“I met Amdukias. Do you happen to know him? A very large silver unicorn.”

“That would be a rather rare monster to encounter, wouldn’t it? Actually, in my opinion, it’s closer to a mystical creature than a monster. It’s not a beast that kills living things for fun.”

“He was polite to people.”

Yoon Tae-ha told the others about her visit to the second research lab. Even the fact that Arc’s main force, led by Baek Sang-ho and Guillermo, was planning to arrive and attack the place. Chertan, having heard Arc’s plan, slowly stroked his chin as if amused.

“According to Amdukias, there’s also an entity here with a combat power similar to mine. Though I’m not sure how accurately a unicorn can measure combat power.”

“You’d better take it to heart. It’s a wise creature.”

“Did the crow prince ask you to attack this place?”

“That’s right. He said he’d tell us how to get in, so we should destroy all the chimeras here. If we do that, he’ll give us proof that Arc and Orca are closely cooperating. He also said he’d tell us everything he knows.”

“Don’t you think it’s suspicious that he’s suddenly changing his attitude?”

“He seems to have fallen out with the higher-ups.”

“The higher-ups being…?”

“The Secretary-General. He was quite specific. He said the leader of Arc was the one who gave him the orders.”

Mago, who had been listening to Yoon Tae-ha and Chertan’s conversation, asked a question.

“Did he say why they fell out?”

A fishy smile appeared on Chertan’s face.

“The Secretary-General sent chimeras to the crow prince’s hometown.”

Yoon Tae-ha was at a loss for where to begin her questioning and couldn’t open her mouth.

Did this mean Arc had already acquired the method to open rifts? Why did the Secretary-General send chimeras to his subordinate’s hometown?

She wasn’t the only one greatly surprised. Lev, who had been yawning widely with his eyes half-closed, returned to his human form. The boy’s eyes widened as he said,

“Has a conflict broken out within Orca?”

“It seems to be the crow prince’s solo act. He doesn’t intend to reveal that he has betrayed them yet. If his betrayal is known, he won’t be able to manage the green feathers. The crow wants to protect them.”

Mago gave Yoon Tae-ha a meaningful look.

The green feathers were like relics left behind by the Second Prince’s subordinates. If he were the real Second Prince, he wouldn’t intend to hand them over to someone else. Yoon Tae-ha began to piece together the remaining questions and the information Chertan had given her.

Just then, Mago started recounting the story the three of them had shared before Chertan arrived. When the explanation about Raphael came up, Chertan let out a hollow laugh.

“Looks like there’s a dysfunctional family here too.”

“Didn’t the crow prince say anything else about his brother?”

“He said he’d give us more information after we take care of the chimeras. I guess it’s his way of asking for a minimum of sincerity. We agreed to meet again after destroying the chimeras in the lab.”

“A minimum of sincerity is destroying two chimera research labs? What a funny guy.”

Lev frowned, looking displeased. While Lev and Chertan argued about whether to trust the crow prince, Yoon Tae-ha’s gaze fell on the honeycomb-shaped lab.

The lab called the Green Hive was a facility that even Arc’s Alpha Team was unaware of. If the crow prince had truly betrayed Orca, then the Secretary-General wouldn’t know that the location of the Green Hive had been exposed either. It was unlikely that a man who was a top executive would have carelessly leaked information.

“The Secretary-General approved Alpha Team’s operation. That person knows that Alpha Team will go to the Small Hive in ten days.”

Lev and Chertan, who had been bickering, fell silent and looked at Yoon Tae-ha. A bluish light flickered on her face, emphasizing her cool demeanor.

“They won’t do something stupid like completely emptying the Small Hive. Because then it would be obvious that information had leaked. They’ll move the most important data and chimeras to another place and leave behind only data that isn’t critical even if it’s taken.”

Mago, who had stood up from her seat, looked at the Green Hive building and said quietly,

“I don’t even need to say where they’ll move the important data.”

“Mago and I thoroughly destroyed the abandoned labs in the vicinity! It’s impossible to go back there.”

Lev raised his hand emphatically. Yoon Tae-ha winked at him as if praising him. Lev, instantly in a good mood, looked at Chertan and proudly raised his chin.

“I think it’s worth a shot.”

It could be a trap, but there’s no operation in the world that doesn’t involve that level of risk. Yoon Tae-ha looked at Chertan and sought his agreement. Chertan was the leader of the Black Lizard, after all.

“Aren’t you going?”

He rubbed his bulging arm muscles, paused for a long time, and then opened his mouth.

“We’ll have to raid both labs simultaneously. That will require preparation time. I did send a return signal to the members who left the guild, but attacking within 48 hours is impossible.”

Lev clicked his tongue as if he was dumbfounded.

“You were planning to set out tomorrow?”

“The faster, the better. We’ll deal with the consequences of the decision on site.”

Mago quickly examined the terrain and began to concretize their route. Lev rushed out of the conference room to inform the other guild members about their departure.

*

Chertan and Yoon Tae-ha, who had been discussing efficient infiltration methods while looking down at the lab, went out into the hallway to take a short break.

They could feel the suddenly bustling atmosphere of the guild. Guild members carried boxes filled with equipment, almost running across the hallway.

The two, who had been talking about how to deal with the monsters that might exist near the Green Hive, eventually arrived at the rooftop of the building. Yoon Tae-ha briefly looked at the distant cluster of glittering hotels before turning her back completely so she wouldn’t see it.

“Are we going in some illegally modified aircraft, by any chance?”

“Were you planning to rent a bicycle? This isn’t the Han River.”

“Have you ever seen the Han River?”

“No.”

Yoon Tae-ha put her hands behind her back and slowly approached the railing of the rooftop. Chertan, left behind, roughly swept back his hair with a complicated expression. He kicked the bare rooftop floor once and strode after Yoon Tae-ha.

“Ours were made by artisans, so they’ll never explode. I got this aircraft early, as a favor for rescuing the technician’s daughter, because the reservations are full.”

“Wow.”

“How about relearning how to genuinely admire things?”

Even to escape her complicated thoughts, Yoon Tae-ha laughed out loud. But it failed miserably to change her mood.

To deal with the Green Hive, she would have to leave Cheon Geon-young’s side. She would finish the job as quickly as possible, but it could take more than a day if things dragged on.

What should she say she had been doing? Just making something up wouldn’t work on him. What if she got hurt? What if her identity was exposed?

But she couldn’t just send the Black Lizard to a lab full of chimeras. Just as her Arc colleagues were important, the guild members were now important to her too. They were people who had experienced similar pain to her. She couldn’t help but care about them.

The underground city where the sun never rose didn’t know how to sleep. Yoon Tae-ha stared blankly at the small flying vehicles speeding along the roads that were intricately intertwined like blood vessels, ignoring the traffic lights.

“Is it true that the stranger knows your mother’s name?”

Chertan, who stood beside her, casually asked.

“Yes. That man said that Yoon Jeong-hoon’s son isn’t my father. He said he’d tell me my mother’s name if I cooperated in crossing over to Lethe.”

“So you readily accepted a dangerous offer?”

“Apart from the offer, Raphael threatened me. If I had said no there, I might have been killed by a white laser beam.”

“How long have you lived with the desire to find your mother?”

“I’ve never even thought about wanting to find her.”

“What on earth does that mean?”

Chertan’s tone sounded slightly hurt. Yoon Tae-ha glanced at him, looking puzzled.

She grabbed her wrist, which was starting to ache, and rotated it a few times until it cracked. Chertan’s expression became even more displeased when he heard that.

“Will anything change if you find her?”

“……”

“The number of people I have to protect and care about will just increase. If she’s already dead, I’ll be in pain thinking about the reason she died, and if she’s alive, I’ll lose sleep worrying that my enemies might harm her.”

“That’s unbelievable.”

“When Raphael said I had a separate birth mother… my heart beat fast at that exact moment. But that was just a reflex.”

“A reflex, you say.”

“I received education when I was in the North. To associate positive things with family. You know, the typical image. Like in public service announcements.”

“Those damn bastards. They teach kids like that, so they all end up with twisted personalities.”

“You just brought up my upbringing.”

Chertan had the expression of someone who had bitten into a very bitter herb. A moment of awkward silence passed between the two. Yoon Tae-ha, feeling vaguely uneasy, rested her hands on the railing and looked down at the street.

“I calmly thought about it again. Even if I find out about my birth mother’s existence, there’s nothing I can do. It’s foolish to be swayed by the information that stranger holds.”

“Don’t you even think about going to see her?”

“What if she dislikes me?”

“……”

“If I’m an abandoned child, it becomes ridiculous to go looking for her.”

She muttered self-deprecatingly and looked beside her because the other person had been silent for a long time. Chertan stood stiffly like a stone statue, staring straight ahead. Yoon Tae-ha followed his gaze. It was a district densely packed with sharply rising skyscrapers.

“What’s over there?”

He shook his head with an expression that barely concealed what he wanted to say. And then he asked curtly,

“Is there anything else you need? It’s not like you come to the city often, so if there’s anything you can’t get from Arc, feel free to tell me.”

But the content was quite kind. Yoon Tae-ha pondered seriously and then thought of her guide.

“Is there anything good weapon that came up in the market, by any chance?”