Ever since he began using Jung Ah-young to keep an eye on Seo Won, Woo-chan had been reminded of the grim truth that lay beneath Seo Won’s heart transplant. He pressed a warm hand against his flushed forehead.
“…Since when did you know?”
Based on the reports Jung Ah-young had given so far, it didn’t seem like her cover as a spy had been blown. If it had been, Seo Won wouldn’t have continued assigning her to guard duty without a hitch. Even if Seo Won had used a doppelgänger to deceive her, he wouldn’t have left her alone with Cha Han-gyeom like that.
Han-gyeom hadn’t shown any signs of suspicion either. So when exactly had he figured it out?
“I suspected there was a spy nearby for a while. But I only realized it was Ah-young a few minutes ago.”
“A few minutes ago?”
As Woo-chan eyed him with doubt, Han-gyeom looked down at the small ice apple resting in his hand. Just moments ago, the apple had been filled with a dark aura, but now the smoke within was gradually clearing, becoming transparent.
“There were more than a few red flags.”
Han-gyeom slowly turned the translucent apple over in his palm as he began to explain.
What confirmed for him that there was a terrorist spy lurking near Seo Won was the intruder who had broken into the mansion.
The timing was suspicious. It was shortly after the doppelgänger of Cha Han-gyeom—created by Seo Won—had vanished from the hotel. But more than anything, it was the fact that the intruder, who had brought along Song Jae-woo, managed to slip into the mansion without resistance.
The mansion itself was architecturally complex from the ground up.
For Han-gyeom now, navigating its interior wasn’t difficult since he followed predetermined paths. But back when he had just arrived, moving through it without a security escort would have been impossible. At that time, he’d been confined to his room and couldn’t go anywhere unless Seo Won summoned him.
The corridors were deliberately confusing, with an overwhelming number of rooms, every door designed to look the same, and special window materials that made it impossible to see inside from the outside. On top of that, the positions of the rooms were periodically swapped.
In such a labyrinthine mansion, someone not only managed to avoid detection by all the security personnel but also found the exact room Han-gyeom was in and cast a barrier around Song Jae-woo?
Of course there had to be a spy on the inside.
The most suspicious were Lim Du-hyuk and Jung Ah-young, who both stayed close to Seo Won, and Yoon Jeong-ho, the teleporter who could instantly move to any location as long as he knew the coordinates.
Unlike the others, those three had early access to Seo Won’s itinerary. Whether it was a product demonstration or a cruise party, they knew about it well in advance—more than enough time to leak the information to the terrorist group.
Out of those three, Yoon Jeong-ho was the first to be ruled out.
He had once barged into Cha Han-gyeom’s room at the mansion by mistake and ended up getting thoroughly wrecked by Han-gyeom’s ability.
Although it had happened so suddenly that he hadn’t unleashed his full power, Yoon Jeong-ho would surely still remember what it felt like. There was no way he wouldn’t have warned Woo-chan about the dangers of that mutated Guiding. If he had warned him, Woo-chan would’ve realized Cha Han-gyeom was a Guide from the research facility even before seeing him in person at the product showcase.
That left only Lim Du-hyuk and Jung Ah-young.
It was hard to justify suspecting a civilian like her, someone with seemingly no connection to terrorists, of being a spy. What possible benefit could someone like her gain from working with a ragtag group of rogue Ability Users living in hiding? Even if there was something to be gained, most things could easily be resolved through Seo Won without having to risk becoming a spy.
And yet—right after the hotel where Seo Won was staying got raided, the doppelgänger of Cha Han-gyeom, which he had painstakingly created, disappeared. Then an intruder showed up at the mansion. And they brought Song Jae-woo with them, someone who’d be utterly useless unless the opponent was Cha Han-gyeom himself.
Song Jae-woo’s role was to persuade Cha Han-gyeom.
From Kang Woo-chan’s perspective, it would be ideal if Han-gyeom was convinced on the spot and willingly stepped into the Black Cube. But Han-gyeom had already turned his back on the terrorists and fought against them aboard the cruise. Unless he genuinely wished to go with them, the Cube wouldn’t work on him—so there was no need to take such a gamble.
Besides, due to Song Jae-woo’s Guiding addiction, Cha Han-gyeom would eventually have no choice but to seek out Kang Woo-chan anyway. Watching Song Jae-woo spiral further into madness by the day would be the perfect emotional trigger to push Han-gyeom over the edge.
And Han-gyeom was very aware of that.
So aware, in fact, that it made him even more suspicious.
‘Why didn’t she report the Cube?’
Jung Ah-young had clearly witnessed Han-gyeom receiving the Cube from the man who attacked the mansion. Sure, the man had spoken in a whisper, so maybe she hadn’t understood the Cube’s function—but still, it was odd that she hadn’t raised even a shred of suspicion. If he had been in her place, he would’ve immediately reported to Seo Won that Cha Han-gyeom had received something.
It was also hard to believe that Seo Won had received a report and simply chosen to ignore it.
There’s no way Seo Won would knowingly overlook a device that allowed Han-gyeom to escape the mansion at will.
Once the seed of doubt was planted, past events began to look suspicious too.
On the cruise, it had been Jung Ah-young alone who sensed something strange and moved Han-gyeom away. Strangely, wherever she took him, the terrorists were already there waiting—as if perfectly timed. Was that really just coincidence?
That’s why Han-gyeom had decided to use this opportunity to test Ah-young for good.
“You were really startled when I nearly had a seizure without Seo Won nearby, weren’t you? I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Sitting next to the now-sedated Song Jae-woo, Han-gyeom wore an expression full of apology. Ah-young, who had also been watching over Jae-woo, gave a small smile and gently asked,
“You’re the one who must’ve been more shaken, Han-gyeom. That apple—are you sure it’s functioning properly?”
Han-gyeom nodded as he held up the now-shrunken ice apple.
“I’ve adjusted to it now, so it’s really fine. As long as I keep it small like this and carry it in my pocket, I won’t have a seizure unless something extreme happens.”
“That’s a relief. I was about to curse Director Seo for being a quack,” she muttered, letting out a soft huff before asking casually,
“By the way, how long does that apple last? Doesn’t it run out after a few uses?”
“It’s not like that. The ESP inside this apple doesn’t get used up—it just reacts to me, appears for a moment, then hides again. It’s not something that depletes.”
“So… it’s permanent?”
“That’s right.”
Looking into Ah-young’s curious, glinting eyes, Han-gyeom spoke with a cryptic tone.
“Which means that as long as I have this… it won’t matter whether Seo Won is around or not—I won’t be having seizures anymore.”
If Ah-young truly was a spy, she would definitely relay this to Kang Woo-chan.
If Woo-chan genuinely felt some kind of connection to Cha Han-gyeom and wanted to save him in any way he could, then what would’ve troubled him the most until now had to be the seizures.
On the other hand, when it came to the other suspect, Lim Du-hyuk, Han-gyeom gave him a slightly different version of the story.
He told Du-hyuk that because the ice apple had been miniaturized, the amount of Seo Won’s ESP contained within it was reduced, and that it would have to be remade every few days. Therefore, he had no choice but to stay close to Seo Won at all times.
Han-gyeom had no intention of letting the bait sit for long.
Regardless of how he felt about it, he had already decided to meet Kang Woo-chan soon because of Song Jae-woo anyway. So, that very day, he made his move.
“Jae-woo, listen carefully.”
When he visited Song Jae-woo later that evening, the young man was weak and groggy from the sedative. Han-gyeom leaned in close and whispered in secret.
“After midnight tonight, we’re going to go to Kang Woo-chan together.”
“Really? Really, Hyung?”
“Yeah. But if we’re going to sneak out together, you need to pretend to be asleep until then, like you don’t know anything.”
“Okay, I’m good at stuff like that. Don’t worry, Hyung.”
Like a child thrilled by a promise, Jae-woo obediently nodded and agreed. From then on, even when his eyes were open, he lay limp as though utterly spent, and he looked convincingly asleep even without being given more sedatives.
After making that promise to Jae-woo, Han-gyeom casually exited the room as if nothing had happened. Outside, Jung Ah-young was standing guard alone, while Lim Du-hyuk stood by, ready to escort him.
Jung Ah-young was supposed to remain outside Song Jae-woo’s room for another hour. That would give her plenty of time to go inside and have a conversation with him.
Later, just past midnight—
Originally, it was supposed to be Lim Du-hyuk on guard duty outside Han-gyeom’s bedroom that night.
But for some reason, it was Jung Ah-young standing there instead. Although she and Lim Du-hyuk sometimes swapped shifts at will, the fact that it was the bedroom guard shift being swapped for the first time was suspicious in itself.
Still, Han-gyeom put on an innocent face, acting as if he suspected nothing.
Ah-young, startled by Han-gyeom suddenly opening the door and stepping out, spoke up with surprise.
“It’s still the middle of the night. You should go back and get some more sleep.”
Even so, her eyes gleamed with a strange sense of anticipation.
“I can’t sleep. I keep thinking about Jae-woo. So… I was wondering if I could go see him now?”
“At this hour? He’s probably sleeping too.”
“Seo Won promised I could visit Jae-woo freely whenever I wanted.”
Ah-young knew full well that Seo Won’s promise only applied when he was awake. And yet, after a moment of hesitation, she ultimately agreed and led Han-gyeom to Jae-woo’s room.
Even though the move had been unannounced, the ruined cathedral they arrived at was already swarming with a significant number of terrorist operatives. Kang Woo-chan was among them, waiting.
The first thing Han-gyeom checked after the teleportation was how long it had taken.
As he initiated the transfer, he activated the ice apple, filling it with a dark aura, then immediately upon arrival, he pulled it out to check how much had faded.
Barely ten seconds.
If the flow of time had truly shifted during the move in a way that he couldn’t consciously perceive, the dark energy within the apple should’ve completely dissipated already.
Which meant—it had been teleportation.
Even if they had moved with perfect coordination the moment the Cube activated, there was no way they could’ve been waiting in formation like this.
Which meant they had been tipped off beforehand.
In other words, the one who had access to all that information—Jung Ah-young—was the spy.
“Looks like she was a spy they spent years grooming and embedding… At this point, she’s probably already dead at Seo Won’s hands.”
Han-gyeom spoke coldly, even as images of Ah-young’s cheerful expressions surfaced in his mind.
Woo-chan turned toward him with a look that asked what the hell he meant by that. In response, Han-gyeom exhaled a stream of smoke and casually lifted his cigarette case with one hand.
Click—a satisfying sound echoed as the case sprang open.
Woo-chan’s face twisted the moment he saw what was inside.
Inside Han-gyeom’s cigarette case.
In the slot where a cigarette would normally rest, a fingernail-sized black plastic device had been attached.
Blink. Blink.
A red light flickered from one corner.
It was unmistakably a GPS.
