Chapter 88: A Devastating Loss

They say misfortune arrives without a sound.

It was a morning no different from any other, a repetitive, cyclical routine.
As soon as I got to work, I changed into my training clothes and proceeded with my individual gate simulation.
After the simulation, I headed to the B-Class training room.
But Jihwon’s voice, which always welcomed me, was nowhere to be heard.

I looked around the training room, but he was not there.
And the air inside the room felt strangely heavy.
Feeling something was off, I asked a nearby guide about his absence, but the answer I received was unexpected.

“Jihwon collapsed during training and was carried out. Didn’t you hear…?”

“When? How did he collapse?”

The word “collapsed” struck me hard, and I moved closer to the guide and asked.
He had a history of collapsing, so I was immediately worried.

“Not long after the morning training started, he suddenly coughed up blood and fainted.”

“Was he injured during training? He wasn’t seriously hurt, was he?”

“From what I saw… I think something is wrong with him. He kept stopping breathing intermittently, so we had to perform CPR.”

No sooner had the guide finished speaking than I asked for his location.
Hearing that he would be at the Center hospital, I had no choice but to run out of the training wing and head to the hospital.

Entering the hospital, I told the desk staff his name and looked for his room.

“Where is Guide Choi Jihwon’s room?”

Seeing my urgent face, the desk staff hurriedly checked the monitor, but soon shook their head as if there was no such patient.

“There is no record of anyone named Choi Jihwon being admitted today.”

I flinched at the staff’s words.
If he wasn’t at the Center hospital either, where on earth was he?
Soon, Dr. Yoon came to mind.
I immediately called him, but he didn’t answer.
He usually answered his phone quickly, but I was irritated that he wasn’t reachable at such a crucial moment.

In the end, I left a message with the desk staff to contact me when Guide Choi Jihwon arrived and left the hospital.
I asked my colleagues for news of him, but no one knew anything for sure.
He didn’t answer his phone either.
This whole situation felt like an ominous sign, and I grew more and more anxious.

I moved back to the Center and went to Dr. Yoon’s research lab, but he was currently absent.

“Where on earth is he.”

I couldn’t get any news of him by the time I left work.
Even after returning home, I waited until midnight for any news, but in the end, I heard nothing.

And the next day, after lunchtime, I learned through a Center notice that Jihwon had died.
As soon as I saw the notice, my vision went blank.
I felt a chill as if all the blood had drained from my body, and I started to tremble.
Clinging to my wavering sanity, I ran to the Center’s administration office to confirm if the notice was true.

“Is the notice about Guide Choi Jihwon’s death that was posted today certain?”

“Yes. The funeral is currently being held at the Center hospital.”

I had hoped it was a false report, but at the clear word ‘funeral’, no words came out, and I stood there in a daze for a while.
Even when I tried to think, my mind was paralyzed, and nothing came to mind.

“Guide-nim?”

The Center staff member also seemed to have noticed my strange state and called me cautiously.

“Is he really… dead?”

“…Yes.”

The staff member looked at me with a worried face.
I went straight out and collapsed onto a lobby chair.

I could no longer hear any sounds, and only a long ringing filled my ears.
Jinseok shook my shoulder as I was breathing without even realizing I was getting short of breath.

“Guide-nim, are you okay?”

I just raised my head and looked at him.
My facial muscles were stiff, and I had to force my mouth open.

“Manager-nim, is it certain that Jihwon is dead?”

“Yes…. A notice came this morning that he had passed away.”

At his words, I knew for certain that he was dead, but it still didn’t feel real, and it felt like a lie.

“I- I have to see for myself. I can’t believe it.”

Hearing my words, he said let’s go to the funeral home later, but I shook my head.
In the end, he went to the funeral home with me with a reluctant face.
To be honest, I don’t even remember how I got to the funeral home.

When we arrived at the funeral home, I could hear a woman’s wailing.
I didn’t know whose voice it was, but only after entering the mortuary did I realize it was the sound of his mother’s crying.

Along with the sound of crying, I saw his picture.
The photo taken after he had signed his guide contract was hanging as a portrait of the deceased.

The moment I saw that, my face fell, and my breath caught in my throat.
Just two days ago, we had had lunch together and trained…

No tears came out, and I was just numb.
I looked away from his picture and rejected the situation.
I asked him in a dazed voice.

“What was the cause of death…?”

“A heart attack.”

“A heart attack?”

I had definitely heard that he had coughed up blood and collapsed.
It was clearly the Association’s fault, but from the looks of it, it seemed they were trying to cover up the cause of death as a heart attack.

His cause of death was undoubtedly a side effect of the S-Class project.
I had persuaded him to quit the project that was putting a strain on his body, but it seemed his body was already a wreck and was on its way to death.

“It seems the Association has already decided on a heart attack as the cause of death.”

“No…”

I answered lowly and looked for Dr. Yoon, but he was not there.

“Guide-nim, you don’t look well right now. Let’s just go home for today and come back tomorrow.”

I barely managed to nod and returned home.
A few hours later, Wonjae, who had been to his funeral, came home.

“Hyung, you went to the funeral…?”

I nodded weakly, my head feeling heavy.
I felt numb and foolish, as if someone had hit my head with a hammer.

When I saw his face, the area around his eyes was red, as if he had cried.
Unlike him, no tears came from me.

My own behavior felt so heartless that I wanted to force myself to cry, but no matter how hard I tried, no tears came.
My heart was certainly grieved and sad, but it was strange.

Seeing me in agony, he said no more and went into his room.

The face of Jihwon, who had said he would quit the project after this promotion test, came to mind again.
The promotion test was this Friday.
It was a shame and pitiful that he had left so soon when the end was just a little while away.
And I was filled with self-reproach for not being able to stop him.

I collapsed onto the sofa and covered my face with both hands.
I was suffocating and couldn’t breathe properly.

The next day, I went to the research lab to look for Dr. Yoon, but all I got was an answer that he was on assignment.
It felt like he was avoiding me, knowing that Jihwon had died due to the side effects of the secret project.

I asked the researchers if they felt any guilt about his death, or if it wasn’t a death caused by the project, but they just feigned ignorance.

It was certain that he had died because of his project, but since it was a secret project, there was no evidence left anywhere.

The truth about his death remained unknown as the day of his burial approached.
Everyone was crying, but I still had no tears.

It seemed it was because I couldn’t accept the fact that he was gone.

Thinking back to before the regression, I had spent over four years with him.
He was a brighter and more sincere child than anyone, and I couldn’t help but think that this had happened to him because he had met me.
He was the one who had said he wanted to stand side by side with me and Wonjae.

Not only him, but I had also almost died because of his secret project, and there were probably many more victims.
I couldn’t let another victim like him be created.

However, since I only had a hunch and no physical evidence now, I first decided to thoroughly investigate the true nature of him and the research lab.
I would first confirm the reality of the research lab with my own eyes, and then I would bring to light the deeds committed by him and the other heartless accomplices.

But it was a difficult task for me to handle alone.
After his burial, after a long thought, I decided to ask Jinseok for help.
He was his former assistant and had shown a strong hatred for the project.

After work, after arriving home, I sent him up first and talked with him.

“Manager-nim, I want to talk about Dr. Yoon’s research.”

“As it happens, I also wanted to talk to you. Guide Choi Jihwon passed away this time.”

“Yes. It seems to be related to his research.”

“That’s right. That’s why I also told you to be careful of him.”

“You were right.”

At first, I hadn’t believed his words.
Since he had never harmed me.
But seeing the situation so far, including his death this time, I could tell that his project was wrong.

“So I’m going to participate in his research and find out about his death and the corruption related to the research. But it’s impossible for me to do it alone. I need your help.”

“Guide-nim, are you sure your mind won’t change?”

At my firm nod, he, thinking it would be a long story, turned off the car’s engine and said.

“I understand. What I’m about to tell you must be kept between the two of us.”

From what he said, he had been his top student and had been working on the S-Class project together.
The S-Class project required S-Class Espers and guides, but an S-Class guide who was close to him had ended up in a vegetative state and had become a test subject of the research lab after helping with the project.

The S-Class project was a project to raise the grade of low-grade Awakened by injecting them with the wavelength of an S-Class, and since it was conducted with unverified machines and drugs, it was no different from a clinical trial.

“The S-Class project is conducted in a secret research lab, and since only insiders know the location, it’s difficult for outsiders to find. I haven’t been able to find it so far either.”

“You worked there, Manager-nim. Why don’t you know the location?”

“My memory was erased by a mental-type Esper at the research lab. I have a journal that I recorded, so I’m using that to substitute for my memory.”

“So the location…”

“Yes, the most important thing right now is the location of the secret research lab. If you just tell me the location, I will take care of it from then on.”

Finding out the location would be easy.
But the mental-type Esper Jinseok had mentioned bothered me.
If I was subjected to a mental-type ability, I might not be able to get out of the research lab, so I had to be on my toes from now on.
Or I might not be able to leave the research lab, just like the S-Class guide he had mentioned.