SBTGC 27

Chapter 27

“……What?”

“Exactly what I said. He scattered the existence of Lacharjat—which had been shared only between Satva and himself—to other places as well. The government was one of them.”

Baek Hwagyeong turned his head, which had been looking back at me, forward again and continued.

“And before Satva could hold him accountable, the doctor disappeared. Suddenly, without a trace. The materials related to Lacharjat vanished along with him.”

“Ah…….”

I had already heard before that the doctor suddenly disappeared one day. But since I didn’t know the full circumstances, I hadn’t thought much of it—I never imagined there was a story like this behind it.

“From this point on, things get a bit complicated… Anyway, because of what the doctor did, the government also began to intervene in Lacharjat, and the two sides ended up clashing. The government argued that since Lacharjat bordered on reality, they had ample grounds to be involved, but Satva refused to accept that opinion.”

I could probably guess why Satva wasn’t welcoming of government intervention. Until then, they had monopolized this ‘field,’ so of course they wouldn’t welcome the state stepping in to manage it.

Moreover, although Lacharjat bordered on reality, it wasn’t bound by the laws of reality. From Satva’s perspective, giving up that place or sharing the information they had would have been a loss…

“Anyway. Since the field itself was what it was, it couldn’t lead to legal disputes, but for several years after that, they apparently had fierce back-and-forth arguments. Opinions wouldn’t narrow, and the fight showed no sign of ending. Both sides were only getting more exhausted, so they decided it wouldn’t do and came to an agreement.”

*Clap!*

Baek Hwagyeong suddenly clapped his hands together loudly. The sharp sound of applause pierced through the quiet alleyways.

“To name a few key points: first, they would share the space of Lacharjat and related materials, but would not leak them further beyond that. They would cooperate under certain circumstances.”

“…….”

“And they would not interfere in each other’s work. That’s about it, I suppose?”

After finishing, he shrugged.

“For reference, everything I just said is true, so don’t doubt it. I’d be a little disappointed if you did.”

I felt like I had heard far more than I had even asked for.

I looked at the smiling face and asked him.

“Is it okay for you to tell me all this?”

“Actually, some of it is confidential, but…….”

Baek Hwagyeong thought for a moment, then smiled as if there was no helping it.

“I just want to tell you, Sena.”

At his words, I narrowed my eyes and said.

“That doesn’t mean I’ll join Satva.”

“Ah. You’re hard to get close to. I really didn’t mean it that way…….”

Baek Hwagyeong muttered as if weary. As he let his shoulders drop limply, the smiley on the visor made a gloomy expression.

“I’d be glad if you joined Satva, Sena. Satva would want that too.”

Then, in a slightly aggrieved tone, he said.

“But if you don’t want to, you don’t have to force yourself to join.”

“You say I don’t have to join?”

“Yes. That’s not something others can force on you.”

Honestly.

“And yet you’re the kind of person who uses parents as a threat?”

“Parents? ……Ah, ha.”

Recalling the nonsense he’d said last time, Baek Hwagyeong snapped his fingers.

“I told you. That was just a joke.”

“If you’re the kind of person who jokes about things like that, I want to get close to you even less.”

“The reason I brought up your parents to you…….”

Baek Hwagyeong’s voice lowered slightly. With a more serious tone and attitude than before, he said to me.

“It was because I’m in a similar position to you, Sena.”

“Excuse me?”

“I was adopted too.”

……Huh?

“It’s not a lie, it’s true. I brought it up to find some common ground, but the moment I mentioned it, it got treated as a threat, so I got a little upset.”

Dazed, I mulled over Baek Hwagyeong’s previous words.

*<I understand you were adopted. Interestingly, you look a lot like your parents. You’ve heard that a lot, right?>*

So, that remark back then wasn’t a threat—he was just trying to bring up a common denominator?

“No… Who just brings up personal topics out of the blue to someone they just met!”

“We didn’t just meet back then, did we? It was our second meeting.”

Second, third, child! Don’t make me misunderstand you for no reason!

“To conclude, I have no intention of forcing anything on you, Sena. Even if it were just to curry favor by showing goodwill, maybe. If I do that, um…….”

Baek Hwagyeong tilted his head back for a moment. As if admiring the star-filled night sky above the dark alley.

After a long silence, as if weighing that darkness, he finally opened his mouth.

“Maybe later, even out of a grudging affection, you’d grant me at least one favor.”

Wow. To say something like that out loud.

As I stared blankly at him, Baek Hwagyeong suddenly turned to me and said.

“You’ve got that look on your face right now—’He really said that out loud,’ huh.”

“……!”

“Oh? Looks like I was right.”

How did he know?

*Ahahahaha!*

As I stared at him, momentarily speechless, Baek Hwagyeong burst into loud laughter that echoed through the quiet space. I don’t have a mirror to check right now, but I must be making a pretty foolish face.

Yeah. Laugh it up, laugh.

I resigned myself and looked at him and the smiley laughing heartily. With that, I feel doubly ridiculed.

…Anyway, so he was adopted too. I never thought of that.

For the record, I don’t regard being adopted as some kind of flaw. There are all kinds of families in the world, and ours was just one of those diverse forms.

I only became aware of being adopted by pure chance—it happened when relatives were heaping praise on me during a holiday and, drunk, brought up the adoption. At the time, I was ten, old enough to grasp the implications behind their words.

Later, in the car on the way home, my dad and mom spoke to me. And what they said wasn’t an apology like ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘Your uncle was talking nonsense earlier.’

*<Oh my, I completely forgot. Really…….>*

*<How could you forget something like that? Honestly, I’m just floored. Right, Sena?>*

They said that, smiling at me. They had completely forgotten the fact that they had adopted me.

For the record, they said they hadn’t intended not to tell me. They had planned to explain when I was a little older.

But with the business of raising me keeping them so busy, they even forgot they had planned to tell me later. They seemed so amused by the fact themselves that they kept giggling even after we got home.

And watching them, I couldn’t say a word. Because I, too, had completely forgotten that fact.

My parents, who came to see me every weekend. The gifts and conversations they offered each time. The name they called me affectionately, or carefully. Their eyes. Their touch.

Even the moment I, who used to be shy with strangers, mustered up the courage to embrace them.

Perhaps it was their influence. As time passed, the word ‘adoption’ faded, and other memories piled on top of it. Because for us, only the fact that we loved each other mattered.

So I’d never brought up this topic before…….

As their bright laughter gradually subsided, I quietly asked Baek Hwagyeong.

“What about you, then…… Do you resemble them?”

“Hm?”

The smiley on the visor looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Ah, ah.”

Baek Hwagyeong seemed to understand my question right away and answered in a bright voice.

But when he said those words, the smiley on the glass was nowhere to be seen.

“No. Not at all.”

It was completely black.

Night is a time when even just a few lights can make it more brilliant than daytime.

On the rooftop of a high-rise building, still lit in places, Genzer gazed at the countless city lights like stars with eyes as cold as a winter wind.

On the streets, where not a single breeze blew, occasionally cars and people moved about, but Genzer’s gaze ignored them all.

Because what he wanted wasn’t there.