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Yoon Tae-ha frowned in disgust, recalling Yoon Han-oh’s identification photo, taken in a neat suit. Yoon Tae-ha gave a small, dry cough. Immediately, a steaming new coffee was placed before her eyes.
“Do you like it bitter?”
“A little.”
“That’s like Seo-hyun.”
So it wasn’t that she was drawn to coffee with an added shot because her health was deteriorating? It felt strange. An indescribable change was happening within her heart.
“Anyway. Yoon Jung-hoon failed in his first attempt at raising a child. Yoon Han-oh started acting like a scoundrel after his honeymoon, and his father did things you couldn’t even imagine to stop him. But Yoon Han-oh also had a side that resembled his father, so he managed to slip through the surveillance and roam around. In the meantime, his second child, who changed her name to Hyeon Yi-jeong, became a competent researcher respected by her colleagues.”
“Did he hate his daughter? Because his son turned out that way, and his daughter took his place?”
“I don’t know. But what you need to remember is that Yoon Jung-hoon never treated Seo-hyun poorly. He was a devoted father to his daughter. On the contrary, Yoon Han-oh, when drunk, would rage at me, saying his father only doted on his daughter. That pathetic man died believing his father’s affection had been stolen by his younger sister.”
“Such affection is worse than none at all.”
“He was a man too drunk and drugged to think clearly.”
Jeon Ye-rim, who assessed her deceased husband in an unconcerned voice, popped a small chocolate into her mouth. A moment of silence passed. During that time, Yoon Tae-ha took a sip of coffee. Calming her mind with the fragrance that filled her mouth, she carefully began.
“I know my biological father is an extraterrestrial.”
“Your dad’s an alien. How does that make you feel?”
“No different than when I didn’t know. I’m just curious if I’ll be able to communicate with him.”
“You’re taking it calmly. But Yoon Jung-hoon’s eyes must have widened when he heard that. He probably had a plan to realize his delusion even before you were born. Until the child was born, Seo-hyun also believed him.”
“And Mother only found out years later that Yoon Jung-hoon had other intentions for the child in her womb...”
“She came to ask me a question. If I truly wanted to adopt a child named Yoon Tae-ha.”
Jeon Ye-rim, who had been speaking freely, hesitated for a moment. She was afraid Yoon Tae-ha would point out her flaws.
“Did Yoon Jung-hoon threaten you?”
“...I was scared. My husband was a germ-ridden mess who could die at any moment, and my father-in-law, who had immense money and power, made it clear he wouldn’t tolerate divorce. If you investigated around, you’d know. I don’t have a family.”
“I wasn’t trying to say it was your fault.”
“Seo-hyun said the same thing. She just asked for confirmation that I hadn’t truly wanted to adopt the child. I just mumbled, and she left without looking back, as if that was enough. Seo-hyun’s letter arrived just before the explosion. It contained a handwritten letter and some documents.”
“She knew Gaia was watching her.”
“Yes. She must have. The letter asked me to take care of the house you saw and the flower field around it. She sensed she might die and entrusted me with a gift for you.”
Yoon Tae-ha, who had been listening to the story while fiddling with her coffee cup handle, asked somberly, “Why did she go to meet him herself?”
Why would a woman who had made preparations everywhere, hoping for her daughter’s safety, walk into a dangerous place herself? She couldn’t have been unaware that her father had no intention of repenting.
“Even though she knew he was a dangerous person, why did she try to confront him directly?”
“Because he was her father, I suppose.”
At the lonely answer, Yoon Tae-ha’s fingers tightened around the teacup. She clasped her hands over her knees, fearing she might break the cup.
“Family was special to Seo-hyun. Think about how a woman, dropped into an unfamiliar world, managed to live until she returned here. Family must have been the driving force that made her stubbornly endure all hardships.”
Hearing Jeon Ye-rim’s words, anger towards Yoon Jung-hoon spread throughout her body. Her mother was someone who deserved a better life than this.
Yoon Tae-ha tried to calm her anger, recalling the letter in her vest. Then, suddenly, the face of another person who should have had a better life came to mind. It was the face of the man who had suffered as much as she had from the experiments.
“Do you happen to know the name Cheon Geon-yeong?”
“He’s Chairman Cheon’s grandson.”
“Do you also know that his parents passed away?”
“I read an article about an accident. Do you think Yoon Jung-hoon also had something to do with that?”
Yoon Tae-ha flinched but pressed on with her assertion.
“No? I thought that since the Galatea Project failed, he selected and dealt with anyone related who could be a threat.”
During their conversation, Jeon Ye-rim’s coffee cup was completely empty. The liveliness she had shown during dinner had long since vanished with the sunset. Jeon Ye-rim idly tapped the empty coffee cup with her fingernail, then spoke with less certainty than before.
“It seems it’s time for me to tell you my conjectures from here on.”
“Tell me anything.”
“Your saying that gives me confidence... First, as someone who unwillingly witnessed Yoon Jung-hoon’s true nature, I’d say it’s unlikely Yoon Jung-hoon ordered the death of Chairman Cheon’s son.”
“Unlikely? Why?”
“Because he gained nothing from the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Cheon Seo-wan. On the contrary, he only lost things. When you were young, Yoon Jung-hoon and Geum Kang-seop were rivals for the position of Ark’s Director. It was a confrontation between a young, ambitious man who had risen through the ranks from an entry-level position in the Audit Bureau and an old professor who had been Ark’s spiritual pillar for a long time.”
Yoon Tae-ha calmly searched her old memories. She only remembered Yoon Jung-hoon contributing articles to Ark’s internal newspaper.
“Didn’t Yoon Jung-hoon say he was too old and in poor health, refusing the position?”
“The very fact that you answer that way is proof that you’re a pure navigator. An Orca within Ark would give a different answer, wouldn’t they?”
“So, he actually wanted the Director position.”
Jeon Ye-rim nodded.
“Rumors spread within Orca that Yoon Jung-hoon had instigated their deaths. Soon, some began to complain that Yoon Jung-hoon was pushing things too hard. For whatever reason, they must have thought that laying a hand on the family of a man like Cheon Seong-beom would endanger the whole operation. Would you entrust your future to a leader like that? Even villains make rational judgments in such situations.”
“So he lost his subordinates’ trust.”
“Not completely, but it was significant enough for Geum Kang-seop’s forces to grow. Ten years ago, Geum Kang-seop reorganized his forces after recruiting a large number of individuals who had been skeptical of Yoon Jung-hoon. You know the result, don’t you?”
“An Ark where the Director’s authority is greater than ever is the result.”
“Then who benefited from the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Cheon Seo-wan?”
Jeon Ye-rim posed a loaded question. Yoon Tae-ha set aside all previous evidence and hypotheses and followed her intuition.
Changcheon and she had assumed that Yoon Jung-hoon and Geum Kang-seop were working together. And that Chairman Cheon Seong-beom was their active helper. Even Cheon Geon-yeong believed his grandfather was a villain.
But what if that wasn’t true? Hyeon Yi-jeong in her memory was also convinced that Chairman Cheon Seong-beom would not forgive Yoon Jung-hoon’s wickedness.
Pondering deeply, she rubbed her thighs with her hands against the chilling night air. Soon, a mansion employee brought her a blanket. With careful consideration, she awkwardly bowed her head in thanks and wrapped it around herself. Jeon Ye-rim watched her silently.
“You attended Yoon Jung-hoon’s funeral as his granddaughter. And you must have identified the deceased Yoon Jung-hoon’s body in the morgue.”
“Yes.”
“Do you really think that man is dead?”
Yoon Tae-ha turned her body and glanced at Nox, who was sitting on the steps leading down to the garden. He seemed uninterested in their conversation.
“I thought he was dead. Until recently.”
“And now?”
“Do you know what they’re calling me inside Ark now?”
“They’re claiming that Yoon Tae-ha, who worked at Ark from eighteen to twenty-three, is a chimera. They know various ways to screw people over. They’re utterly disgusting.”
Jeon Ye-rim crossed her arms, sharply criticizing them. Yoon Tae-ha found herself comforted by her passionate reaction.
“Recently, I witnessed a very sophisticated chimera die. Ordinary chimeras turn to stone or disintegrate into powder when they die. But these, even in death, died like humans.”
Jeon Ye-rim, who had ordered new hot coffee, asked with a serious expression, “Do you think the deceased Yoon Jung-hoon was a chimera?”
“If sophisticated chimera production was possible back then, I think it’s highly likely.”
Jeon Ye-rim, having heard the suspicion, remained silent for a while, organizing her thoughts. As the darkness enveloping the mansion deepened, she finally spoke.
“Yoon Jung-hoon became obsessive about his health after his son’s disgraceful death. Few people would know this because he’s terrified of revealing his weaknesses. If Professor Yoon Jung-hoon, the embodiment of reason, were to drink even monster horn remedies, his reputation would be tarnished.”
“Did he reveal that to you?”
“He said it while beating me with a cane. He said that if I had held Yoon Han-oh’s mind in place, his son wouldn’t have had to die that way. Instead of being grateful that he didn’t strangle his own son...”
Yoon Tae-ha looked at her with a startled expression, and Jeon Ye-rim rose from her seat. As she entered the mansion, she told Yoon Tae-ha to follow her as she had something to show her.
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