# Chapter 98
It was like a warzone afterward. The building transmitted vibrations with every rumble, and cracked walls and ceilings swayed precariously. Just maintaining balance while running was exhausting.
The two of them nearly fell several times but managed to keep their footing by the narrowest margin. The building was definitely about to collapse. That was obvious enough to feel. Their survival instincts squeezed out every last drop of strength.
Just as they rounded the first corner, part of the ceiling crashed down. Jeongyeon almost got hit in the head by the falling debris.
“Lee Jeongyeon!”
“Don’t look back, just run!”
When the startled Sano turned to look, Jeongyeon shouted angrily. His split-second judgment to activate his ability to deflect the debris was almost pure survival instinct. He was covered in dust, but uninjured. Their footsteps became even more urgent.
And as he turned his body to round the second corner…
‘Huh?’
Jeongyeon blinked. Just now, just now…
He thought he saw his parents running into the interior corridor from the opposite hallway.
He’d only caught a glimpse, so he couldn’t be sure. Perhaps it was just Jeongyeon’s imagination. In fact, considering the possibilities, that seemed infinitely more likely. His parents should have already gone down the mountain in the car; how could they be inside the research facility? It was an absurd delusion.
Despite thinking this, Jeongyeon unconsciously looked back.
‘But what if…’
What if it was real? A thread of possibility made him hesitate. This hesitation transferred directly to his running, and his speed gradually decreased.
If they left the research facility now, they wouldn’t be able to get back in. Even now, various hallways were being blocked by collapsed debris.
What if his parents realized that the Jeongyeon who rode in the car with them wasn’t the real one? What if they came back to the facility knowing he had stayed behind? …What if they were looking for him?
“…No.”
His whispered groan was almost inaudible beneath the thunderous noise.
Jeongyeon looked at the back that was already several steps ahead while he had momentarily slowed down. Sano was running without looking back, just as Jeongyeon had told him. The entrance was just ahead. There would be no problem for Sano to escape safely without Jeongyeon.
His round eyes, which had been wavering in confusion, squeezed shut. This wasn’t something he could just ignore and think optimistically about. There was no choice here.
The boy spun around in one breath and ran in the opposite direction.
Navigating around the more than half-collapsed walls and floors took much more effort than moving forward. At the intersection where he thought he’d seen his parents, Jeongyeon looked around anxiously.
Where did they go? Nervously biting his lip, he dashed into the corridor. He ran for quite some time in the direction he’d glimpsed his parents, but couldn’t find them.
Maybe I really did see wrong.
That hope quietly bloomed. Yes. He could just turn back and follow Sano outside… As Jeongyeon was about to turn around with a slightly brightened face, his eyes caught the entrance to a certain room.
Unlike the research labs that typically had single doors, this one had double doors. The doors weren’t open, but like everything else, they were breaking apart with cracks and falling fragments, allowing a partial view inside.
Through the gaps, he could see Taejin’s back, carefully examining several large monitors.
‘Why, why didn’t he leave?’
The research facility was collapsing, and surely he didn’t intend to be buried alive. A bewildered Jeongyeon hesitated, unable to move easily.
That’s when it happened. Taejin suddenly turned around, and their eyes met directly.
As if he had known Jeongyeon was there, he smiled and beckoned him to come over.
“…”
Watching Taejin with uneasy eyes, Jeongyeon slowly approached him. When he reached the door, it creaked open slightly. Perhaps debris had caught in the door as it broke, because it didn’t open fully.
Since the width was enough for a small boy to pass through, Jeongyeon was able to enter the room without difficulty.
The room was in better condition than he’d expected. There were cracks here and there, and small fragments were falling, but it seemed there was some time before it would completely collapse.
“So you were here after all.”
At the casual tone, Jeongyeon asked warily.
“…You knew?”
“I had considered the possibility.”
The utterly calm voice, as if nothing was wrong, was rather chilling. Jeongyeon declared:
“…Sano already left. He’s already escaped.”
“Well, that’s fine.”
Taejin answered brightly, smiling widely.
“It’s you I want.”
“Do, do you think I’ll just do what you say?”
Jeongyeon shouted defiantly. As far as he knew, Taejin was a non-superhuman, and even if Jeongyeon was a small child, Taejin couldn’t force him to use his superpower.
“I thought you felt sorry for me.”
Taejin also knew this.
“Thanks to you, I’m going to get a serious scolding. Don’t you feel bad for me?”
“That doesn’t mean you can kill people!”
Even as Jeongyeon shouted fiercely, Taejin remained completely composed.
“Ah, our Jeongyeon. You’ve grown up well.”
As if he had something he could rely on.
“Then how about this?”
Taejin stepped back. On the monitor that had been hidden behind him, a video was displayed. Jeongyeon’s eyes widened.
His parents were in there.
The cracked floor, the messily scattered furniture, large concrete fragments… He could guarantee it was definitely inside the research facility.
What Jeongyeon had seen wasn’t an illusion.
“Where, where is that… Get them out quickly!”
Jeongyeon, who had turned pale, clung to Taejin. His parents seemed to be trapped in a room. They were also non-superhumans and didn’t know the layout of the facility. Jeongyeon knew painfully well that it would be difficult for them to escape such a place on their own.
“Quickly, please… Father is your older brother. Why, why are you trying to kill him?”
His voice immediately broke with tears. Taejin gently stroked the head of Jeongyeon, who was streaming with tears.
“I’m not killing him. Even I wouldn’t kill my brother.”
“Then quickly, somehow…”
“Do you know what this is?”
His uncle lightly pointed at something behind him. Jeongyeon’s eyes widened as he turned his gaze. It was a machine he had seen in textbooks.
A portal.
“That room actually connects to this room. That means your parents can come here.”
His tear-streaked eyes grew larger. If they just used the portal, then it would be fine. His parents could escape safely.
Yet Taejin just stood there smiling leisurely, not moving a single step. Why is he doing this? Just as Jeongyeon was about to open his mouth to say something, unable to contain himself—
“If Jeongyeon is good and does what I say, of course I’ll open it.”
“…What?”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you.”
The smile on Taejin’s face was exactly the same expression he wore when playing with Jeongyeon.
“I wouldn’t kill my cute nephew. Right?”
The man’s smiling face was reflected in Jeongyeon’s teary eyes. Jeongyeon couldn’t hide his wavering gaze and just stared at him blankly.
What Taejin was doing was something very familiar to Jeongyeon.
“Shh… It won’t take long.”
Gi-ryeok extraction.
But there was a slight difference. The cloth that normally wrapped only around his arms was now wrapped around his waist and thighs as well. Jeongyeon blankly watched Taejin as he laid him down on a bed brought from somewhere and busily connected various things.
“Mother and Father… You really have to help them escape safely.”
“Of course.”
The back that answered lightly soon finished all the preparations and straightened up. The calm face that turned around was so frightening that Jeongyeon couldn’t meet his eyes and looked away.
“It will hurt a bit, but you can endure that, right?”
“…What?”
Before he could even finish the final sound of that word, an excruciating pain shot through Jeongyeon’s entire body.
Jeongyeon’s eyes bulged as he writhed, unable to even make a sound. His limbs, firmly restrained to the bed, left him nowhere to escape. Though Taejin surely saw his silent screams, his smiling face didn’t change in the slightest.
Something that had been so abundantly present throughout his body that he hadn’t even felt its existence was rapidly being drained. His entire body lost strength as if he had caught a severe cold. It didn’t take long for his body, which had been struggling against the pain, to go limp.
The machine continuously sucked out his gi-ryeok. This was completely different from the previous extractions. It seemed determined to drain all the gi-ryeok Jeongyeon possessed. It was as if thunder was running through his blood, circulating throughout his body.
Cold sweat streamed down his body from the extreme pain he had never experienced before, quickly soaking him completely. His sweat-drenched hair became waterlogged and drooped, and tears flowed endlessly from the corners of his eyes. It was such a terrible sensation that he wondered if it wouldn’t be better to just die.
The color of Jeongyeon’s hair and eyes gradually, slowly faded. The pitch-black color changed to a lighter shade, as if the pigment was being washed out. Jeongyeon’s eyes rolled back from the continuous pain. His eyelids, which had been flickering as if about to go out due to the excessive release of gi-ryeok in such a short time, slowly closed.
“He’s still alive even after extracting this much?”
Taejin murmured in fascination as he looked at the monitor. Jeongyeon desperately twitched his immobile face.
“My parents…”
“I told you I would.”
Responding irritably to the persistent urging, Taejin gathered some things and approached the portal. Before entering the portal, he pressed something. At his perfunctory gesture asking “Satisfied?” Jeongyeon smiled faintly. Somewhere, he heard the creaking sound of a door opening and hurried footsteps. He also heard familiar voices. Good. His rapidly fading consciousness had done its job.
Everything would be fine now.
*
Jeongyeon opened his eyes again two years later.
But when he regained consciousness, all the people he had tried to save were gone.
