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Yoon Tae-ha gladly unwrapped the bundle. What was revealed inside was an expensive-looking black spear. It had an almost matte texture, and both ends were sharp enough to cut.
She was captivated by the spear’s beauty and ran her fingertips over the unsharpened part of the shaft. When she lightly tapped the body with her fingernail, it made a clear sound, like beads clinking together.
“You’ll be hard-pressed to feel any shortcomings in battle. It’s about 3 centimeters longer than what you used, so you’ll need some adaptation training. I tried to make it as similar in shape to your broken spear as possible. And I carved in a resistance to magic.”
Jeon Ye-rim, who had been standing with her arms crossed, smiling faintly, interjected.
“The attacks of small-fry mages won’t be able to break this.”
Yoon Tae-ha, who had been admiring the spear’s appearance, received sharp glances from the two, urging her to use it. She awkwardly lifted the spear. It still didn’t feel like her own.
“The weight is similar too.”
“It would have been good if we could have made the color the same, but the original material’s properties were too strong, so we couldn’t help it.”
At Jeon Ye-rim’s words, Chertan pressed his temple with a displeased expression.
“I think I asked you not to mention that.”
Only after seeing his reaction did Yoon Tae-ha recognize the engraved pattern near the handle. The dark blade, like a night sea, came to mind. Even the graceful flow of the blade that moved as she wielded it.
“This spear, is it perhaps Mogley? Did you modify it?”
Chertan acted nonchalantly.
“You already checked its performance in the Green Hive. Was it useful?”
“It wasn’t just useful. But this is one of the top three treasures in the guild, isn’t it?”
“I don’t recall ever discussing the guild’s financial matters with you.”
“Mago told me. She advised me to run away with just this sword if there were ever any wage arrears.”
“It’s a problem when subordinates get along too well.”
While Jeon Ye-rim was muttering, Chertan got up from his seat and approached Yoon Tae-ha. He stood facing her. And he placed his hand over her fist, which was still awkwardly holding the spear, making her grip the weapon properly.
“Don’t hold it like a clumsy fisherman; hold it properly. That way, you can catch one more monster from the sea.”
At that moment, Yoon Tae-ha instinctively knew that Chertan had come to a conclusion about the dilemma he had been facing for days. She asked in a slightly surprised voice,
“Are you letting me go?”
“I don’t know what there is for me to ‘let you go’ or not. If I told you not to go, would you hide in a safe place, not even showing a single strand of hair?”
Yoon Tae-ha moved her neck, making her tied-up hair swish.
“As you can see, my hair is a bit long. Even if I hid at the end of the world, they’d find me.”
“I suppose so.”
Chertan, with an expression of exasperation, responded indifferently.
________________________________________
After receiving Mogley as a gift, the training intensity doubled. Now, with even Chertan joining the training, Yoon Tae-ha reached a point where she could think of nothing else but throwing her body into the air and simultaneously moving many physical entities.
But it was better than lying in bed every night after her routine and imagining the reaction of the person who had met the chimera that looked exactly like her. So she endured it without complaint. Chertan also seemed to intentionally exhaust her before bedtime.
Sometimes, she would sit with him in front of the flower garden her mother left behind and talk. When listening to the major and minor anecdotes between her parents in her father’s voice, the flowers her mother had planted would sway as if in response. It was a time when even the air felt gentle and soft. Such times helped soothe her anxious heart.
And a few days later, Chertan announced that it was time for him to leave the mansion.
“The reason I came here was to find the secret facility that Dr. Palmer mentioned. They call it the ‘cookie factory’ among themselves, apparently.”
“It’s not actually a place that bakes cookies, is it?”
“It’s a factory that cultivates parts of bodies of even those who oppose them, and even those who share their goals. Fingers for fingerprints, eyeballs for iris authentication, even hair and voices. It’s a grotesque facility that doesn’t fail to produce anything.”
“That’s disgusting. Do others know such a facility exists? If I were Geum Gang-seop, I would thoroughly hide information about the ‘cookie factory’ even from allies on the same boat.”
Chertan winked, as if asking her to think a little deeper. The next moment, Yoon Tae-ha asked in a voice of realization,
“Are you aiming for internal division? Through the ‘cookie factory’?”
He nodded.
“Those who got on the same boat for dirty purposes can’t coexist forever. Even those who agree with the Director-General’s intentions now will eventually ask themselves this question: What guarantee is there that Geum Gang-seop, a man who can create chimeras identical to humans, won’t duplicate me? It’s an ominous and creepy assumption. And once such a thought crosses your mind, it’s not easily erased.”
“You’re trying to cut off the branches, then. Are you trying to prune because our defending forces are ultimately smaller?”
“The foreign agencies allied with Changcheon are not small. But according to Lee Hae-kyung’s reconnaissance, Orca’s scale within Ark seems to be beyond imagination. Of course, Orca has deeply infiltrated national agencies like the Protection Bureau as well.”
Yoon Tae-ha could imagine how greatly disheartened Lee Hae-kyung must have been to learn that fact.
“It must be a difficult time for Hae-kyung oppa.”
“It will be. Since the Director of the Protection Bureau is presumed to be Geum Gang-seop’s person. Lee Hae-kyung also seems to have received an invitation to the event, but he plans to stay in the home country and protect it instead of coming to the aquatic city.”
“Director Gong Ju-chan?”
Yoon Tae-ha exclaimed in surprise.
“That person is the teacher oppa trusted and followed. He’s the one who trained oppa since he was little...”
“I also know that from what Kwon Hyuk told me before.”
“I thought he was a good person. There are very few people Hae-kyung oppa trusts that much.”
“The past cannot change the truth. No matter how good a teacher Director Gong was, he’s just a guy who agreed to a plan that could put countless lives at risk.”
After a brief pause, Chertan explained that turning the owners of private guilds to their side was essential.
“It’s no use trying to catch such big fish empty-handed.”
“So you’re going yourself.”
“Are you worried?”
Chertan joked with an expectant expression.
“Of course, I’m worried; you’re family. Didn’t you think I might try to stop you? I’m not the only one who needs permission to jump into dangerous situations. After all, I’m your only guardian, Father.”
At her bold assertion, Chertan let out a hearty laugh for the first time in a while. He seemed genuinely happy. After laughing so hard he leaned back and wiped away the tears at the corners of his eyes, he said he had to leave the next morning.
Yoon Tae-ha instantly felt sad. She had only recently reunited with her family. Just when she was starting to learn about her mother and father, they were already parting. And there was no guarantee they would meet again. But knowing that her presence was the reason he was rushing, she swallowed her disappointment.
The next morning, she lay on her bed with her eyes open, then rushed to the mansion’s main gate as soon as the appointed time arrived.
It was a hazy day, with a faint dawn mist encircling the mansion. Chertan and three of Jeon Ye-rim’s subordinates, a simple team, were waiting for a car at the main gate. Jeon Ye-rim saw Yoon Tae-ha’s expression and briefly stepped aside with her subordinates. Chertan had an enormous bag slung over one shoulder.
“Why are you leaving so early?”
“I’ve gotten older, so I sleep less in the morning.”
Chertan couldn’t hide his desire to spend more time with Yoon Tae-ha from his expression. With a face full of regret, he patted his bag.
“I have a lot of luggage because I need to pack books. On the way, I’m going to pass through a village where only foreigners live. I’m going to try to find someone who can decipher books in that village. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a magic spell that can easily shed a snake’s skin.”
What he was saying didn’t really register in her mind. A moment of silence passed. Yoon Tae-ha only managed to open her lips when she saw a black car approaching from the opposite side of the road.
“Please return safely.”
“By the time you’re in the aquatic city, I’ll be on the sea too. We’ll meet again soon. If we finish our work, let’s have a beer. Guardian to guardian.”
Chertan lightly patted her shoulder. Soon, he gestured behind Yoon Tae-ha, and his traveling companions approached. The car had already arrived close by.
Watching the people loading luggage into the car, Yoon Tae-ha tried to choose her final words to Chertan. But whatever she chose, she felt she would regret it in the end. The others got in first, and Chertan remained until last.
Suddenly, Yoon Tae-ha blurted out to him,
“I will never disappoint you.”
Chertan, holding the open passenger door, grinned and replied,
“My daughter has never disappointed me. And she never will.”
Just then, a small crow flew from the forest and gently landed on Yoon Tae-ha’s shoulder. Chertan glanced at the black bird for a moment, then got into the car without hesitation. As soon as the last member got in, the car immediately departed.
Yoon Tae-ha stood rooted to the ground, watching the car disappear into the distance. It felt as if the gentle protective shield that surrounded her, which she felt when she was with Chertan, looking at the blue flowers, was gradually fading. But she managed to endure it better than she expected. Because she, too, had work to do.
Just before leaving the mansion, Chertan informed Kwon Hyuk that Yoon Tae-ha was alive. Hearing his words, now recognized as a reliable source of information, Kwon Hyuk immediately told her a safe place where she could await orders.
Having sent her family off, Yoon Tae-ha also had to prepare for a long journey soon. And that night, Jeon Ye-rim visited Yoon Tae-ha, who was packing her bags, delaying her sleep.
“I have two surprising stories to tell you. Which one do you want to hear first?”
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