Chapter 166
“Ah, I’m suddenly thirsty... I’ll just go to the bathroom for a moment...”
Semin was filled with the thought that he had to get out of there quickly as the atmosphere grew increasingly suffocating.
No one bothered to point out that his words made no sense.
Semin temporarily exited the stage, and Name took his place.
She was adept at climbing onto the tall chair with her short legs.
Name pulled the chair closer, then fidgeted with the mail on the table as she pondered.
How much should she say? It was difficult to decide.
For now, she decided to narrow down the scope step by step.
“Have you read the contents?”
“I have, but I don’t really understand what any of it means.”
Of course he didn’t. This was merely a notice in the first place.
Just how did Name and Semin know each other, and why had she requested a reinvestigation from the Seoul Serious Crime Investigation Agency?
Professor Cheon’s eyes shot toward her, urging an answer.
At last, Name opened her mouth.
“It’s simple. It’s a request to reinvestigate the Banghwa Bridge bombing.”
Professor Cheon’s wrinkled eyes widened. The unspoken question—Why are you the one doing that?—was plain to see.
“Even though many bereaved families continued to request a reinvestigation, it was still concluded to have been a pointless terrorist attack carried out merely for show. No, in fact, it wasn’t even concluded at all. If it had been, this returned letter wouldn’t have been sent.”
There were still many gaps in Name’s explanation.
Nevertheless, Professor Cheon decided to keep listening carefully.
“Why was the UN force conducting a joint exercise in Korea that very day, and how were they able to arrive at the site of the terrorist disaster so quickly?”
Tick-tick-
Name continued tapping the table with her finger.
She bit her lip, looking alternately at Professor Cheon and at Semin, who was peeking through the half-open bathroom door.
“We were told that our military and the UN forces immediately captured the perpetrators who led the terrorist attack and wiped out even their hidden base, but I actually think the opposite.”
An incident that should have faded from memory seven years ago resurfaced in Professor Cheon’s mind.
As if fitting those puzzle pieces together properly were no difficult task, Name’s finger finally stopped.
“The sweep operation had already been underway for quite some time. The UN forces failed in the Walpurgis sweep operation, and Banghwa Bridge collapsed as a result of the remnants fleeing...”
The order of events was reversed.
It was a conspiracy theory that had occasionally circulated online even at the time.
But as news spread that the terrorist organization had been completely eradicated from South Korea through perfect cooperation with the UN forces, the claim lost steam and disappeared.
“You still look like you don’t understand why I’m suddenly saying all this. Actually, I could explain everything in one word... I was going to tell you someday, Professor Cheon... It’s just a little difficult now that I’m actually opening my mouth.”
“...It’s all right. I’ll keep waiting.”
Name’s grip tightened on the hem of her skirt.
There was no turning back now.
“I was kidnapped by Walpurgis from the moment I was born, and I’m a survivor of that sweep operation.”
* * *
The first step is always the hardest.
After that, Name’s revelations came pouring out without hesitation.
“You may not believe me... but I was trapped in some remote capsule for seven years. Semin oppa was the one who rescued me from there.”
“Semin?”
“You may know this if you keep up with the news. During the long hostage rescue operation, every single person was found as a corpse inside a capsule...”
Every word spoken by the little child drove a dagger into his heart.
Seven years.
A full seven years.
In this day and age, with AI assistance, that was enough time for a person to excel in a particular field.
“I finally came out into the world after seven years... but I guess I wasn’t really a hostage. I wasn’t even Korean.”
This was also something Professor Cheon had found strange when he was filling out Name’s adoption papers.
Name had been stateless at the time, and given Professor Cheon’s position, automated administrative procedures had allowed him to obtain Korean citizenship for her immediately.
There was a reason Professor Cheon hadn’t thought much of it.
The Korean government had pursued a policy of turning away war refugees pouring into the country since 2020, which resulted in countless undocumented immigrants.
That was why there were still many people living throughout Korea without having obtained citizenship. It wasn’t uncommon for that status to be passed down to their children, either.
“Why...”
Professor Cheon was speechless. He couldn’t have been anything else.
Even now, he felt as though his head was so full of confusion it might burst.
And as all the questions were asked and answered, they arrived at one final conclusion.
“Didn’t you tell me sooner...?”
Even Professor Cheon, who had unconsciously uttered those words, realized how cruel and irresponsible they were to Name.
But before he could retract his statement and apologize, Name spoke first.
“You never asked.”
“...”
Professor Cheon had never imagined that what he had considered consideration would come back to him like this.
And the thorns bristling from the words she calmly uttered hurt so much that his hands began to tremble little by little.
“If I put it that way, you wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, would you, Professor Cheon? Heh.”
But even this, the seven-year-old girl smoothed over with a laugh.
When Professor Cheon raised his head again, Name had propped one arm on the table and rested her chin on her hand. But a moment later, her head slowly slid down until it touched the table.
Her eyes were fixed on the fruit basket.
She picked up a Shine Muscat grape, rolled it around between her fingers, then put it in her mouth.
“To be honest, I didn’t really want to talk about it. It’s a memory I’d rather forget quickly, too. And all the terrorists were repatriated to their home country and received the fitting punishment of death. Most of all, I like this house.”
Name was overwhelmed by the fact that a life could simply be given to her without her needing to struggle or work for it.
Like this fruit, bred and refined over and over until its skin was thin, seedless, and highly sweet, she didn’t exactly dislike a situation where a comfortable life was granted simply by eating it.
But that wasn’t Name’s true feeling.
Thump-!
Name slammed the table and sprang to her feet, eyes wide as she said,
“But honestly, isn’t it infuriating?! Do you know how much ridiculous stuff I went around doing while trapped in that capsule for seven years?!”
Recalling the past was so absurd that she could only let out a hollow laugh now.
“I couldn’t eat anything or drink anything... My stomach was always growling... but I bought potions and drank them just to stay alive somehow...! As long as it’s connected to the Internet, mana can be sent anywhere at any time...!”
This was the part Name had deliberately been reluctant to talk about.
She had considered hiding it from Professor Cheon and letting it go, but what good would that do now?
“Just to earn enough money to buy that stupid mana... I played games with my mom, whom I barely even remember... and Mom, sniff... she died... but I had to keep living for her too, so I kept playing games to earn money...”
Before she knew it, Name’s eyes were glistening with tears.
Thinking she looked pathetic, she tried wiping them with her sleeve, but in a child’s body, it was difficult to stop the flood of tears once it had begun.
“I’ve lived so painfully all this time... If there’s nothing I can do... then something’s wrong with this, isn’t there...?”
What if she hadn’t even had memories of her previous life?
The mother and daughter would have simply been destined to die together.
Common sense dictated that it was stranger for a baby barely past one to possess the basic knowledge needed to play games.
And no one would have remembered them.
Thus, Name’s displaced anger was frantically searching for a target.
Before it festered and rotted away inside her heart, she had to find someone to direct it at.
Would anything change even if she exposed the truth?
Those who covered up the operation might receive the punishment they deserved, but the victims would not return.
Even so, Name had to do it.
“Sob... If I don’t do it... hic... what will become of my poor mother...?”
Perfect memory, granted to her from the moment she was reincarnated as an imperial princess, was no different from a curse.
That curse had followed her through one lifetime after another, all the way here.
Whenever memories from a time before her sense of self had properly formed surfaced, she was pierced by such profound sadness that there were many nights she couldn’t sleep.
Though it had been only a short time, Seola’s unconditional love for Name was an emotion she had never felt even once in all her lives.
“Someone is still stepping forward and continuing to lie! Sob... Lying... So...”
Name’s vision was spinning, tears obscuring everything.
Just as a shadow fell over her, blocking the light, and she was about to wipe her eyes, someone embraced her and soothed her. It was Professor Cheon.
“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry I didn’t know...”
“Hup...”
“After going through something so terrible, you’ve grown up so bravely and well... I promise I’ll make sure Name never has to go through anything difficult again from now on...”
“To be honest, I am a little hurt that you never asked... Just a little...”
“I’m sorry... I’m sorry...”
The words of the person comforting a girl who had suffered an ordeal unlike any other in the world were clumsy.
But sometimes such direct emotions reached the heart more deeply.
Name closed her eyes and decided to keep savoring the emotions of a seven-year-old child for now.
Perhaps if she hadn’t had the memories of her previous life, she would have cried more freely.
* * *
“Huh, what’s gotten into you? You actually called me first, Brother Byeongho. It’s been years since I’ve heard your voice.”
“Chief Prosecutor, um...!”
Prosecutor Cheon Jeong-ho gestured for the secretary trying to stop him from taking the call to leave.
As though the woman standing there with her tail between her legs were beneath notice, he showed intense curiosity at the fact that his older brother had called first.
“Ah... right, that happened. Haha, what is it? Now that you’re a professor, have you belatedly taken an interest in politics? Are you going to pin on a ribbon and attend the memorial ceremony coming up?”
The secretary was bewildered to see a man who never even smiled in private suddenly laughing.
However, Chief Prosecutor Cheon Jeong-ho’s brows rose strangely, and his expression twisted into seriousness.
“You’re coming where?”
The fact that he was showing this much emotion was a sign that something very serious had happened.
The most recent example had been when former Seoul mayor Won Ilyeong’s arrest warrant was rejected.
They say it’s more frightening when a normally quiet person gets angry.
That day too, Prosecutor Cheon’s secretary had been subjected to a stream of verbal abuse all night and could only leave work at seven in the morning.
Imagining the grueling days ahead, the woman decided to quietly take out the resignation letter she had kept buried in her heart.
But rather than fly into a rage, Prosecutor Cheon calmly set down his phone.
What followed was even more absurd.
“Secretary Kim... summon the security company to the thirteenth floor right now.”
“Yes...?”
“You don’t know what security is? Security—the ones with names like S-1 or ADT Caps on their backs... Anyway, call every last one of those brats lazing around on the first floor up here.”
“Ohhh, yes sir...”
“Now!”
“Yes!”