Confession! Mosco Bi Chacos and Yu Ye-na
I naturally assumed the two of them would head straight to the cathedral. After all, the children they'd longed for so desperately were waiting there.
"Huh?"
I stared blankly, forgetting even to greet them. The other employees around glanced back and forth before trying to slip away.
At that moment, Mosco Bi Chacos slowly bowed at the waist, her calm greeting slipping from her lips.
"Thank you for protecting the children."
It was thanks not from a fixer, but purely from a mother. Meracle's office, which had frozen under her sharp, intimidating presence at first, began to thaw.
"Haha! What do you mean? This lady just did what she had to!"
"Renea, you didn't do anything!"
"I-I did. H-Headbutt."
"The thanks should go to the boss."
Raichen stepped aside, politely pointing at me.
"If the boss hadn't spoken up, we wouldn't have had any reason to move."
"……."
Mosco Bi Chacos's peculiar gaze turned to me. It looked like she was trying to smile, or maybe glare—her lips twitched up, then down again. Her cheek muscles trembled as if she were forcing it.
"Did you get fillers in your face?"
Her hand twitched toward her holster to draw her gun, but it was empty, so she just flailed it around. I offered an awkward excuse under her glare, teeth grinding.
"No, it's just... your expression glitched out or something...."
I wondered if she'd gotten some Cyber City plastic surgery.
The cathedral we arrived at with Mosco Bi Chacos. As we stepped into the chapel, the children's eyes widened, and they came rushing over one after another.
"Mooother—!"
"Waaahhh!"
"Where were you, you idiot—!"
"……Sorry."
Mosco Bi Chacos's lips softened as she embraced the children.
She can smile like that too.
As I watched from a distance to give them their time, Yu Ye-na naturally stood beside me, arms crossed and leaning against the wall.
"You did good work again."
"Shouldn't the Tower Administration give me a pension for this?"
"……You know I went along with your stubborn push this time."
"Ahem."
"The judicial deal with Mosco Bi Chacos. There were a lot of voices in the Tower Administration against it, but you forced it through. Good thing it worked out—otherwise, my position would've been at risk."
"Then come work at my company."
"……You say that so easily."
Yu Ye-na stared at me flatly, sighing at my irresponsibility, but a faint smile soon curved her lips.
"Well, it was rewarding anyway. A rare feeling in this line of work."
"The Tower Administration does lack a bit of humanity."
Organizations serving the greater good are always like that, aren't they?
As I took in the sight of Mosco Bi Chacos hugging each child tightly, I tossed out a casual question.
"Can I ask about Villancy?"
"……Depends on what."
"Do you know why he was selected as layer lord?"
"Sigh."
If she were a smoker like me, I'd offer her a cigarette right about now.
"Villancy's surprisingly cooperative, for one. He answers everything we ask—how he was chosen, how to stop the elevator."
"Really?"
"Short version... Villancy was just an ordinary office worker before becoming layer lord."
"……?"
An ordinary office worker?
"Aside from his somewhat sadistic taste for snuff films. A totally generic IT guy you could find anywhere."
That explained the uncanny plastic surgery vibe on his face.
"Once he became layer lord, he amassed a fortune with that power, leading to where he is now."
"So that means—."
"Yeah, for now... there doesn't seem to be any special condition for becoming a layer lord."
The worst possible scenario. Random? If literally anyone could become one, finding the layer lords on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors would be a nightmare.
"That's grim."
"Still... we have to try."
Yu Ye-na glanced back at the children, as if drawing a spark of resolve from the sight. It made her seem a little admirable.
But I had one more question. The mood didn't feel right to ask, but Yu Ye-na glanced over and picked up on it.
"Because of the 7th floor?"
"Ahem, has anything really changed?"
"……You know the Tower ghost stories?"
"Yeah, tons of 'em."
The Tower's such a chaotic place, full of hidden nooks, so all sorts of rumors float around. There's even internet lists compiling them like ghost story collections. I kill time with that stuff when business is slow.
"Ever heard the one about the disappearances?"
"Sure. People vanishing in the Tower every year. Elevators suddenly taking them somewhere weird."
"That's real."
"……?"
"We don't know why. But sometimes the elevators just shunt people somewhere else entirely."
Creepy as hell. Like stepping out for a trip and getting dumped in the middle of nowhere?
"The frequency's increasing. And the Tower Administration sees it as a sign the 7th floor's opening."
"……."
[Geomjipgwan.]
I leaned my back against the wall. Didn't want to show any wobbling.
She stood silently, clearly not wanting to dwell on it, and changed the subject.
"Oh, right—we've got somewhere else to go after this."
"Somewhere else? You said just three hours."
"It's what Mosco Bi Chacos requested separately. Not far, so stick it out a bit longer."
"……Fine."
"Didn't you say it was just a little further?"
"……."
Yu Ye-na clamped her mouth shut and pretended not to hear, focusing on driving. The road we were on led to the Tower tollgate—which meant we'd soon be blasting through a rift gate right into the middle of the Pacific.
"No choice. To get where Mosco Bi Chacos wants, we'd need a plane, and we don't have time."
"This is the most half-assed way to go overseas. Isn't this banned by the airlines?"
"I'm allowed."
We zipped through the VIP lane and the rift gate, swapping Seoul's cityscape for the Pacific in an instant. The sea air always had that thrilling pull.
"……The ocean."
Mosco Bi Chacos murmured in quiet awe, staring out the window.
"Cyber City's got ocean too."
"Yeah, it does. But—."
"But?"
When I pressed her trailing words, she turned back to the sea.
"Mother told me. The 3rd floor ocean's prettier."
"Mother... Sister Himena?"
"Yeah. The one who took me in when I was little."
At her words, I pulled a photo from my pocket: a blonde girl holding flowers. The only one left in the cathedral.
"This you? Why'd you leave just this behind?"
"What I need to protect now isn't the girl in the photo."
"……."
"Sigh, give it back. Embarrassing."
I slyly pulled my hand back so she couldn't grab it, and she glared.
Her feelings toward me seemed complicated—angry, grateful, something like that.
"Give it."
"You dye your hair?"
"……."
"Just curious. You don't seem the type to fuss with your looks."
Mosco Bi Chacos snatched the photo irritably.
"Cosmos in the photo."
"Huh?"
"It's white."
I started to ask what she meant, but she turned back to the sea.
"Mother was right again."
"……."
"Even... prettier."
It took the group just five hours from Neo Seoul to southern America—by car, no flight. All thanks to the rift gates. The Tower's Pacific gates connect to countries worldwide, so you hop from Seoul to the Tower, switch lanes, and boom—America. Illegal, of course.
"No wonder the airlines threw fits. Heard airline stocks tanked when these roads opened."
Kim Juseon marveled at the vast fields and flowerbeds. This was Elmwood Cemetery, a striking hilltop graveyard on the Texas outskirts, with a massive monument mourning the lost nation of Mexico.
Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!
Yu Ye-na's phone buzzed on arrival.
"Sigh, Juseon. Cover for me while I take this."
"Got it."
"Yes, heading back now. I've exercised discretion for a bit more time. Yes, from here on she'll cooperate—."
After enjoying the novel sight of the ever-punctual Yu Ye-na making excuses for being late, Kim Juseon and Mosco Bi Chacos walked the hillside in the breeze.
"Seoul's around 6 or 7 PM now. Dawn here's messing with my senses."
As Kim Juseon rambled awkwardly amid the brightening fields, Mosco Bi Chacos spoke softly.
"I left the cathedral because I thought I was blocking Mother's happiness."
"……."
"If I was gone, she'd be happy. If I made a ton of money and came back, I could make her happy. That's what I believed."
Sometimes talking sorts out emotions. Mosco Bi Chacos was methodically unpacking hers now.
"Only way for a bratty orphan like me to make fast cash was as a fixer. So I sent every penny to the cathedral."
"……."
"One day I visited... and there were five strangers. Mother hadn't changed at all since I left. No—if anything, worse."
The kids all had disabilities. The kind Sister Himena saved from certain death.
I was angry, frustrated. But what I saw was Himena, her health in ruins.
"Then she asked for my help—framed as a job. I... took it."
Passing the grand monument, a small, modest gravestone caught the eye in an obscure corner. Surrounded by blooming white cosmos everywhere.
Mosco Bi Chacos slowed. She'd been acting nonchalant until now, but standing before it, she hesitated to approach.
After a moment, she spoke lowly.
"Why I was mad at you."
The wind rustled the cosmos. A few white petals fluttered.
"The kids... they were starting to think like I did back then."
Meracle had dangled the dream of marriage to Mosco Bi Chacos and the children. Don't bear it alone—let someone support you.
But five kids to raise was a fatal flaw. Learning marriage was impossible, the children naturally thought they were her burden.
"……Sorry. And thanks."
"I didn't do anything special."
Kim Juseon shook his head, cautiously pointing ahead.
"Go on. Say hi."
After a brief silence, she nodded slowly.
The grave was ringed by fully bloomed cosmos, but the stone itself sat in a bare patch—as if long awaiting someone.
Mosco Bi Chacos knelt quietly before it.
The cosmos field. Finally, the last flower took root.
She clasped her hands neatly and closed her eyes. The motion was natural—repeated countless times since childhood.
"Sorry... Mother."
Her first words leaked softly, fingers tightening. A tear dropped onto her trembling hands.
"I... failed."
Blood and gunfire. Screams and shouts. Money and deals. The fixer's cynical mask crumbled, stained by a cynical world.
What remained was the faint image of the innocent girl from her youth, desperate to do anything for Mother.
"I wanted to be... like you."
A stifled sob escaped her throat.
"Mother, I wanted to be like you."
She might've protected something. Could claim she saved the children's world.
But in truth, Mosco Bi Chacos was undeniably a villain. The flowerbed Himena wanted for cosmos ended up overgrown with weeds.
"I wanted to be the most beautiful cosmos you grew."
Tears soaked the grass with her sobs. Her bowed head carried a daughter's guilt for straying wrong.
The dawn sky began to glow over her shaking shoulders, sunlight spreading from the horizon across the fields, illuminating the world.
Last night's darkness faded. The world brightened again.
"Can I atone?"
Confession. Just like in childhood memories, kneeling before her, hands clasped.
"Can I be forgiven?"
No answer came. Mosco Bi Chacos knew that. These weren't words seeking a reply.
Atonement was ironically a door you knocked on, even if it never opened.
After swallowing sobs for a long while, she slowly opened her eyes. She gazed quietly at the stone.
Its occupant taught her the path forward once more.
"Mother."
Her voice trembled faintly.
"Next time, not as Mosco—the weed."
The wind blew, and the white cosmos swayed, scattering petals.
"I'll come as cosmos."
The most beautiful one you grew.
"So..."
She bit her lip, swallowing rising tears.
"So—!"
I'll really try this time. Even if unforgiven. Even if too late. This time, I'll walk the direction you taught.
"Mother."
Like in her childhood, awaiting praise before her.
"That time... you have to... pat my head."
