The firewood in the fireplace suddenly collapsed. Yoon Tae-ha turned her head to look at the blackening logs. Watching the embers moving around inside the fireplace, she murmured,

“It burns up so quickly.”

Cheon Geon-young recalled the face of the woman standing with a bouquet of blue flowers given by his mother.

Researcher Hyun Yi-jeong.

The head of a project his mother had sponsored in its early stages. A pale face, a small and thin frame, and Dr. Moon standing beside her. The afterimage of the bouquet floated like a ghost within him.

“My teacher was an inventor. She knew how to make amazing things.”

Yoon Tae-ha wore a serene smile, like someone reminiscing about pleasant memories. Cheon Geon-young intuitively knew that Hyun Yi-jeong was grouped in the same category as Lee Hae-kyung or Seo Do-jin within her.

“She was probably the most outstanding inventor and developer born on Earth. Most of the training I found fun was done with my teacher.”

Cheon Geon-young’s hand, slowly tracing the rim of the round watch, was gentle. There was no doubt that it was something precious to his esper.

Something like this, to me.

The gifts Yoon Tae-ha gave were always unpredictable. From the blue necktie to this silver watch. They were simple, without any intention of currying favor. He was the one who was rather eager to assign meaning to them.

“I heard that in the past, first-generation espers measured their rank in a similar way to this. They would collect ether and then trap it in a sealed space, making the esper endure it there.”

Cheon Geon-young turned the watch over. His intense gaze went to the unmoving hand. Yoon Tae-ha nervously rolled the end of her sleeve around her finger. A little later, Cheon Geon-young spoke. After the surface of the firewood had completely turned black.

“Is she someone you still meet? Like Dr. Moon?”

Yoon Tae-ha, sitting with her legs stretched out, habitually tapped the side of her thigh. Her following voice was calm.

“No. She passed away when I was young. I think I was about nine years old.”

It was the answer that matched the card he held. Relief and guilt washed over him simultaneously. His whole body felt heavy, as if sinking. Cheon Geon-young was overcome with an urge to hug the woman in front of him without any reason.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize. It’s the truth. I cried a lot back then, but I’m okay now. So much time has passed.”

Lifting the empty mug, Yoon Tae-ha checked the undissolved cocoa powder gathered at the bottom. She tilted the cup back and forth, moving the powder around.

“She was a good teacher. And an even better researcher. If it weren’t for her, about a third of the kids in the north might have gone astray. And I probably would have been the first to go off the rails.”

Actually, I already did go off the rails. Swallowing the rest of her words, Yoon Tae-ha gave a bitter smile.

A sweet scent rose from the undissolved powder in the cup. A scent that gently melted away the gloom. It was a scent that reminded her of the researcher who would wait with something sweet when she returned from unpleasant and painful experiments.

Hyun Yi-jeong didn’t force her. When other researchers took blood draws for granted and gestured with their chins, she would smile and ask for her cooperation. It might have seemed like nothing, but at that age, even such small differences melted her heart.

Hyun Yi-jeong was also among the researchers who often clashed with Professor Yoon. She doesn’t remember all the conversations the adults had about her. But she remembered a few moments when Hyun Yi-jeong confronted Professor Yoon with rebellious eyes.

Was that why she liked her more? Because she was one of the few researchers who could say something to Professor Yoon.

Yoon Tae-ha put the cup down on the floor.

“Training to gradually increase the level and bear the weight will be helpful. Especially for you, as a natural element user.”

Cheon Geon-young met her eyes. His face seemed to understand her deeply. He seemed to know the preciousness of the watch without her having to explain its history. That was a small comfort.

*

Cocytus is largely divided into three areas.

The Crow’s Forest, the Red Canyon, and Mount Misty. The Red Canyon was where the bases of various unauthorized guilds were concentrated. It was a natural phenomenon for those who did not want to be controlled by the law to gather in the barren canyon.

And the Crow’s Forest was the land of monsters. Clusters of unrecorded monsters were densely spread like ant nests, making it impossible for humans to reside there.

ARC had once rolled up its sleeves to conquer it, but only lost many agents and retreated. Fortunately, the monsters living in the Crow’s Forest rarely came out. ARC acknowledged that conquering it was premature and had to focus on protecting the land where people lived for the time being.

As for Mount Misty, it was a mountain with a ghost story that no one who entered had ever come out alive. Rumors circulated that space-time was distorted there, or that rifts opened and closed silently, so even the most notorious anti-government forces did not dare to approach it carelessly.

Therefore, the Red Canyon was relatively less accessible to monsters and was a stabilized land. A canyon area where rock walls stretching for dozens of kilometers rose high.

The bases of organizations operating in the shadows were hidden between the deep crevices. The base of the unauthorized guild ‘Black Lions’ was also in the canyon.

Rehv, who had returned to the base from the forest, was itching to tell what had happened. Margo imposed a gag order on him. It was because she judged that reporting to the leader was the priority.

You’re not the only one who knows how to make such decisions, you know?

Rehv grumbled after being told off. But he also knew. That his mouth was endlessly light.

To suppress his impulses, Rehv transformed into a cat until the leader returned. In cat form, the desire to speak was reduced even if only slightly.

When his mouth itched, he would twitch his whiskers and threaten the members to give him snacks. Watching the prowling cat, the other members guessed that Rehv had another secret.

It was a little while later that the man Rehv called leader returned.

Rehv, who had been lying on the leather sofa, stretched when he spotted the person he had been waiting for. A middle-aged man with an extraordinary gait was approaching this way through the hallway.

He was a man wearing worn-out boots and brown riding pants. From above, one could see a loose ivory shirt that looked like it would reveal his chest, followed by a riding vest that looked relatively clean.

The black vest, unable to contain his muscular chest, looked like it would burst open with a pop at any moment. His skin was a sun-kissed bronze, and his hair was short like a soldier’s.

He casually tossed something at a passing member. The member who received the gift was horrified to realize it was a chimera’s horn. The member fled like a grasshopper jumping between rice paddies. Watching the flailing figure, he chuckled.

That man is so consistent.

Rehv thought so and meticulously licked his front paw with his tongue. Soon, a huge palm that had come close roughly stroked Rehv’s head. The cat growled fiercely.

“Did you come to greet me?”

In an instant, Rehv transformed into a boy. Dazzling blond hair stuck out haphazardly.

“Chertan! I told you not to pet me backward!”

“Hahaha! This is more fun!”

The leader of the Black Lions, Chertan, laughed heartily. Rehv covered his ears. The laughter was too loud.

Chertan suddenly lifted Rehv without warning. With the boy tucked under his arm, he strode over and arrived at the conference room where Margo was waiting.

The base of the Black Lions also only resembled a cave at the entrance, and the interior was entirely modern and clean.

“Oh my. You’re carrying him like luggage?”

Margo wasn’t very surprised by the way Rehv was being treated. Chertan placed Rehv on the desk. With the face of a parent releasing a preschooler in a playground. Rehv, freed from his grasp, irritably straightened his clothes.

“I was curious about what urgent matter would make you call me, so I rushed over.”

Chertan’s Korean was perfect. The members of the Black Lions basically used Korean, and the fact that their leader, Chertan, was the best at speaking Korean among the Earth languages played a big role. Chertan was also the one who taught Rehv Korean.

Rehv, who had brushed off the wrinkles in his shorts, narrowed his eyes. Margo had said that his wife was Korean. Chertan became unusually taciturn whenever the topic of his family came up. The only thing he had revealed was his wife’s place of origin.

“How far did you go?”

“To the foot of Mount Misty.”

In the conference room where they were talking, there were fifteen comfortable office chairs. But Chertan sat on the desk as if the chairs were invisible.

“So, what’s the main point?”

Margo paused for a moment and said,

“How far can you join hands with the enemy?”

Chertan slowly stroked his chin and pondered. As far as Rehv knew, his goal was simple.

Revenge against ARC. Chertan was the man who had rescued Rehv, who had been trapped as a test subject.

Rehv still remembered that day vividly. The nightmarish night when creatures in the same situation as him writhed on the dirty laboratory floor. If Chertan had arrived just a little later, he might have become a chimera, ARC’s dog.

Having lost his ego, he might have wandered somewhere in this vast Green Sea like a pack of stray dogs.

Remembering that day, he felt inclined to tolerate Chertan’s capricious personality somewhat. At that time, Chertan had asked Rehv, who had become free, only one question.

Are you going to take revenge?

Those who had joined the Black Lions were people who had actively agreed to his question. They rescued espers and strangers whom ARC had imprisoned. Those rescued naturally regarded the Black Lions as their home and entrusted themselves to them. The more ability users ARC imprisoned they reclaimed, the greater the Black Lions’ power grew. That was why ARC hated them so terribly.

So, they were trying to hunt them down by falsely accusing them of being anti-government forces. Vile bastards!

Rehv thought so. Chertan was not an ambitious man trying to overthrow the current world. He was just the leader of a guild that cut open the fat bellies of hypocrites and rescued those imprisoned. Often crossing the boundaries of the law.

While Rehv continued his thoughts, the huge man, having finished his brief contemplation, opened his mouth.

“Are you talking about our competitors? It depends on what kind of enemy. If it’s about cooperation between the guilds in the canyon, I want to say that the door to becoming a comrade of the Black Lions is always open.”

“Anyone?”

“If I were shy about choosing people, I wouldn’t have founded a guild with strangers and escaped espers, would I? Don’t you think so, Rehv?”

“Don’t ask me difficult things.”