62.
Perhaps she had misunderstood his words because she was too shocked and surprised. The Research Director keenly observed her son’s expression. But nothing changed. Ryu Ho-yeon still maintained an indifferent attitude, merely snorting as if deflated.
“I understand everything you’re saying, Mom. So basically, you couldn’t resist your research impulses and stole genetic information from a family with directly inheritable Esper traits to create me.”
“Cr-create? No, that might have been my initial thought, but even so, to call it ‘creation’!”
“Then what should I call it? Development? Production? Mass production?”
“Ryu Ho-yeon!”
“Anyway, I’m right, aren’t I? And the original owner of that genetic information has entered the country while I was in the dungeon, talking about taking back what was stolen.”
She didn’t even have time to be shocked or hurt by the chilling words like “creation” and “development” that flippantly rolled off her son’s tongue. Ho-yeon still looked disappointed as he asked once more if that was really all there was to it.
“So that’s really it? There’s no other hidden story?”
“Th-that’s right…?”
“Tch. What’s this? I thought there was some more special secret.”
Ho-yeon had naturally been expecting some mystery surrounding his birth for quite some time.
His exceptionally outstanding abilities and appearance. His looks that bore no resemblance to his beloved mother. The Research Director’s stern reactions, cutting him off whenever he occasionally asked about his father. Besides, an extraordinary birth seemed like a basic option included in every protagonist’s life story.
“I thought my biological father was at least an alien who accidentally crash-landed on Earth or a magician who briefly crossed dimensions due to an unfortunate accident.”
“Y-you…!”
“But just an Esper existing in the real world… how boring… Ah, Mom. Don’t worry. It’s not much of a birth secret, so I’m not even surprised.”
It was strange. Her son wasn’t hurt by the secret of his birth, nor did he feel betrayed by her, yet why did she feel so furious inside?
“But are you sure that’s all? What if Howard is actually a dragon in disguise…”
She had left him alone thinking he needed something to attach himself to while she was busy, but this was going too far. Seeing her son’s innocent face seriously talking about aliens and dragons on January 1st, now at the age of twenty-nine, she couldn’t hold back anymore.
“You little brat!! How many times have I told you to stop watching those weird cartoons! Stop it!”
“Ow! Why are you hitting me? Mom! It hurts!! It hurts!”
“Did I tell you not to watch at all? Do things in moderation, Insuk! You’re twenty-nine this year, twenty-nine!”
The Research Director slapped her son’s thin back with her palm. Ryu Ho-yeon endured his stinging back while continuously grumbling inside. He’d tell Choi Jae-won everything as soon as he returned to the dormitory.
* * *
Pleased with the newspaper photo that turned out better than expected, Choi Jae-won nodded in satisfaction. Last night, when the Group PR team urgently contacted him saying photos of him and Ryu Ho-yeon had been taken, he had asked them to make it as sensational as possible if they had to handle it, and this was quite satisfactory. Perhaps it was because there were rumors that Ho-yeon hadn’t imprinted with his pair Guide, even though both Park Woo-jun and Kim Jun-young had completed imprinting with their Guides. There were still people who brazenly tried to measure their compatibility with Ryu Ho-yeon whenever a new Guide entered. It seemed like he needed to widely publicize that someone was already occupying the position beside him, even in this manner, to be able to sleep peacefully.
Completely unaware of Choi Jae-won’s devious intentions, Ryu Ho-yeon, sitting across the table, was busy sharing what had happened earlier while eating cereal.
“…So that happened.”
“Yeah. Mom was too much. Even if she was angry, how could she say such things? She even threatened to throw away my precious ‘Improper Guide Discipline Manual’ right away!”
The “Improper Guide Discipline Manual,” where an S-class Esper restrains his S-class Guide partner with chains, puts a dog collar on them, and so on—using all kinds of “improper” methods to discipline them—was one of Ho-yeon’s most cherished collections and also a book that the Research Director and Choi Jae-won were unanimously looking for an opportunity to dispose of.
“Hmm, but hyung… couldn’t you actually throw that one away?”
“…?”
The look he gave seemed to emanate murderous intent. Choi Jae-won immediately apologized, saying he misspoke, while pouring more milk into Ryu Ho-yeon’s bowl. Ho-yeon aggressively crunched on his cereal. He had just poured out everything to Choi Jae-won like a complaint as soon as he returned to the dormitory after his conversation with the Research Director.
“Hmm, what should I do about this…”
“…? What’s there to do about anything?”
“Oh, no. I was just thinking about what to eat for dinner tonight.”
Choi Jae-won skillfully diverted Ho-yeon’s attention while continuing to ponder deeply to himself. It was fortunate that Ho-yeon wasn’t experiencing delayed confusion due to his suddenly appearing biological father, but the situation wasn’t that simple.
Choi Jae-won was roughly familiar with David Howard. What concerned him seriously wasn’t that Ho-yeon’s biological father was a strong Esper, or that he was now making a fuss about taking back what was his. It was that he was a triple citizen.
If it became publicly known that Ho-yeon’s biological father was Howard, and if Ho-yeon also held other nationalities inherited from his father rather than being solely a citizen of South Korea… a suitable pair Guide with matching compatibility rate and rank, which hadn’t appeared in South Korea, might suddenly emerge from somewhere else.
Now that everyone internationally knew how incredibly powerful Manifestation S-class Esper Ryu Ho-yeon could be in dungeons with proper guiding support, a citizenship dispute emerging at such a convenient timing? They would all swarm like a pack of dogs, eyes blazing, trying to take Ho-yeon away by any means. He had no intention of just standing by and watching such a thing happen.
‘Just in case… I should settle Dr. An’s case with a non-prosecution and secure his identity separately.’
If things didn’t go as planned, Choi Jae-won was determined to somehow raise that remaining 2 percent, confine Ho-yeon in a secluded villa, and not release him until imprinting was complete. Since he had already begun to open his heart, if Choi Jae-won were to beg and plead, Ho-yeon would never be able to reject him cold-heartedly. Just as he had willingly taken off his scarf in front of Bosingak where many eyes were watching.
“Then make me kimchi fried rice. With lots of spam.”
“Yes. Fried egg half-cooked, right?”
“Yeah. And sprinkle lots of seaweed flakes.”
“I’ll prepare it deliciously for you.”
Choi Jae-won wiped the milk mustache from Ho-yeon’s plump lips with his thumb and showed him an affectionate smile. Well, since he didn’t want to cause unnecessary conflict with Ho-yeon by making him undergo the experiment he had decided to stop, or chain his beautiful slender ankles to confine him, he resolved to meet the problematic David Howard as soon as possible.
* * *
“Mr. Howard?”
As he tapped the table and took a seat opposite, the man whose name was called didn’t even seem surprised. He merely lowered his sunglasses slightly and asked with his eyes why he had been summoned. From his thick-skinned impudence of wearing sunglasses indoors without caring about others’ gazes, to his emotionless expression that preferred to ask with his eyes because speaking was troublesome—though he hated to admit it, he resembled Ho-yeon to an eerily perfect degree.
Perhaps it was because of their different builds or images that they didn’t seem alike at first glance, but if placed side by side and compared detail by detail, it would be hard to believe they weren’t blood-related.
Choi Jae-won skillfully hid his surprise and opened the conversation with a pleasant greeting.
“It’s been a while since you came to Korea. I hope you haven’t experienced any inconveniences? Ah, I’m A-class Guide Choi Jae-won.”
“Hmm, a Guide? Why did you want to see me today?”
“Let’s get straight to the point, as we’re both busy. That thing you came to reclaim, what was stolen from you. I came to tell you that we have no intention of returning it. He’s already my pair. If you have any other conditions, let me know. I’ll try to accommodate you as much as possible.”
“What?”
Howard, who had been gritting his teeth fiercely at the mention of not returning what was his, suddenly looked perplexed, seemingly unable to comprehend Choi Jae-won’s statement about “my pair.”
“How can he be your pair? You clearly said you’re a Guide.”
“That’s correct.”
“Unless I’m crazy, does South Korea have a law allowing Guides to pair with other Guides and enter dungeons?”
“Pardon?”
Now it was Choi Jae-won’s turn to be confused.
“If not, then how can you possibly be Lexy’s pair?”
It seemed that both the Research Director and he had been barking up the wrong tree for quite some time.
