# Chapter 35
“Gasp.”
Before he could even take a deep breath, the desk fell over with a huge bang. A moment of silence flowed between Iyeon, who was crouching, and the security guards.
Iyeon showed a harmless smile.
“Wow, you’re talented at hide-and-seek.”
– Hyung…
At the same time as Hyegang’s plaintive voice, the guards’ legs were pulled back as if kicking a ball. I’m screwed. That was the moment Iyeon thought.
Boom.
Blue lightning struck down around Iyeon who was sitting. The sparks crackling and jumping were vivid.
While the guards hesitated in surprise, Mungchi rushed in. Every time it dropped a small lightning bolt, its all-black body glowed blue in patches. Each time its fur stood slightly on end, a faint light rippled with it.
The deeply wrinkled bridge of its nose looked reliable. As Iyeon watched Mungchi’s activities with satisfaction, he caught sight of Dr. Kim quietly slipping out of the laboratory.
Can’t let that slide.
“Mungchi, can you handle this alone?”
Mungchi responded bravely. As soon as he heard the dependable howl, Iyeon ran straight ahead. After dodging the security guards who were wriggling toward him, he immediately shouted to Hyegang as he exited the laboratory.
“Can you check the cameras to see where Kim Cheoljae is?”
– Okay.
After that, he just had to run down the corridors according to the guidance voice Hyegang was providing. The research facility’s corridors were like a very complex maze, but if you knew the way, it wasn’t a big problem.
– Ah, why is the structure like this?
“What’s wrong?”
– No, I can’t tell if this is a hidden room or a laboratory or just an empty space or what.
It was understandable to be confused when all the doors were hidden.
“Think we’ll lose him?”
– Kim Cheoljae is still in the corridor, so no problem.
Iyeon quickened his pace. He had to catch the doctor before losing him completely.
Thanks to the immediate pursuit, Dr. Kim couldn’t go far. Iyeon soon discovered the edge of a white coat disappearing around a corner. That’s how people who spend their whole lives sitting in chairs doing research are. Iyeon, already half out of breath just from this bit of running, criticized someone else while gasping.
– Hyung, are you okay?
“No, I’m not…”
Unlike the early stage when he was easily found, the game of tag with Dr. Kim, who had seemed within easy reach, wasn’t as simple as expected. The back of his head running through the winding paths appeared briefly before quickly disappearing beyond corners, and no matter how good a navigator Lee Hyegang was, they couldn’t completely match the pace of someone who moved around like his own home.
The biggest reason was that Iyeon’s stamina was so poor that his running speed was similar to that of a 49-year-old. His stamina was nearly at its limit. It felt like oxygen wasn’t circulating to his brain… After thinking numbly, Iyeon snapped back to awareness. In this situation, forceful suppression was needed.
Iyeon, having checked the map, squeezed out his last strength to increase his speed. He heard something go thump up ahead. This bastard. I won’t let you get away. As Iyeon gasped for breath and turned the corner, he saw Dr. Kim standing at a dead end.
“What? Why is there a wall here…”
“Don’t move.”
As Iyeon approached Dr. Kim, he could see him pulling something out from around his waist. It was a dagger with a sharply ground blade.
Iyeon, noticing the faint stains on the blade, slyly hid both hands behind his back. In his fidgeting hands, a pen was already clutched. Iyeon spoke, pretending to be relaxed.
“So it was you, Dr. Kim Cheoljae, who stabbed Jaekyung-ssi.”
“Dang Jaekyung was really in the way.”
Dr. Kim sneered.
“I should have just killed him yesterday.”
Talking about killing someone every ten minutes—what a bleak life.
Judging by his grip, Dr. Kim didn’t seem particularly familiar with knives, but a weapon wielded recklessly was the most dangerous. Iyeon and Dr. Kim stood momentarily facing each other.
“I wish you’d just surrender.”
Iyeon, stepping back half a step for every half step Dr. Kim took forward, continued the conversation. It took time to draw without letting Dr. Kim notice. The pen slowly glided over his arm.
“Surrender?”
Dr. Kim snorted.
“You probably believe you’re doing something righteous right now.”
“…”
“But I swear, I’m right. This is all for the advancement of humanity.”
In the eyes of Dr. Kim, who spoke like that, there was even a hint of slight madness. They were eyes Iyeon had seen a very long time ago.
“When I was young, there was someone who said similar things to Dr. Kim Cheoljae-ssi.”
Someone who had no qualms about sacrificing others for what they wanted to do. Someone blinded by their goals and not looking around them. Someone who packaged their distorted way of thinking as a life truth.
“If it’s such a great thing to do, you should do it yourself.”
There were really many people in the world who talked nonsense.
“Dr. Kim Cheoljae. You said humans grow through greed.”
Iyeon smirked.
“Can you see whether you’re growing or not when you’re blind?”
“Who are you to lecture me…!”
Dr. Kim, with a distorted brow, took another half step forward. This time, Iyeon didn’t avoid it. He released his hands from behind his back and smiled brightly. Then he swung his arm wide.
In his hand was something like a small stick. Click. There was a sound of pressing something.
Bang!
Dr. Kim closed his eyes tightly and hunched his body. But he didn’t feel anything.
That was natural. Nothing was fired with the loud discharge sound.
“Huh?”
Iyeon looked alternately at the misfired stick and Dr. Kim in confusion.
– What is that thing?
“A net gun.”
– Isn’t that a steel wool scrubber?
“It’s a net gun!”
The confidence with which he thought a drawing made without looking would be decent when he couldn’t draw properly even while looking was remarkable. Dr. Kim’s eyes narrowed as he watched Iyeon, who was shouting as if wronged.
“You.”
“Youuu? Why do you keep speaking informally to me?”
Having failed his decisive attack, Iyeon, unable to bear the embarrassment, responded more sensitively than usual.
“So you have a materialization ability.”
Dr. Kim’s gaze fixed on Iyeon’s arm. The strangely glistening eyes were scanning the pen marks left on his arm.
“That’s quite rare.”
“Superpowered individuals are inherently rare.”
“An interesting coincidence.”
Dr. Kim was just saying what he wanted to say, regardless of whether the other person was speaking or not. Jaekyung was like this, Dr. Kim was like this—all researchers seemed to be the same.
“Morpho would like it.”
“Morpho?”
Iyeon asked about the unfamiliar word, but again, he didn’t answer. It was an amazing one-way communication.
After talking incomprehensibly for a while, Dr. Kim suddenly withdrew his knife.
“This much of a harvest is fine.”
What is he planning? As Iyeon stepped back half a step, raising his guard, Hyegang suddenly muttered.
– Huh? Hyung, don’t step back anymore.
“What?”
– Wait, what is that? The empty space next to…
Before Hyegang could finish speaking, Dr. Kim moved. He suddenly charged to the side and stamped his ID badge against the wall, and the wall flipped around.
– …It’s a hidden room. Ah, the structure here is really crappy.
There was no time to comfort Hyegang who continued with his glumness. Iyeon followed Dr. Kim into the room. The room wasn’t large, and there weren’t many pieces of furniture. A single-person sofa and a side table.
And a portal.
Iyeon’s gaze swept over Dr. Kim, who was quickly running toward the portal.
Since the room was very small, it didn’t take long to catch up to Dr. Kim. As the distance narrowed in one breath, Dr. Kim’s expression crumpled.
“So persistent!”
“No, you should explain before leaving. Why are you making people curious?”
– Sano-hyung is heading there now. He’ll be there in a moment.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to wait for him calmly. Iyeon rushed toward the doctor who was about to jump onto the portal without thinking. The doctor, with his eyes half-crazed, gripped the knife again. There was brute strength in his arm as he swung it wildly.
“Get out of my way!”
The chilling blade, swinging randomly, at some point dug in at a clear angle. This could be dangerous. As Iyeon slightly furrowed his brow, his focus momentarily shifted to the background behind Dr. Kim. Discovering the floor that was slightly undulating was an almost superhuman intuition.
Below the blade flying toward his stomach, he saw spikes bursting out of the floor with enough force to pierce through Dr. Kim’s body.
“Don’t kill him!”
In the instant when the spikes hesitated unconsciously at the shouted exclamation, a burning sensation pooled in his side. After all these years, now I’m getting stabbed too… Even while thinking such a nonchalant thought, his body was honest enough that he couldn’t even scream.
Still, this was not a bad trade. Iyeon, who had caught the owner of the knife that had been harshly thrust in, smiled faintly.
“Got you.”
– Hyung!
The next moment, the doctor kicked Iyeon. What supported Iyeon as he staggered and was about to fall backward was a solid chest. The owner of the thick arm that gripped his staggering shoulder put his hand on the knife handle, and the metal embedded in his stomach flowed out like water and blocked the wounded area. Only then did Iyeon take a deep breath.
Sano rolled his eyes to look at the doctor boarding the portal. His face, shadowed by his bangs, didn’t clearly show what expression he was making. Just as a blue light was about to ripple around his irises—
“Let him go.”
At the weak murmur, Sano looked down at Iyeon again. His eyes, which didn’t rise in temperature, were glowing blue. By now, that level of glare didn’t even itch.
“It hurts.”
Iyeon murmured calmly. The feeling of something gushing from his stomach was unpleasant. Sano, frowning, tore Iyeon’s clothes as he pleased to cover and secure the metal pieces blocking the wound.
Though the clothes were loose enough that a small tear wouldn’t be very noticeable, it wasn’t a sophisticated alteration that would allow them to be worn again. I’ve only worn these a few times. Even in the midst of it all, such grumbling only earned him a curse to shut up.
“Is it all over?”
Sano’s face crumpled a bit more at the calm question.
“You really act up at every opportunity.”
At the cold rebuke, Iyeon smiled slightly and raised his hand. The feather that had been attached to the hot pink fishing rod had disappeared at some point.
“Even with this?”
