Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: The Missing Researcher
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A man lay inside a chamber, connected to more mechanical devices than anyone else.
That man was Kang Young-chan.
"Is that really Team Leader Kang Young-chan...?"
The sight of Kang Young-chan was utterly shocking to Do-jae.
A face aged beyond its years, wrinkled skin, and hair that had turned completely white.
If not for his wolf-like eyes and protruding mouth, he would have been unrecognizable.
"It's Team Leader Kang."
Kim Hwan-soo folded his arms, gazing into the chamber with a worried expression.
For a long while, the two of them just watched Kang Young-chan in silence.
Do-jae was the first to speak.
"Has he been like this since then?"
The 'then' Do-jae referred to was the time of the suppression.
The moment the black cloud spread, the Red Orc Shaman appeared, and Kang Young-chan had collapsed.
After collapsing, Kang Young-chan had been carried on Kim Hwan-soo's back and immediately transported to the Suppression Corps headquarters.
Do-jae didn't know what had happened after that.
"He was fine for a while..."
Kim Hwan-soo began to explain.
This was the story.
Kang Young-chan had been in a coma for a full day immediately after collapsing.
Afterward, Kim Hwan-soo wanted him to undergo more tests, but Kang Young-chan insisted he knew his own body best and wanted to return to the suppression immediately.
However, the key part of the suppression—the Red Orc hunt—was already over, so he was assigned to his original mission.
But only for a short time.
As time passed, his reports started coming in slower, and his contact became less frequent.
Losing patience, Kim Hwan-soo went to find Kang Young-chan himself and eventually found him collapsed in his own home.
By then, Kang Young-chan's condition was already almost the same as it was now. He was immediately moved here, and treatment began.
"Is there any improvement? What's Team Leader Kang Young-chan's condition now?"
"There's no progress. We're only managing to slow the aging."
Tap, tap.
Kim Hwan-soo approached the chamber's glass and tapped it with his hand.
Judging by the dull sound, the glass had to be quite thick.
"This chamber is a room that controls the flow of mana. It prevents external mana from entering and internal mana from leaking out."
"I see."
In fact, Do-jae already knew the chamber was cutting off mana, as he couldn't feel any of Kang Young-chan's from inside.
Otherwise, he would have sensed it through the Nerves of the Golem by now, but the inside of the chamber was like an empty void.
"The various machines are for life support and suppressing the aging. But that's all. There's been no way to reverse it."
Kim Hwan-soo stepped back from the chamber and folded his arms again.
He bit his lip and looked at Do-jae.
"To be honest, I'd like you to return to the Suppression Corps. But that's not going to happen, is it?"
"No, I have no intention of leaving Guardian right now."
For the time being, Do-jae planned to stay with the Guardian Guild.
Even if Kim Hwan-soo offered the same conditions.
It wouldn't be easy for Do-jae, who had made a name for himself among hunters, to return to the Suppression Corps. Besides, he had the request from Song Deok-hoon and his agreement with Jeong In-gon, so leaving Guardian was not a good option.
Of course, Do-jae was also satisfied with his current situation; it was optimal for him.
"Well, fine. It's better for my future, too. I can't force you into a bad choice for the sake of the present. But the Suppression Corps needs Kang Young-chan right now. The existence and name of an S-rank alone are a great source of power. Director Park?"
Kim Hwan-soo stopped a man who was passing by, who seemed to be either a researcher or a doctor.
It was hard to tell who he was, as he was wearing the same protective suit, but Kim Hwan-soo managed to single him out.
Thanks to the rank insignia barely visible inside the suit, Do-jae could tell he held a fairly high position.
"What is it, Chief of Staff?"
"Do you have Kang Young-chan's file on you?"
"Yes, I just brought it for recording."
"May I see it for a moment?"
Director Park handed the clipboard he was holding to Kim Hwan-soo.
Kim Hwan-soo then flipped through a few pages of the file and showed it to Do-jae.
"Take a look at this."
The file Kim Hwan-soo showed him contained a simple diagram of a human body.
It was the kind of anatomical chart you'd see in a hospital, with small dots marked all over it.
Flipping a few more pages revealed X-ray images, which clearly showed things that looked like pencil lead.
"What are these?"
"The things that are giving us trouble. They're the implants that were embedded during the Transcendence Stone experiments."
Do-jae looked back and forth between the X-ray images and Kang Young-chan, thinking.
These implants embedded in his body.
They were surely what was anchoring Gellahan's mana.
He thought, couldn't they just be removed?
"Can't you just pull them out?"
"It's not that easy. All the Suppression Corps members who had these implants removed died..."
Do-jae looked at Kang Young-chan again.
Then he looked around at the dozens of Suppression Corps members lying in the chambers.
All of them were just waiting for their day to die, with these unknown implants embedded in them.
In a way, they too were Gellahan's sacrifices.
Kim Hwan-soo placed a hand on Do-jae's shoulder and said.
"I heard from Park Do-hwan. That you took the Transcendence Stone. Do you happen to know much about it?"
The real reason Kim Hwan-soo had called Do-jae.
It was to ask him to remove these implants.
Do-jae had anticipated that word of the Transcendence Stone would have reached Kim Hwan-soo, the Chief of Information Operations.
So he wasn't taken aback.
"The bottom line is you're asking if I can remove the implants used in the research."
"That's right. I was thinking that since you can handle the Transcendence Stone, you might be able to restore Young-chan without having to pull out these implants."
"I can't give you a definite answer. I don't know anything about what these implants are."
Do-jae couldn't make a clear judgment.
If there were no implants, there might be a chance.
Hadn't he experienced it before?
He had absorbed the mana of the Transcendence Stone—that is, Gellahan's mana—from Salreuta and the skeletons.
For now, he decided to touch Kang Young-chan directly and feel his mana.
"May I take a look at Team Leader Kang Young-chan for a moment?"
"Please do."
***
Beep, beep, beep.
At Kim Hwan-soo's gesture, Director Park opened the chamber door. Do-jae entered without delay.
He then took off his protective suit. He heard Director Park's surprised voice trying to stop him, but Kim Hwan-soo said it was fine, so he didn't stop and removed it all.
"Kang Young-chan..."
Up close, Kang Young-chan's appearance was even more ghastly.
His breathing was uneven, and he was constantly convulsing.
He looked like he could die at any moment.
Tuk.
Do-jae placed his bare hand on Kang Young-chan's chest.
From the moment he entered the chamber and took off the suit, he could read the flow of Gellahan's mana inside Kang Young-chan's body.
Now, he intended to draw out that mana and absorb it into the Sealed Memory.
He had handled Gellahan's mana numerous times while infusing it into Young-jin.
He just needed to reverse the process.
However, it didn't go as Do-jae had thought.
Tuk.
Do-jae lifted his hand and placed it down again.
This time, too, it didn't work as he intended.
After a few more attempts, he gave up and took a few steps back from Kang Young-chan.
"Hmm... as I thought..."
Tuk.
"What is it?"
As Do-jae murmured, Kim Hwan-soo pressed his face against the glass wall and asked.
After touching and removing his hand a few more times, Do-jae finally picked up his protective suit, put it back on, and came out of the chamber.
"It seems it won't be possible just like this."
"What do you mean?"
"The dozens of implants embedded in Team Leader Kang Young-chan's body are interfering with the extraction of the Transcendence Stone's mana."
The implants in Kang Young-chan's body were tightly binding his own mana and Gellahan's mana together.
Originally, those implants might have served to mix the two types of mana, as he could feel a new, fused mana near the implants, but it was in a very small area.
In other parts, Kang Young-chan's mana and Gellahan's mana were clashing, eroding his original mana.
"Is it possible to meet the person who implanted these?"
Do-jae thought he needed to know the person who led this experiment.
He could forcibly suppress the mana around the implants and extract Gellahan's mana, but the risk was too great.
If Gellahan's mana were to run rampant, Kang Young-chan could die.
Even if he survived, he could be transformed into Gellahan's slave.
If that happened, Do-jae would have no choice but to kill Kang Young-chan on the spot.
In the end, it would lead to the same result no matter what.
He figured that if he understood the principle of these implants, he could safely absorb Gellahan's mana.
"Ahem... If I could meet him, I wouldn't have called you."
Kim Hwan-soo closed the chart and continued speaking.
"The research director who oversaw the experiment disappeared the day Park Do-hwan was captured. He took most of the research data and a few of his closest researchers with him. Thanks to that, we couldn't create the medicine to stabilize the Transcendence Stone's mana, which led to this situation. We're doing our best to find him, but he's a skilled awakened being himself, so it's not easy."
"An awakened being? The research director was an awakened being?"
"You've probably heard his name before. Choi Dong-wook."
Do-jae had heard the name a few times.
He was a famous scientist, famous enough to have been on the news in the old days.
He was an outstanding scholar and an awakened being who had made numerous achievements by incorporating mana into the field of life sciences.
Choi Dong-wook, who used to appear frequently in the media, had suddenly vanished from the public eye. Do-jae had never imagined he was with the Suppression Corps.
"Then just give up. To be frank, even if you find Choi Dong-wook, there's no chance Team Leader Kang Young-chan will regain his original strength."
"Still, we can't just let him die like that... Research on the Mana Accelerator is actively progressing, so if we can just keep him alive, he might be useful again someday."
"Then you'll have to find Choi Dong-wook as quickly as possible."
"I understand. We'll focus our efforts on that. Director Park, immediately find Director Choi Dong-wook..."
"Chief, just a moment."
Do-jae stopped Kim Hwan-soo as he was about to order Director Park to find Choi Dong-wook.
He then took out his smartphone and asked.
"I heard that MID has completely withdrawn from the Transcendence Stone and Mana Accelerator research. Is that correct?"
"How do you know that?"
Kim Hwan-soo was surprised.
It was understandable, as he hadn't told Do-jae anything about MID.
Instead of answering Kim Hwan-soo's question, Do-jae made another request.
"Please allow MID to participate in the research again. And order the current MID commander to find Choi Dong-wook. He'll find his whereabouts quickly."
Kim Hwan-soo hesitated, pondering.
His hesitation was likely due to some internal reason for excluding MID, which had been in charge of the Transcendence Stone until now.
"Hmm... Alright."
Having made his decision, Kim Hwan-soo agreed.
Hearing Kim Hwan-soo's reply, Do-jae looked up a number and made a call.
After a few rings, the other party answered, and Do-jae spoke.
"Kim Soo-kyung, there's someone we need to find immediately."