Chapter 91: The Secret Laboratory (Part 2)

In the unfamiliar, sealed room, the anxiety from the silent phone and the image of Siyun’s suffering weighed heavily on my mind, preventing me from sleeping.

I spent the night with my eyes open, and to forget my fatigue even a little, I headed to the bathroom attached to the room.
As I was coming out after taking a bath, someone knocked on the door.
It was Dr. Yoon’s assistant.
He said he had stopped by to explain the facilities on the third basement level where I was staying.

The layout was so simple that the tour didn’t take long.
There were numerous doors on both sides of the hallway, but except for the dining hall, they were all bedrooms.
Even the dining hall didn’t seem to have a system where food was cooked on the spot; he said food would be ready at mealtimes.
There were no other facilities or people, so I felt it wasn’t a place to stay for long, and it felt like a prison.

After the assistant left, I moved, thinking of at least checking out the dining hall.
In the 20-pyeong dining hall, five 10-person tables were arranged in a row.
It was too large for me to use alone.
As the assistant had said, my breakfast had already arrived through the dumbwaiter.
The food was kept warm by the dumbwaiter’s warming function.
I had no appetite, but I had to eat to regain some energy.

After quickly finishing my meal, I went back to my room and fiddled with my phone.
There had been no contact from Jinseok since I had entered the lab.
Not just from him, but also from Wonjae or Sehyun.
This situation felt increasingly ominous.
I sincerely hoped he would quickly identify the lab’s location and contact me.

Around 10 o’clock, Dr. Yoon appeared.
His face was clouded with worry, perhaps because of yesterday’s events.

“Guide-nim, you must have been very surprised yesterday.”

“Not at all. Is Siyun… gun-nim okay? He didn’t look well yesterday.”

Since I didn’t have a proper way to address him, I added ‘gun’ after his name, just like him.

“He’s fine now.”

I was relieved at his words, but since I hadn’t seen his condition myself, I was still worried.
After all, it had happened while he was with me.

“We will arrange another meeting when his condition stabilizes. Today, I will give you a tour of the lab’s interior, which we couldn’t do yesterday.”

I had already been briefly guided through the third basement level where I was staying by his assistant, but I was curious about the other floors since I knew nothing about them.

After a brief tour of the third basement level with him, we went down to the fifth basement level.
On the fifth basement level were a wavelength condensation room to condense guiding wavelength energy and a guiding room to guide him.
I was a little puzzled because these were facilities that were also at the Center.
Why was a normal task that could be fully conducted at the Center being conducted in a secret research lab?

I couldn’t hold back my question and asked him.

“The facilities seem similar to the Center’s, so why do you have to do it here? You can do it at the Center too.”

“Because there is a project that can only be conducted here. I told you before. That I would like you to help with the project.”

His words that it was a project that could only be done at this lab sounded particularly significant.

“It is being conducted legally, right?”

“Some of it is legal, and some of it is not.”

I had a feeling, but as expected, it seemed they were also conducting illegal experiments.
Suddenly, the thought that the S-Class project might also be an illegal program came to mind.

Whether legal or illegal, if the S-Class project required an S-Class Awakened, it meant that there were other S-Classes who knew about this secret location besides me.
Had he been recruiting not only test subjects but also Awakened who would cooperate with him from the Association?
Were there more Association-affiliated Awakened who knew about this place?
If so, with the help of that Awakened, I might be able to reveal the unethical experiments of the Association’s research lab to the world sooner.

“Are there other Awakened helping with the research here besides me?”

“You’ll find out anyway, so I’ll tell you. They are Esper Sung Yohan and Esper Kim Hyeseok.”

“Esper Sung Yohan?”

I was a little surprised by the unexpected name.
But come to think of it, I could have known immediately that he was helping him by recalling the events so far.

He and Dr. Yoon would often disappear together at public events, and when I was doing the S-Class project before the regression, he had also brought him as my partner Esper.

“Like you, he is also participating in the S-Class Esper project.”

‘Even an S-Class Esper project.’

Since they were also conducting an S-Class guide project, it wasn’t strange that they were also conducting an S-Class Esper project.

“And we are also conducting a Multi project. A project you will also be participating in.”

“A Multi project?”

I could have predicted the S-Class project, but a Multi project.
For a moment, I couldn’t help but think of Wonjae.
Even though he was a guide, he had become able to use an Esper’s abilities.
It seemed he had been participating in the Multi project.

“Yes. It’s all for the sake of the Association, so please cooperate.”

This was why he had consistently proposed the project to me.
After all, I was the only S-Class guide in the Seoul branch at the moment.

I didn’t want to participate in such an unsettling project, even as a pretense.
It was something I wouldn’t have to do if only Jinseok could identify this location, but since there was still no contact, my mind was not at ease.

To shake off the ominous thoughts, I repeated the information I had just heard.
Sung Yohan is participating in the S-Class Esper project.
Sung Yohan…
Then, I suddenly became curious about his ability.
I didn’t think he would tell me even if I asked, but I asked, thinking I had nothing to lose.

“I’ve been curious for a while, but what is his ability?”

“It’s a special-type space-time travel ability. Esper Kim Hyeseok has a natural-type water-attribute ability.”

At his words, I held my breath.
I was so surprised that I couldn’t even express my astonishment.
It was an unexpected word, and since it was the ability I had been looking for, my heart began to pound.

I had guessed that he might be a physical type, but a special-type space-time travel ability?
Only now did I understand the abilities he had shown at the gate.
It felt like a clue had been solved in an unexpected place.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have noticed my surprise.
Since he was sharp-eyed, I couldn’t let even a hint of suspicion be caught.
I returned to my original expression before he noticed and closed my mouth.

“It’s confidential, but I thought you should know. Since you’ll be doing the Multi project together, and your memories of this will all disappear when it’s over.”

As Jinseok had said, it seemed I would lose all my memories due to his ability when I left this place.
It was a relief that I had found out before I was affected by the ability.

Jinseok had to contact me before I was memory-manipulated.
A low sigh escaped between my teeth.

“The only spaces you can use are the third and fifth basement levels. You have some free time until the wavelength condensation, so you can rest in your room.”

My duties at the lab were from 2 o’clock.
From 2 to 3 was wavelength condensation, from 4 to as late as 6 was guiding him to the calm zone.
From 7, I would help with the Multi project, and after that, it was free time and bedtime.

I could move freely on the third basement level by myself, but the other floors required a researcher’s ID card.
When moving to the fifth basement level, I had to be with him or a researcher, and every time we moved, we had to recognize our ID cards and also go through biometric recognition.
As the name ‘secret research lab’ suggested, the security was thorough.

He took me back to the third basement level.
I went back to my room and thought about his ability again.

If his ability was space-time travel, the questions I had been having were easily solved.
His actions, as if he knew me when I was a C-Class, and how Hyun Taewoon had come to the past.

From the current situation, it seemed he had also returned to the past.
What was he thinking, coming to the past with him?
The Sung Yohan I knew was not a person who would use his ability for others.
Unless there was a price.

Was there a price?
What price had he received to send him to the past?

Since I couldn’t understand his thoughts at all, I thought I should ask him the next time we met.

After lunch, I was waiting for him when, 10 minutes before 2 o’clock, the elevator door opened, and he and his assistant appeared.

“Guide Shinui, it’s time for guiding wavelength condensation.”

We moved to the wavelength condensation room on the fifth basement level, which I had been shown today.
The inside of the condensation room was similar to a guiding room.
Only a chair was placed in the center of the room.

As instructed, I sat on the chair and had electrodes attached to my body.
Then a transparent glass human-shaped machine came inside.

“You can guide the machine.”

“I understand. How long should I do it?”

“50 minutes.”

“That’s longer than I thought.”

“It can’t be helped. There are only two S-Class guides here, including you.”

“There’s another S-Class guide?”

“Yes. I’ll introduce you later.”

He said with a pleased face whose meaning I couldn’t understand.
I was curious because I had never seen an S-Class guide other than myself.

“Many guides will be saved by your wavelength. So please concentrate.”

When I reluctantly said okay, he gave a disgusting eye smile.
His smile was still unsettling, but I ignored it, thinking it would only be for a short while.

While guiding the machine, it suddenly occurred to me that if Wonjae also came here while doing the project, the work could be finished sooner.

“Do the people participating in the project also come here?”

“No. There’s a place connected to this place at the Center’s research lab, so it’s conducted there. I can’t tell you the detailed location.”

“I see…”

If I knew where that place was, I might be able to infiltrate this place more easily.
However, there was too little information to estimate the location.
Come to think of it now, the reason I had been put under sleep anesthesia every time I participated in the S-Class project before the regression was probably to block information.

After the wavelength condensation was over, I returned to the third basement level.
Even though I had spent a day here, there was still no contact from Jinseok.
Feeling puzzled, I checked my phone, but the communication was connected.

First, I would wait until tomorrow, and if there was still no contact, I decided to contact him first.