# Chapter 172
“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing. I was glad to see a celebrity up close.”
The woman who answered with a smile exited the elevator with a ding. Iyeon, who didn’t have any particular destination, followed her out on impulse and walked in the opposite direction.
‘Where am I?’
Iyeon looked around curiously. At the end of the long corridor lined with endless offices and conference rooms, there was a passageway leading to another building. A metal sign hanging from the ceiling gleamed in the light.
▲Mutant Response Department
Ah, so if I go that way from the main building, I’ll reach the Mutant Response Department. I never knew because I always went directly to the Mutant Response Department building from outside when visiting Heesu. As Iyeon was nodding to himself, he spotted a familiar figure emerging from an office near the passageway in the distance. Speak of the devil—it was Heesu. Iyeon looked at him with a somewhat pleased expression.
Heesu and his secretary—not the one Iyeon had seen before, so it seemed there had been a change—were engaged in a serious conversation, unaware of Iyeon’s presence far down the corridor. Though the distance was considerable, the corridor was quiet enough that their conversation could be faintly heard.
“…and you’re telling me this now?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I can’t believe this… We’ll address this issue later.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Whatever it was, the secretary was getting severely scolded by Heesu. Must have made a major mistake… Still, there’s no need to berate someone like that in a corridor where everyone can see. I didn’t take Director Jin for such a terrible boss. Iyeon accumulated this prejudice as he slowly backed away. Besides the attitude, he had a flash of intuition that this was content an outsider shouldn’t hear.
To preserve the civil servant’s privacy, Iyeon decided to move away. He put his ear to the door of the nearest conference room, which seemed quiet. It appeared to be empty. Just as he grabbed the handle and quietly opened it, Heesu’s angry voice erupted as if on cue.
“Do you think I don’t know whose fault it is that things have come to this? If you pushed me to clean up this mess, you shouldn’t have deceived me!”
Iyeon turned his head with a startled expression. It was the first time he’d seen Heesu shout like that. Even when Heesu had thought Iyeon was Dr. Kim’s puppet, he had maintained composure in his speech.
Even after his outburst, Heesu quickly calmed his emotions with a single breath. It was an impressive display of emotional control.
“This is infuriating. Call the combat zone chief immediately—no, I’ll go myself.”
With those words, Heesu turned around. He was heading in the exact opposite direction of the passageway, straight toward Iyeon.
Wait, hold on. Flustered, Iyeon quickly entered the conference room before Heesu could fully turn around. After carefully closing the door to prevent any sound, his body, which had been tense with nervousness, finally relaxed.
It was only afterward that he realized the conference room lights were on. Iyeon made eye contact with a middle-aged woman sitting quietly at the table.
“Oh.”
“…Who are you?”
There was no appropriate response to her puzzled question. Iyeon clutched the strings of his hood, which he had pulled down low, and mumbled vaguely. The strings tightened, leaving only his face in a small round opening.
“I’m sorry. I just needed a place to rest for a moment and came in without thinking. I didn’t know anyone was here.”
“My, are you playing hooky?”
“Well, something like that… Is there a meeting scheduled here?”
“No, nothing like that.”
The woman who answered candidly gave a light smile.
“Make yourself comfortable. It’s natural to want a break when work is tough. I’m waiting for someone, but it’s taking too long and I was getting bored. It’s nice to have company now. Here, sit down.”
Thanks to her insistent invitation, patting the chair next to her, Iyeon ended up joining her at the table. As soon as he sat down, the woman warmly struck up a conversation.
“Hello. I’m Kwon Eunju.”
“Hello… I’m Jung Iyeon.”
“Jung Iyeon-ssi, I see. What do you do?”
“Ah, I’m a hunter. And you, Kwon Eunju…”
Eunju appeared to be around his mother’s age, so Iyeon briefly wondered how to address her. Quickly noticing his hesitation, Eunju laughed heartily.
“Oh my, just call me Dr. Kwon. Everyone calls me that.”
“If you’re a doctor…”
“Just a researcher, a researcher. I work for a small private research institute.”
The woman, who playfully winked, gave off more of a friendly next-door neighbor vibe than that of a serious researcher reciting complex studies. Thanks to this, Iyeon felt at ease with Eunju.
Despite their age difference, Eunju had a cheerful and sociable personality, and the two quickly became friendly. While chatting about various topics, Iyeon learned several things from her, including her rather unique reason for visiting the Superpower Management Office.
“To meet a friend?”
“Not a friend, I said. An ex-friend.”
Eunju, who corrected the term with wide eyes, sighed and rubbed her cheek.
“A former colleague I worked with before we parted ways. We met recently, and guess what? After acting all friendly, they stole my work materials! They were quite valuable materials too.”
“Oh my, why did they do that?”
“That’s the funny part! As if they think they’re some kind of phantom thief, they left a note in place of what they stole, saying, ‘I’ll avenge your grudge, so don’t feel bad about losing this.’ Can you believe it?”
“…Did you wrong them somehow?”
“I don’t know! Isn’t that ridiculous?”
Eunju laughed incredulously. Iyeon nodded along. Whoever it was, they were truly brazen.
“Well… Of course, living to this age, I’m not without some grudges, but I’ve decided not to look back at the past. I’ve completely reinvented myself, you see.”
People who’ve lived ordinary lives don’t usually say things like this. I might develop prejudices against researchers at this rate. Iyeon responded glumly.
“Sounds like you had quite a wild past, Dr. Kwon…”
“Oh, rather than wild, it was just… I got greedy back then and failed. But I’ve put it all behind me now. I’m a clean, model citizen, so don’t worry.”
Eunju winked coyly. So she did have a past… Iyeon thought to himself but didn’t pry further. It seemed better not to know…
“Anyway, after boldly stealing from me and cutting off contact, now they’ve suddenly reached out to me for help.”
“So you came to help them?”
“Absolutely not.”
Eunju’s face, with her lips curved upward in a smirk, looked both girlish and mischievous.
“Listen, you don’t befriend thieves. I just came to see their miserable face. Besides, our fields are different, so I can’t help anyway.”
“What’s your field, Dr. Kwon?”
“Hmm… To put it simply, I specialize in mutant research.”
“Mutants?”
Iyeon responded eagerly. He immediately thought about how happy a certain mutant enthusiast he knew would be to hear about his chance meeting with a mutant research specialist.
“Yes. You said you’re a hunter, right? I mainly research middle and lower-grade mutants these days, but I used to delve quite deeply into high-grade mutants too. So if you have any questions or difficulties during missions, feel free to ask. I’ll answer what I know.”
“Ah, I…”
Just as he was about to say he didn’t have any particular questions, the thought of Mungchi came to him almost like a revelation.
After that initial rebellion when Mungchi tried to scratch Iyeon, it continued to huddle in the corner of the house, making no effort to hide its displeasure. Not responding when called was the least of it; unlike before, when it loved being petted, it now bared its teeth and growled whenever Iyeon reached out a hand.
As a result, it had been quite some time since Iyeon had been able to touch Mungchi. Since Iyeon also enjoyed touching Mungchi’s soft fur, this was particularly disappointing and upsetting.
Eunju, who had previously researched high-grade mutants, might know something. This was a good opportunity. Iyeon’s eyes sparkled.
“Dr. Kwon, is it possible for a high-grade mutant that wasn’t originally aggressive to suddenly become hostile?”
“Well, that’s too broad… Any other information? Like the mutant’s name?”
Iyeon hesitated for a moment. Cheongho is quite a rare mutant… Reading his reluctance, Eunju kindly added:
“If you don’t know the name, just describe its characteristics.”
“Well… It definitely seemed to have a gem core.”
“Oh, mutants with gem cores that aren’t aggressive are mainly Cheongho or Dabalsin. Oh, and maybe Bramble Marsh too.”
“…”
Caught in just one second.
