The Plan

“Ugh.. Then.. I’ll analyze it..”

“I’m counting on you, Sad-ssi.”

In the research department of Eclipse.

I left after asking the doctor to analyze the ‘Dew of Lotus’.

“I’ve already given the final report to Astra.. What’s left now? Astra told me to rest a bit today.”

The terrorism was finally declared over after a long 48 hours.

The third beasts were released, and the intense battle was essentially handled within a day.

But as it got dark, it became difficult to deal with the beasts, and some individuals even escaped from the pack.

Therefore, it took a full extra day for final confirmation before the complete end was achieved.

I took out my phone from my pocket and entered the public broadcast being live-streamed.

[Currently, B District is in the midst of disposing of beast carcasses, identifying the deceased, and repairing collapsed buildings. Meanwhile, the association has announced that the person who attacked B District was a researcher who frequently conducted illegal experiments.]

The largest scale of terrorism in the past 30 years.

If limited to villain disturbances, it could be considered the biggest commotion in 10 years.

And the main culprit who caused this commotion.

[The researcher, Roy Raymond, made an extreme choice 10 hours after the terrorism began..]

Of course, it wasn’t me.. Roy took the blame instead.

[In the space where his body was left, screens hacking B District’s CCTV and waves controlling the beasts were being transmitted..]

‘By the way, I clearly shot him in the center of the forehead, yet they call it suicide..’

The police and heroes wouldn’t have made such a stupid mistake.

It was clear that someone had intervened.

“And it’s obvious who would intervene here.”

Ring ring-

Just then, a phone call came in.

I put the translator in my ear before answering the call.

“Hello.”

-Oh! My light! Our only understanding one! Beautiful moon to hide the bright sun! How have you been, Mak-

Click.

“Phew..”

I hung up the phone, looked up at the sky, and sighed.

..Is this what it feels like to dry out tobacco?

Ring ring-

I composed myself and answered the phone again with a calm voice.

“I’m sorry, Chief Researcher. There seems to be something wrong with my phone, the call got cut off.”

-Ho ho, it’s alright! That’s how machines are, isn’t it?

Fortunately, the Chief Researcher who called back didn’t seem to mind that the call had been cut off.

-By the way, Maker-nim! I wonder if you received the gift I sent you well!

“Gift, you say?”

-Yes, perhaps you haven’t seen the news yet?

It seemed that the ‘gift’ he was talking about was Roy’s suicide that was being talked about in the news.

“No, I saw it well. I received the gift well too.”

If asked honestly whether it was good or bad, it was good.

Roy’s revenge? Even if I said I’d do it, I wasn’t particularly angry about using his death.

‘I was going to kill Roy first anyway.’

Rather, I was grateful that it had been handled cleanly without getting involved with me.

-I’m glad you like it! I was worried it might have upset you.

“I’m fine with it. I thought it wasn’t a relationship I’d maintain for long anyway.”

-Ho ho, I see! Ah, and regarding the data our researchers recovered..

“I’ll donate any data that’s useful to Z-Bio.”

-Ooh..!!

“I want to start making other investments soon.”

Words spoken calmly.

The researcher’s words also became filled with laughter at my words full of humor.

-Investment.. What kind of investment do you want to make this time?

“Well. This time, if possible, I’d like to make an investment that would benefit all of Z-Bio.”

-Ho ho.

An investment that would benefit all of Z-Bio.

One might simply think of spreading money across the entire project, but given Z-Bio’s nature, that wasn’t it.

-Maker-nim.

“Yes, go ahead.”

-Perhaps you’re also interested in investing in the main project?

Z-Bio’s ultimate goal and long-cherished project was only the main project.

That could be seen as the only investment that would benefit all of Z-Bio.

‘Got it.’

For some reason, perhaps because of 100% trust, the Chief Researcher readily proposed investment.

I smiled at that and accepted the proposal.

---

Inside the cafe.

After roughly cleaning up the shop, I sat at the counter and organized my thoughts again.

“Quite a few variables have appeared.”

From good variables like Ice Queen’s awakening to bad variables like changes in the final boss’s behavior.

“Originally, the final boss’s lackeys would have appeared around the end of next year.”

The original plot had already been twisted far beyond recognition long ago, but I didn’t expect even the final boss’s actions to change.

‘..No, have his actions actually changed?’

As Spark became his subordinate as scheduled, my memory might be wrong.

In fact, he might have been active around this time originally.

“Hmm.. I’m not sure.”

If I’m mistaken, there’s still plenty of time, but if not, it’s an accident.

Anyway, I need to stay alert no matter what.

‘Many things have already changed.’

Whether good or bad, various people have changed because of me.

And there will be many more changes in the future.

More people than before need to get stronger quickly to prepare for the future.

‘First, we need to eliminate all the bad variables.’

I thought about things that needed to be resolved quickly.

“..Alpha’s ever-changing artifact, Spark who joined the final boss’s side, and the association’s Optimus, I guess.”

I could naturally obtain Alpha’s artifact as time passes, but I think I need to speed up the time a bit more.

Spark obviously needs to be eliminated.

But it doesn’t feel right for me to just kill her, it would be good if Ice Queen killed her to gain more experience..

I need to think about this part a bit more.

‘And lastly, there’s Optimus..’

In fact, this guy was the most troublesome one.

He’s the one who could ruin my plans at any time.

“It’s been fine so far because he doesn’t have much ill will towards me, but if he decides to torment me, it’ll be troublesome for me too.”

Still, since I’ve started working on it, I should be able to bring him down soon.

Besides that, there’s the next trace of mystery, the alchemist who will make the elixir, the next plan to develop ability users, and so on.

There are many trivial things left, but I can handle them one by one like I’ve been doing.

‘I’ve done well so far, so I just need to keep doing well like this.’

Just as I was making that resolution.

Ding~

The door opened with the sound of a bell.

“Oh..”

The customer who entered was a very familiar one.

“..Welcome.”

“..Yes.”

Ice Queen, real name Seo Yoon-hee.

She nodded at me.

With eyes that seemed somewhat more suspicious than usual.

‘Hmm.. what’s this?’

It’s an ordinary encounter, but for some reason, an ominous feeling creeps over me.

---

Perhaps because it’s the first meeting after her awakening, I felt more nervous for no reason.

‘..I remember that awakening improves one’s discernment.’

It wasn’t just discernment.

As the saying goes about the mind-body system, awakening stabilizes that system while simultaneously upgrading it to the next level.

In terms of martial arts novels, it could be seen as a situation where the body is reconstructed through rebirth along with growth in enlightenment.

“Um.. customer?”

As such, it was natural to feel uneasy.

The thought that she, who had become much stronger than before, might now realize my true identity.

‘There’s a possibility, but wouldn’t it be weak?’

Maker wrapped his body and face tightly, and I think I showed a slightly different personality from Kang Yi-an by my standards.

The only points that might give me away are my build and unconscious habits I’m not aware of, but could she really notice?

Step. Step.

‘I’m sure she definitely won’t recognize..’

“..Maker?”

Shit.

How did she know?

I first showed a small surprised reaction and tried to play dumb.

“What? What do you mean..”

“Every time I saw the owner, I felt like I’d seen him somewhere before, but now I think I know why.”

Should I run away?

Unfortunately, Ga-yeon said she would be at Eclipse headquarters with Na-rin today, so she’s not here.

If I run away now, I would most likely become a frozen human.

“You were Maker all along.”

“Maker? Isn’t that person the villain who committed terrorism? I have nothing to do with-“

“Don’t play dumb.”

Seo Yoon-hee approached the counter where I was and suddenly grabbed my hand.

She then brought my captured hand to her cheek.

‘..No way?’

And she closed her eyes and started nuzzling my hand against her face as if recalling a memory.

As I was trembling with anxiety.

“The warmth is exactly the same.”

At her words, I got goosebumps.

“Found you. Maker.”

Seo Yoon-hee smiled at me with a confident tone.

Seeing that, it seemed further pretense would be useless.

“I said I’d catch you with my own hands, didn’t I?”

“From the looks of it, it seems I’ve been caught rather than catching.”

“What does it matter? It’s the same that I won’t let go of your hand.”

She smiled at me.

It was clearly pretty, but somehow it was a scary smile, perhaps because the smile itself didn’t suit her.

‘Should I try to escape even now?’

I’ll surely be caught soon after.

But a head-on confrontation has even less chance of success.

“Are you thinking of taking me to the association?”

“Hmm..”

At my question, she closed her mouth for a moment as if considering.

“I was originally planning to..”

‘As expected, I need to contact the organization somehow..’

While various methods flashed through my mind, I also continued to ponder for a while.

“..Let’s put that on hold for now.”

Her following words were in a direction I hadn’t expected at all.

“..? On hold, you say?”

“Yes, instead..”

Ice Queen let go of my hand and walked over to sit at a two-person table.

“..Ice Queen-nim?”

“Ahem..”

With a face reddened as if embarrassed, she sat shamelessly in the chair.

She twisted the ends of her snow-white hair and opened her mouth.

“Instead, tell me information.”

“Information.. you mean about awakening?”

Hmm..

It seemed Ice Queen wanted to hear information about awakening instead of capturing me.

‘I’ll let you go if you give me information.. quite a wise decision.’

I’m a body that might have unique high-level information.

Rather than immediately capturing and torturing me, taking a stance to form a friendly relationship has a higher chance of obtaining better quality information.

But unfortunately, I had no intention of revealing the information I had to her.

“I refuse. Instead, I have something I’d like to trade..”

“Ah. You refuse? Can’t be helped. Honestly, I didn’t think you’d tell me.”

“..?”

As soon as I refused, she acted disappointed as if that’s what she expected.

However, she had no talent for acting, so everything she said was awkward and obvious.

“Hmm.. what to do. Since you ‘firmly’ refused the trade, it’s hard to ask more.”

“I wasn’t particularly firm-“

“But I can’t just let you go like this either, so I’m in a dilemma.”

She tried to hide her awkward acting by making various gestures, but it was too exaggerated and didn’t match her personality, so it looked strange like she was putting on a play.

I’m not sure what her purpose is, but I decided to listen once to see what she really wants.

“You might run away, so.. right?”

“..Ice Queen-nim is correct.”

So!

She exclaimed and reached out to me.

In Ice Queen’s hand was a phone with a cute ice keyring attached.

“..How about exchanging numbers, just in case?”

“..What?”

“I’ll think about other trades, but you shouldn’t run away in the meantime.”

It seems a bit forced..

‘Does she want the information I have that badly? If not, there’s no reason not to take me to the association.’

I looked at Ice Queen.

She had her characteristic expressionless face, but the back of her neck was flushed red to an extent she couldn’t hide.

Though she wasn’t showing it, her eyes clearly had a woman’s gaze.

“Ah.”

And one reason flashed through my mind from her behavior.

‘You don’t mean..’

Ice Queen.

Twenty-four years old and never dated.

She was showing interest in me.

More in terms of a romantic relationship than a human relationship.