161 - Three-Way Confrontation
“Ah, my throat's suddenly so dry... I'll just hit the bathroom real quick...”
Cheon Se-min's mind was filled with nothing but the desperate urge to escape this suffocating atmosphere. No one bothered to point out how his excuse didn't even make sense.
As Se-min beat a hasty retreat from the scene, NoName smoothly took his place. She hopped up onto the tall chair with practiced ease despite her short legs. Pulling the chair forward, she fiddled with the returned mail on the table, pondering her next move. How much should I say? It was tricky. For now, she'd narrow it down step by step.
“Did you read the contents?”
“I did, but I still don't get what's going on.”
That figured. It was just a notification to begin with. Cheon Professor's gaze demanded answers: How do you and Se-min know each other? And why request a reinvestigation from the Seoul Major Crimes Investigation Office?
NoName finally spoke.
“It's simple. It's a request for reinvestigation into the Banghwa Bridge bombing.”
Cheon Professor's wrinkled eyes widened. Why would you be involved in that? His thoughts were plain as day without him saying a word.
“Even though so many victims' families requested reinvestigations, it was concluded as a showy terrorist act with no real purpose. Actually, there wasn't even a proper conclusion. If there had been, we wouldn't be getting junk mail like this returned.”
NoName's explanation still had plenty of gaps. But Cheon Professor decided to keep listening.
“Why was the UN force conducting joint training in Korea that very day? And how did they arrive at the terrorist site so quickly?”
Tick-tick.
NoName drummed her fingers on the table. She bit her lip, glancing alternately at Cheon Professor, then at Se-min, who was peeking through the half-open bathroom door.
“It's said that our military and the UN forces immediately captured the terrorists responsible and wiped out their hidden base... but I think it's the exact opposite.”
The incident from seven years ago, faded from memory, resurfaced sharply in Cheon Professor's mind. And as if piecing together the puzzle was child's play, NoName's fingers finally stopped.
“The cleanup operation was already well underway long before. The UN forces failed their Walpurgis purge, the remnants fled, and as a result... Banghwa Bridge collapsed...”
The sequence was backward. It was a conspiracy theory that had floated around online back then. But with news spreading of the UN forces' flawless response completely eradicating the terrorist group from South Korea, those claims lost traction and vanished.
“You're still giving me that look like you don't get why I'm bringing this up now. Honestly, it can be explained in one sentence... I was planning to tell you someday, Professor... but now that it's time, it's a bit hard.”
“...It's fine. I'll keep waiting.”
NoName's grip tightened on her skirt hem. No turning back now.
“I was kidnapped by Walpurgis right after I was born, and I'm a survivor of that purge operation.”
Admitting it the first time was always the hardest. After that, NoName's revelations came without hesitation.
“I know it's hard to believe... but I was trapped in some remote capsule for seven years. Se-min oppa is the one who rescued me from there.”
“Se-min did?”
“You probably saw it on the news since you keep up with it. During that long hostage rescue operation, every single person was found dead inside their capsules...”
Each word from the little girl stabbed like a dagger into his chest. Seven years. A full seven years. In this day and age, with AI assistance, it was more than enough time for someone to master a field.
“After finally escaping to the world after seven years... I guess I wasn't really a hostage. Not being Korean probably had something to do with it.”
Cheon Professor had thought it odd when he filed her adoption papers. NoName had been stateless at the time, but given his own status, automated administrative processes let him grant her Korean citizenship right away. He'd brushed it off without much thought, and there were reasons for that. Starting in 2020, the Korean government had policies rejecting war refugees pouring in, leading to hordes of illegal residents. Even now, plenty of people lived without citizenship scattered across Korea. It wasn't uncommon for that to extend to their children.
“Why...”
Cheon Professor was at a loss for words. He couldn't help it. His head felt like it might explode from the complexity.
And as all the questions and answers led to one final conclusion.
“Why didn't you tell me sooner...”
Even Cheon Professor realized unconsciously how cruel and irresponsible those words were the moment they left his mouth. But before he could retract them and apologize, NoName beat him to it.
“You never asked.”
“...”
He hadn't expected his own idea of consideration to boomerang like this. And the thorns in her calm words hurt so much that his hands began to tremble faintly.
“But if I said that, you wouldn't sleep tonight, right? Heh.”
Yet the seven-year-old girl brushed it off with a laugh. As Cheon Professor looked up again, NoName rested one arm on the table and propped her chin on her hand. Moments later, her head slowly slipped down until it rested on the table. Her gaze fixed on the fruit basket. She picked up a single Shine Muscat grape, toyed with it, then popped it into her mouth.
“Truth is, I didn't really want to talk about it. It's a memory I'd rather forget, the terrorists were all extradited home and properly executed, and above all... I like this house.”
A life handed to her without struggle or effort now filled NoName with deep gratitude. Like this grape—bred through endless improvements to have thin skin, no seeds, and sky-high sweetness—she didn't hate a life that was comfortable the moment it touched her lips.
But that wasn't her true heart.
Thud!
NoName slammed the table and shot to her feet, eyes blazing.
“But honestly, it pisses me off! Do you know what kind of ridiculous crap I had to pull while trapped in that capsule for seven years?!”
Recalling those days now just left her dumbfounded enough to let out a hollow laugh.
“Couldn't eat anything, couldn't drink anything... my stomach always growling... but to survive somehow, I bought potions and chugged them...! Mana can be delivered anytime as long as you're connected to the internet...”
This was the part NoName had deliberately skirted. She'd considered hiding it from Cheon Professor too, but what was the point now?
“To earn money for that damn mana... I played games with my mom, who I barely even remember... Mom's... gone now... but I had to live for both of us, so I kept gaming to make money...”
Before she knew it, NoName's eyes welled up with tears. She wiped them with her sleeve, embarrassed by her sloppy display, but a child's body couldn't easily hold back a flood once it started.
“I've lived so hard... and if there's nothing I can do about it... something's gotta be wrong with this world...”
What if she hadn't had memories from her past life? She and her mother would've died peacefully together. It was weirder for a barely toddling baby to even know the basics of gaming. And no one would remember them.
So NoName's aimless rage desperately sought a target. Before it festered inside her and rotted her soul, she had to vent it somewhere.
Would spilling it all change anything? Those who covered up the operation might face justice, but the victims wouldn't return. Still, NoName had to do it.
“Hic... if even I don't... sniff... who'll pity my poor mom... what happens to her...”
The perfect memory recall granted since reincarnating as a princess was nothing short of a curse. That curse had followed her across lifetimes. Memories from when her sense of self hadn't even formed would surface now and then, leaving her sleepless with aching sorrow. NoSeola's unconditional love for NoName, even in that brief time, was an emotion she'd never felt in any lifetime.
“Someone's still out there lying through their teeth! Sniff... lying... that's why...”
Tears blurred NoName's vision, the world spinning. Suddenly, a shadow blocked the light. As she reached to wipe her eyes, arms enveloped her in comfort. It was Cheon Professor.
“I'm sorry... I'm so sorry I didn't know...”
“Hic...”
“You've grown up so strong despite that horror... I promise, from now on, I won't let you face a single hardship...”
“I was a little hurt you never asked... just a bit...”
“I'm sorry... I'm sorry...”
His words comforting the girl who'd endured unparalleled trials were clumsy. But sometimes, such straightforward emotion touched deeper.
NoName closed her eyes, savoring the feelings of her current seven-year-old self. Without past-life memories, she might've cried even more freely.
“Whoa, what wind blew this way? Brother Byeong-ho calling me first. It's been years since I heard your voice.”
“Prosecutor General, that—!”
Prosecutor Cheon Jeong-ho waved off his secretary trying to stop the call. Ignoring the woman who slunk away dejectedly, he showed thick curiosity at his brother calling first.
“Ah... so that's what happened. Haha, what, turned professor and suddenly into politics? Planning to wear a ribbon at the upcoming memorial and join in?”
His secretary blinked in confusion at the man who never laughed in private suddenly cracking up. But then Cheon Jeong-ho's eyebrows shot up oddly, his face twisting into grim seriousness.
“You're coming here?”
Him showing this much emotion signaled something huge was brewing. The most recent example? When former Seoul Mayor Won Il-young's arrest warrant got rejected. They said a quiet person's anger was scarier. That day, Cheon Prosecutor's secretary endured a barrage of curses till 7 a.m. before clocking out. Picturing the grueling days ahead, she quietly dusted off her resignation letter in her mind.
But instead of exploding, Cheon Prosecutor calmly set down his phone. What came next was even wilder.
“Secretary Kim... get the security firm on the 13th floor here now.”
“Pardon...?”
“Security, you know security? The ones with ESS One or ADT Caps on their backs... anyway, round up every last lazy kid lounging on the first floor.”
“Ah, yes...”
“Now!”
“Yes, sir!”