Ch.117The Foundation’s Intruders

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[Search term: Lim Subin]

All I see are ordinary pieces of information.

Among the countless lines of text, I can’t find any trace of the ominous feeling from earlier.

There’s not even a single connection to the Foundation.

This time, I search with the scene I witnessed.

The video supposedly taken with Dr. Chen.

Some kind of contract that enabled the transmission of information about the end of the world.

I narrow down the search as much as possible, using every detail of the scene.

The result is the same.

I can’t find any meaningful information in this sea of data.

[No results found that simultaneously satisfy multiple search terms.]

“…”

There’s only one conclusion I can draw.

Someone is pretending to be my brother.

Or, they’ve consumed my brother’s existence and taken his place.

But since when?

It would take too much time to search for every suspicious detail.

Analyzing everything is impossible.

A person’s life is long, and new information is generated with every action.

What exactly should I search for?

About my brother who was with me when we moved into the apartment?

That’s already in the past. Unless my brother is still right in front of me, it’s too late to analyze that information.

Or perhaps, a being mimicking my brother’s appearance?

A being that devoured my brother and took his place?

A being that could propose a contract to Dr. Chen?

These are all just possibilities I’ve come up with.

I can’t discover anything with mere possibilities.

If I can’t determine a definite search term, I’ll just be swept away by the waves of information.

The last thing that came to mind was the scene I saw in my unconscious state.

A fragment of the worldline where I succeeded as a webtoon artist.

My brother who came to my home tried to change my gender.

The anomaly occurred some time after we met.

After confirming I had already become a woman, he accepted that the world was collapsing.

He also left hints suggesting he might have been acting under orders from the Foundation or some other force.

What exactly did I see?

This is a story from another worldline. One that’s been completely discarded.

There’s nothing to gain from searching for information now.

I can only draw one conclusion.

‘If things went wrong, they might have approached my brother.’

That’s all.

The connection is missing.

***

The late afternoon sun shines on the asphalt.

Seoul, 2011. Near Heo Yoon’s studio apartment.

Though I’ve never been here before, the streets feel somehow familiar.

“Now we’ll head downtown to infiltrate the Foundation branch facility. Then we’ll extract the weapons.”

Robin is our guide.

Having served as an executive in the Foundation, she knows all about the internal affairs.

“First, we’ll divide into two teams. To get through the Foundation facility’s security, we need an infiltration team and a breakthrough team.”

Robin turns to me and asks.

“Right now we have 7 people outside. Correct?”

“Yes.”

Even as I answer, the empty spaces feel significant.

Seven of us have made it this far together, but three people remained at the apartment.

The biggest reason is Heo Yoon’s condition.

The death of Dr. Chen, who saved her life and was like family to her.

It would be unreasonable to expect her to participate in a life-threatening operation right after confirming his death.

So Heo Yoon was the first to stay behind.

I stopped her when she insisted on coming along.

Then Seok Hyunmin also decided to stay at the apartment to look after Heo Yoon.

That’s two people who stayed behind.

Adding Yebin to that group was entirely my decision.

‘Yebin, you stay here too.’

‘What? Me too?’

‘Yes. Please.’

I can still hear Yebin’s pitiful voice as she clung to me.

‘Why do I have to stay with the couple! I want to be with Dabin. I absolutely refuse. I’m not staying!’

She shook her head while sobbing, like a puppy whining because it doesn’t want to be left alone.

But it can’t be helped.

It’s not completely safe here either.

‘It’s dangerous for just the two of them. You’re the only one who can handle anomalies.’

Though the two of them have overcome numerous crises together, both have only average resistance to anomalies.

If they come into contact with a strange anomalous entity, they might go mad like last time.

I can’t leave just the two of them alone; I need Yebin to be with them.

Yebin has strong resistance like me. Even if the two of them fall under the influence of an anomaly, she can handle it well.

‘I still don’t want to! I want to go with you, please?’

Yebin looked up at me with bright red eyes while messing up her silver hair.

It makes my heart ache, but there’s really no choice.

‘I’m sorry!’

I tossed Yebin in front of the entrance and slipped out of the apartment.

Back to the present.

Out on the road near the apartment are seven people, three fewer than the original ten.

“Now we’ll divide these seven people into two teams.”

“Huh? We’re not all going together?”

“No. Even in 2011, the Foundation facility’s security systems use cutting-edge technology. It won’t be easy to get through.”

Yoon Daju and Robin.

Somehow an excited atmosphere spreads between them.

“Wow. This is going to be really fun.”

And Ichinose Riko too.

I can understand Daju and Riko being excited, but Robin was a member of the Foundation’s leadership, wasn’t she?

She’s planning to break into her own facility, and her eyes are several times more animated than usual.

“And I should mention in advance, I can’t use my position within the Foundation to get the weapons. Even as a Council member, there are procedures that must be followed to remove weapons.”

“So even Robin has to sneak in.”

“Yes. Even for someone like me, if we’re caught by facility personnel, things won’t go smoothly.”

Robin returns to the main point.

“That’s why we need two teams to infiltrate the Foundation facility: an infiltration team and a breakthrough team.”

She’s talking about the specific infiltration method.

“First, the infiltration team. These people need to break into the facility’s security system and cut the power. Normally, even getting in would be difficult, but if you know the structure in advance, it’s simple.

And I must be on the infiltration team. I’m the only one here with the authority to shut down the system.”

“Then let’s assign people who are familiar with each other. Me and Daju. Serim noona and Haewon.”

I quickly gathered the people around me.

“These four will be the breakthrough team. The rest will be the infiltration team.”

“So that means Dan and Riko will be with me. That’s two people.”

“Yes.”

I thought she would accept this, but Robin inevitably reveals her true colors.

“But couldn’t we have Serim on our side?”

“Absolutely not.”

My voice comes out surprisingly cold.

But Robin doesn’t back down easily.

“Serim’s abilities would be very useful for our team. When we encounter guards, instead of fighting noisily, we could just knock them out and pass by quietly. It would be easier to infiltrate without being detected while avoiding combat as much as possible. For the plan to work properly, we need Serim’s abilities.”

“Serim noona is mentally unstable. She needs someone to look after her.”

To Robin, she might just be a person with useful abilities, but the price of those abilities is far more severe than one might think.

I need to be by her side.

“Alright. Then I’ll go to your team.”

“What?”

Robin changes her strategy.

“I mean, let’s form the infiltration team with Dabin, Serim, and me.”

“…”

I thought about it for a moment.

“So the remaining four will handle the breakthrough?”

“Yes. How does that sound?”

The remaining four are Dan, Riko, Jung Haewon, and Yoon Daju.

Except for Riko, they’re all personnel specialized in combat.

This might indeed be a more rational distribution of personnel. Above all, I can look after Serim noona.

“Let’s do that.”

But Robin’s gaze bothers me.

It’s like she’s assessing our value after everything is over. After we prevent the end of the world.

Me, Choi Serim, and Yoon Daju.

Calculating how people with special abilities could benefit the Foundation.

How they should be utilized.

Among those options, there’s certainly the choice of “using forceful means.”

Robin, a member of the Foundation’s Council.

She seems to act solely on intuition, but at the same time, she’s calculating dozens of steps ahead.

“Let’s prepare here.”

Robin stopped in front of a bank building.

It looks like an ordinary bank in every way. There are even security guards, and business is being conducted.

Jung Haewon peeks his head out to look around inside the bank.

“It’s amazing that these Foundation people had a facility here too.”

“Well. Would you be more surprised if I told you it’s been here for much longer?”

Robin is preparing something in front of the bank entrance.

“I shouldn’t really be telling you all this.”

She approaches the ATM at the very end and lightly touches it with her fingertip.

[Biometric authentication complete.]

[Detected accessor plus 6 individuals.]

[Passage permitted.]

[No external observers present.]

[CCTV distortion in progress. Passage permission may be revoked if movement is recorded on video.]

The sentences appear without fail.

This is another kind of “door” that uses anomalies.

It’s interesting how the reactions differ according to each person’s anomaly observation ability.

“Wow…”

Jung Haewon is looking at the air in amazement.

Dan is staring blankly with a hollow laugh.

Meanwhile, Daju doesn’t seem to see anything and instead looks at the people around her with a subtle expression.

It seems Serim and Riko can’t see it either.

This is a common phenomenon because men typically have better observation abilities.

In exchange, women tend to have stronger resistance to anomalies.

There are only two exceptions.

Me.

And Robin.

[Passage permitted.]

As the text appears on the ATM screen,

it announces that the door to the Foundation facility is open.

“What? Is it done?”

Daju keeps looking around nervously.

Clearly displeased with the current situation, she pokes Jung Haewon in the side.

“Hey. Is it done?”

“I don’t know either.”

But this time, even Jung Haewon seems confused.

“It seemed done just now? Shouldn’t a door appear and open now? Like a portal or gate?”

It’s a natural reaction.

From the outside, nothing has changed.

Even anomaly observation doesn’t reveal everything.

The door to the Foundation facility.

To discover a thoroughly hidden structure, we need to narrow the range a bit more.

[Security Guard]

[ㅅㅓㅋㅠㄹㅣㅌㅣ ㄱㅏㄷㅡ]

[▶▶▶▶▶]

What has changed compared to before?

The key is to find the differences from just now and focus on them.

“We’ll split into two teams after we enter the facility, right?”

Robin nods when I ask.

She’s already prepared to enter the facility, checking the gun in her hand.

“Then let’s go in.”

With one hand I grabbed Choi Serim’s hand, and with the other, I pulled Daju’s hand.

“Did Dabin already see it?”

“What? Can oppa see everything? Are there monsters or something right in front of us now?”

Daju waves her hand through the empty air, but there’s nothing there.

There is no separate door to enter the Foundation facility.

You just have to enter.

Through the bank entrance behind the ATM.

Swish-

Carefully pushing open the glass door.

Behind it is still an ordinary bank.

“How can I help you?”

But the moment we ignore the security guard’s words and take “a certain action”—

Robin silently “opened” the “security guard.” The human body opens to create a pungent entrance.

—the entire scenery changes in an instant.

“Huh.”

Jung Haewon freezes in shock. Choi Serim’s hand also tightens momentarily.

While everyone is appalled, Robin calmly steps through the door.

“What? A change in perspective is important, isn’t it?”