Chapter 307 - 306: The Truth

Eunji went back to the house and she immediately went inside her room and she made sure to lock the door behind her.

Eunji then opened her bag and took the three journals and placed it on her study table.

They looked like his personal journal- a diary, rather than a formal medical research journal at first glance.

Eunji looked at the three journals or diaries in front of her to choose which one she would decide to read first.

She finaly chose to read the oldest looking one of the three journals.

Eunji then took that thick notebook and she decided to start with it.

She sat down on her bed as she prepared herself for any revelation that she would discover once she read them from start to finish.

Eunji suddenly could hear her own heartbeat as it reverberated inside her ribcage. The beats were so loud that it made her to close her eyes and relax her shaking hands that were holding it.

She took a couple of breath to calm down the sudden surge of emotion that she was feeling at the moment.

Eunji missed her dad so much from the bottom of her heart and it could not be denied even if she only mentioned him once or twice since she realized that hi was already dead.

Seeing his belongings again made Eunji missed his presence in her life even more.

He might not be a perfect father but for her, he would always be.

After making sure that she was ready, she started to flip the cover open.

She then read the date on the very first page of the journal. "January 03, 19**."

This was written thirty five years ago.

The date didn't coincide with the official starting date of the research stated on the official published document that they had found.

This was actually three years earlier than that.

Eunji didn't fret and decided to continue reading on the first paragraph.

As she read on the first paragraph, she confirmed that she had found it.

***My brother Min Joon and I, Nam Joon, started our first step on the research that I started for my own quest of producing a genetically enhanced human being who could surpass an ordinary human's abilities. This research was possible because of my brother's support.***

The first paragraph of the first page stated.

It turned out that the Nam Joon had close contact with his brother Min Joon even if they grew up separately.

"So, even the mercenary union had no idea about this, too?" She mumbled as she asked herself since it was not disclosed in the paragraph.

Well, being a medical researcher was her father's side hustle aside from being a son of a mercenary group leader of a well-known mercenary group. He would conduct experiments without the knowledge of Mr. Watson (Eunji's paternal grandfather).

***Call me selfish but my second agenda for this research is to produce an heir who will be unrelated to me. I don't want my kin to suffer the hardship of the mercenary world anymore. So I hope this will be successful. Fighting!***

Eunji suddenly felt a lump on her throat when she read that.

She continued reading unto the next paragraphs and pages.

The fifteen pages of the journal talked about how their first few attempts failed because the genetically modified fertilized egg would die after a week of being implanted on the surrogate mother.

They had carefully extracted the eggs from their female and male subjects (screened research participants who were both paid to participate with the experiment as sperm and egg donors and they would become the surrogates of the fetus later on) and fertilized them under the microscope.

They made sure that they had good quality eggs to make sure that the fetuses being formed would then have good quality traits later on.

However, the implantation would always fail. The surrogate mother would lose the pregnancy.

Eunji could feel the sign of frustration that her father must have felt based on the stroke he used in his penmanship.

"April 01, 19**", three months after.

***Someone noticed what I'm doing and took interest on it. He offered additional money for funds and I'm not going to lie, I'm tempted to take it. I'll consult Min Joon for his opinion about this.***

The following day, he wrote that Min Joon told him that if possible, decline the offer but he disagreed with him and took it behind his back.

Running his project needed a big source of funds. He didn't want Min Joon to shoulder such a big cost. Especially when it was not doing good.

***Min Joon was upset because of what I've done behind his back. Thankfully, he understood me in the end. However, he warned me to be careful with this person after I told him his identity.***

***This special sponsor had his personal reason why he wanted to collaborate with this research project.***

She frowned when her father didn't disclose the name of the major sponsor in the succeeding paragraph after that. She paused as she tried to guess the identity of this person.

"This is weird. None of the people listed on that document were big shots in the underworld aside from my dad." She mumbled once again.

"Well, there's one but he's not that influential and I had already eliminated him from the map. And he's Carmela's father which was also another surprise for her. Whom she would later on discover to have a relationship with her.

With the additional funding, he was confident that he would finally crack it and have a successful result later on.

However, the results were still the same.

They had already wasted many fertilized eggs and their female surrogates could no longer produce good quality eggs in their body.

It had become like that for a year until one day, a young woman came to become a donor.

More like his brother brought her to this experiment.

***Min Joon introduced a young female egg donor to me. Her name was Phoebe but later on, we found out that her true name was Layla.***

"Mom?" She uttered after she realized that her mother did came in and participated with the experiment as an egg donor in exchange of money.

Her expression became serious especially when a secret international agency reached out to their group after they discovered about this research project on it's third year.

They were offered to be given amnesty bestowed by the international criminal court if they would give the first successful baby born from this project.

***I know that it's impossible to stop them. They were fast. They managed to capture my brother and placed him under their watch. They would label him as a criminal and would ruin his reputation if I would decline. So I had no other choice but to agree with them.***

Eunji clenched her hand into a tight fist when she read that.

"The audacity to threaten my father!" She looked like she was going to beat this person into pulp for doing such.

She knew which secret organization was this. Unfortunately, the director of this organization died a few years ago and was replaced with a new one.

Unfortunately, their primary sponsor had also found out about this and he threatened to stop the the funding and would kill them both if they would continue the cooperation with any government agency.

Being so desperate, a clever idea came into Nam Joon's mind. This was ought to be his personal research in the first place. Then, why would he allow anyone to dictate on what he would do?

Now, both (Min Joon and his) of their lives were in danger from every direction. He had to act fast to save them both.

***To appease him, I told the this person that I will give the agency an unsuccessful research after two years. And I will still continue the experiment with more caution.***

Eunji chuckled as she read that. This was indeed her father. Very clever.

The experiment go on as they now have a new batch of good fertilized eggs. Thanks to new donors.

And so after two years, Nam Joon did give an unsuccessful research report to the agency and that was what's written on the published document.

Eunji heaved a sigh as she found out later on that her mother didn't became a surrogate of the experiment because she got sick making her unfit of the criteria.

But she did donated her eggs.

Just six months after that was published, he also decided to stop the experiment. It did receive backlash from the public for the reason that it was unethical.

This made Nam Joon to lose his title of being one of the well-known researcher in the field of medicine and science. He had also lost his license as a doctor.

***I stopped the experiment because I realized that what I am doing was beyond my capability as a researcher. And it just then that I realize this experiment was indeed unethical.*** He explained.

This decision didn't give a positive response from their primary sponsor.

He was forced to destroy everything inside the laboratory and had to reimburse every penny that he had spent for this project.

And he did that. With Kim Min Joon's help, they were able to pay what they owed to him. He also started destroying everything inside the lab. Destroying all the research journals that he made regarding with this.

The last thing that he attempted to destroy were the eggs including the fertilized ones.

***I was about to take them out from the liquid nitrogen. I was successful when in destroying a few eggs but when I saw Layla's eggs including her fertilized ones, I could not destroy them. So I decided to keep them and bring them out with me. I have also burnt that laboratory so no traces could be seen. They won't find any evidence that I saved a few.***

Eunji's heart pound hard when she thought that these must be them.

***I stored the eggs in a safe place just in case Layla and my brother would need them. Including the fertilized eggs that I genetically modified.*** He admitted.

She groan in frustration after she read the last page of the journal. She realized why this was so thick because it covered five years of his life.

Eunji wasted no time and she decided to read the second journal hoping to read the continuation.

***Min Joon came to me one day and begged to help him have an heir with Layla who is a hundred percent healthy this time. I asked him why it should be Layla? But his simple answer was "She's the one and she should be the only one". Since I love my brother so much, I decided to help them. Since I already have Layla's fresh eggs, then all I need is my brother's sperm and conducted IVF. However I did something behind my brother's back.***

He continued his experiment on his future niece or nephews.

He thought that the experiment would fail again but it turned the other way. Layla successfully became pregnant with Min Joon and her baby.

The couple were very grateful for helping them especially when they found out that they're having twins.

Eunji frowned as not much details were written about Layla's pregnancy in his journal.

Maybe they had lost contact. She remembered her dad once told her that these were the time that he had started to take over their mercenary organization as their new leader.

Then he must have been very busy with his new title.

It did skipped a few dates before he got the time to write again in this journal.

***My sister-in-law had given birth to two babies prematurely and had to stay in the hospital. However, the other one had become sickly because of our step-father. I came to help and take the baby with me but the baby barely survived. I told my brother that I could keep her inside the lab for a couple of years and they had to let go of it.***

***My brother asked me to do everything to keep the baby. But he will tell Layla the bad news and she suffered from depression. Good thing I have a friend named Michael Roland, but he wanted to be called Mike, he's a good psychiatrist so he helped my sister-in-law.***

***While I was lost in observing my dying niece, I decided to do something. If I could not keep her alive in this body then I'll do something. I decided to make a clone out of my dying niece.***

***It took me years to successfully make her. And I'm happy with her. I hope my brother would accept this child like his own.***

Eunji's fingers trembled when she read this part. She should stop reading by now, right? But she didn't.

She summoned the courage to go on.

***It's too late. My brother died. And my niece also died but her clone is alive. How can I explain to my sister-in-law about what I have done?***

Eunji immediately closed the journal and decided to stop reading them. She already found out the truth that she's looking for.

"So I'm just a clone?" She mumbled.

"No! This can't be!"

Nevertheless, that was the truth that she had to accept whether she liked it or not.