Chapter 159
Chapter 159
What Are You Doing, Sakuya
***
“...So then the members all started ganging up on me, you know?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
So our Sakuya had been through that much. Ga-on’s hand moved even faster as he soothed her while she whined.
It was then, while Sakuya purred contentedly like a cat, that she cautiously opened her mouth.
“Maybe... I should just quit being an idol?”
“Don't say things like that.”
She said it playfully, but the fact that such a thought had even crossed her mind showed just how cornered she really was. Unlike the conflict with her members he had just heard about, this wasn't something he could simply brush aside with optimism.
So Ga-on withdrew his hand and deliberately spoke in a sterner tone.
“Remember what I told you before? I didn't recommend this because I wanted to see you succeed. I did it because I wanted to see you refuse to give up.”
Come to think of it, he really had said that once before. Back then, those words hadn't become an incredible source of strength for her?
Reflecting on that memory, Sakuya wore an awkward expression, unsure of what to do. Just because the scenery before her had changed, she had started complaining so quickly.
At the very least, it wasn't something she should have said to Ga-on.
Human hearts really were so fickle.
She couldn't even lift her head out of guilt.
“I'm sorry. I misspoke.”
“I'll figure something out about the stalker issue, so don't be impatient.”
Whatever happened, dealing with the immediate problem came first.
Clapping his hands to change the mood, Ga-on shifted the conversation.
“For now, let's do something about your ability.”
“About that...”
Whenever she stepped onto the stage, there were times when she was overcome by an indescribable sense of exhilaration. That sort of thing happened from time to time in life, didn't it? Those moments when you thought, This is going to work, or, I'm feeling lucky today.
She had assumed those excited feelings were simply an extension of that.
But to think they had actually been warning signs that appeared right before her ability manifested.
“But didn't you say I shouldn't use it intentionally, oppa? You said some dangerous group was after us.”
“Well... that's true too.”
That point bothered Ga-on as well.
Back when he had first met Sakuya, he had been little more than a half-wit who knew nothing about Meta-humans. But after experiencing numerous incidents, he had finally begun to grasp the bigger picture.
As a result, he had come to vaguely realize just how bizarre and harmful the source of supernatural abilities truly was.
And what kind of catastrophe it could bring about.
Considering the sense of self buried deep within the subconscious, avoiding it was the right choice.
But the side effects of ignoring it had become even more severe.
Even if it was a deadlock, they had no choice but to move forward.
“What are you doing, Sakuya?”
It was then that an uninvited guest appeared.
Meeting the gaze of those subtly defiant eyes, Sakuya instinctively shrank her shoulders.
“Ah, Neria...?”
Neria froze for a moment at the sight before her.
After all, Sakuya was lying with her head resting on Ga-on's lap.
She had only been working with this manager for a few Solweeks, yet they were already this close? No... could this really be dismissed as simply being close?
I knew it—
“So that's how it is. They say it's always the quiet cat that climbs onto the kitchen hearth first. I guess you couldn't abandon your true nature after all? You're the reason the agency's got us locked down, yet here you are relaxing without a care in the world.”
Why was it that only Sakuya attracted obsessive stalkers?
There was no need to ask.
This clearly wasn't Neria's first time doing something like this.
“No, that's not it. It's more like... a kind of ritual for mental and physical stability...”
“What do you mean it's not? I'm definitely reporting this. For Mystic's sake, if nothing else.”
Sakuya was just as shocked.
The last person she had wanted to meet had caught her in the one situation she least wanted anyone to see.
The moment Sakuya saw Neria's pupils move, she shouted without thinking.
“「Forget!」”
At the same instant, Neria collapsed backward like a puppet with its strings cut.
Ga-on rushed out and caught her by the shoulders, letting out a quiet sigh of relief. The bump on her head couldn't be concealed, even with a supernatural ability.
Coming back to her senses a moment later, Neria frowned.
“What?”
“You were about to fall.”
“I was?”
Was that really true?
She looked at Ga-on suspiciously, but she had no choice but to accept it. She had become aware that her memory had abruptly been cut off in the middle, as though someone had sliced it away.
“I wonder if you might be anemic.”
Well, considering Mystic had ended up in such a terrible state, there was no way she could be perfectly fine. She had probably become sick without even realizing it.
More importantly—
“Could you let go of my hand first?”
Stepping away from Ga-on, Neria dusted off her shoulder while staring directly at his face.
She felt as though she had witnessed something incredible, yet nothing remained in her memory. Or perhaps... she had simply been shocked because an unrelated man had suddenly rushed over to her.
“Anyway, thanks.”
Fanning her inexplicably flushed face, Neria spotted a familiar figure.
“Sakuya, why are you here?”
“I had something I wanted to ask Manager oppa.”
“The manager?”
Neria looked back and forth between the two with suspicious eyes but couldn't find anything incriminating.
Even so—
“Be careful. I'm always watching.”
***
“You want me to mix my ability into ordinary conversation?”
“Like you just did.”
“...Please forget about that.”
Fidgeting with her fingers, Sakuya lowered her gaze in embarrassment and fell silent.
A sinner was called a sinner for a reason.
Starting unnecessary trouble was exactly what made one a sinner.
Ga-on also wanted to give Sakuya a firm lecture about unconsciously using her ability.
However, it was also true that thanks to her unconventional treatment, they had managed to escape the situation.
In some ways, it even fit the training he had planned, so he held his tongue.
There were far more important things than arguing over who was right or wrong.
“Anyway, since the location is limited, the training method will have to be simple.”
“If we could get outside, we could grab some gangsters wandering around District 39 and run all kinds of experiments on them. But the only area Sakuya can move around in is inside and around the agency.”
Going any farther than that would inevitably attract attention.
Her dedicated manager, Dylan, wouldn't allow it either.
“Still, it'll definitely be effective. And there won't be any innocent victims.”
“Of course. It's training you came up with for my sake, oppa.”
“Then let's get started.”
***
Sakuya's supernatural ability, Forced Command, had the drawback that it could only be used once on any one person. No matter how simple the command, that meant she needed a large number of people to practice on.
Fortunately, the number of people employed by the agency was more than enough, making it an ideal place in that sense.
As the sample size increased, the characteristics of Forced Command gradually became clearer as well.
As expected, her ability only worked on people within Sakuya's line of sight. However, even if they were visible, it was useless if they were too far away to hear her voice.
On the other hand, simply playing back a recorded voice didn't work either. To begin with, the sound she produced when activating her ability couldn't even be recorded.
And—
“I didn't notice after using it once or twice, but this is... 「really exhausting」.”
They confirmed that it consumed a corresponding amount of mental energy. The surge of exhilaration that preceded activation was probably her body's instinctive way of squeezing out every last bit of vitality so she could focus on manifesting her ability.
Maybe that was simply how it worked.
If someone were a higher-stage Meta-human, they might be able to resist or endure it.
Ga-on himself was proof. Wasn't he unaffected by Sakuya's ability?
Her power simply wasn't strong enough to suppress the mind he had cultivated over hundreds of years, causing it to fail.
On a different note—
“Manager oppa, you must be tired. I 「like」 seeing you work so hard.”
“I get it, so stop pressuring me. I'm looking into it in my own way too.”
“I mean it.”
“Yeah, yeah. I mean it too.”
They also confirmed that it didn't work on androids like Dylan. Then again, the outcome had practically been decided the moment they realized the sound produced during activation couldn't even be recorded.
It was a discovery that hinted at just how broadly the scope of Forced Command might eventually expand.
Yet Sakuya herself seemed completely unaware of its implications, merely smiling brightly.
“So, what do you think, oppa?”
“Not bad.”
Even Ga-on hadn't been able to control his own supernatural ability at first.
Until he reached Stage 2, any injury would heal immediately, and if he died, he would revive on the spot.
Back then, that had been incredibly inconvenient.
Perhaps the reason he could now regulate his regeneration speed was because that desire itself had influenced the growth of his ability.
As could be seen with other Meta-humans, it was practically an established theory that advancing in stages either granted new derivative abilities or removed existing restrictions.
He was certain because Sakuya was following that exact path.
Simply using her ability several times while focusing on a clear objective had visibly reduced her emotional fluctuations.
A truly extraordinary talent.
But—
“Why are you making that face?”
“No, it's nothing.”
He had the feeling he was overlooking something.
The instincts he had honed while working as a fixer sounded an alarm.
Had he forgotten something while piecing all the information together?
‘Supernatural abilities, Mystic, Sakuya, Starlight, Mechanic.’
And—
‘...Emergency Disaster Response Unit.’
Sakuya had used her ability in a public place.
She had already become the center of controversy right after her debut, so there was a chance she had caught their attention as well. They were the very group that had rescued Meta-humans in the Dome before anyone even had a chance to notice them.
There was no telling when they might discover Sakuya's existence.
The same went for the Meta-humans.
‘I don't have the luxury of being distracted by a stalker right now.’
***
Raphaela could only let out a bitter laugh at her own situation.
The Garden Orphanage she had painstakingly built had collapsed, and she had become a wanted fugitive forced to wander the back alleys.
The despair of watching the support base she had spent decades building crumble in an instant—
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget it.
That was why she had neither returned to Ryungyeong nor resurfaced, instead remaining hidden in the shadows.
To wash away that humiliation, revenge had to come first.
The enemy who deserved to be the target of a century-long vendetta was boldly walking the streets.
She couldn't allow that.
She didn't know one of their identities.
But she knew the other.
‘Fighting Dog.’
Repeating that title until it rolled naturally off her tongue, Raphaela devoted herself to following Ga-on's every move.
The broker he had signed a contract with was Fernandez Peroma.
A former Sheriff who supposedly cared deeply about justice.
To Raphaela, who had spent her entire life profiting from carrying out others' malice, it was laughable.
Even so, she didn't ignore it.
To understand an enemy's intentions, no piece of information was too trivial to overlook.
Then, she learned the truth behind the Eastern Gate entirely by chance.
It was almost as though the obsessive determination that gnawed away at her very bones had reached the heavens.
However, discovering documents showing that Sakuya had been under Ga-on's protection during that process was anything but a coincidence.
No—
It would be more accurate to say she had been looking for it.
Raphaela had been Baek Gi's—no, Freddy's—lover.
There was no way she would deal gently with the person who had killed him.
Naturally, she intended to destroy everything around him first.
Step by step.
Slowly.
In that regard, the moment she learned Sakuya's profession, it felt as though a ray of light had shone down upon her.
An idol.
A profession that required constant exposure to the public.
Needless to say, that made her an easy target.