Chapter 2
In that moment, tremendous pressure bore down on the meeting room. I quickly activated my werewolf ability to withstand it—pressure so intense it made breathing impossible.
My blood boiled. Power surged through my entire body. My trembling legs steadied, enduring the weight.
With a loud bang, the door swung open. A man appeared, walking with measured steps.
The boss of the organization ‘Alice.’ The one I loved.
“Good morning to all of you.”
His eyes curved gently. Despite his friendly appearance, no one relaxed at his words.
Everyone escaped the gravity in their own way, then simultaneously knelt before him.
My gaze fell on his shoes. Strange. Normally they’d be spotless, without a speck of dust.
Today, there were faint traces of soil on them.
I was growing increasingly anxious at this unusual sight when the Boss looked around once and walked to the head of the table. His footsteps, livelier than usual, echoed through the room.
“Everyone’s reached the age where you should be careful with your knees. How about getting up and taking your seats?”
In reality, none of us were that old. Some executives weren’t even adults yet. At the Boss’s attempt to lighten the mood, everyone rose.
“The Boss isn’t getting any younger either. Are you exempting only yourself?”
Zenon spoke with a sly smile.
“I never have to bend my knee to anyone.”
The Boss’s eyes curved pleasantly as he countered. He was the boss of ‘Alice.’ For someone like him to kneel before another would mean ‘Alice’s’ defeat.
Unable to refute this, Zenon grumbled quietly and propped his feet up on the table.
“It’s truly amazing he’s still alive.”
Fenil sarcastically applauded. Her auburn hair fluttered gently on her shoulders. Her green eyes, full of mischief, curved brightly.
“Boss, don’t you want to kill him?”
“He still has his uses.”
Despite his gentle smile, his words regarded Zenon as nothing more or less than a tool. But no one contradicted him. It was too obvious a fact.
“More importantly, aren’t you curious why I called you here?”
“I am curious.”
It’s what I’d been wondering since receiving the message. Ignoring the chaotic atmosphere, I fixed my gaze on the Boss. His lips, paused for a moment, opened gently.
“If Kay is curious, then I should explain.”
Everyone suddenly fell silent and focused on him. His expression was serious, without a trace of playfulness.
As if pleased by this, he began with a small smile.
“Fenil and Alex already know why I called this emergency meeting.”
“I did put in quite some effort. If it weren’t for the bonus, I would’ve quit right away.”
“I’ll give you enough bonus to live comfortably for a year without working.”
“That’s my Boss! You know me so well.”
Fenil, who habitually had a cigarette in her mouth, changed her attitude instantly. Her green eyes sparkled unusually bright.
Money was indeed the answer for Fenil.
“Boss… next mission.”
“The operation in thirty minutes?”
“Yes…”
As Melia nodded slightly, Alex began urging the Boss.
“I get that you’re happy, but you’re unusually talkative today. We’ll run out of time at this rate.”
Alex pressured him with a lazy smile. Dismissing the teasing tone, the Boss finally revealed what I most wanted to hear.
“The reason I gathered the executives today is simple.”
His red eyes, filled with subtle heat, passed over each of us in turn. When his gaze reached me, my hand twitched involuntarily. After a brief moment of eye contact, he spoke.
“I’ve found Alice.”
Silence enveloped the meeting room. After a long pause, Zenon finally managed to speak.
“Alice? That Alice? Not someone with the same name, but the Alice you’ve been looking for? Your sister?”
The Boss nodded lightly at Zenon’s rapid-fire questions. In his eyes was an irrepressible joy.
“Yes, that Alice. Thanks to Fenil’s hard work.”
“Well, I am amazing, but it’s all thanks to the Boss who brought me the initial information.”
Fenil waved her hand, cigarette still in her mouth.
Alice.
It was both the reason the organization ‘Alice’ was established and the name of the Boss’s sister he’d been searching for. That’s why the organization was named ‘Alice.’
And now he’d found her.
Along with happiness for his joy, complicated emotions rose within me. Clearly, this was good news. With this, the Boss could find the family he’d been searching for so long.
But—
If the Boss found Alice, the purpose of the organization ‘Alice’ would disappear. There’d be no reason for it to continue existing.
And naturally, the relationship between the Boss and me would return to nothing. We’d go back to how things were ten years ago, as if we’d never met.
I didn’t think he’d remain in his position as Boss. After all, he only created the organization to find Alice.
No matter what I said, the Boss wouldn’t be affected. While he was precious to me, I wasn’t precious to him.
Would life have any meaning after everything defining the relationship between us disappeared?
A future I didn’t even want to think about was approaching.
My fingernails dug into my palms. My heart pounded and nausea rose in my throat. I was already afraid of a future that hadn’t yet arrived. Struggling to suppress these emotions, I looked at him. His face that I could so easily see now by just turning my head.
Unlike usual, the Boss’s expression showed genuine happiness. Joy that he’d finally found Alice.
The sincere smile I couldn’t see even after ten years came so easily for Alice.
“Are we sure she’s alive?”
“I’m not certain.”
The Boss slowly shook his head at Alex’s question. The joy in his eyes wavered.
“I have to believe she’s alive.”
His words, filled with longing as if in prayer, reached me slowly. Those words meant Alice might be dead.
Whether Alice was dead or alive, it was problematic either way. Even her death would lead to the dissolution of ‘Alice.’
Someone else could inherit the position, but ‘Alice’ as an organization had no value to me without the Boss.
But if both options were problematic, I’d rather Alice be alive. If she were dead, the Boss would suffer for the rest of his life. He’d live blaming himself for not finding his sister.
The present situation was better than watching that. At least the Boss would be happy.
“So where is this Alice now?”
Zenon tilted his head and asked about the most important thing—her whereabouts.
“Alice is currently at Peace.”
“…The government hero agency?”
When the Boss nodded cheerfully, Zenon’s mouth fell open.
His expression showed he couldn’t understand why Alice would be at a hero agency. I felt the same way.
‘Peace’ was the country’s largest hero agency. Their villain capture rate was high, making them like natural predators to us.
Alice was at such a place? I’d expected she’d be somewhere difficult to retrieve her from, but this was unexpected.
Even Melia found this surprising enough to open her usually tight-lipped mouth.
“Peace… enemy…”
Her words meant: should we kill Alice too? Her dreamy eyes looked at the Boss.
Though her gaze revealed no emotion, if ordered, Melia would kill Alice without hesitation. She was the most obedient to the Boss’s commands.
The tension that had relaxed now tightened again. We didn’t even know if Alice was alive, but if she’d become a hero, the problem would be even bigger. When a hero defects, Peace issues a kill order. Then the damage would fall entirely on ‘Alice.’
Perhaps we’d have to risk ‘Alice’ to bring Alice back.
“When is the operation scheduled?”
“Alice might be an enemy, and you’re already planning operations?”
“Even if she’s an enemy, isn’t she precious to the Boss?”
I looked at him, tilting my head slightly. If someone was precious to the Boss, they had to be saved whether they were enemy or ally.
The Boss stared at me briefly before nodding.
“That’s right. She is precious. Even if she were an enemy, we’d still need to find her.”
“It’s fortunate she might not be an enemy.”
At Alex’s muttered words, Zenon whipped his head around.
“Didn’t you say Alice is at a hero agency?”
“Yes, and?”
“If she’s at Peace, how could she not be an enemy?”
Zenon’s bright yellow eyes looked at Alex, not understanding.
I gave him the same look. Wasn’t Peace definitely an enemy? What did he mean she might not be an enemy? Alex revealed a brief smile at our confusion and said:
“So far we’ve only discovered that she’s at Peace. The last trace of her was fifteen years ago.”
Fifteen years ago was before ‘Alice’ was created. I didn’t expect her trail to be so old. No wonder we couldn’t determine if she was alive or not.
“Whether she’s a hostage, a hero, or something else—we’ll have to find out from now on.”
Fenil continued after Alex’s words. Indeed, if Alice had to be killed, the Boss wouldn’t have smiled.
“Fenil, can’t you determine this with your ability?”
Her ability was hacking. An ability that could extract thousands of pieces of information from a single piece. With such a skill, finding Alice’s location shouldn’t be too difficult.
But contrary to my expectations, she shook her head.
“Peace is paranoid beyond belief. They’ve gathered every hacker they could find. Their firewall is so solid, even I couldn’t do anything.”
As she spoke, clicking her tongue, Fenil had deep wrinkles between her brows, evidently extremely annoyed.
