166. When Dawn Finds Us 7

The next day, Cheon Geon-young woke up in bed to find the spot next to him empty. A short memo was left there.

<My friend said she wanted to check the wound on my hand again. I’ll be back. Don’t wait for me, and make sure to eat breakfast.>

The neatly made bed next to him irritated him.

It would be nice if she asked me first, just once.

Where had she been? Was she planning something suspicious? He felt it would be alright if she tracked his movements. He let out a hollow laugh, thinking of the things he wished Yoon Tae-ha would do, because it felt as if he was craving her obsession.

She could be angry, curse him for lying, and scream in betrayal. Anything was fine. He could endure anything as long as she remained within his reach.

Cheon Geon-young picked up the memo she left and got out of bed. Fatigue had reached its limit, allowing distracting thoughts to easily intrude. Information about his parents and data on Project Galatea. The fact that not a single piece of the new information was positive exhausted him.

<I’ll investigate thoroughly. Don’t worry, just keep a close eye on how Arc responds internally. You’ll need to focus on those who are overly flustered or keep trying to act separately from the group. Internal circumstances that aren’t revealed externally are important.>

Oh Gi-cheol said he would contact Cheon Geon-young immediately if anyone among the witnesses brought from the research facility knew about the woman who killed his parents.

Through Choi Jae-seong’s testimony, the ‘why’ was secured. All that remained was the whereabouts of the woman whose life or death was unknown, and revenge against the entity that ordered her. Cheon Geon-young, sitting on the sofa where Yoon Tae-ha often sat, leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

However, his brief rest ended with a call from Baek Sang-ho. Cheon Geon-young grabbed the handgun issued by Arc, not Changcheon, and left the room.

________________________________________

Yoon Tae-ha, who had left the bedroom at dawn, headed to the Black Lion’s building. Charlton, who seemed to have spent the night in the conference room, greeted her. Seeing her dark and tense expression, he relayed the news that had come in overnight.

“Rebreb called.”

Her eyes widened, and she urgently asked, “Is she okay? Did she say where she’s being taken?”

“She only let us know she’s safe through the emergency contact network. She couldn’t write individual messages. She probably took someone’s phone there to contact us.”

“...Took it?”

“She probably bit it and ran off, pretending to be an innocent cat. Rebreb can accurately tap a screen with her paws, even in animal form.”

Feeling weak, she slumped into the chair Charlton offered. It wasn’t strange that Charlton, who even maintained traditional contact methods like human switchboard operators, had prepared for such situations.

“The place Rebreb was caught was an area where test subjects are gathered. If she’s lucky, she’s being treated as a pitiful cat detained by Orca.”

After speaking, Charlton seemed bothered by still wearing the same clothes from yesterday, so he tugged at his collar and sniffed. He walked over to a shelf on the wall, took out a deodorizer, and sprayed his clothes twice. It was an action for espers sensitive to smell, but Yoon Tae-ha was too preoccupied to even notice the consideration.

“My partner returned last night. Later than me.”

“Did he say anything special?”

“He was concerned about my injury. I didn’t tell him where I got hurt. And I didn’t even mention the first letter of ‘chimera’.”

“Regardless of your partner’s identity, your being a member here doesn’t change. No need to add anything extra.”

Her expression didn’t brighten. Yoon Tae-ha, still sitting, told Charlton the contents of Baek Sang-ho’s message, which she had received just before leaving the hotel.

“He said something seemed wrong at the research facility and that they were changing the operation.”

The fact that they attacked the research facility couldn’t remain a secret forever. By now, Baek Sang-ho’s reconnaissance team should have arrived at the small hive. The reconnaissance team would have been surprised to see the targeted research facility completely destroyed and would have contacted Baek Sang-ho in a panic. Reforming the operation was a natural next step.

“We don’t have much time left to stay in the city either. He said he’d give us two days to fly to the designated location.”

“Two days? Then shouldn’t we leave immediately?”

“Probably. He wouldn’t have given us much time to spare.”

She had expected to have about a day of free time after destroying Green Hive, but it seemed that time had been shortened.

It seems my peaceful time with my partner is already over anyway. Yoon Tae-ha inputted coordinates into the map and activated the hologram, leaning over the table.

“It’s the north side of the canyon. In terms of sector, it’s closer to Phlegethon than Cocytus. Guillermo’s team said they’d start investigating near the destroyed small hive.”

Charlton pointed with his finger to a region famous for its dense forests.

“There’s a place near here where Orca used to mine feathers. Your team leader seems to be returning to their original objective.”

Securing the green feathers and searching for agents who had defected from Arc. Was that all? Yoon Tae-ha, with an expression of distrust, pressed her temples.

“Geum Gang-seop would know all about this, right?”

“Yes.”

“What do you think he’ll do next?”

“He’ll probably use every method available to find the one who leaked the secret. And after he finds out Nox did it, he’ll try to deal with him.”

“Let’s assume the Director-General knows about Nox’s betrayal at this point.”

She didn’t blink as she fell into thought.

She had to think like Geum Gang-seop. He had the authority to issue orders to both Arc, an official organization, and Orca, an unofficial one.

But one of Orca’s top executives had betrayed them. Could the Director-General trust Orca as before after learning of Nox’s betrayal? It was unlikely he’d believe that an outsider with a different thought process would be loyal to him forever.

Yoon Tae-ha finished her thoughts, interlaced her fingers, and began to speak.

“Wouldn’t the Director-General order Arc’s espers to retrieve all the green feathers that Nox is protecting?”

“When Alpha Team came here, their mission was different from that, wasn’t it?”

“When Leader Baek Sang-ho persuaded me, he said an all-out confrontation wasn’t in the plan. He said it was just to steal enough material for research. So, it’s highly likely that the Director-General didn’t know about Nox’s change of heart back then.”

“That sounds plausible.”

“Right now, the Director-General’s priority is to safely get the green feathers back into his hands, isn’t it? But Nox is too strong. To confront him, they’d at least have to call in the Red Snake or an esper with a hidden identity...”

“You can’t bring in spies for something like this. The risk is too great. The Snake will come.”

Charlton zoomed in on the map around Phlegethon. Next, he created a red dot on the holographic map. The word ‘Snake’ appeared above the dot.

He then created gray dots, blue dots, and a green rectangle in the same way. They symbolized Nox, Arc, and the green feathers, respectively. He sent the red dot flying next to the gray dot, and looking at the two colliding dots, he said,

“It’s highly likely he’ll leave Nox to the Snake. You never know what a traitor might say. If he ordered Arc to deal with him, and there were too many casualties, things would escalate.”

“And order Arc to recover the material...”

This time, Yoon Tae-ha moved the blue dot next to the green rectangle. Charlton stroked his chin and twisted his lips as he looked down at the map.

“I forgot about this.”

Soon, a new black dot appeared on the map.

“The guys who kidnapped our cat.”

The black dot wandered aimlessly across the map. Yoon Tae-ha, staring at it with an uneasy gaze, forced herself to look away. Charlton, who had been looking at the symbols of each faction alternately, let out a hollow laugh.

“Look at them, swarming like a pack of dogs.”

It seemed clear that these were factions that wouldn’t back down an inch until they got what they wanted. Charlton, who had been staring at the map of Phlegethon for a long time, made Yoon Tae-ha stand up.

“I have something to give you. Since the Snake might be deployed, you’ll need to be well-prepared.”

________________________________________

Charlton, who went down one floor from the conference room, opened the door to a room where reagent storage refrigerators were displayed. Even though the refrigeration area and the outer waiting room were separated by a glass wall, the cold seemed to penetrate to the bone.

Charlton had Yoon Tae-ha wait in the waiting room while he put on gloves and entered through the glass wall. A moment later, he emerged with a small bottle. A small plastic bottle, looking like eye drops, was handed to Yoon Tae-ha.

“Is it poison?”

Charlton’s brow furrowed at her abrupt question, “Is it poison?”

“Why would you think I’d give you poison? You’re not an expert in that field, and it’s dangerous.”

Yoon Tae-ha, having lost the context of the conversation, tilted her head slightly. It wouldn’t be strange for a guild leader to give an attack poison to a guild member. Charlton, reading her puzzlement, slowly added,

“It’s a panacea that helps with body regeneration. It was developed in Honjae. It has the effect of rapidly growing flesh. They said they’ve even reattached a leg that was almost severed, but that sounded like bragging. Use it when you’re cut.”

“Shouldn’t this go to other guild members? I’m pretty good at dodging.”

“The others already have it. You’re just getting yours late.”

“Thank you.”

She fiddled with the reagent bottle, which had no label. The smooth surface felt pleasant. The heavy sensation that seemed to press down on her entire body disappeared for a moment.

Charlton, who had been quietly watching Yoon Tae-ha, led her to a second room. It was a spacious armory where firearms were displayed like works of art.

“This is why espers couldn’t dominate ordinary people. The birth rate of psychics will never catch up to the production rate of modern weapons.”

On the right wall, handguns and submachine guns, and on the left wall, monster-hunting shotguns proudly displayed their intimidating forms. Various gun accessories were placed on the shelf in front.

Even to her, who didn’t primarily use guns as her main weapon, they were astonishing collectibles. She carefully examined the guns hanging on the wall as she walked slowly. Charlton stood in front of the central display case.

“Sometimes, something classical is needed.”

He took out a handgun from the display case and carefully placed it inside a handgun carrying case.