IMPRINT 7

“Cough, ahem. Right. That is true…. It never feels good to always assign such arduous tasks to the people of the National Security Agency. Still, knowing there is someone like Team Leader Seong makes me feel so supported and reassured…. You know I am very grateful to you in my heart, right?”

I didn’t know. I wasn’t particularly curious, either.

“Ah, yes.”

“Team Leader Seong is the real hero. A hero of the nation! Who else would so readily come to the National Security Agency? Isn’t that right?”

It was nice of him to praise me, but I had never gone “readily.”

It’s not like I belonged to the National Security Agency from the start. Ending up in charge of things like interrogations or rooting out spies in the Information Security Department just happened by chance; it wasn’t my role from the beginning.

I was originally part of the Medical Bureau. To be precise, it was a research institute under the Medical Bureau, but I also doubled as staff for the medical wing.

Setting aside what I experienced there, to put it simply, I didn’t mesh well with that team. Naturally, it wasn’t by my own will. Those people hated me first.

Then one day, a request for support came from Director Shin of the National Security Agency, and I helped with that task. After that, Director Shin must have decided I was the one, because he grabbed onto the hem of my pants and wouldn’t let go. To put it plainly, it was a love call.

Director Shin’s earnest and pathetic sales pitch continued for over a month, and I eventually gave in, pretending to be overcome, and drove a stake into the National Security Agency.

…I shouldn’t have done that.

But at the time, I judged that it would be better to work with people who needed me rather than working with people who hated me. Besides, the National Security Agency and the Medical Bureau buildings were located at opposite ends of the campus, so I thought I wouldn’t have to run into those unpleasant humans.

Director Shin was apparently so grateful that I joined the team back then that he even established a new Information Team for me and bragged about me to the Center Director constantly.

So the Center Director also goes around shouting “Team Leader Seong is the best!” like a brainwashed person, but in truth, I know. I know the Center Director finds me very uncomfortable.

I wonder when he will realize that I have no intention of reading his mind.

“This gathering was also created for that very reason.”

I kept drinking only water while listening to the Center Director’s empty words. Even if I tried to take it positively, I didn’t think it was right for him to say such things after humanly stuffing us into a corner. To anyone’s eyes, the main focus was the table where Kang Juha was.

A while ago, the Alpha Team led by Kang Juha was selected as the advance party for a large-scale Gate. That alone was a surprising achievement, but they succeeded in subjugating it in the shortest time among Gates of similar scale, causing a sensation both domestically and abroad.

So, if one had any sense, it was impossible not to know that this gathering was for him. Even though I live my life turned away from the world’s affairs, I knew at least that much.

Director Shin told me to take pride, asking if I knew what great work the National Security Agency was doing…. Well. I knew without it being said that a hero isn’t someone like us, gloomily digging up people’s memories in a basement, but someone who goes out to battle grandly, wins, and returns.

It’s a cold comparison, but if Kang Juha is the light, perhaps I am something like a garbage dump. To even be a contrast, I should at least be the darkness, but at most, I’m a garbage dump. It means there is such a vast difference that a comparison cannot even be made.

I, too, once thought I could become an angel in white. Thinking about it now, it’s a delusion that only brings out a hollow laugh.

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“Ughh…”

The groan heard at that moment woke my senses. I turned my head and looked at Kang Juha.

His furrowed brow twitched and moved. Eventually, his closed eyelids slid open, and his black pupils wandered for a moment before stopping on me. It wasn’t the madness-filled eyes I had seen until now, nor the eyes overflowing with murderous intent, nor the wary eyes.

His gaze lingered on me for a long time as if trying to grasp the current situation, and I thought he might curse, just as he had done a while ago. And I thought that would be a positive result in its own way.

“…Who are you?”

I didn’t expect this.

“…Me? No, you mean me?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, I am Seong Yihyeon, the Information Team Leader of the Information Security Department at the Center’s National Security Agency.”

But I think Kang Juha just used casual speech with me by saying “Yes.” Was it just my imagination?

“Yihyeon? Seong Yihyeon?”

No, it wasn’t. This jerk is using casual speech right now.

“It’s not Yihyeon or Seong Yihyeon, it’s Team Leader Seong Yihyeon. You can call me Team Leader Seong.”

“Team Leader Seong Yihyeon?”

What is this? Why is his voice so cheerful?

I blinked my eyes rapidly. Is it because something is wrong with my eyes that Kang Juha’s eyes look so innocent?

“But why am I here?”

“…This is the Special Treatment Room in the basement of the Center. Esper Kang Juha, you went out on a mission and were processed as missing half a year ago, and you returned to the Center a few weeks ago with the help of the Allied Forces.”

No matter how much I thought about it, the current Kang Juha seemed out of his mind, but I explained the current situation diligently for now. At that moment, Kang Juha tossed and turned as if his posture was uncomfortable, and simultaneously, the chain on his left wrist made a clink-clank sound. Kang Juha’s gaze stayed on his hand for a long while.

“What is this? It’s uncomfortable…”

A tone that sounded exactly like he was grumbling. Even looking at it favorably, it was the tone of an elementary schooler at best. In other words, right now, Kang Juha is acting like a spoiled child.

“…Esper Kang Juha’s mental state was unstable, so we put on restraints to prepare for any eventuality. Even if it’s uncomfortable, I cannot take them off for you.”

“But you’ve been saying Kang Juha, Kang Juha since earlier… is Kang Juha me?”

Wow, really, please tell me this is a lie.

It was a moment where I found myself seeking God despite having no religion.

What? Is he Kang Juha? Did I hear that correctly just now? Did Kang Juha just ask with his own mouth if he is Kang Juha? No, if Kang Juha doesn’t know that he is Kang Juha, then what on earth…! Ha, I feel like I’m going to have a “Kang Juha-talt” breakdown.

I tried my best to maintain my composure.

“Mmm, it can be quite confusing. I haven’t been able to find out the exact circumstances yet, but judging by the behavior Esper Kang Juha has shown so far, I had predicted that your sense of self would be heavily damaged.”

That was a lie. I was incredibly flustered. I didn’t know for sure yet if the ones who did this were the Anti-Allied Forces or not, but anyway, I thought some crazy bastard had thoroughly ruined the kid.

To apply brainwashing to the point of self-collapse. I couldn’t even grasp how much of their ability they had poured in, and also, how long Kang Juha had resisted it.

“What do you mean? I didn’t understand…”

“I am informing you that you are indeed Kang Juha.”

“I see.”

Kang Juha stared blankly at the blanket he was covered with as if thinking for a moment, then scanned the interior of the Special Treatment Room.

In the meantime, I racked my brain like crazy, agonizing over how on earth I should report this situation to the Center Director, and whether the fact that Kang Juha had become an idiot was related to my stimulating his subconscious last night.

It would be great if a clear conclusion of “it is” or “it isn’t” came out, but the human brain doesn’t work that simply… and I couldn’t claim with total innocence that it wasn’t my fault.

The Center Director’s words to restore Kang Juha’s brain without damaging it as much as possible and Director Shin’s words that I must never kill Kang Juha rang in my head at the same time.

…Should I kill him?

Perhaps handing over the body of a Kang Juha who tragically passed away would be better than presenting them with a Kang Juha who has become an idiot.

While I was seriously contemplating this, I felt Kang Juha tap my shoulder.

“Are you a doctor? Am I hospitalized because I’m sick?”

Where did he throw away the introduction I gave earlier? Now he’s asking if I’m a doctor. So, I was about to tell him again that I am Seong Yihyeon, the Team Leader of the Information Security Department under the National Security Agency.

“If I’m sick… Mom will get angry.”

What? Mom will get angry? My speech was cut off just like that by the sullen voice that was heard clearly in my ear.

Is it right to use that kind of tone with that face right now? Because the gap between what was seen and what was heard was so large, cognitive dissonance hit my brain and all my thought circuits stopped.

“Do you… have a mom?”

So, I unintentionally ended up insulting his parents. No, of course he has a mother since he was born. What on earth am I saying? I couldn’t even understand what I was thinking when I blurted out those words.

Moreover, because it was like blurting out a reckless remark to someone who wasn’t mentally sound, I was feeling a deep sense of guilt.

“Yes. Don’t you have a mom, teacher?”

Kang Juha was strong.

“…Yes, I don’t.”

And I lost. Because I didn’t just lack a mom, I didn’t have a dad either.

“Is it good if you don’t have one?”

“…I wouldn’t know because I’ve never had one. Wouldn’t it be better to have one, generally speaking…?”

He’s digging into my sore spots too well; isn’t he doing this on purpose?