There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 356 - 348. Touch of Memory (1)

Chapter 356: Chapter 348. Touch of Memory (1)

"So, let me get this straight," Zein stared at the three espers while tapping on his arm. "Joon found out about this...operation, probably when he went to your father’s office."

Han Shin nodded. "I’ve never been there, but hyung got summoned there from time to time when...our father wanted to punish him or something."

The office itself was located in the main manor which Han Shin wasn’t allowed to visit during his childhood, and even afterward, after gaining his esper license, he chose to stay in Radia’s mansion and bought his own place. For him, whose power awakened because he wanted to heal his brother’s wounds and bruises after each abuse, the main manor was the stuff of nightmare.

"It was probably an update report on a target or some sort," Bassena chimed in.

"And, coincidentally, he saw Radia’s name in that list," Zein narrowed his eyes. "And decided that to stop it, he had to go to the military. Why?"

Radia shrugged, leaning back to the sofa and took out a golden needle. "Seeing as how hard he had to hide, he probably found out that the root of the operation hiding deep inside the military, so he decided that the best course of action was to infiltrate the institution itself."

"Ah..." Bassena suddenly widened his eyes as he recognized something. "That was why he did another trial before he went to the base? He wasn’t a stealth type originally, but he chose a new path right then. I thought he was doing the trial just to increase his rank but..."

Radia bit the end of the golden needle; the fingers that tried to light the lighter were frantic. He recalled that too, but he was too busy hating the man who broke his heart back then to notice anything.

"But why didn’t he say anything? He could at least talk to us, right? Keeping things in the dark like this--"

"Contract," Radia almost threw the lighter that refused to burn and crushed the golden needle in frustration. "All soldiers are under contract of not speaking about highly confidential matters. It’s a spell too, so it couldn’t be broken as long as their contract is still in effect."

"What about that flash drive then?"

"It wasn’t really ’speaking’ about it," Radia tapped the end of the golden needle on the surface of the table. "Just like how he found the operation in his father’s office, he only gave me a flash drive with encoded text and three layers of protection walls. It was enough to be considered a ’slip-up’."

"And the reason he only gave you that now is because he only managed to take the data during his disappearance?" Zein took out his own lighter and shifted forward to give the summoner his much-needed fire.

"Most likely," Radia sighed and put the golden needle back between his lips. "I don’t know why now, but..."

He stopped to take a whiff of mana inside his system, massaging the bridge of his nose as his brain whirred hard to connect everything. It all boiled down to mere conjecture, however. They knew this operation existed now, and probably why. But the how and whether or not it has something to do with the force of the Deathzone was still vague. If it was indeed interconnected, however, then he could come up with a reason.

"If the system operating this culling project had something to do with the power the cult obtained from the Deathzone, it would see me as a threat," Radia opened a screenshot he took of the data and showed it to the others. "The attempt on me increased after we established Trinity, and doubled after the Reclamation Act was drafted last year."

Zein felt goosebumps as he looked at the screen and these twenty-three lines filled with Radia’s name. It made sense, though; without Radia, they would truly collapse, and the reclamation project might be suspended, or even canceled and transferred to another guild.

"So...Joon thought it was high time he put an end to the operation rather than merely preventing it," Bassena concluded with a heavy sigh. "And we are here doing nothing to help him."

Of course, saying they did nothing was too much. They had a lot on their plate with the case against House Horin and the preparation for the reclamation project, and they had no idea all of this was happening. But at that moment, all of them felt so hopeless and frustrated that no one refuted Bassena’s words.

"Hey...even if he couldn’t tell you about it because of the contract before, he could just tell you before he became a soldier, right?" Zein asked with a frown. "He could just tell you the reason why he had to go to the military."

"There’s probably another reason, what do I know?" Radia sneered, but it was a lie. He partially knew why; because Joon knew he would do anything to prevent the man from doing so. He would tell Joon the Mallarc would do something about it instead. And relegating what he wanted to do was not in Joon’s manual. "He’s always been like that," Radia frowned. "He did everything alone, keeping his thoughts to himself as if he was proud of making people frustrated..."

His voice dwindled into a quiet grumble, and Han Shin, despite his worry, managed to let out a small chuckle. "You do love him."

"Unfortunately," Radia let out a wry smile.

"When did it start anyway?" the healer tilted his head.

"Hmm..." Radia inhaled the smoke as the memory strained his heart again. "When you’re ten?"

"What?! That’s when I know you!" Han Shin parted his lips in surprise. No wonder he couldn’t see it--he didn’t even know people could have romantic relationships at that point. "And you never told us?!"

Again, Radia smiled bitterly. "He didn’t want anyone to know," he shrugged. "You should know why."

"...oh," Han Shin sat down again, immediately understood. Of course; it was the same reason he still hadn’t married Reina despite them being together for nine years now.

The monster living in their manor.

"What are you going to do now?" Zein asked, and then corrected it. "What should we do now?"

Radia’s smile turned a tad more sincere, as he recalled what his mother said last night. Don’t do things alone. "My father is on his way here," he said, before shifting his gaze toward Han Shin. "Can I ask for the materials that Joon left you? Just the box is fine too."

Han Shin tilted his head, eyes narrowing, before finally clapping his hand. "Are you going to House Apsoro?"

One of the abilities known from House Asporo was reading an item’s memory; who held it, and where it came from. They had five materials they still weren’t sure coming from which eternal dungeons, aside from the one coming from House Horin. They couldn’t just guess, so they had to find the precise place.

"Yes," Radia nodded, putting his business face now. "I’ve tried to see which group colluded in this operation based on their target, and I think we’ll be able to pinpoint it by knowing which eternal dungeons Joon sneaked into."

"Including House Horin,"

"Yes."

"What about the clan you’re about to visit? Zein asked skeptically. They were quite literally a master of espionage. By itself, they were already suspicious. They either knew about this operation and did nothing, or managed to get blindsided.

Either way, it was questionable.

"Two of the names in the list belonged to their family," Radia said. "That doesn’t prove their innocence, but that’s why I’m going there with my father."

"Ah, because the patriarch is his old friend?"

"Yeah," Radia nodded. "And he is better at reading other people than me, so we’ll try to gauge their involvement first before proceeding with the memory reading."

"Then what should I do?" Han Shin asked while taking the boxes out of his storage ring and lining them on the table.

Radia frowned and leaned forward, asking the healer carefully. "Can you track your father’s movement?" he asked. "I had put watchers to track the movement of the people from House Horin, but getting near the military is out of my scope."

They could see Han Shin tensed for a second; eyes hardened and fists clenched. But he immediately put on a determined gaze and nodded. "Of course. I don’t know how far I could do that, but I’ll try."

"Thank you," Radia patted the younger man’s shoulder, before turning toward Bassena and Zein. "We need every information we could get. Try to get anything from the people we had captured."

Bassena smiled deeply in response. "I’ve been meaning to, anyway."

"Should I come with you?" Zein asked. It didn’t seem like there was anything he could do.

"You should," Radia nodded. "Don’t let him kill them yet. If nothing came out, we had to try and use the visual reading."

Bassena chuckled; it was low and cold and supported what Radia forewarned. "Is there anything specific I need to dig?"

Radia, who was already standing up, paused for a bit and narrowed his eyes in contemplation. "If you can, try and find how the cult worked. Also...the map of the House Horin’s compound."

They raised their brow. A map meant infiltration, and infiltration meant they were starting their counterattack.

"I don’t know what state Joon is in right now," Radia said with blazing crimson eyes. "But I don’t intend to keep him in that condition any longer."