Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: A Whole New Workshop
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The place was still a workshop, but it had become an entirely new space.
The Hero Headquarters' engineering room, with its constant traffic and heavy workload, had a factory-like feel.
Haon's workshop, on the other hand, felt like a hidden villa.
Juyeol looked around the workshop, dazed, finding almost no trace of the place he remembered.
Perhaps it was because of the pin-point lights installed across the dark, wood-colored ceiling.
It created the illusion of sunlight filtering through dense tree branches.
Large checkered blankets were spread out beneath the tool rack and the table saw with its circular blade.
Their material must have been altered, as they felt like non-slip mats.
An acorn-shaped beanbag and checkered cushions sat in a corner, making the space look warm and cozy.
As Juyeol looked around, captivated, his eyes were suddenly drawn to a T-shaped workbench mixed with blue particles and a structure opposite it.
‘Waves…?’
He approached the shimmering blue structure, then flinched. Blue holograms had shot up in an instant, like trees.
Wary of a sudden attack, Juyeol looked around with surprised eyes.
‘This is…’
What the holograms had created was a 3D map of Gwonyoung City, about one meter high.
When he carefully traced the hologram with his fingertip, the map suddenly spun. It was moving according to his gesture.
Startled, he pulled his hand back, and the map, which had been moving about, came to a halt.
Displayed before him was the Hero Headquarters in the central district.
Frowning, he took a few steps back, and the map sank down, returning to its wave-like form.
‘How could it change this much in just a few days?’
It had been less than a week. He didn't know what 'Mana Engineering' was, but the more he saw, the more incredible the technology seemed.
A short distance away, a spiral staircase had appeared, seemingly connecting to the fourth floor. Even that looked like vines laid over a checkered cloth.
It had already been used a few times, as footprints stained with metal filings were visible on it.
Juyeol looked around at the machines whose purpose he couldn't discern before heading to the fifth floor.
It was still locked, but something had changed.
‘Looks like there are more locks than before.’
It was highly suspicious.
On the rooftop where the penthouse was, the defense systems were back to normal operation.
Just as he noticed the cameras spotted him but didn't attack, Nova, of all people, came to mind.
It was the same when he discovered the large bed in the bedroom was gone.
‘No. That bastard got dumped anyway. I haven't done anything wrong, so there's no need to feel awkward.’
Juyeol forced Nova from his thoughts and threw open the door to the second floor of the penthouse, where the lock had been removed.
“…?”
The place was empty.
It was the same size as the first floor, so there should have been at least a few rooms, and it would have been perfect for a hidden lab or storage.
But there were no dividing walls, no furniture, nothing at all.
“Was this place always empty?”
[The second floor of the penthouse is an empty space!]
“…What's on the fifth floor?”
[The fifth floor of the lab is a locked space!]
So that's how you're going to answer. Juyeol stared at the empty floor with a suspicious gaze before finally checking the fourth floor, where Haon was.
The place, which now had a much warmer atmosphere than before, was a lab-slash-materials-storage and data archive, filled with several computers.
‘More computers, but fewer tables. Looks like she put some thought into dividing the space.’
Only after checking the spiral staircase connecting to the third floor did he see Haon's profile as she stared at her monitor.
‘That ditz did all this? Even with something wrong in her head, her skills are still there. No, they might be even better than before.’
Juyeol was impressed by the skills of the engineer he'd hired, yet he felt uneasy that it was Eun Haon, of all people, who possessed such abilities.
His brow furrowed with ambivalent feelings.
“Hey.”
“Oh, Juyeol! Finished looking around?”
Haon, who had quickly lifted her head, looked terribly tired, with dark circles under her eyes. Even so, her face was full of delight.
‘She hasn't been sleeping at all since I left, has she?’
Just a few days ago, she'd been tormented by nightmares, unable to sleep properly, and crying. Clinging to him and sobbing sorrowfully…
Juyeol averted his eyes as Nova's nagging about cheating came to mind again for no reason.
“Were you watching me the whole time? Or did this bird tell you?”
“I can find out through Blue, but I also installed CCTVs on every floor. On the stairs and the rooftop, too.”
On the monitor Haon pointed to, several CCTV feeds were displayed.
This lab originally had no CCTVs, except for on the rooftop.
So many shady things happened here. They made a point of not creating any footage that could be handed over to the police or Heroes.
He wondered if she even knew that from now on, she wouldn't be able to avoid submitting evidence by claiming there were no CCTVs.
“By the way, did you get your arm treated? It was injured.”
“I didn't realize I'd hired a doctor. The engineer should stick to her own work.”
At his words, Haon's eyebrows drooped as she pulled a black helmet from under the desk.
“I fixed the broken parts and added a few new features.”
New features? Juyeol snatched the helmet and was immediately surprised.
It looked the same on the outside, but it felt like the weight had been cut in half. It was so light he wondered if she'd removed the lens entirely when he'd asked her to fix the zoom function.
He tossed the helmet in the air a couple of times before pulling it down over his head. Perhaps because it was lighter, moving his head from side to side felt much easier.
And before long, he discovered the new features Haon had mentioned and was utterly shocked.
It was equipped with an infrared mode and a thermal imaging mode.
He wouldn't have to carry around separate night-vision goggles and a thermal scope. This meant he could fit four more magazines on his belt.
Moreover, he could now take a picture of the scene visible through the helmet's visor and send it to his phone, and a map and navigation system had been added.
Seeing the battery indicator in the corner of the visor, it seemed to be rechargeable.
‘What is this? It's insane.’
Thrilled by the sudden upgrade to his gear, Juyeol was busy examining the helmet's various features.
Ironically, he checked the broken zoom function last.
The zoom, which pulled in smoothly, clearly, and from farther away, was completely silent. The characteristic faint noise it used to make when zooming was gone.
Juyeol, who was zooming in and out a few times, realized something and froze.
‘…Wait. There's no delay at all?’
It was the same when switching to infrared and thermal imaging modes. There wasn't the slightest delay in activating any function.
Just a few months ago, he'd asked an engineer at Hero Headquarters to reduce the zoom delay and had been told it was impossible.
Recalling that fact, the image of the remodeled lab slowly came back to him. And how she'd located the Awakening Sphere in an instant.
The engineers at Headquarters were all famous for their skills, but they couldn't hold a candle to Haon's technical prowess.
‘Just what is she capable of?’
Juyeol felt a strange chill and quietly turned to look at his engineer.
Haon didn't even glance his way, as if adding such features was nothing.
She simply let out a long yawn while typing on her keyboard at an incredible speed.
‘What… are her limits?’
Meanwhile, Haon, oblivious to what Juyeol was thinking as he fiddled with the helmet, finished the simulation tests for her newly developed apps and stretched.
‘Now, the shield won't break just from blocking bullets.’
She had been giving various commands to Blue to use Mana Engineering through her phone, but Mana Engineering wasn't magic that could realize anything just by chanting a spell.
All the Mana Engineering abilities Haon had used were simply executions of Mana Engineering apps she had pre-installed in the previous dimension.
Most of them were ones she'd developed herself, which were very effective against Mana Engineering attacks during the war, but they were quite inefficient here, where Mana Engineering didn't exist.
‘Now they should be a bit more useful.’
Besides the apps, she had made various other things over the past few days, so at least she wouldn't be in big trouble for being unable to deal with bullets or knives.
Haon smiled with satisfaction, and her eyes met Juyeol's as he took off the helmet.
“Juyeol. How is it? Is there anything else you need?”
“What's on the fifth floor that's still locked?”
To a question far from a review of the requested item, Haon hesitated before answering.
“A private space?”
“And the second floor of the penthouse was always empty?”
“Y-Yeah.”
As she unnaturally averted her eyes, Juyeol frowned.
Haon had decided to keep the matter of the Dimension Gate a secret.
‘Juyeol is a Hero. If he finds out about the Dimension Gate, he'll definitely report it.’
If the existence of a Dimension Gate were to become known in this place where even Mana Engineering doesn't exist, it would cause chaos.
She also wanted to eliminate the possibility of arousing the Heroes' suspicion or having Villains take an interest in the Dimension Gate.
Just as Haon flinched under Juyeol's persistent gaze.
[Haon! A visitor has arrived!]
Just then, Blue announced a visitor.
As Haon stood up as if she'd been waiting for this, Juyeol pushed her back down by the shoulder.
“What are you guilty of that you're running away?”
“I-I'm not running away, I'm going to meet a guest. No one can come up past the first floor.”
It was a hasty excuse, but it was the truth.
The whole reason she'd set up a café-like waiting room on the first floor was to keep anyone from entering the workshop or lab.
Juyeol asked, his expression softening slightly.
“…No one can come up?”