By Zephyria 
Side Story Episode 1.
======
A Place for the Rolling Stone
Even when harboring events capable of overturning someone’s entire life, the human world continues to flow calmly.
Goryeo City was quiet, as always. No special news was splashed across the headlines, and there were no changes in people’s holidays or their range of movement.
The right to detect and keep a close eye on change belonged solely to those in the know. Only a few in the central noticed the shift in the air.
‘A greenhorn, the likes of whom there have never been, has started cutting into a game that a few bastards were playing among themselves.’
Though no one had spoken of it, those who needed to know found out through the grapevine. The order in which one received new information was the measure of one’s wealth and power.
‘Their backer hasn’t been revealed, but they seem to be with the Mayor Faction.’
The world of the haves stirred quietly at the decidedly intentional appearance of this new face.
Meanwhile, the greenhorn who had quietly caused a stir in a corner was…
“Ah, open up.”
“…”
“What did you put in your mouth? Spit it out.”
“…”
“Why are you shaking your head when you can’t even open your maw? Do I look like an idiot?”
“I didn’t put anything in.”
“What was that you just gulped down? Spit it out.”
“Nothing.”
“Throw up.”
“Blegh.”
“Don’t spit on me!”
Politics aside, he was currently in a standoff with a crazed Aberrant.
It was all because this lunatic had snatched and swallowed whatever was in his hand the moment he was asked what he was hiding.
If it had been something like jellies or candy, as usual, he would have ignored it, but what he caught a glimpse of was definitely not food.
If left alone, this was a guy who would swallow bones and volunteer to eat dirty strings, so Mu-hae had quickly grabbed his chin and shaken it, but he was too late.
Setting aside the fact that he wasn’t a normal person, so shoving inedible things into his stomach was possible—the question was exactly what he was trying to hide that required him to swallow it.
“What is it?”
“Mmm.”
“You’re not going to tell the truth, are you?”
Even when Mu-hae put on a deliberately fierce expression, Joo-oh didn’t bat an eye.
This damn guy had become far too accustomed to his only bedroom mate. He could tell just by glancing that the anger was fake.
He gave a small, silly smile and rubbed his face against the hand gripping his chin. Then, he looked up with eyes so pleased, as if he were being petted, that it was impossible to press him further.
“It’s a cream puff. I bought it yesterday.”
“A cream puff made that much crinkling noise?”
“Jin Mu-hae smell. Like it.”
He couldn’t tell if the guy was stupid or cunning. As Joo-oh beamed and leaned into his embrace, Mu-hae held the warm body without resistance.
Right, there were more than one or two facts that the guy glossed over without confessing, so was a single object shoved in his mouth really a big deal?
Soft lips touched the corner of his mouth as he let out a long sigh. Chu, chu. The way he kissed, clumsy yet quite stimulating, was a mirror image of how Mu-hae himself acted when aroused.
“What about Jin Mu-hae?”
“…”
“What about Jin Mu-hae?”
“Shut up.”
Despite being the one in the wrong, Joo-oh played a transparent game to get a word of affection.
Jin Mu-hae ignored his words as if he hadn’t heard them and slid his tongue between the slightly parted lips.
Cream puff, my ass. There’s no sweet taste at all. As he scoffed and scraped the roof of the mouth, the arrogant head flinched.
He had always been a body that responded well. Mu-hae loved that unbearably.
It had already been over three months since the deal with West Wind was completed.
During that time, Jin Mu-hae had lived so busily that even two bodies wouldn’t have been enough. He went to work at the Defense Force and regularly visited the central to cram all sorts of knowledge into his head.
Whenever the time was right, he met all kinds of people. No matter how much he had earned the title of the hero of Goryeo City, he was still a young man of ambiguous origin speaking with titans.
Of course, rather than proper meetings, it was closer to exchanging brief greetings at city events or light social gatherings. Still, the people with those unusual glints in their eyes were all contacts involved with West Wind.
Looking at it this way, it seemed she was taking great care in cultivating a business partner, but in reality, West Wind neither publicized Jin Mu-hae’s existence nor arranged overt meetings for him.
She simply threw opportunities his way from time to time. It was entirely Mu-hae’s share to pick them up one by one and make them his own.
Furthermore, he could feel a silent pressure to start paying the price. Joo-oh, who had heard the communication, kicked his feet beside him and said:
‘Because you’re a partner, not a successor.’
He was right. Jin Mu-hae had no intention of simply inheriting someone else’s will, and he had taken the hand West Wind offered under the guise of a transaction.
For someone who babbled about successors and inheritance, West Wind was a person who showed no obsession with bloodlines. Just as it was during their first meeting, the relationship between mother and son flowed strictly as a business arrangement.
It didn’t matter. If anything, Mu-hae was even less interested in things like the secret of his birth than she was.
Humans are different from ducks; they cannot imprint on the one who gave birth to them. In the end, affection felt directly against the skin was more welcome than a biological relationship that felt like an urban legend.
If Director Gil heard this, he would snap and ask when they ever raised him, but in Mu-hae’s opinion, those closest to ‘family’ were the two people of Starlight Road and Joo-oh, rather than West Wind.
“Oh. Jin Mu-hae. Someone came while you were washing up.”
“Who.”
“They said West Wind sent them.”
“…Why are you telling me now? Where are they?”
“Outside the door.”
Though there was a problem in that one of those family members still seemed to be out of his mind…
“Dammit. Didn’t it occur to you that you should have said that first?”
“They said it didn’t matter if it was late.”
“As if there’s no way they’re gone.”
While grumbling, he suspected they had already left and only made a gesture of opening the door, but eerily, a human shadow was cast across the narrow corridor of the commercial building.
When did he go in to shower…? Mu-hae looked at the person silently before speaking.
“Since… when.”
“About 72 minutes ago. It is fine.”
If it was taking too long, they could have at least knocked; he really couldn’t figure out the people from the central.
After confirming that the stairs leading to the basement were well-hidden, Jin Mu-hae let the person inside.
Only then did the man in the suit unfold a pad. About one page of information, too sensitive to be sent via the communication network, was written there.
“Confirmed.”
As soon as the words were spoken, West Wind’s representative pressed a ring against the back of the pad. With a small zzzt sound, the device short-circuited instantly.
If they’re going to do that, they should just give it to me, Joo-oh muttered, crinkling a cereal bag.
“If you had it, you’d just use it to play games.”
“I’ll wait while Jin Mu-hae studies by playing Red Crystal Miner.”
“What the hell is Red Crystal?”
“People from planet Deposia get energy from Red Crystals.”
Now, Mu-hae didn’t even lean in to listen, yet he understood his nonsense. Apparently, there was a mining game with that kind of background.
The guy, who used to do nothing but take photos and spread contacts everywhere if given a device, had suddenly developed a serious taste for games.
When asked why he started doing such things, he had blinked his red eyes and said:
‘I think I can play other games now.’
Unfortunately, Mu-hae didn’t fully understand what that meant.
“I have something to ask regarding the latter.”
“The target is not expected to be in Goryeo City for the next five days.”
“Will they be reachable?”
“Yes.”
“Then I will contact them separately while they pretend to be away.”
The people of the central were tedious. Mu-hae closed the door where the person had vanished and slowly walked back into the room.
He stroked the head of the one who had trotted after him to occupy the sofa, then murmured as if he had made a decision.
“I think I have to go quite far.”
“Where? Seogyeong City?”
“Further than that.”
“The Bay?”
“Not in that direction.”
A ruin that had long since burned and collapsed, a place where mercenaries and wild beasts had scavenged a hundred times over until nothing remained.
Information had come in that there was an undiscovered space somewhere in the basement of Solar City.
It was a hypothesis predicted from survivors’ records and hearsay, but if he could find even a speck of something, it would be a great help for the future.
Mu-hae, who had been silently examining the map, turned his head to one side. It was the direction of the exit to Goryeo City.
West Wind was a truly busy person. Even Jin Mu-hae, who was quite diligent himself, marveled at how she could split her time to live like that at her age.
It seemed that her constant additions of being busy or having no time weren’t just for show. Occasionally, she would pretend to be away from Goryeo City to handle work under the radar.
At those times, not even Mu-hae could meet her. Seeing her face wasn’t a particularly important matter, so he didn’t have much of a complaint, but this time, he first thought it was a relief that she was busy.
“Hi! We’re here.”
“This is the first time. Meeting after contacting each other like this.”
“That’s because I only just received the contact information. Have you been well?”
Olga, who had been quietly reading an article, brightened at the sight of the two. The coffee in front of her looked lukewarm, suggesting she had come out and waited long before the appointment time.
This was unusual for Olga, who kept her daily routine with surgical precision. That was how important this matter was to her as well.
“An underground… space, you say.”
“Yes. I can’t be certain, but the pattern is different from the baseless rumors we’ve had.”
“I still remember the scenery of that city. The direction the roads stretched, the look of the streets. But even I have no way of knowing what facilities were located underground or for what purpose. I lived a life unrelated to those things.”
“I thought as much.”
“As for the work that person did, I know exactly as much as you all have grasped.”
“That’s fine. We aren’t asking Ms. Beloba to guide the way.”
“I can carry you on my back.”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Mu-hae blocked Joo-oh with a gesture as he cut in, eyes sparkling, making it unclear if he was joking or serious.
The fact that this bastard could joke so convincingly, and the fact that it could actually be a serious offer, were both terrifying truths, so Mu-hae decided to pretend he hadn’t heard it at all.