Chapter 115: The Badge That Shouldn’t Exist

“Honestly, he’s so clueless.

At this rate, he’s going to get scammed big one day.”

Park Bomyeong flicked the top of my head and spoke as if to say, of course it’s him.

Thanks to that, the suspicious looks aimed at me noticeably softened.

Ah… maybe I should have become an actor.

Now I finally understand why Irihyeon was so devoted to method acting.

Deceiving people is more fun than I expected.

“If he’d really been trapped in a gate, there’s no way he’d be standing here perfectly fine.”

Jaeyul backed me up as well.

Everyone believed that once a gate’s exit disappeared, the interior vanished along with it.

So no one could even imagine that I’d entered a gate at all.

Which meant I had no motive to kill Irihyeon.

That seemed to be what everyone concluded.

“Exactly.

Our Se-hyeon hyung doesn’t have a single suspicious point.

It’s almost like he prepared everything in advance—so clean.

Ah, I’m joking.

Just kidding.”

Except for one person.

Eden called me “Se-hyeon hyung” for the first time and slipped in a barbed remark.

Unlike usual, he looked at me with eyes full of curiosity.

I could tell just from his gaze.

At the very least, he knew I was lying.

He’d said it loud enough for me to hear on purpose.

But he didn’t seem intent on pressing the issue either.

Eden was a hard one to read.

That was a problem I couldn’t deal with right now, so I’d have to talk to him later.

“Cut it out with the bad jokes.

This isn’t the time for that.”

When Jaeyul spoke as if taking my side, Eden alternated his gaze between me and Jaeyul.

His expression looked like he’d discovered something fascinating.

What is with that guy…?

In any case, Im Chan’s idiotic confession made the charges against Hwang Jiyu and him even clearer.

They had an obvious motive, and there was even a confession that they’d intended to kill.

They’d practically walked straight into a trap.

I wondered just how many entertaining stories Hwang Jiyu would spill next.

Watching their mutual betrayals was going to be interesting.

Now that I thought about it, Irihyeon had taught me quite a lot.

For example, what kind of expression and tone to use when lying.

How to deceive people convincingly.

I’d like to thank him for that, but he was already dead.

So there was no one left to say it to.

“…Was I too harsh…?”

“Not really.

Even if it failed, the fact that they conspired to commit murder doesn’t change.

If anything had gone even slightly wrong, it could have actually happened.”

I’d hesitated over whether to tell Jaeyul about my plan to make Hwang Jiyu and Im Chan pay their due.

I worried I’d look like a lunatic blinded by revenge.

That wouldn’t be wrong, but at least with Jaeyul, I didn’t want that image to stick.

In the end, I decided to tell him the truth anyway.

If Irihyeon was gone and his other academy classmates disappeared as well, Jaeyul might be shocked.

Worse, he might ruin my plan entirely.

*“Them?

I was thinking of a different approach…

But I guess forcing a confession like that isn’t a bad idea either.”*

Jaeyul accepted my suggestion without any hesitation.

He even added his own testimony, saying it was hard to believe that Hwang Jiyu and Im Chan had truly gotten lost in the gate.

Coming from the team leader, that carried extra weight.

On top of that, Hwang Jiyu and Im Chan launched a vicious blame game.

Like sworn enemies, they trampled over each other, exposing secrets left and right.

Perhaps because so many statements and confessions piled up—

“I never imagined they’d be detained this quickly.

Strictly speaking, all they have is circumstantial evidence for Irihyeon’s murder.”

Im Chan and Hwang Jiyu were formally detained within forty-eight hours of their arrest.

There were several decisive reasons for that.

First, their hierarchical relationship with Irihyeon established motive.

Then, following the investigation sparked by Park Bomyeong’s testimony, CCTV footage captured Hwang Jiyu entering Irihyeon’s villa.

Shortly after, Im Chan was recorded rushing in and forcibly dragging her back out.

The footage also showed them fighting violently across the street afterward.

From there, investigators concluded they’d gone to kill Irihyeon.

Most decisively of all, their mutual confessions sealed the deal.

It seemed they’d decided it was better to live without friends than to be branded murder suspects.

Everything came out—every illegal task Irihyeon had ordered, every crime Im Chan and Hwang Jiyu had committed.

Along the way, it was even revealed that the old incident where Irihyeon claimed I’d made a guiding mistake had been staged.

“Even so, they’re still insisting they didn’t commit the murder.”

“That’s enough.

Even if they’re cleared of murder charges, there’s no way they can keep working at the center.”

If their punishment ended up lighter than I expected, I could always step in myself.

They weren’t that important anyway.

“So… is that it…?”

It felt hollow.

And yet, somehow refreshing too.

Did Irihyeon regret his actions in his final moments?

Not being able to see his end left me oddly empty.

I wanted to know who really killed him.

Why they’d dismembered him so brutally.

Why they’d taken his hands.

But now, that seemed impossible.

Irihyeon.

The murder case.

The unknown culprit.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that some unseen event was still unfolding beyond my awareness.

Still, part of me felt relieved.

I hadn’t realized revenge could be this satisfying.

I should have lived like this sooner.

Without pretending to be generous.

Without putting on a show of mercy.

“It’s not over yet, hyung.

The Support Agency Director is still there.

He’s been way too quiet lately, which worries me.”

I’d been thinking the same thing.

Despite Irihyeon’s murder, the director was nowhere to be seen.

When Irihyeon had been injured in the gate before, the man had rushed over in a panic.

But now—nothing.

“Yeah.

Why hasn’t he made a single move…?

There’s no way he doesn’t suspect me….”

Even during the investigation, the Support Agency investigators didn’t seem intent on framing me as a suspect.

If anything, they looked desperate to catch someone quickly.

“I heard the Agency itself is in turmoil.

Corporate sponsorships have been completely cut off.

This might actually be a good time to take him down too.”

“…Jaeyul, let’s leave him alone for now.”

“Leave him alone?

…Why?”

How do I explain this…?

I want to kill the director with my own hands, without anyone’s help.

It might be my last chance to resolve the questions I never got to ask Irihyeon.

Why they tried to kill me.

Why they wanted Jaeyul so badly.

Everything.

I won’t let this end in regret like last time.

I’ll make sure I kill the director myself.

“Things are chaotic right now.

Let’s watch the situation for a bit before deciding.”

It’s a secret from Jaeyul.

“If that’s what you think, hyung… then sure.

There are plenty of ways.

We can think it through slowly.”

I’d once asked Jaeyul what he planned to do about Irihyeon.

He’d said we should think about it slowly.

Now, the roles had reversed.

Thankfully, Jaeyul didn’t seem to doubt my words.

There really were many ways to deal with the director.

Unlike Irihyeon, he had too much to lose.

Power rivaling that of a minister.

Authority over special ability users.

Financial stability beyond envy.

Losing what he took for granted would hurt far more than death itself.

Exposing his abuse of power during the SS-rank gate operation could strip him of everything.

Or I could deal with him the same way as Irihyeon.

Either way, the director was not someone I’d hand over to others.

Still, killing him wouldn’t be easy.

He might look like just an old man, but to me, he was more dangerous than anyone else.

He was a former high-level esper.

Even retired, his strength wouldn’t have vanished.

His home would be more heavily secured than almost anywhere else.

Approaching him in daily life would be difficult enough.

And after what happened to Irihyeon, he’d be on even higher alert.

I’d have to choose the timing carefully.

“By the way, hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s this?”

Jaeyul placed something on the table.

It was small, so I didn’t recognize it at first.

But when I looked closer, it was unmistakably familiar.

And to me, it was anything but ordinary.

“Poppy was chewing on it while playing, so I took it away.”

It was the badge that had been wedged in the door on the night I went to kill Irihyeon.