Weak Class of Anti-Hero
Chapter 40: Burgers, Limousines, and a Prometheus Mission

Chapter 40: Burgers, Limousines, and a Prometheus Mission

The lunchtime rush finally subsided. Most of the customers left, leaving behind dirty tables and welcome silence.

Mr. Kim came into the kitchen, looking tired. He grabbed a bottle of water and took a large gulp.

"Good job, kid," he said. "We handled it well."

He looked at me. "And thanks. For letting it go, earlier."

"He didn’t deserve it," I said, cleaning the griddle.

"I know," said Mr. Kim. "But sometimes, you have to pick your battles. This restaurant is all I have. I can’t afford to have problems with the soldiers from the base."

He sighed. "It’s not always fair. But that’s life."

We worked in silence for a while.

Then, the bell on the front door rang.

"I’ll get it," said Mr. Kim.

I heard him greet the customer. His voice was polite, as usual.

Then, his tone changed. It became tense.

"We’re closed for the afternoon break," he said.

"I don’t think so," replied a voice I didn’t recognize. A cold, arrogant voice. "We’re just here to pick up our employee."

I stopped cleaning. My body tensed.

I looked towards the dining room.

Two men in black, expensive suits stood in the entrance. They didn’t look like they were there for a burger.

And behind them, waiting on the sidewalk, I recognized a figure.

Yoo-Na.

My normal life had just ended. Again.

Mr. Kim stood in front of the counter, trying to block their path. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s no one here."

One of the men in suits smiled, a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "Don’t make things difficult, old man. We know he’s here."

He took a step forward. Mr. Kim didn’t move.

"You’re not coming into my kitchen," he said, his voice low and firm.

The man sighed, as if it were a chore. He raised his hand.

I saw a faint glow of Aura forming around his fingers. He was going to attack.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I came out of the kitchen.

"Leave him alone," I said. "I’m the one you’re looking for."

The two men turned to me. Their gazes swept over me, from my stained apron to my impassive face.

"Kang Ji-Hoon," said the first one. "We have a summons for you. The director of the academy wants to see you. Immediately."

Mr. Kim looked at me, completely lost. "The academy? Ji-Hoon, what is..."

"It’s okay, Mr. Kim," I cut him off. "I have to go. It’s a family matter."

I took off my apron and placed it on the counter.

I approached the men in suits. They stepped aside to let me pass.

As I left the restaurant, I met Yoo-Na’s gaze. She stood beside a black limousine. She wasn’t smiling. Her expression was cold, triumphant.

"You see," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "You can try to hide in a rat hole. But we always find you."

I didn’t answer her. I got into the car.

It wasn’t an invitation. It was a kidnapping. And I knew it had nothing to do with the director. It was her. It was personal.

I sat on the leather seat of the limousine. The door closed with a thud, cutting me off from the outside world.

Yoo-Na got in and sat opposite me. The interior of the car was silent, luxurious. A mobile prison.

She nodded to the driver, and the car started smoothly.

We sat there, in silence, for a long time, staring at each other. It was a duel of wills.

I broke the silence.

"You don’t know," I began, my voice low, almost a whisper. "You really don’t know."

She raised an eyebrow, feigning indifference. "I don’t know what, trash?"

I leaned forward. My face was inches from hers. I let a little of my aura, that cold, dark hunger, escape. Just enough for her to feel it.

Her arrogant expression wavered. She felt the danger. The predator in me.

"You don’t know how much, at this very moment, I want to kill you," I said, each word weighing a ton. "Not to fight you. Not to humiliate you. To kill you. To erase you. To make sure you never existed."

I saw the fear in her eyes. Real fear. The same as in the Pit.

"The only thing holding me back," I continued, "is that it would be too easy. Too quick. And you don’t deserve such a simple end."

She swallowed, trying to maintain her composure.

I sat back, letting the aura dissipate. I put on a cold smile.

"So, tell me, Yoo-Na. Where are we going, exactly? Because if it’s not to the director’s office, this conversation is going to become a lot less pleasant for you."

It took Yoo-Na a moment to find her voice, visibly shaken by my threat.

"The director is sending you," she finally said, her voice a little less confident. "But it’s not a summons. It’s a mission."

She tapped a console built into the car. A holographic screen appeared between us. It displayed plans, photos, and reports.

"The director wants us to investigate a case," she explained, her tone becoming professional again, as if to hide behind the work. "A clandestine laboratory. Very well funded. Very well protected."

She displayed an image. Test tubes containing a black, pulsating liquid.

"They are using the genes of creatures from the Abyss. They synthesize them and inject them into normal humans. The ’Stagnants’. The 30% who have no power."

My blood ran cold. It was the project my father had told me about. The secret organization for which he had risked his life. Apparently, others had had the same idea, but with far less noble intentions.

"They are trying to create artificial ’Awakened’," Yoo-Na continued. "But the results are... monstrous. Most of the subjects die. Those who survive become unstable and ultra-violent beasts."

The limousine slowed down, leaving the main road and turning onto a dirt track.

We stopped at the edge of a cliff.

I looked out the window. Across a deep ravine, there was a rocky island. And on that island, a large concrete complex, surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers.

It looked like a high-security penitentiary.

"There it is," said Yoo-Na. "The ’Prometheus’ laboratory. Our target."

She looked at me, and for the first time, there was no hatred in her eyes. Just the tension of a soldier before battle.

"The director thought our... combined talents would be perfect for this infiltration mission."

I looked at the laboratory-penitentiary, then at Yoo-Na, then back at the laboratory.

I sighed and put on my most annoyed look.

"Great. A suicide mission," I said flatly. "But there’s a problem."

Yoo-Na frowned. "Which one?"

"I have a shift to finish," I replied, very seriously. "There are burgers that aren’t going to flip themselves. And I promised Mr. Kim I’d clean the fryer tonight."

She stared at me, speechless, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Are you kidding me? We have a mission of the highest importance, and you’re talking about burgers?"

"Exactly," I said. "It’s my cover. My job. You should try to find one. Maybe there’s a waitress position open at a bar in Itaewon. It would clear your head."

She clenched her fists, her face turning red with anger. "You’re unbelievable."

"I know." I gestured to the driver. "Now, you’re going to kindly take me back where you found me."

"We can’t! The mission is..."

"The mission will wait," I cut her off. "We’re not rushing into a place like that without a plan. And I don’t make plans when I’m hungry."

I looked at her, my expression becoming serious again.

"Take me back. We’ll meet later, tonight, in a neutral place. And we’ll discuss how to approach that laboratory. In the meantime, don’t do anything stupid. Got it?"

Yoo-Na struggled against her own anger for a moment. But she saw that I wasn’t kidding. And she knew that she couldn’t do this mission without me.

She sighed, defeated.

"Driver," she said, through gritted teeth. "Take him back to his crappy restaurant."

The black limousine dropped me off right in front of the burger restaurant. The few passersby who were there watched the scene, amazed. A young man in an apron getting out of a luxury car wasn’t something you saw every day.

I went back inside. Mr. Kim was behind the counter, looking incredibly worried.

"Ji-Hoon! My God, are you alright? Who were those people? The mafia?"

"No, no," I said to reassure him. "Just... family. Rich and arrogant cousins. We had a little discussion. It’s settled."

He didn’t seem completely convinced, but he nodded. "As long as you’re not in trouble..."

I put my apron back on and finished my shift. The afternoon was quiet.

But my mind was far from Itaewon. It was on that prison island.

The "Prometheus" laboratory. It was a much bigger threat than a few bullies from the academy. It was a perversion of science, a danger to "Stagnants" like Ji-Soo.

Yoo-Na may have had bad reasons for involving me, but the mission itself was just.

That evening, after cleaning the fryer as promised, I left work.

I sent a message to Yoo-Na. Not with my personal terminal. I used an old-fashioned public phone.

"10 PM. The roof of the Daesung Building in Yeouido. Come alone."

It was one of the tallest skyscrapers in Seoul. A perfect place for a discreet discussion, with a breathtaking view of the city. And, above all, a place where it would be difficult to ambush me.

I had to establish the rules of our collaboration. There was no way I was going to let her manipulate me again.

This time, I was calling the shots.