Retire 451

451 Fragment Collection (3)

“Yes… then….”

Daniel’s questions continued.

But aside from Uncle Chris and Aunt Luise, Kang Tae-woo couldn’t remember much. Daniel asked about life in the cult village at the time.

Kang Tae-woo did his best to answer, but honestly, even to an observer, there wasn’t much of value in what he said. Perhaps realizing this himself, by the time the final question came, he seemed somewhat dispirited.

In fact—

“Uh, so… I might have looked at the photo wrong!”

Kang Tae-woo fumbled through the photos again, flustered.

“Uh, really, I was so young back then I don’t really remember. Please don’t trust my words too much….”

“Why are you suddenly so unsure?”

“At first, I thought it was right, but the more I look, the less certain I am….”

“It’s always the first thing that comes to mind that’s right. It’s the same when you take a test, isn’t it? Usually, your first answer is correct. If you change it for no reason, you get it wrong.”

“Do you pick your answers that way too, teacher?”

“No? I solve all the problems.”

“…….”

Kang Tae-woo’s gaze toward me cooled a little, but that was none of my concern.

Anyway, with my current backstory… what was my academic background again?

Regardless, even though Kang Tae-woo lacked confidence, the fact that he had told us this much was already a huge help. Of course, Daniel wasn’t about to act solely on the uncertain testimony of a child; he would first verify whether this account was true.

Why would there be a photo of Luise Kruger here in the first place?

Even without Kang Tae-woo’s words, there were already plenty of suspicious points. Just because someone’s child is a criminal doesn’t mean the parent is one hundred percent a criminal too, but it’s still worth checking, just as you would in such a case.

A closed-off village with fewer than five thousand people. What secrets could be hidden by the man who was once its sheriff?

“Uh… I’m sorry. I haven’t been much help.”

Kang Tae-woo, who had been struggling to answer Daniel’s questions, apologized, looking needlessly crestfallen.

“What? No!”

And Daniel, who still retained the sensibilities of a proper adult, jumped up in protest.

“What are you saying? You have no idea how much help you’ve been just by telling us this. I mean it. Thank you so much.”

Daniel thanked Kang Tae-woo with genuine enthusiasm.

As I watched, I still couldn’t take my eyes off the photo on the table—more precisely, the photo of Luise Kruger.

A mage. A researcher. Whatever her true identity, she was someone who had moved between the cult village of Atlas and even the Ark’s research facilities in Korea.

…Did she only visit the one research facility where Kang Tae-woo had been?

As far as I knew, the last research facility where Kang Tae-woo and I stayed was the largest. But there wasn’t just one facility….

Had I really never met that woman?

Thanks to my biological parents, I had more freedom in the research facility than the other children. Relatively more freedom, that is—relatively.

With a guardian, I could go fairly deep inside the facility, and even the researchers who barked at the other kids never said a word to me. I was a precious research asset that low-level staff couldn’t treat carelessly.

Honestly, looking back, I wonder if they left me too much to my own devices. What did those people want from me?

…Maybe they simply didn’t want to raise a child. Just look at how they treated my brother. They only called him their son when they were in a good mood; otherwise, they ordered him around with words harsher than those reserved for subordinates. With people like that, as long as I was alive and growing, that was enough for them.

So if it hadn’t been for my brother, I wouldn’t have been able to wander around like that. Was that environment good for my development? Absolutely not, but I think my brother did his best. If I had been him, I wouldn’t have wanted to raise a child in a windowless room either. Even if the research facility didn’t have proper windows, at least you could run around and see people.

Yes.

I saw many people coming and going in the research facility. Among them, could Luise Kruger have been one? According to Kang Tae-woo, she visited the facility quite often.

For Kang Tae-woo, it was less than ten years ago. Of course, it’s easier for an eighteen-year-old to recall memories from when they were ten than for a thirty-year-old like me to remember being five.

No matter how hard I racked my brain, I couldn’t recall ever seeing that mage. Instead, I kept remembering the faces of my unnecessary biological parents. Those, I never forgot.

Other than that… the internal layout of the facility, or the adults who would grovel whenever I was stubborn? There wasn’t anyone who treated me well enough to be memorable.

On the other hand, I remembered the ones who annoyed me. Like the last facility director. But even that was more because he was especially irritating, and I mostly remembered the look on his face when my father kicked him on the day the facility was destroyed. The faces of the other bothersome ones were hazy. If anything, it was easier to remember the janitors who wore masks like my brother did—crows, eagles, bears. Those masks were hard to forget.

This is why socialization is important. I worried about Uirok’s socialization for a reason….

“…….”

I looked at the photo. A foreign woman with brown hair.

Even for Kang Tae-woo, the times he lived in America or had just arrived at the research facility were hazy. He only managed to say something about Luise Kruger after seeing the photo; before that, he couldn’t recall anything. Did he not want to talk? No way. Ever since he thought his sister So-hee—now Sophia—had died, he was burning with a desire for revenge and cooperated actively with us.

Even when I later asked him about his time in America, he told me everything he could remember. The police officer next door used to patrol the neighborhood. There was someone who often hung out with his mother, probably a researcher… and so on.

He told us everything he knew. He just couldn’t describe well what he’d seen as a child. Anyone would know it’s easier to show a photo and ask, “Does this person look familiar?” than to ask someone to explain from scratch.

Maybe I should have pushed Imi-seon to get the photo, no matter what.

“Uh, then… can I go now?”

“…….”

“Teacher?”

I belatedly nodded at Kang Tae-woo’s words.

“Yes, you can go. Don’t forget your assignments.”

“Ugh.”

Kang Tae-woo made no effort to hide his displeasure as he left the counseling room.

Even after the boy left, Daniel kept glancing at me, oddly watching for my reaction.

I still couldn’t take my eyes off Luise Kruger’s photo.

It was so long ago that I really couldn’t be sure if I’d met this person or not.

But what about Uirok?

For me, these were memories from more than twenty years ago, but for Uirok, it was only a few years back, wasn’t it?

But then?

If Uirok had met her, then his brother likely had as well. If he asked, “Don’t you remember, brother?” I’d have nothing to say.

“Um… Mr. Woo?”

If he hadn’t met her, that would be enough. But what if Uirok remembered? What if that became a decisive clue?

I slowly picked up the photo.

“By any chance, this photo—”

“Yes?”

“Would it be all right if I took it with me?”

“…….”

Daniel looked at me with an unreadable expression.

I barely managed to recall that, besides Uirok, there was another child under my protection.

There was even someone as childish as a kid.

Daniel must know. Not the human, but the child.

“Is that all right? I’d be glad if you asked, but the child also has the Boston situation….”

If he knew about Kang Tae-woo, he surely knew about Sophia.

“Kids are tougher than you think. And I won’t just shove the photo in their face without thinking.”

“You don’t have to push too hard.”

“Of course. If the child doesn’t want to, that’s the end of it.”

At my firm words, Daniel nodded as if to say, “Of course.”

I only took the one photo of Luise Kruger, but Daniel gathered up all the other photos for me as well. I could sense his determination not to waste this rare opportunity.

That attitude felt strange to me, and yet, at the same time, all of this seemed oddly inconsequential.

Was he really doing this because he trusted me?

Trust me? He’d sooner trust my father.

Was he doing all this because of my father’s name?

I shook my head as I tried to parse it all out.

Let’s not overthink it. Sometimes, living as simply as my father is the answer.

He doesn’t even know my surname, and who knows if the name I gave him is real, but maybe that man is willing to risk security just to catch a criminal who deserves the world’s condemnation.

Everyone has their own standards, and they weigh them in their own way.

Much as I hate to admit it, Hope was right.

The world has to be intact for children to exist at all.

---

“So your idea is to make Dad the villain?”

“Villain, you say.”

I shot my father a glare.

“That’s a bit harsh.”

“Then what is this?”

“You had a good time using your injury as an excuse. Go do some work.”

“What do you mean, I had a good time? If I’d been slacking off, I wouldn’t be able to give you allowance, pay my employees, or teach the kids…!”

“Dr. Gamble was asking for something again. You need to earn money.”

“This doesn’t pay!”

My father protested, looking wronged.

But by now, he was used to making that face.

I didn’t budge.

“I told you, I’ll ask Sophia myself.”

“And Uirok!”

“If he says, ‘You saw my brother too, right?’ I’ll have nothing to say.”

“…That’s low.”

At last, my father’s grumbling stopped. No matter how much of a father he was, he couldn’t come up with a retort to that.

He scratched his head and looked at the photo. As he examined it, he paced restlessly around the teachers’ office. The cast was hardly noticeable to begin with, but after several surgeries or whatever procedures, he moved even more lightly. Instead of a noisy cast, he now just wrapped a rune-etched bandage. Han Tae-kyung always muttered that his eyeballs would pop out from rolling them, but my father’s condition had definitely improved.

“Luise Kruger… What about Mr. Kim? What does he say?”

“Nothing different from Daniel’s explanation. She’s a mage contracted to the Vatican, but since they’re so secretive, nothing about her work has been made public.”

“And nobody knows where she is now?”

“She might be doing something with the Vatican, but since we don’t have any connections there, they said they don’t know.”

“What about, uh, the Marseille hunters? Can’t they do something?”

“If there’s no other way, we’ll have to ask. But if we go that far, word might get back to her side that we’re digging for information.”

“That’s why you want to check with the kids too….”

“I’m not thrilled about it either.”

If the children hated even mentioning the research facility days, or if the very words made them anxious, I wouldn’t have even considered this method.

“But you know how the kids are.”

“…They’re too tough.”

“Hearing them argue is what wounds me.”

“…Want to go for counseling?”

“No thanks. I’ve had plenty.”

Just then—

“Hey! Give me back my cookie!”

“Why is it your cookie!”

“I made it!!”

“If you think about all the cookies you stole from me in the playroom, you’ve got a long way to go! I need to eat at least a hundred more!”

“A hundred? They didn’t even give us cookies that often at the facility!!”

At the racket coming from the kitchen, my father and I both sighed at the same time.

At first, Uirok and Sophia had at least pretended to be awkward and distant, but under their grandparents’ care, they’d grown up strong and healthy.

Now, they freely brought up stories from the research facility days and fought as if they’d tear each other apart, leaving only the adults unsure how to react.