Chapter 96
Chapter 96
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Simultaneous Incidents (11)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
As the thick haze of smoke settled, my excitement cooled along with it.
The room looked less like a disaster zone and more like a battlefield.
In the middle of it all, I let out a deep sigh as I gazed down at the unidentified enemy sprawled on the floor, eyes rolled back in her head.
Unidentified enemy. Female. Assassin. Fake Kang Ha-neul. Whatever.
She'd taken a point-blank smoke explosion to her left eye and lost consciousness on the spot.
Yeah, just passed out. She wasn't dead yet. Even though one eye was practically pulverized, blood gushing out in spurts, she was still alive.
Superhuman bodies were just that resilient. Trusting in that toughness, I'd calibrated my firepower to stop just short of killing her. No matter how pissed I was at this woman, I couldn't afford to kill her right here.
'Hand her over to Min Chae-ryeong, and she'll handle the interrogation and everything else.'
I knew next to nothing about the woman in front of me. I figured she was some kind of mercenary like Heo Sung-chan or Yoo Jin-su, but unlike them, she hadn't appeared in the original story. A shapeshifter whose skin melted like slime to change forms? Never heard of such a thing.
'...Almost got completely fooled.'
Actually, to be precise, we had been fooled. Neither I, nor Min Chae-ryeong, nor anyone around Kang Ha-neul had noticed she'd been replaced by this imposter.
Iliana had said Kang Ha-neul hadn't streamed for two days. Worst case, the switch happened two days ago.
Should I lament finally figuring it out now, or count myself lucky for catching on at all?
'If I have to pick, I'd say lucky.'
After all, in a situation where I hadn't even harbored the slightest suspicion, coincidences upon coincidences had led me to uncover it purely by chance.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ About thirty minutes earlier.
When Stephanie arrived at Ahn Su-ho's place, he let her in without a second thought.
A strange awkwardness hung between them. Ahn Su-ho chalked it up to the lingering tension from their last conversation, the unresolved awkwardness. But the truth was different.
That awkwardness stemmed from Stephanie's intent to deceive him, a subtle discomfort his instincts picked up on despite facing someone entirely different.
"So, what's this important talk about?"
Kang Ha-neul—or rather, Stephanie—asked with a peculiar smile.
"It's a follow-up to what we talked about last time."
"Last time?"
"Yeah. About your new ability."
"......"
Stephanie clamped her mouth shut at that.
'...What the hell is she talking about?'
New ability? First she'd heard of it.
She hadn't been briefed on the job's backstory. In simple terms, she didn't know Kang Ha-neul's kidnapping was for securing a multi-ability research sample. Much less did she know about the system skill 'Cherry Blossoms of Linked Hearts,' known only to Ahn Su-ho.
So Stephanie had no choice but to stay silent. Her professionalism kept the confusion off her face.
But Ahn Su-ho interpreted that silence differently.
"I get it. This topic's gotta be uncomfortable. I understand. With the origin of your powers being what it is, you couldn't exactly open up to anyone easily."
"...You say it like you know everything."
Stephanie probed lightly.
At the same time, she casually uncrossed her legs, poised to bolt—or kill and dispose of the man in front of her if needed.
"...I don't know for sure if I really know, or if I'm just deluding myself. That's why I came to ask today."
"......"
"Ha-neul. That... uh..."
Ahn Su-ho trailed off, scratching the back of his head with a troubled look.
Truth be told, he wasn't entirely convinced she was a possessor.
There were plenty of circumstantial clues, but "what ifs" always existed.
Like if her streaming nickname NovelSky wasn't her own teaser but a misspelling of "Noble."
If that were the case, bluntly asking, "Are you a possessor by any chance?" would spell disaster. So Ahn Su-ho aimed to probe indirectly, letting her pick up on his intent without spelling it out.
"Your streaming nickname. The English spelling was a bit off from what I expected."
"Off how?"
"Yeah. I thought NobleSky meant 'noble' as in dignified, but last time I checked, it was 'novel' as in... novel?"
Stephanie could only tilt her head further at Ahn Su-ho's question.
He'd called it super important, dropped cryptic hints about a new ability, and now this about her stream?
She knew Kang Ha-neul did internet streams.
But deeming it unimportant for her disguise, she hadn't prepared much on that front. So when someone close(?) to Kang Ha-neul like Ahn Su-ho suddenly got serious about her nickname, Stephanie felt a twinge of alarm but couldn't grasp his angle.
"Why does it matter if it's 'novel' instead of 'noble'?"
"I wondered if you did it on purpose. If you hid some code or special meaning in 'novel'..."
The more Ahn Su-ho explained, the deeper Stephanie's frown grew. She couldn't pin down his intentions at all.
"Uh, Su-ho oppa?"
"Y-yeah?"
"I have no idea what you're getting at. You said it was important, so I made time..."
"Oh, sorry. I wasn't sure how to bring this up either..."
"I thought since you called it important, maybe you were gonna confess or something."
"What? Confess?"
Ahn Su-ho blinked in confusion. Stephanie, meanwhile, flashed a sultry smile Kang Ha-neul never would, gazing at him.
"A grown man calls a girl over in the middle of the night for some 'important talk'? Pretty obvious, right?"
Ahn Su-ho averted his eyes, flustered. Stephanie smirked inwardly at the sight.
'Looks like they're more than just benefactor and beneficiary.'
Stephanie brought up confession for two reasons.
First, pushing the conversation further on abilities or nicknames risked exposing gaps in her intel.
Second, pure curiosity. Toying with a target's loved ones was one of her bad habits.
Two people on the verge of dating, yet not quite there.
What if she tossed a pebble into that sweet, lukewarm dynamic for fun? Stephanie wanted to see the ripples.
'Should I just go all in and make a move? He seems like he'd fold if I push.'
Perfect setting: his place, just the two of them. Play it right, and she could snag a confession—maybe even seal the deal tonight.
Her thoughts reached that point, and she barely stifled a laugh.
'Confessing to a girl he's been crushing on, oblivious she's been swapped, and banging her that same night? His face when he learns the truth... priceless.'
Vile thoughts, truly. But outwardly innocent, Stephanie fixed him with a seductive smile.
'...This feels off.'
Meanwhile, Ahn Su-ho was still thrown by her unfamiliar demeanor.
"...Confess? What brought that on?"
"No, I didn't assume you'd confess! Just that it could be that. Our relationship isn't that stiff, is it?"
"Sure, but that's not what I came to talk about today..."
"Aw, boring stuff can wait. I'm way more interested in this."
They sat across a low table on the floor. Stephanie slowly shifted closer to Ahn Su-ho.
"Oppa. What if I confessed to you?"
Ahn Su-ho couldn't answer rashly. Too sudden, and not a question to blurt out.
'...Something's wrong.'
More than that, the Kang Ha-neul before him felt utterly alien.
It'd only been a month since he met her, but he could say with certainty: this wasn't her personality.
Kang Ha-neul got shy even drunk, hemming and hawing until she passed out without confessing. Worlds apart from her bold streaming persona, but the real her was like that.
A shy twenty-year-old girl who bottled up her feelings, agonizing internally and reading the room.
'Did she come ready to confess or draw one out of me today?'
Maybe this bold approach was her effort to end the ambiguity.
'Come to think of it, the skill was Cherry Blossoms of Linked Hearts. Is this related?'
"...Ha-neul. Does that ability have some side condition or...?"
"Oppa. Let's talk that later. I want something sweeter right now."
He tested the waters, but Stephanie stonewalled even the question.
'...Definitely weird.'
Her attitude tipped his thoughts from confusion toward suspicion.
A chill unease crawled up his spine.
Even as she tested his reactions, inching closer—her hand lightly on his, breaths mingling—Ahn Su-ho's lips moved on instinct.
"............Status window."
He'd said it himself, yet didn't know why he suddenly wanted Kang Ha-neul's status. Pure instinct, level-headed gut feel, compelled the words. For a split second, his mind screamed he had to say it.
And then.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Status window access denied.] [Target is not an Academy affiliate.] [[Skill: Academy Guard] cannot view status windows of non-Academy affiliates.] "...Huh?"
The dry message floated in the air.
Ahn Su-ho let out a soft exclamation at the text. Meanwhile, Stephanie—still in Kang Ha-neul's form—pressed against him, smirking secretly at his frozen expression.
But then.
"What."
The next moment, at Ahn Su-ho's absent murmur.
"Who the hell are you?"
Stephanie's faint smile turned icy.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A faint voice from somewhere jolted Ahn Su-ho's head up.
Only then did he remember he was on the phone with Min Chae-ryeong. Picking up the discarded device, her urgent voice spilled out.
-What happened? What's going on? Hey! Ahn Su-ho! Answer me!
"Team Leader, I'm here. Go ahead."
-Ahn Su-ho. What the hell happened? You caught her already? The kidnapper?
"Yes. So, here's what went down..."
They exchanged info. Ahn Su-ho explained spotting and subduing the fake Kang Ha-neul; Min Chae-ryeong shared the backstory from Ji Ye-won.
"So Na Ju-yong finally drew his sword."
-Yeah. Never dreamed he'd pull off a kidnapping right inside the Academy. And we missed it for two days...
"They probably swapped her instantly via a shapeshifter. Anyway, now that we know, we need to move fast."
-Agreed. But two problems.
First: no clue where Kang Ha-neul was.
Second: Min Chae-ryeong had no available manpower.
Ahn Su-ho responded calmly.
"First one's solved. I know where she is."
-What? How?
"Shook it out of the kidnapper here."
A lie. The system provided the location.
"What's the second issue? No manpower ready?"
-Exactly. None of my team's free.
"What about Security Force? Or police?"
-Sure, but I'd prefer to handle this quietly, no cops.
"You call that reasonable right now?"
Ahn Su-ho's clenched fist ground with bone-creaking tension.
Two days max since the kidnapping.
Imagining what Kang Ha-neul endured, any threat to her life—he felt his blood run cold. Quiet processing? Now?
-Not just my sake.
He thought so, but her follow-up made him concede.
-Forgot who's behind this? Ye-il Group backs Na Ju-yong. Cops, even Greenhouse—they've got connections. Report it or mobilize Security Force, and word reaches them instantly. Then...
"They'll move her before we arrive. Right?"
-Yes.
Made sense. Ahn Su-ho had to play cautious. No guarantee the quest updated if her location changed.
"...You said no available subordinates. Fine, I'll go alone."
But he couldn't wait another minute. He'd storm in solo. Min Chae-ryeong reined him in.
-Calm down. How many enemies you think? You're no S-grade; you can't wipe them solo.
"That's..."
-I get you're worried, but let's think rationally. I'll scrape together what I can. Sending Ji Ye-won your way. No point watching the lab now she's nabbed.
"Ji Ye-won?"
He hesitated, not wanting to endanger her—but shook it off. No time to be picky.
'Right. Cool down. Think slowly. What can I do? What to prepare...'
Following her advice, calming his nerves, Ahn Su-ho pondered.
"...Okay."
Soon, he looked up, certain of his next move.