Ch.199Another Brick in the Wall! (2)

#199

Hazy.

Olivia felt so detached that she couldn’t tell whether this moment was reality or a dream.

“Administering now.”

A piercing female voice stabbed at her ears, followed by a stinging sensation and an extremely cold liquid flowing into her arm.

As the liquid entered, the coldness that began in her arm started to spread throughout her entire body.

“Ugh, nngh…”

“What’s the reaction?”

When an unbearably cold male voice echoed, the earlier piercing female voice answered.

“Current body temperature is 34.3 degrees.”

“Administer more.”

“Administering second reagent…”

This time, she began to feel intense cold in her opposite arm.

As her entire body trembled in a desperate attempt to survive, and the sudden cold sensation spread, she experienced a headache close to excruciating pain.

“P-please… save me… please…”

Contrary to her current will, words begging for rescue came from her mouth, causing the man’s voice to turn cynical.

“Did the anesthesia not take properly?”

“I used the same amount as before… but there seems to be some resistance?”

“She must have developed some tolerance. Doctor, let’s add a bit more.”

With those words, her mind, which had become somewhat clearer, started to grow dizzy and hazy again, and Olivia unconsciously shouted loudly.

“No!”

With that loud cry, Olivia opened her eyes.

Buried in a luxurious bed and blankets, Olivia raised her upper body and looked around with a bewildered expression, then realized it had been a dream and stared at her trembling hands.

There were a couple of knocks on Olivia’s door, followed by a familiar voice.

“…Is everything alright?”

She needed to be cold and ruthless at all times.

If she showed any weakness, someone could attack her at any moment.

Composing her voice, Olivia spoke in a slightly louder tone with her usual cold demeanor.

“Nothing.”

Hearing Olivia’s normal voice, the secretary returned to their room.

‘Trauma, they call it.’

Olivia clenched her still trembling hands into fists with a frustrated expression, realizing she still couldn’t forget those childhood memories.

‘This won’t do.’

She always needed to be lofty and look down on others.

The weak, vulnerable version of herself needed to disappear.

But knowing it wouldn’t be easy to fix, Olivia bit her lip.

* * *

“How many years did you say it’s been unattended?”

“Fifteen years.”

“Is this a house or a dust pit?”

“How could I maintain it when I’ve been in space for 15 years?”

Dexter’s group was currently at his family home in Boston.

After hearing the story about Dexter having Howard Hughes’ genes, they had flown from Las Vegas to Boston to look for evidence that might be found in Dexter’s family home, claiming the story was absurd.

Judy, wearing a mask covering her entire face and work clothes, was fanning the air with her hand while rummaging through a small storage room next to the entrance.

“But everything’s so well organized that we could live here right away if we just removed the dust. *cough* Though I’m not sure when this dust will ever disappear.”

Jesse, also wearing gloves to keep dust off his hands, said:

“What did we say we should look for first?”

“Obviously old notebooks or albums. Letters would be good too.”

“What if we find love letters between your parents?”

“We check the contents and put them back.”

Jesse clicked his tongue at Dexter’s unexpected response, having thought he would scold them for wanting to check such things.

“You’re being so uptight.”

“Today’s not the time for jokes.”

Seeing Dexter’s intensely serious expression, Jesse didn’t add anything more, just exhaled sharply through his nose.

Himena had already begun searching, and Emily was examining the walls and fireplace with her hands, checking for any hidden items.

Judy, having determined there was nothing special in the small storage room by the entrance, flung open the window and said:

“Then should we clean up a bit while we’re at it?”

The amount of dust accumulated over 15 years was beyond imagination. Surprised by Judy’s offer to help clean, Dexter looked at her and said:

“That’s fine with me, but wouldn’t it be too difficult?”

“Hmm, I think we can manage somehow?”

“Let’s just hire a cleaning service. How long would it take us to do all this?”

Jesse said as he wiped the top of the shoe rack with his finger.

What he thought was a gray shoe rack turned a deep brown where his finger had touched.

“Look at this. Is this a house? It’s a dust pit. So forget about cleaning and let’s focus on finding what we need.”

“It is pretty bad…”

Still unable to tolerate the dirt, Judy decided to do at least a little cleaning.

“You had quite a lot of fun toys, didn’t you?”

“What?”

When Himena’s voice came from the second floor, Dexter immediately went upstairs.

“Why did you go into my room?”

“Just for fun? You must have really loved games when you were young.”

“What guy my age didn’t like games?”

In the corner of Dexter’s room was a small CRT TV along with a Nintendo 64 and various game cartridges, all covered in dust.

“Should I dust these off and take them home?”

Hearing the excitement in Himena’s voice, Dexter smiled and said:

“You seem more excited than I am.”

“My parents never let me play games when I was little. Wow, there are even games I only saw in commercials.”

Himena picked up one of the game cartridges from the shelf under the TV and examined it.

“Well, being an only child, they bought me games as long as they weren’t too expensive.”

Dexter smiled lightly as he looked at the gaming console, and Himena dusted it off while saying:

“I’ll take this later.”

“What for?”

“To play games, of course. You’re asking the obvious.”

Dexter was about to retort but couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say, so he just nodded and said:

“Sure… take it.”

“Sweet.”

As Himena giggled and started searching through Dexter’s room, Dexter left the room and looked up at the ceiling.

‘The attic.’

Although Dexter had spent his childhood in this house, this would be his first time going up to the attic.

When he was young, he was told it was dangerous and not to go up there, and when he was older, he didn’t have the opportunity because he was in space.

While Dexter was briefly lost in thought, Emily, who had come up to the second floor, glanced at his face, noticed where he was looking, and immediately opened the attic door in the ceiling.

“Achoo!”

As soon as the attic door opened, dust that had accumulated over the years floated down like snow, and Emily, who had inhaled it directly, sneezed several times.

“Wait, I was just thinking about it… and aren’t you supposed to be a thief? How can you be so careless?”

“I’m not stealing anything, so I don’t need to be careful.”

With a retort that there was no need to be careful when there was nothing to steal, Emily climbed the ladder to the attic. Dexter watched her with an incredulous expression before following her up.

Unlike the rest of the house, the attic was less organized and remained in a messy state.

‘Well, things that end up in the attic are usually less important, so they’re less likely to be organized.’

While Dexter and Emily were searching the attic together, Emily pointed to a box pressed against the wall and said:

“The owner of these things was Dexter’s grandmother, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Why?”

“I think it might be this box.”

In one corner of the yellow paper box Emily pointed to, there was a small inscription that read ‘Brenda.’

“If there had been another woman’s name, I think Dexter’s mother wouldn’t have liked it, so I found it interesting that it’s here.”

“Good thinking.”

As Emily had guessed, Brenda was the name of Dexter’s grandmother.

With Emily’s help, Dexter pulled out the box that was wedged between other boxes and immediately opened it.

The first thing visible upon opening the box was a palm-sized frame.

It was a photo of a classic beauty with wavy brown hair and a scruffy brown-haired man with a mustache, both dressed in wedding attire and smiling broadly at the camera.

“This person looks just like Dexter without the muscles.”

“…Of course he does, he’s my grandfather.”

Looking at his grandfather’s photo that he had forgotten for a long time, Dexter looked at his own reflection in the glass and thought:

‘He really does look like me.’

Dexter thought that if his body and face had fewer contours, he would look similar to his grandfather’s appearance. Looking at his grandfather’s face, he thought of one more person.

‘Howard Hughes.’

Not only was it similar to him, but the way his grandfather smiled with one eyebrow raised was exactly like Howard Hughes’ smile.

He suddenly remembered his grandmother sitting on the sofa, knitting while looking at this photo on the table.

‘It was peaceful.’

After putting down the wedding photo, Dexter searched the box further and found an album.

Although it was old, the album was clean except for some fingerprints.

“Did you find something? You’re quiet.”

Just then, Jesse’s voice was heard, and Himena and Judy also climbed up to the attic, their faces, hair, and clothes covered in dust.

Seeing the album Dexter was holding, Himena slowly walked to the box and rummaged through the items inside while saying:

“Is this all?”

“There might be more in those boxes over there, I guess.”

As Dexter pointed to other boxes against the wall, Himena thought for a moment, then looked at the other two and said:

“Hmm, Jesse, Judy. Should we check those boxes too?”

“Shall we?”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

While the three of them searched the other boxes, Dexter opened the album.

The first photo was a black and white family portrait of two people Dexter didn’t recognize, awkwardly holding a young girl.

[His mother, Jane Ryan]

Unlike the quite old photo, the paper with the title written on it only seemed slightly faded in color, not particularly old.

‘If “his” refers to grandfather, then this is grandfather’s mother, so my great-grandmother?’

In those days, taking photos wasn’t easy.

There weren’t many photos, and the girl in the family’s arms became a teenager before the page turned, and on the next page, she had become a beauty who could have appeared in a classic film, even to Dexter’s eyes.

The most impressive photo was of her smiling brightly in a hotel uniform, standing in front of an elevator.

[Jane Ryan, at The Beverly Hills Hotel.]

“I know this place.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“I said I know this place. It’s an old hotel near Hollywood.”

Emily continued with additional explanations about how she used to go there often because of the many expensive cars.

Dexter half-listened to Emily’s explanation while looking at the photo attached right next to it.

But the next photo was surprising.

There was a photo of a brightly smiling Jane Ryan holding a young boy.

[Jane Hughes and Cliff Hughes.]

In the description below the photo, Jane Ryan’s surname had changed to Hughes, and in her arms was Dexter’s grandfather as a child, making a pouty face.

Turning the pages further, there were only photos of his great-grandmother and grandfather, with no one who could be identified as his great-grandfather.

‘There’s not a single photo of my great-grandfather.’

The clues that could be gathered from the album were that his great-grandmother worked at a hotel near Hollywood, and there didn’t seem to be much age difference between the photos of her at the hotel and holding his grandfather as a baby.

‘If she had just given birth…’

It meant the time she worked at the hotel and when she was pregnant were roughly the same.

“Emily.”

“Yes?”

“This Beverly Hills Hotel. How long has it been around?”

“I don’t know that much.”

“We can just look it up.”

Himena, who had been listening to their conversation, took out her phone, went online, and immediately searched.

“Let’s see… ‘The Beverly Hills Hotel has been a hotspot for celebrities since it opened in 1912. Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and…'”

When Himena lost her words, Dexter, who had been looking at the album, turned to her and said:

“Why did you stop there?”

“…Howard Hughes, among other famous people, were provided with discreetly attractive hideaways.'”

Howard Hughes, who frequently stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and Jane Ryan, who worked at that hotel.

His great-grandmother, who changed her surname to Hughes after having a child.

There was only one answer.

“Howard Hughes was my great-grandfather.”

Dexter said as he placed the album he was holding on the floor.