Chapter 99
Chapter 99
Hey, don’t say scary things with that kind of face.
***
I clenched both fists without anyone noticing. I had already expected that Baek Seok-do would not accept it easily, and Baek Seol did not give up and continued to protest.
“But that area was contaminated 20 years ago. In every respect, the investigation can only be limited.”
“So? Was it such a mess that you couldn’t even carry out decontamination work?”
Even if we did, an astronomical amount of money would have been consumed. Let alone—
“The site was completely devastated. Even if they weren’t exposed to radiation, it’s not an environment where a search can be conducted. Realistically, even recovering the remains would be difficult. On a corporate level……”
As if he could not bear to listen any longer, Baek Seok-do slammed his cane down.
“Enough. It seems you’ve only grown better at making excuses since I last saw you. You should have realized from the moment I told you to come see me. Information of that level—Alfredo and I could obtain it with a mere gesture. What you truly need to aim for lies beyond that.”
It was irrational.
Once it went that far, it was no longer a matter of funds or manpower, but of probability. In other words, luck. Baek Seok-do himself would know better than anyone that discussing such a thing was meaningless.
But it was not without utility. There were things that only revealed themselves when one was driven into a corner.
Namely, tenacity and stubborn pride. What Baek Seok-do probably wanted to see was crisis management ability.
Sure enough, similar words followed.
“The information you obtained is certainly excellent. Even if I were to send several more people, it would be difficult to secure anything beyond this. However, I question whether something of this level is enough to grant you shares.”
“Is it because of my brother?”
“That is both correct and incorrect. From a coffin whose contents have not been confirmed, anything may emerge. What meaning is there in a truth that anyone can refute?”
He meant that if it could not be brought to a perfect conclusion, it would become a source of dispute.
It was a rebuke tinged with concern, but Baek Seol did not have nothing to say. It was a reaction I had already anticipated.
“I have already commissioned a follow-up request. It’s certain that someone took advantage of the disaster to play tricks. If I can just find the ringleader, my claim will become clearer.”
To confirm that someone had died, I searched for the one who killed them. By finding the killer, the fact of death would be confirmed. A chain of cause and effect that bit into itself.
In other words, a rebuttal.
“Not a bad response. Very well, if that matter is uncovered, the shares will be yours.”
Though it was recognition earned after enduring hardship, Baek Seol could not honestly rejoice. The longer the conversation continued, the more it felt subtly misaligned.
For instance, the fact that he did not mention Yeosanghwa at all.
Come to think of it, he had told me to find my half-sibling, but he had never once asked about her whereabouts.
From beginning to end.
Since childhood, Baek Seol had revered Baek Seok-do and wished to resemble him, yet the more I followed in his footsteps, the more incomprehensible the areas that emerged.
Just as the silence began to weigh heavily on my shoulders, Alfredo entered and bowed.
“The young master has arrived.”
“Tell him to come in.”
Immediately afterward, as if he had been waiting, Baek Ryang entered. When our eyes met, I bit my lip. The timing was too coincidental. As if it had been deliberate.
I had no memory of contacting him beforehand, so there was only one possibility left.
“I didn’t realize my brother took such an interest in my schedule.”
“At times like this, you call it coincidence, Baek Seol.”
He was not the type to bluff unnecessarily, so he must have come with a genuine purpose.
Then what was the source of that confidence?
The answer to my question stood right before my eyes.
An old monster who remained vigorous even past 150 years of age.
“It’s been a while, Baek Seol.”
“It has, Uncle.”
Baek Geum-do.
My father Baek Seok-do’s younger brother and the president of Baekdu Heavy Industries. And above all, the most powerful supporter of Baek Ryang.
The fine hairs on my arms inevitably stood on end. He was the one who had provided the decisive trigger for her departure from Baekdu.
Countless failures. No, countless failures that had been intended to fail—he had always been there.
Of course, I only had circumstantial suspicion, no concrete evidence.
Still, it was too coincidental.
Just like now.
Baek Geum-do had been insidious to the core since birth. It was almost strange that he followed Baek Ryang so obediently.
“If you intend to claim she is dead, then I would like to tell you that you are too late. Even if the difference is only a matter of minutes, that gap is unmistakable.”
Baek Seok-do spoke mildly, but Baek Ryang did not retreat and instead asked,
“Dead? Whom are you referring to?”
“Your half-sibling.”
“A rather interesting hypothesis.”
Glancing at Baek Seol, Baek Ryang seemed to have inferred the course of the conversation and let out a scoff.
“It seems Seol was quite pressed. To think she would try to deceive you by claiming a perfectly alive sibling is dead.”
“What do you mean…….”
Just as Baek Seol was about to respond to the absurd accusation, a third party entered behind him.
A man with long bangs covering one eye. He was smiling, yet something about him felt alien.
As if he had fallen straight down from the sky.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Baek Gi. Chairman Baek Seok-do. Or rather, I should say… Father, shouldn’t I?”
The man spoke calmly. At the back of Baek Gi’s neck, there was no device.
***
Edwick Morales.
Commander of the 06th Operations Squadron under Space Operations Command. Rank: Brigadier General.
He matched Dominique’s report with startling precision. Considering that he had left the military immediately after the Black Shower occurred, even more so.
As a high-ranking officer originally from the Mars Defense Force, Edwick’s movements should have been strictly controlled even after his discharge—
[If it’s me, it’s nothing]
For some reason, it sounded as if he had rubbed his nose lightly.
“Don’t let your guard down and be careful. If the Mars Defense Force catches you, you won’t even be able to make excuses.”
[Dad will handle it somehow]
This was exactly why people born with golden spoons and powerful backers were troublesome.
As Ga-on shrugged, Dobby muttered quietly.
[The more I investigate, the more things don’t add up. He hasn’t even gotten a job and is living alone]
The retirement plans of officers who left the Mars Defense Force generally followed one of two paths.
Either they entered a PMC as an advisor, or they joined a defense contractor as a director.
However, Edwick belonged to neither. The reason was unknown. The only way was to meet him and ask directly.
[Oh, and I think it’s going to rain soon]
Suddenly, a droplet from the sky struck the top of my head. Rain in winter was the worst—it was no different from being forced into a cold-water plunge.
“You call this ‘soon’?”
[Well, I don’t get wet. Seems like there was a minor margin of error. Sorry, sorry]
***
With my hood pulled over my head, I arrived, dodging the drizzle, at the outskirts of District 39. It was somewhere between a dumpster and a junkyard.
In other words, a leftover patch of land inevitably left behind during development—a place not meant for people to live.
However, it seemed Edwick thought otherwise.
“To live like a homeless man in a world without homeless people……”
A crudely built shack thrown together without care.
Its height was so low that a grown man had to bend his back, and the roof, made of plastic slates, had no drainage holes, endlessly spilling out rainwater.
As a result, a small puddle had formed in front of the house.
When I pushed open the half-torn plank and stepped inside, static crackled in my ears.
Bzzzt.
Reflected in a blurry hologram were milky-white pupils.
An old man whose muscles, shrunken from age, clashed discordantly with the steel attachments fitted during his prime.
Rather than a human fitted with machines, it gave the impression of a machine with a human attached.
“Brigadier General Edwick, right?”
“Ed… hyung?”
“Hey, don’t say scary things with that kind of face.”
Edwick’s irrelevant reply came out hoarse. At a glance, he was clearly not in a normal state.
Sure enough, when I stepped closer and snapped my fingers, there was no response.
He held a liquor bottle in his hand, so I wondered if he was drunk—
“That doesn’t seem to be it.”
The evidence was that he hadn’t even finished half of it.
Suddenly, Edwick shot upright, eyes wide open, and looked around. Then he checked the liquor bottle in his hand and sat back down. In the process, he took a swig as a bonus.
Memory and language impairment. Decline in reasoning and judgment.
From head to toe, they were symptoms of dementia. A disease rarely seen in this era.
“Where did he stash all the wealth he accumulated to end up living in a place like this?”
[Looks like his family transferred it all into their own names. When I searched the surname Morales, it was full of traces of extravagance]
“So they drove out an elderly man who had become a burden.”
That was when I noticed a notebook on the table he was using in place of an armrest. Along with the date, a brief summary of that day’s events was written inside.
Was it some kind of device to retrace his memories?
I reached out to it reflexively—
“You shouldn’t try to take something another person cherishes so carelessly.”
A heavy, low voice rang out.
“So your mind’s come back?”
“If you’re a thief, take what you will and leave—except for that. I wish to go quietly.”
His tone was steeped in remorse.
No matter how unsound his mind was, it seemed Edwick understood that he had been abandoned.
I had no desire to torment a washed-up old man indefinitely either.
Sitting across from him, I immediately brought up the main point.
“I recently went to the Hyphen Colony.”
“…Hyphen Colony? I don’t know what you want to hear, but you should give up. There’s nothing you can hear from me.”
“Even after discharge, are you still affiliated with the Mars Defense Force?”
“Don’t spout nonsense. Can’t you see? My head’s no different from a blank sheet of paper. What could you possibly ask of someone like me?”
“What about receiving treatment at a hospital? If you want a Slot implanted, that’s fine too. If you can get into a state where you’re able to answer my questions, I can tolerate a certain amount of bleeding.”
“No need. That wouldn’t cure it.”
“Wouldn’t cure it? Don’t tell me…….”
I had heard of it.
The tactics and technologies handled by the Mars Defense Force were all top-level classified secrets.
Any knowledge that could be abused was erased from memory before discharge.
The basic principle was no different from brainwashing.
However, it was accompanied by severe restraints to prevent regeneration. As a result, side effects followed—like the rejection reaction that occurred when implanting a Slot.
The symptoms Edwick was experiencing must have been an extension of that.
Either way, it was not a measure befitting someone of general rank.
There was such a thing as courtesy.
“A kite with its string cut. You must have really fallen out of favor.”
As if that phrase had triggered something, Edwick’s gaze changed.
“It couldn’t be helped. Do you think it makes sense? This is an era where human civilization advances into space. Androids sustain the economy, and though limited, faster-than-light navigation is possible! I had to step in and stop it myself—the monsters were running rampant!”
“Monsters?”
When I asked back, it was Edwick who looked startled.
“Monsters? What are you talking about?”
It seemed I had stirred up a memory that had not been completely erased. Just in case, I repeated the same process, but the answers that came back varied each time.
Still, it was not as if I gained nothing.
Each time I tried to grab the notebook, Edwick’s memory returned to the past.
“You shouldn’t try to take something another person cherishes…….”
“Forget that. They say you were the one who ordered the launch of the tactical nuclear weapon when the Black Shower occurred. On whose orders did you act?”
“I received no such orders. During my military service, I never yielded to any external pressure.”
“Then you’re saying you massacred civilians of your own will?”
“I did?”
“Only one of the six deviated from its course, but you know as well as I do that the number being small doesn’t lessen the crime.”
“What are you talking about? At that time, the Mars Defense Force prepared five tactical nuclear weapons.”
“Five?”
Just as I was about to feel relieved, thinking I had finally found the missing link, Edwick’s head exploded like a firework.
A sudden attack.
Just before the splattered blood could touch my cheek, I arched my back and rolled away, drawing Qiongqi.
“Who is it?”