MIM 33

Even if it ended up creating some embarrassing moments, Shin-woo thought it would all become memories. Rather than maintaining the image of a mysterious figure shrouded in secrecy or a survivor of a murder case, it might be better to approach the public more casually through social media. If used well, it could help with branding, as Jae-seung said.

Right now, someone else might be sitting in the chairman’s seat, but the face of Ma Corporation was ultimately Ma Jae-seung. It was clear that Jae-seung, as the majority shareholder, would eventually inherit that position once he completed his education and preparations.

Shin-woo, looking around the area, finally made a call. No matter how upset he was, Jae-seung rarely failed to answer his calls, so it was strange that there was no response even as the ringing continued. Checking the location tracking app, he found that Jae-seung was near the far back gate. There’s a spacious smoking area there. Since Jae-seung doesn’t smoke, the fact that he was loitering there suggested he was naturally drawn to places where people gather. He was someone who inherently liked people, even after being betrayed and hurt.

When Shin-woo arrived at the back gate with quick steps, Jae-seung was sitting alone on a bench. It was pitiful to see his large frame hunched over. Even though Shin-woo approached deliberately making noise with his footsteps, Jae-seung didn’t look up.

“The next class is in Building 5, which is quite far, so we need to leave now.”

There was no way Jae-seung hadn’t noticed the sweet drink being held out in front of him, yet he kept staring at the ground for a long time. After patiently waiting while looking down at his round head, Shin-woo finally saw Jae-seung stand up. Stepping back to face him, Shin-woo frowned slightly. The face he had expected to be either annoyed or sarcastic was instead shrouded in a deep shadow.

What change of heart had occurred in the brief moment he was away? Before Shin-woo could examine further, Jae-seung started walking. Contrary to expectations that he was heading to the lecture hall, he turned in a completely different direction.

“Where are you going?”

“I have something to check. I called a taxi, so you go on your own.”

Calling a taxi when they had a driver suggested he wanted to go somewhere secretly again. Yet it was just today that news broke about his visit to Bihyang.

“Everything ends up reaching my ears anyway, so let me just take you there.”

“Today,”

Jae-seung stopped abruptly and turned around. Under the clear sky, his dazzling silver hair swayed in the summer breeze. His pale green eyes looked down at Shin-woo coldly.

“Pack your things and leave immediately.”

Pain was evident in his contorted eyes. Shin-woo, who had been about to approach, slowly shifted his weight to his heels. He should have gotten used to this by now, but he never developed immunity to moments when his very existence seemed to hurt Jae-seung.

On the other hand, Jae-seung would develop immunity. Shin-woo believed that someday, everything would be alright for him.

“Leave, from the house,” Jae-seung said, leaving these last words before turning away. Shin-woo watched his retreating figure for a long time as it quickly disappeared from view.

He already knew where to go. Since he started living in a small room in the annex, he had always been prepared to be kicked out at any time. The nearest hotel to the mansion was about a 20-minute drive away. It was a place he had checked out in advance, positioned so that he could rush to Jae-seung whenever needed. All he had to do was move his belongings there immediately and request a long-term stay.

He felt cold. Only then did Shin-woo remember the iced chocolate in his hand, dripping water. After finding a trash can to dispose of the drink, he started moving without pause. There was a mountain of things to do.

* * *

Ma Jae-seung arrived as the sun was setting.

Ye-wook welcomed him happily and invited him inside. It seemed Jae-seung had spent half the day verifying many things, including Ye-wook’s identity and his younger brother’s death, before coming here. As he entered, he looked quite tired.

There had been rumors that Jae-seung suffered memory loss after Chairman Ma’s murder case, and meeting him in person confirmed it. He had completely forgotten that he had been a test subject for years. Well, that’s why it was possible for him to be accompanied by that Shin-woo. Now it made sense why he had even enrolled in the same school with that dreadful person.

A greedy murderer. Not content with killing the chairman, he had taken the position of Jae-seung’s guardian and likely gaslighted him until he became an adult, manipulating him from his side.

First, Jae-seung needed to be separated from Shin-woo. It shouldn’t be difficult once Jae-seung was reminded of the things he had forgotten. With a heavy heart, Ye-wook brought out his younger brother’s experiment journal, which he hadn’t been able to look at until now. The book, about three centimeters thick, was heavy, sometimes making him think it carried the weight of a soul. Perhaps his younger brother’s soul, unable to attain enlightenment due to the immense suffering, might be bound to it.

“This is when my younger brother was ten years old.”

Ye-wook showed the photo, trying to steady his trembling voice. He could feel the warmth from Jae-seung’s solid upper body as he leaned in close. His gaze naturally drifted to the body barely concealed by a single short-sleeved shirt. From the bulging veins on his forearms to his broad shoulders and muscular thighs, it was the flawless body of an Alpha.

If his younger brother had survived the experiments, could he have become such a perfect Alpha? No, it was just a delusion since the research had failed from the start. Ye-wook shook off the futile assumptions. Surviving was a stroke of luck, an anomaly. Ma Jae-seung was the only special case out of hundreds.

Jae-seung narrowed his unnaturally beautiful eyes. His light irises sparkled beneath long eyelashes.

“He doesn’t look ten.”

“That’s because his body grew rapidly. We had to keep buying new clothes because nothing fit.”

Jae-seung didn’t ask further and turned to the next page. Several close-up photos of inflamed skin from various angles appeared. Ye-wook had spent a long time just watching his sick younger brother suffer. Unable to bear it, he averted his gaze.

“After my younger brother died, I wanted to burn all these records… but I couldn’t bring myself to do it because these were photos taken over several years. Even if it’s an experiment log, it’s still pictures of my younger brother.”

His younger brother had hanged himself without even leaving a suicide note. He had no time to say goodbye to his remaining family or reflect on his short life. Although he put the rope around his neck himself, it was clearly murder.

“Do I have something like this too?”

Jae-seung’s long fingers slowly traced over the photos of inflamed skin. Seeing Jae-seung ask this with a flawless face, as if he had no painful memories at all, sparked jealousy in Ye-wook. If only he could have carved out his younger brother’s pain, he would have done anything. Ye-wook sighed softly.

“I don’t know. You and my younger brother, being direct family members of investors, weren’t isolated in the research facility. Records of other test subjects… other victims were all lost when the lab burned down. I heard they wiped all the data clean before the fire broke out.”

“Research facility?”

Jae-seung frowned, asking again. Even the small furrow between his brows on his sculpted, beautiful face seemed intentional. This was the first time seeing him in person since he was very young, and Ye-wook wondered if even his stunningly developed appearance was a result of the experiments.

Although he knew Ma Jae-seung was not at fault, every time he saw him, he was reminded of his younger brother. Ye-wook forced an awkward smile, tensing his lips to prevent them from twisting.

“You don’t know anything, do you? Well, that Shin-woo wouldn’t have told you anything.”

As soon as Shin-woo’s name came up, Jae-seung took a deep breath. Being indoors and with the sun setting, separation anxiety had been slowly creeping up on Jae-seung. Ye-wook, trying to calm his anger, didn’t notice this.

“There was a secret research facility for phenotype transformation studies. Shortly after your father died, this facility building also burned down in a fire. The horrifying thing is that over twenty bodies of researchers were found burned there.”

“…Huh, did they all… die?”

“Yes. But do you know what’s even more surprising?”

Ye-wook lowered his voice to a whisper. The knuckles on Jae-seung’s hand stood out as he gripped his knee tightly. His breathing was becoming increasingly rough and uncontrollable.

“The cause of death for all of them wasn’t asphyxiation, but carotid artery damage.”

All the researchers had been murdered. The police at the time concluded it was a terrorist attack by the Mangwol District group, citing that the message scrawled in red spray paint on the wall (‘A man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green’) was the same as the one left at the mansion when Chairman Ma was killed. In fact, the terrorism rate in Janggang City that year was over 30% higher than usual.

However, those who knew what research was being conducted in that building didn’t think so. From the choice of location to the thoroughness in erasing data, the culprit had to be someone deeply involved in the research. Moreover, the efficient method of slitting their carotid arteries instead of waiting for them to suffocate in the fire pointed to only one person as the perpetrator: Shin-woo.