As Kim Haewon predicted, Emily and Gabriel easily cleared the gate. However, unlike Ryu Heegang, Heo Juan was found as a corpse. Emily, who was examining the body, spoke.
{He didn’t die from our attack. How should I put this, Gabriel? It seems like he was in a zombie-like state. He was half dead already.}
{Maybe he couldn’t handle the transforming energy when turning into a monster? Heegang was strong enough to endure it, but Heo Juan wasn’t.}
Gabriel answered while collecting the body with Emily. It made sense. Emily agreed and continued.
{Gabriel’s right. Maybe from the moment he became a gate monster, he was already dead. Just a shell with only his ability being exploited and barely breathing.}
{Really a zombie, literally.}
Heo Juan’s corpse, which had changed color even more severely than Ryu Heegang’s, was very small. It was shriveled like dried fruit. The color was similar to raisins too. I looked away from the monitor in disgust.
Compared to that, Ryu Heegang had been closer to light purple. Did the color change depending on how much the body could endure?
I thought about the drug Alexa Lu had injected. The drug called E-E-O-N. If I could learn just a bit more about it, I could discuss it with Kim Haewon, but there was still too little information.
The drug probably belonged to the leader. Not just that, he probably had various other drugs. The drug that extended Suo Weiqian’s life was also the leader’s.
Was the leader someone from a pharmaceutical company? Or like a crazy researcher? It was hard to imagine what the leader looked like.
In science fiction novels or movies, such crazy researchers were all weaklings. But just from hearing the leader’s voice, he evoked the image of a large, robust man. Although his body wasn’t visible, he also had the power to kill Alexa Lu in one go.
The power he possessed didn’t stop there. He had the power to cover up that incident and the cruelty to not forgive even momentary mistakes.
There was a reason why the four organizations were anxious even while joining hands with him. The fear that he could tighten their leashes at any time. That was making them nervous.
As soon as the gate was cleared, Kim Haewon caught and dealt with Wang Feng. Wang Feng was captured by Kim Haewon before he could play any tricks. It was an anticlimactic development. I had tried to find the deer head while the two fought fiercely, but I missed the opportunity because Kim Haewon subdued him too quickly.
As soon as Wang Feng was subdued, the Chinese government tried to completely control the scene, and I was stuck at the entrance. Nothing was working out.
I could only move after Kim Haewon requested to have his guide come closer. Pamundong’s secret location looked like a cave on the outside, but inside it was like a very old temple. I looked around inside and threw out a question.
“You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Wang Feng. You deliberately subdued him in one blow, right?”
“There was just no need to deliberately drag out time. I also secured the ring without difficulty.”
Kim Haewon showed me the ring he had taken from Wang Feng. It had a black jewel embedded in it like obsidian. Oddly, Suo Weiqian’s unpleasant face came to mind. I looked away from the ring. Gabriel and Emily were coming toward us. It seemed like they wanted to check the ring. Kim Haewon spoke quietly as if reciting.
“Never touch anything dangerous.”
“Ah, I got it already. I’m not some kindergartener, stop saying it.”
I waved my hands dismissively. Kim Haewon seemed frustrated by my appearance and sighed while continuing to speak.
“Do you know why there’s a saying about a child left by the water?”
“Isn’t that talking about Esper Kim Haewon? Water! Child!”
I said while pointing at his blue-gray eyes. Kim Haewon grabbed my finger and answered as if warning.
“Hey, Guide Park Garam.”
“Don’t worry so much. Why do you worry so much, world’s number one esper?”
When I teased Kim Haewon, he made a face showing he was really annoyed and pinched my cheek.
“Ah! Are you crazy? This is assault! Don’t you know an SS-class esper hitting a civilian is a serious crime?”
“How are you going to search Pamundong’s secret base when you freak out at the slightest touch? Do you know how reckless you are?”
It wasn’t just a light pinch, it really felt like he pinched me because he hated me. That’s how I felt. He might not have put any strength into it, but my cheek felt tattered.
“Look here. Didn’t a piece of my flesh fall off? Didn’t I lose half my cheek?”
“Don’t worry. It’s fine.”
“Look carefully. Isn’t the flesh hanging down or something?”
When I deliberately shoved my face at him, Kim Haewon pushed my head away telling me to get lost. He eventually smiled faintly at my quite serious expression and turned his head away.
“Unbelievable. Hitting someone and then laughing, what a pervert.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Of course! I just got assaulted by an SS-class esper. I’m going to report everything to the association. Get ready to be summoned to the disciplinary committee.”
When I spoke threateningly, Kim Haewon shook his head again. At first I whined because it hurt, but gradually I enjoyed watching Kim Haewon’s reactions. I also felt good because the crisis situation seemed to have been resolved without much damage.
Emily, who had approached us closely, made a surprised gesture and joined the conversation.
{Haewon, you can make that expression? You seem like a different person?}
{Don’t say useless things. The ring is here.}
{What’s so special about this that Wang Feng was so arrogant? The Chinese government is also making a fuss that they should take it.}
Gabriel didn’t carelessly try to hold it and just looked at it with his eyes. Emily also craned her neck to look at the ring.
{Our government is the same. It’s tiring. Maybe we should just smash it and divide it into four pieces. So they can each take one nicely.}
While they were conversing, I confirmed the location of the deer head. Then I poked Kim Haewon’s back.
“I want to check that out.”
“Promise me. If it’s dangerous, you’ll immediately back away. Otherwise I won’t let you go.”
“Wasn’t that discussion already over? Are you going to be petty and do this now?”
“Are you going or not?”
Unable to resist Kim Haewon’s threat, I nodded. Emily and Gabriel looked at us with interest.
{Let’s look around inside a bit more. Even though the Chinese government says they’ve already searched everything, who knows what else might be there.}
{Right. Let’s be careful anyway. It was an easier gate than expected. It’s strange that all those Pamundong executives were done in.}
It was a sharp observation. The Pamundong executives weren’t pushovers either. I headed toward where the taxidermied deer head was. Kim Haewon stuck close to me and moved. It was completely different from my plan, but I couldn’t stop him.
The taxidermied deer head was already a mess. It seemed they had torn it apart to get the ring out.
“There’s no need to examine it, is there? It’s become rags like this.”
“That’s right. It’s at a miserable level.”
I said that but still approached the deer’s head. The place where they found the ring was the eye. The deer’s right eye was gouged out. It seemed to have been inside the eye. How did they know it was in there? Was the color different from the other eye? I examined the left eyeball.
Seeing that the other side was also torn apart, it seemed they had just rummaged indiscriminately. I looked at the severely damaged deer’s head and touched the broken antler.
“Don’t touch it carelessly. Just in case……”
“This deer is really white. The antlers are incredibly large too. It seems fake, but also seems real.”
“It’s a rare species even among reindeer. They say it’s a symbol of good fortune.”
“What’s the point of killing a symbol of good fortune and taxidermying it?”
Killing a symbol of good fortune—wouldn’t that mean bringing misfortune? Having such idle thoughts, I touched the deer’s massive antlers.
If I were hiding the ring, I would have hidden it in these massive antlers, not the eyes. Because no one would find it. I removed my hand from the tip of the antler.
The antler, the only thing intact on the deer with its face all torn up, looked bizarre.
“Esper Kim Haewon.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t people break the antlers?”
“What are you saying?”
“There could be a ring hidden here too. They tore up the face like this, so why did they leave these massive antlers alone?”
“Because they found the ring before that.”
I kept being bothered by those antlers. Massive, white, majestic antlers. If it were me, I would have torn this apart first. It was strange that not one among all those people touched it.
“It’s too strange. Only these antlers being so intact like this.”
I gripped both antlers. I wanted to break them off and investigate just this. When I gripped the antlers and looked back at Kim Haewon, his eyes wavered.
“Take your hands off the antlers.”
“What?”
“Right now!”
I immediately took my hands off the antlers as soon as I heard his words. Nothing happened. But Emily and Gabriel, who had been far away, also rushed over hurriedly.
{What was that just now? What was that ominous energy?}
When Emily asked, Kim Haewon looked at the leader’s ring. The ring was quiet. Ominous energy? What does that mean? When I looked at Kim Haewon, he threw the leader’s ring on the ground. The ring made a clanging sound and rolled across the floor.
{Haewon! What are you doing!}
Gabriel shouted. Kim Haewon pushed me away and broke the antler in one go. I stared at him dumbfounded. The moment the antler broke, the black jewel like obsidian began to melt.
{My God. What is that? That’s a gate.}
Where the jewel had melted, a massive gate was forming. Kim Haewon instantly turned the antler to powder. At the same time, he found one very small ring that had been hidden inside. I made eye contact with Kim Haewon.
When we found the ring, a gate formed. And we were trapped. The situation wasn’t much different from that day in the dream when the girl created the gate and left. Except that the characters had changed.
