# Chapter 216
Hyegang’s eyes slowly widened. His lips parted in a daze, but no words came out. Iyeon took advantage of the silence to continue.
“I said I enjoyed working with you.”
“……”
“So I want to keep doing it in the future. That means I can’t die, like you said.”
Hyegang maintained his silence, his face still frozen in surprise. Judging by his reaction, it was hard to tell if he’d even heard what was said.
But Hyegang always listened to Iyeon’s words. That’s why Iyeon could speak until the end.
“I’ll finish this properly, and then continue being a hunter with you. So I’m counting on you.”
A brief silence followed. The voice that eventually spoke came not from the computer desk but from the sofa.
“Were you dating Lee Hyegang before?”
Hearing that sharp tone, it seemed he had misunderstood again. Je Sano didn’t look the type, but he was particularly sensitive about such terminology. Iyeon explained in a flustered manner.
“No, when I said ‘met,’ I didn’t mean dating. In context, I just meant we got to know each other…”
“It would be better to avoid making statements that could be misunderstood.”
Sano warned with cold eyes.
“It’s not exactly a scene I want to witness either.”
“…I’ll make absolutely sure not to.”
What was so scary about him? Iyeon muttered and made a firm promise, only then did Sano withdraw his cold demeanor. Why am I already tired when I haven’t even met Dr. Kwon yet? Just as Iyeon was trudging to actually leave the office…
“Take care.”
A calm voice reached his back. That familiar voice that always supported Iyeon from behind.
With his back still turned, Iyeon smiled slightly.
“I’ll be back.”
*
“You want me to arrange a meeting with Lee Taejin?”
Eunju asked while poking at her bowl with a fork. Her hand stopped abruptly, and her eyes were wide open in surprise. Across from her, Iyeon nodded as he speared some lettuce and salmon together and put it in his mouth.
The two were at a salad place Eunju had recently become obsessed with. The bright, kitschy checkered interior was bustling with young people despite it being a weekday afternoon, creating a lively atmosphere.
“Why? It’s better for your mental health to avoid facing someone like him if possible.”
Eunju offered sincere advice. Iyeon agreed with that sentiment, but since he wasn’t meeting him for the sake of mental health, he didn’t change his mind.
“Dr. Kwon, is the terrain setting function possibly malfunctioning?”
“Ah.”
With just one question, Eunju seemed to understand everything perfectly. She likely had connections with high-ranking city officials who would know about this, or she might have already been informed by Taejin.
Just as expected.
“It’s an emergency situation. There’s no choice.”
Iyeon smiled bitterly. Like someone who hears shocking news, wanders, despairs, and finally walks into a trap they recognize, exhausted by their own struggles.
He had no intention of telling Eunju everything. She openly declared her poor relationship with Taejin, but Iyeon couldn’t take that at face value. Taejin and Eunju had known each other for many years, and Iyeon didn’t know what bond existed between them. Better to be cautious.
At Iyeon’s words, Eunju slightly furrowed the corner of her eyebrow.
“Even knowing what might happen to you if you go?”
“I’ve been through it before. As you know, Doctor.”
“This time you could die, you know?”
When Iyeon closed his mouth, Eunju asked again.
“He wants your ability. Not just your gi-ryeok, but your actual ability itself. If given the chance, he’d probably want to eliminate you and take your place.”
Taejin was someone who had used Iyeon’s ability in various ways for ten years. The more he learned about the ability’s applications, the more his desire grew. When Semi created the superpower bracelet and made it a realistic possibility, his desire reached its peak.
“Are you okay with dying for someone like that?”
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Taejin. If Iyeon voluntarily approached him and asked him to use his gi-ryeok, Taejin could use that as an excuse to drain Iyeon’s gi-ryeok as much as he wanted. The repair of the terrain setting function system, created by exploiting others’ gi-ryeok, would be conducted in secret.
So that no one would know if any accident occurred.
“Would my uncle want that?”
Iyeon asked quizzically. In fact, Taejin could have pretended to be a superhuman long before. After all, it was widely believed that the developer of the terrain setting function was the owner of the materialization ability used in it. Instead of suddenly disappearing and becoming mysterious, Taejin could have simply stayed put and said one thing.
That it was indeed his ability.
“You. You’re still thinking so innocently?”
Eunju chided. Though her words seemed mocking, her tone was so affectionate that rather than feeling offended, Iyeon was just curious about her meaning. Fortunately, Eunju continued without hesitation.
“He chose silence because he couldn’t predict how you would act.”
Taejin had acted as if the materialization ability was his own, based on circumstances, but he never explicitly claimed it. In other words, he had created an escape route. If anyone confronted him, he could simply say he never actually said it was his.
It was easy to lie boldly, but Taejin’s cautious yet prideful nature didn’t readily allow it. There was one major issue.
Evidence that could overturn the situation at any time was living and breathing in this country.
Why wouldn’t Taejin have looked for Jeongyeon? After closing the former laboratory and leaving, as he began researching materialization ability in earnest, he realized it was a superhuman power of an absurd level. The fact that he had extracted Jeongyeon’s gi-ryeok to the brink of death and then abandoned him was one of the very few things Taejin deeply regretted.
He should have either drained enough to kill him or not abandoned him at all.
However, when he belatedly tried to find Lee Jeongyeon, his whereabouts were truly unknown. There were hospital admission and discharge records due to gi-ryeok depletion right after the lab closure, but nothing afterward. The child had vanished without a trace, but Taejin sensed it. Jeongyeon wasn’t dead. He was definitely alive somewhere.
As long as Jeongyeon was living within this society, Taejin always had to live with the anxiety that his identity could be exposed. Even if he registered a superpower through improper means, comparing the gi-ryeok used in the terrain setting function with Iyeon’s gi-ryeok would quickly identify the true owner of the ability.
In fact, throughout his time as the terrain setting function developer, Taejin was known for his sensitive personality.
“Rather than being exposed, he chose not to do it at all. Lee Taejin really hates being humiliated.”
During that period, Taejin also received subtle suggestions to take the superhuman evaluation test. Fortunately for him, the superhuman evaluation wasn’t mandatory, and Taejin avoided the proposal by saying he had no intention of becoming a hunter.
But even this had its limits. Continued refusal bred suspicion, and growing suspicion would eventually close in on Taejin’s position.
So Taejin decided to hide behind the illusion of being a mysterious developer instead.
“You’re saying he went underground because he didn’t have the guts to lie outright?”
Iyeon asked with an incredulous face. Never in his life had he met someone like this. Eunju shrugged.
“But it was quite effective. At least things went according to his plan.”
A person who has disappeared says nothing. So those who remain think what they want to believe. This is how the terrain setting function developer’s position became solid and untouchable.
And up to this point, though Taejin couldn’t have predicted it, by concealing his whereabouts, he also managed to avoid the attack from the top-ranked superhuman that was scheduled for a few years later.
“Besides, well, it’s not like he completely disappeared. He didn’t leave this place.”
Eunju shook her head as if pitying him.
Taejin had disappeared publicly but didn’t leave Chohosi. He simply changed his identity and moved through the city’s shadowy areas. In fact, this suited his nature better. For Taejin, the law was merely an annoying obstacle. Though the legal net had become much tighter than before, as long as there were those who sought to achieve their desires while evading it, shadows would never disappear. It was perfect for Taejin to hide.
But his desire hadn’t vanished. While gaining the nickname Morpho, he came to crave superpowers even more than before.
He was just waiting for an opportunity. The perfect timing to transform him into a butterfly.
“And then he finally found you.”
The moment he discovered that Lee Jeongyeon was living in this city under the name Jung Iyeon, and moreover, that he was living with diminished abilities, one assumption and plan arose in Taejin’s mind.
What if Lee Jeongyeon had no intention of revealing his ability?
What if he planned to hide for the rest of his life?
