-The Annex
Kim Seonho strode out of the living room first, and I quickly followed behind him.
When we stepped outside the door, the butler who had been waiting there bowed his head, then followed a few steps behind us.
‘Yasin came to this house and said he’d take back what was his? Then does that mean the Golden Apples are kept here?’
Or perhaps it wasn’t the Golden Apple products, but confidential research documents.
Whether it was the product or confidential documents, I couldn’t understand why they would keep them at the chairman’s house instead of at the company. It had to be something else.
‘Just what is being stored in this house?’
In any case, it seemed the chairman had hired me because he genuinely wanted me to stop Yasin.
He needed an outstanding mage in preparation for Yasin coming to his home and stealing something precious.
Not just a mage skilled in detection and security work, but one who was also capable enough in combat to stop Yasin.
That was why he had chosen me. I was the only mage who had stopped the terrorist attack Yasin caused.
In truth, Gil had also contributed to taking down the tentacle monster, but that was something they didn’t know.
‘At least it doesn’t seem like they called me here to trap me.’
My suspicion that they had deliberately commissioned me for this job to separate me from Ren, the dwarf issue, and other incidents began to fade.
At the same time, I got the sense that they didn’t know much about me.
It also meant they were desperate enough to reveal secrets to me, someone who wasn’t a definite ally.
Just then, Kim Seonho, who had been walking in silence, suddenly turned back to me and said,
“By the way, Mage, you haven’t asked what kind of product the Golden Apple is.”
Had I underestimated them too much?
Kim Seonho was asking as though I already knew about the Golden Apple. He seemed to suspect that I had heard about it from Ren.
I replied calmly.
“That’s true. I was so focused on Yasin that I didn’t even think to ask what sort of product the Golden Apple is. It seems to be a project the company has poured its heart and soul into, but what exactly is it?”
Even though I asked as if the thought had just occurred to me, Kim Seonho smiled broadly and answered.
“The Golden Apple is an astonishing product that can realize humanity’s long-cherished dream of eternal life.”
He spoke with genuine pride. He hadn’t realized I was hiding Ren. He had simply wanted to boast to me.
I felt I needed to probe Kim Seonho’s true intentions further, to see whether he was a wily old fox or not.
I pretended to be surprised and asked back.
“Eternal life? Are you saying that’s possible?”
“Of course, strictly speaking, we can’t say eternal life has been verified. It’s something that can only be confirmed once an eternity has actually passed. So for now, we intend to describe it as a health supplement that prevents aging and disease while replenishing vitality. But once it’s released, it will cause an uproar. Its efficacy is outstanding.”
Kim Seonho’s eyes gleamed. At a glance, there seemed to be a hint of madness in them.
He was neither a mage nor a black mage, but a businessman. In the end, however, he was the same kind of person as Yasin.
Those who wanted to obtain eternal life. Those who sought profit by taking others’ right to life into their own hands.
Kim Seonho, too, was a sufficiently dangerous person.
“The experiments must have been successful. A health supplement that prevents aging and disease and replenishes vitality is something everyone would covet. But eternal life is a different matter, isn’t it? Is that possible without black magic?”
“Vanaheim has always been a biotech company founded on magical science. It is true that our products contain magic. But it is not black magic.”
He firmly denied it, but I couldn’t believe his words. Ren had clearly said that black mages were involved in the development of the Golden Apple.
But since I couldn’t mention Ren to the chairman, I asked indirectly.
“Didn’t you say it was a project Yasin started and pushed forward? Can you truly be certain that no black magic was used at all? Wouldn’t it be dangerous?”
“You needn’t worry. After we dismissed Yasin, we verified it thoroughly and put it through numerous experiments and clinical trials. There is nothing wrong with the product. The only issue is that if the Golden Apple falls into the hands of a black mage like Yasin, we can’t guarantee what will happen. That is why you must protect it, Mage. The future of humanity rests in your hands.”
Kim Seonho walked upright and spoke with conviction. It didn’t sound like mere flattery; he seemed to mean it sincerely.
All of this is for humanity. Creating and spreading the Golden Apple is a heroic task that only I can accomplish. I, who will protect it, must also become a hero of humanity.
That sort of heroic sentimentality showed through. His ego truly was bloated.
“Then are you going to show me the Golden Apple now? Is that what Yasin said he would come and take?”
“You will see it soon enough. There is an annex in the back. Now, let us go this way.”
We had been walking down a long hallway in the mansion, and before I knew it, we had reached the end. Kim Seonho opened the door set into the dead-end wall.
When the door opened, a shaded garden appeared. For some reason, it felt eerie.
After passing through a small garden decorated with stones and moss, the annex came into view.
There was nothing special about its exterior. Unlike the main building, it was a red-brick structure that gave off a modest impression. It was about two stories tall, and its floor area didn’t look particularly large.
But when it came to security, it was even stricter than the main building.
At a glance, three or four bodyguards seemed to be standing watch around the annex, but I quickly realized that wasn’t all.
As we approached the annex, I discreetly extended my detection, and layers upon layers of magical barriers were wrapped around the building.
If that had been all, I wouldn’t have been surprised. But they weren’t relying only on barriers.
The annex bordered a small hill at the back. In the forest on that hill, around a platoon’s worth of personnel had taken up positions. And their composition even included elves and mages.
‘They’re guarding the annex like an iron fortress, aren’t they? And that still wasn’t enough, so they called me too?’
I felt a needless tension rise in me. I drew up my mana in advance. Though there might be an anti-magic device inside the building.
At the actual entrance to the building, there were no guards in sight. When Kim Seonho approached the door, the barrier was lifted and the door opened automatically. It seemed they had set up biometric security.
“Please, go in.”
Kim Seonho said, taking the lead. As I followed him into the annex, the door immediately closed.
Even the butler who had been following us a few steps behind the entire time did not enter the annex.
As Kim Seonho walked, the lights came on one after another.
Unlike the main building, which had been bright with sunlight streaming in through large windows, no outside light entered the annex at all.
From the outside, it had looked as if there were windows in the building’s walls, but now that I saw them, they were not windows. They were fake windows for camouflage.
The interior was completely cut off from the outside.
“The annex is an extremely secretive space, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. It is a place where something very important is stored. It is not somewhere just anyone can enter.”
Kim Seonho answered as if it were nothing. His attitude suggested that he trusted me completely.
The living room was decorated like a study. There were classic sofas, a fireplace, and bookshelves filled with books on all four walls. With the antique ornaments as well, it looked exactly like the study of a wealthy household.
However, the living room, too, was nothing more than a fake for camouflage.
We did not sit on the sofa. Kim Seonho passed straight through the living room.
“This way.”
Beyond the living room was a short hallway. There was one door on each side of the hallway. Kim Seonho opened the door on the right.
I thought there would be a room, but unexpectedly, an elevator appeared.
“We will be going underground.”
Kim Seonho said with a broad smile. As if telling me not to be afraid.
Now I understood. The annex was a building constructed for the basement. Everything aboveground was merely an exterior for disguise; the real thing was underground.
When we stepped into the elevator, the doors closed and it immediately began descending. There was no need to press a button. No, there weren’t any buttons at all.
It was an elevator that went only between the basement and the surface, and it operated in response to Kim Seonho’s biometrics.
We descended for quite some time. The basement seemed to be quite deep.
At last, the elevator stopped and the doors opened.
“Welcome to my secret place.”
Kim Seonho said, stretching an arm forward. He looked extremely pleased.
I had been inwardly curious about what sort of sight would be waiting, but the scene that greeted me defied my expectations.
Underground was a deep and vast cavern.
Pillars like stalactites stood here and there, connecting the ceiling and floor. The ores forming the ceiling and walls glittered and gave off light, so even though we were underground, it was fairly bright.
‘I thought it would be something like a modern underground laboratory, but a cave?’
It was a beautiful cavern, but even so, for a moment I thought it didn’t suit Vanaheim or Kim Seonho.
It seemed the image I had of Vanaheim and Kim Seonho was unconsciously something like a white lab coat.
“What is this place?”
“It is my treasure chamber. A place I have built up over my entire life together with Vanaheim.”
At that moment, something flew out in a flurry from between the pillars, in a swarm.
I hadn’t expected there to be living creatures in the cavern, so I was slightly startled. Without realizing it, I drew up a wave of mana.
“Please don’t be alarmed. They are merely harmless test animals.”
Kim Seonho hurriedly said. It seemed he was worried I might suddenly use magic.
“Test animals?”
They flew close to me, circled above my head, and cried out in sharp voices.
They were birds that looked like bats, but they were about three or four times larger than ordinary bats, and when I looked closely, unlike bats, their eyes seemed to function properly.
Their bodies were light gray, and a faint ashen energy flowed along the trajectories of their wingbeats.
‘Ashen energy? That’s the trace of a black mage.’
The large, eye-bearing bats flew away all at once in a swarm, just as they had flown in.
“Do you let the test animals roam free?”
“No one enters this place, after all.”
“What experiments are you conducting with those bats?”
“This way, please.”
Kim Seonho did not answer my question and led me deeper into the cavern.
I wondered if that meant he had no intention of answering questions related to the experiments, but more than that, he seemed thoroughly immersed in his own sentiments.
Kim Seonho’s expression was still bright. He looked excited, as though he couldn’t wait to show me his treasures.
“Now, have a look.”
At last, Kim Seonho stopped walking and stretched his arm out, pointing ahead.
We had passed between the glowing pillars and come deep into the cavern.
Astonishingly, grasses and trees were growing in the inner part of the cave.
“Wait, aren’t those Golden Apples?”
“What do you think? Aren’t they truly beautiful?”
The fruits hanging from the trees were none other than Golden Apples. Golden apples shining with a golden light hung in heavy clusters.