― … … , … ! … … !
I came to my senses at the sound of a shouting voice.
The dark night streets were nowhere to be seen. The painted wooden ceiling. The feel of the hard mat supporting my back. The smell of disinfectant.
Kim Yi-hyeon couldn't help but feel disappointed by the enlightenment that came naturally.
This was still somewhere in Polaris. Without knowing where I was going, my vision was getting darker and darker, and I was still running on the rails, relying only on the route map in my memory… … .
'You're thinking the same thing. It's already been a year.'
It was an emotion that I had already graduated from a long time ago. From some point on, when I woke up, instead of feeling frustrated, I started to think about how I could get through the episode.
I had accepted reality a long time ago. But the reason I had random thoughts today was because the process of losing consciousness was different. This time, I passed out against my will.
Just once, just once.
There were times when I thought, 'I wonder if I'll go back when I die.'
With a light feeling that it's a game anyway.
'Now that I think about it, that must have been wrong too.'
In the end, you have to shut up and run if you want to survive.
― … … It's the door. You must have followed me without even thinking about it.
Kim Yi-hyeon squeezed his eyes shut and opened them. His hazy consciousness regained its vitality. His body still felt pain. His limbs felt heavy, like cotton soaked in water.
It's not that I can't move. Even in the most severe condition, I can still feel it. I guess I'm lucky, but it seems like the blue water has healed me somehow.
― You should be prepared. If you can't wake up like that, I won't let you go. I'm glad I'm here. If only Mr. Asterike was here...!
"Hey, you've been noisy since earlier."
Someone was shouting outside the door. No, I knew who it was. It was someone who shouted loudly every day, so I was used to it. Even if it was more venomous than usual.
"...That's what I say as soon as I wake up, man."
A man sighed on the right side of the bed. The white-skinned Castus. It was Karam, the spy from Cellbrox Lab who had made contact with Kim I-hyeon.
"You look more normal than I thought. How much do you remember?"
"Yes. I can roughly guess what will happen after I get caught."
"Then I won't explain it further. It's probably exactly as you expected."
I remember the interior of this place. When going on an operation, the agents usually stop by the safe house first. This time, they stopped the helicopter and changed to a vehicle to do maintenance.
"You managed to get through the security check."
"I got out as soon as I found you. If I had been even a little later, I would have been in trouble."
Does that mean they escaped before the commotion at the border town reached the checkpoint? Even so, it was still puzzling.
"You sent the car with the injured person away without saying anything?"
"It's not strange. In these times, if there were an injured Minos, it would be more common to think that he was assaulted by Pecatum, not a terrorist. It wouldn't even be an incident."
Since the victim is Minos, there is no obligation to investigate. If he gets beaten up and gets exiled abroad, it would be a great pleasure for Pecatum. Of course, it would also be thanks to Karam's good deeds.
Kim Yi-hyeon was grateful, but he also thought about the word he had just heard. Terrorist. It couldn't have been said for nothing. In other words, Karam also had a high probability of finding out Ainoa's true identity.
'Did you hear from Chelsea?'
There is no need to ask directly. If you heard it, you can check it yourself through Kushan. If you didn't hear it, you can just ignore it as if you don't know.
"What happened to Turkam?"
"Well, if he's a reserve agent, he's not dead. I wouldn't say he's healthy, but he's not critically injured. They probably intended to capture him alive. I don't know who you were fighting—"
Bam!
The door flew open as if it was going to fly. I thought I heard voices echoing inside the room. I raised my head slightly and looked in the direction of the door, and saw Chelsea almost running towards me.
Chelsea, who had come closer, looked down at Kim Yi-hyeon. She only opened and closed her chapped lips, but did not say anything. Her gaze was so awkward that Kim Yi-hyeon spoke first.
"Hey, how's your injury?"
"...Isn't that what I should be saying?"
"No, why? Because I feel like something strange happens every time I take you out."
"Of course, the boss only does strange things."
That's true.
If you look at it from the side, you can see how much of a jerk it is. Just as people around him are getting used to Kim Lee-hyun's impulsive behavior, he is also getting used to it, and he is not caring about what other people think.
Chelsea blurted out while the reaction was becoming difficult.
"sorry."
"뭐?"
"Honestly, I was useless."
In contrast to his calm tone of voice, his expression was distorted. His disheveled hair and destitute appearance were no different than usual, but now the mood was clearly depressed.
"If Mr. Asterike was here, it wouldn't have turned out like this. I can't be like him. It's been like that from the beginning. There's really not much I can do, and all I do is complain all the time..."
The more I talk, the more my eyes turn red.
There have been many incidents since the day Kim Yi-hyun visited Chelsea. From the beginning, Kim Yi-hyun almost died, and Chelsea felt nothing but resentment.
Why should I hang out with them? I don't want to get involved in danger. I don't want to get involved in something stupid that might kill me…
It's different now.
When I thought Kim Yi-Hyeon was going to die, and now that I've confirmed that he's safe, I'm so emotional that I'm sniffling. That's how our relationship has become.
"It sucks because I know it'll be the same next time. I'm dumber than the boss, weaker than Mr. Asterike, and I have no motivation for anything. I don't even know what to do here."
He rubbed his eyes with his hand. Kim Yi-hyeon glanced at Karam. Karam noticed his gaze and got up from his seat and left the room. With an expression that said, 'What a waste.'
'Uh, um.'
Kim Yi-hyun remained silent as he chose his words. He couldn't think of anything to say. Sincere consolation? Chelsea, who had a twisted personality, wouldn't listen to him even if he tried to comfort and appease her.
'Even if it works, it's a bit much.'
Personally, I wish Chelsea could have continued at their own pace like they are now. Even in Kim I-hyeon's eyes, Asterique seems to be relying on himself, so I hope Chelsea doesn't become like that.
'I have no advice to give.'
Of course, there is no way to avoid feeling the limitations. Even if Chelsea works hard for 100 years, there is no chance of beating Nigrum head-on. They are different in their specializations to begin with.
In the end, it was the commander's mistake. Thinking back now, I wonder what kind of confidence he had in organizing the troops with the thought that 'even if the power is unstable, it is easy to handle.'
There was only one thing I could say.
"What's next? There's no such thing."
We need to go back to the beginning. If we take one wrong step, someone will die, whether it be ourselves or our colleagues. This time, we were just lucky.
"I'm awake now. I won't make any mistakes."
"Don't you ever think about just living quietly?"
"You can't do that after coming all this way."
There should be no shortage of preparation. Over-preparation is appropriate.
by the way.
"But you, how long are you going to keep yelling at the boss?"
"Wasn't that possible?"
"That's not true. It would be good to unify the titles we use."
"Well, what is it?"
Her face, still wet, grimaced. Chelsea pursed her lips as before. After a long moment of hesitation, she scratched her head.
"Okay, later. I'll take my time."
"What the heck is this?"
"It's awkward. I hate this kind of thing."
"You don't know even though you know."
There was a topic that neither Kim Yi-hyeon nor Chelsea brought up.
Chelsea was the only one who remained conscious until the end. She had seen the beginning and the end of the battle, and the whole story. The reason she had survived was also something only they knew.
Kim Yi-Hyeon's left hand twitched under the blanket covering his body. His five senses were normal and his body was under perfect control, but he felt an unfamiliar sensation only on the back of his left hand.
[Mutation rate 14.1704%]
* * *
In Kim Yi-Hyeon's opinion, the messages that occasionally appeared were quite random. Except for when the agent's rank increased, there was no way to know the criteria for their appearance.
'No, the same goes for leveling up.'
Twice so far. Once when I killed Shadow and Snowfield. It tells me that the scenario has been distorted, along with the text that the character has died.
'I guess it's the size of the achievement that is judged rather than the death itself.'
In addition to the two, there were many other dead characters. May from White Fang, who was supposed to be an agent of the Lab, Darun, who was supposed to appear at the Atlanta event, and now Nigrum.
But there was no message.
'So does that mean it's too early to feel at ease?'
Whoever decides, the Bastetian Civil War cannot be of low importance. If so, then the deaths of one or two hitmen will not be enough to prevent destruction.
Ainoa is still a life on the verge of death. Gaebokchi, who could die at any moment, asked Kim Ihyeon after he got up from his sickbed.
"Uh, uh. Are you okay?"
"So-so. What about you? You fell down like a log."
"Huh? Oh, I… yes."
He lowered his head to avoid eye contact. He looked blatantly intimidated. Suddenly, he remembered the yelling he had heard earlier and looked at Chelsea. As expected, he was filled with a feeling of discontent.
'I guess you let out some anger.'
It was a natural conflict. Kim Hyun-ah concluded that he had acted recklessly, but to Chelsea, Ainoa was just a burden. The circumstances of the attack were also quite suspicious.
There was something I had to share, including everything.
"Who checked the condition?"
"grow."
Karam said, sipping rum on the sofa.
"Liquid was spurted from the ear accessory. Analysis showed that it was not toxic in itself. As for the numbing ingredient, it was actually a chemical that made the senses more sensitive."
"But why?"
"There's a parasite inside your body. It's usually docile, but if it moves once, it causes excruciating pain that can make you lose consciousness. It reacts violently to certain ingredients, so it's sometimes used as a latent poison in the body, like in this case."
"Wow," Kim Yi-hyeon exclaimed.
"You know that stuff so well."
"…I only know what I know. I had my own life before I became a spy. I also personally manage the medicine here."
He muttered that it was fortunate that there was a place to utilize him. He was a character who did not appear in the game, let alone be mentioned. Kim Yi-hyun could not help but feel surprised.
"The explanation is over, but would it be better to leave?"
"No, it's okay."
I didn't even feel like issuing an evacuation order.
He took a sip of water and then conveyed his message.
"For now, we're going back to the lab. We'll leave as soon as Turkam wakes up."
"Wise. It's better not to interfere in Basteterra. I know Rapp doesn't like fighting, but it's too far away to interfere."
"...."
Ainoa bit her lip. She no longer thought of the future that Kim Ihyeon had predicted as absurd nonsense. Soon, Basteterra would be engulfed in black flames.
If Cellbrox Labs were to let go, Ainoa would be left alone. Even if she returned to the castle and proved herself safe, what could she do alone?
All I could see was a future where I would be killed.
"That can't be. It's not even a problem anymore."
At the words of denial, Ainoa looked at Kim Ihyeon.
"I don't intend to get beaten up like this and run away. I'm just going out for a bit. I have something to take care of while calling for reinforcements."
Things to handle. The attitude of saying that was extremely firm. Ainoa had felt something from him that was hard to reject a few minutes before she saw Kim I-hyeon again after he had collapsed and gotten up.
A gaze as cold as iron was shot at him.
"If that thing on your neck wasn't a decoration, you'd notice it too."
"Wh, what do you mean?"
"Which bastard betrayed you?"
It wasn't sudden.
Even without the parasite thing, I could have known. I realized right then and there. How did the assassin find out where I was, and who helped him do it.
- It's small, but please accept it.
― Like these earrings, no, closer than that, I will serve Lady Ainoa. I will stay by her side for the rest of my life and repay her kindness.
― Happy seventeenth birthday, Ainoa.
A single word overlapped the affectionate words.
"Kill me with your own hands."