into his vision. Nine had turned his back to them, sitting facing the wall as if utterly sulked.
“That walking accident. What did you even do right to get sulky? You little troublemaker.”
“Ki.”
Nine’s reply was curt. Exactly how upset Nine was came through clearly, raw emotion with no filter.
This kind of situation was the hardest for Sawon. You had to scold someone when they were at fault, but Nine wasn’t a person—he was a young beast, and worse, his true nature was a Deater. How far was he supposed to discipline something like that? And trying to lecture that small, sullen back about wrongdoing felt nearly impossible.
Sawon stood there with one hand on his hip, wondering what he was even supposed to do, when—
Beepbeepbeepbeep. Beepbeepbeepbeep.
A communication alert rang out. The caller was Mok Geonho. Sawon accepted immediately.
[Connecting to communication line CODE 17.]
“Hey. Did you check it?”
Hey, fuck! That’s not what matters right now!
Aaaaaaagh!
A scream that sounded like it would tear the throat apart came through the communicator.
You remember what we saw yesterday, right?
Bang!
Seo Hansu! Tie him up! I said tie him up!
Chaotic crashing noises followed. At that point, the sulking Nine had completely left Sawon’s mind.
“What happened.”

That sea anemone-looking bastard from yesterday—the °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° one stuck to your head! It just latched onto the rookie’s head!
***
The scene was pure chaos. The Heukgu had appeared near the Central Hunter Bureau, and despite not being a particularly difficult one, the hunters were in complete disarray. More precisely, the uproar centered on Hunter Jin Jeonghae, who had a grotesque brain-like thing stuck to his head.
[Can’t we just tear it off?]
[No! If you rip that thing off, you’ll rip the rookie’s head off with it!]
[Holy shit. Why is that thing there? Where did it even come from all of a sudden?!]
Bang!
[Damn it. Team 3, surround the rookie! Jin Jeonghae, restrain him—wrap him up in a net!]
Jin Jeonghae was soon enveloped in a Metena net as his screams echoed. The footage cut off there.
Kiiiiiiii!
Thud!
In front of Sawon stood a large glass wall. A Metena barrier had been layered over it, and inside, Jin Jeonghae was hurling himself around, slamming his body against the walls in a frantic struggle.
The brain-type Deater on top of his head swayed dozens of thin tendrils before roaring every time Jin Jeonghae’s body collided with the glass.
The detention room on Basement Level 10 was a holding area used before transferring hunters who had committed offenses to proper cells. A hunter who had committed no crime at all—Jin Jeonghae—was confined there now.
Standing outside the detention room were Director Kwon, Director Kim Inhee, and Rescue Team 3. After watching in silence, Director Kwon spoke.
“You’re certain it wasn’t a mutated fissure?”
Mok Geonho answered.
“Yes. Containment was easy, and more importantly, residual waves were detected. The cleanup unit is handling removal right now.”
Director Kim Inhee fixed the mutated Deater with a sharp gaze.
“Can you capture that alive?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to Ji Hayeon. He was the only person here who had dealt with a mutated Deater from start to finish. He was also the one who possessed the most information about it.
Ji Hayeon looked at Sawon, his gaze asking how he should phrase it. Sawon shrugged.
“Just say it straight.”
Ji Hayeon shared his thoughts without sugarcoating them.
“You’ll have to give up one of the two. Either abandon the live capture of the mutant, or abandon the hunter.”
Mok Geonho’s neck veins bulged.
“Not Jeonghae.”
No one present was willing to sacrifice Hunter Jin Jeonghae. Mok Geonho knew that, but when it came to his own team member, he couldn’t hide his aggression. Seo Hansu patted Mok Geonho on the shoulder.
“Don’t get heated, idiot.”
Director Kwon stepped in as well.
“Hunter protection comes first, obviously. Jin Jeonghae’s safety is the top priority.”
Director Kim Inhee supported him.
“Team Leader Mok, calm down. I didn’t mean it that way. Of course, in this situation, protecting the Awakened comes first. Chief Ji. How do we remove it?”
“We pull it with Metena. Intellect-type Metena, to be exact.”
Intellect-type abilities were limited to non-physical domains like the mind and memory. Even when exerting physical influence, they couldn’t escape the bounds of the brain. Director Kwon asked,
“Then can all the researchers deal with it?”
“Probably not.”
Ji Hayeon had drawn the mutated Deater out by releasing his Metena, using the principle that similar Metena characteristics attract one another. It was a method he had discovered by chance, out of desperation to save Sawon.
It was something only someone highly skilled at handling Metena could manage. And there was no researcher as adept at manipulating Metena—both physically and mentally—as Ji Hayeon. No intellect-type Awakened pushed their own body to such extremes to reach that level.
Sawon asked,
“So only you can do it?”
“That’s likely.”
Sawon stroked Nine, tucked against his chest. Nine still seemed sulky, face buried against Sawon, not moving in the slightest. He was clearly upset, but at the same time, he had followed Sawon anyway—apparently settling on this as his chosen method of protest.
Ah, what a headache.
Sawon gave a shallow shake of his head when Mok Geonho asked,
“With things this chaotic, how are we supposed to take it off? Should we keep restraining him?”
Ji Hayeon answered.
“Yes. Yesterday, I still had stamina-type Metena left, so I could handle it alone. Right now, that’ll be difficult.”
“Then I’ll go.”
Sawon stepped forward as if it were obvious, but Ji Hayeon stopped him.
“No. If that thing contacts you again, who knows what will happen. This needs to be handled by the other hunters.”
Sawon looked at him like that was absurd.
“So I’m supposed to just stand here and watch?”
Ji Hayeon shot him a sharp look and answered firmly.
“Yes. You’re standing here and watching.”
“Don’t want to.”
“This isn’t about wanting or not wanting.”
“Why not. I’m your guard.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said? It could affect you.”
“Yesterday, it happened while I was asleep. This is different. I can cover it just fine.”
“No. It’s dangerous. Stay here.”
“Hah. Dangerous?”
Sawon pointed at himself with his index finger and looked at Mok Geonho, his eyes clearly saying, How do you think I’m supposed to feel about being called dangerous?
Mok Geonho glanced back and forth between Jin Jeonghae and Gu Sawon, then ran a hand through his hair. Ji Hayeon pressed his stance even harder.
“We still don’t know enough about mutated Deaters. They could have unknown connections, or exert unforeseen influence and end up harming Hunter Gu.”
“Hm….”
At Director Kwon’s low murmur, Ji Hayeon drove the final nail in.
“Absolutely not.”
Seo Hansu added his own opinion.
“Gu Sawon. Just in case, stay outside as standby for now.”
“Hah.”
This time, Sawon looked at Director Kwon. Director Kwon crossed his arms with a heavy expression and sided with Ji Hayeon.
“Right. Gu Sawon, stay here and wait.”
“You’re sending Chief Ji in there and telling me to just stand around watching?”
“…We don’t have a choice. Compromise.”
Unable to contain the absurdity welling up inside him, Sawon trudged over to a corner and dropped heavily into a chair. He crossed his long legs in a distinctly sloppy posture, then shot Ji Hayeon a narrow glare.
That bastard Ji Hayeon….
Ji Hayeon met Sawon’s gaze calmly, then turned back and began coordinating a plan with Mok Geonho and Seo Hansu. As Sawon quietly watched, something rustled against his chest.