# Chapter 147
“…Shut up.”
Amidst the quiet air, a voice crawled out, choked with rage.
“What insolent nonsense… I’m the researcher who created superhumans! More magnificent and accomplished than anyone, on a completely different level from trash like you…! Without me, you would have ended up as nothing but garbage! What right does an ungrateful worm like you have to speak?”
Taejin’s voice grew progressively louder. Everything Sano was saying was utter nonsense. The very fact that Je Sano was active as a hunter was undeniable proof of his research.
But those eyes, believing his own words were truth, were irritating. The ignorance that confidently displayed such wrong thinking was disgusting. This thought fueled Taejin’s anger. How dare you, how dare you. How dare you of all people…!
What cut off his scream was a small laugh.
“You.”
Sano looked at Taejin with a faint sneer. His face genuinely showed amusement.
“Actually, you wanted to become a butterfly yourself.”
The shouting stopped abruptly. The eyes glaring fiercely at Sano were now bloodshot.
“But you didn’t have the confidence to metamorphose.”
Iyeon could be felt watching Taejin with a surprised face. The gaze sticking to his cheek was revolting. Taejin twisted his face like a demon.
“Someone else was the disqualified one.”
As Sano muttered without erasing his sneer, Taejin couldn’t contain his anger and lunged forward.
“You bastard…!”
The man, his face fully revealing raw emotion, charged toward Sano. His tightly clenched fist was caked with filthy psychology.
But Sano was far too strong an opponent for an ordinary adult man to dare confront. There was no way he would show mercy now. It didn’t even take a few seconds for Taejin to be slammed down.
The recklessly charging body flew away at once. A strong impact sound of skin hitting the floor echoed inside. Iyeon unconsciously winced.
The body that twitched a few times soon went limp. Steel cables wound tightly around that body. It was an anticlimactically simple conclusion.
“Are you going to kill him?”
After silently observing for a while, Iyeon asked. Sano’s gaze immediately turned to Iyeon.
“I wonder.”
For a long time, Sano had wandered searching for Taejin, vowing to kill him immediately upon meeting him. There were many reasons to kill him. It was rather difficult to find reasons not to kill him. Most of his days since the laboratory’s collapse had been spent with murderous intent toward him. At some point, he stopped thinking about the reason. It felt as natural as the moon rising when the sun sets.
But deciding not to do so was…
“…Why.”
At the pointed stare, Iyeon awkwardly scratched his cheek. He couldn’t forget Sano’s appearance from just moments ago.
The emotion Sano had so vehemently denied until now reached Iyeon in a form impossible to avoid. Being drawn to a sun that shined brilliantly alone was close to instinct.
The face shining with conviction sparkled brightly. It was a radiance that only someone who had built their own life could possess. The upright posture and resolute voice. It was impossible not to love such things.
In a way, not liking Je Sano was an impossible proposition.
“Your face is pale.”
Suddenly, Sano reached out and brushed Iyeon’s forehead. Startled by the unexpected contact, Iyeon opened his eyes wide and shrank back.
“What, what? Me?”
At the idiotic response, Sano raised an eyebrow askew. Iyeon rambled before even noticing the clear expression on Sano’s face that seemed to wonder what nonsense this was.
“Ah, this… Maybe it’s because I fought with my uncle earlier. My uncle had a superpower bracelet that used my gi-ryeok. So while dealing with that, he took Mirae hostage. I had to play along since rescuing Mirae was the priority. ChilChil-ssi suddenly pulled at my clothes, so when I sat on the examination table, I slipped ChilChil-ssi onto the floor…”
“Examination table?”
Pinpointing the core issue among the numerous nonsensical remarks, Sano furrowed his brow.
“Did you get on an examination table?”
“Huh? Oh, well, I did get on it but it’s nothing to worry about. Just giving some gi-ryeok to buy time.”
“You voluntarily got on an examination table?”
His voice turned fierce in an instant. With a face much angrier than when confronting Taejin earlier, he growled savagely.
“Your hair has turned into that mess, and you still haven’t come to your senses?”
“That’s… but it was the best option at the time.”
At that time, not knowing Semi had prepared a plan in advance, finding and rescuing Mirae as quickly as possible was the priority. Iyeon needed to distract Taejin so ChilChil could move, right? Above all, it was a method that effectively worked on Taejin, and it turned out well in the end… Sano glared irritably at the head muttering such excuses. With a low growl between his teeth, his green eyes blazed fiercely.
BOOM!
“Huh.”
At the sudden shaking of the ground, Iyeon stopped his excuses and looked around. The weak earthquake soon stopped, but it helped bring awareness to the situation. In the corner of his vision, he saw a small body gasping for breath.
There was one more person who still had something to say.
“Lee Semi-ssi.”
Semi didn’t answer the quiet call, but she surely heard it clearly. The thorn embedded in Semi’s shoulder was still firmly in place. Iyeon tapped Sano’s arm and gave him a meaningful look. Sano turned his head sullenly, like a stubborn child.
“No.”
“She can’t fight anymore anyway. It’s dangerous to leave her like that.”
“…”
“I have something to say to her. It’s not right to leave her in that state.”
It was nearly impossible for the injured Semi to confront Sano and Iyeon and leave this place with Taejin. Semi must know that fact better than anyone.
“Look who’s being the saint.”
Though Sano sneered, he ultimately did as Iyeon asked. Just as when Iyeon had been stabbed by a knife before, the thorn flowed like water to seal the wound.
As Iyeon approached, a fierce voice burst out from Semi, who was lying on her side with her back turned.
“Go away.”
Of course, if Iyeon had listened to that, he wouldn’t be Iyeon. Steadily walking over, he crouched down beside Semi.
“Mirae escaped.”
“…”
“What were you planning to do if we hadn’t come?”
For whatever reason, Semi had deceived Taejin’s eyes and protected Mirae. However, although she might have been able to delay the experiment for a while, she couldn’t do so forever. At that question, Semi seemed to be silent for a moment, then answered curtly.
“I don’t know.”
Semi’s actions had always gone this way since meeting Mirae.
“I didn’t think about it.”
Even as she was doing it, she couldn’t understand why she was behaving this way. While clearly knowing she should chase away the impudent kid immediately, her reason always lost. Mirae was different from Taejin and Seeun. Without logic, stubborn, disobedient.
But even as she felt annoyed, she would somehow find herself sitting next to Mirae.
The time simply wasn’t unbearable. That was all.
Seeun was quite perceptive. The sisters who shared a room would occasionally chat before falling asleep, and she uncannily noticed that the atmosphere around her only blood relative had changed a little.
‘Your face looks brighter these days?’
Unlike Semi, who had talent in research and shared a lab with Taejin, Seeun had no interest in such places. Without interest, she rarely came down to the basement. That’s why, despite Mirae frequenting the place so persistently, she never crossed paths with Seeun.
Semi smiled slightly at the playful question. The twins originally had no secrets. In their world, there were only the two of them. Although they suddenly gained a father named Taejin, the fundamental proposition hadn’t changed.
‘Do you know a little kid comes to play in the lab?’
However, Semi would come to regret this moment deeply.
‘A little kid? From the annex?’
Mirae’s existence was famous enough for the twins, who were outsiders, to know about. A young child living in the annex, separated from her non-superhuman mother. It was an incredibly sensational story. At Seeun’s surprised question, Semi nodded. On her face was also a thin layer of superiority, as if she alone knew a secret.
After that, Semi occasionally told Seeun about Mirae. Stories she told Mirae, stories Mirae told her, conversations they had… As days passed, Seeun came to know Mirae well, as if she had met her directly.
Then Semi was captured.
During that time, Seeun had contacted Mirae.
When she escaped and returned to the lab, everything was already in progress. Taejin had approached Semi with a proposal to help him. She had known for a while that he was preparing an experiment similar to what he had done with Seeun. However, she didn’t know exactly who the subject would be.
The test subject Taejin revealed was a kid Semi knew very well.
Until then, she had no intention of interfering with the experiment. To Semi, Taejin was a mentor. Though he had unethical aspects, Semi wasn’t a law-abiding citizen either, so it didn’t matter much. She thought he was a great person, someone worthy of respect. She also believed the experiment was a necessary process. Semi barely managed to agree while hiding her strangely pounding heart, and began preparing the experiment with Taejin.
‘Are you okay?’
So she could respond simply to Seeun who asked like that.
‘I’m fine.’
