Ch.174Chapter 174. D-3

“Oh my goodness… What on earth is happening…?”

When the news showed a house with its entrance completely destroyed, Sarah covered her mouth in shock. The house was in ruins, and both Jinsoo and Juliane were simultaneously placed on wanted lists. It was so sudden that she couldn’t even begin to comprehend what was happening.

“You really don’t know? What’s going on?”

“Of course I don’t know… It’s an FBI case. I’ll head to work.”

“Ask around when you get there. Some of your colleagues might know something. I’m worried about Cuss and her family.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Be careful. Hmm…”

Alexander gave his wife a quick kiss before turning away.

His daughter would still be sleeping.

He gazed thoughtfully toward her room before taking his first step.

While riding the elevator and watching the floor numbers decrease, his eyes suddenly drifted upward.

There was a camera on the ceiling.

Alexander stared at the camera silently, but when he reached the underground parking lot, he snapped back to attention and exited the elevator.

“Dexter. Time for work.”

-I’ll take you to the L.A. District Prosecutor’s Office.

As he got into the car, it started with a quiet electric hum and soon began driving down the road.

Leaning back against the seat, Alexander was about to look at the holographic display when his gaze shifted to the front.

The car window with the built-in black box.

This was another place that might be completely recorded and possibly wiretapped by the FBI.

“Prosecutor Tales, we have a problem.”

“What is it?”

Finally arriving at the office.

The secretary who opened the car door for him followed closely behind with a troubled expression.

“Congressman Stadtfeld keeps coming by demanding the CCTV footage…”

“Tell him we can’t release it because it’s under investigation.”

“I’ve been telling him that, but he’s making a fuss, saying if that’s the case, we should at least disclose the investigation progress.”

“Sigh… Offer him coffee and politely send him away.”

“Yes, sir.”

Alexander felt a throbbing pain in his head.

After dismissing his secretary, Alexander entered his office and took a deep breath.

Here, he was safe.

In a world where he couldn’t trust anyone outside his family, he had obsessively managed his office to be impossible to wiretap.

Only after scanning his office with a metal detector did Alexander finally feel completely at ease.

Now reassured, Alexander pulled a note from his pocket.

-This is Jinsoo Kim. I have a favor to ask, so I’m leaving this note. Before dismissing this as nonsense from a wanted criminal, please read it through to the end and then make your judgment…

It was a note filled with cramped, crooked handwriting.

The content was roughly as follows:

Cuss was kidnapped by the FBI.

Cuss is actually an alien parasite from space, and the FBI seems to be using these extreme methods to quietly cover up the matter before it leaks to the press…

“Damn it.”

Alexander couldn’t help but light a cigarette.

The content was unbelievable no matter how many times he read it.

The claims were so outlandish that rather than thinking it was an outdated joke, his mind went blank first.

But as the FBI’s bizarre movements matched perfectly with Jinsoo’s explanation, he began to think it sounded like a well-crafted conspiracy theory.

-I need the closed-circuit television files. Please get them for me somehow. I’m begging you.

CCTV files.

Both the congressman and Jinsoo were looking for the same thing.

But there was one problem.

Even the prosecution hadn’t secured the files yet.

How could he provide something that didn’t exist?

“Tsk… Too bad.”

Just as he was about to crumple the note and burn it with his lighter, a strange thought occurred to him.

Come to think of it, the reason they hadn’t secured the CCTV files was because the police kept stalling.

Sometimes they claimed there was a malfunction in the machine making it difficult to extract the hard drive, and other times they said moisture had damaged the files and it would take time to recover them.

No matter how many times the prosecution ordered them to submit the files, the answer was the same.

What if Jinsoo was right?

What if the FBI really had kidnapped that child?

What if FBI agents were controlling the police station and trying to destroy the evidence?

“Oh? Where are you going?”

“To the police station. I need to check something.”

“Why not send me or an investigator instead of going yourself…?”

Alexander quickly left his office and headed to the police station.

The police station that would be storing the CCTV files.

“Good day, Prosecutor. What brings you here?”

“Ah. I’m here to see a suspect for a case I’m taking on.”

“Oh, yes. Please come in. Could you tell me the name?”

As soon as he arrived, the police officers who recognized Alexander stood up.

The officers naturally opened the locked doors and guided Alexander inside.

While walking through the corridor, Alexander first took note of the police station’s layout again.

“Who would you like to see first?”

“Number 4 here.”

“Ah… That one might be difficult today. He caused a disturbance last night, so we had to sedate him. It’ll take quite a while for him to wake up.”

He knew that.

He had already examined everything thoroughly.

“Then wake him up and put him in the interrogation room.”

“Ugh… Does it have to be today?”

“No, not necessarily. If you want today to be your last day working here.”

“Please wait. The interrogation room is that way.”

The officer, openly showing his annoyance, clicked his tongue, removed his necklace, handed over his card, and headed toward the detention cells.

After checking the corridor and confirming no one was around, Alexander bypassed the interrogation room.

He arrived at the evidence storage room.

Turning his head and making eye contact with the CCTV camera, Alexander hesitated momentarily.

There was no way he wouldn’t get caught.

If they noticed evidence was missing, they’d check the CCTV footage immediately.

‘You better not be lying, Jinsoo Kim.’

When he swiped the card at the door lock, it made a beeping sound and unlocked.

He flung the door open.

After confirming no one was inside, Alexander quickly closed the door and strode over to search where the CCTV footage would be stored.

‘It’s not here. It’s not here…’

There was no hard drive there.

It was a complete waste of time.

If he was going to leave, now was the time.

If he left now and sat in the interrogation room naturally, he wouldn’t arouse any suspicion, and there would be no need to review the corridor’s CCTV footage.

Just as he was about to hurry out, Alexander spotted a blue plastic container next to the emergency exit.

It was a trash bin for items to be incinerated.

As if possessed, Alexander approached it and frantically began rummaging through it.

He didn’t care that his hands were getting scratched and bleeding.

Finally, his hand caught something.

“Gasp…”

It was a hard drive.

On it, the CCTV location was roughly scrawled with a marker, matching the address where Cuss’s house was located.

Why was the drive that supposedly needed time to extract buried in a trash bin?

And in a bin meant for incineration, no less.

‘Hurry.’

Snapping out of his daze, Alexander hastily opened the door and slipped out.

He stuffed the drive into his inner pocket and headed outside.

“Where are you going? We’ve prepared everything. You can start the interrogation now…”

“I’m canceling. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“Damn it…”

Alexander hurried past the police officers and left the station.

Only after getting outside did the reality sink in for Alexander.

‘This doesn’t seem like an ordinary matter.’

The realization that he might have gotten involved in something ominous.

***

He did it.

After Alexander’s struggle, he obtained the hard drive containing the CCTV footage.

It showed a black vehicle approaching and kidnapping Cuss, with several people entering to hide inside.

Of course, it also captured the police who watched everything from 200 meters away without doing anything.

We didn’t hesitate to post this video online.

It was now impossible to erase Cuss without anyone knowing.

-An FBI press conference is scheduled soon.

The image appeared on the television.

I held Juliane’s hand tightly as I watched it blankly.

We had done everything we could.

It was now out of our hands.

The time it took to bring this matter to the surface was just about a full day.

There was no way to know what had happened to Cuss during that time.

“In the worst case… In the worst case, if Cuss is already dead…”

“Don’t say that. It can’t be. Cuss will be fine.”

“I suppose so…”

Juliane’s warm touch enveloped my hand.

Soon the screen changed to show the press conference venue.

But something was strange about the person standing there.

They said it was an FBI press conference, but the President was there.

-I am deeply sorry to deliver such an unfortunate matter to the citizens. A CCTV video is currently circulating on the internet. There are maliciously edited versions, so to clear up any misunderstandings, the FBI has uploaded the original footage for your reference.

“It’s real…”

Checking on the burner phone Bob had provided, there really was a video uploaded by an FBI account.

It was the genuine original, without any editing.

-To get straight to the point, the intruders captured in the footage are indeed FBI agents.

“What?!”

I thought they would start with delaying tactics, but they revealed everything at once?

I was so shocked that I jumped right in front of the television.

-However, there’s something the public needs to know. The child detained by FBI agents is not human. It’s just an alien monster using the body of a deceased girl as a host. Juliane Kim and Jinsoo Kim, who knew this fact but concealed it and protected the creature, have been placed on the wanted list, and considering the public shock and social impact, we kept this confidential.

“Damn it…”

So this is how they’re playing it.

Claiming they did nothing wrong.

The one fortunate thing was that Cuss was still safe.

Now we just needed to find out where Cuss was being held and rescue her.

-It was pretending to be human? How similar is it to humans?

-How long have aliens been living among us?

Questions from reporters poured in without pause.

Each time, the President explained carefully, showing various materials.

An X-ray image of Cuss’s head also appeared.

My hands holding the television were trembling.

-How do you plan to deal with this alien parasite now?

The final question.

The President took a breath, received a new paper from his secretary, and began to answer.

-I had planned to announce this separately, but I will share it here. I expect many of you are shocked by this news. The alien creature was even attending school and forming relationships with people. In that sense, some might argue it’s no different from humans. However, the White House’s basic policy on alien parasites is immediate execution. Based on multiple past experiences, we’ve determined their danger is too great. Therefore, after lengthy discussions, we’ve made a decision.

“…”

I thought this might be manageable.

The President didn’t mention Cuss’s murder record at all.

Perhaps they didn’t have conclusive evidence that Cuss had killed anyone.

Without a criminal record, Cuss could potentially integrate into human society.

This has potential.

Maybe there’s a chance Cuss could return to us without a fight.

-We have decided to banish this specimen to space.

“What…?”

My mind, which had been formulating all sorts of strategies, went blank like a clean sheet of paper.

-Releasing an alien parasite that could suddenly turn violent and commit murder into human society is far too dangerous. However, killing a sentient being that speaks and thinks just like humans would be inhumane. The module that will carry this specimen is incapable of space navigation and will be filled with enough food and water to last 100 years. The specimen should be able to survive until the end of its natural lifespan even after banishment. As long as it doesn’t take its own life.

Stop this nonsense.

Damn it.