# Chapter 175
“……You searched through your boss’s drawer?”
No way, this person…… Iyeon’s eyes immediately filled with incredulity. Seeing his reaction, Jaekyung waved his hands frantically in panic.
“No, no! I didn’t search through it, I just happened to see it! I, I swear!”
The situation Iyeon pieced together from Jaekyung’s passionate explanation was roughly as follows:
His boss, the research director, went out today and left Jaekyung with the task of sorting through documents on his desk. Since those documents were packed in a full box, the physically weak Jaekyung tried to forcibly lift it, his hand slipped, and the heavy box fell, smashing the handle of the director’s desk drawer.
“……You’re not lying?”
“I’m telling you it’s true. Why would I lie about something like this!”
Horrified by the sudden property damage, Jaekyung hurriedly tried to reattach the handle to the drawer, but naturally, a handle that had fallen off once wouldn’t easily stick back on. While anxiously trying to fix the situation, the drawer opened slightly, and the document title visible through the gap looked suspicious.
“I guess seeing the words ‘Artificial Gem Core’ would seem a bit suspicious.”
“No, what I saw was ‘Encyclopedic Guide to Variants – Publication Plan.'”
“……”
As if entranced, Jaekyung picked up the plan and skimmed through the content, finding a detailed plan for a massive project exceeding 800 pages, and it was already in progress! The list of authors included not only the director but also numerous renowned variant researchers Jaekyung knew. No way, this is awesome……. Jaekyung was caressing the plan with an enraptured expression when he discovered another document underneath it.
That was precisely the “Artificial Gem Core Project.”
“I was curious about what this was, so I read it, and not only was it information I’d heard before, but it even included a variant I know as a case study. I immediately thought of Mungchi, so I copied all the related content and contacted you.”
“So that means……”
“Exactly. ……It seems my director was involved in the experiment in the past.”
Jaekyung’s face became a bit gloomy as he said this. Recalling his face proudly proclaiming that this was definitely a legal research institute, Iyeon felt a pang of regret and deliberately put on a bright expression.
“Hey, it’s okay—”
“I should have known the director earlier, no matter what it took…… Huh? What did you say, Iyeon-ssi?”
“……Nothing. Just finish scooping up your fish cakes.”
Iyeon pushed some fish cakes toward Jaekyung with the ladle. Giving up food? What’s gotten into Iyeon-ssi? Jaekyung happily munched on the fish cakes with a bright expression. Iyeon silently ordered an additional plate of skewers.
Despite giving Jaekyung a hard time, what he had brought was valuable information. If it was true that Mungchi had been a test subject in the Artificial Gem Core Project, it would be good to meet Jaekyung’s boss who had participated in the project. Iyeon was also curious about why Mungchi had been released from the research institute…..
……Wait a minute. The researcher who met Cheongho?
At a lightning-fast realization, Iyeon froze like a stone, only blinking his eyes. He had just met today a researcher who claimed to have saved Cheongho’s life.
“Jaekyung…… Jaekyung-ssi, by any chance, that research institute where you work……”
“Hm?”
“Your boss, I mean, what’s the name of the research institute?”
“Our research institute name? Didn’t I tell you?”
When Iyeon finally managed to move his stiffened tongue to ask, Jaekyung looked at him quizzically before rummaging through his bag.
“Oh, I’ll just give you my business card. Actually, I just got it yesterday.”
Iyeon’s fingers trembled slightly as he received the paper handed to him with a proud face, so he deliberately tensed his hand. The crisp business card entered his field of vision, slightly crumpled. White, thick paper. Neatly written affiliation and Jaekyung’s name.
<Symbiotic Research Institute / Researcher Dang Jaekyung>
His ominous premonition had never been wrong.
*
“Jung Iyeon-ssi. Have you been waiting long?”
Click. At the sound of the door opening, Iyeon stood up. Eunju was entering with a friendly smile.
“Hello, Dr. Kwon.”
“I didn’t expect you to call me so soon. What is it, did you encounter a dangerous variant?”
“No, it’s not that……”
Iyeon looked at Eunju. Jaekyung’s boss had a warm and gentle impression, but she possessed a brilliant career that would make most people hesitant to even offer her a business card. None other than Lee Taejin’s former colleague and the illegal researcher who created Mungchi’s artificial gem core.
The moment he learned this fact, Iyeon’s intuition strongly whispered that he needed to meet her again.
“I had more questions about Cheongho.”
Thump, thump. An ominous tension spread to his fingertips, and Iyeon unconsciously clenched his fists lightly.
“Oh my, what could it be?”
After finishing his conversation with Jaekyung the day before yesterday and returning home, Iyeon would take out Eunju’s and Jaekyung’s business cards whenever he had a chance and look at them alternately. Eunju’s story and the contents of the documents Jaekyung had shown him swirled in his mind, mixing in a spiral.
Jaekyung’s speculation that Eunju had participated in the Artificial Gem Core Project was very likely true. For Eunju, an ordinary person, to know so much detail about Cheongho’s characteristics and tendencies was because she had met Mungchi before. He couldn’t figure out what the exact situation had been, but…..
While arranging a visit appointment with Eunju, Iyeon was troubled. He couldn’t clearly explain even to himself why he was going this far or what conclusion he hoped to reach by asking her.
What did it matter whether Mungchi had an artificial gem core or not? What did it matter whether Eunju had worked with Taejin in the past or not? She was even said to have fallen out with Taejin now. She had no connection to Iyeon.
Despite thinking this way, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something.
“I was on a mission to capture Flock Phoenix when I encountered Cheongho……”
He just felt he had to ask. So Iyeon followed his instinct and came to Eunju’s research institute.
Iyeon told Eunju the story of when he first met Mungchi. He omitted the part about Hyegang finding it and bringing it to Iyeon’s house where they started living together. It was Iyeon’s own form of insurance.
Eunju, who had been listening intently with a serious face without interrupting once, seemed to think for a moment before speaking.
“Hey, did you know that gem cores can be artificially created too?”
The door to the truth opened far too easily.
“There are definitely high-level variants that should have gem cores, but occasionally you find ones wandering without them. Whether they were destroyed by someone or congenitally absent, I don’t know….. A very long time ago, I created artificial gem cores to help those that couldn’t even exert a fraction of their original abilities because they lacked a gem core.”
“……Isn’t that essentially giving them power to harm people?”
When fighting a variant with a gem core, destroying the gem core first was the most orthodox strategy. In that context, thinking about restoring a variant’s gem core went against conventional wisdom. It could potentially increase the danger to humanity.
“My goodness, you sound just like that stuffy prosecutor.”
Erupting into laughter as if she’d heard a terrific joke, Eunju softly whispered.
“What I did was closer to very basic rescue activity. If you found an eagle that had flowed into the city with a broken wing and couldn’t move, would you refuse to treat it because the eagle was powerful enough to hurt people?”
Variants aren’t wild beasts. Even knowing that Eunju was skillfully shifting the focus, Iyeon kept his mouth shut. Eunju’s words continued to flow without interruption.
“Not all variants harm people, and that’s not their purpose. You’re a hunter, so you know that, right? Otherwise, why would low-level variants openly roam the city without hunters or the Superpower Management Office capturing them all? ……Well, opinions may differ. This is just my perspective.”
Eunju smiled brightly and brought the topic back to its original track.
“Anyway, the Cheongho you met seems to be that child I made a gem core for. I can’t believe it lost the core to a Flock Phoenix while its synchronization was temporarily disconnected, that kid really….. But if you returned the gem core, it would have put it back in properly by itself. That guy’s gem core is one of my outstanding masterpieces.”
“……When did you meet that Cheongho? It’s not an easy variant to encounter.”
“Oh, that too was like complete destiny.”
Clapping her hands while smiling like a bright young girl, Eunju gazed into the distance as if recalling the past. The moment Iyeon was certain she knew the variant he was familiar with, Eunju became a bit more generous.
And….. Eunju’s gaze, containing a strangely amused glint, swept over Iyeon.
“Remember when I was talking at the Superpower Management Office? About how my research institute was shut down due to negligent management of variants?”
“Yes.”
“Just before the police swarmed in after someone reported us, I picked it up from a corner of the research institute garden. If I gained Cheongho at the cost of losing one research institute, I’d say it was a profit. That troublemaker who tried to escape by breaking through the fence ended up being a blessing. Ah, but it was super cute too. Even though it wasn’t originally a gem core variant and couldn’t accept the gem core, watching it grow by continuously absorbing the energy I’d put in the gem core was so rewarding!”
Her rambling explanations of details nobody asked about made her seem like a female version of Jaekyung.
After chattering alone with rising emotions for a while, Eunju suddenly stood up as if she’d remembered something. She went to a drawer attached to the wall with small steps, opened one, and rummaged through it with her arm. After being occupied for a while with a drawer large enough to fit her entire forearm, Eunju pulled out a small photograph.
“Look at this. Although I can’t see it anymore since it was captured by hunters who raided us, fortunately, I still have photos from when it was at the research institute.”
“Oh……”
Dealing with variant otakus had become familiar through Jaekyung. Iyeon skillfully responded and lowered his gaze toward the photo she was showing, with a disinterested look. The variant filling the square frame resembled a lion overall, but had horns on both sides of its head, and five eyes…..
“……Huh.”
Iyeon let out a very small exclamation. It was so quiet that one wouldn’t hear it unless listening carefully.
But Eunju raised the corner of her mouth as if she had expected this.
“So you do know it, don’t you?”
Thump. At those words, his heart beat loudly.
