# Chapter 123
“Where’s Sano hyung?”
To end like this without any trouble, it was truly a stroke of luck. Confessing his mistake had been a truly sweat-inducing affair… He should never do this again. While Iyeon was secretly making this promise to himself, Hyegang asked the question. Iyeon let out a light “Ah” before answering.
“He went to the Superpower Management Office for a report.”
Sano, who had been tracking illegal research at Heesu’s request, had taken Dr. Kim and most of the personnel from the warehouse into custody. Iyeon, who had stupidly watched Sano’s retreating back as he left—despite having just wiped away Iyeon’s tears—had just returned to the office after being left alone in the collapsed and ruined warehouse.
When Iyeon mentioned meeting Sano at the warehouse site, Hyegang marveled at the rare coincidence. It was almost suspiciously perfect timing that the place Dr. Kim was tracked to happened to be the very location Heesu had found a lead on and requested investigation for.
Hyegang also seemed to have assumed that Sano would naturally stay with Iyeon. Apparently, Iyeon was the only one who thought Sano had cut him off. Realizing this, Iyeon clutched his chest, feeling even more desolate about the needless emotional suffering he’d gone through…
Anyway, learning that Heesu had been conducting a separate investigation besides the request given to Iyeon made him trust Heesu more. It gave him confidence that the Semi case wouldn’t be handled half-heartedly.
Riiiing.
Just then, Iyeon’s phone rang. Fumbling to take it out, he checked the screen and saw it was D.S.
“Hello?”
Wondering if the goggles he’d left for repair were done, he answered curiously, only to hear an urgent voice on the other end. It was almost demanding.
[Hey, I’m sending you a news article, take a look.]
“What?”
The call ended abruptly. Iyeon stared at his phone, now back on the home screen, in confusion. What’s happening all of a sudden? They’ve caught Dr. Kim, and both Young and the girl have reflected on their actions and gone back, so there shouldn’t be any more problems for D.S…
“What’s wrong?”
“D.S-ssi told me to look at a news article… Ah.”
Right on cue, D.S’s message arrived. It was a link to a website. When he clicked it, it was an article written less than an hour ago. Iyeon read the headline aloud.
“Unidentified superhuman attacks transport vehicle… 3 injured?”
Below the title was a video. When he played it, blurry footage from what seemed to be a surveillance camera showed the situation. A car driving on the road suddenly stopped when a wall appeared out of nowhere, and soon three armed police officers jumped out of the vehicle. Though their faces weren’t visible, their uniforms identified them as superhuman police officers.
In front of them walked a woman with a small build. Similarly, her face wasn’t clearly visible, but the silhouette was familiar. Someone who shouldn’t be appearing in a place like this. Iyeon muttered with disbelief.
“…Lee Seeun?”
As the woman in the video spread her arms, the road seemed to undulate before massive rocks burst out. The police officers tried to destroy them using their abilities while running around, but the rocks emerged too quickly, and while others were distracted, the woman ran toward the transport vehicle and entered it.
Soon after, the ability that had been tormenting the police officers disappeared. When the situation calmed, the officers limped toward the car, then came back out with urgent expressions and shouted something. The video ended there.
Below it, the headline content was written out in a simplified form. Three police officers injured in a sudden attack. The superhuman who attacked them fled with a special fraud suspect being transported. Currently tracking their whereabouts. Iyeon’s gaze carefully scanned the text. Attack. Escape.
Since superhuman crimes and accidents were quite common in Chohosi, the article didn’t have many views or comments. It was uncertain whether this lack of attention was fortunate or unfortunate.
“Lee Seeun, that’s the bracelet girl?”
Hyegang immediately reacted, apparently remembering the name. Iyeon nodded with a frown.
If it was indeed Seeun who attacked the vehicle, the person she was trying to rescue must be Semi. Since Semi had teleportation abilities, she must have used that ability to move together with Seeun after entering the car.
Iyeon immediately called D.S. She answered right away.
[Yeah.]
“I saw the article. That’s Lee Seeun and Lee Semi, right?”
[Looks that way to me too.]
“Did you tell the boss and Subin noona?”
[Sent it to them right after you. Told them to be careful.]
That’s a relief. They both value their lives, or rather, if they decide to take precautions, there shouldn’t be much to worry about. D.S clicked her tongue.
[Jin Heesu, that bastard, how did he mess up the handling…]
With the news article out, the blame would likely fall on Heesu, who had directly apprehended her. I want to know what happened too… but it’ll be hard to meet until things calm down. Iyeon sighed.
“You be careful too, D.S-ssi.”
She had played a crucial role in capturing Semi. If Semi wanted revenge, D.S would actually be a higher priority than Sua or Subin. Knowing this herself, she said she would strengthen her security system.
“There’s never a peaceful day, seriously.”
After ending the call with D.S, Iyeon grumbled lightly. While the city was always full of incidents, lately it seemed like something was happening non-stop. Hyegang nodded.
“Be careful too, hyung.”
“Huh? Me?”
Even after confessing his ability just earlier, he was still worried. When Iyeon looked at him with round eyes, Hyegang shook his head with a genuinely concerned expression.
“Considering the fact that you got taken down by a mere stun gun despite having that ability…”
“That was… strategic.”
“Didn’t you think of that after getting attacked? Could you have avoided it if you wanted to?”
“…”
As Iyeon kept his mouth shut, Hyegang sighed dramatically in front of him.
“I’m worried, really worried.”
“About what?”
Sano asked with perfect timing as he opened the door and entered. Oh, Sano hyung. Hyegang, who greeted him with a casual wave, pointed at Iyeon as if tattling.
“We were talking about how Iyeon hyung seems to get attacked too easily considering his ability.”
Sano looked like it was no big deal.
“That’s because he’s stupid.”
“Hey!”
Hearing that scathing criticism made their earlier conversation about not abandoning him feel like a dream. Ignoring Iyeon’s outburst, Sano naturally sat down beside him. Iyeon asked, as if he’d been waiting for this.
“Did you see the news? About Lee Seeun taking Lee Semi and escaping…”
Sano seemed to have already heard the news, as he nodded lightly.
“Jin Heesu told me.”
Now that he mentioned it, Sano had said he met Heesu regarding Dr. Kim. Iyeon brightened up.
“You met the director? What did he say?”
“He said they’re tracking them. Seems like he has something up his sleeve.”
That’s good to hear. I hope they catch them soon. Iyeon felt somewhat relieved but still expressed his concerns.
“I’m worried about D.S-ssi. If the workshop gets attacked again…”
Semi was completely different from Young. Iyeon was confident that even if they had met face to face, Young wouldn’t have seriously harmed D.S. But Semi… She already had a record of injuring D.S.
“Should I offer to guard the workshop until Lee Semi is caught again?”
Even if it takes some time, I know how dangerous it is… His face, seriously pondering, looked like he was ready to rush to the workshop immediately. Staring at Iyeon, Sano slightly leaned forward. His indifferent voice dropped abruptly.
“She won’t go after that engineer.”
“What? Why?”
“People like them, their thinking is all the same.”
…What kind of thinking do “people like them” have? Tell me too. Iyeon looked at Sano glumly, but he didn’t explain further.
Still, since Sano said so, it did seem likely. The fact that he wasn’t one to talk nonsense was strangely reassuring.
“What you should be worried about isn’t that.”
“Huh?”
His face looked at Iyeon pitifully, as if he was focusing on trivial matters while missing the important point. Wait, he’s the one who was absent without notice… Feeling somewhat upset, Iyeon challenged him.
“Hey, I’ll let it slide once… but if you disappear like this again without saying anything.”
“That would be your fault.”
“…What?”
Confused by this sudden shifting of blame, Iyeon’s eyes widened. What nonsense is this all of a sudden?
“Let me tell you, you don’t have any options.”
“What options?”
After spitting out incomprehensible words with an overbearing attitude, Sano reached out and grabbed Iyeon’s collar. The two faces suddenly came close enough that their noses could touch.
It was too close. His breath touched Iyeon’s lips. Iyeon froze, not daring to inhale. Sano slowly looked at the light-colored eyes that had frozen in surprise, and slowly pulled up the corner of his mouth.
“Because I won’t let go.”
As the low voice dug into his ear, tension instantly ran down his spine. Completely stiff, Iyeon fell into confusion, unable to properly interpret what he’d just heard. The sentence with its sparse information was difficult to understand easily.
Sano, looking at the white face staring up foolishly, looked almost exactly the same as when he first said he would repay the favor. Thump, thump. Strangely, his heartbeat gradually quickened.
What broke the atmosphere was Hyegang’s dry heckling.
“Hey, do you really have to show such intense affection while I’m here?”
“Affection?”
“Yeah, yeah. I get it, you two are dating.”
“No, we’re not dating!”
Iyeon, whose neck had become slightly heated, belatedly shouted, but no one believed him.
