Chapter 149
Chapter 149
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: Small Progress (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was too scary.
I couldn't even run away. I just nodded, praying this wouldn't turn into a tough conversation.
What on earth did he want to talk about?
Was he going to ask why I was calling him over something as trivial as a pathetic creature?
Trembling with fear, I steeled myself.
But his next words shattered my resolve.
"Shall we head to my place first~?"
My jaw dropped.
It was the last thing I expected.
Why...?
Why all of a sudden?
I stared dumbly at the senior, who smiled casually with his mouth agape. The tall senior wore an ivory short-sleeved shirt and semi-transparent framed glasses. He was off-duty, it seemed.
Someone even scarier than Yoon at times, depending on the context.
The response slipped out reflexively.
"Can't we do a café?"
"Nope~."
"A restaurant with private rooms?"
"That won't work either~."
Terror and despair squeezed my heart tight.
Ricardo curved his long eyes into a smile as he watched my reaction.
"The car's all cleaned up, so let's take mine~."
"Right... right now?"
"If you're free~."
I wasn't, but I wanted to say I was.
If I got caught lying, I'd be totally screwed.
I nodded, failing miserably at controlling my expression.
The green-eyed senior grinned.
Without hesitation, the man started walking. The hospital lobby, bathed in warm summer sunlight, suddenly felt ominously dark. Had calling him during a mission been such a huge mistake? Well, I'd already committed an unforgivable sin, and this was just me pouring fuel on the fire.
If only I had my phone, I could've sent an SOS to Ami or Yoon.
I even missed Choi Yoon.
Head down, lips sealed, I heard the senior's voice.
"I was gonna call the two-tone kid too, but she's off on a long-term mission starting today~."
"Shu?"
"She said she'd contact me right when she gets back~."
What for?
I couldn't follow the conversation's thread. Ricardo couldn't possibly be interested in games. And she wasn't even in the Task Force, so it wasn't about the past.
What could he possibly have to discuss with Shu at his house?
But I didn't ask, and Ricardo didn't explain.
As the green-eyed senior headed to the underground parking, he muttered to himself.
"That kid's pretty unique too...."
She did have a distinctive vibe.
Once she was back, I'd have to hit the game center Colton set up with her.
With that thought, I dragged my reluctant feet forward.
***
The green car gleamed, spotless.
Ricardo shut down my attempt to bring up the cleaning bill with a single gesture. Feeling like I was being led to the slaughterhouse, I climbed into the passenger seat.
Noon under the blazing summer sun.
Lost in a daze, staring out the window, the senior asked.
"Lunch-?"
I replied in a stiff voice.
"I haven't eaten. But I'm fine."
"Hmm... okay.... Might be better on an empty stomach anyway~."
"Pardon?"
What?
Why bring up something like John Mullen?
Was he planning to sell me off the moment we got to his place...?
I expressed my shock with a flushed face, but the senior didn't even glance back.
No further conversation followed. Ricardo focused on driving and stayed silent for a while. I sat there with my mouth hanging open like an idiot, then awkwardly composed myself and looked away in embarrassment.
Too ashamed to speak first, I sat quietly until we arrived.
A quiet residential neighborhood, forty minutes from headquarters.
The car pulled into the best-maintained garage among them.
A pristine house came into view.
The lower exterior was red basalt, the upper part white lime and plaster.
Clean and stylish, just like the senior.
"...Excuse me."
I muttered as I followed Ricardo inside.
"Your house is really pretty...."
He tossed the car keys onto the wall rack with a flick.
Slipping on slippers as he did, my eyes caught a game console that clashed with the modern interior.
A marble table in front of the gray sofa. A low table that surely only ever held an ashtray now had a monitor and console on it.
I blinked.
"Is that game console Shu's?"
"Yeah.... You'll be playing it soon enough~."
Me?
That's *From E*.
I walked to the table and picked up the console. The screen woke from sleep mode, displaying the title. Familiar BGM filled the air, leaving me speechless.
Ricardo returned with a glass of water.
"You can at least have some water~...."
"Ah, thank you."
"You heard about the Easter egg, right~?"
"Yes. I heard they didn't fully solve it."
"Have a seat...."
Ricardo pointed to the sofa.
"We'll talk after you see that...."
What was all this about?
Questions piled up, but I didn't voice them. I was used to following orders without explanations. Yoon was always the quiet type too. I had a year's experience rolling under him.
I sat on the sofa and fiddled with the controller.
The senior sat beside me.
"Load the most recent save~."
I did as told.
I picked up the broken Hwangga bow from Goseong and went to the statue. After setting down the item and praying, the basement appeared.
Up to that point, I'd just been purely excited, nothing more.
Even discovering the row of statues in the unique shrine had me thrilled.
But the moment I pressed the book on the altar, I forgot how to breathe.
[When your successor aims your blood oath at you]
Ricardo took the controller from me.
"I'll put in the answer~."
A date appeared on screen.
Eight digits. The date I'd looked up online, unforgettable since.
Inputting it, text began appearing on the blank book.
I read it without properly breathing.
Forgetting everything but the words.
Lost in Eve's words echoing in my ears.
***
The sentences didn't continue.
I stared motionless at the still screen.
Then I realized I wasn't breathing right.
My breaths were shallow.
I bent over, gasping for oxygen. But it didn't improve.
Ragged breaths and ringing tinnitus.
I can't breathe.
"Put this over your mouth and breathe."
Someone roughly yanked my shoulders back.
A brown paper bag entered my narrowed vision.
"Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth."
My trembling hands grabbed the bag.
It felt like someone was holding me steady. Gripping my shoulder? Hand on my back?
No? Maybe holding the bag?
Why was I holding a bag?
My mind wouldn't turn.
Breathing gradually eased, though. I'd forgotten how to move, just inhaling and exhaling. My constricted vision slowly widened.
Memories flooded back.
I'd failed to persuade Ray. I thought there was still a chance. I hoped I could prevent the disaster.
But history didn't flow that way.
What words had I used to persuade him?
I still couldn't remember.
What I did recall: facing my kin in the vast lab.
Weapons drawn on each other. Bloodstains stark on their clothes. Kyle and his followers must have killed several researchers on the way here. My supporters and I couldn't stop the massacre. We didn't have the strength.
But it can still be reversed.
For now....
"Please."
The plea was rejected.
And so the war began. I recalled the sensation of gritting my teeth and slashing at the charging kin.
A memory even the 'Voice of Dreams' couldn't unearth.
Fragments I'd only partially recalled in the subway.
"Bathroom."
I mumbled, hand over mouth, and someone hauled me up roughly.
Urk.
The toilet filled my view, and I vomited immediately. Good thing my stomach was empty. It felt like I could puke up my entire gut.
I heaved watery gastric juices for a while.
Physiological tears blurred my vision.
Struggling to steady my gasps, I muttered.
"I'm sorry."
"Just finish puking~."
Someone patted my back in response.
"Knew it'd be like this, so I brought you here...."
Gripping the toilet with shaky hands, I emptied myself a couple more times.
Gotta stop now. Can't burden them anymore; pull it together. But then the sensation of taking a kin's life hit, flipping my stomach. The white lab drowned in muscle, organs, and skin chunks.
I....
"Where did I go wrong?"
I'd balanced it successfully for decades.
"Where should I have... how...."
"Who knows. Maybe it was inevitable~."
No.
"If I'd handled it right...."
"If you'd handled it right?"
"Then the war...."
"Wouldn't have happened?"
Someone asked firmly from the side.
A voice laced with refined anger.
"You think you could've stopped the war? That your actions alone could've made it possible?"
Who knows the right answer.
If I could turn back time. Return to the past with my memories and pick the right choices, maybe the disaster wouldn't happen. Maybe I could've prevented kin slaughter and war with better handling.
Aiming my blade at kin was ultimately my choice.
Eve.
The scientist who needed no fame or fortune.
The genius who firmly believed our meeting with humanity was a blessing.
She abandoned her name, hometown, and ties, carrying goodwill and hope, and spent long years with me. Just as I'd watched Colton age, I saw Eve age too. The genius known only within controlled labs never gained fame or wealth but was always happy.
Norn cherished her flawless passion....
"I have to go."
I muttered, pushing up from the toilet.
"Go do K...."
"Bullshit."
Someone grabbed me roughly.
Then dragged me to the sink. My whole body shook; I couldn't resist properly.
Water splashed on my face at the sink.
A large hand roughly washed it. Amid the chaotic sensations, I flailed without regaining my senses.
Until the one who'd cleaned me up dragged me fiercely out of the bathroom.
My limp body was tossed onto the bed.
"Sleep~."
A blanket covered me head to toe; I couldn't see the voice's owner.
"If you crawl out, I'll knock you out for real, so stay put~...."
He finished, turned off the light, and left the room.
Exhausted, I lay there listening to his footsteps fade. Door closing. Footsteps receding. Cleaning sounds.
Picking up broken glass....
The noises dimmed, and consciousness cut off at some point.
***
I woke to darkness.
I stared at the ceiling, tinged bluish in the gloom, for a long while.
Then slowly got up and headed out.
Stumbling, I searched for the homeowner. Easy enough—follow the sounds.
Ricardo was in the kitchen, half-heartedly shaking a frying pan.
"Senior...."
"You're up~?"
He replied without turning.
"Then quit dawdling and set the table...."