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The meeting at the upscale Japanese restaurant in the city center concluded.
The dinner, intended to entertain the Audit Bureau staff, naturally transformed into a forum for praising Geum Kang-seop’s plans and sharing expectations for Elysion. Min Cha-hoon might have stayed up all night if Moon So-eun hadn’t subtly hinted that prolonging the gathering wouldn’t look good.
“Please don’t hesitate to tell me if anything is uncomfortable during your stay in Korea.”
Min Cha-hoon, having finished settling the bill and heading to the entrance, bowed deeply to see off Lee Won-sik’s black car. The other Audit Bureau staff members also drove away from the restaurant.
Only then did Moon So-eun let out a sigh of boredom. As she turned to leave for home, Min Cha-hoon abruptly grabbed her elbow and pulled open the door to a nearby private room, entering it.
The restaurant had an artificial pond and a stone canal circling around it. The gentle sound of flowing water seeped into the empty private room. Moon So-eun immediately shook off the man’s hand and glared at him with an expression of displeasure.
“What are you doing?”
Min Cha-hoon spoke admonishingly. “What was your intention in bringing up Yoon Jung-hoon during dinner? Lee Won-sik is Geum Kang-seop’s closest confidant. He’s been claiming Yoon Jung-hoon’s projects were absurd dreams for ten years. Didn’t you know he was displeased?”
“But it’s also true that Tae-ha was lured out as a product of an absurd project! No one can erase Professor Yoon’s achievements!”
“Aren’t you going to lower your voice?”
“This restaurant is a contact point we bought anyway. Didn’t you also utter words like Elysion because of that? It seems you’ve already decided how many rooms your house there will have.”
The other person closed their mouth, as if having nothing to say. Soon, Moon So-eun, in turn, began to press Min Cha-hoon.
“Is the observation target really dead? Tae-ha couldn’t possibly die that easily.”
Min Cha-hoon frowned deeply. “Isn’t it about time you stopped thinking a woman who fell into Lethe would come back alive?”
“The Director said he’d save Tae-ha and send her back to the Cradle. He understood that she was important and...”
“Situations change, and so do judgments. If Yoon Tae-ha’s resistance was strong, killing her is the best option. If the real one comes back alive and testifies about what happened, are you confident you can handle the consequences?”
“That’s why we implanted the chip.”
“That mere chip! You didn’t pay close attention to Seo Do-jin and Lee Hae-gyeong’s expressions, did you?”
“...”
“They looked suspicious of the Yoon Tae-ha in our hands. Those two haven’t given up on Yoon Tae-ha yet. Don’t you know how many of our personnel Lee Hae-gyeong killed in the Green Sea? She killed the second-highest number of people after Chairman Cheon’s grandson. Due to the two of them independently consuming weapon research facilities and psychic research facilities on par with Green Hive, the bleeding is severe.”
“So, is it true that everyone is withdrawing from the Green Sea?”
“There’s no reason to remain there anymore. We have no space to store weapons, nor a place to house experimental subjects. All personnel from un-discovered facilities have been moved to the artificial island near headquarters.”
Min Cha-hoon looked rather relieved.
“Considering the Elysion project, it’s actually for the best.”
“Believing the Serpent will side with us until the end is dangerous.”
“The Blackwood heir recently met with her and conversed, I’m told. If we provide food so the Serpent’s children don’t go hungry, her promise to bestow knowledge upon us remains valid. Nothing changes even after Elysion.”
“You seem busy trying to secure a position there.”
“Lee Won-sik will handle things, so just focus on the education of the chip-implanted Yoon Tae-ha. She’ll need to emerge into the world perfectly adapted from intensive care.”
“No need to worry.”
Moon So-eun proudly straightened her shoulders. She seemed pleased to have an opportunity to show off her researcher’s abilities, which Min Cha-hoon could never possess.
“She’s perfect.”
“You’ll also need to verify several times that she has the same abilities as Cheon Geon-yeong.”
She smiled faintly. “You said Lee Hae-gyeong and Seo Do-jin would continue chasing the vanished Tae-ha, but I think differently. It would be the same even if you brought anyone else, not just those two.”
A chilling exhilaration shone in Moon So-eun’s eyes.
“Our Yoon Tae-ha can even guide. Even if Tae-ha miraculously reappears, Espers who have tasted guiding won’t be able to abandon the fake.”
Min Cha-hoon recalled Yoon Tae-ha’s face when she had resolutely rejected his offer. He felt a slight regret, but it was she who had refused to board the rescue ship.
“Even if she miraculously lived, it would be happier for her not to return,” he said smoothly.
________________________________________
Wind blew in from the open window. Yoon Tae-ha looked at the gently billowing thin curtains, then lay diagonally on the bed. What she had just seen in the mansion’s basement floated in her mind.
Unidentified books written in an unreadable language and monster hooves neatly contained in glass jars. Objects that were sickening just to recall lay dormant on Jeon Ye-rim’s basement shelf. Jeon Ye-rim explained that they belonged to Yoon Jung-hoon. She said they were the product of his efforts to revive his weakening body.
Yoon Jung-hoon didn’t want to die.
Jeon Ye-rim testified to that. Yoon Tae-ha, smelling the fragrance rising from the soft blanket, directed a question to the man standing on the bedroom balcony.
“Is detoxification impossible?”
Nox, who had been reading a book with a small light floating beside him, raised his head.
“It doesn’t seem to be a trace from the same world. It cannot be detoxified.”
Yoon Tae-ha replayed the image of Kali from Raphael’s memory, tearing through space and safely taking Yoon Jung-hoon away.
“It must be Kali’s, right?”
“It’s hers, or the object of another wizard who shares the same intent. If Yoon Jung-hoon wished for bodily regeneration, Kali’s help would have been essential.”
Could his efforts to develop safe Espers through chimera research also be linked to immortality?
Yoon Tae-ha knew that the weakened Yoon Jung-hoon had steadfastly not taken even common vitamins. To think that the old man, who pretended to be indifferent to death in front of others, would throw tantrums at his daughter-in-law, demanding that she acquire anything good for his body – it was shocking in a different way.
“Is it true that the parents of the man who manifested as an Esper late were murdered?” Nox suddenly asked.
“Cheon Geon-yeong? Yes. An Esper harmed his parents.”
“Are you sure an Esper harmed them? Not Kali?”
“Geon-yeong clearly remembered the face of the woman who tried to kill him. That woman was a Titan.”
“It’s unlikely Kali would have ordered an Esper for cleanup when she was there.”
“Did Yoon Jung-hoon rely on Kali that much?”
“On the contrary. Kali obsessed over Yoon Jung-hoon. She was even displeased when other foreigners, besides herself, became close to Yoon Jung-hoon.”
Having finished speaking, Nox made the sphere of light he had created disappear.
“I’ll return in the morning.”
Yoon Tae-ha was planning to stay at Jeon Ye-rim’s mansion tonight. But Nox wasn’t. He said he had somewhere to go for a bit and that there was no need to prepare a room for him.
Is he going to the house Raphael stayed in? Yoon Tae-ha vaguely guessed and didn’t stop him. Soon, Nox disappeared silently from the balcony, and she used psychokinesis to close the window.
The clockless room was as quiet as space. Yoon Tae-ha, deducing the relationship between Geum Kang-seop and the Cheon Seo-wan couple, fell into a deep sleep without realizing it.
And when she felt only an hour or two had passed, she suddenly opened her eyes. Still half-asleep, Yoon Tae-ha stared blankly at the balcony. She saw the sun rising over the garden trees. The hazy air peculiar to dawn was knocking at the door.
It’s already morning?
A few hours ago, she had slept in the vest Cheoltan gave her over her pajamas, in case of a surprise attack. Perhaps because of that, her body felt stiff. If she didn’t get up immediately upon waking, she would dawdle, so she sprang up, using the screams of her cells as an alarm clock.
Just then, someone knocked.
“Are you awake?”
It was Jeon Ye-rim’s voice. Yoon Tae-ha checked the ring on her right hand and quickly opened the door. Seeing Yoon Tae-ha, who still looked clearly half-asleep, Jeon Ye-rim spoke gently.
“Beauties get a lot of morning sleep.”
“...Is that so?”
“I get a lot of morning sleep. They say sleep decreases with age, but I still sleep ten hours a day.”
“I see.”
Jeon Ye-rim, carrying a tray with two mugs, placed it on the low table in the middle of the room. And she looked at Yoon Tae-ha, who was wearing a tactical vest over her indoor dress, with a strange expression.
“Your pajamas are very unique, aren’t they?”
“I’m anxious.”
“Then I understand. Sit down. The foreigner hasn’t returned yet. I have something to give you before then.”
Yoon Tae-ha perched on the sofa opposite Jeon Ye-rim.
“How did you know Nox was an extraterrestrial?”
“I have a knack for it. There are some people who look better with a sword than a gun. Those are usually extraterrestrials.”
“Ah.”
“Your father is exactly that kind of person.”
Suddenly, her mind became clear. Then, Yoon Tae-ha noticed something else on the tray besides the mugs. A small envelope. Jeon Ye-rim gave her a look that told her to open it.
“I’m not fond of surprises.”
“Is it a surprise?”
Yoon Tae-ha, her face tense, took a deep breath and opened it. As she inverted the envelope, a single Polaroid photo fell into her palm.
“That’s the only photo your parents took together. At first, they tried to have a portrait painted, but they gave up because the artist might remember them.”
Yoon Tae-ha flipped the photo over and met the eyes of the man standing next to the Hyeon Yi-jeong she knew, the researcher. The photo was faded and blurry, but there was no difficulty in distinguishing his face.
“This person...”
She was confused whether to feel relieved that her father was alive, or sad that he had been close to her yet said nothing.
“He’s my father.”
The man in the photo was Cheoltan. Jeon Ye-rim, her face understanding her complex emotions, said softly,
“He’s coming.”
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