# Chapter 95
[Search result for ‘Jade’: None]
[Search result for ‘JADE’: None]
The search function seemed to be working properly. But information about the experiment that Jade had supposedly undergone didn’t appear.
Come to think of it, there was no way Jade was his real name. Should he have asked about that when Jade was spilling all those unsolicited details about his past?
Lee Hwan chewed his lip as he recalled their conversation again.
‘The experiment I underwent was called the Resurrection Project. Back then, the goal wasn’t Awakening.’
Resurrection… revival. Would it show up if he searched for that?
[Search result for ‘소생’: None]
[Search result for ‘Revival’: 16 entries]
Found it. Lee Hwan took a deep breath as he scanned through the listed files. It would be nice to have something to store this on, but unfortunately, he hadn’t brought even a basic USB drive.
With the mindset of memorizing as much as possible, he opened the first file, and unexpectedly, records of individuals appeared.
‘This is… a record of the test subjects.’
The attached photos, all showing gaunt expressions and emaciated appearances, gave an overall chilling and strange impression.
After passing through basic personal information, the experiment’s progress was detailed according to periods, medications, and types of experiments.
[…had a second seizure. After administering □□-5, the rash subsided temporarily, but the subject showed rejection symptoms including memory loss, kidney failure, and bloody vomiting.]
It was disappointing that important content had its own security measures in place. After clicking on the hidden parts a few times, a window popped up asking for a password. Additional authentication seemed to be required to view these sections.
Each page turn revealed records of different individuals. Lee Hwan was taking photos of each with his phone when he involuntarily flinched at the eighth record.
‘Is this…? Jade?’
An all too familiar face. In the photo, a man with short hair and black eyes stared straight ahead. Though clearly ill, his tightly closed mouth and strong eyebrows seemed to show his past resilience.
Lee Hwan felt an inexplicable guilt and strong curiosity as he read through the document. He wondered if it was right for him to learn about Jade’s information like this, but before he could control it, his eyes had already scanned the text.
Jade. The only survivor of the Resurrection Project that became the foundation of semi-Awakening, and a figure who wouldn’t exist in the future. The person who made Kang Taesung jump into this den of evil, while also being the man trying to pull him out of there.
[Kim Jeongshik M 07071980]
[TYPE B]
It seemed his comment about being old enough to be his father wasn’t just an exaggeration. ‘Resurrection’… The reason he looked younger than his age wasn’t just because he was an Awakened person.
His records were mostly unredacted up to the middle of the experiment, but from a certain date onward, they were so heavily secured that hardly any normal text was visible.
‘Well, now I know where that name came from…’
He had thought there were no traces of Jade in the future. Though he had vanished like evaporation, Taesung continued to use his name. In that way, he quietly remained close to Taesung, present yet not present.
‘So they can’t extend his lifespan?’
If not for the semi-Awakening project, he would have lived longer. Lee Hwan rubbed his stiff eyes and moved closer to the monitor to examine the story of the past experiment.
From what could be inferred from the content—which had more blanked-out spaces than visible text—he was the only survivor who lasted more than three years past a certain stage of the experiment.
However, just when they were planning to expand the scale of the experiment predicting success, it seemed a terrible accident occurred along with his rampage.
[…subsequently used □□□ to prevent genetic mutation and block rampage, successfully achieving semi-permanent stabilization with the administration of T.D.F-□.]
After long isolation and experimentation, he was “stabilized.” As long as he wasn’t disturbed further with drugs and experiments, he would never lose his reason and would remain in a state where he would no longer undergo mutation.
And after the semi-Awakening experiment began, he became a test subject again. After his stability was broken, did he slowly wither and die? Or did he experience another rampage?
‘Is that… a drug?’
T.D.F-□. Though the last letter was hidden, making it impossible to know the exact name, it appeared to suggest that this alone could stop the mutation.
Lee Hwan slowly engraved the drug’s name in his mind and saved photos of all the remaining documents. He couldn’t understand what it all meant with his current knowledge, but if he brought it to Taesung, he might figure out a few things.
After pocketing his phone and turning around, Lee Hwan suddenly felt a tingling sensation at the back of his neck.
Suddenly, he saw an illusion of the monitor’s light flickering and shaking. Startled, he backed up and bumped into the file holder, and a chilling sensation shot from the top of his head down through his entire body, quickly raising goosebumps.
‘This sensation…’
It’s too dangerous to be lost in thought here. He should at least crawl into a corner.
[Fragment of causality discovered.]
But all those thoughts sank deep below the surface along with the familiar system message.
* * *
A cold data records room where no one enters. A man with the upper part of his shirt crumpled and torn is pacing around the room with an expression that’s hard to tell if he’s crying or angry.
A neurotic impression. It’s Kang Dongha again.
He’s holding a phone, suppressing rising anger and despair. A low voice leaks through the phone pressed against his ear.
—Why are you asking me about that? Isn’t that the responsibility of Director Kang who conducted the experiment?
“It was Director Kang Dongying and the Director who ordered it!”
—Do you have evidence?
“What…! Is this why you talked about security and deleted all the data? Let me talk to Director Kang, no, that bastard Kang Dongying. He’s right next to you, isn’t he, you son of a bitch!”
—Get a grip. It’s unfortunate that such unauthorized actions have caused great damage to the company and research institute.
“You think I’ll die alone if you brush it off like this? I… Hello? Hello!”
Though Kang Dongha’s voice echoes loudly, there’s no response. He throws his phone to the floor, smashing it, and slumps down.
Forced to watch the scene, Lee Hwan quickly understands the situation from the grim atmosphere and Dongha’s distorted face.
Something went wrong. The research institute people touched something they shouldn’t have. Though Kang Dongying oversaw it, this man caught in the middle would bear the responsibility.
Regardless of how he was treated internally, to the outside world, he was an invaluable third-generation chaebol.
Lee Hwan remembers the past. During the Monster Wave, Naru received harsh criticism and sanctions but didn’t shatter or collapse.
It was because Naru returned enormous sums to society and immediately offered up the person responsible for everything—even a direct blood relative—without protection.
Later, when the situation became even more serious and they realized the Monster Wave wasn’t just an accident but “destruction,” it was already meaningless to talk about corporations or punishments. The semi-Awakening they had revealed became a small breathing space for a world that was collapsing and disappearing.
So, an appropriate prey for the public burning with rage until then. Perhaps Kang Dongha had been invited to this group from the beginning for that role.
“I can’t do this. I can’t… these bastards!”
Kang Dongha’s scream pierces Lee Hwan’s head. Unable to contain his anger, he strikes the broken phone. Blood immediately bursts and flows from his hand, but he doesn’t even notice the wound, just trembling his lips finely.
He had been anxious about this. Had a bad feeling. Wanted to pull out, but once he was in, there was no escape route left.
His deep regret seems to transmit through.
Then suddenly he fumbles in his jacket’s inner pocket. In his bloodied grasp emerges a gem redder than blood.
‘A regression skill stone.’
Even seeing a similar scene for the third time, Lee Hwan feels his heart sink.
“Time. It was about time, wasn’t it.”
That muttering seems vaguely related to the skill stone’s content. Somehow, despite not being an Awakened person, he seems to have roughly deduced the skill contained within.
Desperation settles on Kang Dongha’s face as he looks down at it. As if, in the final moment, it might somehow save his utterly ruined situation.
‘….’
Lee Hwan watches his desperate figure and hears the ear-splitting howl. Then, in the last moment, he gets a strange feeling brushing his mind.
‘This memory doesn’t end here.’
Lee Hwan instinctively feels that the story shown by the skill stone won’t end there, and that it’s pointing to a nearby location.
As if telling him to follow, a swirl of light shimmers downward, and a tingling sensation travels up his spine.
Suddenly, Lee Hwan realizes. He shouldn’t waste time here rummaging through paper documents. When this hallucination ends, he must go even further underground.
* * *
“Huh!”
Awakening with a small scream, Lee Hwan first checked if anyone had entered the room before slowly catching his breath.
“Crazy…”
He had just found another fragment of causality. And he even felt a strong hint that the next fragment would be deeper underground in this building. While he had already suspected the former, he never imagined finding two fragments in the same place.
Moreover, the scene he witnessed this time also showed Kang Dongha. It seemed that he had been holding the skill stone continuously before the regression.
If that’s the case, does it mean that once the skill stone leaves his hands, it can also observe the appearances or situations of others?
Lee Hwan had obtained it after killing a monster. Since the skill stone had definitely left Dongha’s hands, he would eventually see what happened in between through the fragments of causality.
‘Come to think of it, what happened to Kang Dongha in the end…?’
He hadn’t heard anything after the news that all his teeth were broken. Even though he had known him as the culprit behind the incident.
What exactly had happened to him?
Somehow, he became increasingly afraid of uncovering the past.
