## Chapter 145 – Distance
“…Ugh, what is this? We came all the way here to have fun, and we haven’t even seen the ocean for almost three days. What’s Im Chanwoo even doing? You and Chaeyun were the last ones to see him, right?”
“I’m not sure either. I was worried, so I went to check on him, but the situation was already over… Unni said there was someone really dangerous, but when I went, there was nothing there.”
“…I didn’t expect that either. I don’t even know what happened in the first place.”
“…”
The group was huddled together in the hotel room. Some were sprawled out on the beds, while Seohee, Nabi, and I were sitting at the table with coffee, blankly staring out the window. It seemed like only Chanwoo was still having fun at that research facility. …I was worried for nothing. I went to help him because I thought he was in danger, but the situation was already over, and unlike my worries, Chanwoo was standing there perfectly fine, without a single scratch. He was so fine that he asked me to help him modify the brainwashing device as soon as he saw me…
What is this feeling? I’m glad Chanwoo is safe, but it’s also annoying…
“…Your face looks weird, Unni Songiran, it’s funny.”
“Save the jokes for later. What happened? You seem to know something about that pink-haired woman we met, Songiran. Explain it to us.”
Chaeyun rested her chin on her hand, gazing out the window, then glanced at my face. She smirked as if looking at something insignificant. Is my expression that strange? I raised my hand to touch my stiff cheeks when Seohee, who had been watching me with a disapproving look, narrowed her sharp eyes and asked me a question. Ah, right, we were talking about that… I cleared my throat to ease the awkward atmosphere and continued explaining what I had seen.
“I don’t know for sure, but that woman is probably the same type of human as Chanwoo. Someone who met the ‘Root King,’ inherited his power, and absorbed the power of the petals instead. That’s probably why she didn’t become like ‘me’ even after eating the fruit.”
The pink-haired woman I saw at the research facility had definitely eaten the fruit. If an ordinary human ate the fruit, their mind would mix with the mind of ‘us’ within the fruit, like me. And before long, they would completely lose control of their body.
But even in ‘my’ case, it’s an incredibly special situation. Originally, I should have completely lost control of my body to the being called ‘Lapius,’ but Chanwoo, an unexpected variable, suddenly interfered and reversed the flow of power, creating a being where ‘Iran’ and ‘Lapius’ were mixed together, which is who I am now.
“…So that woman could use that power freely, like Oppa?”
“No, it didn’t seem quite like that. At the end, she seemed a little strange, and… how should I put it… her whole vibe changed, like she became a different person.”
“Yeah, I felt that too on the way there.”
The ominous energy that Chaeyun and I felt when we were almost at the front gate of the research facility. That guy was probably driven by ‘something’ and used his power to forcibly take over the host’s body.
“…To do that, he would have to push out the Root King’s power that was left in that human’s body, and there were guys in the past who could push him back with force. One of them was there.”
One of the three people who abused the power of the petals to start a war in the past. One of our kind who exuded that unpleasant aura even in modern times.
“…It was probably a man named ‘Piadels.’ His role was ‘mediation,’ so he was that much stronger. But his personality was terrible. He loved women and alcohol, and he was a deceitful liar. I argued with him a lot because of that, and the Root King was always nagging him.”
…But even though he was a piece of trash, Piadels was one of the strongest among our kind. Even though he was resurrected in a human body and was incomplete, how did Chanwoo beat him? The opponent wasn’t complete either, but Chanwoo’s power wasn’t in a perfect state either…
“…What? Why did you stop talking?”
“…Sorry, I just had something to think about.”
The familiar warmth I felt after sensing Piadels’ power. I could still feel a bit of that warmth from Chanwoo when I met him again. But Chanwoo didn’t seem to know anything about it…
“…Anyway, there are three of those guys left, right? If we catch those three, it’s all over, isn’t it?”
Seohee, who had been waiting for me to speak, stood up from her chair and took out a pack of cigarettes. She opened the pack, took out the last cigarette, threw the empty pack in the trash, and called out to Nabi, who was sitting across from her, fidgeting with her drink with a troubled expression.
“Hey, go buy me a pack of cigarettes.”
“…I don’t have my ID.”
“…Tch, then Chaeyun, you… Where did she go?”
“She left a while ago.”
“Ugh, I’ll go buy them.”
Seohee put the cigarette she had in her mouth back in her pocket and put on a thin summer cardigan. As she was getting her wallet to buy cigarettes, she looked at me and said quietly.
“It’s not like those guys are coming here right now, right? And we’ll have to talk about this again when Chanwoo comes back anyway, so don’t overthink it and just relax. We came here to have fun.”
“…Right. We came here to have fun.”
Yeah, there’s no point in thinking about it like this right now. I need to fix my habit of worrying about things when something happens. I’ll ask Chanwoo about it later…
“…But we didn’t really get anything out of coming here. That woman ate the fruit too.”
“We got that half-baked kind woman with glasses? Her name was Minjung… Anyway, you’re in a similar situation to Nabi, so get along.”
“…Someday, I’ll take off my rank and fight you.”
Seohee threw a playful joke at Nabi with a smile, and Nabi looked hurt by the joke. Watching the two of them, I felt my head clearing up a bit.
“Take your time. It’ll probably take a while for Chanwoo to come back anyway.”
“Okay, well… there’s nothing dangerous anymore. I’ll be back…”
Only then did I feel the unnecessary tension leaving my body thanks to the relaxed atmosphere. The stiffness in my muscles eased, and the heat that had been building up spread throughout my body, releasing the tension with a warm languor. At that moment, she, who I didn’t even know was here, quietly opened her mouth.
“There’s still something dangerous.”
Sua, who had been lying quietly on the bed, sat up and spoke. She didn’t seem used to talking to people, as she fidgeted with her fingers.
“…There’s still something dangerous?”
“Huh? Didn’t you all know?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I met a man named Jung Ahwoon… I met him.”
——————————————————
“Oh, it’s getting a little noisy around here. Could it be that Chanwoo has finally found this place?”
“Ugh…! Ah, st, st, stop… My head…. Hegek…!♡”
“Shut the fuck up. Did you think I was that easy? Did you think I wouldn’t notice I was being watched?”
A dark, dusty space with a musty smell, with experimental tools scattered haphazardly. Judging by the A4 paper that had turned gray and was rolling around on the floor, it seemed like this was a closed-down laboratory that hadn’t been used in a long time.
Me and one woman were rolling around on the dirty floor that hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. My white coat, which was gradually turning gray like paper with dust sticking to it, was in stark contrast to the black. A syringe-shaped device was embedded in the head of the woman with short hair who was wearing a familiar black suit.
“That outfit, and one of the few female test subjects with data remaining… You must be NO. 2, right? I don’t know where NO. 3 is or what she’s doing, and NO. 1 is probably by Lize’s side.”
While Lize and NO. 1, who moved like her limbs, were distracted, I was stealing data on how to escape this place and the data I needed for my research. In the Busan branch’s database, I found out several interesting facts.
First, there were three unnamed test subjects stored by serial number. That was the giant man, NO. 1, and NO. 2, who was now in my hands. And NO. 3, who was probably still somewhere in this research facility.
“Research on using petals directly on the body, rather than inserting them into the brain, to enhance physical abilities. One of the three test subjects who survived that experiment… This will be useful as a replacement for Minjung.”
“Ah, geeck!♡ M, mov, higeuk?!♡ Stooo….!”
I firmly grabbed the limbs of NO. 2, who was twitching on the floor. And with my remaining hand, I fiddled with the device embedded in her head. A sonic wave generator that temporarily steals the intelligence and physical functions of the target, created with the data from this place. If I just press this button with this thing in her head…
“…Ah♡”
The limbs that had been struggling suddenly stiffened. And after shaking violently, they fell to the floor with a thud, and I could feel the strength leaving her body.
“…Ah…? Aebe…?”
Then, I looked at her as she drooled and shook her head. ….It’s for capturing special test subjects… It’s more useful than I thought? Still, since the device that was originally used as a special speaker was made in this makeshift way, the risk was considerable.
This woman suddenly attacked me while I was preparing to escape. If I hadn’t known I was being watched, I would have been caught in an instant.
“…To think I’d end up like this even after preparing a self-defense device…”
I put my hand on my forehead and felt a lukewarm, metallic, and fishy liquid sticking to it. And my right arm was broken. Pain and dizziness from the bleeding. I didn’t know which one I should be feeling. I grabbed my mind. I took out an anesthetic syringe from my pocket, put it on my right arm, and took out gauze to stop the bleeding from the wound on my forehead. I don’t have time to be doing this right now. Before Lize notices the change, I need to escape right now while she’s busy dealing with Chanwoo.
“…There’s an escape submarine not far from here…”
After quickly scanning the internal map of the research facility that I had downloaded, I looked down at NO. 2, who was lying on the floor, whimpering and leaking urine.
“This wound you left will last longer than you think, okay? So you’re going to have to work for me from now on.”
