It was a cat I had met in the black market after hearing news that the Black Lizard was doing business in the downtown area. It was unmistakable. Even the pattern of its fur was exactly the same. I even remembered waving my hand to tell it not to cross over to the dirty alleyway where I was standing.

Cheon Geon-young quietly looked down at it.

“We’re trying to coax it back into human form somehow, but it doesn’t look easy.”

“Are you sure it was a test subject at the lab?”

“They said they found it there. They said it wasn’t scared from the beginning, quite brave for such a small thing.”

As if it understood Shin Hyun-seo’s words, the cat tilted its round head. Yawning languidly, the creature tapped the transparent wall with its front paw. Soon, the cat became interested in a shoelace that people were waving against the wall and rolled around on the floor.

“It’s so cute.”

“What kind of wealth and glory would they gain by making a chimera out of something like this? All the researchers who brought it should be brought to court. If there’s a public trial, they’ll get life imprisonment.”

A staff member working on the airship even brought water in a clean bowl.

“Here, I’ve brought water.”

“But can we open it? This might just look like a cat on the outside, but inside it could be a merciless killer who wouldn’t hesitate to kill people, you know, that kind of creature.”

“Please don’t say things like that.”

“Earlier, I saw a small cut on its paw, so I opened the door to treat it. It was very docile.”

As one of the agents interjected, his superior stared intently at the other person.

“You contacted a test subject without my permission?”

“I thought it would be okay to give it some water.”

“This is insubordination……”

The superior muttered listlessly and took the bowl to open a small feeding hatch instead. And he placed the water in front of the cat. He quickly closed the feeding hatch with a wary expression.

But the cat sat quietly, grooming itself as if it had no intention of going outside, and only lapped at the water after the door closed.

“See? It’s well-behaved.”

“Let’s observe it carefully for now.”

Cheon Geon-young wanted to observe the cat a little more, but he had to collect the data here and then move to the next location. Shin Hyun-seo also followed, saying that he had the same destination. While letting the small talk of his classmate flow past him, Cheon Geon-young organized his thoughts.

There was no chance of coincidentally meeting the same cat in Korea and the Green Sea.

A creature that appeared commonly in the areas where the Black Lizard’s name was mentioned. There was a high possibility that the cat wasn’t just an unknowing test subject.

“What’s the conclusion about the mercenary group that turned the lab upside down before Chancheon? There was a meeting about it in the combat information room.”

Shin Hyun-seo asked as they walked past the busy staff.

“It was an elite unit that was difficult to even pinpoint their origin. It seems they did everything they could to hide their identities.”

“Amazing. You’re saying an unidentified elite mercenary group attacked Orca’s lab at the exact same time and date as Chancheon?”

“The higher-ups strongly suspect it’s an internal spy. Either inside Arc, or inside our own organization.”

“Didn’t you guys make people swear an oath in blood or something even more extreme when they joined your organization? What if a traitor already appeared?”

“We’d have to deal with them. Are you asking because you don’t know?”

Cheon Geon-young replied in a cold, clear voice. Shin Hyun-seo, who sensed the killing intent, played it off and stepped back.

“You’re so consistently cool. I guess a person’s integrity really comes from the length of the numbers in their bank account.”

Together, they stepped into the place where witnesses were interrogated.

\*

“So, they didn’t find out our identities.”

That was Yoon Tae-ha’s first words after hearing about the attack on the Small Hive from Chertan. Mago sat beside her, steadily recording the location Lev was sending through the transmitter.

“The Small Hive was a very large facility. We entered through the east guard post, and they came in through the west. I ordered a retreat before we met in the center.”

Yoon Tae-ha, who had been sitting precariously on the edge of her chair, buried her face in her palms. Her body began to shiver as if she had a fever.

The stress was too much. A pain she had hardly felt since meeting Cheon Geon-young was consuming her. Along with a loneliness as if she had been left alone in deep despair.

Clutching her throbbing hand, she stood up abruptly. She walked anxiously to the desk, grabbed the edge of it, and stared fiercely at the path the signal Lev was sending was moving along.

“We have to bring him back.”

It was Mago who spoke firmly first. She lightly rubbed her tired eyes with her fingertips.

“Beast-kin are rare. They’ll definitely try to experiment on him in various ways over there. They even have a justification. Since he was taken from Orca’s lab, they need to verify his safety. Lev would rather die than go through that again, that’s for sure.”

Park Jeong-won, the ice-type esper who had been standing opposite Chertan, asked sharply.

“Are you sure it’s a government organization? It could be a cleanup crew Arc sent to destroy the witnesses and evidence at the lab.”

Chertan, having heard his question, glanced at Yoon Tae-ha.

“Cleanup crews always operate in small numbers. It’s not like the secretary-general doesn’t have loyal high-ranking espers, and if they wanted to silence people, they would have just sent one or two S-class to take care of it.”

Yoon Tae-ha answered instead of Chertan. Park Jeong-won, who had asked the question, seemed to recall the sight of the esper in front of him dealing with Scylla. He replied, “That’s true,” and then fiddled with the water cup beside him.

The atmosphere in the airship’s internal operations room grew heavier. Yoon Tae-ha, still unable to take her eyes off the weak signal Lev was sending, opened her mouth.

“If they brought an aerial carrier, they have no intention of just letting this slide. Did they take all the researchers?”

“Probably. We went into the chimera hatchery first, so we couldn’t 접근 the area where the researchers lived. Lev went in first to retrieve the test subjects and was surrounded by them.”

Mago, who had gotten up and started walking around the operations room as if taking a stroll, picked up a small bag hanging on the wall. It was the crossbody bag Lev always carried jerky in. The lips of the mage, who always led the guild in a calm and collected manner, twisted sadly.

“He’s a picky eater…… They’ll probably give him cheap feed there.”

Is that what you’re worried about? Chertan’s eyes widened as he asked back, but he cleared his throat after receiving Mago’s menacing glare. They began to have a serious conversation about their future plans.

How Crow Prince Knox would react to this incident. Whether the organization that brought the aerial carrier would be friendly to them.

Mago said in a confident tone that it definitely wouldn’t be. Her argument was that from the perspective of legitimate institutions, there wasn’t much difference between them and Orca.

“Government agencies are the ones who perceive dimension travelers as a threat and kill the most of them.”

A sharp, keen voice. Opinions that didn’t converge. Variables that no one could predict.

Yoon Tae-ha slumped into her chair. Was this how she would end up falling apart? This was the result of deceiving others and even herself for such a long time.

It was just once.

Just once. She had hoped to get through that one time safely.

She felt disgusted with her foolish self for having let her guard down. If she told Cheon Geon-young, would he send Lev back? If it was her request, would the situation change? She couldn’t be sure anymore.

From that day when she was twenty and thought it would be a miracle if she didn’t die from her rampage, until now. Why had she, who hadn’t promised the next summer, become so weak and helpless? The hope of a future together felt like a distant dream.

“Waging an all-out war is insane. At least ten aircraft of the same class as the one we’re on could fit under the deck of that aerial carrier.”

Yoon Tae-ha, who had been silent, raised her head with a face that had sorted out her thoughts.

“I’ll talk to my partner.”

Chertan, who had said that as the guild leader, he couldn’t abandon the safety of the vast majority, turned his head. Park Jeong-won, who had been clinging to his words, also looked at her with his hands on his hips.

“What if talking doesn’t work out?”

Chertan asked sharply.

“I can’t leave him alone. I’ll infiltrate and bring him back myself, even if I have to.”

The operations room fell silent. Just then, a member knocked on the open door and came in, informing them that the airship had arrived at Cocytus.

\*

Through this lab attack, Chancheon fully secured twenty-five witnesses. Five of them were Korean, and four of those five had already been processed as deceased in their home country. The remaining one was a person whose birth hadn’t even been registered.

He claimed to be a citizen of a free city, not Korean, and swore that they would pay dearly for dragging him around as they pleased. But he was soon subdued, caught in the skillful psychological warfare of the veterans.

He confessed that he had conducted various experiments at the lab under Arc’s orders. He was the first living researcher who would serve as a bridge connecting Orca and Arc.

Cheon Geon-young opened the door of the interrogation room where the researcher was. Oh Gi-cheol was sitting opposite the researcher. He was about to sit next to his superior with a laptop to take notes, but as soon as the handcuffed researcher saw Cheon Geon-young’s face, he jumped up from his seat.

“Aaaah!”

Screaming, he trembled and ran to the corner of the interrogation room. His face was pale, and he was shaking with fear. Oh Gi-cheol, who was signaling to lower the internal temperature towards the CCTV, wore a bewildered expression. Cheon Geon-young was equally puzzled.

“Do you know him?”

“I’ve never seen him before.”

He sat down next to Oh Gi-cheol, ready to take notes on the interrogation. Oh Gi-cheol spread out the documents he had brought on the desk and then made the researcher sit back down. Dragged by the strong hand, the researcher couldn’t make eye contact with Cheon Geon-young.

“Are you surprised because our agent is too handsome?”

Researcher Choi Jae-sung clamped his mouth shut like a clam. He lowered his gaze to the floor, then glanced up at Cheon Geon-young before lowering his head again, repeating the motion.

“Let’s continue where we left off. Mr. Choi Jae-sung, in your lab, there was experimental data of an esper who was abducted from Arc’s training facility. That esper wasn’t in the place where the test subjects were gathered. Where did those espers go?”

“I, I was just trying to analyze the given data to create a more perfect chimera. I didn’t kill anyone.”

“I don’t know if anyone will believe you if you say that in court.”

Accusations about illegal experiments and denials of them went back and forth several times. Cheon Geon-young felt Choi Jae-sung’s gaze on his face but ignored it.

After some interrogation, Oh Gi-cheol sighed deeply, seeing Choi Jae-sung clam up. Choi Jae-sung was still sending curious and fearful glances at Cheon Geon-young. He was outside of Oh Gi-cheol’s interest.

“Do you have any questions?”

Cheon Geon-young, pretending not to notice his curiosity, naturally interjected. Hearing Cheon Geon-young’s voice, Choi Jae-sung tilted his upper body sideways as if amazed. He began to sway his upper body greatly from side to side like a child with attention deficit.

“The superior who was monitoring you isn’t here. From the moment you stepped into this place, you are under our jurisdiction.”

“…….”

“Don’t worry about being silenced, just ask.”

“Ugh……”

Choi Jae-sung, who had been growling with a troubled voice, suddenly slammed his forehead against the desk. Bang! Cheon Geon-young didn’t even blink at the strange behavior of the person being interrogated. As long as he didn’t die, it didn’t matter.

Choi Jae-sung, having hit his head once more, leaned his upper body close to the desk with an expression that showed he couldn’t bear his curiosity any longer.

“Cheon Geon-young, have you… still not manifested?”

Oh Gi-cheol’s eyes widened. It was because he had never told Choi Jae-sung Cheon Geon-young’s name.