98

“Ah-rang is alive?”

Even at the recent leaders’ meeting, Baek Sa had declared Ah-rang dead.

The idea of someone who was supposed to be dead waking up was impossible.

Ha-gyeom alternated his wide eyes between Baek Sa, who shot him a sharp glance, and Tae-seong, who looked startled as if he had slipped up.

“When?”

“It seems like it’s been a few hours. It’s such a deep location that the discovery was delayed. A worker went into the lab and then came out to inform us, but it seems Ah-rang’s condition isn’t good.”

“What about Dr. Kim?”

“Well, you’ll have to go see for yourself…”

Even Tae-seong, usually gruff in all matters, seemed shaken at the news of Ah-rang waking up. The only person in the room who didn’t appear flustered was Baek Sa. Ha-gyeom, on the other hand, felt as if he were paralyzed, electricity coursing through his body.

“…Ah-rang is alive.”

He repeated the name in his mind. How could someone who had supposedly died during a classified operation be alive? And what did it even mean to say they had “woken up”? The confusion was unbearable.

Thump, thump…

Since Tae-seong’s arrival, Ha-gyeom’s heart had been pounding even more violently, refusing to calm down. Curiosity and unease surged like an incoming tide. Yet, he couldn’t just stand there watching forever. Struggling to suppress his shock, Ha-gyeom climbed out of bed.

“What do you mean by that? How can someone… someone dead wake up?”

Baek Sa only responded with a sharp gaze, offering no answer. Instead, with an unreadable expression, he endured the silence before speaking to Tae-seong.

“Lead the way.”

Ha-gyeom had fully expected Baek Sa to order him to stay behind in the room. After all, it was his specialty to keep Ha-gyeom uninvolved in everything. But even though Ha-gyeom urgently grabbed Baek Sa’s arm, this time, Baek Sa did not coldly brush him off.

“Come with me. It’s time you knew.”

Knew what? The meaning wasn’t clear, but Ha-gyeom felt relief at not being left alone in the room. Whatever Baek Sa was hiding, Ha-gyeom now had the chance to uncover the truth, so there was no reason to resist.

“Let’s go.”

Tae-seong took the lead, illuminating the path. Holding tightly onto Baek Sa’s arm, Ha-gyeom took steps toward an area deeper than he had ever reached before.

As the three of them left the room, the monstrous creatures that had been pacing beyond the glass walls slowly grew still, as if they had fulfilled their duty to announce Ah-rang’s awakening.

---

The hallway was dark and damp, far deeper below than the location of the leaders’ meeting. Ha-gyeom had briefly glanced at the schematics of the place earlier, but it was still difficult to pinpoint exactly where they were now.

Baek Sa’s arm, which Ha-gyeom clung to the entire time, radiated warmth. In contrast, Baek Sa’s eyes, fixed ahead, were cold. Reflecting on the fear that must have consumed the guides forced into the classified operation, Ha-gyeom felt his blood run cold.

How long had they walked? Tae-seong, gripping his rifle and scanning the surroundings with sharp vigilance, stopped in front of an iron door at the very end of the hallway, past numerous others.

After keying in a password, Tae-seong suddenly pulled out a portable radiation detector from his belt. Even though this area was remote, it was unlikely to be outside the reach of the purification system. Ha-gyeom found himself wondering why radiation levels needed to be measured at all.

11mSv.

The reading was akin to the dose of a medical CT scan—not lethal to the human body but still a level that shouldn’t exist within a purified system. Ha-gyeom’s expression stiffened for a moment, and he promptly emitted a purification wave. Tae-seong measured the levels again within the wave’s range.

0.1mSv.

The significantly reduced level was to be expected within the purification wave. For Ha-gyeom, a guide, it wasn’t a particularly difficult task, though Tae-seong gave him an appraising glance as if impressed. Despite this, Tae-seong appeared noticeably relieved and finally offered an explanation.

“The worker who reported the situation suffered radiation exposure.”

“Did they go outside the facility before?”

“They said they hadn’t. Judging by the worker’s condition, the levels might increase if we get closer to Ah-rang.”

A flicker of irritation crossed Baek Sa’s face. Tae-seong, perhaps also uncomfortable with the strange sensation of being shielded by the purification wave, furrowed his brows. Ha-gyeom, however, remained unfazed.

His curiosity about what lay beyond the tightly shut iron door burned brighter. What kind of classified operation had Ah-rang been involved in that made the fact of his survival a secret? And why, as a guide, was Ah-rang not purifying contamination but instead emitting radiation?

Tae-seong eventually opened the door and stepped inside. He walked toward the faint light within, periodically measuring radiation levels. Although the numbers remained stable within the wave, the uncertainty of what they might be beyond it kept Ha-gyeom on edge.

Creak, creak…

The heavy sound of the door echoed ominously as they ventured further inside.

The chilling fact and the eerie sound from an unknown source heightened the tension in the air. The sound of their footsteps echoed unnaturally loudly, likely because of the high ceilings. The damp, musty smell and the sticky humidity sent chills creeping up Ha-gyeom’s spine, refusing to subside.

As they moved further into the dark hallway, the faint light ahead suddenly intensified, flooding their surroundings with a blinding brilliance.

Ha-gyeom almost let out a cry when he saw the figure of a person sprawled in what appeared to be a laboratory, visible through a glass wall.

“…!”

The person was clearly dead.

The body lay collapsed on a stainless steel table, barely retaining its shape. The flesh had melted and dripped down, pooling in a large puddle of blood on the floor—likely blood spilled before the radiation exposure had taken its toll.

“Dr. Kim is, as you can see, in this state,” Tae-seong said grimly.

As Ha-gyeom struggled to suppress his shock, Baek Sa turned his head to look elsewhere, focusing on a particular spot.

Ha-gyeom followed his gaze. In the adjacent room, connected to the laboratory, a woman sat on a bed, looking directly at them.

“…”

That must be Ah-rang.

Her starkly white skin stood out, a strange contrast to her sleek black hair. Her delicate and refined features were striking, but her eyes were chilling—empty like a deep, dark well, yet unsettlingly piercing.

Ah-rang’s gaze shifted, sweeping over Tae-seong, Baek Sa, and finally Ha-gyeom in turn. Her eyes then followed the faint circular movements of Ha-gyeom’s purification wave.

In that instant, Ha-gyeom felt a shiver he could not suppress.

Her energy, which he instinctively sensed as a fellow guide, was not the usual soothing blue of a purification wave but a sharp and hostile red. The nature of her energy was so twisted and unnatural that it seemed otherworldly.

How could one even describe such a thing?

Her energy didn’t purify contamination but instead resembled a black hole, drawing in and releasing monstrous energy. The inability to discern its purpose or intent, combined with the knowledge that she emitted dangerous levels of radiation, filled Ha-gyeom with fear.

This was something he had never encountered before.

“Compared to the last time, you look almost presentable now,” Baek Sa finally broke the tense silence.

Tae-seong asked cautiously, “What did she look like the last time?”

“Not much better than that.” Baek Sa gestured with his chin toward the melted body of Dr. Kim.

Ha-gyeom’s eyes widened as he finally grasped that, despite radiating harmful levels of radiation, Ah-rang’s appearance remained intact.

Several tense minutes passed as Ha-gyeom observed her with a pounding heart. Without a word, Ah-rang continued to study Ha-gyeom’s purification wave before suddenly locking her gaze onto Baek Sa.

“…”

The deep darkness in her eyes flared momentarily, as though ignited by an unspoken fury. In that instant, Ha-gyeom’s chest tightened, the sheer weight of her resentment sinking into him.

Once, Ha-gyeom had asked Baek Sa a childish question while they were at a playground. “Did you like Ah-rang?” It was a jealous query, and Baek Sa’s denial still echoed in his mind.

“If I had liked her, I would have saved her.”

At the time, Ha-gyeom hadn’t understood the implications. Now, it sounded entirely different. Did he mean he couldn’t save her, or that he didn’t intend to?

If Baek Sa truly acted as he did, it was no surprise that Ah-rang harbored such bitterness toward him.

To Ha-gyeom, it was strange and out of place to see Baek Sa as the target of someone’s resentment. Even imagining him expressing guilt instead of his usual coldness was beyond Ha-gyeom’s comprehension.

Watching the charged tension between Baek Sa and Ah-rang, Ha-gyeom couldn’t help but feel uneasy. There was clearly a story here that he didn’t know.

Bang!

The dreadful feeling of sinking into the abyss was suddenly shattered by the loud sound of the door bursting open.

“Ah-rang woke up?!”

Assemblyman Tak entered, still in his pajamas, gasping for breath. He hurriedly pressed himself against the glass wall separating him from Ah-rang. Yeo Jin-joo, who was supporting him with her purification wave, smiled faintly, as though she had found hope.

“I knew it…”

But Ha-gyeom’s attention was drawn back to Ah-rang. Her intense gaze shifted from Baek Sa to Assemblyman Tak, her eyes narrowing as they locked onto him.

Ha-gyeom felt a chill as he noticed her trembling pupils. The resentment she had directed at Baek Sa had transformed into something entirely different—pure rage.

Perhaps it was even deeper than rage. The raw pain in her expression was unmistakable.

Unwittingly, Ha-gyeom felt himself absorbing that emotion. As a fellow guide, it was natural for him to sense energy, but feeling someone’s emotions so vividly was unheard of.

‘Why… why can I feel it all?’