173. Windless Zone 2

When the minute trembling of its legs completely ceased, Cheon Geon-young turned his body. He re-holstered his pistol, which hadn’t been needed, then walked up to where Yoon Tae-ha was.

“Want some medicine?”

Yoon Tae-ha said, her face stunned. Cheon Geon-young, taking off his fire-retardant black gloves, joked,

“Maybe I should’ve stolen some amplifiers from school.”

“When you get back to Korea, get a health check-up from doctors not affiliated with Arc. Your Aether affinity is definitely high.”

Yoon Tae-ha buried the monster’s corpse deep underground. They finished disposing of the evidence and swiftly left the spot. There was someone they needed to meet.

Alpha Team was currently focused on tracking Nox, but they didn’t need to participate in that.

So, until dawn today, Yoon Tae-ha confirmed Nox’s whereabouts through the crow that appeared at the same time. The crow answered her brief questions by nodding or flapping its wings. According to the bird’s actions, the snake didn’t seem to have appeared in the green sea yet.

And today, they planned to attempt a rendezvous with Changcheon without Alpha Team knowing. Yoon Tae-ha and Cheon Geon-young quickly headed to the meeting point on their motorcycles and stopped at the designated coordinates. While Yoon Tae-ha hid the two motorcycles among the trees, Cheon Geon-young looked up at the sky. Covering the sun with his palm, he said,

“They’re coming.”

“I’m a little nervous. We won’t show up on radar, will we?”

“Kwon Hyuk Esper. Have you met him?”

“No. No contact.”

“He likes buying weapons. Especially vehicles.”

No sooner had Cheon Geon-young finished speaking than a shadow fell over their heads. The artificial wind created by the propellers whipped their clothes and hair wildly. Yoon Tae-ha, narrowing her eyes, saw the helicopter door open and a ladder descend from it. Puzzled, she asked,

“Why are they lowering that?”

“Can’t land on the ground because of the trees.”

“You still haven’t fully adapted, have you?”

“What?”

She abruptly grabbed his hand. Then, craning her neck, she glared at the open helicopter door and teleported.

“Ack!”

The soldier who had lowered the ladder was considerably startled by the sudden appearance of the two. Yoon Tae-ha landed perfectly, as if glued to the floor, without even a wobble. Cheon Geon-young let out a short, hollow laugh at the instant change in surroundings.

She let go of him. And then glanced at the ladder, still swaying pitifully, unable to pick up anyone. To use such an inefficient method when I’m here. She squeezed between the stunned soldiers and sat down in an empty seat. Her hands were precise as she buckled her seatbelt on her own.

“Aren’t you getting on? You said you’d show me your house.”

Her attitude was remarkably confident, even among fully armed soldiers. Cheon Geon-young instructed the dumbfounded soldier to retract the ladder, then sat next to Yoon Tae-ha.

“It shows you’re nervous.”

“Not at all. I’m not nervous in the slightest. Why would I be nervous when I’m the strongest one here?”

“Liar.”

“I’m not, really!”

The soldier opposite them, who had unintentionally overheard her fierce retort, rolled his eyes sideways.

Though he maintained a poker face as per his training, he was afraid. Of course, anyone who didn’t know would laugh if he said he felt such an oppressive presence from a woman who didn’t even have a bulletproof vest or a gun. The soldier sitting directly in front of Yoon Tae-ha slightly lowered his head to avoid staring at her smooth legs, protected by knee pads.

Changcheon’s helicopter soon reached the airborne carrier. Yoon Tae-ha was astonished by the size of the carrier visible from the window. A moment later, she saw the green lights of the landing guidance system.

The helicopter they were in landed safely on the deck. Runway control staff in orange vests crossed their arms above their heads several times.

Soon, as the helicopter door opened, Yoon Tae-ha took Cheon Geon-young’s hand and disembarked. It wasn’t necessary, but he wanted it. Staff in purple vests came running, pulling out chains for securing the helicopter. The two walked past them.

A group of men approached from the island where the control tower was located. The middle-aged man at the forefront offered a stiff smile and extended his hand.

“Thank you for responding to our request. I’m Lieutenant Colonel Oh Gi-cheol of the Great Fissure Special Forces.”

Oh Gi-cheol politely offered a handshake. Yoon Tae-ha unhesitatingly took his hand. It was rougher, thicker, and drier than Cheon Geon-young’s hand. After shaking hands, the two nodded at each other and then headed towards the island together.

Cheon Geon-young made persistent efforts not to respond to the dense, covert gazes directed at his esper. This was because Yoon Tae-ha had asked him not to be overly intimate on the carrier. She was still conscious of his position within the organization.

After Oh Gi-cheol opened the meeting room door, Yoon Tae-ha entered the room first. And her eyes met a familiar furry creature. Lev meowed softly.

“Nyaaaoow.”

The tawny cat leaped from the desk, its tail held high, and circled around Yoon Tae-ha’s legs.

He never usually acts this cute. Yoon Tae-ha chuckled to herself. She could clearly imagine how Lev had charmed the people on the carrier. Oh Gi-cheol hastily closed the door, seemingly worried that the cat might dart out of the meeting room.

Oh Gi-cheol, Cheon Geon-young, Yoon Tae-ha, and two field agents from Changcheon sat around the meeting table. One of the agents was a non-combatant, and the other was an esper.

Lev maintained his cat form and lay on his back in front of Yoon Tae-ha, exposing his belly. The very person who had brought Yoon Tae-ha onto the carrier looked the most relaxed.

“Does he not need to return to his original form?”

Changcheon’s esper pointed out sharply. Oh Gi-cheol calmed the visibly tense esper.

“Let’s not be too hostile to someone who came up here, risking exposure of their identity. The cat is free to move as it wishes.”

At his words, Lev rolled over and stared intently at Oh Gi-cheol, tapping his tail on the desk as if amused. Yoon Tae-ha’s hand was scratching the top of the cat’s head. Cheon Geon-young lightly raised an eyebrow, noticing her affectionate touch.

Oh Gi-cheol cleared his throat and spoke.

“I have a few questions I’d like to ask first. Of course, I imagine Ms. Yoon Tae-ha also has many questions for us.”

“I will do my best within what I know.”

Oh Gi-cheol’s eyes widened, as if he hadn’t expected her to respond that way. Soon, he nodded with a subtle expression.

“Thank you for your active cooperation. We have about three hours until you two return to camp, so let’s proceed quickly. Show them the pre-prepared incident report.”

As Changcheon’s agent tapped on his laptop, a translucent hologram board appeared in the center of the table. Greatly enlarged incident reports were aligned neatly. Yoon Tae-ha quickly read through the first report. It contained information about concealed and downplayed murder cases.

“The victims had various occupations. Arc researchers, private security guards, day laborers at waste treatment plants, heavy equipment operators, and even prison guards. The commonality was that after being murdered, their bodies were mutilated beyond recognition, or the crime scene was completely incinerated by fire.”

Oh Gi-cheol paused for a moment to catch his breath and continued his explanation.

“Individuals presumed to be witnesses were also murdered at time intervals. Perfectly disguised as accidents, the number would increase further if we count the deaths we haven’t identified.”

Yoon Tae-ha felt as if cold air was being forcibly injected into her chest.

“Most of these incidents occurred when Ms. Yoon Tae-ha was young. These are incidents that happened around the age of ten. We are not asking for specific help regarding these incidents. We just wanted to state our initial motive for suspecting Arc.”

“You haven’t secured the identity of the suspected perpetrator?”

At her question, Oh Gi-cheol instructed them to display the next data. The hologram board extended horizontally, showing blurred photos and composite sketches in succession. Victims and suspects were connected by red lines.

Cheon Geon-young couldn’t take his eyes off the perpetrator’s photo that appeared above his parents’ incident report. Yoon Tae-ha, inadvertently glancing at her partner’s face, followed his gaze. And she read the name where his eyes stopped.

<Cheon Seo-wan>

Her heart sank. Yoon Tae-ha read deep loss, anger, and self-blame in his impassive expression, as if he were looking at someone else’s incident report. It wasn’t unfamiliar. It was painfully familiar. Oh Gi-cheol, realizing that Yoon Tae-ha was reading a report related to Chairman Cheon’s second son, showed a mournful expression.

“It’s the case where the sole survivor occurred.”

There was no need to state the survivor’s name. The atmosphere in the meeting room grew heavy. Even Lev stopped wagging his tail. Yoon Tae-ha couldn’t hide her concern for Cheon Geon-young. Cheon Geon-young, turning his head to look at his partner, lowered his hand beneath the table and took hers.

The woman, who had warned him not to be overly intimate, gripped his hand tightly. Cheon Geon-young traced meaningless letters on her palm with his finger, indicating that he was okay.

“Since the witness was reliable, it was easy to characterize the suspect. But they are currently missing.”

As Changcheon’s agent moved his hand, the photo enlarged. It was a picture of Arc agents with their arms around each other’s shoulders.

“According to Arc’s records submitted to the government, they are classified as missing persons due to a fissure.”

Yoon Tae-ha quickly checked the faces of the agents, who had solemn expressions, and then paused. The woman with a red circle drawn around her. Another man standing next to her. She knew two of the faces.

Yoon Tae-ha’s cheeks turned pale as she recognized them. Cheon Geon-young meticulously observed the process of her expression changing. Tension tightened around his throat.

“These are people much older than Ms. Yoon Tae-ha. Some of them have retired, and some have died from illness. We don’t expect there to be any direct contact. However, even fragmented information is valuable to us. If you have any information about this woman in the photo and her acquaintances...”

“Titan.”

She cut off Oh Gi-cheol’s words.

“They’re members of the special operations unit that only follow the Director-General’s orders. That woman. And the man kneeling in front of her, he was a Titan too.”

Oh Gi-cheol and Changcheon’s agents were completely surprised, their mouths agape. The atmosphere in the meeting room changed abruptly. Lev also stood up to get a closer look at the photo. Cheon Geon-young remained motionless, like someone whose skin had been covered in hardened wax.

“Do you know them? Can you give us their names, ages, and other information?”

Cheon Geon-young suddenly interjected.

“Are they alive?”

His black eyes, a mix of all sorts of emotions, urged Yoon Tae-ha for an answer. Yoon Tae-ha bit her lip once before answering.

“They’re both dead.”

“The woman too?”

“Dead.”

“When?”

“When I was twenty-one. I’d have to check my journal for the exact date, but it was winter.”

They were alive until then. Oh Gi-cheol and Changcheon’s agents gasped, as if horrified.

“Are you sure the Director-General didn’t secretly hide them? He wouldn’t have exposed a woman who was a suspect in a case to the outside. Is there a possibility that she faked her death and is active elsewhere?”

“Impossible.”

Cheon Geon-young held his breath. Yoon Tae-ha, who had firmly denied it, looked directly into the eyes of the man who had saved her. A confession flowed from between her red lips.

“Because I killed them.”