053 – Poison that Kills When Eaten #1
“Where…?”
A middle-aged man in a gray suit and glasses trembled.
The badge on his chest, flashing in the sunlight seeping through the expensive balcony, was the final straw that made the middle-aged man lose his temper.
“Where the hell are you making noise!”
Pallak-!
Yoo Dogwan dropped the newspaper without hesitation, which had made the morning news noisy.
The contents of the paper scattered across the table looked flashy at a glance.
“Shocking! Did the president really deal with terrorists?”
“The accounts tied to Billionaires have been revealed─.”
“Seo Do-cheol, this b*stard has suddenly pulled a troublesome stunt, hasn’t he? Publicly advertising something everyone in the know already knows about? Is this the drug?”
“Father, what you mean by ‘drug’…?”
Son Yu Taeyang asked his father, who was visibly agitated.
Yoo Dogwan raised his voice, his patience seeming to hit its limit.
“Rat poison! A drug that kills when eaten! And yet, I have no choice but to take it? If the leader of the opposition stays quiet, that’s suspicious too. Seo Do-cheol, is this b*stard planning to use me like a hunting dog?”
This was an extremely sensitive and delicate matter.
Without distinction between ruling and opposition parties, there had been much entanglement with illegal awakened ones. In a way, they were unwillingly attached like Siamese twins.
It was a situation where hastily performing surgery might end up hurting themselves, and they were waiting for a better opportunity, but they never expected things would escalate like this.
‘Seo Do-cheol, if you do this, even you won’t get away unscathed, but why? Why have you suddenly done this?’
Yoo Dogwan wondered what the chairman of Seonam Group was thinking. Depending on the situation, there was no reason he couldn’t play the role of a dog that bites the president.
To some extent, it was useful for Yoo Dogwan. It would be an excellent opportunity to boil an unruly president who had broken free from his leash.
“Father, speaking of which, I’d like to mention something I told you last night. You said you would think about it by morning. Have you?”
Yoo Dogwan thought for a moment, recalling what he had discussed with his son last night but couldn’t remember.
“What were we talking about?”
“About finding Yeorum. There’s someone I know. Personally, I don’t like the guy much, but he seems trustworthy. How about delegating the task to him?”
“Ah, yes. That’s what we talked about. Anyway, how come that guy keeps wandering around at such an important time? I guess he hasn’t shaken off his stray cat habits even after raising him.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“So this is why a person’s origin is important. Education! Bloodline! As I’ve lived, I’ve realized there’s no way to ignore such things. No matter how well you treat someone you picked up off the street, they never shake off their ingrained habits.”
Yu Taeyang feigned agreement and just nodded. He knew that his father Yoo Dogwan had no affection for adoptive daughter Yu Yeorum.
The way Yoo Dogwan dealt with her was more like handling a weapon than a daughter.
He was vaguely aware that his father and some researchers made Yu Yeorum do “excessive tasks” in the lab.
If she remained healthy, perhaps it would be better for his younger sister to leave this house.
“Yu Taeyang, go find your sister. If Nam Tae-geon, that lunatic, declares martial law, you’ll need her power.”
# # #
It was shocking.
At the school’s popularity election, I didn’t receive a single vote.
“How could I not get even one vote? I’m losing faith in life.”
It was pure despair.
I was about to bury my face in my desk and cry when Bangdaengi tapped me on the back.
“Hey, Hanamjin! What are you saying? This is the F class president election. Your name shouldn’t even be on the list! You’re in the D class!”
“Is that right?”
I thought I could influence even the F class president election now that I’m in D class. Guess I was wrong. I need to step up my game.
Anyway, after Yu Yeorum and Seugal went missing, ‘Kim Samsun’ was elected as the F class president.
Kim Samsun.
Honestly, I don’t know who she is.
Is she the right person to be president?
I wasn’t the only one thinking this. There was someone questioning the election.
It was Prince Juhyun from the F class.
“Why shouldn’t I be the president? As the former vice-president, I should replace Yu Yeorum and become president, right?”
In other words, he was demanding the impeachment of the F class president.
The students in the F class thought, “Hey! You’ll have to give up your position soon anyway because you caused trouble. Let’s appoint someone who can do it consistently and quietly.”
The F class was already split in half due to the disappearance of Seugal and Yu Yeorum, caught in internal strife.
Then what about our D class?
Thanks to the new class president Cheon Yura, things were relatively peaceful.
Waggle waggle, clatter clatter – then why is the D class atmosphere so noisy?
“Is it true that the President dealt with the Billionaires?”
“I’ve heard talk of impeachment.”
“Hey, Mincheol, your dad is the congressman, right? Haven’t you heard anything?”
It was a chaotic day.
Walking home with friends, Bangdaengi, who was licking the ice cream bought from the snack shop, got angry.
“Ugh, it’s so annoying!”
“Why? Because the ice cream keeps shrinking every time you eat it?”
“No, it’s something else, but when you think about it, that’s annoying too! Why does ice cream keep shrinking as you eat it? It’d be great if there was ice cream that grew instead as you ate!”
Aguaaguaqua-.
Bangdaengi Baek Yeo-ul bit the ice cream like an alligator, swallowing it whole.
The little girl pulled a piece of paper from her bag.
“This is about the upcoming midterm exam. It said we’ll enter under active Awakeneds for practical training. I have to work under Jeon Somi, which is really annoying.”
Who’s Jeon Somi?
While I was thinking hard, Chang-sik patted me on the back.
“He’s talking about the model. The one who got embarrassed at Seugal’s party.”
Ah, that woman.
Bangdaengi is going to do the internship under her, exploring the Great Labyrinth.
It seems our “No Leftover Day” group will also be scattered for the midterm.
I’ve been assigned to an internship as well, but it’s quite problematic.
For some reason, I ended up under that Jin Ramen girl. I just have to avoid getting caught that Seugal and Yeorum were kidnapped.
“By the way, I haven’t seen Tae-sung lately.”
Chang-sik looked around.
Our friend Geum Tae-sung seemed to have been very busy lately.
Bangdaengi then asked in a low voice.
“Is Tae-sung acting weird? He leaves school immediately when classes end. Has he maybe gotten a girlfriend? Is he hiding her at home?”
“!”
Himchan-.
Deoksun, who was calm and quiet, shivered, so Bangdaengi patted her back and said, “That can’t be true!”
But I thought there was probably some truth to what Bangdaengi said.
After all, I also hide women at home and usually have to go home immediately after school.
Today though, Bangdaengi invited me over to her place.
“Come over to my house today! I made too much lunch to fit in my bag!”
Bangdaengi’s lunch would become Seugal’s daily ration.
I had no choice but to follow her to her house. When we arrived, it was very different from what I remembered.
Not only the neighborhood but also the house’s appearance had changed.
“Our house was sold at auction, so we had to move.”
They were evicted from the original mansion. The new house wasn’t very far from where I live.
A rundown area.
“You can just come in! Mom and Dad are out for work.”
The house was as old as the one I live in now.
The dusty and shabby yard lined with jars of unknown purpose seemed pretty chaotic.
Nevertheless, Bangdaengi, who didn’t seem embarrassed by the shabby house, carelessly took off her shoes and waved me in.
“Come on, hurry!”
Why was she urging me so much?
When Bangdaengi led me to her room, she even crawled into the bed covers. It looked exactly like an otter burrowing into its hole.
“Hanamjin! Come inside the covers! Hurry!”
“What is it?”
I entered under the covers as well, thinking it might be a trick, when suddenly, something brightly lit up my face.
“Bioluminescent Spider Kangkang!”
-Gee-!
A spider glowing with bioluminescence.
Even my hair stood up.
A bioluminescent spider! That is truly impressive!
“How is it? Isn’t it amazing? It seems like Kangkang has the concept of ‘bioluminescence’!”
“I didn’t expect much, but it really is impressive.”
Yining doesn’t have bioluminescence, so I’m jealous.
Anyway, Baek Yeo-ul was secretly raising a demon beast.
A totally eccentric high school girl.
“That spider dances when I clap! Watch!”
Dum-dum-dum.
Watching Kangkang’s bizarre tricks for some time, it soon became four o’clock in the afternoon.
As I thought it was time to go back, Bangdaengi said,
“Aren’t we supposed to go to our internship locations from tomorrow?”
As Bangdaengi said, starting tomorrow, due to the midterm exams, we wouldn’t go to school normally but directly to our internship sites. She will explore the Great Labyrinth with the model.
A gathering of second-tier explorers.
Bangdaengi was somewhat worried about going toward the Great Labyrinth filled with all kinds of traps and dangerous beasts.
“But what exactly is this ‘Great Labyrinth’? Appearing out of nowhere in the world like that feels strange, doesn’t it?”
It is indeed strange.
Even for me, who has come from the future back to the past, the true nature of the Great Labyrinth is just as mysterious.
“I did some research for the internship. Apparently, this ‘Great Labyrinth’ is part of the palace where the Fairy King used to live. It’s the land of fairies!”
Bangdaengi Baek Yeo-ul’s eyes sparkled like a little girl who believes in Santa Claus.
Fairies. That’s interesting.
“Thinking about it, maybe Seugal disappeared inside the ‘Great Labyrinth’? She could have been kidnapped to the fairy’s realm, and no one could find her.”
That’s a very intriguing hypothesis.
It really is.
# # #
When I returned to the basement, two female students were lying down facing the wall.
Here, unlike outside where the midterms and impeachment were being noisily discussed, it feels like none of that even matters.
“Did you fight again?”
There were scratches on the faces of Yu Yeorum and Seugal. They had attacked each other with nails and teeth, pulling each other’s hair.
Fustle-fustle.
Yu Yeorum sat up.
“That person tore my blanket.”
The new blanket I gave her had been shredded as if attacked by wild beasts. It was clearly reflective of Seugal’s personality, damaging things she couldn’t possess.
“What! What am I supposed to do about that?”
Without me saying anything, Seugal was already growling.
I spoke to her,
“Seugal, we’re going for a walk today.”
It was a full moon today, making Seugal unusually weak. This marked one month since she was kidnapped.
“…A walk?”
Seugal’s eyes went wide. She then smirked, glancing at Yeorum.
That’s the look of showing off something others don’t have.
Yeorum, hearing the word ‘walk,’ frowned heavily, as if greatly disturbed.
I thus led Seugal out of the house.
Even with a collar on, Seugal was grinning as if having a great time.
“It’s been so long since I last enjoyed fresh air.”
I led Seugal toward the abandoned plant.
Looking at me with her thin eyes, Seugal said,
“What’s this? Why are you bringing me to such a secluded place? What do you plan to do? It’s scary. You pervert.”
Contrary to her words, her face looked at ease.
A face that was sure I wouldn’t harm her in any way.
And so, I raised my palm and slapped her face with a “Chap!”
“…Aaaah!”
Seugal, who had always been haughty even while being held hostage, screamed miserably as she fell over. Her red eyes instantly burned with fury and hatred as they glared at me.
“d*mn it, what are you doingooouuuuugh!!”
“Seugal, I’m not the person watching over you. I’m your kidnapper.”
Lately, Seugal had it too easy.
Though she promised to cooperate with conceptual awakening when I brought Yeorum, she still hasn’t shaken off her arrogant attitude.
Was this what future Seugal wished for?
No, probably not. Therefore, I willingly took on the role of a bad character.
Seugal might hate me now, but originally, captors and hostages were meant to have this kind of relationship.
And I had something personal I wanted to do too.
“I’m also going to make some rat poison. It kills when eaten, but I won’t have a choice. Since it has to be in tomorrow’s morning newspaper, pose nicely for a picture.”
Tiring-!
I raised my phone’s camera to start video recording as Seugal’s eyes filled with even more venom.
“Yahoooo! You b*stard Hanamjinnnnn!”
“I can’t use this audio.”
