DP Episode 110

Episode 110

Seo-joon, who had briefly closed his eyes at the staff quarters in the research base, was back to preparing for his return to Korea. Hee-min, busy discussing something endlessly with the researchers, hadn’t been seen for some time and seemed to have stopped sleeping altogether.

After a quick wash and change of clothes, Seo-joon stepped outside first and took out his phone while waiting for Hee-min. The phone in his hand emitted a couple of rings before a familiar face appeared on the screen.

“Lieutenant…”

Cha Yeon-woo’s disheveled face filled the frame, his features hazy with sleep. Seo-joon’s lips unconsciously softened into a smile.

“Yeon-woo, it’s time to get up.”

“Mmm…” Yeon-woo groaned softly, burying his face into the pillow. The sight was so endearing that Seo-joon’s heart ached with sympathy, and his face involuntarily twisted with worry.

“If you’re this tired, why not ask Song-hee to let you skip the morning classes?”

He felt uneasy remembering how he had coaxed Yeon-woo to sleep earlier, calming his restless murmurs late into the night.

“Are you coming back today, Lieutenant?”

Peeking from the pillow with swollen eyes, Yeon-woo looked at Seo-joon.

“Not sure yet. It depends on when Doctor Kang finishes his work.”

Yeon-woo, rubbing his eyes, suddenly flashed a soft smile.

“You giving me a wake-up call is really exciting.”

“Plenty of reasons to get excited, I see,” Seo-joon replied with a chuckle. His gray eyes, gazing warmly at Yeon-woo’s every change in expression, reflected unrestrained affection.

“I miss you already…”

“I miss you too.”

“When you’re back, Lieutenant…”

Still hazy with sleep, Yeon-woo sounded even softer and sweeter than usual, his voice a gentle murmur.

“Please kiss me a lot. All day long… Hug me, stay with me…”

“Nothing else on your mind?” Seo-joon teased lightly.

“…Something else?” Yeon-woo’s drowsy eyes blinked slowly before dropping. Even through the small screen, Seo-joon could see the tips of his ears and the corners of his eyes turn bright red. His cheeks, fresh from sleep, flushed pink almost immediately.

Seo-joon found himself captivated. The adorable, tender sight swept away the harsh realities of the research base, the gate specimens, and his earlier conversation with the No-Name.

“What were you just imagining, Yeon-woo? Acting like a little pervert, thinking strange things first thing in the morning.”

“Mmm…” Yeon-woo groaned, clutching Seo-joon’s pillow tightly in his arms as if determined to crush it.

“…I really want to see you, Lieutenant.”

Yeon-woo’s voice, clearer now, was laced with a raw earnestness. His blue eyes, now fully awake, gazed into the screen with unspoken longing.

I want to hold you. I want to touch you. I want to kiss you… Every unvoiced desire shimmered plainly in his gaze.

Seo-joon knew Yeon-woo’s body was likely warm with yearning now. Under different circumstances, he might have stepped into a private space and indulged in a passionate call with Yeon-woo. Watching Yeon-woo, still soft with sleep, yield to bliss would have been tempting.

But the fleeting fantasy dissipated as reality intruded.

“Hello.”

Seo-joon turned his head toward the voice and quickly addressed Yeon-woo.

“Yeon-woo, I have to go now.”

Looking fondly at Yeon-woo, who was still clinging to the pillow, Seo-joon smiled gently.

“I’ll call you again.”

“Yes, Lieutenant. I’ll message you.”

The call ended, and Seo-joon pocketed his phone, focusing on the man approaching him.

“Pleasure to meet you,” the man said, extending a hand.

He appeared to be in his mid-to-late 40s, dressed differently from the other researchers. It was clear he wasn’t a fieldworker.

“Apologies for the delay. I just returned from a trip to another base,” the man added.

Seo-joon shook hands, feeling a vague sense of unease. The man’s pale green irises shimmered faintly as he continued.

“It’s your first time setting foot on foreign soil as a No-Name, isn’t it?”

Seo-joon narrowed his eyes slightly at the man. He clearly knew who Seo-joon was. Officially, Seo-joon was here as a researcher, and the fact that he was a No-Name was known only to a select few in critical positions, including the director.

Who exactly was this man…?

“Let me ask you something. Now that the No-Name has left Korea, do you think the gates there will open… or remain closed?”

Seo-joon instinctively surveyed his surroundings. The wide area, reserved for aircraft at the base, was deserted.

It was just the two of them.

“….”

Seo-joon refrained from asking the man’s identity. He already knew from Hee-min what this was about. Seo-joon was no longer an oblivious flower in a greenhouse.

“A difficult question, isn’t it?”

The Deputy Director of IGTS. The one who had once sent killers, including Viktor, to provoke my rampage.

It was him. Seo-joon instinctively knew. His gaze, previously softened from speaking with Yeon-woo, now grew cold as he silently watched the man.

“Then, a second question,” the Deputy Director said with a smile.

“If a No-Name from Korea were to go on a rampage in the U.S., where would the gates disappear? In the U.S., or Korea?”

Seo-joon’s gaze shifted briefly to the man’s arms, clasped behind his back. A fleeting thought crossed his mind: Could he be hiding a weapon?

But no matter how infamous this man might be for his madness, he likely wasn’t foolish enough to attack a No-Name from an allied nation in the middle of NASA’s joint research base.

“If you want to confirm it through me,” Seo-joon said quietly, meeting the man’s eyes, “I won’t stop you. But is satisfying your curiosity worth more than your life?”

His voice was low, yet each word carried weight.

“I assure you, it would be quicker for me to kill you than for you to make me lose control.”

The Deputy Director chuckled softly.

“Of course. I value my life, too.”

His clasped hands relaxed and moved forward. Seo-joon’s sharp eyes followed every movement. The back of the man’s hand came into view, empty.

“The prevailing theory is that the range of gate manifestations is determined not by a No-Name’s current location but by their point of origin.”

The man finally revealed both empty hands, palms up, and continued.

“Even if I were to provoke you here, it might only benefit Korea. Why should I take such risks for another country?”

Seo-joon, confirming the man wasn’t armed, finally shifted his gaze and turned his body slightly. Standing side by side, the two looked out over the expansive runway.

“Have you met Mr. Donovan yet?” the Deputy Director asked.

Seo-joon gave a curt nod, prompting a response.

“Mr. Donovan doesn’t like me very much.”

Seo-joon recalled the words Eric had used to describe the Deputy Director. The sentiment went beyond dislike—it was outright hatred.

“I’ve conducted many experiments on Mr. Donovan,” the man admitted, a faint smile curling his lips. “He wasn’t very cooperative, but his contributions were crucial to perfecting the gate specimens.”

The reason for Donovan’s hatred was now crystal clear. Before the term “No-Name” was even coined, Seo-joon himself had been subjected to endless sampling under various pretexts, his body exploited as casually as breathing. Those samples were consumed in countless studies both domestically and at NASA bases.

Since Hee-min had become the director of Korea’s Gate Research Institute, such incidents had significantly decreased for Seo-joon, but it seemed Eric hadn’t been as fortunate.

“Have you seen it? That… thing,” the man asked.

“I have,” Seo-joon replied tersely.

Even if he didn’t want to, the grotesque image of the silicone specimen in the tank lingered vividly in his mind.

“Isn’t it beautiful?”

Seo-joon turned his head sharply to look at the man, uncertain if they were even thinking of the same thing. But the Deputy Director, unbothered by Seo-joon’s horrified gaze, continued speaking.

“To replicate the form of a god with human hands… isn’t it truly marvelous?”

Seo-joon furrowed his brows, wondering if he had misheard. But no, the man had clearly said “God.”

“Do you think of that thing as a divine being?” Seo-joon asked, his voice edged with disbelief.

“It is everywhere, yet palpable. It is threatening, yet kind. It exists without form, yet has a form. At times…”

The Deputy Director’s eyes met Seo-joon’s, calm yet alight with an undeniable intensity.

“It is overwhelming.”

He was quoting Sergey Onopko’s words from a decade ago.

“We humans still don’t understand the limits of the universe. If something could embrace not just millions, but countless universes within its expanse, what else could we call it but a god?”

A chill ran down Seo-joon’s spine, creeping up to the base of his skull. The man’s pale green eyes glimmered eerily. Seo-joon reflexively glanced at his hands again. They were still empty.

“Can you fathom how insignificant this Earth must seem to such an absolute being?”

The tension, more potent than any Seo-joon had felt at their initial meeting, stretched taut between them. The Deputy Director stepped closer. Seo-joon, unconsciously, took a step back.

The man’s unwavering, glowing eyes bore into him, filled with a serene yet unyielding madness.

“You… are nothing more than calamities bestowed upon humanity by a god.”

Seo-joon’s breath hitched, held captive by the intensity of the man’s gaze. His own eyes narrowed as he regained composure.

“Was the rampage of the Australian No-Name… your doing?”

The Deputy Director took another step forward. This time, Seo-joon didn’t retreat.

“And if it was?” the man countered, a faint smile playing on his lips.

TL/N: Okay chat this is my post depression era im not the same person who translated the first 109 chapters. Please have some mercy on me as im tryna complete this novel and my brain isnt braining.