## Chapter 99 – Black Root (5)
“…I think this is good enough.”
I rotate my shoulders, loosening my stiff joints.
I’ve been lying in bed for the past week or so, unable to get up,
and as I turn my neck this way and that, my body cracks and pops.
I get out of bed, grab a T-shirt lying nearby, and put it on haphazardly.
Then, I enter the walk-in closet in the corner of the bedroom and look at my body in the full-length mirror.
There are bruises all over, and bandages are wrapped around wounds that haven’t healed yet.
“….Ugh.”
I lightly press on a wound with my hand, and a dull pain makes my bones ache.
Well, it’s no wonder my body is in this condition after rolling around like that.
“…Good morning, Dr. Han.”
“Ah, Min-jeong. Did you sleep well too, Min-jeong?”
“…I do not require sleep. The computer handles the function processing in place of an overloaded brain…”
“Yes, yes. I know, but it’s just a formality, so don’t react so stiffly.”
“…Understood.”
Min-jeong, reflected in the mirror showing my body, appears,
bowing deeply to me in greeting.
The week I spent with her was like honey, but now that I think about it, I think I lacked self-control.
Unlike myself, I was just true to my instincts and devoured her like an animal,
but unlike before, I didn’t feel like that time was a waste, nor did I regret it.
“…Min-jeong.”
“Yes, is there something you would like to say…”
“…I felt good.”
“…Yes, I am grateful that you were satisfied.”
Min-jeong bows deeply again with a face devoid of emotion.
I smile at her and take off my glasses, opening the closet.
“Are you planning to go out? Considering the extent of your injuries, I do not recommend going out…”
“Well, I’m fine at this point, my arms and legs are moving perfectly.
And I’ve rested for the past week, so it’s time to get back to work diligently.”
I continue the conversation with her, who is worried about my condition, in a joking tone,
finally choosing clothes to wear and taking them out of the closet before slowly putting them on.
I take off the T-shirt I was wearing, take out a white shirt, put it on, and button it up one by one.
I put on a belt and pick up the glasses I had taken off, putting them on, making me look much neater.
“…Where shall I take you?”
“…Busan, to the ‘Ancient Weapon Research Society Busan Branch!’ Let’s go there!”
“Yes, understood.”
“Ah, right. Just a moment before that…”
I grab Min-jeong’s hand as she listens to my command and prepares to take the car keys hanging in the closet.
“…Is there a problem?”
“Could you help me with this?”
I hand her a tie.
Min-jeong looks at the tie for a moment, then takes it without a word,
“Yes, understood.”
She says, putting her slender arms around my neck.
“…Nice.”
I am in the best mood of my life right now.
It feels like I’m floating on a cloud.
But I don’t have much time to indulge in these feelings right now.
In about a week, they would have cleaned up both inside and outside,
and would slowly be taking the next steps, targeting me and the male subject, Chan-woo.
But they had their means to that plan, Min-jeong, stolen by me.
So their plan is easy to read.
To create a new ‘weapon,’ a power source is needed.
That was the blue and green fruit in this Seoul branch,
but since they were all taken away, the only power source left in the country is…
“…The purple fruit.”
The fruit stored deep within the fortress-like research institute in the Busan branch.
They will try to protect it because if they lose it, they will have no chance of winning.
Well, I wonder if the director has arrived in Busan by now?
“It’s done.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Min-jeong moves away from me, and I look in the mirror again.
I straighten the tie that is neatly tied and put on my jacket.
“…However, Doctor. The place you mentioned is too dangerous.
I will go there alone, so you should rest at home…”
“Hey, if Min-jeong goes alone? What are the chances of you coming out alive?”
“Close to 0%.”
Min-jeong tries to protect my safety to the point of obsession.
Well, I’m the one who programmed her that way, so I guess I can’t help it.
The Ancient Weapon Research Society Busan Branch, the most dangerous place,
the level of security is incomparable to this place, and if an unauthorized person enters…
Even Min-jeong, my best asset, would not survive.
“…But, what are you planning to do?”
“Don’t worry too much, I have a plan. Do you think I’m crazy enough to attack that place alone?
…I’m going to meet someone who will help me there.”
“Do you have a collaborator?”
“No? I can’t really call them a collaborator, and that person doesn’t like me.”
“…I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“I told that person the location, so they’ll definitely come. You can check then.”
I playfully stroke the cheek of Min-jeong, who is standing like a doll,
fix my jacket one last time, and walk out of the bedroom.
Well, I won’t be able to rest for a while.
—————————————————————
“…Is that the place?”
“Ugh…?! Y-Yes!! That’s it?!”
“Good, then that’s enough.”
I throw the man’s head I was holding onto the ground, and he collapses.
I dust off the hand that was holding the man, repeatedly clenching and unclenching it.
I try to shake off the strange tingling sensation in my hand, but it doesn’t go away.
“Ah, shit, it’s so prickly…!!”
What I just used on that man wasn’t the blue power I had, but Lapis’s power.
I thought I’d try out her newly acquired power,
but it seemed like it would take a long time to get used to it.
When I tried to use the power, I felt a strange tingling sensation all over my body,
and something with a greenish hue spewed out of my body.
At first, I wondered what it was, but it didn’t take long to figure it out.
The energy we all know and encounter most often in our daily lives.
“Ouch! Damn it, static electricity!”
I rub my hand on my clothes to wipe it off, shuddering at the tingling sensation.
It was none other than electricity, a current flowing through my whole body.
At first, I was worried about how to use this, but…
Without much thought, Lapis’s other power helped me.
Endless ways to use this power filled my head, and one of them was this.
I’ve heard that there is a small amount of electricity in the human body.
This man lying in front of me, I manipulated and moved the electricity in this man’s body,
and slightly touched his brainwaves, and he spewed out information as if he had taken a truth serum.
“…So it’s here.”
I take my eyes off the fallen man and turn my gaze back to the magnificent building.
I am standing below the building, which looks simple and luxurious like a modern art piece.
My cell phone rings inside my pocket as I look up at the large building.
I take it out and look at the screen to check who is calling.
“…Hello? Why all of a sudden?”
‘…Oppa, where are you now?’
The person who called was Seo-hee, but the person who answered was none other than Chae-yoon.
Her voice is a little gentle, but somehow sharp.
“….I’ll be right in, so calm down….”
‘…Haa, just tell me that straight. Where are you now?’
At her words, I lick my parched lips,
turn my head, and quietly read the words on the building’s exterior wall.
“…New Plant Research Institute Seoul Branch.”
‘…Why would you go there?’
“Ha, haha…”
The more the conversation continues, the more gentle her voice becomes, but it feels heavy.
So, I awkwardly laugh and hang up the phone before Chae-yoon can say anything else.
I turn off the phone and put it back in my pocket, looking up at the building again.
“…Those guys are here…”
Jeong Ah-woon, the information that creepy guy taught me.
When I heard that another fruit was in another research facility in Busan,
I thought I had to get it before Jeong Ah-woon.
But after gaining Lapis’s power and looking into the past she taught me,
my mind changed.
“The power in Busan…”
That power is dangerous. The blue power and the greenish power I got here.
There is something more dangerous than the power of Virgilago and Lapis.
That’s why I came here.
If I can’t survive here, I’m going to give up going to Busan.
“…Ha, it’s funny.”
It feels like yesterday that I was running away from these guys…
Now I’m coming to their base myself.
But a lot has changed since then.
“Eh, I don’t know.”
I scratch my head and move towards the building, which is emitting a bright light unlike the dark sky.
