Black Badger

Chapter 345: Sasha (1)

It seemed Samuel knew Yehyeon’s family background as well. He spat out a low murmur beside me.

I let out a sigh too and thought—

Wow.

This was something Yehyeon must never find out about.

This story could never, ever leak outside this room.

No matter what Lee Seunghyun had gone through, it did not justify the abuse he inflicted on Yehyeon.

I felt unsettled by Seunghyun’s misfortune, yet at the same time, I was disgusted by the words Sajid relayed from him.

That he thought he had to survive “because Yehyeon would tremble whenever he met anyone other than himself.”

It sounded like he would have dumped the kid with a nanny for life and never spared a thought, if Yehyeon hadn’t been suffering from trauma.

It was unpleasant enough that he’d left him solely with a nanny until the age of six—but the implication that he would have continued doing so if there had been no abuse grated even more.

If he truly loved Yehyeon, wouldn’t he have said something like, “I must go back to the child who was abused because of my ignorance”?

Wouldn’t he have stopped neglecting him after that day?

All that mattered to that bastard was whether Yehyeon—Sasha’s son—lived or died.

“Did he say anything else about his biological son?”

I asked in a subdued voice.

Sajid studied Samuel and me closely.

“He mentioned from time to time that he was going somewhere for his son’s treatment.”

“Ah. So he must have taken his biological son to the hospital in between his own surgeries.”

“At the time, there were plenty of skilled doctors on this island. He probably brought his son here while undergoing intensive procedures himself. I didn’t see it personally, though.”

“I see....”

I’d heard that Yehyeon barely remembered that period.

Thank goodness. The kid had already had a hard time cutting emotional ties with his biological father, clinging to the rare warmth Seunghyun occasionally showed him. If he were to learn—or recall—facts like these, he’d only feel more conflicted.

Samuel let out a sigh.

I did too, heavy and leaden, when Sajid spoke again.

“But I don’t think he would’ve been a good parent.”

Samuel and I stared at Sajid.

He absently turned his glass of water, eyes sunk deep in thought.

“He was severely deficient. Someone like that has very little chance of becoming a good parent.”

“That’s true.”

I agreed with the doctor.

Both with what came before, and what came after.

“I know him as well.”

Sajid turned to look at me.

He didn’t seem surprised. Judging from our reactions, he must have already guessed as much.

Of course, there was still the slim possibility that the surviving Luca wasn’t Lee Seunghyun.

To be sure, I asked.

“Do you remember what he looked like?”

Sajid stared straight through me.

“He was East Asian.”

As expected.

“He had delicate features, but he always carried a vicious aura about him.”

That matched.

It was Lee Seunghyun.

“Sounds like you were already acquainted?”

“Yes.”

“And did you know he was Luca?”

“I only just learned that Luca actually existed. We weren’t that close. But I did know he was someone deeply lacking.”

Eyes that distrusted the world.

There was always rage flickering in his gaze—an emotion carved directly into him by the world’s cruelty.

He didn’t talk much, so it wasn’t always obvious, but in truth, Seunghyun’s emotions often swung wildly.

The times he treated Yehyeon kindly, and the times he raised his hand even when Yehyeon hadn’t resisted—both likely stemmed from that distortion within him.

A common pattern in domestic abuse.

Some who grow up in violence pass that violence down to those below them.

“Right. He had too many scars on his mind to form normal, intimate relationships. That’s probably why he was selected as a candidate for enhanced-body implantation in the first place. Seemed like he’d fallen out of favor with those above.”

“What were the criteria for being selected as Luca?”

“Physically healthy adults. Twenty-five or older. Mostly soldiers. They weren’t wealthy. I heard there was enormous financial compensation.”

That «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» jogged my memory. When he was younger, Seunghyun hadn’t been well-off.

What money would an orphan have had?

“And this is something I can only say now that there’s no point hiding it anymore—but it seems they specifically picked people with no connections, or unstable identities. So that if something went wrong, the very existence of Luca could be completely erased.”

“Disgusting.”

Samuel spat the word out.

I swallowed a sigh and agreed.

I knew Seunghyun’s misfortune wasn’t my fault.

Who told them to conduct human experiments?

Unsatisfied with halting aging, humans eventually crossed the line into human experimentation. I’d gone around diligently cutting the throats of those disgusting humans, yet it was as if they reproduced on their own—those kinds of people never disappeared.

So yes, I knew Seunghyun’s misery was caused by them.

I knew it all too well.

And yet, I also knew that if we hadn’t come to Earth, he might never have been subjected to those experiments.

The sense of debt swelled.

I shoved that feeling aside for now.

Let’s focus on Luca first.

“Could you tell me more?”

Sajid readily complied.

As if he’d been waiting his entire life to finally unburden himself to someone.

The enhanced-body research, he said, was led by a female scientist later known as Medeia.

That peculiar moniker was attached only after her death; naturally, she had both a real name and an alias.

Sajid knew neither.

“She was a talent Olivia unearthed.”

That Ice Empress again.

“She was nothing like Eve. Quiet. Cynical. But just as brilliant as Eve, without question.”

“What did you call her?”

“We just called her ‘her.’ Or ‘Chief Researcher.’”

He said she was inhuman.

Sajid encountered her exactly three times: when he first met those called Luca; when their bodies began to show rejection reactions; and when everyone except Lee Seunghyun died. Three times in total.

The last time he saw her, the researcher who would later be called Medeia spoke without blinking an eye.

While gazing out at a sea stained red.

‘Perhaps we should have observed the implantation results in death-row inmates for longer.’

Her voice was calmer than the sea itself.

‘We selected Luca because there were no abnormalities in their bodies. Who could have known such violent rejection would occur six months later?’

Sajid felt fear.

A fear that seized and twisted his guts.

The indifference in her voice. The serene eyes that didn’t once sweep over the remains of the dead. He said that terrified him.

What made it even more horrifying, he said, was knowing she wasn’t a complete psychopath.

“In front of Olivia, she laughed and cried like a normal human.”

If she’d been born without a conscience at all, it might not have felt so chilling.

“It wasn’t an act. In her own way, she truly loved humanity.”

The Ice Empress had been the same.

“That was our last meeting. Medeia demanded the medical records of those who died, and of the one who survived. She took everything and left. I only heard later that she had died—after the enhanced body was successfully implanted. That was after the war broke out.”

“Are you certain she’s dead?”

“That’s what I heard.”

So there’d be no way to ease this debt through revenge.

I stared out the window, thinking that. If she were alive, I could have cut her throat and sent it to Seunghyun, paying off at least part of what I owed.

All I could do now was eventually drag Colton—who must have known about the experiment and allowed it—from his seat.

It wasn’t something I could do right away.

Sajid took a sip of water.

I waited quietly until he was ready to continue.

After draining the glass, the doctor finished his story.

“After several more trial-and-error attempts, the enhanced bodies we know today were created. I don’t know the details of all that. I was so sick of it that once Luca was buried, I never left the island. The higher-ups welcomed my decision. People did come to kill me, to permanently silence me—but...”

“You survived?”

“I did.”

Sajid let out a small, victorious smile.

“Thanks to someone’s protection.”

He set the empty glass on the window frame and leaned back against the bed.

Outside, the sun was retreating, darkness settling in.

The doctor who chose to age watched the sea darken, then murmured,

“She’s a woman who resembles Olivia.”

Yekaterina.

I recalled the conversation I’d had with Ska in the hospital room. An Elder whose anonymous period had been strangely long, considering her skill. She only rose to prominence after the First War ended.

There had been a reason for that long obscurity.

“According to rumors, she killed Medeia and took in the surviving Luca.”

Not a rumor—fact.

Lee Seunghyun was currently under Yekaterina.

“No one knows why. Some say she knew the surviving Luca beforehand. Others say it was part of the process of becoming the second Ice Empress. There’s even talk that one of the dead Lucas had been her lover.”

The first theory seemed the most plausible.

I didn’t dwell on it.

In the end, Yekaterina and Colton’s ultimate goal was power. Even if they occasionally displayed mercy on a whim during their pursuit of it, their essence never changed.

Trash was trash.

In any case, Sajid’s story came to a pause.

The doctor, who had lived in seclusion ever since receiving Yekaterina’s protection, smiled faintly upon hearing that the sole survivor was still alive.

But he didn’t ask how Seunghyun was doing, how he knew me, or what had happened to Seunghyun’s son.

He seemed to not want to know more about Seunghyun in the first place.

“It feels good to finally say it.”

That’s what Sajid said as he lay back on the bed, claiming exhaustion.

“I thought I’d die without ever telling anyone. Thank you for listening. I really wanted to tell someone.”

He muttered in a complicated tone, then pulled the blanket up over his head.

The man buried himself beneath it.

Samuel approached to check his wounds, but Sajid refused.

“Just... let me rest....”

A fading voice.

We honored his request.

***

Samuel and I left the hospital room.

We found a quiet, comfortable place like the one before—empty of people—closed the door, and settled in.

There were about two hours left until the Core inspection ended.

A dim, warm room where midnight silence would soon arrive.

Wrapped in the blanket Samuel had draped over me, I wiggled my limbs.

I absentmindedly checked my phone and sent messages to my seniors.

A flood of worried messages had come in.

After replying, I sent the same message to Yun, Yehyeon, Ricardo, and Ami.

[Should I cut my hair?]

I tattled that Trevain had said this and that earlier.

I hadn’t taken it too seriously, but I was worried I might have violated service regulations without realizing it—so I sent that, then flipped my phone face-down.

As if he’d been waiting for it, Samuel spoke.

“Are you going to tell Yehyeon?”

I gave a bitter smile and looked at the doctor sprawled on the sofa beside me.

“Absolutely not.”

“Good. You thought that through. He’d be shaken if he heard this.”

“Yes. I know.”

There was no need to, anyway.

I wanted Yehyeon to completely sever his emotional ties with Lee Seunghyun.

I wished he’d never have to face Seunghyun again.

But I knew that wasn’t realistic.

That was one of the reasons I hadn’t deeply intervened in their relationship until now.

Lee Seunghyun was one of Yekaterina’s limbs. Not someone you could just grab and beat without worrying about the aftermath. If Yehyeon had asked me to do it—asked me to hit him, or remove him, consequences be damned—I would have done so gladly.

But the backlash wouldn’t fall on me alone.

And since we had to attend Elder meetings regularly, it wasn’t physically possible to keep them apart either.

So instead of throwing punches the kid never asked for, I judged it better to gently coax Seunghyun and extract Sasha’s belongings.

I didn’t know if that was the right approach.

In fact, I’d once spoken carelessly about the relationship between Kysis and the Emperor.

I’d told him I wished he’d stop clinging to a father who clearly didn’t love him.

I still couldn’t forget the expression Kysis had shown me then.

After that day, things were awkward between us for quite a while.

Having grown up loved without restraint, I hadn’t understood the complex mix of affection and resentment within families.

But staying beside Rei and Kysis taught me to choose my words carefully.

That was why I’d kept my distance until now.

Because I wasn’t confident I could handle it properly.

“Are you going to contact Lee Seunghyun?”

“Yes.”

I answered Samuel’s question.

Regardless of his sins, I intended to hear what he had been through.

The things he had never told me.

“I’m going to do it now.”

***

A message arrived from Hilde.

Lee Seunghyun stared quietly at his phone, then reached out.

As he replied, he thought of two people.

Sasha. The reason for his life—and the reason he continued to live even now.

Hildebert Taleb. His first mentor.

For the first time since meeting Hilde, Lee Seunghyun felt fear at the thought of being despised.

He didn’t want to be despised—at least not by him.

It was a completely unfamiliar feeling.