Chapter 61

“Is that person’s daughter Lee Sol?”

At my question, the smile disappeared from Kwon Mu-seop’s face.

“Who did you hear that from?”

At Kwon Mu-seop’s counterquestion, which sounded like a confession, I was purely impressed.

It was truly amazing.

That I had only found this out now.

The people at the Bureau really are tight-lipped.

If Heo Gu-yeong had not accidentally let the 200 million won story slip, I would probably never have known Lee Sol’s identity until the end.

Cha Si-eon and Kwon Mu-seop had given me 200 million won from their own pockets after I came out of the 「Railway Station」.

Using personal funds meant there was a personal motive.

There was only one reason that would make sense.

Lee Seop, who had been a comrade-in-arms of Kwon Mu-seop and Cha Si-eon.

And Lee Sol, who had said her dad had already passed away.

Those two had been father and daughter.

But for the sake of Senior Associate Heo Gu-yeong’s well-being, I could not say it like that.

“Then how did you know?”

Kwon Mu-seop questioned me politely.

How should I explain this without Heo Gu-yeong?

Relieved that Kwon Mu-seop could not see, I went ahead with fabrication.

“Because they look alike.”

“Alike?”

“I thought their smiling impressions were strangely similar, and their family names are the same, and even both their given names are one syllable. When you see one-syllable names, there are many cases where the parent has a one-syllable name, so they name the child that way too.”

“…….”

Kwon Mu-seop’s expression was doubtful.

No! Protect Senior Associate Heo Gu-yeong!

“And Lee Sol’s name was mentioned particularly often at the Bureau. They call other people ‘Rescued Person Number Whatever,’ but Team Leader Cha, Ms. Baek Sa-ra, and Jae-gyeom all call Sol by her name, ‘Lee Sol,’ so I thought it was a bit strange.”

“…….”

“So I wondered if perhaps that was the case. Am I right?”

“Haa…….”

Kwon Mu-seop let out a sigh mixed with resignation, as if there was nothing he could do.

Good. I protected Senior Associate Heo Gu-yeong.

But what is this?

Even though everything had already been exposed, Kwon Mu-seop fell silent with a troubled face.

I studied his complexion and asked again,

“Is that why you gave me so much compensation too?”

“……I can’t hide anything. Yes. Somehow, that’s how it happened.”

“Is there a reason to hide it?”

“It’s also a prohibited topic, and there are still things left to sort out.”

Kwon Mu-seop murmured with a powerless smile.

I now understood well why Cha Si-eon and Kwon Mu-seop had handed me 200 million won.

But I still did not know why Kwon Mu-seop kept blurring his words to the end.

I wanted to know the detailed circumstances.

I still had questions left to dig deeper with.

But after seeing Kwon Mu-seop’s expression, I changed my mind.

“I will ask just one more thing.”

“……All right.”

“Was S.O.C.H. created because of Lee Sol’s influence too?”

“Mm?”

Kwon Mu-seop blinked.

As if he had not expected me to ask that kind of question.

I did not react to that and continued seriously.

“If treating me like an otter is because of Lee Sol, I think I could feel relieved instead.”

“Relieved?”

“If scary people go wild over me for no reason, that’s truly scary, but if it’s because of Sol, I can at least understand it.”

At my serious explanation, Kwon Mu-seop blinked a few more times.

Then, in the end, he gave a weak laugh.

“That reason was considerable too. Though it wasn’t everything.”

Kwon Mu-seop’s voice was much lighter too.

Yes, I still wanted to know.

But I did not want to make Kwon Mu-seop uncomfortable by digging it out.

To begin with, I had not known he would be this distressed.

I had thought he would lightly confess, saying, Ah, I got caught.

I did not know why he was like this, but it was probably not right to torment a superior worthy of respect for once.

Thinking this, I took a step back.

Perhaps reading my inner thoughts, Kwon Mu-seop laughed several more times only through his breath.

Then, in a voice that had grown even quieter, he murmured,

“When Sol was dragged there, all of us felt like we were receiving divine punishment.”

Divine punishment?

“Then you appeared.”

Kwon Mu-seop opened and closed his mouth as if he was going to say a few more words, then eventually shook his head.

“Let this much pass for now.”

“Yes.”

Fatigue could be felt in Kwon Mu-seop’s voice.

So I could not bring myself to ask.

Why, when she was not just any child but the daughter of a dead comrade-in-arms, they had merely stood by and watched instead of rescuing her.

“Did Lee Sol get home safely?”

So I asked an easier question.

My respectable superior merely smiled.

---

We spent 2 more hours in the same place.

As Kwon Mu-seop had planned, we caught the 「Ants」 smoothly too.

Now, what remained were Nos. 1 through 5, and Nos. 26 through 28.

Eight in total.

For the remaining 22 hours, we had to endure while playing tag with those 「Ants」.

-Ant No. 26 is moving. It will take about 20 minutes.

“Yes, from now on, we’ll make rounds of the 「Stone Towers」.”

At Yoon U-jeong’s guidance, Manager Kwon Mu-seop felt for the 「Stone Tower」 placed beside him.

Then he rolled up his sleeve so the brand on his wrist could be seen clearly.

“Do-un, from now on, you have to check the brand for me.”

“Yes, understood.”

The duration of this brand was not consistent.

So while being chased by the 「Ants」, we had to keep checking whether the brand was still there, and that was my role as the one who could see.

Since we had a little time before Ant No. 26 arrived, we first went to find the woman caught in the 「Ant Lines」.

“Have you made your decision?”

“You’re not even human…….”

The woman’s face, when we met again, was filled with resentment.

Her voice too was full of venom, but Kwon Mu-seop continued calmly.

“If you need more time, I will come back in 9 hours.”

“You evil bastard……!”

“In the meantime, please think of any words you wish to leave for your family or friends. I will deliver them.”

Kwon Mu-seop turned around again, and the woman wailed.

At that moment, I realized.

That Kwon Mu-seop was almost forcing that person to accept death.

“「Ant Lines」 are what the 「Ants」 vomit up periodically.”

Once we had moved far enough that the woman’s cries could not be heard, Kwon Mu-seop, walking ahead, spoke.

“After time passes, they harden white, so at least they’re better, but newly spat lines are transparent, so you can barely see them. Deputy Manager will support us, but she may miss newly formed 「Ant Lines」, so we have to be careful.”

-I won’t miss them.

Kwon Mu-seop was warning me, but Yoon U-jeong suddenly cut in.

At that consistent nitpicking, Kwon Mu-seop smiled faintly.

“I would be grateful if you didn’t.”

-Manager, tell Do-un about that too. The Protective Suit.

“That is…….”

For some reason, Kwon Mu-seop looked troubled.

“The Protective Suit?”

-Long ago, there was someone who experimented on his own body to find a way to escape those 「Ant Lines」.

“Deputy Manager…….”

-Come on, what does it matter?

When I showed curiosity, Yoon U-jeong began the story herself.

Kwon Mu-seop seemed to want to stop her, but it was no use.

-So he wore a Protective Suit and jumped into those 「Ant Lines」 himself, truly without a shred of fear.

“Who on earth?”

-Mm, there was someone. A certain stubborn gentleman. Anyway, when the 「Ant Lines」 shake, mucus flows, and that becomes another line. As they tangle more and more like that, this person made what he thought was a strategy. Since mucus flows downward, he would lower the line, step on it, and escape with strength.

It seemed like a decent idea.

Since mucus splashed out and became thread, if it was touching the ground from the start, there would be no way for it to splash.

“So did he succeed?”

-What do you think happened?

“I’m not sure.”

-He tried to force it down to step on the line and fell over by himself.

“Ah…….”

-Because of that, the line sprang up and caught around that man’s neck.

“Pardon?”

-From then on, he started choking and made a huge fuss, asking to be saved.

“Not as a joke, but really?”

-We thought it was a joke too. So we watched for a few seconds, but he really started dying, you know? We were startled and went to save him, then got caught in the lines too, and 4 or 5 people got tangled all at once…….

“So what happened?”

-Fortunately, no one had it touch bare skin, so they cut their clothes and escaped half-naked. They shivered for hours like that, then returned.

Huh…….

-After returning, he got scolded to death. The old Field Division manager back then was truly like a tiger.

I think that was worth getting scolded for…….

-Do-un, do you know who that Protective Suit was?

“Is it someone I know?”

-Mm, very well.

I hope it was Cha Si-eon.

But since she was referring to him respectfully as “that man,” it did not seem to be Team Leader Cha.

Then who was it?

-His name was Kwon Mu-seop. I don’t know if he’s doing well now that he’s been promoted to manager.

Ah…… Ahh…….

I covered my mouth and looked back at Kwon Mu-seop.

Kwon Mu-seop was rubbing his forehead with a profoundly embarrassed face.

Perhaps Manager Kwon Mu-seop was too great a figure for me to dare respect.

Or perhaps I was a shallow person unable to embrace both his respectable aspects and his tacky ones.

The halo must have gone out too, because I could not see it anymore.

In the end, I laughed quietly, and Manager Kwon Mu-seop reluctantly laughed too.

They were pitiful struggles to shake off guilt.

Trying hard to forget the woman abandoned in the 「Ant Lines」, we moved in search of 「Stone Towers」.

This small mountain had skirt trails laid out so it would be easy to walk.

However, intending to suffer while we still had stamina, we deliberately secured the 「Stone Towers」 in rough terrain first.

Climbing upward like that, we came upon fairly steep rocky terrain.

“The summit is right above here.”

“There is something like a large stone tower.”

“That’s a beacon mound. Below that is the 「Ant Nest」.”

Then does that mean the next generation of 「Ants」 will pour out from that beacon mound?

On top of that, they had said the core of this Special Zone was in the deepest place of the 「Ant Nest」.

Since it was a dangerous area in several ways, it would be better not to go too close.

It was when we were detouring before reaching the summit.

Rustle—

I turned my head at the sound of fallen leaves and nearly felt my heart drop.

One 「Execution Ant」 was wandering around at a distance of 40m.

Its head and antennae were pointed toward us.

It seemed to be restless, as if it wanted to attack us but was blocked by an invisible wall.

“An 「Ant」 has come.”

“Mm, No. 26.”

It had come to avenge No. 25.

But because of the brand, it could not approach.

From now on, we have to wander around with that in tow?

That’s savage, really.

Until now, we had killed them as they came, so I had not had the time to look at them closely.

The 「Execution Ant」 I finally got a proper look at was larger than a calf.

Because of the top-heaviness unique to insects, its round head was almost the size of a human torso.

With antennae and mandibles attached to a head that large writhing toward us, it was quite terrifying.

“As long as we maintain the brand properly, there won’t be a problem. Let’s go.”

At Kwon Mu-seop’s encouragement, I turned my eyes away from the 「Ant」.

They said the brand’s duration was at most 50 minutes, but most disappeared between 20 and 30 minutes.

So we had to cut through the mountain path quite busily.

It was about 2 hours later.

-Oh dear, Manager. Ant No. 3 is moving. If you keep going in the direction you’re going now, No. 3 will also attach itself to you.

We were on our way to renew my brand.

I had already thought that we would barely make it to the 「Stone Tower」, but now even a variable had appeared.

“That won’t do. Since it isn’t a connected number either, and though it’s a little early, it would be better to catch No. 26 here.”

But what was there to worry about?

Manager Kwon Mu-seop controlled even variables skillfully.

The problem was me.

“Do-un, you can shoot, right?”

I suddenly ended up standing on the test.

A test I could neither avoid nor fail.

A test on which the honor of someone who had completed his military service was at stake.