“Thank you. If it hadn’t been for you, I’d probably still be arguing with Dasom and making her suffer even more. I won’t forget this favor, and I’ll repay it someday, no matter what. Even if I have to stake the name of Seolchang Eunga.”
“It’s fine. But if you really want to thank me, repay that favor to Haneul instead of me. And don’t make her work so hard.”
“That… I’ll think about it.”
I convinced Seong Dasom through Eun Suhyeok.
My plan had succeeded.
It was thanks to him, who had already been worried about her, actively taking action based on my advice.
She confessed everything about the Wing Project being carried out by Gwangmyeong Seongga, and after realizing how serious the situation was, he asked me and my friends for help and set everything in motion.
‘To be precise, he asked me—the one who tipped him off to make Dasom sunbae promise to side with her no matter what happened…. But I told him to persuade her, not date her. What is with this sunbae?’
Though there had been no direct mention of it,
when we saw Seong Dasom and Eun Suhyeok appear with their arms linked, exchanging deep and intense gazes, we could all subtly tell that their relationship had progressed.
They were definitely dating.
‘You’d have to be an idiot not to know.’
Still, shouldn’t they restrain their public displays of affection in front of everyone?
The student council president and vice president, no less….
They were being a real nuisance.
‘They keep making my eyes hurt…. Why are they like that? They should save it for when they’re alone….’
I wished they would just hurry up and break up.
When I subtly rolled my eyes to sneak a glance at them, I was even able to confirm that Ham Minju was wearing a displeased expression.
The others, too….
‘Huh? Are they all right with this? As if they’re immune to it.’
It was truly puzzling.
I tilted my head inwardly.
At any rate.
“We can’t leave this to the authorities. If we do, the Center will obviously try to cover up the truth. And then the Wing Project will continue in secret, somewhere I don’t know about. That’s why we have to launch a surprise attack without giving the Center any time to respond. Since information could leak, we’ll have to do it discreetly, on our own, without outside assistance.”
After learning about the hidden side of Gwangmyeong Seongga, we sympathized with Seong Dasom’s feelings and readily supported her. In the end, we decided to unite and solve the problem.
And so.
“Therefore, our objective is….”
“Infiltrate the Center and secure evidence, destroy the key information so the Wing Project can’t be misused, and reveal Gwangmyeong Seongga’s hidden side to the world, right? To do that, we’ll need to capture the Center Director.”
“…Yes, you’re right, Gyeonu hoobae.”
We all dressed in black and headed toward the center of the episode.
* * *
Though we weren’t supposed to rely on outside assistance, we couldn’t avoid relying on it entirely.
While we were carrying out the operation, there was a chance the Center Director might notice something amiss and flee, so we had to control the area around the Center in advance.
Naturally, our own manpower wasn’t enough.
So I contacted Gwon Boram and Baek Jimin, intending to make use of Shield.
—You want me to increase patrols around the Center tonight…. It’s not an especially difficult request given my authority, but what on earth are you planning to do?
—We agreed to help each other out, but I didn’t expect you to ask for something like this…. It’s not anything bad, is it?
The two of them didn’t know the details and were reluctant, but in the end, they agreed to my request.
No Hyowon also selected trustworthy students from the swordsmanship department and decided to help along with the triplets.
On top of that—
‘The chairwoman decided to step in, too.’
The Witch of the Stars, So Hyeyul, who had cemented her position as a definite ally by joining hands with me.
Amazingly, she agreed to monitor the ground with her staff—and artificial satellite—Star Lightrod.
In effect, that alone eliminated most of our worries regarding the operation.
Meanwhile, Oh Junsik of the Black Magic Oga was assigned the role of infiltrating the Center with us.
“I did say that someday I wanted you to let me join whatever you were doing, but I never meant that I wanted to be involved in a crime…. Why am I….”
“Because you’re well versed in black magic. Black magic is effective against white magic, right? And the opposite is true as well. The enemies we encounter in the research facility will mostly be white mages, so you should be able to handle them well. For this particular task, I judged that you’d be more useful than Lisa or Dasom sunbae, who aren’t exactly impressive.”
“You’re not wrong, but… well, now that I’ve come this far, what choice do I have? I’ll do as I’m told.”
“Excuse me, Gyeonu? I object. I can do well, too, you know? I’m not unimpressive. Just because I’m a white mage, do you think I have no means of fighting white magic? Besides, Dasom sunbae and I are probably the only ones who understand the enemies’ white magic well, since we’re white mages ourselves.”
“That’s right, Gyeonu hoobae. Even though I owe you a favor, I can’t help but object for the sake of a white mage’s honor. I find it difficult to agree with your opinion, Gyeonu hoobae.”
It was late at night, just before the operation.
We had gathered quietly near the orphanage and were reviewing the plan.
At that moment, my comment became the spark that made Lisa and Seong Dasom bristle.
I had to quickly change my attitude to calm them down.
“All right, all right, I get it. I’m sorry for saying you weren’t impressive. I apologize. Happy now?”
“Ugh… It feels like you’re bowing only after being forced to.”
“How mean. If you weren’t my benefactor….”
Lisa puffed out her cheeks, while Seong Dasom pursed her lips in a sulky pout.
I deliberately looked away so as not to provoke them.
That was when Yu Gaeul returned from scouting the orphanage grounds.
“The security wasn’t especially tight. Infiltrating shouldn’t be difficult. The guards just changed shifts, so now would be a good time to go in.”
“Good work.”
True to her intelligence specialization, Yu Gaeul had brought back information on the enemy’s movements that would have interfered with our reconnaissance.
After hearing her report, I nodded in satisfaction.
“What about an entrance route? Did you find one?”
“Yes, sunbae. I’ll guide you safely.”
Yu Gaeul patted her chest and confidently declared.
She was a mischievous hoobae who was always looking for a chance to play a prank, but at this moment, she was incredibly reassuring.
We concealed our presence and followed behind her.
We climbed over the wall closest to the Center and jumped down into the orphanage grounds.
Then we quickly crossed the forest and reached our target, the Center.
“This way. We’ll wait here for a moment. Only Lisa sunbae and I will move. The rest of you, stay put. Lisa sunbae, I’ll connect a subspace to that rooftop from here. Then you’ll have to pick the lock on the window, enter, and create a subspace inside that connects back here. Can you do it?”
“Yes, I can. It’s within an area I can clearly perceive.”
“I was worried because there are so many people, but this makes infiltration easy. I’m so jealous of your Gift, sunbae. Then I’ll leave it to you.”
“Yes, leave this sort of thing to me. See, Gyeonu? Am I unimpressive? I’m useful, aren’t I?”
“Yes, I’m sorry I failed to recognize that.”
Lisa Shuttle looked pleased with herself.
I wanted to grab her proudly raised nose and tease her, but we had priorities, so I held back.
I gave a perfunctory reply to her boasting and waited, hidden in the darkness of the forest.
A moment later, a subspace appeared before us.
Yu Gaeul was beckoning from inside.
“Come in, sunbaes. Minju, too.”
It certainly was convenient.
We crossed through the subspace one by one and stepped inside the Center.
‘It looks like an ordinary classroom from the outside….’
The floors above ground were merely for appearances.
The human experiments—the Wing Project—were being carried out underground, beyond the reach of the public eye.
We had no time to dawdle upstairs.
After checking our surroundings for danger, we led the way downstairs with Yu Gaeul and Seong Dasom at the front.
As for the enemies we inevitably encountered along the way—
“Who are you bastards!? How did you get in here….”
“Yuri, hit them. Put them to sleep so they won’t regain consciousness until this is over.”
“I was itching for a fight anyway! I’ll send you straight to dreamland!”
Before they had a chance to respond, we knocked them unconscious and used the sleeping pills Nam Yuri had made to put them into a deep sleep.
According to Yu Gaeul’s report from earlier, the Center’s security personnel had only recently changed shifts, so there was little chance our actions would be discovered.
‘Besides, Gaeul said she’d dealt with the security cameras…. It sure is nice having one capable assassin in the party.’
And so we witnessed the children used in the Wing Project, locked inside iron bars.
“….”
Children were imprisoned behind bars like those of a cell, wings sprouting from their backs.
All of them had dull, unfocused eyes, as if they were drugged.
They didn’t seem to notice us.
“They’re unforgivable.”
“….”
I had heard the story from Seong Dasom, but witnessing the tragedy with my own eyes stirred entirely different emotions.
Yong Haerang and the rest of us could not help but feel our anger rise.
In that situation, I composed myself and addressed the others.
“Let’s keep going. It won’t be too late to rescue the children after we complete the operation.”
Toward the heart of the Wing Project.
We moved forward.
* * *
Unfortunately, there was a limit to how close we could get to the heart of the Wing Project without being discovered.
In the end, it was inevitable that word of our intrusion would spread to the enemies.
“Student Seong Dasom! Have you lost your mind!? Do you know what you’ve done!?”
“Are you really not afraid of your family?”
“Damn! Who the hell are these people!?”
“They look like students, but how—euaaagh…!”
The Center’s employees and resident hunters, whose primary discipline was white magic, appeared one after another.
The surprise had clearly caught them off guard, and they were visibly flustered.
At the same time, they seemed to feel betrayed by Seong Dasom.
From our perspective, it was utterly disgusting.
Eun Suhyeok suddenly clicked his tongue and charged at them head-on, showing them exactly what he thought of them.
“Don’t insult my girlfriend. She isn’t trash like you.”
“S-Suhyeok! Honestly, you…. Thank you.”
The enemies, nearly carved apart by Eun Suhyeok’s spear, froze in place, covered in blood.
It was a chilling sight.
The cold seeping from the ice and brushing against their skin only made it more so.
Even then, Seong Dasom, hopelessly blinded by love, merely blushed at the fact that he had gotten angry on her behalf.
‘They’re making my eyes hurt…. I said to save the lovey-dovey stuff for when you’re alone. I really wish they would break up.’
Regardless.
We had been exposed to combat.
Just as the game’s scenario dictated.
From this point on, it was all or nothing.
‘It wasn’t unexpected. Since things have come this far, we might as well rampage openly.’
The rampage begins.
We had already been incensed after seeing the children sacrificed to the experiments, so we held nothing back.
Everyone threw themselves into battle without hesitation.
Meanwhile, I gave orders.
“Haneul, contact Boram funeral—no, Boram sunbae. Tell her….”
“To arrest everyone at the Center, right? And apply enough pressure to keep them from escaping. We’ll use the grounds that evidence of human experimentation at the Center has been discovered. Once Shield sees those children, they won’t have any choice but to begin an investigation.”
“…Exactly. You read my mind. That’s why you’re my childhood friend.”
“I’m the only one for you, right?”
“Yes, you’re the only one. And Eun Sol, tell Hyowon and Geum Eundong to hurry up and join the fight.”
“Yum? Why are you telling me to do it…. What a hassle….”
“Because you’re sitting there doing nothing but eating bread. Do you really have an appetite for bread in a situation like this?”
“Yes. I need to eat so I can fight. I’m burning so many calories that my belly fat is disappearing….”
Thus,
Shield’s authority from outside and our operational force from within began pressuring the Center from both sides.
The enemies were effectively cornered with nowhere left to run.
Their end had already been decided.
All that awaited them was society’s judgment.
Given the situation, it wasn’t hard to guess what the Center Director would do.
As expected—
we finally reached the heart of the research facility and thought we had found the Center Director, but then—
“Your evil deeds end here, Center Director! Resistance is pointless, so you’d better give up quietly. Running away won’t do you any good, either. Shield will be waiting outside. You’re finished—”
────!!!!
The Center Director suddenly activated an ominous spell.
A black bolt of lightning accompanied by a deafening roar tore through the building, shook the earth, and plunged through the ground.
I bit my lip.
‘…Somehow, I had a feeling this would happen.’
It was a phenomenon I had experienced once before, at the ancestral graveyard of the Circulation Cha Family.
Before long—
“To use yourself as an experimental subject…. Don’t tell me… Did it succeed?”
“I don’t think so, sunbae. If it had succeeded, they would still be human. But their eyes are red, so….”
“My eyes are red, too….”
“People can have red eyes. But the Center Director looks nonhuman at first glance.”
We watched as the Center Director emerged from the lightning, three pairs of wings sprouting from his back.
Unlike the game’s scenario, the Center Director had risen as the episode’s boss in Seong Dasom’s place.
Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss