Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: The Renovated Lab
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Haon tilted her head as she examined the graph.
‘Eun Haon’s’ choice was unbecoming of a scholar.
Having succeeded in crudely separating mana, she might have uncovered the secrets of the Awakening Sphere if she had focused more on analysis.
She had thrown away the chance to be the first to reveal the existence of mana in this dimension.
‘Even if that wasn't the case, the human experiments were too hasty. Even if she didn't value the lives of others, she should have valued the Awakening Sphere extract.’
‘Eun Haon’ had tried to obtain an Awakening Sphere from Juyeol. If she had acquired them in such a manner before, common sense dictated she should have used the extract more sparingly.
‘Is she getting support from somewhere?’
She couldn't understand how someone could inject an unstably supplied resource into a human body without even researching it properly.
In any case, it was a relief that there would be no more victims, but what had already happened was a horrific experiment.
“Blue. This place feels… wrong. I need to sort it out quickly.”
[How may I help you?]
“Hmm…”
Haon paced the lab with a complicated expression. She couldn't shake a certain feeling that rose along with her unease.
“I'll start by dismantling and getting rid of the operating chair, and I need to smash the glass prison. In its place… I'll move the screen and upgrade the extractor…”
The more she spoke, the more the ends of her eyebrows drooped.
“Ah, seriously! Why did she have to make it so well?”
This place was a perfect laboratory for conducting loud, secretive research.
‘It's the floor closest to the rooftop, so it's good for creating an escape route in an emergency. The entrance security is tight, and the size and overall layout of the interior…’
If she just dealt with the tools used for human experiments, the various specimens, and the evidence of people being confined, it wouldn't even feel like a villain's science lab. The ordinary lab equipment was all perfectly usable.
Haon, her face crestfallen, had to accept a fact she didn't want to admit. The laboratory ‘Eun Haon’ had built was perfectly suited to Haon's tastes.
‘Just the structure, of course!’
They even used the same common passwords; perhaps it was only natural that they found the same lab structure comfortable.
‘But the human experiments are horrific, I hate the idea of selling weapons to villains, and I would never stab Juyeol!’
Only after deliberately listing the ways she was different from ‘Eun Haon’ did Haon open her mouth, her expression relieved.
“Blue. I'm going to set up a Dimension Gate research lab here.”
It was the beginning of a major overhaul.
* * *
In a few days, a rumor spread like wildfire that Eun Haon was developing a new explosive material.
The loud noise of machinery running and the sound of something unidentifiable being smashed were incessant, so even Heroes, responding to reports, started snooping around the area.
During that time, five trucks hauled away waste and debris from the lab, and the Heroes checked every single item to see what was being thrown out.
Juyeol, who had parked his bike next to the lab, had also heard the news from Chaser and had thought about coming to see what she was up to, but he hadn't had the time.
Perhaps word had already gotten out that he was looking for the arsonist who had returned from Macao, because even after combing the area, he couldn't find a single strand of Gowon's hair.
It seemed true that he had joined Halla's gang, but strangely, even his fellow gang members claimed not to know his whereabouts.
‘Halla wouldn't entrust an important job to a rookie.’
He planned to find the helmet first, then interrogate Eun Haon. She had acted as if she could find out anything once his phone was fixed, but there had been no word from her for days.
Juyeol sighed, looking at the entrance, which had been replaced with a steel door, and the thin, blue barrier surrounding it.
‘She said she was preparing for Nova's visit, so she changed the entrance. Is that why she couldn't do the investigation? She's such a pain.’
As he grumbled and reached for the steel door, it clanked open before he could even pull it. The door, which slid sideways instead of opening forwards or backwards, was as heavy and thick as an airplane hatch.
[You must be the guest Haon was waiting for?]
The sudden sound of a child's voice made his hand, which was reaching for his holster, freeze. Inside the doorway, a holographic blue bird was fluttering about.
[Welcome! You have been granted permanent access, so you are welcome anytime!]
“What the…?”
[I am Haon's AI assistant, Blue!]
“That's not what I asked.”
[How may I assist you?]
“…”
Juyeol stepped inside with a puzzled look. The cheerful voice and bustling wing beats suited its screw-loose owner perfectly.
‘Can that thing move around on its own?’
As he looked around, he sensed a presence approaching from behind and drew his gun.
The moment he turned, the entrance door slammed shut with a thud. Through the closing gap, he caught a glimpse of Nova.
“…?”
As he tried to figure out what was happening, the sound of loud banging on the door was accompanied by a muffled voice.
“Darling. Isn't this too much? At least show me your face. Are you really having an affair with Ghost?”
“Cut the crap.”
Juyeol reflexively spat out a sullen reply, but he couldn't help but think, *serves him right.*
He remembered all the trouble he'd gone through dealing with Nova at the gunpowder warehouse a few days ago. The image of how relentlessly Nova had targeted him was still vivid in his mind.
[Please wait a moment!]
Blue, which had been circling above his head, passed through the steel door and chirped another cheerful greeting.
[You're here again today? As I've told you several times, you are not permitted to enter the building. Goodbye!]
*SLAM!*
The moment it finished speaking, a loud crash echoed. Nova had clearly slammed his fist against the entrance.
He had no idea what the steel door was made of, as it didn't even budge under Nova's strength, but Juyeol's expression was one of weary exasperation.
‘He seems really mad this time… It'll be a pain if I run into him in the field.’
His own body, not being that of a physical enhancement Awakened, wasn't nearly as sturdy as that door.
The thought that Nova might target him again outside the lab was already making Juyeol feel tired.
But Blue, being an AI software, was hardly going to be intimidated by a punch. It simply repeated its ‘goodbye’ and returned.
[Haon is in the lab on the 4th floor. Would you like to go there now?]
Even knowing it wasn't acting based on emotions, Juyeol thought that bird had a real knack for pissing people off.
“I'll go right up—wait.”
Juyeol, who was following Blue toward the elevator, suddenly felt a sense of unfamiliarity and walked deeper into the first floor.
Now that he looked, it wasn't just the entrance that had changed.
The space, which had always been cluttered with all sorts of boxes, was now completely organized and decorated like a cozy cafe.
Soft lighting, plush-looking sofas, and beanbags scattered about. A refrigerator stocked with bottles of fruit juice and a capsule coffee machine.
In this place that looked more like a new cafe than Eun Haon's lab, Bani was cleaning.
“…What is all this?”
[The lab has been remodeled! The first floor is a cafe that serves as a guest waiting room and lounge area.]
Startled by the sudden presence, Bani looked up, gasped, and leaped over the back of a sofa to hide.
Juyeol sighed at the sight of her two round, bun-like pigtails poking up from behind the sofa's backrest.
He didn't know why the young cat burglar was cleaning here, but since this was a place even Nova couldn't enter freely, Haon must have granted her access.
He considered interrogating her about what she was doing that made her hide the moment they made eye contact, but he decided against it after seeing the vacuum cleaner lying on the floor.
As Juyeol looked around the first-floor cafe, he spotted a sign on one wall and slowly shook his head.
「A Place of Peace. Fighting will result in immediate removal.」
‘What was she thinking, making something like this?’
All the while, the blue bird was trailing after Juyeol.
“You're Blue, right? How long has it been like this?”
[The first floor remodeling was completed three days ago!]
“Have the other floors been completely changed too?”
[It's been remodeled overall, but some floors have been left as they were.]
As far as Juyeol knew, the second basement floor was the electrical and mechanical room, and the first basement floor was the parking garage. There didn't seem to be much to change there.
So what about the other floors? If there were changes to the lab, it was best to know about them for future reference.
As he turned toward the stairs, Bani shot up and spoke.
“Haon has been quiet for the past few days!”
Then, as soon as their eyes met, she hid behind the sofa again.
“So if you're here to arrest her, just leave.”
“I didn't think you two were close enough to be protecting each other.”
At Juyeol's indifferent remark, Bani peeked her eyes out and glared at him.
“So what? The person who pays my salary can't just disappear.”
“…”
It seemed Haon had put Bani in charge of managing the cafe.
Right. A young part-timer is better than a young cat burglar.
Juyeol turned away with a sour expression. This wasn't the time to worry about Bani.
He went up the high-ceilinged building one floor at a time, meticulously checking what had changed and where.
The first floor was a cafe called a waiting and lounge area, and the second floor was the server room, which hadn't changed.
And the moment he set foot on the third floor, Juyeol let out an involuntary gasp.