Ch.218After the Play Ended

#218

Dexter spoke to Olivia with an expression of incomprehension.

“Why on earth?”

“Oh, Dexter. You still didn’t know? I guess you were too busy cozying up with Chairman Elijah in space, right?”

“Stop talking nonsense like you know something and tell me how you found out.”

“That’s quite harsh.”

Olivia shook her head at Dexter’s cold response.

Then she removed the shawl draped over her dress and pointed to her chest area.

“Do you see this?”

“What am I supposed to see…?”

Dexter fell silent as he looked at Olivia’s collarbone area.

He hadn’t noticed it because of her makeup, but there was a faint burn mark visible.

“You always.”

Olivia said, casually covering her chest with the shawl again.

“You probably didn’t know because you were always trying to interfere with my work.”

“Let’s be straight here.”

Dexter sat with a crooked posture and continued.

“I had to interfere. Do you have a grudge against Earth? Or did you lose a fortune gambling in Las Vegas? Why are you so desperate to devour OSA and Las Vegas citizens?”

“OSA is just a bystander. As for the Las Vegas citizens… how should I put it? They were just unlucky. How could I possibly consider every little detail like that?”

Olivia spoke as if it was absurd.

While Dexter was thoroughly on the side of OSA and Earth’s residents, Olivia was not.

“To put it bluntly.”

Olivia grinned.

“I just wanted to destroy everything, Earth or whatever. Like, you should suffer as much as I did.”

“You’re insane.”

“…Thanks for the compliment.”

Olivia stood up and displayed a hologram of Paul, the vice-chairman of the Security Council from 15 years ago.

“Do you know what I did in that insufferable Galactic Union?”

“I know they tried to control information related to the Negative. And they tried to eliminate Howard Hughes and George Hayward.”

“You know quite well, Dexter?”

Yet Olivia stared directly at Dexter’s face.

“But why didn’t you think more deeply?”

“Think deeply? What do you mean?”

“I just told you earlier. That it was the Galactic Union that had you dragged into space.”

Olivia twirled her body.

“Why.”

“Why?”

“Why did the Galactic Union send Dexter to space?”

“…What?”

“They sent a rescue beacon drifting in the water, making young Dexter touch it. Why would they do such a troublesome thing? Aren’t you curious?”

Olivia gave a twisted smile.

“By the way, you already have all the information related to the answer.”

Olivia tapped her temple with her finger and said.

“Think about it. By yourself.”

With those words, Olivia left the desk and circled around Dexter.

Dexter frowned but had no choice but to do as Olivia said.

First, ‘me’.

‘I thought I was an ordinary person, but I was actually Howard Hughes’ great-grandson.’

People related to ‘me’ and to the Galactic Union.

‘And my great-grandfather Howard Hughes not only knew information related to the Negative but was also a genius who created weapons related to it.’

The reason why the Galactic Union had to kidnap Dexter.

“Because I’m Howard Hughes’ great-grandson, even though I didn’t know it… they tried to kidnap me to control information related to the Negative?”

“You’re almost there.”

“Almost there? Isn’t this the end?”

“Why kidnap me to space specifically? If it was just about control, they could have just killed me.”

“Well, obviously…”

Dexter was silent for a moment.

‘Yeah, why?’

What the Galactic Union wanted might not have been control of the Negative.

‘Not control, but rather…’

“If they wanted to possess it.”

“Correct.”

Olivia patted Dexter’s head.

“Very good.”

“Get your hand off me.”

Dexter harshly swatted away Olivia’s hand.

“Aren’t you the one who was electrocuting me just a moment ago? How are you any different from the Galactic Union?”

“How am I different?”

Olivia turned her head sharply to look at Dexter.

“How am I different, you ask.”

Seeing Olivia’s expression, Dexter instantly realized he had made a mistake.

Though she was merely looking at him, there was a storm of anger and fear swirling in her eyes.

‘…What the hell?’

Even Dexter, a veteran in combat experience, froze as such a strong aura was conveyed through her eyes that he couldn’t say a word.

The playful tone and seemingly friendly behavior disappeared completely, and Olivia slowly turned her head back to look at the wall of the captain’s room and said.

“You know nothing.”

‘She’s not just crazy, she’s showing interest one moment and rejecting it the next. Did the Galactic Union do something to her?’

That thought rushed through Dexter’s mind.

‘Did something happen to her?’

Unstable mental state, the burn mark she showed herself, hostility toward the Galactic Union, the dagger stuck in Howard Hughes’ portrait.

Though it wasn’t a problem Olivia had directly posed, the answer was right before his eyes.

Dexter blinked once and opened his mouth.

“You too.”

“……”

“Not just me, but you too were victimized by the Galactic Union.”

“…This wasn’t the question.”

Olivia looked at Dexter and said.

“But it’s the correct answer.”

Olivia said, touching her chest area with her hand.

“If there was the biggest problem and mistake of the Galactic Union, it was the existence of a space freighter passing by Earth.”

“Space freighter?”

“Yes. The space freighter you were captured on. It was heading illegally near Earth to take a shortcut and save a few pennies. It violated the clause that says you shouldn’t go near a planet under a neutrality treaty.”

Olivia chuckled to herself.

“But because of that, you weren’t summoned to the Galactic Union’s spaceship that was a bit further away.”

“…The Galactic Union’s spaceship was near Earth? No, why…?”

After saying that much, Dexter thought a bit more and could understand it himself.

The moment someone touched the rescue beacon, they would be summoned to the nearest spaceship via the rescue device attached to the beacon.

Originally, young Dexter would have been summoned to the Galactic Union’s spaceship, but the situation changed when the space freighter that had set up the rescue device passed by Earth illegally.

“Lucky, I should say. Still, seeing that you came back to Earth healthy after 15 years, I guess you were lucky.”

“…Olivia, you weren’t?”

“I said you were ‘lucky.’ Isn’t that explanation enough?”

Olivia said with a twisted smile.

It was a smile filled with anger, somehow off-kilter.

* * *

Unlike Dexter who met good parents and grandparents, Olivia had a rather unpleasant childhood.

Olivia’s parents made no effort to improve their impoverished lifestyle.

They were also indifferent to Olivia’s education or future.

However, Olivia herself was different.

She lived tenaciously, earning pocket money by helping neighbors with small tasks and buying things she needed.

That was until one of Olivia’s parents reported to the media claiming that “their mother had a deep relationship with Howard Hughes.”

Olivia’s family briefly became a topic of interest.

Since it was somewhat true, they earned enough appearance fees to get by for a while by appearing on talk shows a few times.

But that was all.

Howard Hughes had relationships with many people, and it was impossible to receive any inheritance from Howard Hughes who had died 40 years ago.

They squandered even the small appearance fees, and Olivia had to cover her face in public because of the fame that didn’t even bring in money.

Then one day, Olivia returned from school to hear that her parents had died in a traffic accident.

When Olivia heard this at school, she felt relieved rather than sad.

‘Useless people.’

After that, Olivia was sent to a foster home.

In some ways, though the details differed, she could be said to be walking a similar path to Dexter.

But things went wrong at the most crucial point.

While Dexter luckily avoided the Galactic Union’s spaceship, Olivia did not.

Olivia was dragged into space and sent to the Galactic Union’s Training Investigation Research Institute.

The numerous human experiments conducted there broke even Olivia’s spirit, who had been enduring through sheer willpower.

Such human experiments continued until Olivia turned 20.

* * *

Dexter rubbed the back of his neck and said.

“What are you saying? So the Galactic Union kidnapped you, Howard Hughes’ great-granddaughter, and forced human experiments on you? What did they do?”

When Dexter asked if he had heard correctly, Olivia didn’t look at his eyes and tapped objects on the desk with her finger as she spoke.

“Rather than what they did… it might be faster to find what they didn’t do.”

“…What? To a teenager, at most?”

“I heard you lived a bottom-of-the-barrel life until you met Chairman Elijah. Isn’t it similar?”

‘At least it wasn’t a rock-bottom life that would drive me insane.’

Of course, Dexter couldn’t say such things out loud, so he just silently looked at Olivia.

Ignoring Dexter, Olivia gave a self-deprecating laugh and said.

“Then I met Cloud.”

As soon as the name Cloud was mentioned, the aura emanating from Olivia’s body became intense.

‘It’s stinging my whole body.’

Dexter tensed up as Olivia displayed her power through sheer presence, something he hadn’t expected.

Wanting to escape this place as soon as possible, Dexter glanced at the watch on his wrist to check how many minutes had passed.

‘Damn it.’

The analog watch was completely shattered.

When Dexter turned his head back to the front, Olivia was staring at him.

“Why are you looking at your watch?”

“…Just bothered that it’s broken?”

“I thought you were the type to be indifferent when hearing about someone you killed.”

“…I killed him?”

Dexter tried to recall the person Olivia was referring to.

Among the people Dexter had met, there was only one person Olivia would remember by name and mention.

‘Was the secretary’s name Cloud?’

While Dexter was deep in thought, Olivia’s aura grew stronger.

Along with the aura that made his skin tingle, Olivia opened her mouth.

“You really don’t know?”

‘This is driving me crazy. What’s wrong with this woman?’

Reminded of Jesse when they first met, Dexter gave up and said.

“That’s the name of the secretary I killed.”

“You know well, Dexter.”

Dexter shuddered as she said his name in such a chilling way.

“Cloud was also one of the researchers at that institute. They said I had the mutated genes that Howard Hughes had, genes that could realize immunity to all poisons and indestructibility… At first, I thought he was just an ordinary madman.”

Having received some training from Cheonma, Dexter knew well that such a state couldn’t be easily achieved.

“But Cloud stopped the experiments after just a few times. He said it wasn’t something to do to a child as young as his daughter. But the people around him continued to force the experiments… and then this happened.”

Blue sparks crackled from Olivia’s fist, and soon her entire fist was engulfed in blue flames.

‘Fist energy?’

The fist energy emanating from Olivia’s fist was a state not easily achieved.

“I’ve seen it with swords, knives, and spears, but fist energy on a bare hand?”

“All the researchers, including Cloud, said the same thing. And except for Cloud, they all died by my hand.”

With those words, Olivia snapped her fingers.

“When you gain power… you just want to destroy everything. Everything. The Galactic Union that made me like this, Earth that couldn’t protect me, even Howard Hughes who let his lower half run wild and brought me into this world.”

-Boom.

A short, thick shock wave was heard once and then stopped.

And Olivia spoke to Dexter, who was still sitting in his place.

“Dexter Hughes.”

“……”

“I’ve turned off the automatic turrets.”

“…Why?”

“Well, because I want to fight you.”

“Is there a reason we need to fight?”

“Why do you think I’ve been reciting my past that you didn’t even ask about?”

‘Because you’re insane.’

“If you thought it was just nonsense, you’re mistaken.”

“What’s the reason?”

To Dexter’s question, Olivia stroked the desk once and said.

“Just… I wanted to explain my past, which even Cloud didn’t know, to someone. And I thought you, Dexter, might be curious about why Olivia Hughes did all this.”

Dexter was indeed curious about why Olivia had been doing all this, but he didn’t want to hear it this way.

“You’re giving up your absolute advantage just because you want to fight? Are you really insane as I thought?”

“The man who pitied me and the people who would help me are all dead. There are some non-combat personnel, but they won’t be of much help.”

Olivia grinned.

“The reason I’m doing this crazy thing is because of you, Dexter.”

“This is my fault?”

“Then whose fault is it?!”

Olivia roughly swept the objects on the desk aside and said.

“You shattered all the plans I carefully made.”

“I couldn’t just let it happen.”

“Who do I get compensation from for the harm I suffered?”

“You should have sought compensation in a different direction. The technology and talent you wasted might have been used for something great.”

“Don’t talk bullshit!”

-Crash!

Olivia slammed her fist, still surrounded by blue energy, onto the desk.

The thick wooden desk shattered instantly.

“…Dexter Hughes.”

“What.”

“Get ready. No one leaves this room until one of us dies.”

“What?”

“I’m saying this room has become a place where you can’t leave without a duel to the death.”

Dexter frowned at Olivia’s absurd behavior.

“Couldn’t you have just killed me before I got here? Why go through all this trouble?”

“It wouldn’t be fun to just kill you.”

Olivia laughed lightly after saying that.

“A life-or-death battle that begins with the question, ‘Which of Howard Hughes’ last two descendants will survive?'”

As Dexter swallowed hard and took a deep breath, Olivia opened her mouth.

“Will you do it?”

“I had thought about dueling with you, but I didn’t expect it to proceed like this.”

Dexter stood up, threw off the rifle slung over his shoulder, and said.

“Really, no one can leave until one of us dies?”

“If I die, there’s no one to stop you. If you die, there’s no one to stop me, right?”

“…You really are insane.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Olivia took her stance and pointed her fist, surrounded by energy, at Dexter.

“Any last words? I’ll let the women who came with you know.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Dexter also took a deep breath, stimulating the activity of his nanobots, and said to Olivia.

“Just don’t whine about how much it hurts.”

“You’re a strange being, Dexter.”

And Olivia rushed at Dexter.

‘If you were not an enemy but just a sibling.’

Olivia thought as she swung her fist, surrounded by strong energy, at Dexter.

‘What would have happened then?’