#057
Yoo Seong-woo still received occasional training from the mercenaries. The mercenaries were quite serious about it. They were pleased with Yoo Seong-woo’s physical aptitude and even taught him various high-level techniques.
“Um… in case of unforeseen circumstances, do you know how to erase traces when fleeing or hiding in dangerous situations?”
“Of course I do! I’ll teach you.”
This was fortunate and pleasing for Yoo Seong-woo. Thanks to this, he could learn survival skills.
“I have a question.”
When Yoo Seong-woo, who rarely spoke up first, opened his mouth during a break, Nikita and Xinyan couldn’t hide their surprise.
“You’ve been with Mr. Yeon for a long time, right?”
“Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Nikita answered, shrugging her shoulders. She glanced at Xinyan as if wondering why he was so talkative today.
“I’d like to know… more about Mr. Yeon.”
The two knew him as Yeon Tae-soo’s lover. So they probably wouldn’t suspect his slightly hesitant words. They’d understand it as wanting to get closer to his lover.
“Want to know?”
“Yes, for example… why he hates androids so much…”
“Ah.”
Nikita shook her head. A bitter smile appeared on her face. She was someone with honest expressions.
“That won’t do. Sorry, but the boss probably wouldn’t like it.”
It was expected, but still a bit disappointing. The more information he could get about Yeon Tae-soo, the easier it would be to escape from him.
“His foster parents were androids.”
However, an unexpected answer came from an unexpected source.
Hearing the familiar voice, Yoo Seong-woo dropped the towel he was using to wipe his sweat and turned around quickly. The two mercenaries’ gazes also turned in the same direction.
Yeon Tae-soo, who had come out to the backyard at some point, was leaning slightly and watching them.
While he quietly looked at Yoo Seong-woo, the mercenaries had already disappeared. Honestly, it wasn’t comfortable to be alone with him, but Yoo Seong-woo pretended to be nonchalant as he picked up the dropped towel and sat on the bench.
“It seems you didn’t get along well with your foster parents.”
Now that it had come to this, it might be better to be brazen. The fact that Yeon Tae-soo’s foster parents were androids became a new entry in his database.
It was unexpected, but also made sense. It meant he didn’t hate androids without reason.
Yeon Tae-soo approached him with slow steps. By the time he finished drinking the water on the bench, Yeon Tae-soo was right in front of him.
“I didn’t know you were so interested in me.”
It might sound sarcastic at first, but genuine pleasure was evident in Yeon Tae-soo’s voice. He was happy that Yoo Seong-woo was taking an interest in him.
However, Yeon Tae-soo didn’t seem to want to talk more about his foster parents. He bent down silently while smiling slightly. In the backlight, only his bright blue prosthetic eye shone beautifully on his dark face. Like the only star embedded in the universe.
“If you’re done training, get ready to go out.”
Get ready to go out? Yoo Seong-woo looked up at him with a puzzled face.
“Where are we going?”
“Not me, you.”
What could he mean when there was nowhere particular to go? As he stared silently, Yeon Tae-soo smiled. As if finding his wide-eyed look cute.
“Let’s go. To Mr. Jang.”
His eyes widened a bit more at the following words.
“Didn’t you say… it wasn’t possible?”
“Yeah, well, I thought so… but it seems like once might be okay.”
It was a good thing, whatever the reason, as he could now meet Mr. Jang and ask for help.
***
Right after washing up, they got into Yeon Tae-soo’s car and drove for a while, reaching the outskirts of the district.
It was disconcerting that the ‘safe’ place he had been taken to was more remote than expected. Yoo Seong-woo looked at Yeon Tae-soo sitting next to him and suddenly recalled what he had said.
He hadn’t said he ‘couldn’t’ show Mr. Jang, but that he ‘didn’t want to’. It meant that preventing the meeting was his intention.
But today he said, “I thought so, but once seems okay.” The fact that he changed his mind meant that his judgment was based on his own interpretation.
‘If so, it means he judged Mr. Jang as a potential risk.’
Mr. Jang had been forced to spy for the Ministry of Defense but was injured after refusing. He had safely brought his granddaughter and cut ties with the Ministry of Defense, so what was the problem? He was just an old man with all potential risk factors already removed.
He thought he should observe Mr. Jang carefully when they met, just in case. But no matter how he thought about it, the Mr. Jang he knew seemed far from dangerous activities. Unless he got involved in dangerous situations due to his kind nature.
The car entered the mountains and climbed a rough road where people didn’t usually travel for quite some time. When there was no more road for the car to pass, Yeon Tae-soo got out with Yoo Seong-woo. The big guys surrounded them as if escorting.
They carefully walked through narrow gaps between trees that could hardly be called a path. Antenna-like objects were sparsely visible around them. They were signal jammers. Devices to prevent drones or cameras from approaching or filming.
He could vaguely understand that this was one of Yeon Tae-soo’s many safe houses. But he still had questions. Why would he keep Mr. Jang in a safe house? Safe houses are valuable assets. Just the signal jammers set up along the path must have cost an enormous amount of money.
‘There must be a reason.’
What could be the important reason for keeping Mr. Jang in a safe house?
While pondering, the group had already reached the front of a bunker. When the door opened, Mr. Jang appeared with a bright smile, having already been notified.
“Have you been well, sir?”
“Oh my, if it isn’t Dr. Yoo. How did you come all this way? Hm? Come in quickly.”
All the big guys remained outside, and only Yoo Seong-woo and Yeon Tae-soo went inside. Mr. Jang looked healthy, fortunately. He moved busily back and forth, unable to hide his joy at having guests after a long time, saying he would bring tea.
The inside of the bunker was no different from an ordinary home. Under warm-feeling lighting, there was a child-sized desk and chair in the living room, with an unfinished drawing on top.
“I bought new tea because I heard our Dr. Yoo was coming. Just wait a moment, okay?”
Mr. Jang went into the kitchen connected to the not-so-large living room, and Yeon Tae-soo sat on the living room sofa with his legs crossed. It seemed he came here often.
‘Does he have reasons to meet Mr. Jang? Is it to extract information about the Ministry of Defense?’
It was while he was pretending to look at decorations and continuing his thoughts. He sensed an unfamiliar presence.
In his view, shifted without hiding his wariness, stood a girl in her early teens. Yoo Seong-woo immediately compared her face with the one in his database. She was Mr. Jang’s granddaughter.
Yoo Seong-woo quietly looked down at the child. Perhaps because she was his granddaughter, she definitely resembled him. Except for the wary gaze that stared intently.
The child’s eyes seemed to read Yoo Seong-woo, then slowly turned to look behind. Whatever she saw, her prim expression softened, and a smile quickly appeared.
“Uncle Tae-soo!”
‘…Uncle?’
While he hesitated at the cognitively dissonant title, the child quickly ran to Yeon Tae-soo. Yoo Seong-woo’s gaze followed the small doll-like figure running over.
“Have you been well, Artist Jang?”
“Yes!”
Yeon Tae-soo, calling the child ‘Artist Jang’, seemed familiar with this situation. When did they become so close?
Yeon Tae-soo playfully ruffled the child’s hair and spun her small body on his knee, looking like a different person from the one Yoo Seong-woo knew.
Aside from whether the scene was pleasant to look at, Yoo Seong-woo felt strangely uncomfortable. The reason was easy to guess. He disliked seeing a side of Yeon Tae-soo he didn’t know.
‘How perplexing.’
While he himself had such an enormous secret, why should he feel bad that Yeon Tae-soo had aspects he hadn’t shown him? His logic seemed to be deteriorating more and more; perhaps the malfunction was indeed a malfunction.
“Mr. Yeon has provided us with this place to stay, I can’t express how grateful I am.”
Mr. Jang said as he brought out the tea. Yoo Seong-woo examined him, Yeon Tae-soo, and the young girl in turn.
It felt like he was missing something. Not knowing what it was made him feel frustrated.
“That’s good. If it weren’t for Mr. Yeon, we would have been in big trouble when you were injured, sir.”
It seemed there had been an incident with Mr. Jang then, but Yeon Tae-soo just smiled slightly, apparently not intending to talk about it.
Yoo Seong-woo sipped his tea and glanced nonchalantly at Mr. Jang, but it didn’t seem like he could find out anything.
Mr. Jang, organizing crayons with his granddaughter sitting at the desk, looked more comfortable than when he was staying in Haeya-dong. Was it because he had his beloved granddaughter by his side?
“I’m going out for a smoke.”
Yeon Tae-soo, after taking a few sips of tea, stood up and went outside. It was an opportunity.
As soon as the door clicked shut, Yoo Seong-woo clung to Mr. Jang.
“Please, help me.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
