Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: The Missing Phone
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“It's true! I set it up that way. The elevator only goes to the parking garage and the first floor.”
Haon answered, warily watching to see if he would get angry again, but Juyeol let go of her shoulder.
“Is that so?”
He then glanced around the space where he stood and touched the corner of his mouth.
“So no one can come up here.”
“…?”
He seemed oddly pleased, which puzzled Haon as she cautiously stood up. Juyeol didn't stop her from moving away this time.
She didn't know why, but he didn't seem inclined to press further, so she decided to keep quiet.
Juyeol was generally irritable, but perhaps because he was still 'Woo Juyeol,' he sometimes showed a hint of kindness, like her friend 'Juyeol'.
It had been like that when he helped her find the Awakening Sphere, and when she couldn't sleep because of nightmares.
‘The Juyeol here seems so fickle.’
It would be nice if he stayed by her side until she fell asleep, just like that night. But if she said anything, he would probably tell her to stop talking nonsense again.
Haon reminisced about that warm and cozy night, the mere thought of it comforting.
* * *
When she went down to the first floor, Chacha, who had been lounging on the sofa, sat up with a frown.
“Ghost?”
It was because Haon had appeared with the prickly Hero.
Chacha looked back and forth between the two, then let out a disbelieving scoff.
“Eun Haon. I thought the rumor about you and Nova breaking up was just gossip. Don't tell me it's because of this guy? Did you move on to him?”
“What are you talking about…? It's not like that. How did that rumor about me and Nova even start?”
“I heard you two had a huge fight in the Old District. If I hadn't been at the pub, I probably would've heard you two yelling.”
Embarrassed, Haon rubbed her face and sighed. It was daunting to think about how many more times she'd have to answer the same question.
“I'm not in any kind of relationship with Nova. And I didn't 'move on' or anything.”
“After all the fuss you made…”
“Oh, come on.”
Haon felt it was unfair. The other 'Eun Haon' was the one who'd made a scene, yet she was the one left with the embarrassment.
“Hey, Chacha. You live in District 2, right?”
Juyeol asked, standing with a slight slouch. Chacha, seemingly surprised that he was speaking to her, gave him a once-over with a slightly flustered look.
“What of it?”
“You know a guy named Gowon who joined Halla's gang recently?”
“I know who he is.”
“Seen him around?”
“Maybe I have, maybe I haven't.”
“…”
At Chacha's words, accompanied by her slyly extending a hand, Juyeol immediately pulled out his gun and loaded it.
“Juyeol! You can't do this in front of a kid!”
[Put the gun away! This is a peaceful space!]
A startled Haon clung to Juyeol's arm, and Blue flapped its wings, circling around.
Even the previously silent Bani pointed to the words 'Place of Peace' with a muddler, while Chacha grumbled at him to cool his temper.
It was chaos. Amid the distracting and frantic situation, Juyeol eventually looked up at the ceiling with an annoyed expression and put his gun away.
“Alright, just get off me!”
Shaking Haon off his arm, he seemed to find the whole thing a bother and tossed two crumpled bills at Chacha.
She skillfully snatched the bills from the air, examined them front and back, and muttered, “They're real.”
“…?”
Haon, only then realizing that Chacha had been demanding money from Juyeol, was taken aback.
Demanding money for an answer… is that peaceful? She was confused, but compared to a gun or a knife, it was a peaceful method, so she decided to let it go.
“Now talk.”
Juyeol growled, his hand resting on his holster. Chacha just grinned and answered.
“I saw him with Sniper behind the pub a while ago. I don't know what they were talking about, but it looked serious.”
His expression hardened in an instant. He spun around and left the institute.
“Huh? Juyeol. Are you leaving? Get home safe!”
Taken aback by his sudden departure, Haon waved goodbye with a bewildered look, but he left without a single glance back.
“That rude jerk.”
Chacha, who had been glaring at the spot where Juyeol had stood, suddenly shot a look at Haon.
“What's with your taste in men?”
“Huh?”
“Stop looking only at their faces and consider their personality for once.”
“It's not like that…”
Haon pouted and grumbled.
“Anyway, why haven't you been answering your phone lately? Today, you picked up and hung up right away, and it's been off ever since.”
“Huh? I didn't get any calls. When…?”
Haon froze as she took out her phone to check.
“I… answered the phone?”
“You answered, but it cut off immediately. Did it hang up on its own because it's broken?”
“What…?”
A chill ran down her entire body.
The original 'Eun Haon's' phone wasn't in the lab or the penthouse. She had naturally assumed it had been destroyed along with her clothes in the fire that consumed the body.
She had thought many times how much easier things would be if she just had that phone. But it wasn't gone?
‘Where is 'Eun Haon's' phone?’
Covering her mouth, Haon came up with a few plausible theories.
1. Bani stole the phone when she broke into the empty house.
2. The person who killed 'Eun Haon' took the phone.
3. 'Eun Haon' lost the phone before she fell into this dimension.
“Bani. Did you take the phone?”
Bani, meeting Haon's gaze, jumped in surprise.
“What? Absolutely not! I almost got hacked to death with an axe that day. I wasn't in any state to be stealing a phone!”
*I never tried to kill her, though.* Before she could make an excuse, Bani pointed at Haon's hand.
“Besides, you're holding a phone right now!”
“Ah, this is a backup phone. I'm going to use this one from now on.”
Haon waved her hands, flustered.
“Chacha. What's my phone number?”
Chacha gave her a look like she was hearing the strangest thing, but she recited the number obediently.
That left theories 2 and 3. Either way, she needed to track it.
“So, what brought you here?”
Chacha, finally remembering her reason for visiting, put her hands on her hips.
“The machine gun I bought from you broke in a single day. Can you believe that?”
“Oh! I'll give you back the rest of the payment. I'm sorry.”
Haon handed her an envelope as if she had been waiting for this.
“What's this? So compliant?”
“It broke in a day. It might have been defective.”
“You, make a defective product? I'll take the money, but I doubt it's your fault.”
*No, it's totally my fault.* As Haon gave an awkward laugh, Chacha continued with a displeased expression.
“There's a rumor going around that Rusty from District 4 has been melting guns all over District 2. I think he's the one who ruined my machine gun.”
*I think that was me.* Feeling a pang of guilt, Haon quickly spoke up.
“I-it probably just overheated. High-powered machine guns can melt at the barrel if you fire them nonstop, you know.”
“You're saying you made it that shoddy?”
…Shoddy? Me?
Her pride about to be wounded, Haon quickly caught herself. It wasn't her who made that machine gun; it was the other 'Eun Haon'.
“A weapon's condition can change depending on the environment. It was probably just bad luck.”
“Luck? It wasn't like that, it was really weird…”
Chacha wasn't convinced by Haon's explanation, but since she got the rest of her money back, she decided to drop it.
Only after hearing Chacha say she was going to use the money to go drinking did Haon let out a sigh of relief.
* * *
Chacha waited for Bani to finish her shift, and they left the institute together.
After they left, Haon rushed up to the fourth-floor lab and began trying to trace the other 'Eun Haon's' phone.
But she failed every time, likely because the phone was turned off.
“Blue. Keep the phone tracker running, and let me know immediately if you get a hit.”
[Understood!]
All I have to do is find 'Eun Haon's' phone. Then I might be able to find out who killed Juyeol's sister, and who killed 'Eun Haon'.
‘I'll leave this for now. Next up is…’
Haon hurried to the Dimension Gate lab on the fifth floor.
After unlocking several layers of security devices and entering, she saw two golden spheres plugged into an energy extractor.
They were the Awakening Spheres she had found on the securely locked second floor of the penthouse. She had been so shocked to find them that she'd screamed without realizing it.
‘It's embarrassing that I didn't realize the Awakening Spheres were right above my head.’
The other 'Eun Haon' had hidden the Awakening Spheres using thick lead, the kind used for radiation shielding doors, and seawater.
It seemed she had found a way to contain the spheres' energy as much as possible after various attempts.
Even so, it couldn't be contained perfectly, but this place was so rich in mana that faint energy signatures were hard to detect unless one was specifically looking for them.
‘The fact that she tried to hide the energy means it must be possible to at least get a rough idea of their location with an electromagnetic field detector here, too.’
Haon checked the mana shield surrounding the Awakening Spheres. With this, she could contain the energy without needing lead or seawater.
However, another problem remained.
To build a single Dimension Gate, an enormous number of Awakening Spheres were needed.
The required amount varied depending on the gate's size, the number of users, and how many unspecified dimensions it would connect to.
It was a small mercy that the Dimension Gate Haon intended to build was for a single person.
‘Still, I need to get at least fifty. And since it's my first time building one, I have to prepare for explosions, build a turbine… And…’
After carefully listing the necessary materials, Haon waved her hand with a determined expression.