Capítulo 25: Chapter 25
"What are you doing, Miss Iota?"
The voice was all too familiar to my ears already. The rich, deep timbre was smooth and velvety. The gentle tone presented a stark contrast to my current emotional struggle.
I turned around and saw those jet-black eyes, as dark as I remembered them to be. His blue hair cascaded down his shoulders gracefully.
"Park."
He no longer hid behind a gas mask. The moment he realized I didn't attach my gas mask to the oxygen tank, the corners of his lips perked up. I became the NSS soldiers wearing masks without the oxygen tank. I now understood that they didn't wear the mask to supply them with oxygen, but rather to protect their eyes from dust.
"Where's your oxygen tank?" he asked, both hands behind his back— a signature pose I had memorized.
There were many things I wanted to ask him when we met, and I had rehearsed them based on priority.
But when the moment finally arrived, all those practices went down the drain.
Nothing seemed more important than this: "Can you fix him?"
His straight eyebrows furrowed slightly as he considered my question. A few seconds passed before he replied, "I assume you're talking about the effect of the second phase on Mr. Bathory."
I nodded, impatient to hear more.
Park continued, "What are his symptoms? We can cure his headaches and red eyes. The medicine can also reduce seizure episodes. He should come to our headquarters, the Synthetic Toxin Mutator we developed could help his body manage the drug."
The whatever-the-name tool sounded like a harmonious melody to me. My eyes sparkled with hope as I grabbed his long sleeve.
"Are you sure? I'm not mistaken, am I? You can stop him from being possessed? He won't turn into a deformed corpse or a zombie, right?"
Suddenly, everything seemed fine. The anger in me dissipated automatically. But that's the danger of hope. Too much of it can easily push you over the edge.
And that's precisely what happened to me.
"Did you say that he's possessed?"
There was a hint of doubt in his voice. My grip on his sleeve loosened as the joy in my heart waned.
"What? You can't cure him if he was possessed? It only happened once. But he returned, so it shouldn't count. Forget I said that!"
Park's face turned dark, sapping my hope completely. I sank to the ground, unable to accept reality.
"Mr. Bathory was not possessed, Miss Iota. He was being controlled remotely. That made him the first successful test subject of the second phase. Hm... this is bad."
He swayed his body a little, seemingly deep in thought. While he was distracted, I came to the surest solution I could think of at this moment. I got up and pinned his slender body to the wall.
Park looked at me in a daze, with no desire to flee. I gritted my teeth and pushed his neck even harder.
"You have to fix him! You said you have medicine and technology. And you have answers!!! This is the answer I'm asking of you. If you dare to say no, I'll crush your neck. The best scenario is you die right away. The worst is you live as a cripple."
The last word suffocated me. I had done it once to my best friend. Why couldn't I inflict the same pain on this total stranger?
My breathing hastened. Weird. I clearly had the upper hand, threatening him with his life, but why did I feel more desperate than ever?
Emotions ran wild in me, causing me to be unstable. My hands trembled, and I choked on my tears. I removed my gas mask and threw it on the ground, having difficulty breathing without the oxygen tank.
When Park stretched out his hand, I took it and flipped him around. Even while on the ground, Park had this look on his face that I despised.
"I just wanted to dry your tears," he said slowly, almost as soft as a whisper.
That's when it dawned on me that I never had the upper hand. Park had nothing to lose. On the other hand, I had plenty. And that made me angry.
I had decided to stomp on his skull, but he was too fast. He dragged his upper body to his feet before rising up, showing off his unbelievable flexibility and speed.
As I swung my fist at him, he easily dodged and dashed away from me with little effort. I ended up punching the air. As he dashed just inches from me, I swung my hand to catch him. Park ducked down to dodge and slid away from my reach.
It was hard to keep up with his lightning-fast movements, although I had always been confident in my speed. He was a lot faster than I was.
"Uargh!" I screamed as I tried to catch up to him. He maneuvered my attack with ease.
"Stop looking at me like that!!!" I shouted from the depth of my lungs.
It was aggravating, especially the expression he wore, as if he was pitying me.
I felt the immense gap between our skills. It was like fighting with Aidan, only Park didn't utilize his muscles for brawn.
The one-sided fight continued, with my continuous attack and Park's persistent evasion. It came to a point where I simply gave up.
I stopped moving and started punching the ground to channel my frustration.
When he was sure that I had lost interest in wounding him, he approached me. His feet came into my vision. His shoes were made of distressed leather with subtle patterns etched into the surface. The soles were made of thick, natural rubber with deep treads that seemed capable of gripping any surface with ease.
I lifted my chin, and with a tone of resentment, I said, "You cheated with these shoes."
He didn't reply right away but analyzed my face first. Still holding on to that expression, he chose to ignore my statement and said, "I couldn't promise to fix him but it doesn't mean we can't try."
"Really?" Like a kid offered a long-awaited toy, my face glowed instantly.
He nodded. "Don't hold this against us if we fail, okay? This will be the first time we try to revive a successful case. No matter what, it's better to have him with us than to hand him over to the enemy."
Offended, I replied, "What do you mean hand him over to the enemy? Not in a million years would I ever consider that option. Who knows what they would do to him?"
I remembered the fate of my parents in the hands of the Parliament, and I was determined not to let the same thing happen to Aidan. Not on my watch.
"Alright. You know Aubin, don't you?"
"Aubin? Oh! That swift kid?"
"Yes. He's our messenger. He knows the way out of here. Come here with Mr. Bathory a week from now, he'll guide you to our headquarters."
Park's voice became authoritative, which told me the position he held in Ad Maiora. He was surely not one of the small fries.
"What about you?"
"I can't come along. There are still things I need to do before returning."
That reminded me...
"Didn't the government capture you? What happened? Did they let you go?"
I didn't expect the answer to be a yes, because if he gave me a yes, then he had to be the government's henchman. There was no way that they would just let him go.
"I escaped."
NSS soldiers were the toughest and most feared people in Genesis. Imagine Aidan being multiplied by a lot, and group them in the same team with advanced weapons. That's the power of Genesis's elite army.
But I had seen Park's swift feet. Considering his agility, escaping from NSS soldiers wouldn't be impossible for him.
"Why did they capture you? Maybe you're not aware because you're not from around here, but NSS soldiers are known for their ruthlessness."
Park bit his lower lip, hesitating. "I am a wanted person."
"Is it because you killed Prime Minister Pachis?"
His eyes widened in surprise as if hearing something unexpected and completely new. "What? I didn't kill her. What's in it for me?"
"But... I thought Ad Maiora wants to destroy Genesis. You're recruiting Monsters. Why would you do that if not to crush this whole country?"
Park smiled gently. "There's a limit to what I can tell you right now. Ad Maiora has been surviving to this day due to our ability to move discreetly in the shadows. There's someone in our headquarters who is in charge of informing newcomers. You'll know when you get there."
I wet my lips. "So, I just have to bring Aidan with me? Can I take Nadia and Persephone with me?"
"The road is filled with turbulence and constant challenges. Are you sure you want to endanger them? The information on the file told me that both aren't adept fighters."
It didn't sound like a threat, more like a warning. I took it seriously and decided to do a thorough calculation before making a decision.
"Next week," I affirmed the schedule, "I'll be here. Even if I have to drag him, I will be here."
"Best of luck to you, Miss Iota."
To be continued...
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