# Chapter 188
## D-DAY
The summer midday sun was so intense that sometimes all objects appeared excessively vivid. It felt as if a filter covering the world had been peeled away.
Since his Awakening, Lee Hwan had never experienced any notable discomfort from natural weather, so summer was essentially a season of green grass and refreshing views for him.
“Is the Management Bureau on standby nearby?”
In response to his question, Jade gestured with his eyes. In the distance, a middle-aged man who appeared taciturn and several agents were sitting at the company café terrace.
“That’s Beolmae. The rest are outside the Naru premises, and they’ll rush in when they receive the signal.”
“Beolmae stands out.”
“He’s made an official visit under the pretext of a minor inspection. Naru’s attention will be focused there for a while.”
As a massive corporation, Naru had many watchful eyes. While Beolmae bought time, Lee Hwan and Jade needed to open Building D as quickly as possible to summon the Management Bureau personnel.
Before Kang Dongying and Naru’s Hunters arrived, and before the Management Bureau received orders from higher up that would prevent them from taking action.
“Do you remember all the routes and devices?”
“Yes. As soon as we enter, I’ll secure the data first, and seal off the records room to prevent any damage. How are your eyes?”
“Good. I’m in decent condition. I can even move objects through walls. I’ll stack heavy items behind the doors to prevent them from opening.”
After taking the drug, Jade had lost the eerily jade-colored glow in his eyes. Instead, they had turned an amazingly verdant color that anyone would find remarkable.
However, like Lee Hwan, a jade-colored light appeared in his eyes when using his ability, making him look somewhat similar to his previous self during combat or training.
Lee Hwan had wondered if his abilities would diminish, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Apparently, he no longer felt the “dizziness” when using his ability intensely, which made him more comfortable.
It was chilling to think that this “dizziness” might have been a precursor to losing control.
“What’s next?”
“Secure the drug and head to the Red Room.”
“How much of your memories have returned?”
“About 80 percent. The crucial parts aren’t missing, so we should be fine.”
After regressing, Lee Hwan occasionally recalled memories from before. At first, he thought they were tied to his regression skill or something like the System, being unlocked one by one.
However, as he analyzed his memories in preparation for D-day, he realized that all his memories seemed to have already been returned.
They had just sunk into his subconscious, only emerging in fragments when conditions were right or when dreaming.
‘You would have always regressed after dying.’
Taesung had given Jade a nasty look at this speculation. He seemed reluctant to mention Lee Hwan’s death.
But regardless, the eight deaths and injuries that had traumatized Taesung weren’t going anywhere.
Lee Hwan judged that his abnormal regression had caused his skill to transform and collapse, resulting in forcefully returned memories with complications.
And if the memories truly remained within him, they would eventually surface somehow.
That’s why he had trained all day and wracked his brain in his spare time. He often tried to sleep despite not feeling tired. Falling asleep in an uncomfortable position on the living room sofa made it particularly easy to dream.
Perhaps due to his earnestness, he was able to unearth several scenes from his past memories. Some were just absurd dreams, like Taesung surfing through the air on a donut, but even those weren’t so bad.
Through all sorts of hardships, he recalled fragments of shattered memories, pieced them together, and finally assembled about 80% of the underground laboratory scenes.
Bizarre animals and monster test subjects, the cold and chilling underground scenery, his anguish over the drug, and the full story of regression he had discovered there…
If not for the memories of Taesung that surfaced in between, those days would have been quite bleak.
‘Are you still looking out the window? Should we go out?’
‘…’
‘Your hands are cold. Give them to me.’
That was probably a memory from the first cycle that Taesung had mentioned—a pitiful version of himself who was severely injured immediately after regressing.
With a body that couldn’t go anywhere without an electric wheelchair, listlessly confined to bed, Taesung would visit frequently whenever he wasn’t busy to keep Lee Hwan company.
Even though Lee Hwan had lost so much vitality that he couldn’t respond, Taesung’s visits never stopped.
He would hold and massage Lee Hwan’s hands that had grown cold from lying still for too long, and talk to him. Noticing his lack of appetite, he would bring food from various places, and sometimes, instead of returning home, he would fall asleep leaning against the bed.
He also repeatedly told Lee Hwan there was a way to heal his body. Back then, Lee Hwan had wondered how neural connections that were completely severed could be restored, when it was a miracle his body wasn’t cut in half. In retrospect, he was referring to regression.
Of course, Lee Hwan hadn’t believed he would recover. In a time without hope or future, he was just thankful that he was an Awakened person.
Otherwise, he would have been unable to control his body properly, constantly smelly and in pain. Although he didn’t care about the pain, he would rather have left this world than appear in such a state before Taesung.
But whenever his mind sank into such darkness, Taesung would, as if sensing it, speak to him again. So intensely that he had no mental space for other thoughts. Until his twisted feelings eased somewhat.
His heart was always conveyed in every word, every glance, every gesture.
“I made a promise with Kang Taesung.”
Now it was his turn to reciprocate.
“Given how things have turned out, we can’t help it, but we agreed to be as careful as possible. To not think about things like saving the world. And if things seem to be going wrong, we decided not to risk our lives but just to destroy everything and run away.”
Seven years wasn’t a long time, but originally, even before regression, they had never been together for more than two years. Seven years with Taesung would surely be fun. Happy and warm too.
It would be a daily life that neither of them had experienced since losing their families.
“And then we planned to build a bunker starting from the fourth year while living somewhere remote. Would you like to join us?”
Even as he asked, Lee Hwan knew. That the bunker’s effectiveness wouldn’t last beyond five years. No material could forever withstand the monsters’ attacks. Food supplies would gradually deplete, and eventually, they would be left alone in a ruined world.
“…I won’t go unless you include a rocking chair.”
Yet Jade calmly accepted Lee Hwan’s words. He could have reproached them for planning such foolishness together.
“Bank accounts will probably be frozen during the escape. I’ll just cut down trees and make one for you.”
“I prefer mahogany though… Why are we already making failure plans?”
“Because escape routes should always be kept open?”
“Just succeed, and stop talking nonsense.”
And true to his character, he also knew when to cut off the conversation.
“Get ready.”
Thus they arrived at Building D. One minute until entry.
Lee Hwan scanned the entire building with tense eyes before turning to meet Jade’s gaze.
Zing—
The watch on his wrist vibrated slightly. Exactly 3:20 PM.
As Jade gave a slight nod, both of them simultaneously pushed off from the ground.
* * *
“Eeek!”
At the first floor bathroom entrance, Jade grabbed a passing researcher and forcibly took their ID card. He stuffed a cloth into the mouth of the startled person who was about to scream, then used his thumb and index finger to pry open their eyes.
Lee Hwan took out a device from his pocket that could recognize and copy irises. After a couple of shutter sounds and a rough noise, the half-sphere object successfully copied the pupil pattern.
Thwack!
The researcher collapsed, their eyes rolling back after being struck on the back of the neck. Jade threw them into the innermost toilet stall.
“Let’s go.”
This was no time for disguises. They had to knock out everyone who emerged while breaching security.
Fortunately, since they weren’t making loud noises, no one seemed to detect anything unusual and come out. The CCTV was still operating, but so far, no anomalies had been noticed.
When they reached the records room, Jade gave Lee Hwan a look. Though they had memorized the floor plan and should remember all the rooms, he was likely confirming this was the right place.
As Lee Hwan nodded, the door swung open with the sound of security locks disengaging. They hurried inside, lest someone see them, and noticed the room filled with documents and computers.
Lee Hwan felt chills running down his spine as the scene before him overlapped with his past memories. The cause of the monster wave, Naru’s underground laboratory. Their research data was right here.
“The password Kang Dongha gave us, it should work, right?”
“If we can’t trust him at this point, who can we trust?”
After logging in, Lee Hwan opened a small bag and took out a storage device about the size of a long wallet. All they had to do was connect it to the computer, and it would automatically copy the data.
True to form, as soon as the storage device was plugged in, black and blue windows appeared and disappeared repeatedly on the screen.
“3… 4… It seems to fill up at about 1 percent every 4 seconds.”
That meant it would take roughly 6 to 7 minutes. With nothing to lose, Lee Hwan began searching through the file holders for relevant materials in the meantime.
“Hmm… here, I’m not sure about semi-awakening, but there seems to be material related to the drug.”
“Take it.”
“These Naru bastards, they always handle important matters on paper.”
98… 99… 100%.
About six minutes passed, though it was hard to tell if it felt fast or slow. Lee Hwan quickly unplugged and secured the storage device.
“Let’s go down.”
There was a rustling sound from inside the bag, like paper being crumpled. Whether from urgency or the unfamiliarity of such tension after so long, his fingertips trembled slightly.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped out through the door, and Jade grabbed his shoulder firmly enough to hurt.
“Ugh, what—!”
“Calm down.”
The pain snapped him back to his senses. Lee Hwan nodded and steadied his breathing before Jade took the lead.
“Follow carefully. Instead of worrying about CCTV, focus on not making any noise. The researchers will be all over the place.”
Ding!
Why did the elevator sound seem so unusually loud today? Feeling his hair stand on end, Lee Hwan followed Jade out the door.
Basement level 4. The place where semi-awakening experiments took place and where the drug was stored.
The cool air and antiseptic smell unpleasantly circled his nostrils. Inside cylindrical tanks, exactly like those in his vaguely recalled memories, pieces of flesh suspended in yellow liquid pulsated to their own rhythms.
