By Zephyria 
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Olga Belova. A survivor of Solar City and the former lover of its now-vanished leadership.
Mu-hae had previously obtained information about Dmitri from her. Thanks to that, he had been able to push the investigation into the Return flight forward to this very moment.
‘What a funny person. Actually, I’ve already stolen and read all of his documents. I just couldn’t stand to watch it. Seeing him skip meals and sleep, gradually wasting away.’
He had already heard directly from the party involved that Olga had accessed Solar City’s classified documents.
It was also Olga who had subtly informed him about the substance called ‘Star Path’ that affects Crystal Blue.
However, he never imagined her name would suddenly pop up in a request worth 80,000 Deal.
Perhaps she was caught up in something dangerous. That thought pressed heavily against his chest, sending a chill through him.
“What do they want? Location confirmation, or securing her?”
“The latter, obviously. But since we decided not to make things too harsh… yeah. Let’s set the goal as location confirmation and try to get as close as possible.”
The way the corners of his mouth curled up in a smirk, as if he were being generous, was eyesore. Mu-hae saved the information on the pad and glanced away.
Joo-oh was holding food in both hands. He didn’t know how he had managed to scoop it up, but he had a piece of steamed fish with a diameter that looked five times larger than a spoon, and a slab of steak he had poked with a fork without even slicing it.
He was eating slower than usual, as if savoring the taste. His bulging cheeks looked like they were begging to be poked.
“Is this all the preliminary information?”
“There are some more detailed records, but I’ll send those separately, so don’t worry.”
“I need to know the objective as well.”
“Well… the head does the judging anyway, so what’s the point of the limbs having their own thoughts?”
Cheong twirled a glass rod between his fingers. He looked infinitely light, yet the instinctive pressure he radiated served as a fresh reminder of his position.
“I’m playing along nicely because it’s you guys. I’m not usually that generous with people who owe me.”
It was a way of saying: don’t ask more and just do the job properly. Mu-hae felt his temple twitch, but it wasn’t a lie.
A massive amount of unofficial work obtained from Sakdal couldn’t be the same as an ordinary request. Even if someone were targeting Olga’s safety, the likelihood of Cheong blabbing about it was slim.
“If the promised conditions change, I’m dropping out immediately.”
“Suit yourself. I’d also prefer to avoid seeing people I like showing up lying down without limbs.”
“Jin Mu-hae. Eat this.”
“I’m not eating.”
“Then I’ve eaten it all.”
While the two exchanged smirks and sharp glares, Joo-oh popped his head in and cut the conversation short.
On his plate, neatly cut pieces of meat were lined up in a row.
“Finish eating. Let’s go.”
“You can’t eat it all.”
Joo-oh closed his lips tight and shook his head. Just as Mu-hae’s brow furrowed, wondering if Cheong had played some trick with the food, Joo-oh’s eyes stared at the small door behind them.
“There’s more. If you eat it all, I’ll keep bringing more.”
This was a guy who could devour one or two boxes of cereal in the blink of an eye without even feeling it. If the word ‘more’ came out of his mouth, it meant there was a truly staggering amount of food still waiting to be served.
“Haha! How did you know?”
“I can smell it. I’m not an idiot.”
“That’s a shame. I intended to keep bringing it out all night to see how much you could eat.”
To think he was trying to keep them there longer by providing an infinite supply of precious food. It was so childishly futile that Mu-hae didn’t even want to engage further.
Mu-hae clicked his tongue unconsciously and pushed himself up from the plush sofa.
“Whether you bring it or not, I just won’t eat it.”
“It smells too good. You’ll want to eat it.”
Cheong’s low laughter echoed behind Joo-oh, who was shaking his head resolutely.
* * *
After returning, having unusually refused the offered food, Joo-oh spent a long time clinging to someone’s arm and sniffing.
He kept climbing onto Mu-hae’s lap to rub his forehead against him, and he would tap his own head as if commanding him to pet him.
Only after Mu-hae touched his head and cheeks until he lounged back with a silly smile did the lingering disappointment fade from his face.
“Are you going to meet Olga? She should be at the park around now.”
“….”
Mu-hae stared silently into those red eyes.
“How would you like it to go?”
Joo-oh looked blank for a moment at the sudden choice given to him.
His eyes wandered through the air before settling on the person sitting across from him, filled with complex emotions.
“Olga… will be wary.”
The words he spat out after hesitating were quite clever. It wasn’t a voice filled with baseless confidence like other times; it seemed he had put a fair amount of thought into it with that round head of his.
“You didn’t tell me last time either.”
“That’s true.”
“And, um. Olga said. A big shot…”
‘I’m talking about a “real big shot.” Not just some middleman.’
Her voice overlapped in his ears belatedly. Right. Olga had said something like that.
No matter if she came from Solar City, she wouldn’t be in a position to meet such a big shot. Yet, that person had asked about her lover directly.
As expected, Joo-oh’s memory was terrifyingly good. Even though Mu-hae had realized it when Joo-oh memorized the thesis Teacher Jung gave him, it was still amazing.
He thought, He’s not within the range of a normal human, then remembered that he really wasn’t a normal human. And then he wondered if it was okay for a creature closer to an Aberrant than a sentient being to have such high brain function.
“The person Olga mistook for our backer… she’ll think that person is trying to make contact.”
“Yeah.”
“She’s been pretending not to know until now, so she won’t just tell us everything just because we suddenly visit, right?”
“Right.”
Joo-oh nodded and burrowed deep into his embrace again. Mu-hae straightened his back, which had almost buckled, and patted the bulk of the man who, despite being nearly 180 centimeters tall, curled himself up like a baby animal.
He could have pushed him away, but the heavy warmth pressing against him wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
“Still, the only information we have right now is that Olga knows the target.”
“Then let’s not ask, let’s just go to talk.”
Now, Mu-hae could understand perfectly even when Joo-oh spoke vaguely. He meant they should go meet Olga, but without mentioning T-47, and just catch up on how they’ve been.
Coincidentally, he had a few meager things to talk about. Like how the bead she gave Joo-oh had unfortunately split, or how he had caught a good opportunity thanks to her previous help, so he came to say hello since he had some spare time.
Oh, he could also let Joo-oh talk about something useless. Since he had given her that damn figure, Somumu or whatever.
If he told him to talk about that, that flower-garden head would probably try to explain every single character of the tinkle friends one by one.
That alone would be more than enough of an excuse to kill time. Mu-hae glanced back at the backpack shoved in the corner.
He thought it was full of junk since Joo-oh always pulled all sorts of things out of it, but ridiculously, except for a few snacks, Joo-oh’s bag was empty…
The Garam District was as clean and bustling as ever. Since he knew Olga’s daily schedule in detail, finding her again wasn’t difficult.
“It’s been a while.”
“I happened to be passing by, so I thought I’d look for you.”
He wasn’t in a suit like before, but he appeared subtly dressed quite neatly in a coat and shirt.
Joo-oh, dressed similarly, sniffed his new jacket a few times before waving happily at Olga.
“You brought the princess’s friend too. I don’t think we met under such pleasant circumstances.”
“You were a great help to me in your own way. After what I’ve experienced recently, every connection feels special.”
“Olga gave me a bead.”
“In exchange, I received a strange toy.”
Only after Joo-oh chimed in did a faint smile appear on her expressionless lips.
However, her gaze remained fixed on Mu-hae. It was persistent, as if she were trying to figure out the real purpose of this visit.
“I… found a job in central. I don’t know if you’ve heard.”
“Hmm, I believe I’ve heard something. You’re quite self-conscious to be so sure that I’d be interested in your affairs.”
“Now that life is a bit more comfortable, this guy keeps pestering me. I don’t know when he became so close to you, but he keeps saying he wants to meet Ms. Belova and have dinner together.”
“I gave Somumu. We’re close.”
“Was that a token of friendship? I don’t think so.”
Despite her words, her defensive stance softened. Olga looked at her wrist and then touched her forehead as if contemplating.
“I do… have some time this evening. Though this is very sudden.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t have your contact information, so I just dropped by.”
“It’s fine. Actually, there are a few things I was curious about. I didn’t go out of my way to dig, but rumors about you have spread quite widely.”
She glanced toward the distance. When someone living in the Comfort zone looked toward such a far-off place, it usually meant outside the city.
“It’s not entirely unrelated to the information you gave me, but no accident happened because of it.”
“And I’m also a bit curious about the survivor who lived outside for over a month.”
…It was an acceptance. Mu-hae immediately nodded and led her out of the park.
He made a same-day reservation at a fairly decent restaurant. He felt like pieces of his flesh were being torn away due to the constant large expenses, but since money was the only thing that made human affairs this easy, it couldn’t be helped.
“How was Somumu?”
“It didn’t really fit the atmosphere of my house.”
“But I picked the prettiest one.”
Throughout the taxi ride, Joo-oh chattered on and on. The conversation was so devoid of substance that even Mu-hae’s tension began to unravel.
196 – Became a Monstrous Body in a Dead Game