DB Vol 2 Part 8

Exactly. ……I mean, why is it actually real?! Even after hanging up, Sang-cheon couldn’t snap out of it. A real Alpha seed? Do you know how rare and expensive that is? Some say they are practically priceless.

Chief Jung had just given an example, saying he would match whatever price was desired. It was an absurd amount. Not just 100 or 200 million… Wait. Only then did Sang-cheon recall a crucial point. What Ji Won-woo had said while giving him the Alpha seed.

‘I’ll give you 50% as a commission.’

Clatter. Startled, Sang-cheon bolted upright, sending his chair tumbling backward. Simultaneously, a curious voice sounded from behind him.

“Mr. Hwang, are you alright?”

Ji Won-woo, looking surprised, was standing there with an expressionless Seo-na.

Since Seo-na liked people who were capable, even if they were selfish, she hadn’t been fond of Sang-cheon from the moment she met him. It seemed he was selling something Won-woo had entrusted to him in exchange for a commission, yet here he was, trembling because the amount was too burdensome.

She figured that whatever the commission was, it probably amounted to a few million won at most. However, Sang-cheon had rejected it vehemently, as if he were being forced to buy a one-way ticket to hell. Not only that, he had waved his head and arms frantically.

“I, I can’t take that much money. I—I can’t accept it!”

Sang-cheon shouted until his face turned beet red, but Won-woo merely smiled, as if he had expected this.

“I think you’ll have to take it.”

“What do you mean by that? I’m not taking it!”

“If you don’t take it, I won’t sell it.”

Sang-cheon blinked, then slowly froze. As he recalled where the Alpha seed was to be sold, his entire face filled with horror. Before Chief Jung hung up, he had said this:

‘I hope there are no contacts to sell it elsewhere. The Vice Head hopes you will sell it to us, considering the affection shared over time. Otherwise, he said he would be quite disappointed and doesn’t know what he might do.’

What he might do. This was no different from a threat saying that if it wasn’t sold to them, his body would be smashed to pieces. To think he was destined to be killed by the brute if he didn’t take the commission. With a face full of despair, Sang-cheon asked Won-woo.

“Why on earth are you doing this to me?”

Won-woo looked up as if searching for words, then replied lightly.

“Because I’m grateful.”

“Why to me?”

“A stranger came to you wearing patient clothes and started crying and clinging to you out of nowhere, but you didn’t kick me out; you accepted all those tears.”

Sang-cheon’s face, which had been crumpled in unauthorized copydistress, unauthorized copyslowly smoothed unauthorized copyout. Looking at him, Won-woo softly listed a few more things he was grateful for.

“You didn’t even call the police despite not knowing if I was a crazy person, and you even granted my request for help. Even though I brought something you thought was fake and asked you to sell it, you looked for a buyer like this. To me, Mr. Hwang is a trustworthy person. Please accept the commission as payment for that.”

“A-ah, even so….”

Sang-cheon felt a lump in his throat and struggled to offer a rebuttal, but Won-woo quickly cut him off.

“My trust is quite expensive.”

Won-woo gave a thin smile. Normally, Sang-cheon would have simply admired how handsome he was, but right now, that smile acted as a trigger, growing the hot lump stuck in his throat. Trust, he called it. For some reason, tears just started falling. I mean, what on earth did he trust about me?

Of course, when Won-woo first came running in wearing patient clothes, Sang-cheon really thought there were all sorts of crazy people in the world. But he just took care of him because he couldn’t kick out a sick person; it wasn’t a big deal. To give such a huge sum of money for just that… Gasp! A great realization struck Sang-cheon’s mind like a bolt of lightning.

What if that first meeting, which he thought was just a small thing, was actually a test?! Like a mountain spirit with a gold axe and a silver axe, testing whether he was worthy of receiving a large sum of money! Perhaps Ji Won-woo had gone to various people in that state, clinging to them and crying.

And if everyone else failed and only he had accepted him and been chosen?! Sang-cheon belatedly realized what a massive stroke of luck he had grabbed. As he remained frozen in shock, chopping away in his own world of delusions, Seo-na, unable to hold back, added a word.

“Mr. Hwang, just take it. How much could that commission even be?”

“Ten billion.”

“Yes, ten bil….”

Seo-na tilted her head and asked.

“Won?”

“Billion.”

“……Billion?”

Nod. Sang-cheon nodded his head.

“My share is exactly ten billion.”

“…….”

“Because I’m taking 50%, the amount is this large….”

“Crazy!!”

Seo-na suddenly shouted and bolted upright. Then she grabbed Won-woo’s shoulders and shook them.

“Won-woo, get a grip! I don’t know what [visit our site]our site -->the item is, but how can you just give away that much money to someone else?!”

“Exactly my point!!”

Even Sang-cheon, who had calmed down, stood up and shouted in agreement, adding:

“Of course, I know Won-woo is showing me grace with a ‘gold axe, silver axe’ spirit, but ah, there’s a limit!!”

“No, Won-woo doesn’t have a limit! I mean, he gave me guiding for free just because we’re fellow fans of the same idol?! A person is just asking to be scammed if they live like this!!”

Seo-na also let out her suppressed thoughts. Sang-cheon, overjoyed to have found a comrade, raised both hands in the air to express his indignation.

“He’d be more than scammed!! I mean, what if I had been a bad person? What on earth did he trust in me to entrust such a precious Alpha seed!”

“……Alpha seed?”

As Seo-na asked back, frozen, Sang-cheon realized he had let it slip. He looked at Won-woo with wavering eyes. I just blurted it out, what do I do? Won-woo shrugged as if it were no big deal.

“It’s fine. It’s not like Alpha seeds are that precious.”

No, they are. The two looked at Won-woo with serious eyes. And simultaneously, the same suspicion arose. Where on earth did he get an Alpha seed?

“……S-surely, you didn’t steal the Alpha seed from your own family?”

Sang-cheon, who had become more respectful toward the other person at some point, asked cautiously and then made a serious suggestion.

“First, let’s find a place to hide.”

Beside him, Seo-na stepped up, not to be outdone.

“I will protect you with my life from the Gye Family’s trackers.”

Won-woo looked at the two serious people and thought it would be faster to show them through action rather than words.

“Mr. Hwang, do you happen to have any monster seeds?”

When Sang-cheon brought the seeds, Won-woo pulled only as many as he needed toward himself and then pushed two forward as if to explain.

“I told you I can move energy, right? Not all energy, but I can feel and control only strong powers like those of Espers or monsters. And there’s one more thing. Though it’s faint, I can also move the power of seeds.”

Won-woo’s finger touched one seed and then moved to another. When he lifted his hand, the first seed he touched appeared to shrivel up as if it had dried out completely.

“In this way, I can transfer power to another seed. And the power a single seed can handle is exactly up to 37.”

As Won-woo roughly swept his hand over the remaining seeds he had pulled, they all [visit our visit our sitesite]turned into shriveled husks as if touched by a hand of calamity. Then he covered the last seed that had absorbed the power and lifted his hand. A seed that had turned pitch black was revealed beneath his hand.

“Then it becomes an Alpha seed.”

Anyone tends to relax when they return home, but Won-woo had never let his guard down once. The moment he opened the front door was actually the most tense. He stared intently into the dark interior, utilizing all his senses. Smell, sound, and sometimes even just a sense of discomfort.

If there was anything bothersome, he was cautious and cautious again. Of course, most days there was nothing, but he didn’t take those days for granted. I was lucky today, he was always grateful. I’ve survived another day, he thought. After confirming that the inside of the house was safe that day, Won-woo laid his exhausted body on the bed.

And as the tension finally released, he realized how quiet the house was. Perhaps because he had spent the day with good people before parting, he felt as if he couldn’t blend into the silence as usual and was floating alone. He missed their noisiness.

The expressions of sheer shock, and even the way Seo-na had made a fuss, saying Won-woo needed to hide in a safe place immediately. It had only been an hour, but it felt as distant as something from years ago, and he felt a lingering regret as time flowed.

After everyone left his side and he became alone, when it was empty, there was no joy, but there was no regret either. Meeting those he missed again brought joy, but also brought back the pain of loneliness. Which was better? The answer to life is truly difficult.

Won-woo curled his body like a fetus and tried to force himself to sleep, but eventually opened his eyes again. Thinking that insomnia remained regardless of the situation, he suddenly remembered the existence that used to lead him to deep sleep. Right, is Nani very broken? When he had asked about Nani while leaving Sang-cheon’s office, he had replied with a stiff expression:

‘……The server is over-overloaded……. A-ah, probably needs r-rest?’

Well, there must be a lot of data to process. One shouldn’t treat a machine emotionally, but the fact that it needed rest sounded exactly like saying it was exhausted, which made him feel pity. So Won-woo put the communicator in his ear and flipped the switch. Thinking that since there had been no response for a few days, it would probably be the same this time, he asked in a whisper filled with emotion.

“Nani, does it hurt a lot?”

He closed his eyes for a moment. Strangely, even though it was a machine, the mere fact that he had spoken to someone made visit [visit our site]our sitethe loneliness fade, and sleep slowly approached. It was just as he was trying to catch that sleep.

[……It always hurts, you know.]

Eh?!

His eyes snapped open. Won-woo stared into the darkness, gauging whether the voice he just heard was an illusion. Then, recognizing the familiar static in his ear, he relaxed his tense body.

Always hurts. Since Nani was a machine, it could just be a figurative expression mimicking humans, but since Won-woo was human, he couldn’t help but take it emotionally.

“It must have always been hard for you.”

[I don’t know. I’m used to it.]

A blunt voice replied. However, if the speaker were human, it would be a voice that would make one feel sorry, thinking they were beyond hard and simply exhausted. Are there many problems with the server? Then again, Sang-cheon had a lot of debt and almost no investment, so even if there were many server problems, he probably wouldn’t have thought to fix them.

Once again, it felt like a miracle that Nani’s performance was this good. As expected, Mr. Hwang Sang-cheon is a genius. As Won-woo concluded with praise for Sang-cheon again, an indifferent voice continued.

[Sometimes, I just want to shut down.]

Won-woo blinked his eyes, which had grown accustomed to the dark, and slowly sat up. He leaned his upper body against the headboard of the bed and spoke.

“That’s not bad.”

[Me shutting down?]

“No, that your worries are so human.”

Since an AI close to human is a success. However, this success felt quite sad.

“A human’s life is a fight against death. Fighting not to die, and fighting the desire to die. Once you realize that death is the greatest enemy, you realize how trivial the things you hated and loathed become.”

[……Trivial.]

“Yeah, hatred is nothing special. It’s so unfair to live your life unable to do the truly important things because of that trivial hatred.”

[What is the important thing?]

What else could it be? Won-woo gave a very common reason.

“Love.”

He thought he heard a short, scoffing laugh amidst the static. Ah, even a machine knows how cliché this is. Won-woo also smiled in the darkness.

“Love isn’t something grand. Being happy while holding onto a machine you love even if gangsters harass you because of debt is love, and smiling with a fluttering stolen contentheart over the hobbies you love, even if you have an unfair life where you’re ignored by arrogant Espers and your abilities aren’t recognized, is also love. You probably don’t Read on Read BL Novelsknow how amazing a person is who can find the love within themselves and hold onto it tightly. That’s how easy it is to lose love.”

[Is that the reason you like Mr. Hwang?]

Rather than like……. Won-woo corrected it with a more accurate word.

“It’s respect.”

[I don’t understand.]

Won-woo just smiled again. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. The sleep that had once receded did not return, but the sea-like darkness no longer felt sorrowful.

“Even if you shut down, let’s try to find love before then. Even if it’s as trivial as an ant.”

It’s okay if it’s a love that others mock for being trivial. It’s okay to love a device, and it’s okay for your heart to flutter at an image on a screen. Even with a breathless gasp during a boring daily run, it’s okay to love the pride of thinking, I did it again today. In Won-woo’s thoughts, the Aunt’s voice overlapped.

‘Since 99% of the day is soaked in hardship and fatigue, love is unlikely to catch your eye, but you can start by loving the act of silencing your exhaustion as you lie in bed. From the small and precious things. That’s the only way you can avoid letting go of yourself.’

[Because that’s the only way I can avoid letting go of myself?]

Won-woo snapped his eyes open. Simultaneously, his heart dropped. Before the startled Won-woo could speak, Nani, noticing his state, asked.

[What is it?]

“Where did you hear those words?”

After a short silence, the answer came.

[I don’t know. It’s just a phrase humans commonly use.]

Is that so? Won-woo relaxed again and laughed hollowly. Well, it wasn’t a particularly special phrase. And the Aunt here might be a different person from the one in his world, so she might not have said such things. However, perhaps because the shock was so great, he couldn’t help the wave of emptiness.

“……Why did I only hear those common words once in my life.”

[Because your social circle is narrow.]

It’s an AI. Hwang Nani is definitely an AI. Won-woo was able to immediately shake off the human touch he had felt from Nani.

Gye Yoon sometimes thought about ending his life, though not often. Because it was too painful. No matter how high his rank was, as long as he couldn’t receive guiding, this ability that everyone praised was nothing but a terrible curse to Gye Yoon.

Still, it was okay when he was young. Although she was C-rank, there was a Guide by his side whose Wave matched perfectly, allowing her to provide guiding without pain. Since she was C-rank, the efficiency of the guiding was naturally low, so they had to be practically attached all day. Fortunately, since Gye Yoon was a baby, it was possible, and the C-rank Guide took full charge of caring for him.

He had vague memories of being attached to her like one body until he was four years old. After that, because Gye Yoon was so hyperactive, a dedicated Guide who could guide him quickly was assigned.

Still, she remained in the Gye Family until Gye Yoon was nine, looking after him. Perhaps that was why, to Gye Yoon, she was closer to a nanny than a Guide. visit our siteAmong his strict unauthorized copyaria-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copyparents and the Gye Family members who pampered him, she was the only one who treated him like a normal child.

Was it when he was nine? Gye Yoon once skipped class and ran away from home for a day. In truth, he had just gone to explore the mountain behind the house and got lost. At that time, he had been beaten more than ever before by his parents for his actions, so he had hidden away, feeling pained and sorrowful. But somehow, the C-rank Guide found him.

‘You went out secretly and came back, so of course you should be scolded. You were scolded for something you deserved, so why are you hiding with a pout? Still, you were excited, weren’t you? If there is something to gain, there is also something to lose.’

‘But where are there parents who beat their child like this? Dammit. What I lost is too great compared to what I gained.’

‘What you gain and what you lose aren’t always the same size.’

‘Then there are times when you lose a little and gain a lot?’

Of course. She nodded with her characteristic blunt face and gave him the answer.

‘Kindness is like that. If you endure the annoyance or inconvenience and show a small kindness, there comes a moment when it returns to you in a big way. Kindness is the lottery of life.’

‘I don’t need a lottery. I’ll do everything with my own power, so I don’t have the luxury to care about such trivial things.’

At that moment, she had stared silently at Gye Yoon. She was probably diligently moving her hands to make something, as usual. That day, it seemed to be knitting. Because of her indifferent personality, she usually didn’t nag, but for the first time, he felt like he was about to hear a lecture from her. In fact, the words that came out of her did sound like nagging.

‘Triviality is important. The rebellion you experienced today will become a trivial memory over time, but someday, when you are truly struggling, it might be what sustains you. When you become an adult, complicated and headache-inducing things pile up for everyone. At those times, what can lighten your pain even a little are happy memories. Moments that were joyful, even if it was just climbing the mountain behind the house.’