# Chapter 142
“Jeongwon wasn’t satisfied even with having a splendid output like Jin Heesu.”
It was Taejin who interrupted Iyeon’s thoughts. The man, still wearing a faint smile, whispered facts in a tone as if he were reading a fairy tale.
“Jeongwon, the second child, has a lower tier than Jeonguk, the first child. That’s her biggest complex.”
For the Jin family, superhuman ability ranking was the clearest hierarchy above all else. Even after greedily grasping power within the family, she couldn’t rest easy. The position of family head could change at any time, but superhuman rankings rarely changed. That meant she could be overshadowed by her older brother Jeonguk at any time.
In the midst of all this, Jeonguk had brought his granddaughter, Kang Mirae, to the main house.
It was an extremely ominous seed.
Mirae’s existence couldn’t have pleased Jeongwon. What if Mirae attained the same rank as Heesu? Jeonguk was a snake that had only temporarily lowered its head. The division of support was only a matter of time.
Fortunately, Heesu had stepped forward to take care of Mirae instead. Her son, who usually caused her grief with his inflexibility, was commendable just that once. The fact that cousins are definitely closer than grandparents provided a reasonable justification to push the child away from her guardians. As soon as Mirae was separated from her grandparents and entered her sphere of influence, Jeongwon devised a plan.
That’s when she learned about Taejin.
“Somehow she knew all about my research achievements. Not just things like terrain function settings, but my real achievements.”
Jeongwon brought in Taejin with radical conditions. At the negotiation table, Taejin demanded many things, but she nodded readily. Her face, having already finished weighing her options, showed not a trace of hesitation.
Getting something from someone desperate was easier than eating rice cakes while lying down. Taejin, having secured promises for everything he wanted, asked one final question as if bestowing a favor.
‘Now it’s my turn to hear the family head’s conditions.’
At those words, Jeongwon pulled up the corners of her mouth.
‘If you can turn a non-superhuman into a superhuman.’
Her demand was just one.
‘Then you must also be able to turn a superhuman into a non-superhuman.’
Maintaining her power.
“More precisely, she wanted me to turn a pre-manifested person into a non-manifested person.”
Taejin smiled leisurely at Iyeon, who had frozen with wide eyes. As if he were enjoying Iyeon’s reaction.
Naturally, this matter had to be kept strictly confidential. There couldn’t be a family head who violated the Jin family’s absolute principle that the more superhumans in the family, the better. Outwardly, Jeongwon had to be someone who spared no support for Mirae’s superpower manifestation.
Then, unfortunately, if manifestation didn’t occur, that would be beyond her control, wouldn’t it?
“If you think about it, it would be good for that child’s mother who you were asked to help.”
The light voice truly sounded as if he believed what he was saying.
“If Mirae becomes a non-superhuman, she’ll be driven out of this house, and then Deokseon would be able to take her back.”
That mother fortunately doesn’t seem to care whether her daughter is a superhuman or not, and seems to live well even though she herself is a non-superhuman. The comfortable voice dug into his ears like tinnitus.
Iyeon’s fists clenched.
“How dare…”
His fist, clenched so tightly his nails dug into his palm, opened as his arm swung. The wide sleeve fluttered, making a sound like wind. Following that line, white sand gathered like clouds. Instantly transformed into dozens of spikes, the sand gleamed sharply as it flew toward Taejin.
BOOM, BOOM, CRASH! With successive huge explosions, the spikes pierced the spot where Taejin had been. CRACK. A savage sound echoed clearly. The floor and walls cracked, raising dust. Some of the monitors behind them shattered from spike fragments, their screens going dark.
Iyeon didn’t expect to inflict damage on Taejin with this level of attack. Indeed, when the dust settled, Taejin appeared unharmed. A black shield, presumably used for defense, belatedly transformed into sand and scattered. Iyeon, his face terrifyingly hardened, glared at Taejin.
“You call that words?”
“There’s no need to be so angry.”
Taejin still had a hint of a smile. Over that image flashed the face of D.S watching video footage of Mirae. Her self-reproaching voice for pushing Mirae into danger overlaid in his mind. Iyeon had seen how D.S’s expression softened whenever she talked about Mirae. He had seen her envision days of living with Mirae.
As Taejin said, if it became certain that Mirae was a non-superhuman, she could live with D.S. That might make the two of them happier. Iyeon couldn’t know which would be better. It was natural not to know. He wasn’t the one directly involved.
“Mirae has the right to choose too.”
But it shouldn’t be done this way.
No one had asked Mirae if she wanted superpowers. No one had asked what she wanted to do. Everything was decided by adults. Mirae had been constantly swung around by big hands. The child couldn’t decide anything on her own.
Not even whether to manifest superpowers that might not even exist.
“Let her choose for herself.”
Iyeon gritted his teeth and spat out the words. Anger seeped stickily between the folds of his brain. Even knowing it was just venting, he couldn’t stop attacking.
He raised the sand again. Pure white particles flew wildly. His hair and clothes fluttered in the strong wind.
The thoughtlessly wielded attack was far worse than before. Taejin leisurely defended against all of Iyeon’s attacks. Iyeon endlessly glared at Taejin standing at a distance. Sand summoned from his bracelet spun around him like a protective barrier.
If only he could penetrate that ability. Such a wish strongly coursed through his blood.
Perhaps even that was a kind of materialization ability.
‘Huh?’
Sensing something strange, Iyeon narrowed his eyes. Just now, the sand around Taejin…
But before he could properly face that sense of incongruity, Taejin’s words were faster. Taejin smiled as if dealing with a disobedient child.
“You speak so carefreely.”
Like a detonator, as soon as he heard those words, an ominous premonition flashed through his mind.
“The experiment has already been underway for a long time.”
Simultaneously, all the surveillance camera screens showing various scenes inside the house behind Taejin went dark. Then, a certain screen was broadcast all at once.
The room appeared magnified on a large screen formed by several combined displays. Although some LCDs were broken here and there, it didn’t interfere with understanding the situation.
Mirae was tied to a chair too large for a small child.
“Mi…”
Iyeon stared blankly at the screen, unable to finish his words. Mirae, with electrodes attached to her forehead and limbs, was either unconscious or asleep, limp with closed eyes. Her complexion was pale.
Tear tracks were visible from her eyes down her cheeks.
“Release Mirae.”
ChilChil’s body, which Iyeon had been holding throughout the chaos, was crumpled as if about to be crushed. Iyeon was so agitated that he didn’t even feel the soft fur winding between his fingers.
“Haha.”
White sand gathered around the laughing Taejin. The experiment table and instruments that had been destroyed in the fight were recreated. It was exactly like the scene from his memories. Taejin gently urged him.
“You seem to know well what you need to do for that.”
Iyeon’s eyes trembled as if convulsing. He took steps toward Taejin like someone who had lost his mind.
Taejin neither urged nor approached until Iyeon reached him. He simply waited. One step, two steps. The distance gradually shortened.
“Good boy.”
Patting Iyeon’s head as if praising a test subject who had walked in of his own accord, Taejin pulled his arm. Thump. As he collapsed weakly onto the experiment table, strength drained from his body and ChilChil fell. No one paid any attention to the pink doll sprawled carelessly on the floor.
“I’ve been thinking while manipulating your superpower in various ways for ten years.”
Cloths wrapped around Iyeon’s limbs. Numerous wires connected to the cloths were linked to a computer. Wooong… The faint sound of machines operating vigorously could be heard.
“I think I use the ability better than you.”
His goggles were removed as an electrode was attached to his forehead. With a clatter, the goggles also fell to the floor. The voice whispering as if revealing a great secret constantly checked the monitor and Iyeon’s condition.
“You’re going to hide it anyway, so I thought it would be fine if I continued using it.”
Taejin straightened his back after bending to examine the machine. Iyeon, meanwhile, seemed too preoccupied with constantly watching the screen where Mirae was to have any leisure to respond to Taejin’s words. His trembling eyes continued to capture the child beyond the LCD.
“Wouldn’t that be more beneficial to the world?”
Click. The sound of a button being pressed was heard. A massive vibration was transmitted to Iyeon.
“Huk!”
Iyeon’s eyes widened enormously. The excruciating pain that had nearly killed him long ago struck again.
“Ah, urk…!”
Taejin pinned down Iyeon’s trembling body. The power that had placed him at the highest position was rising again. A glimpse of ecstasy mixed into his consistently leisurely gaze.
He didn’t intend to kill him. Taejin was skilled at extracting from humans. The harvested gi-ryeok recovers with time. Jung Iyeon himself was no different from a semi-permanent charger.
Back then, he had let him go out of ignorance, but he wouldn’t make such a stupid mistake twice. Eyes tainted with greed watched the young man who could barely breathe properly. Soon he too would accept it. The fact that he would have to remain in Taejin’s shadow for life.
Well, the things Taejin created were advanced items regardless of his intentions, and Iyeon wanted a better world, so this path wouldn’t be bad either.
[Found it.]
It was then that a cheerful mechanical sound rang out.
