# Chapter 138
Iyeon, who had been quietly following Seeun as she led the way with familiar movements, suddenly asked.
“Do you have a plan?”
At those words, Seeun glanced back, but as soon as her eyes met Iyeon’s, she hurriedly turned her head away. A voice as tiny as an ant flowed out in an awkward tone.
“Well, um.”
No alternative besides bringing Heesu, and no plausible plan either. Seeun seemed to be a more impulsive person than expected.
“Just smash it.”
Sano, who was following at the back, bluntly stated. Even though he was willingly tagging along, he looked more detached from the situation than anyone else.
“Things tend to reveal themselves one by one that way.”
It was a statement that made it possible to understand how he usually handled matters.
“Hey, we should at least secure Mirae’s safety before smashing anything.”
Iyeon lightly scolded him, but Sano’s expression clearly showed he was letting it go in one ear and out the other. Of course, since Sano’s objective was Morpho, he probably didn’t care about the child, but for Iyeon, Mirae was more important than Morpho. Morpho’s experiments involved pain that even adults would find difficult to endure. It was an experience no one should ever have to go through in their lifetime.
“Um…”
It was then that Hyegang’s seemingly bewildered groan came through the communicator.
Iyeon instinctively started to ask what was wrong but stopped, conscious of Seeun ahead of him. In the quiet situation where even footsteps were clearly audible, she would hear him no matter how softly he whispered. Hyegang also didn’t demand an answer from Iyeon. Soon, a one-sided briefing poured out.
“Hyungs. Just listen. Judging by the weakening signal, I think the communication will be cut off soon. It seems there’s an independently constructed signal jamming system underground. I’ll try, but it’s probably impossible to hack it right away, so from now on, you two will have to manage on your own.”
For Hyegang, a superpowered individual who could interfere with radio waves, signal jammers were nothing. In this era of advanced internet, having such a thing in a private home? Faced with this unexpected variable, Iyeon reflexively composed his expression that was about to show surprise. Hyegang’s voice lowered.
“Actually, I was going to wait a bit longer and speak when I was certain, but it seems there’s no time for that. There’ve been some suspicious things since earlier.”
Iyeon glanced back. Sano was walking with an indifferent attitude, but he would be hearing the same content through the communicator in his ear. After briefly looking at Sano’s unreadable face, Iyeon focused again on Hyegang’s voice.
“It’s not even 10 o’clock yet, so why are all the lights in the house turned off?”
That’s… huh? Iyeon’s eyes blinked. Thanks to the goggles, he had no problem with visibility, so he had naturally overlooked it, but throughout their journey following Seeun, he hadn’t seen any indoor lighting or even decorative lights shining. The three were walking relying solely on moonlight for visibility.
Moreover, the house was as quiet as death. They had walked quite a distance from the guest house to the depths of the main house, but they hadn’t once encountered anyone’s voice or presence. It was definitely strange that all the people living in such a huge house had gone to bed before 10 PM.
“In my opinion, the guest house and the main house… have… so, Morpho might actually… case… not…”
As if proving the existence of a signal jammer, the voice became increasingly intermittent as they moved down to the basement. Trying to slow his walking pace as inconspicuously as possible didn’t help much. He desperately racked his brain to piece together the context of the sporadically connected voice.
“Wait.”
D.S cut in between Hyegang’s words. She seemed to have something urgent to say. What is it? Iyeon strained to listen, but he couldn’t make out the exact words through the already breaking communication.
“Hey, earlier… one… so… if… enter…”
That was all. At some point, the other end of the communicator became silent. Damn it. Iyeon swallowed his curse. Meanwhile, a faint light appeared beyond Seeun’s shoulder. They seemed to have arrived at the basement.
Having descended all the stairs, Iyeon unconsciously hesitated at the scene that unfolded. The basement was completely different from Morpho’s old research lab. Box-like objects were stacked here and there in the somewhat old-looking long corridor, and shabby wooden doors were sometimes open, sometimes closed. Beyond the open rooms, all sorts of research tools and materials were piled randomly.
However, one could tell that the scale was frighteningly large. Even at a glance, it was impossible to gauge where the corridor ended.
“I don’t know exactly where Mirae is, but I have an idea. Follow me.”
Seeun immediately turned and headed somewhere. Her steps were unhesitating, as if she knew exactly where to go.
Following behind her, Iyeon opened his mouth.
“Lee Seeun-ssi.”
“Yes?”
“There’s not much age difference between you and me.”
“…What?”
Seeun turned around in confusion to look at Iyeon. Her expression clearly showed her bewilderment at the sudden remark. Iyeon continued unconcerned.
“But when I was in middle school, Lee Taejin-ssi was unmarried. I never heard that he had children.”
Iyeon and Seeun were only two years apart. When he was fourteen, Seeun should have been twelve. He didn’t remember Taejin’s exact age, but he knew that there was quite an age gap between him and Iyeon’s father. Did he intentionally hide it from me? His voice, which muttered as if joking, was light, but the content wasn’t cheerful.
“He’s not really your father, is he?”
Seeun’s movement stopped abruptly.
“Why did you lie?”
Seeun stood still as if nailed to the spot. Like a robot with a drained battery, she remained frozen with her back turned. Only after a long while did she hastily look forward and speak. Her reaction of avoiding eye contact was awkward to anyone watching, but Iyeon didn’t specifically point that out.
“What, are you saying? He is my father…”
Her voice was indistinguishable between laughing and crying. The faintly trembling voice stubbornly refused to turn its head. As if believing that everything would be resolved as long as their eyes didn’t meet.
Iyeon quietly gazed at the back of the girl’s head. Taejin’s daughters who had appeared one day. And the superpowers.
“Lee Seeun-ssi, you’re a test subject.”
She was the price of the responsibility that Iyeon had optimistically avoided.
Seeun didn’t give any answer, but in fact, that attitude itself was affirming Iyeon’s words. From his angle, he could barely see Seeun’s earlobe and the area around her cheek twitching as if embarrassed.
Though it was probably just a look of bewilderment, it gave him a strangely chilling feeling, and Iyeon stared intensely at that outline. As if doing so would reveal something hidden.
This confirmed it. Even after abandoning Sano, Taejin hadn’t given up on his experiments. He had sought a new child to realize his ideals. It was hard to guess which number Seeun was.
It was proof that Iyeon had made a stupid choice.
“…”
Though the white face was more than half covered by goggles, Sano could clearly see the deep guilt seeping through the gaps. Pain was swirling in the pale eyes.
An irritated tongue click escaped through the smooth lips.
“We don’t have time for useless talk.”
Sano slightly changed his course, stepping between Iyeon and Seeun. His large body moved, filling Iyeon’s field of vision. Iyeon blankly stared at the broad back that completely blocked his view of Seeun. Strangely, the pitch-black silhouette felt as if it was trying to protect him.
Even though Sano too was a victim of Iyeon’s mistake.
“Right, there’s something more important than that.”
Iyeon laughed like a sigh. Soon, a cool voice flowed out.
“Lee Taejin-ssi. Where is he?”
Reflecting on Hyegang’s words, he had a feeling. Combining the excessively quiet situation inside the house with Seeun’s story, there were numerous aspects that didn’t make sense.
Seeun couldn’t possibly not know that Heesu was busy. She herself was one of the reasons for it. Seeun was the person who should be most alert to Heesu’s movements in this house. Saying she came to check if Heesu was in the guest house because she didn’t know? A ridiculous excuse.
Moreover, Seeun was someone who diligently carried out tasks she had little interest in just because Taejin suggested them, or only went to rescue her twin after he brought it up, showing how compliant she was to her father. Trying to extract Mirae was an action against Taejin. Yet she didn’t show even a plausible internal conflict. There was also no hostility toward Taejin.
Even her initial change of direction, deciding to take a detour rather than directly crossing the courtyard connecting to the guest house, was like that. There was no reason to choose the longer route, especially for such an urgent matter. Unless she wanted to deliberately turn her back on the intruders who didn’t know the structure of the large house and be caught.
And that a signal jammer—which wasn’t equipped in ordinary homes or even the illegal research labs Iyeon had previously dealt with—was installed in a secret research facility that barely had three or four people coming in and out.
It was the response of someone who knew exactly who they were dealing with. Particularly, it was a measure one would naturally take if they knew who was responsible for the hacking that had wiped most of the research data from a former colleague.
If that was the case, he could roughly guess what Hyegang had tried to tell them at the end.
Taejin already knew they had infiltrated.
So this was an intentional lure.
