18. The Road Not Taken (2)

“So, you want to know where Rei lived? Jihoo, are you, uh, what was it… Ah! A stalker?”

“Hey, speak quietly. Everyone’s staring.”

I called Rei out to a small cafe near the residential area.

I don’t know what kind of delusion she was having, muttering ‘Date, date~’ and I managed to drag her inside, but seeing her humming and her eyes sparkling even after sitting at the table, I figured it was pointless to clear up the misunderstanding.

“Heehee, what’s there to be shy about~! You asked me even more personal stuff last time… I can answer where I lived~”

“Yeah… I get it, so tell me quickly. Quietly, in my ear.”

I felt like I was attracting attention without realizing it, so I deliberately leaned in so she could whisper in my ear.

She playfully touched my earlobe here and there, then made a megaphone with her hand and brought it to my ear.

“In the basement of a huuuge building… there’s a room you can only get to by spatial teleportation, you know? That was the entrance. If you open the door and go inside, there’s a passage leading straight into a large auditorium, and there are dormitories at both ends of the passage… Wait a sec.”

Rei suddenly went silent mid-sentence.

Wondering what was wrong, I turned my head back, and I immediately understood why.

Someone was staring intently at us from outside the cafe.

It was a hot day, but they had pulled their hood down so low that their face wasn’t visible, but their sharply shining green eyes were definitely in sight.

“Unnie…?”

“Do you know them?”

“No, there’s no way…”

I asked Rei urgently, but she didn’t seem to hear a word I said.

An unknown anxiety gripped my whole body.

The left hand she was holding up high, as if she was about to blow up the cafe at any moment, felt so ominous.

I quickly scanned the inside of the cafe, but everyone except Rei and I seemed oblivious to the situation outside and were just enjoying their peace.

What should I do? Can I save all the citizens? Will I die if I get hit head-on? What the hell does Rei know?

“Rei, let’s get the citizens out through the back door first… Ah.”

The moment I spoke to Rei, intending to block it alone, the person who had been standing in front of the cafe disappeared as if they had sunk into the ground.

I rushed outside and searched every nook and cranny, but I couldn’t find any trace of where they had gone in such a short time.

I returned to the cafe with a bad feeling.

Even though I had been away for a few minutes, Rei was still hanging her head and muttering something.

“Do you know something? You just called them Unnie.”

“…Unnie, that’s right. But she definitely disappeared… Where was she…?”

Disappeared?

Rei’s words, close to a monologue, were a bit difficult to understand, but I was soon able to recall one person who matched the information she had given me so far.

Someone who shot waves from their hand, similar to me.

Someone who had been in charge of various classified missions but had suddenly disappeared half a year ago and hadn’t shown up since.

It was definitely one of the Unnies Rei was talking about.

“…It’s dangerous.”

“What?”

“It’s dangerous. I think I need to go.”

Rei, who had muttered in a coldly subdued tone, didn’t even finish her coffee and left the cafe right away.

She seemed to be using some kind of ability, her speed was increasing, and even though I chased after her as hard as I could, the distance between us widened to the point where I couldn’t keep up.

“Heok, heok… Alice, are you inside safely? Stay hidden inside so you don’t lose her.”

• Yes, I’m heading towards the residential area.

But I had anticipated even that and prepared in advance.

Alice, whom I had planted in Rei’s shadow from the time I returned to the cafe, was following her in real time.

• She’s going inside the house now. Uh… It looks like that person is in the house.

“Don’t share visuals… just repeat what the two of them are saying.”

• Okay. ‘Rei, long time no see.’ ‘Unnie too. Mo, what happened to your body?’

I decided not to chase after her any further for now and sat down on a bench under a large tree.

Even if I chased after her now, there was nothing I could do, and if it was a really urgent situation, I could use Alice to rescue Rei.

Now was the time to use my head rather than my body.

‘This? It’s similar to yours. The only difference is that you’re the head, and I’m the body.’

‘Unnie, don’t tell me…’

‘Well, I just came to see your face today, so don’t think bad thoughts. And don’t try to act out like you used to. Oh, and… the guy next to you, he’s pretty perceptive. Is he your boyfriend?’

I couldn’t figure out her intentions at all.

What’s the head, and what’s the body? Does acting out like she used to mean when the two of them were agents?

I quickly took out my phone to make sure I didn’t forget what I heard.

I needed to write down the things that seemed like important keywords first.

[Green eyes, wave ability, former agent, disappeared]

[Rei is the head, the woman is the body?]

The conversation that had been interrupted for a while resumed.

I paused the hand that had been typing quickly for a moment and quietly listened to Alice’s words.

‘No, it’s not like that… Just a friend I made there.’

‘Hmph… You made a friend, our Rei has grown up. I’m glad I saw you after a long time.’

‘Aren’t you… coming back, Unnie? Everyone’s worried. Yuna Unnie too…’

‘Don’t mention that bastard’s name. You know it too, right? Why do you keep hiding behind your mask and pretending you don’t know… Ah, no. How about you come with me? I’m sure everyone will welcome you if Unnie introduces you.’

[Yuna Unnie = that bastard?]

[Rei’s mask…? ‘Comes’ and ‘introduces’]

I couldn’t understand most of the conversation because it was only known to the two of them, but I still continued to type silently.

The fingers that had been moving quickly stopped abruptly the moment the missing Unnie uttered a familiar word.

‘Have you heard of Pantagruel?’

That bitch, she’s joined the Demon King’s side.

The reason she disappeared was obviously because she had joined another organization, so there was no need to work on the side of humans anymore.

She’s joined the Demon King and says ‘Everyone will welcome you’, she’s seriously delusional.

Considering the terrible things Pantagruel did around the time of the Third Great Disaster in the original story, they were not the kind of people who would welcome others at all.

‘Anii…? What’s that?’

‘They’re friends who set Unnie free. I like them so much because they treat me as an equal, unlike those trashy team leaders. Rei, you know it too, right? The outside you only saw in videos from ‘Inside’ is so different from the outside you feel when you come out directly.’

‘B-but… Team Leader-nim is nice…’

‘Well, I thought you would refuse. But since we met like this, I’ll tell you one thing before I go. Never go ‘Inside’ next Sunday. If I meet you there, I won’t let it slide, no matter how close we are.’

‘Unnie… Why, why are you doing this…’

• It’s over. The woman left.

“Good job. I’ll go there now.”

I don’t know the details yet, but I knew for sure that a big incident would happen next Sunday.

I need to uncover the secrets of the woman and Rei, and gather people to respond to the incident.

Come to think of it, there was a villain in the original story who used sound waves. No, I was sure of it.

Excluding Yang Geum-tae, the first psychokinetic Awakened villain that Go Ryu-shin defeated.

A villain with such dangerous power that even Go Ryu-shin almost hurt innocent people because of his hard-to-control ability…

Now I’m starting to remember the passages that described his appearance little by little.

Ash-gray hair, a short bob, and sharp green eyes.

It was the bomber ‘Cyan’ who attacked by exploding waves in a wide area.

I felt like the dark road ahead was brightening up a little.

If it becomes clear that she is the same person as Cyan, then the game is over the moment I take Go Ryu-shin with me.

However, apart from the existence of the villain, there were still mountains of problems to solve.

Because the numerous strings of characters written above the blinking cursor in the liquid crystal still contained numerous secrets.

[Rei is the head, Cyan is the body]

[Yuna Unnie = that bastard?]

[Rei’s mask…?]

So far, I could only vaguely guess that it was related to Rei’s childhood.

Maybe if I hypnotize her and ask questions after defeating Cyan, I can get definite information.

“Rei, are you inside?”

First of all, it was urgent to comfort Rei, who must have been shocked.

After arriving in front of Rei’s house, I carefully pressed the doorbell.

Not long after, a dull metallic sound rang out, and the front door slowly opened.

I took a step inside, preparing for a possible attack from the villain.