Chapter 218

Translator: Dreamscribe

Seo-ha's vision went dark.

The light from the fluorescent tube on the ceiling shattered and rained down, then sank into pitch-black darkness. Just as his senses dulled to the point where he could no longer even feel the cold of the floor, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.

"Seo-ha! What was that noise?"

"Oppa?"

Mi-young's and Seo-eun's voices.

She normally respected her son's privacy and never opened his door without permission, but she had a bad feeling.

Bang.

Screams burst from both of them the moment they saw inside the room.

"Seo-ha! Wake up! Seo-ha, come on!"

With trembling hands, Mi-young gathered up her son where he lay collapsed on the floor. His forehead burned like a coal, yet his fingertips had gone cold, and the contradiction fit nothing she knew about medicine, which left her bewildered.

Seo-eun stood there blankly, a hand clamped over her mouth.

The oppa she knew had always been unhurried and steady. Smart enough that there seemed to be nothing in the world he didn't know, yet endlessly gentle with her and her alone.

Seeing him collapsed on the floor and groaning shook Seo-eun to the core. Her lips quivered, and she snatched up her phone.

"We have to call 119, Mom!"

Beep beep beep.

Her fingers kept slipping off the numbers. Her vision blurred over, but Seo-eun gritted her teeth and explained the situation to the paramedic on the line. The short wait for the ambulance felt as long as eternity.

Just as the rescue worker had instructed her, Seo-eun calmly undid her oppa's shirt buttons and propped his head on a pillow. Then her gaze happened to drift to the desk.

The doll sat there exactly as it always did.

Somehow, Seo-eun thought the duck's expression looked sad.

Wee-woo, wee-woo-

The wail of the ambulance rang out through the silent neighborhood.

The neighbors had all come out to the roadside to see whether something had happened. The paramedics swept in and loaded Seo-ha into the vehicle.

Seo-ha was moved onto an emergency room bed under blue lights. The medical staff swarmed him, checking his vitals and fitting an oxygen mask over his face.

"Sir, can you hear my voice? Can you tell me your name?"

Seo-ha gave no answer to the doctor's calls.

Mother and daughter sank weakly onto chairs outside the treatment room. Mi-young sat with her eyes closed and her hands clasped as if in prayer. Only then did the tension leave Seo-eun, and she turned to her mother and asked.

"Mom! Didn't some man give you a business card a while back?"

Seo-eun's voice brought Mi-young back to herself.

The business card.

Her wallet.

Mi-young shot to her feet and turned her bag upside down.

Receipts and coupons spilled out over the chair. She picked up the wallet and opened it, and there it was, a single business card tucked neatly inside.

Park Hyun-seok.

The government official who had insisted, over and over, that she call him first if anything ever happened to Seo-ha.

Rrrrring.

The call connected before the second ring.

-This is Park Hyun-seok.

"I, I'm Seo-ha's mother, Yoon Mi-young."

A brief silence passed.

-Ma'am, where are you right now?

"The hospital. Seo-ha collapsed. We called 119 and came to the hospital, but...."

His voice changed.

He spoke calmly, without a trace of alarm, like a man who had been waiting for this exact day.

"Please hold for a moment."

A low, rapid voice. Through the receiver she could hear him issuing orders to someone.

Mi-young felt a chill run down her spine.

-Ma'am, are you in the hospital lobby right now?

"Yes. The hallway outside the emergency room."

-Don't move from that spot. And you must not speak to anyone about Director Yu's condition except the doctors. That goes for any acquaintances who contact you as well."

"Sorry? Y-yes, understood."

-Our people will be there shortly. I'll be coming soon myself, so please don't worry too much. Director Yu is a man who must receive the strictest protection in the Republic of Korea. We'll do everything we can, so please trust us and wait.

Click.

Less than ten minutes after she hung up, the sound of military boots came from the entrance.

Patients and family members who had come in turned their heads in surprise. Men in black suits began surrounding the emergency room with flawless coordination.

But none of it registered with Mi-young. All she wanted was for her son to wake up safe and sound.

* * *

Bzzt-

Joseph broke off in the middle of a yawn and opened his phone.

"Gah!"

The moment he read the message that had come in over the secure channel, every trace of drowsiness fled.

[Operation Inherit]

-Anomaly detected in Tier Zero's movements. Currently believed to be in transport by helicopter.

-Condition unconfirmed; intelligence gathering in progress.

-Assigned agent is to stand by in mission-ready status immediately upon receipt of instructions..

-No independent action until orders are given.

His legs shook.

"Operation Inherit."

The operation to be carried out in the event of Tier Zero's death or an equivalent incapacitation.

Its purpose was to secure all of the subject's unpublished research materials, experimental data, and personal records, and transfer them through American channels. It was, naturally, an illegal operation, and since exposure could escalate into a diplomatic incident between nations, it had to be executed with extreme secrecy.

He had received thorough training before being posted here, and yet.

The calculations ran fast through his head.

If his condition was serious enough for helicopter transport, he had to be critical. How long until the lab went into shutdown?

Every step he needed to take was already committed to memory.

In his own estimation, he was a spy of natural-born talent.

After infiltrating, he had succeeded in winning the trust of Seo-ha and the other core members, and had risen all the way to the post of Utopia operations team leader. He had of course worked out which servers to search, and had memorized the locations of the emergency exits and the guards' shift-change times.

But it was an operation he had never once seriously believed would be executed.

Slip.

He slid his hand into the inner pocket of his lab coat.

What he found was a single cigarette stashed inside a pen case.

He had put it there thinking that if his cover was ever blown, he would ask for one last smoke. He pulled it out, tucked it between his fingers, and rose from his seat.

Step, step.

He climbed the emergency stairs toward the roof.

There was something grim and resolute about his retreating figure.

Creak-

When he opened the door, the clear Daejeon sky came into view.

"I'm a patriot."

He muttered it in a low voice, as if repeating it to himself.

He meant it. It was probably true that the American side held a substantial stake in Seo-ha's research. The necessity went without saying, and even in strictly legal terms, the operation was not entirely without grounds.

Click, click-

On the second try, a flame rose from the cheap lighter.

Hssss.

Harsh smoke pushed its way deep into his lungs.

"Cough!"

How long had it been since he quit? Years.

His head spun and everything swam in front of him.

Whoo.

Breathing out a cloud of smoke, Joseph thought.

'Why am I hesitating?'

It was just a mission.

He had come here on a mission in the first place, and nothing about that had changed. He hadn't volunteered in order to become friends with Theo, and he hadn't come to trade dumb jokes with Ben.

He certainly wasn't working on the other side of the planet so he could eat good food and enjoy a hike in the mountains.

"So why!"

Whooo.

The smoke spread out into the sky.

If the execution order came down, he would have to betray every one of them. If Seo-ha did wake up, and the team found out, what expressions would they wear?

Was this the anguish the double agents of the Cold War had lived with?

Embarrassing as it was, the honest truth was that he didn't want to disappoint them. The finest mathematicians in the world. Being recognized by them had made him happier than anything.

The questions wouldn't stop coming.

Was Operation Inherit something that could be forgiven, ethically speaking?

Even if they seized the research, who else had the ability to carry it forward? And what guarantee was there that it wouldn't be used for purposes contrary to the national interest?

His head was so tangled it felt ready to burst.

Seo-ha's guileless face suddenly came to mind.

'Joseph, I really think you fit in well with this team. My sister packed these for me this morning, would you like some?'

The dried persimmons he had pressed into his hand.

He'd said his mother had picked and dried them herself. The sweet taste of them seemed to flicker on the tip of his tongue.

"Joseph, what are you doing up here? Have you been smoking, too?"

Joseph's shoulders jerked at the sound of Ben's voice.

When he turned around, Ben was leaning against the doorway in his usual rumpled shirt. Ordinarily his innate spy's instincts would have caught the presence, but at the moment Joseph's head was a mess, national duty and human sympathy at war inside it.

"Ben?"

He hurriedly stubbed the cigarette out on the railing.

Ben stretched, as if nothing were out of the ordinary, and asked him.

"Want to all go visit him together after work? Apparently Seo-ha's been hospitalized for overwork, and Theo's pretty worried about him."

"S-Seo-ha is!"

Ben looked puzzled at how violently Joseph reacted.

"Sorry?"

"What's Seo-ha's condition?"

"I just told you. Overwork. Oh, right! You wouldn't know this, Joseph, but Seo-ha has pushed himself too hard now and then ever since our MIT days."

Thump.

The strength drained out of his stiffened legs. Joseph sank down where he stood, sniffling and repeating 'thank God' over and over.

Ben tilted his head, then came over with a gentle expression and comforted him.

"Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine. Though I had no idea you cared about Seo-ha that much, Joseph."

"It's nothing like that, so go away! Sniff."

"You're coming to visit him with us, right?"

"I'm coming, so just leave me alone! Sniff."

"I keep telling you, there's no need to be embarrassed. And cigarettes are bad for you, so make sure you quit!"

Ben patted his shoulder consolingly and stepped back.

Bzzt-

[Operation Inherit]

-No threat to Tier Zero's life.

-Operation suspended; stand-down.

"You could've sent that a little sooner!"

He shouted it at the sky in reproach, but inwardly he thought how truly glad he was that he wouldn't have to betray anyone.

* * *

Beep- Beep-

The machine gave off a steady tone, drawing a regular graph across the monitor.

Thin morning sunlight seeped in through the window. The smell of disinfectant drifted in from somewhere.

'A hospital?'

Seo-ha had regained consciousness.

But there was no strength in his body, and he couldn't open his eyes.

'Strange.'

Nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary, and yet something was different. It was the sensation of the world coming into sharp focus, like someone with poor eyesight putting on properly fitted glasses for the first time.

The complicated currents of thought that usually snagged on themselves now ran smooth, like a car on an empty road.

Seo-ha felt an inexplicable sense of liberation.

'Balance, is it?'

"Seo-ha! Are you awake? Are you coming to?"

His mother's cracked voice reached him.

When he forced his eyes open, gazes poured down on him all at once. A dozen or so doctors in white coats stood gathered around him.

"What is your name?"

The oldest-looking doctor among them looked at Seo-ha and asked.

"Yu Seo-ha."

"Do you know what today's date is?"

"Yes. Going by when I fell asleep yesterday, March 4th."

The doctors exchanged glances.

From behind them came the sound of his family letting out breaths of relief.

"Excuse me."

Someone shouldered his way in between the doctors.

Seo-ha recognized the face. The author of the clinical psychology textbook he had studied. Ezra Davis, the world's foremost psychiatrist and psychologist.

He thrust his face forward and stared straight into Seo-ha's eyes.

"Mr. Yu, have you heard a voice in your head recently that wasn't your own?"

"...No."

For the first time in his life, Seo-ha told a lie.

*****

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