# Chapter 30
“Who are you?”
These days, I get my life threatened so often that I don’t even feel a sense of crisis anymore. Iyeon grumbled internally but obediently raised both hands. It wasn’t that he had any particular intention; it’s just that when someone puts a knife to your throat, you naturally become compliant. The blade against his neck felt exceptionally cold.
The thug who had suddenly kidnapped and threatened someone in the corridor was behind him, making it impossible to see their appearance. Was it someone from the club? Since he couldn’t tell whether they were friend or foe, it was awkward to speak hastily. Rolling his eyes, Iyeon carefully answered.
“…A guest here?”
– Is that the best you can do?
Along with Hyegang’s sigh, the knife-wielding hand became even sharper in its movements. Apparently, that wasn’t a good answer.
“What business do you have here?”
“Hey, wouldn’t it be better to talk after putting that knife down?”
There was a slight stinging sensation around his neck, suggesting a cut had already been made. This might really be dangerous. Iyeon clicked his tongue and assessed the situation.
Currently, Iyeon was being held from behind, facing a wall. Naturally, he couldn’t see anything except the white wall, and Hyegang, sharing his view through the goggles, was in the same position. Sano and Mungchi were in the hall, so there was no one who could influence this situation. Iyeon slowly closed and opened his eyes.
In that case…
Kiiiing…
…No, he wasn’t planning to employ such a ridiculous sympathy-inducing strategy.
“What the?”
I-I didn’t say that. Even in that moment, Iyeon, feeling wronged, was about to open his mouth to explain when a bewildered voice came from the thug behind him who had been acting aggressively.
“Oh, where did you…”
The cool-toned voice reached them simultaneously.
“Let go.”
At the same time, with a thud and pitter-patter sounds, the pressure threatening his neck completely disappeared.
“You said you were just going to talk.”
The thug seemed dumbfounded by the bizarre phenomenon of a perfectly fine blade suddenly disintegrating into sand-sized pieces and scattering. Thanks to this, the newly freed Iyeon slowly turned his head. It was obvious who had done this without even looking.
He can’t stay put for even 5 minutes when told to.
“Study Korean again.”
Je Sano, with his arms crossed, was staring at Iyeon with an ominous gaze. Beside him, Mungchi, the source of the crying sound, came walking out with soft steps.
“How did you get here?”
He hadn’t come through the normal door, yet he’d managed to find them. To Iyeon’s question, Sano replied indifferently:
“What do you think these walls are made of?”
The more I see it, the more convenient that ability is. I wish I had an ability like that too. After looking with envious eyes, Iyeon soon checked the identity of the thug. Surprisingly, it was a face he’d seen before.
“Wait, it’s the park-fainting guy!”
I saved your life, and you threaten me with a knife—this is why doing good deeds is pointless.
“Is your stomach okay?”
“What about my stomach… Oh, you…”
The park guy also seemed to remember Iyeon’s voice despite having been on the verge of death. His flashy impression softened a bit as his eyes widened.
“Thanks for this morning.”
“Well, it wasn’t much.”
With the sudden change to a friendly greeting atmosphere, only Sano was left out.
“What’s going on?”
When Iyeon briefly explained the morning’s incident, Sano’s eyebrows raised crookedly.
“So you were having a good time without eating breakfast.”
“No, I did eat…”
And as soon as he got home, a lavish breakfast was waiting, so he feasted again today. Unlike Iyeon’s breakfast duty, which mainly involved quick fixes like cereal, Sano strictly maintained a luxurious diet.
No wonder he had an unpleasant expression while eating breakfast; he must have thought I’d run away. As if I would run away when he consistently provides meals… Though Iyeon grumbled glumly, Sano still didn’t seem to be in a better mood.
“I didn’t know you enjoyed morning exercise.”
It was an ominous resonance. Iyeon became serious.
“No, absolutely not. Today was just an impulse. I went out on impulse, and what happened? I saw a sea of blood. I regretted it immediately. I won’t do it again.”
The park guy quietly muttered, “It wasn’t exactly a sea of blood,” at the stream of excuses, but no one paid attention.
“You need exercise. Being nothing but bones and skin is close to being a future corpse.”
“Apologize to all the skinny people in the country. This is just my body type, you know?”
“Skipping breakfast, not exercising. I wouldn’t be surprised if you collapsed anytime.”
“Hyegang, tell him how much I eat.”
– Sano hyung. Iyeon hyung eats a ton. He’s a total pig.
Iyeon flared up.
“Hey, isn’t that too harsh?”
– You told me to tell him?
“Don’t disrespect pigs. Their body fat percentage is lower than humans’.”
“Excuse me…”
The park guy raised his hand to interrupt the nutritionally deficient conversation and opened his mouth hesitantly.
“Who are you people?”
The three people and one creature had a brief self-introduction session. The park guy’s name was Dang Jaekyung. He was a temporary employee at this club, and the place they were in was where Jaekyung had worked.
The reason for the past tense was because he had been fired from the club yesterday.
“Yesterday?”
This meant that Jaekyung was already unemployed when Iyeon rescued him.
“Yeah. To be precise, early this morning?”
Despite the inappropriate situation, Jaekyung laughed lightly. His first interest was Mungchi.
“Who’s this? A mutant?”
“Yes. This is Mungchi.”
“Really? What species is it?”
“Well… I’m not really sure about that.”
Iyeon tried to brush it off as he had done with the club man and Subin, but Jaekyung wasn’t so easily fooled.
“I’ve never seen a mutant like this. What is it?”
“It’s not like you know every mutant, Jaekyung-ssi.”
“I might not know all of them, but I know most. Especially the lower-grade mutants that might come and go here, I know almost all of them.”
Jaekyung smiled confidently.
“I was one of the ‘education’ managers, after all.”
Dang Jaekyung had been part of this club’s core personnel.
Or more accurately, something like an assistant to the core personnel. Jaekyung, who had graduated with a degree in mutant studies, had been wandering around unable to find employment at a suitable research institute. Although he was overflowing with talent, there was no place that matched his ideals.
Current mutant research primarily revolved around analyzing mutant structures. For example, the weaknesses of specific mutants or strategies to combat them.
The reason was simple. All research was focused on how to eliminate mutants.
For humanity, the mutant situation was considered a kind of disaster. A disaster that might never end.
Although nowadays, thanks to advances in mutant research, medium to low-grade mutants without hostility are often captured rather than killed, in the first generation of superhumans when Choi Heewon and others were active, they killed every mutant they saw. As society stabilized, hostility toward mutants decreased—that’s why places like this club could flourish—but there were still many who remembered the earlier times.
In reality, the danger of mutants was the same then as now.
Since mutant research itself was still incomplete, the government couldn’t properly support mutant-friendly policies.
But sadly, that was exactly what Jaekyung wanted.
Beyond simply observing and experimenting on them, he wanted to know what mutants ate, how they lived, how they came into existence. What they liked, what they disliked, whether mutants had psychology, whether they formed intimate relationships with other mutants, whether they formed families, and so on.
Simply put, he was a mutant otaku.
“You like mutants?”
Iyeon responded with skepticism, glancing at Sano, whose job was fighting mutants on the front lines. Sano didn’t even react, as if he didn’t find it funny at all.
“Mutants don’t eat food, nor do they breathe air. Earth’s environment means nothing to them. How can that be? Aren’t you curious?”
Not really.
“They literally appeared out of nowhere. We don’t even know where they came from. And isn’t it fascinating that they share similarities with Earth animals?”
Like typical otakus, Jaekyung continued to list his thoughts regardless of the other person’s reaction. Ah, yes… Iyeon half-heartedly agreed while contemplating when would be the appropriate time to say goodbye and leave, when Hyegang’s communication came through with perfect timing.
– Hyung. I can’t help you.
“Huh?”
– The research database there doesn’t show anything. It seems they’re only using an internal intranet.
“Intranet?”
Whether Iyeon was talking with Hyegang or not, Jaekyung was too busy continuing his mutant chatter by himself to notice.
– Yeah. I can’t pick up any communication lines from there.
Come to think of it, he had said something similar earlier. Iyeon, a computer illiterate, belatedly understood the meaning.
“Jaekyung-ssi, is wireless communication not working here?”
When Iyeon asked in surprise, Jaekyung, who had still been talking enthusiastically about something, finally emerged from his own world.
“Oh, how did you know about that?”
It seemed the club owner was most wary of hacking by others. They wouldn’t have expected us to have a killer hacker, but things have become troublesome.
– Isn’t there a computer there?
The interior of where they were looked like an ordinary office. A desk and computer, a small drawer, and neatly stacked files. Iyeon immediately approached the computer. He only knew basic operations when it came to computers, but he could follow Hyegang’s instructions.
“What do I need to do?”
– Connect your goggles to it.
“Huh? How?”
– There’s a connection jack that comes out when you press the side of your goggles.
In… my goggles? This was the first time he’d heard of this function.
– Once connected to the internal computer, extracting information will be a piece of cake.
Listening to Hyegang’s strangely chilling voice, Iyeon muttered glumly.
“Hmm… But why didn’t I know my goggles had something like this?”
– Because that function is for me.
I see. Iyeon obediently performed his duty as a walking goggles stand.
