STM 16

“Pay attention a little.”

During dinner, Doctor Kim scolded me. She sat at the far end of a long table that looked straight out of a royal palace, and I sat across from her.

The table could seat thirty people, but only the two of us sat crammed at one corner. When I took my seat, the butler and servants stared in shock. Guess these siblings never even shared meals before.

“What kind of attention?”

“There’s talk around the mansion that you’ve changed too much.”

I raised my fork to start eating and froze. Then I subtly looked around l. Someone was still in the dining room. It was Lantuya’s chief aide.

“You can speak freely, Solongo knows everything about me. I also told her about you.”

Solongo nodded slightly to confirm it.

Doesn’t it bother her that we’re planning to harm her world? I wanted to check, but she stepped far back before I could ask. And Doctor Kim attacked next.

“You’re going to keep acting like that?”

“I’m already talking rudely in my own way.”

“What are you talking about, everyone says you’ve gotten too polite.”

“Who’s spreading that nonsense? I haven’t done even the ‘p’ of polite.”

I argued, but Doctor Kim only snorted.

“That’s not all. They say you work out every chance you get.”

This time I couldn’t deny it. I did… work out a bit.

“I’m weak, that’s all. I have a lot to do later, how can I just sit still?”

“Don’t overdo it.”

“Oh, I only did it when no one was around!”

“They said they all saw you.”

“…Their eyesight’s amazing.”

Was this Tubain or Mongolia? Damn. I stopped defending myself but still felt wronged.

“But with this body, if I meet a monster, I’ll die in one second. I nearly died this time.”

Her face turned serious at my words.

“Right, you said you faced a monster. How did you survive?”

“Mo helped me. I’m used to fighting monsters too.”

“Oh, right. You were a field agent. But that couldn’t have been easy.”

It wasn’t. I crawled for my life up that slope, and then…

Bang.

Thinking about it made me furious, and I slammed my fist on the table.

“I thought I could barely escape alive, but some bastard kicked me in the ribs…”

“Who?”

I don’t know. I shook my head and explained what happened. Then I gritted my teeth.

“He had black hair and dark skin.”

“Half of this world has dark skin.”

Then maybe shiny eyes are common too. Damn it, who the hell was he, trying to kill me out of nowhere…

“Is there any man who’d kill Adeye Lu on sight?”

“Well, how many people did Lu molest, huh?”

Damn.

“What about his face?”

People said my sense of beauty was broken, but this time I was sure.

“I don’t remember well, but his grin looked like dog shit.”

“Well, Lu rolled around just fine with dog-shit-looking guys too.”

I grimaced even harder.

Was it someone who really had a grudge against Lu? Maybe his crotch got rubbed raw? Whatever the reason, trying to kill me made him a bastard.

“If I meet him, I won’t let him go.”

“Let him be. He’s probably a knight who came to hunt monsters. You can’t handle someone like that.”

“I’ll see about that when I fight him.”

I clenched my fist, burning with even more drive to train. Doctor Kim shook her head as she looked at me. Her behavior was like a sixty-year-old, but with Rantuya’s youthful face she looked like an old soul.

“What matters now isn’t your petty revenge.”

Getting kicked was petty? I flared up and provoked her.

“Doctor Kim, you should put your feelings aside and win over the Kun family.”

Her eyes turned cold right away, but she couldn’t refute it, so she just clenched her fist.

“My feelings are as deep as the sea, but what can I do? Damn it.”

But seeing her trembling hands, I thought she’d die from anger before she ever won them over.

“Why did the traitor side with Duke Kun even though he’s such an asshole?”

“Because he’s good-looking.”

“Come on, just for his looks…”

“He’s stunningly good-looking.”

Doctor Kim clenched her fist again.

“He looks like dog shit to me, but just hearing his name makes people scream. He’s basically a damn idol. And he’s got that tragic story, family ruined, curse on his bloodline, all that nonsense.”

Doctor Kim spoke like the thought alone made her sick.

“Everyone’s desperate to save him. If his rank weren’t high, there’d be a truckload of idiots chasing him every day.”

“Then maybe you should join the fandom too.”

Her eyes filled with disgust. I quickly added before she could curse.

“We have to save Earth.”

Fuck. Doctor Kim slammed her fist on the table and turned to glare at me.

“You got any plan?”

“I told you already.”

I picked up the glass, took a sip, and answered flatly.

“I’ll find the traitor and kill them.”

“Well, you must know the same future the traitor knows then.”

“Hmm, no. The lab the traitor belonged to exploded, so no data survived.”

“What? How could they? Those idiots at the lab! They should’ve backed up everything, useless fools…”

Doctor Kim grabbed a potion bottle, gulped it down, and after a moment asked in a calmer tone.

“Even if there’s no data about the traitor, what about the scroll I sent? Don’t tell me everything got erased except the last one?”

“Yes.” I nodded and shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. But trying to play it off didn’t work. Doctor Kim’s face turned rigid instead of angry.

“So things are really that bad?”

“…”

“Yeah, you already said they were. I should’ve known.”

She sighed, then got back to the point.

“So you don’t know who the traitor is, and you don’t know what future the traitor knows. How do you plan to find her?”

“We still have your last scroll. You wrote a few notes about the traitor’s future moves there. And also about Lu.”

“That means the traitor doesn’t know Lu is dead. That’s why they chose him.”

Her words made me pause for a second before I added,

“He’s your family too.”

“Well, if he’s family, it’d be easy for the traitor to meet me. Honestly, Lu’s social standing and skills can’t be called impressive… but maybe I still saw him as our last hope. His lost ability would’ve been a strong weapon.”

After saying that, she looked at me like she was surprised.

“But it really came back.”

“You didn’t expect it?”

“I did.”

She lifted her glass of water gracefully and added in self-praise,

“Lu probably lost his ability because of extreme fear. So if he doesn’t feel fear anymore, I thought it might return. What I didn’t expect,”

She looked at me with genuine amazement.

“was that you’d accept Lu’s ability without fear.”

“I’m not the fearful type.”

“Guess that’s why you took on a suicidal mission like this.”

There were many reasons I took it, but there was only one I could say now.

“I want to catch the traitor no matter what. And just to be clear, this is my job. That bastard is my prey.”

Just thinking of her made anger rise again.

“The traitor will eventually find out everything about you. So you must never meet them. Stay out of that matter.”

Focus only on closing the Eye of Hell. My words might’ve sounded arrogant, but Doctor Kim nodded.

“But tell me what happens next with the traitor. I can’t help if I don’t know.”

“First is a party this summer. It’s when the traitor helps Duke Kun for the first time. The scroll said it’s a ‘non-wine’ party.”

“Hmm… A party without wine. That’s rare.”

She nodded and told Solongo to check it right away.

“And then?”

“At the hunting festival, Duke Kun saves the traitor. And on the summer thanksgiving day, the Duke announces his marriage.”

She frowned.

“They help each other once and then jump straight to a wedding? What a pair of clowns.”

“If they act like clowns, that’s better for me. Easier to find the traitor.”

My positive tone made her squint her eyes at me in annoyance.

“You’re not planning to stay holed up until the traitor shows up, are you?”

“I don’t want to interfere and change the future she knows. She’s probably already hiding her identity carefully since she suspects there might be other agents.”

“You still need to adjust. If you stand out at that non-wine party, the traitor will notice you right away.”

“Well, I do think some scouting is necessary. I should study the party’s setup and learn proper behavior in advance.”

“You talk about parties like they’re battlefields… ah, forget it.”

She waved her hand and gave in.

“I’ll recommend a party you can scout ahead of time. Go there.”

“Yes.” I nodded and was finally about to start eating when more nagging came.

“Once again, cut down on the workouts. The staff’s getting suspicious.”

“I already covered for that. I said it’s because I nearly died and came back. Wouldn’t they understand if I changed a bit?”

“You should still be careful. I heard you did sit-ups while hanging upside down?”

“…I couldn’t even finish one.”

“Doesn’t matter if it’s one or a hundred. Lu hated exercise. The only thing he liked moving was his crotch.”

That damned crotch again.

I slammed my fork down before taking a single bite.

“About that. Is that kind of perverted stuff normal here?”

“No. Lu’s just a pervert.”

Shit.