SOG Ch 168

Soon, they entered deeper into the waste disposal room. As soon as they crossed the threshold, a stench more fitting for a garbage dump than a disposal room hit them. It was a rotten smell strong enough to induce nausea. As they passed by rusty drums, Seon Jae-chan glimpsed the stretched-out skin of a dead buffalo’s head under the dim, dark lighting.

The waste disposal room was quite large. They passed dozens of foul-smelling drum piles and went deeper inside. When Lee Yundo, who was leading the way, pushed a drum aside, a narrow entrance was revealed.

It was a secret passage. One that connected to the nuclear power plant.

“…”

Jae-chan bent down to follow Lee Yundo. He gritted his teeth as his stomach, which had just been hit by Seon Eun-soo, folded and caused pain as if his insides were turning. No matter how hard he tried to lessen the impact, there seemed to be limits to cushioning the blow.

Fortunately, unlike the narrow entrance, the passage had a ceiling high enough to walk upright. Though the air was slightly musty, the walls were solid, like a regular corridor.

After walking for a while, they encountered another small exit. As Seon Jae-chan bent down, he was hit again by Seon Eun-soo under the absurd pretense of moving too slowly.

Although he was in a situation where he had no choice but to take the hits, the ringing in his head made him feel awful. The deteriorated physical condition due to unstable Esper wavelengths was also irritating.

However, as soon as they passed through the underground corridor of the nuclear plant and entered an isolated room, Jae-chan felt all his pain vanish instantly.

“Look, your nephew’s here,” Lee Yundo said, shoving Jae-chan into the room. Despite his upper body being tightly bound, Jae-chan managed to keep his balance and raised his eyes to meet his aunt’s gaze.

His aunt was also bound at the arms and upper body, and her hair was slightly disheveled, but thankfully she looked fine. She’s really safe. He felt the muscles around his mouth involuntarily soften from their tense state.

The two, who bore some resemblance, didn’t loudly greet each other. Seon Jae-chan silently sat down next to his aunt. “Fvck, what did you say?” Seon Eun-soo, having received a message through his earpiece, left the room, leaving only Lee Yundo with the two.

Jae-chan, after gauging the terrorist’s mood, quietly spoke first.

“Are you okay? You said you were in pain.”

His voice was tinged with guilt. He was already worried enough about her Esper condition, and now she had gotten caught up with Seon Eun-soo because of him. His aunt replied with a face as white as a sheet.

“Are you alright yourself?”

Seeing Jae-chan’s reddened cheeks, Gu Ji-eun felt anger rising.

“Did that Eun-soo bastard hit you?”

Jae-chan ignored the throbbing in his split lip and cheek as he answered.

“I’m fine. But because of me, you too… I’m sorry.”

“What are you talking about? Why are you sorry? That bastard is the crazy one!”

Gu Ji-eun looked at Jae-chan’s face with upset eyes for a while, then revealed how she was caught by Seon Eun-soo. Hearing that Seon Eun-soo had been targeting his aunt for a while, Jae-chan felt even worse.

“That Eun-soo, what’s happened to him? Has he really decided to live recklessly? And why is he after you?”

“I guess my running away was unlucky.”

Unable to tell her the full story, Jae-chan could only shrug.

For now, it was certain that the District 5 terrorists behind the current incident were either Black Swan or its predecessor organization.

Not only was it confirmed by the presence of the Technician, but on the way here, he had encountered over a dozen terrorists. “Fvck, they said that fang bastard died.” The familiar faces casually confirming the life and death of their comrades to Lee Yundo. Though he couldn’t remember their names exactly as they were small fry, they were individuals who had been part of Black Swan before the regression.

And Seon Eun-soo seemed slightly out of place among the terrorists who would become future Black Swan members.

Unlike the others who seemed to have been together for a long time, there was a strange sense of alienation, as if he was coldly detached. Almost like a temporarily hired mercenary.

‘That means he joined suddenly… If so, there’s a high probability that Seon Eun-soo wasn’t part of Black Swan before the regression.’

The reason Seon Eun-soo was recruited into Black Swan’s predecessor organization, unlike in the past, was probably due to his significantly lowered social standing. Unlike in the past when he never lost supporters even after fleeing to the American Union as an attractive, capable A-class mental Esper, his current position was different.

Who would have thought that dealing with the trio of Seon Eun-soo, Jung Yeon-oh, and others would lead to this kind of causality.

Besides Seon Eun-soo’s affiliation with Black Swan, there was something else that puzzled him even more. And, truthfully, the latter concern was weighing on his mind even more.

Just then, the person in question returned. Seon Jae-chan cautiously broached the subject to his brother, whose expression had hardened.

“When did you come back to the country?”

It was an uncharacteristically proactive question from someone who had been silent since their meeting, causing Seon Eun-soo to glance quickly at their aunt. Thinking his seemingly smart but naive brother might be acting up because of their aunt’s presence, he asked with a sardonic smile.

“I thought you’d gone mute, but now you’re chattering. Why do you want to know?”

“Just curious. I thought you were still in the American Union.”

Jae-chan replied calmly.

Seon Eun-soo briefly recalled the past at his brother’s question. There was an unregistered Esper under the control of Kim Young-ho who could create detailed illusions. This was the ability user who had staged the nuclear power plant fire and created the fog that led to the morning’s chain-collision accident. With his help, Seon Eun-soo had escaped from Rust County, then secretly infiltrated District 5 via plane and smuggling ship.

Of course, he had no intention of honestly revealing this to his brother. He crouched in front of Seon Jae-chan. He slowly patted the back of his brother’s head, covered with thin but voluminous hair.

“You really don’t know your place, asking all sorts of questions, huh?”

“Eun-soo, stop that with your brother and talk to your aunt.”

Gu Ji-eun intervened, unable to watch anymore, but Seon Eun-soo quietly pulled out his gun and pointed it at her.

“Shut up.”

“…Eun-soo.”

Before Eun-soo could get any ruder, Jae-chan interjected.

“How was life in the American Union? It didn’t seem like you to stay in such a quiet place for so long. Did you have ties to that area? Or did you choose Rust County on purpose to avoid people?”

Seon Eun-soo’s face contorted at the series of questions.

“Why would I choose that ant-piss of a town? If I wanted to avoid people’s eyes, a big city would be better!”

That isolated, gloomy countryside with almost no people was a place with absolutely nothing to do. He couldn’t express how terribly bored he was while unable to leave due to Go Woo-jin.

Seon Eun-soo looked at his younger brother suspiciously. He wondered if this bastard was deliberately asking despite knowing that Go Woo-jin had set things up in Rust County.

“…”

Meanwhile, Jae-chan’s eyes grew calm. The current Go Woo-jin had detained Seon Eun-soo in Rust County. According to the documents found in the Technician’s lab, Rust County had long-standing ties with the J Group, and it seemed Seon Eun-soo only joined Black Swan after the regression. Seon Eun-soo still detested remote towns like Rust County…. Combining the various pieces of information gathered so far, one conclusion was drawn.

Before the regression, Go Woo-jin had isolated Seon Eun-soo in Rust County.

Even if Seon Eun-soo had been a Black Swan spy at the time, detaining a terrorist far away in a foreign country wasn’t Go Woo-jin’s style.

Then, why? Jae-chan’s immersion in these questions was interrupted by Lee Yundo’s voice.

“Come out.”

Following the instruction, they left the room. They moved through a dim corridor towards the interior.

Moving from underground to underground, Jae-chan almost froze when they finally reached a vast space of unknown purpose.

“Boss.”

It wasn’t the first time Jae-chan had seen the person Lee Yoon-do bowed to in respect at the front. How many years had it been? The moment the well-built old man turned around, Seon Jae-chan quickly fixed his gaze on the floor. It was to avoid revealing the hostility spreading like wildfire inside him.

“A fine bait has appeared.”

However, hearing the distinctive voice that seemed to resonate like a vacuum tube, a question arose. Bait? Was he referring to them?

“We’ll start the broadcast.”

Lee Yundo reported. A buzzing sound echoed from the corridor they had passed through, and Seon Jae-chan’s eyes widened as he vaguely realized the nature of the sound.

*

The red-haired man, who had been rubbing his nose with his index finger due to the acrid smoke, suddenly looked up. “If you want to retrieve Esper Gu Ji-eun, come to Research Building 2.” Seon Eun-soo’s voice was clearly spreading through the ceiling speakers.

Given that they were playing a recorded broadcast, it seemed they were now trying to lure the S-class Esper to blow up Research Building 2. It looked like he would be able to watch the explosion, watch the fire, and watch the women from here.

“Huh… They were really there.”

The red-haired man, waiting in the corridor, laughed throatily as he saw the autopsy room door he had last visited suddenly fling open. The jerry can at his feet, which had been full of oil, rolled away with a hollow sound.

Just before, having found nothing, the red-haired man had set fire to all the autopsy rooms in the building. He had done it because he didn’t want to search among the corpses and thought he might enjoy some novel fun, never expecting that there would actually be people hiding.

Two women, scorched in various places by the fire, were hurriedly rushing out with a pregnant woman on a stretcher when they spotted him and were startled.