Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Trust
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Trust
After returning to the orphanage.
The children ran around in their new clothes. They seemed incredibly pleased with their purchases.
Bright smiles adorned their faces. Joyful laughter filled the orphanage.
“Miss Rene, how do I look? Red bought me this outfit.”
“Do I look cool in this one?”
“Hee hee…”
Rene responded with a look of astonishment.
“Oh my! What is this? Why has everyone become so cute and lovely? I just want to squeeze you all. Can I take a little bite?”
The children’s faces brightened even more at Rene’s enthusiastic reaction.
With a mischievous “Hee hee hee,” Rene approached the children, looking as if she really intended to hug them.
Startled, the children began to flee from her, letting out peals of clear laughter.
A fond smile touched Red’s lips as she watched the scene unfold. At the same time, a faint trace of melancholy mixed in.
If she could, she would have bought them even nicer clothes. But she couldn’t.
‘Overly flashy clothes would just make them stand out.’
Dressing flamboyantly in the Outer District was not a wise choice.
It would inevitably draw a lot of attention, and many would approach with ill intentions.
It might be different for those confident in their skills, but for children, it was dangerous.
Suddenly, she noticed one child was missing.
Red glanced around, searching, and spotted a child standing quietly with her arms crossed.
A girl with pure white hair and a Fixer mask.
Lily was watching the other children play with Rene.
The mask concealed her face, making her expression invisible. With her face hidden, it was difficult to read her thoughts. One could only try to understand through her mood and actions.
Right now, she seemed to be in a decent mood.
Red recalled what had happened at the clothing store.
‘Unlike the other kids, she was so calm even after getting new clothes.’
Lily had been indifferent even when she received the new outfit.
Clothes were for practicality, but also for personal expression.
While the other children had been all smiles looking at the clothes, busy trying them on, she had seemed completely uninterested, even annoyed.
Come to think of it, her clothes had been shabby when they first met.
Torn and frayed, as if she’d picked them up from the trash.
Perhaps she simply wasn’t used to dressing herself up.
Red lowered her gaze slightly, a sense of pity welling up inside her.
But what pained her more was Lily’s attitude.
Lily didn’t trust people. The mask was proof of that.
‘What kind of life did she have to live…?’
She didn’t know why Lily wore the mask. But the fact that she wore one meant there was a reason.
And the fact that she wouldn’t share that reason meant she didn’t yet trust the people at the orphanage.
Perhaps that was why, even as she mingled with the other children on the surface, she kept an emotional distance.
It is a very sad thing when a person cannot trust another.
It is even sadder when children, the future of the world who have their whole lives ahead of them, display such an attitude.
But in a world like this, she supposed it couldn’t be helped. She could fully understand Lily’s stance.
However.
She didn’t want to use the state of the world as an excuse to do nothing.
Red wanted to teach Lily.
That this world was still worth living in. That people were still worth trusting.
She sincerely hoped that, at the very least, Lily would come to understand everyone’s true feelings at the orphanage.
That was why Red, Rene, and the children never tried to force her to take off the mask.
Because that would inflict a deep wound upon the little girl’s heart.
So they all waited.
For peace to find Lily’s heart, for her to open up to them first.
Red walked over to Lily.
Lily tilted her head as if to ask what was wrong, and the corners of Red’s mouth curled upward.
Sensing an inexplicable sense of foreboding, Lily tried to quickly move away, but it was too late.
Red caught the shoulder of the fleeing Lily.
“Hey, Rene. What about Lily? Isn’t she totally adorable?”
“…!!!?”
With that, she gave the little girl’s back a firm push.
Rene turned her head.
Lily stumbled, her feet unsteady, and froze in an awkward posture.
If she could speak, she would undoubtedly be uttering these words.
*Oh no, I’m screwed.*
“Lily’s adorable too! Come on, let’s give you a big hug.”
“…!!!”
With a rather intimidating grin, Rene charged toward her.
Terrified by her momentum, Lily also began to scramble away.
Red chuckled, a joyful smile spreading across her face.
***
Nina was walking alone through a corridor.
The lights installed at regular intervals on the ceiling illuminated the path, so she had turned off her flashlight. She had been walking for quite a while, yet there was no end in sight, suggesting the passage was considerably long.
Only the sound of her own footsteps echoed in the corridor.
Though she was experienced enough not to be fazed by much, her expression was dark and fraught with tension.
Perhaps it was less about the unknown danger that might lie ahead and more about the unsettling thoughts at the back of her mind.
‘Stairs…?’
Nina carefully descended, one step at a time.
Her body felt heavy, as if she were advancing into a place she should not enter.
At the bottom of the stairs, another corridor appeared.
Nina frowned.
She cursed inwardly at whoever designed this place for making the path so ridiculously convoluted.
After walking for some time, she saw a light up ahead.
Thinking she had reached the end, Nina quickened her pace.
She emerged from the corridor into a vast, open space.
“To think a place like this was in the orphanage… Does the Director know? Or maybe…”
Nina gaped as she looked around.
The space was filled with a wide variety of experimental machines and equipment. It was clearly a laboratory.
It was hard to believe.
It would be difficult to secretly build a facility of this scale beneath the orphanage.
Therefore, it was only natural to assume it had been here from the start.
Isaac was the one who had acquired this location.
Did he get it without knowing, or if not…
‘…No! It’s too soon to jump to conclusions!’
Nina shook her head forcefully, clearing her thoughts.
Hasty conclusions were forbidden.
Nina began to move about, trying to find out exactly what this place was and what had happened here.
She surveyed her surroundings with the meticulous eye of a Fixer.
Though there was dust and a mess of objects and trash strewn about, the facility itself looked brand new.
The machines were also currently operating normally.
*Clink~*
“Hm…? What’s this…?”
A liquor bottle rolling on the floor had bumped against her foot.
Nina’s gaze fell, and her face slowly hardened.
She bent down, picked up the bottle, and looked at the label.
It was Isaac’s favorite brand of liquor.
A coincidence?
Her hand trembled slightly. She took a long breath and placed the bottle back down.
Nina moved quickly, rummaging through the area, searching for any documents or materials related to this place.
Then, she discovered a large number of documents.
Nina began to read through them.
They were experiment logs.
The contents, purpose, and results of the experiments were all recorded in detail. From the documents, she could deduce what kind of experiments had been conducted here.
‘Synthetic organisms…’
Synthetic organisms. An unethical experiment that involved combining the best traits of various creatures.
It was an act that violated the law. In other words, a crime.
The shock of discovering that such a horrific experiment had taken place beneath the orphanage was immense.
Nina clutched her forehead as a sudden wave of dizziness washed over her.
‘No, wait a minute… If that’s the case!?’
Just then, another thought flashed through her mind, and a shiver ran down her spine, making her back go rigid.
If experiments were conducted, there must be test subjects.
Her eyes darted around, but she saw nothing suspicious, nor did she sense any presence.
‘There’s nothing. No, there might be something somewhere. But I didn’t see anything in the corridor I came through. If it’s not here, then where could it be?’
Nina raised her guard even higher and resumed her investigation.
As she was examining a broken glass tube, something caught her eye.
It was a dirty, old, torn scarf.
Staring at it, Nina clamped a hand over her mouth. Her face was pale, her eyes trembling violently.
Nina knew the scarf. She knew its owner, too.
It was something she had gifted to one of the orphanage children. *No, it can’t be,* she told herself, but then she saw the name she had embroidered on it.
‘Why is this here… Why…’
On a dreadful hunch, Nina checked the other glass tubes. In several of them, she found belongings of the children.
She didn’t want to understand. But her mind had already arrived at the answer.
She clenched her fists.
She resolved that she would never, ever forgive the person who orchestrated the experiments here, whoever they were.
‘They definitely conducted experiments here. But why is there nothing left? Not even a trace. Did they already move everything somewhere else?’
Suddenly, the massive glass tube in the center of the room caught her attention.
Nina approached it. The tube was filled with a colorless liquid.
She touched it cautiously, then raised her head. There was nothing inside.
She looked down.
The tube extended incredibly far down, and the bottom was so dark she couldn’t see it clearly.
Nina strained her eyes, peering into the depths.
She saw a writhing movement in the darkness.
Startled, Nina snatched her hand away from the tube and took a step back.
‘There’s something at the bottom… Something huge…’
Nina collected her thoughts and took out her phone. She was about to call Red.
But, of all times, she was out of service range and couldn’t make the call.
‘Tch!’
She hurried to return to the corridor she came from, but unfamiliar footsteps echoed from within it.
Nina flinched and quickly hid in a place where she wouldn’t be seen.
As the footsteps grew closer, Nina’s expression hardened with each passing moment.
*Gulp.* Nina swallowed dryly.
A moment later, a shadow fell, and a familiar silhouette began to appear.
When Nina saw the owner of the footsteps, she was horrified.
A handsome man with black hair. It was Isaac.
Nina hesitated, torn. She wavered, unsure whether to trust him.
And as if sensing her conflict, Isaac spoke.
“I know you’re here. Hiding is useless. If you don’t show yourself now, I’ll force you out.”
An ominous magical energy flowed around Isaac’s body. A sudden chill filled the laboratory.
He was serious.
Having no choice, Nina revealed herself.
Isaac blinked at Nina’s appearance. He immediately withdrew his murderous aura and let out a sigh of relief.
“What, it was you, Nina?”
“Director…”
“I thought it was the owner of this place. Why’d you scare me like that?”
“Did you know, Director? That a place like this was under the orphanage.”
“Of course not. I had no idea. To think there was something like this beneath the orphanage. Haaah… I should have looked into the building more carefully before acquiring it.”
Isaac clutched his forehead with a grave expression.
It didn’t look like an act.
His voice, too, felt sincere.
“But why are you here, Director?”
“Me…? I sometimes come here to think about the kids. But when I came today, I saw a strange passage by the fireplace and came in because it looked suspicious. So what about you, what brings you here?”
“That… I was also thinking about the kids. We’ve been visiting the Sunshine Orphanage a lot lately. Because of that…”
“I see. Well, visiting the Sunshine Orphanage has made me miss our kids more recently, too. How wonderful it would have been if our children were alive like them.”
The heavy topic cast a somber mood over them.
Isaac gave a bitter smile, then spoke.
“Let’s get out of here for now. We’ll start a thorough investigation tomorrow morning.”
“Yes. I will never forgive them. To commit such a horrific act. Don’t you agree, Director?”
“I agree completely. To think they dared to kidnap children and experiment on them right under my nose!! I will never forgive them!”
Isaac’s face contorted with fury. His voice trembled with passion.
The Ice Prince, the Frost General.
Contrary to his cold monikers, Isaac was enraged.
It showed just how deeply he loved the children.
Isaac turned his body.
He started back toward the corridor they had entered. But there was only one set of footsteps.
Isaac stopped in his tracks and turned his head.
“What’s wrong, Nina…? Did you find something?”
“Director, this is your first time here, right?”
“That’s right.”
“But you seem certain that they performed experiments on the children here. I only figured out what this place was after reading the documents.”
Silence fell.
In the heavy, sunken atmosphere, no one spoke.
For a long moment.
After organizing her chaotic thoughts and steeling her resolve, Nina opened her mouth.
“What did you do to the children?”
Nina glared, her voice sharp as she interrogated Isaac.
Isaac covered his eyes and forehead with his hand.
He let out a long sigh and slowly lowered his hand.
His entire demeanor had changed.
A hardened face. A chilling glint in his eyes.
“…This is why I hate sharp Fixers like you.”
Those words were as good as a confession.
Nina’s face twisted into a mask of terrifying fury as she glared at Isaac.
“So, it was you! How! How could you do this!? How can you call yourself human after doing something like this?! They were children who adored you. Why would you do that to them! Did you establish the orphanage and take in the children for this purpose from the very beginning?!”
“Nina, I can explain everything.”
“Cut the crap! I don’t need your explanations. I’ll just crack open your skull and see for myself!!!”
Nina drew her favorite weapon from within her coat.
She kicked off the ground and, in an instant, closed the distance to Isaac, swinging the weapon at his neck.
It was a speed an ordinary person wouldn’t even perceive.
In another second or two, Isaac’s head was fated to be sent flying, rolling across the floor.
But.
Her incredible speed began to slow.
As if her time itself had broken down, she rapidly stiffened, and by the time her weapon was about to touch Isaac’s skin, she had stopped completely.
Nina’s time was frozen for eternity.
Nina became a statue of ice.