Chapter 116: A New Name, An Old Purpose

“This is quite something,” the foreman exclaimed, whistling as he surveyed the warship.

He eagerly examined the interior, then pressed a button on the control panel, his voice brimming with excitement.

Kang Tae-han, who had been listening with interest nearby, then posed a question to the foreman.

“Will this fetch a good price?”

“A good price? If we dismantle and sell this, it’ll cover several years of our budget and then some.”

The foreman, who claimed to have once been an arms dealer, marveled at the machinery he was handling for the first time.

He eagerly fiddled with the steering mechanism, clearly fascinated.

“How does this thing even move? Was there anyone who knew how to operate it?”

“No, there wasn’t.”

“Then how did you even get it here? It barely has any fuel.”

“That, I wouldn’t know either.”

Kang Tae-han shook his head, his response firm and final. Behind the bewildered foreman, Kang Ah-jun burst forth triumphantly, puffing out his chest.

“With two spatial manipulation ability users on board, who needs to drive? If we know the coordinates, we can just pull it along bit by bit.”

“This kid… who is this?”

“I am Kang Ah-jun, the new, brilliant Esper who recently joined Air Rain, brimming with a fiery passion to confront terror.”

“We are not a terrorist organization. How many times did I tell you that on the way here?”

Kang Tae-han replied, his voice utterly drained. Even he, Kang Tae-han, who was unmatched in his shamelessness, had no choice but to wave a white flag in the face of Kang Ah-jun’s stubbornness.

Throughout the journey on the warship, he had diligently explained Rain’s true identity and Air Rain’s wrongful accusations. Yet, Kang Ah-jun’s response had been simple: ‘So, the established powers are the bad guys, and we just need to crush them, right?’ It was a disheartening reaction after Kang Tae-han’s lengthy, impassioned explanation.

Sa-yoon, accustomed to such situations, merely watched from a distance. Whenever Kang Ah-jun got involved, everything seemed to devolve into a sitcom.

From Sa-yoon’s perspective, the current situation was not bad at all. Thanks to Kang Ah-jun attaching himself to Kang Tae-han, he could enjoy a comfortable voyage.

“When I speak, listen! Please! Which ‘Kang’ family are you from, you rascal!”

“But you said you’re Rain, sir. Why bother with ancestors when you don’t even have any?”

“Ah, he speaks the truth, so I can’t even hit him. Honestly.”

Sa-yoon smiled contentedly, watching the two bicker once more. Just then, someone approached from behind.

“Excuse me, Sa-yoon… I can call you Sa-yoon, right?”

A rough female voice spoke. Sa-yoon turned his head to see a woman with her hood pulled low, bowing her head in greeting.

“You might not remember me. We met before, during the Daejeon terror attack.”

“Ah…”

Upon hearing her voice, he immediately recognized her. She was an Irregular who had been declared deceased by the Korean Esper forces.

She had reportedly been rescued by a stroke of luck and subsequently joined Air Rain. She mentioned that her body and throat had been injured during that time. The memory of their past encounter, when he had worked with Kang Tae-han to reveal the truth, resurfaced.

“I remember. Uh, your name… it’s…”

While he recalled who she was, her exact name eluded him. Having only heard it once or twice, it hadn’t properly registered in his mind. As Sa-yoon hesitated, the woman smiled understandingly.

“My past name isn’t important, so it’s fine. Here, I go by Mela. It’s a new name we use in Air Rain.”

Mela stroked her throat with her hand as she spoke.

“Many people in Air Rain use new names rather than their birth names. It’s to prevent any harm to their loved ones who might still be in the outside world.”

“I see.”

Those whose families and friends had all joined Air Rain were considered fortunate. Those who had left behind relationships outside often hid deep within the villages, fearing their faces might be exposed by the media.

“It seems you still have someone left outside.”

“My friends are still out there. Even though I’ve been declared dead for years, it seems I’m still under surveillance, so I have to be careful.”

Mela clicked her tongue, a bitter expression on her face, lamenting how relentless the outsiders were. After her long explanation, she again touched her throat. It seemed her vocalization was still uncomfortable.

“But Mela, hasn’t your voice been treated? I heard it could be healed with cell transplantation.”

“Ah, that method.”

Mela’s expression became ambiguous as she cleared her throat. She scratched her cheek, hesitating, then spoke with difficulty.

“Actually, it’s a method only Espers of your caliber, Sa-yoon, can use. If ordinary Espers like us receive Rain’s cells incorrectly, we’d be completely consumed by them.”

“I… see.”

Feeling as though he had inadvertently boasted in front of someone in pain, Sa-yoon awkwardly smoothed his shirt with his palm. Inside this shirt, the mottled marks from the symbiosis of Rain’s cells and Sa-yoon’s cells still remained.

He had often heard that only he, Sa-yoon, could endure this, yet he had never truly grasped the gravity of the situation.

“I apologize. I feel like I spoke carelessly.”

“It’s fine. It’s natural not to know. Actually, I didn’t come here to talk about this, but to thank you.”

“Thank me?”

“You believed our words, after all.”

Sa-yoon felt he had done nothing to earn Mela’s gratitude. He had lost his memory and had been indebted to Air Rain, and it was Mela and Kang Tae-han who had informed him of the truth. Indeed, if Mela hadn’t told him to look up his information within the forces, he might still be lingering there.

“I should be thanking you. Thanks to you, I learned the truth. I must have been quite frustrating, wasn’t I?”

Mela smiled silently and nodded. At her honest reaction, Sa-yoon also laughed. Indeed, he must have been incredibly frustrating.

He was an Irregular himself, yet he had sided with the government, persecuting other Irregulars and Rain.

“Still, it’s hard to believe the truth, isn’t it? Well, the past is already gone, and the future is what matters. I look forward to working with you.”

“I look forward to working with you too.”

Sa-yoon clasped Mela’s outstretched hand. True to her petite stature, her hand was small. It was a rather unfamiliar sensation for Sa-yoon, who was surrounded by countless large, dark Espers.

The only female hand Sa-yoon knew was his mother’s, bony and frail.

“By the way, what will you do about your name, Sa-yoon? Will you operate under a new one?”

“I’m still thinking about it.”

The people Sa-yoon recalled most painfully after regaining his memories were his mother and Myeong-ah.

They were the two he had been forced to neglect while he had lost his memory. His mother, he heard, had been taken in by Han Do-hoon for protection. Given that he hadn’t heard anything further, he could only assume she was still alive.

While relieved that Han Do-hoon seemed to be honoring Sa-yoon’s last request to protect her, a sense of loneliness still crept in.

Han Do-hoon, whom he had seen after a long time, had changed much, yet remained the same. His gaunt and hardened expression was different from what Sa-yoon remembered.

However, his persona as an Irregular Hunter, detesting Air Rain and seeking to apprehend Irregulars, was unchanged. Sa-yoon didn’t fail to understand.

Han Do-hoon believed he had lost his parents and his childhood village because of Air Rain. A deeply rooted belief, influenced by Sa-yoon alone, would not easily change.

And the other person Sa-yoon found after restoring his memories: Myeong-ah…

“……”

Recalling Jung Myeong-ah, Sa-yoon felt a bitter taste in his mouth. After recovering his memories, he had spoken with Jung Hyun-woo.

He apologized for having forgotten Myeong-ah during that time. Of course, Jung Hyun-woo said it was fine, but Sa-yoon’s heart remained uneasy. He had asked Kang Tae-han to search other villages in Air Rain, but no one resembling Jung Myeong-ah could be found. This meant she hadn’t been rescued by Air Rain.

Had Myeong-ah truly died? Had she died so pointlessly, just as he sometimes saw in his dreams? Such thoughts made him inexplicably melancholic.

“Sa-yoon?”

“Ah, I apologize. I was lost in thought for a moment.”

Sa-yoon, who had been distracted while someone stood before him, quickly snapped back to attention.

“It seems I will have to continue using my own name.”

“Is… that so? You still have family remaining, Sa-yoon.”

Sa-yoon’s mother was under Han Do-hoon’s protection, but his biological father was still in Korea. He was said to be prospering even more, riding on the glory of Sa-yoon, who had supposedly fallen in battle against Air Rain.

If Sa-yoon were to move on Air Rain’s behalf, Han Do-hoon would act cautiously. He wouldn’t immediately harm his mother, so Sa-yoon could wait for an opportune moment to rescue her.

Well, it would certainly impact his biological father. From Sa-yoon’s perspective, this was a matter not worth considering. He was the kind of person who would be better off self-destructing.

“I believe it will have a greater impact.”

“That’s certainly true.”

Air Rain desperately needed influence at the moment. The very reason Kang Tae-han couldn’t convey the truth to people was his lack of influence. No matter how much they clamored now, people would dismiss it as nonsense or treat it as fake news.

To achieve the results Sa-yoon and Air Rain desired, fame and widespread impact were essential. It was time to utilize every available method.

“I hope it works out well.”

Mela, understanding Sa-yoon’s feelings, agreed with a bitter smile. Everyone shared the same sentiment. They earnestly wished for a world where the truth of this manipulated reality would be realized by others, leading to peaceful coexistence.

It was a moment when everyone—humans, Espers, Rain, and even Irregulars—fervently longed for an era where no one would be persecuted simply for the sin of being born.

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