# Chapter 143
Taejin, with his eyes hardened, looked around. Semi was still collapsed, and Iyeon was groaning in pain, so there shouldn’t be anyone else making sounds in this space besides Taejin. The voice he heard was a little girl’s, so it wasn’t Sano either.
While Taejin was bewildered, the cheerful voice continued.
[The wall is particularly thin in this area. I suspect it’s not a wall but a hidden door.]
“…!”
Only then did Taejin notice where the voice was coming from. When he quickly turned his body, he saw a small ball of fur standing in the corner next to the large monitor.
It was the doll Iyeon had been carrying all along.
[As I don’t know the normal opening method, I’ll force my way through. I apologize in advance for the property damage.]
A bright red light circled in the doll’s glossy eyes. Zzzzing. A red line was drawn following the slight movement. It was a laser.
“Where do you think…”
Clicking his tongue, Taejin approached ChilChil. White sand gathered between his brisk footsteps. A dark shadow fell over ChilChil. Taejin created a rock mass large enough to crush the small cotton doll in an instant and immediately dropped it.
[Huh?]
ChilChil looked up at the suddenly darkened view. This caused the laser to be misdirected, striking the rock, but it couldn’t destroy it completely. The stone chunks, smaller than before but still large, poured down on the doll. A small cloud of dust rose.
After that, silence.
“What a cute struggle.”
Taejin lightly sneered in front of the pile of stones. And the moment he turned around to check on Iyeon’s condition—
“He’s a cute friend.”
A wrecking ball flew in from the side and sent Taejin flying.
Crash! With no time to defend himself, Taejin’s body tumbled far away. He tried to get up quickly, but the impact, delivered without any cushioning like being hit by a moving car, dominated his body. The researcher, who had avoided exercise all his life, could only tremble in his limbs, unable to compose himself easily.
Iyeon walked steadily toward him.
Neither fast nor slow, his steps clearly expressed his presence. Taejin wriggled to escape from Iyeon but couldn’t make any meaningful movement.
“See, I told you I’m not the only one who gets hit by unexpected situations.”
Iyeon, muttering to no one in particular, wasn’t in great shape either. His slightly pale face was dotted with sweat.
“G-get away.”
An irritable outburst was scattered. It seemed Taejin had also realized why Iyeon was approaching. White sand flowing from around Taejin’s body transformed into a thick wall surrounding him, but soon turned back into sand. This wasn’t Taejin’s doing. The incomprehensible phenomenon rendered him helpless. The man only uttered fragmented words incoherently.
“It’s mine. You can’t use it properly.”
White sand seeped between Taejin’s fingers as he clutched his wrist. The bracelet wrapped around the forcibly torn skin and the jewels embedded in it were visible.
“How is it yours, uncle?”
Sand that sprang from the ground changed into sharp forms and rushed toward Taejin’s arm.
Clang!
It was an attack precisely aimed at the jewels attached to the bracelet. The jewels that had been shining like glass beads shattered into pieces, with the debris scattered on the floor. Taejin’s gaze became vacant as he looked at the now useless fragments. Iyeon, who had been staring at him blankly, muttered.
“It’s mine.”
While Taejin was dealing with ChilChil, Iyeon had stretched out his hand to use his ability despite the pain piercing his entire body. His mind was foggy due to the terrifyingly draining gi-ryeok. With his barely raised hand, Iyeon gathered his fingers as if making a fist.
A moment ago, when Iyeon was attacking recklessly out of anger, the sand that had been swirling protectively around Taejin rippled very slightly according to Iyeon’s emotions. At first, he thought it was an illusion, but the feeling was unmistakably familiar. Soon, a plausible hypothesis was formed.
He didn’t need to use more of his ability to destroy this machine. These machines pressuring Iyeon were created by Taejin using the materialization ability.
This ability originally belonged to Iyeon.
So he just needed to eliminate it again.
His back was already soaked with cold sweat. Though his limbs had no strength at all, paradoxically, he couldn’t be more energetic in this situation. As time passed, his gi-ryeok would continue to be stolen, and Iyeon’s strength would gradually diminish.
It felt like an eternity was passing. The cloth tightly wrapping his arm crumbled with a crisp sound. A few grains of sand fell off and scattered in the air. Even with just a small amount of damage, the machine couldn’t perform its function.
The gi-ryeok, long separated from his body, finally recognized its true owner. After that, it was as easy as eating cold porridge.
The gi-ryeok processing machine soon turned completely into sand and disappeared. Taejin didn’t even realize that things that weren’t his abilities were vanishing. Iyeon picked up his fallen goggles from the empty space and raised his head.
He saw Taejin in the distance, dropping rocks on ChilChil.
“This is the end then.”
Iyeon glanced at Taejin, who was trembling like a dying beast. The man, hunched over with bent legs, was smaller than he’d expected. A complex mix of emotions swirled momentarily in Iyeon’s light-colored eyes.
But Iyeon closed his eyes once, opened them, and turned his body. Towards the partially destroyed wall and the pile of stones in front of it.
“ChilChil-ssi!”
Iyeon almost collapsed as he rushed forward urgently. Barely maintaining his balance, he released his ability, causing the heavy rocks to shatter and fly away. Inside, a pink fur ball, deformed in an ugly way, was visible. Iyeon quickly picked him up. The once snowy pink fur was now dirty with dust.
“ChilChil-ssi, are you okay?”
When Iyeon was approaching Taejin, ChilChil, who had been quietly held in his hand, tapped Iyeon’s wrist. There must have been a reason why he expressed his presence through action rather than words. Iyeon deliberately didn’t look at ChilChil.
And before sitting on the examination table, he cleverly dropped ChilChil under it. Excited at the thought of extracting Iyeon’s gi-ryeok, Taejin didn’t notice the small doll passing beneath his feet.
ChilChil is a robot with search functionality. Although he couldn’t find Mirae, he could analyze the surrounding structure with his built-in radar.
For instance, a hidden room.
[I’m alright. However, there seems to be some damage to my communication function. Repair is needed.]
“I’ll take you to D.S-ssi later. She’ll fix you right away.”
Fortunately, ChilChil seemed fine. Iyeon let out a sigh of relief and looked at the door that ChilChil had partially destroyed. ChilChil’s eyes glowed red again.
Zzzzing. The red line that had been left unfinished continued. It didn’t take long to create a hole big enough for a person to enter. Iyeon pushed the debris away with his foot and crossed the wall without hesitation.
All sorts of bizarre machines, monitors, and research materials piled up inside the secret space.
And a child sitting in a large chair.
Iyeon’s footsteps gradually quickened. Even though he was panting due to the depleted gi-ryeok that had ebbed away like the tide, he didn’t slow down. He forcibly moved his weakening feet. The path toward his small, brave friend quickly reached its destination.
“Mirae!”
Taejin’s methods hadn’t changed at all from ten years ago.
He always keeps his hostages nearby. Then, and now.
“Mirae, are you okay?”
Iyeon, who had rushed over frantically, gently grabbed Mirae’s shoulders and shook her. Up close, it was clear that the area around Mirae’s eyes was swollen. Since when, and for how long… Iyeon gritted his teeth.
It would be troublesome for Jinwon if Mirae died during the experiment. Since he had brought her to the main house under the pretext of protecting the child, it would mean he failed to fulfill his role. So Mirae’s life probably wasn’t in danger. That was the only fortunate aspect in this horrific situation.
But it wouldn’t have been easy for a young child to endure. Between the tied leather straps, reddened and swollen skin was visible. The fingernail marks visible between loose clothes in his memory flashed by like an overlap. Iyeon, his expression suddenly contorted, placed his hand on the straps, and white sand gathered. The sharp blade easily cut through the leather straps. Iyeon carefully picked up the small body that was sliding off the chair due to lack of strength to support itself.
“Mirae.”
There didn’t seem to be any major external injuries. But since Taejin’s experiments involved tampering with gi-ryeok, a state of gi-ryeok exhaustion was entirely possible. Especially if the purpose was to turn a superhuman into a non-superhuman.
Either way, it was best to go to the hospital first. Iyeon adjusted his hold on Mirae and left the secret space. ChilChil toddled after them.
