Chapter 53
“The men who kidnapped my brother… of course, we killed them all. My fathers were furious. We dug deep into their underground ant nest and exterminated them all. So things were quiet for a while. There were no problems. But recently, we received information that strange movements were detected by the government.”
“When the government is involved… is it okay for me to hear this?”
“Yes, I need to be honest if I want you to accept my request. And I believe you’ll never tell anyone else.”
“…Thanks for trusting me. As you said, I won’t talk about this anywhere.”
“Thank you.”
“Igeon, I’ll go downstairs.”
“Ah, yes Instructor.”
Instructor Jin, who had quietly brought coffee without making a sound, excused himself saying he shouldn’t hear such serious conversation and left the room. Igeon thanked him with a look and turned back to Jae-woo.
“When we found them… they were conducting various experiments using my brother’s DNA. What the government discovered was omega experiments in some region in Pakistan. They had impregnated about 50 people, and another 50 had already given birth… All the born children had my brother’s DNA. It was horrific.”
As I listened to the story, I suddenly felt like throwing up. Disgusting. What on earth were they doing…
“Didn’t you say you exterminated them?”
“Yes, we did. All of them. But… it seems there was one larva left. It seems it stayed quiet, molted, and grew larger. Holding my brother’s DNA they had secured the day of the kidnapping close to their chest. What’s worse, the group we caught in Pakistan this time was just a portion of them. They’ve grown even larger than when we exterminated them before.”
“So they’re… targeting Han Taekyung again now? But you said they already secured his DNA.”
“Yes, but it seems they weren’t satisfied. Although all the born children had my brother’s DNA, they couldn’t become my brother. They didn’t get what they wanted. They were just ordinary children. So it seems they need my brother more.”
“Aren’t they crazy? So NI didn’t step in again?”
“We did. We captured several bases and are currently monitoring many places. But we haven’t found the main body yet. Still… Thanks to that, like cockroaches that don’t disappear no matter how many you kill, they keep appearing and threatening my brother.”
“Are you saying even the company bodyguards can’t protect him?”
“Yes, the company bodyguards… There are already five people who died protecting my brother, and countless others who were seriously or lightly injured. Because of this, people aren’t eager to guard my brother, and above all, he’s refusing protection.”
“That guy? Why?”
“…Because people keep getting hurt and dying because of him. He told us to just leave him alone. That he would protect himself.”
“That guy who probably lost all his muscles… how can he protect himself? At times like this, he should accept more protection. Doesn’t he know it’s more troublesome not to?”
“Haha. Exactly. But his decision is too firm…”
“So that’s why you came to find me?”
“Yes, that’s one reason, and there’s another.”
“Another reason?”
“The reason I came to find you is… I’m sorry to be selfish, but I need your fame.”
“My fame?”
“We’ve been keeping everything that’s happening to Taekyung hyung hushed up. But now I think we shouldn’t do that anymore. I want to let the world know that my brother is in danger. That way, even if it’s just one person passing by when my brother is in danger, they might hide him or report it.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just put an ad on TV then?”
“I judged that having you by his side as his bodyguard would be more effective. Of course, because you are famous, they won’t try to kill you easily. If they make a mistake, there’s a high chance their identity will be exposed or they’ll become a public target. As business people, people think we are strong and don’t try to help us. But you’re different. As an Olympic gold medalist with high public approval, people will definitely try to help if you’re in danger.”
“…So helping me is essentially helping Han Taekyung?”
“Yes. If there’s anything you want or need, please tell me. We’ll provide it. Money, a house, honor, anything is fine. We can give you all of that. So please… save my brother Taekyung.”
As I continued to listen to Jae-woo’s story, it seemed like a situation where neither the government, police, nor prosecutors could clearly exert their power. Igeon looked at Jae-woo, who had even bowed his head across from him, and heaved a deep sigh. Jae-woo’s eyes showed anxiety at Igeon’s sigh.
“Can you give me some time to think?”
At Igeon’s words, Jae-woo smiled brightly.
“As much as you need!”
“Then I’ll call you.”
When Igeon held out his phone, Jae-woo typed in his phone number.
“I won’t think about it for too long. I’ll contact you soon. Please wait a little.”
“Yes, if you have any questions, please let me know. I’ll tell you anything.”
“Ah…”
When Jae-woo mentioned “questions,” one came to mind. Something Igeon hadn’t been paying attention to until now. Because the biggest question, “What happened to Han Taekyung?” hadn’t been answered. Now that part of it had been cleared up, suddenly one of the questions lined up behind it poked its head out.
“Senior Yuhan…”
What happened to him? Was the imprint removed? Come to think of it, he mentioned earlier that the senior was also at the accident scene. Doesn’t that mean the senior might have been in serious trouble too?
“Ah, Kang Yuhan.”
Jae-woo’s bright face distorted slightly, and he smiled bitterly.
“He’s doing well.”
“Back then, Taekyung said he was going for imprint removal surgery. Did it go well?”
“…No. It wasn’t a situation where imprint removal surgery could be performed. He was also someone who protected my brother for several years… So I thought it would be okay to leave it as is, and Kang Yuhan agreed. Besides, the attending physicians have determined that my brother cannot undergo imprint removal surgery right now. It could be more dangerous if something goes wrong.”
“…So that means the two of them are still…”
“Yes, unofficially, they’re currently engaged. They’re thinking of getting married next year.”
“I see…”
Why? Why did his heart feel so heavy and complicated? Had he not forgotten his senior yet?
“If you’re uncomfortable with Kang Yuhan… I’ll talk to him separately.”
“Ah, no. I was just curious about what happened to Senior Yuhan. There’s no problem at all. So Senior Yuhan wasn’t seriously injured in that accident?”
“Fortunately not.”
“That’s fortunate. Really.”
Igeon thanked Jae-woo for telling him and sent him off. After sitting alone blankly in the empty office, he went downstairs to greet his instructor and headed home. A two-story house with a blue roof in a neighborhood with a small alley that wound up like climbing a mountain, and a rooftop room.
That place was still Igeon’s nest and his only refuge. The landlord, who saw Igeon become a gold medalist, said it was an honor to have him in his house and hadn’t raised the rent for several years, but rumors of redevelopment in the neighborhood were beginning to make Igeon a bit anxious. Even if they demolished this place, there were many places he could go, but this rooftop room was one of a kind in this world.
“I’m home.”
After greeting his fathers in the photograph, Igeon took all the beer cans from the refrigerator, opened the terrace door, sat on the rooftop platform, and started drinking.
Even in college, he couldn’t drink at all, and it was the same during his athlete days. Like cigarettes, he started drinking after retirement. At first, he would stagger or faint after just one can, but now his liver seemed to have gotten used to it, or his detoxification ability hadn’t deteriorated as much as expected, so he could now drink soju mixed with beer and even several bottles of beer alone.
“Haah…”
All the way home, he kept ruminating over what Jae-woo had told him. Because it was hard to believe all those things that had happened to Han Taekyung. But there was the video Jae-woo had shown him, and there was also what Igeon had experienced long ago. The memory of that day when he was helplessly attacked could perhaps have been the beginning of all this.
‘Why? Just why?’ Today, he received a flurry of answers to that question. It had been a long wait. And that answer didn’t bring pain or disappointment. It was a situation that couldn’t be helped, and it was perfectly understandable. Everything was just sad and frustrating.
And there was one more thing he wanted to ask Jae-woo.
The question, ‘Does Han Taekyung remember me?’ Out of fear of what the answer might be, he didn’t ask.
“Should I meet him?”
He had been living, trying to forget. Even when he occasionally thought about him, he would drink, smoke, or exercise to forget. He had thought, a guy who doesn’t keep his promises, a guy who doesn’t even contact me once, just live well on your own! But now he didn’t have to think like that anymore. When he realized this, even the alcohol that had been going down so well suddenly got stuck in his throat and wouldn’t go down.
Since that guy had come to him first and knocked on his door on his own… should I try it now? That would make it fair. Igeon put down his beer can with a bitter smile.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
