“It’s been a long time.”
“…It has.”
Nam Taegeon, whom Raon hadn’t seen in a while, approached him.
Siwoo watched him, glaring with suspicion.
Raon himself had requested Taegeon to be his guard to prepare against K’s psychic ability.
However, he couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable around Taegeon.
He recalled how Taegeon had even apologized, which was unlike him, perhaps feeling wronged by the comparison to Mikhail.
At the time, suppressing the Double Gate was more important, and honestly, Raon didn’t particularly want to know what Taegeon was feeling, so he had ignored it.
‘Why are his eyes like that? It’s unsettling.’
His moist, red eyes, as if soaked in water, were even more bizarre and sinister.
Before, whenever their eyes met, harsh curses and words would fly out, but now, Taegeon was choosing his words carefully and hesitating, seemingly mindful of Raon’s mood.
‘Is he truly regretting it?’
He had thought Taegeon was just pretending to be sorry because he was desperate for guiding, but seeing the so-called ‘melodramatic eyes,’ he genuinely looked guilty.
Come to think of it, no matter how good S-class guiding was, there was no reason for Taegeon, who didn’t need guiding due to his psychic ability, to feel this sorry.
Perhaps that was why Taegeon felt even more burdensome.
Raon looked up at him with a disgruntled expression.
“I heard you were almost severely affected by K’s ability.”
“Uh, well, yeah.”
“Are you okay now?”
Moreover, Raon was even more perplexed by the attention he had never received from Taegeon.
However, he soon hardened his expression and said.
“I called for you so that wouldn’t happen again.”
“Ah, well, that’s true.”
Taegeon seemed unfazed by Raon’s cold reaction.
On the contrary, he maintained a composed attitude, as if that was natural.
That, ironically, displeased Raon even more.
If he hated him, he should stick to it.
Or, even if he felt sorry, he shouldn’t show it.
To suddenly change his attitude and fluster him. Raon barely suppressed the sigh that threatened to escape.
“Team Leader Raon, could you come over here for a moment?”
“Ah, yes.”
Just then, the military official approached Raon again.
Raon followed him and looked at the area he pointed to with his hand.
“The room for K’s interrogation is the one inside. The room has a separated structure; the Team Leader and K will sit on one side, and Esper Nam Taegeon will be on the side with the one-way mirror.”
The official said that the room Taegeon was in would also be soundproofed.
Raon and K’s conversation would truly not be heard by anyone.
‘Though I don’t know if that will really be kept.’
They might be secretly wiretapping.
Raon did not rule out that possibility. He had brought items to disrupt wiretapping or recording, so he didn’t need to worry about that aspect anymore.
“And Esper Yoon Siwoo and the rest of the Guards will be stationed here.”
“Understood.”
Siwoo, as well as all the Espers who came as Guards, had excellent sensory abilities, so they would rush in immediately if they sensed anything suspicious.
Raon’s physical condition, including his heart rate and minute changes, would be transmitted in real-time to Taegeon, who was right next to him, and to Siwoo and the other Guards in this room.
Therefore, there was no need to worry about safety issues.
“You may enter the room now.”
“Yes.”
When the official gave permission, Raon entered the small room.
He forced a smile at Siwoo, who looked worried right before he went in.
“I’ll be right next door, so don’t worry.”
“…Yeah, that’s reassuring.”
On the other hand, he reacted coldly to Taegeon, who still had those melancholy eyes.
Still, it was a relief that Taegeon had sobered up and would likely do his job properly.
If he were still growling just from making eye contact like before, he would have likely refused the escort itself.
Raon calmly entered the room and sat down in the chair.
K had not entered yet.
It seemed that protocol dictated the criminal could not enter first.
Click.
After a little while, someone entered the room. It was K.
“…!”
However, his appearance was quite strange.
His whole body was heavily restrained with ability control devices, much like Siwoo when he was confined to the closed ward just before his rampage.
Something was heavily pasted over his face, leaving only his eyes and mouth exposed.
At a glance, one might not even recognize him as K.
“I apologize for this appearance, Team Leader Raon.”
“I recognize you by your voice, K.”
“Haha.”
K still maintained a relaxed demeanor.
He slowly walked up to Raon and sat down in the prepared chair.
Considering his state, it looked like moving would be difficult, but he was truly an extraordinary man.
Raon looked at him with a weary expression and spoke again.
“Why did you single me out? Are you still planning to use me?”
“…”
K did not reply immediately to that question.
He just stared at Raon with a cryptic smile.
“Well, it’s just that Team Leader Raon is the only one who can talk sense with me.”
“You don’t look like someone who would spill everything just out of a sense of kinship.”
“Haha, you’re still sharp.”
K let out an exaggerated laugh, intentionally different from before.
But the more he did that, the more Raon could see through his awkwardness.
K was currently nervous.
He was pretending to be relaxed and unconcerned, but it became increasingly apparent as time passed.
It seemed that the capture of Apophis’s leadership was a major distortion from the original story.
K knew that too, which was why he was anxious and desperate now.
If he missed this opportunity, he wouldn’t get another.
“We don’t have much time, and neither of us wants to face each other for long, so let’s get straight to the point.”
That, surprisingly, made Raon feel more at ease.
He felt that the path he had chosen was indeed the right one.
K tilted his head with a puzzled look at Raon’s words.
“About what?”
“If you tell me where Apophis’s funding comes from, I will do something beneficial for you in return.
Excluding entering the Black Gate, of course.”
This was the maximum concession Raon could make.
After all, if Apophis’s funding source was exposed, the entire organization would collapse, and K would have nothing left to do.
At that point, he would truly act only for his own safety.
While Apophis’s crimes were heinous and K’s ability was dangerous, the government had never failed to utilize criminal Espers.
If K cooperated well and compromised according to the government’s will, his sentence might be reduced.
Raon had mentioned this, but K was strangely silent.
Raon looked at him with curious eyes.
“Crk, Hahaha, Ahahahahaha!”
“…!”
A moment later, K suddenly burst into laughter.
It was a roar of laughter that startled Raon.
Since K had never shown such a huge reaction before, Raon was inwardly flustered.
But he clenched his teeth to prevent his agitation from showing.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Haha, you are truly naive, Team Leader Raon.”
Clear tears were welling up in the corners of K’s eyes.
It meant it was so funny that it brought him to tears. Raon was now utterly dumbfounded.
“Do you really think you’ve won, Team Leader Raon?”
K asked, having completely regained his composure.
Raon realized K had no intention of negotiating at all.
‘He must think it’s impossible for me to completely change the original story as long as the System exists.’
Like himself, K had experienced regression after transmigrating.
He had even repeated it several times.
Although it was K’s unilateral claim, which he couldn’t fully believe, he knew of the System’s existence.
He also knew the fact that the original story ended with the world being destroyed, not by preventing the Black Gate.
“I never thought I had won in the first place. I’m just trying to change the ending of the original story you mentioned.”
“Huhu, that is the naive thought, Team Leader Raon.”
K shook his head and looked at Raon with a pitying gaze.
That made Raon feel unpleasant, but he held back and waited to hear K’s words.
“I am worrying about you right now, Team Leader Raon.”
“Worrying?”
“Yes, because if you are so confident and then fail and repeat the same life again, you will be even sadder.”
“…”
It seemed he still hadn’t shed his habit of gaslighting as naturally as breathing.
Raon sighed.
There was no value in listening further.
“If you have no intention of negotiating with me, then unfortunately, the conversation will have to end here.”
“…!”
With that, Raon got up.
The sound of the chair scraping backward echoed loudly in the room.
K was visibly agitated by Raon’s unexpectedly firm attitude.
Raon coldly turned his body to leave without any lingering regret.
“…Wait a moment.”
Then K spoke again.
His voice was subdued, unlike the one that had just been mocking Raon.
“Why?”
Raon deliberately turned around slowly.
K glared at Raon with bloodshot eyes.
Now, with their positions largely reversed, Raon calmly looked down at him.
