Exposure (14)
Ahem. Hm. Hey, you brat. What are you doing smashing the door like that? You should at least knock before barging in...
A tall, striking man strokes his beard, looking somewhat sheepish. He tries to fit the fallen door back into its frame, but after hearing the crunch of the shattered hinges, he gives up with a deep sigh.
"Impressive strength. How on earth did you manage to do this to stellite alloy with anti-particle coating...?"
"..."
Mok Jinu's words stir up an inexplicable surge of irritation in me. Why had I even worried about this guy's safety? Then again, Mok Jinu wasn't the type to get stabbed to death somewhere. The director had said it herself: even if you tossed him among the demon race, he'd come back alive using nothing but his silver tongue.
"You're the one who told me to come anytime, Branch Manager. Day or night. Any time of the year."
"T-that's true, but... still, how was I supposed to know you'd show up today of all days... and I even locked the door..."
"Isn't this the Information Bureau's outpost? How can you just openly call women over like that? What if it hadn't been me but my sisters who saw it...?"
"Don't even mention those girls."
Mok Jinu shook his head as if the very thought disgusted him. "Just thinking about how much trouble those women caused me back when I attended the Cradle... Every time I tried to enjoy a night out with Jaehyuk, they'd pop up like ghosts and ruin everything... Ugh."
"I think I'm starting to understand why the sisters don't like you very much, Branch Manager..."
"Good. I don't like them much either."
It was a rare, decisive answer from him.
"And it's not what you're imagining. That woman earlier is my informant. She works as a night stage singer at the VIP club. Her lips are sealed tight..."
"Then isn't that even more problematic? How could you do that with an informant...?"
"What's the problem? Everyone mixes business with pleasure. While passing along information on the movements of the higher-ups... if there's time to spare... heh heh."
He shrugged with a shameless grin. Then, clearing his throat belatedly, he changed the subject.
"Ahem. Let's drop this topic. More importantly, how are you? No injuries?"
"...I'm fine. I had some minor wounds, but after resting a few days, they've almost all healed..."
"That's a relief. I was getting worried with no contact from you. Seeing you at the hearing helped put my mind at ease a little..."
Mok Jinu nodded.
"You got hit hard by the Paecheon this time. I never expected that young lady to personally lead her private troops in a rampage. Now that I think about it, did you receive my crow? I sent it the moment I detected movement..."
"It arrived almost simultaneously with the Paecheon forces. It seems the air defense network blocked it from entering properly."
"Tsk... I suspected as much..."
He frowned slightly and clicked his tongue.
"Thinking about it now, it's a miracle you survived. If I had been in the Paecheon's position, I would have taken both your head and the Red Fire successor's right there. The justification was perfect..."
"...You're right. But how did you know I was at the Red Fire to send the crow?"
"One of our people inside the Cradle informed me. Now that I think about it... hm."
Mok Jinu suddenly stopped mid-sentence. He looked at me as if recalling something and nodded.
"...It might be good for you to exchange information with him directly. That way, we could share intel more closely with each other. It's not as if you're complete strangers, after all."
"There's an Information Bureau agent among the people I know?"
I assumed it had to be one of the faculty members at best, but Mok Jinu uttered a name I had never considered.
"You know him, right? Shin Muyeong."
"Excuse me?"
I blurted out the question before I could stop myself. The moment I heard the name, a male student with a strict demeanor and glasses flashed through my mind. Though his public reputation wasn't exactly stellar, he was one of the few students at the Cradle I could speak openly with. We'd met in the infirmary after the first ranking match, and before I left for the Red Fire, I'd run into him again and mentioned I'd be away from the Cradle for a while due to the mentoring experiential learning.
But he was an Information Bureau agent...?
"Did you assign him to watch me?"
"Watch you? Why would we bother monitoring you?"
He let out a snort as if the idea was absurd.
"His admission to the Cradle was decided long before yours. We needed someone who could immediately report on the movements of the academy's prestigious family heirs. Muyeong doesn't even know about our relationship."
"I see... I never would have imagined... that he was an Information Bureau agent."
"Muyeong is far more capable than you give him credit for. Not to mention he's a rare spirit mage... You know about his temperament, right?"
There was no way I couldn't know. I recalled the nearly eccentric behaviors Shin Muyeong had displayed.
"Does that reaction apply not only to humans but to beings close to us as well?"
"Beings close to us..."
"Let's see... for example, female demons disguised as young women who devour men?"
"He can detect the beasts?"
The outward appearance of demons who have had all their demonic energy drained is indistinguishable from humans. Only powerful specimens of the second class or higher still carry a stench, but such individuals aren't numerous to begin with. Their characteristically awkward speech patterns also become naturally corrected after years of blending in. Though their numbers are small, those ancient demons are nearly impossible to distinguish from humans unless you kill them and extract their cores.
If he could instantly detect such entities, he was more than capable—he was exceptional.
"That's right. Apparently, he finds those similar beings even harder to tolerate than ordinary humans. Group mating is the basic reproduction method for female demons. During breeding season, they cycle through dozens of males..."
"Group mating..."
The word carried a disturbingly sticky resonance. Just thinking about a fragment of it was enough to make my head throb. Without realizing it, I repeated the word he'd spoken, only to immediately sense my mistake.
"Oh? Why are you reacting like that? Getting interested? Well, it is the age when things start boiling over..."
Mok Jinu's trailing voice was thick with mischievous teasing.
"Or have you already tried it? Hm? Luring in those innocent Cradle young ladies who don't know anything about the world..."
"What... I've never done anything like that. And I have no desire to."
"Really? Seems entirely possible to me..."
His gaze felt sharp enough to pierce through my mask, but he quickly withdrew it and continued.
"Well, we'll find out eventually. Anyway, that breeding method is completely incompatible with Muyeong. He's a staunch advocate of platonic love. A rare romanticist in this day and age..."
Listening to his explanation, a sudden question crossed my mind: did Muyeong's aversion apply to men as well? If so, I'd like to test it on the man in front of me first...
"He has plainclothes soldiers stationed nearby while Muyeong simply wanders the back alleys and streets. The moment he foams at the mouth and suffers breathing difficulties, they surround the area... and then?"
He answers by slightly raising an eyebrow.
"Occasional mistaken identities do happen... but I can confidently say it's superior to any other method I know."
I used to wonder what he was up to since he was never around on weekends. Now that mystery seems solved. I thought working without holidays would be exhausting, but given his personality, he probably volunteered eagerly...
"...Does the principal know about his true identity as well?"
"Who knows? I didn't tell her explicitly, but she probably has a general idea that we've planted someone."
He continued speaking while vigorously wiping a glass with a dry cloth, as if it were no big deal.
"Even if she does, I doubt she'll pay it much mind. The principal and we share a common understanding under the greater cause of the Republic's stability. If she had been in the capital during the Red Fire incident, it wouldn't have escalated into such a major crisis..."
"I see..."
"Indeed. But it's quite fascinating. Muyeong rarely shows personal affection toward anyone. He definitely said something about it... a sense of kinship with the wounded...?"
"...I have no idea what you're talking about. Anyway, I have a question..."
After that, I continued chatting with Mok Jinu about various topics. Through him, I learned about several current developments I wouldn't have known otherwise. However, since he was such a talkative person, I had to go through a filtering process to extract only the information useful to me.
The fact that a new night stage singer with a coquettish, nightingale-like voice had joined the VIP club and was monopolizing the attention and sponsorship of influential figures, thereby provoking jealousy from others, was something I had absolutely no need to know...
"Come to think of it, should I start calling you young master now? The new crown prince of the Black Lotus..."
"Stop teasing me. I'm leaving."
"No fun at all. Fine. Even though you don't share blood, how is it that you're exactly like that Jaehyuk fellow in this regard..."
As I rose to leave because of the late hour, Mok Jinu tossed another mischievous joke at my back. Did this man never tire of it?
"Ah, one more thing..."
"Hm?"
I was about to exchange farewells and depart, but hearing Muyeong's name brought back the conversation we'd had in the infirmary—the one that had been cut short.
'Anyway, that aura was truly ominous. Even facing it from a distance made my hands and feet tingle. It felt like what it might be like to have witches right before my eyes...'
'Leader. You don't know about the witches? Oh dear. As expected, you're an innocent who doesn't know the ways of the world. So fifteen years ago...'
Since it had come to mind, I turned back around.
"Do you know what a witch is?"
Mok Jinu paused for a moment before asking back.
"...Why do you ask?"
"It just suddenly occurred to me. I was discussing it with Muyeong before but we got interrupted. It sounds like some kind of identifier for criminals or mutants..."
"...Hm. Is that so?"
He dragged out his words slightly, then nodded.
"Well, that description isn't entirely wrong. But I think you'd be better off hearing that story directly from Muyeong, since he was the one who brought it up."
"Why? Since the topic has already come up..."
"Because the last shuttle to the Cradle is about to depart. You haven't forgotten that tomorrow is Monday, have you? Unless you want to earn penalty points for being late on your first day back..."
"...Ah."
When I turned at his words, the clock's second hand had already crept deep into the night.
"...Understood. Then..."
"Yes. Safe travels, young master."
I let Mok Jinu's teasing remark go in one ear as I stepped out of the Silver Moon. From there, I headed toward the stop where the Cradle shuttle waited.
The slight unease I felt now wasn't solely because I had failed to resolve the question that had suddenly arisen.
When I had spoken the word witch. And when he heard where the question had come from. The strange expression that had flickered across Mok Jinu's face for an instant before vanishing. Was it my imagination that it had seemed like a sigh of tension followed by one of relief?
Was the topic of witches... something that warranted such a reaction?
The sight of the Cradle after so long was exceptionally quiet. Still, having spent a considerable amount of time here for meals and sleep, the place now felt rather warm and familiar.
Because it was already quite late, there wasn't a soul in sight near the main gate aside from the guards and security cameras. The campus, usually bustling with students in white uniforms, was also eerily still. The only sign of life was the faint flicker of lights from the indoor training hall in the distance—someone must have been training even at this hour.
I slipped away through the bushes in the garden beside the campus. After walking quite a distance along the back path, the now-familiar beech tree dormitory came into view below.
The mansion situated in the quietest and most scenic spot among them was Yeon Minha's dormitory.
And the moment I climbed over the back fence to avoid prying eyes—
"...You're late."
A voice dripping with displeasure pierced my ears. Like a ghost haunting the hallways, a pure-white Yeon Minha appeared before me. She stood with her arms crossed, glaring at me with a sulky expression. Her red eyes gleamed fiercely in the darkness.
"I told you to sleep first today. I said I might be late."
"But it's too late... Who knows what could happen while wandering around at such a dark hour..."
Who did this woman think she was? Especially when she was the younger one here.
At Yeon Minha's feet was a small cat with cream and amber fur mixed in equal parts.
-Myaong!
Ttangkong came running to my feet, circling me several times while sniffing intently. Now that I thought about it, it had been a few days since I'd seen her too. I felt a surge of affection, but Ttangkong seemed to have some complaints.
After sniffing for a while, she suddenly stood rigid, bared her teeth, and sank them hard into my ankle. The pain was sharp enough that I nearly let out a groan.
Thinking it was because we'd been apart too long, I lifted Ttangkong by the scruff of her neck and held her in my arms. But her display of discontent continued. She kept trying to scratch me with her claws extended, forcing me to restrain all four of her limbs. It looked like sulking. Or maybe throwing a tantrum...
"Do you know why she's acting like this all of a sudden?"
"Isn't it obvious? Her dad disappeared without a word, only to come back late at night..."
"..."
It didn't quite feel like that kind of complaint.
"Sigh. Whatever. Let's just go inside. The academic schedule resumes tomorrow..."
"Understood."
Holding Ttangkong, I was about to follow Yeon Minha into the dormitory when something caught my eye—a strange stain on the outer wall that hadn't been there before. I turned my gaze toward it.
And immediately realized what it was.
"This is..."
It wasn't a stain at all. It was large graffiti, crudely scrawled across the wall.