Chan-Yeol sighed and ruffled his hair. He leaned back into his seat, raising his head back up to Chrono. Chrono stood opposite to him with her arms crossed. A knock came to the door and the two turned their attention to the door.
"Sir, Lee Seng and his allies are here." A guard informed Chan-Yeol.
"We'll finish this later." Chan-Yeol told Chrono. Chrono nodded and started towards the door. She opened it and smiled at the group.
"Chro—" Lee Seng began to say.
"See you later, Mr. Chan-Yeol. I'll come by another time." Chrono waved goodbye to Chan-Yeol before excusing herself. She nodded at Lee Seng, slipping her hand into her pocket and pulling something out. She handed it to Lee Seng without much thought before continuing on her way.
"C-come in, guys." Chan-Yeol motioned. Lee Seng fiddled with the paper, moving into the room and standing off to the side.
"You should sit, Calis." Evan moved Calis over to a chair and sat him down. "You'll need it."
"I feel fine. I've told you that." Calis grumbled. Chan-Yeol gave a small smile and nodded at the guard to shut the door. Ritsuka hung in the back, leaning against the wall while Evan took the remaining seat next to Calis.
"You wanted to see us?" Lee Seng asked.
"We have much to discuss since... last night's ordeal." Chan-Yeol sighed. He folded his hands together and looked at Lee Seng. "Chrissy informed me more or less what happened after I overheard Elizabeth's hostility towards you." The others looked at Lee Seng, finally clued in on what Chan-Yeol wanted to talk about. "I'm really sorry they did that to you. I didn't think there would be people like that among the people. Say the word and I'll act accordingly since you and your friend Calis, here, suffered."
"It's alright, hyeong." Lee Seng brushed it off. "Stuff like that will continue to happen. I won't be the last person that gets treated that way. Elizabeth has clear opinions and Nero did what he had to."
"It still isn't right." Chan-Yeol sighed. "Look, we need to be joining forces as a city if we want to survive this climate change ordeal. Monsters have infiltrated the impenetrable fortress and people have turned into bandits, taking what they want to live. Life is hard for everyone."
"And we must do what we must do to live." Lee Seng nodded. "I know. The problem yesterday is just a sad reality. I hope one day Biohumans will be able to treat those who don't look entirely like them better, but I don't think we can solve that in a day. It's a long fight to be better as a whole."
"How does a troublemaker like you know how to speak so eloquently?" Chan-Yeol smiled. Lee Seng shrugged, crossing his arms together.
"Is that all about that?"
"Yes." Chan-Yeol nodded. He sighed and leaned in his chair. "I guess you want to cash in that favor, hm?" Lee Seng nodded. Chan-Yeol pulled his phone out and tapped on it. He threw his phone at Lee Seng, who snagged it and looked at it. "It's the most recent picture. My men saw this guy walking around in Old Town. It's a half-day old. I don't know much but this is all I can give you on them."
It was a picture of Number 8. He looked worse for wear, but there was a glare in those tiny eyes Lee Seng could feel. He zoomed in and studied the surroundings.
"Old Town?" Ritsuka piped up. "Nobody goes there now. It's a dead part of the city. It's off limits. Why would one of your guys be all the way out there?"
"You can't leave anything out when obtaining information." Chan-Yeol replied. "Do you know why Old Town is off limits? Is it because the government officials told you so? Are you abiding by it because someone told you so? Have you ever seen what's in it? That's what it means to be an informant. That's what it means to be in my line of work. You have to keep all your options open."
"Why would they go to Old Town, then? Do they know something we don't?" Evan looked to Lee Seng. Lee Seng cocked his head. He had the photo zoomed onto a peculiar building. It was run down, but the graffiti stood out to Lee Seng.
"I've seen this before." Lee Seng whispered. He looked up from the phone and handed it back to Chan-Yeol. "Hyeong, I've seen that graffiti somewhere before..." Chan-Yeol looked at it and tilted his head in confusion. "Where have I seen it from?"
"What?" Ritsuka asked. Chan-Yeol slid the phone over to Evan and Calis. The two looked at the picture. "What?" Ritsuka sauntered over, leaning from behind the two to look.
"Yeah, I don't think I've seen this before."Evan shook his head. Ritsuka shook his head, too. Calis shrugged and pushed the phone back to Chan-Yeol. He turned and looked at Lee Seng asking, "Where did you see that?"
"This guy got around a lot when he was powerless." Lee Seng shrugged. "I know where it is so let's go!"
ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm "Hold on." Chan-Yeol stuck his hand up. "There's something else."
"Hm?" Lee Seng asked, eyebrows raised. Chan-Yeol grabbed his phone and flipped through the pictures for a while until landing on another picture of a young woman. He slid it over and Lee Seng moved over to look at the picture with his friends. I think you should take a look at
"Hey... isn't that... Sara?" Evan looked at Ritsuka and Lee Seng.
"What the hell...?" Ritsuka whispered. Lee Seng grabbed it and pulled it closer to his face. It was a picture of Sara attacking Biohumans with a bunch of monsters running past her. She was smiling sinisterly. "It can't be her. Sh-she wouldn't, right?" Chan-Yeol's eyes focused on Lee Seng. Purple. It was hardly visible in the picture but Lee Seng notice it. Sara had purple eyes. He looked at Chan-Yeol who silently stared at him.
"Purple eyes." Lee Seng whispered. He handed the phone over and turned away, slightly.
"What? She's a Deimon?" Ritsuka asked. Lee Seng couldn't process it. Questions ran through his head.
"Why would she give in? H-her parents are Numbers... s-she wouldn't do it because... she thought she was weak or something... right?" Evan asked. Chan-Yeol closed his eyes and squeezed his nose bridge, letting out a sigh.
"When was the picture taken?" Calis asked Chan-Yeol.
"A few weeks back." Chan-Yeol answered. "I was hoping you guys knew something about her. This is her, right?" There was no doubt that it wasn't Sara. It was clear as day to them.
"Most of us were isolated in the safe site past the lab." Ritsuka answered. "I was the only one who came back to the city."
"You didn't see this?" Evan asked Ritsuka. Ritsuka shook his head. They turned to Lee Seng. He looked the most shocked by the news.
"Well..." Chan-Yeol continued. "It's strange. There have been more people who've been taking people by surprised like she has. They've taken many people by surprise and Sara's been one of the popular ones amongst their group."
'Why would she do such a thing...?' Lee Seng thought. He shook his head and turned away. He bit at his nail as he weighed his options. 'I could try to find her but I wouldn't know where to look. If we get any more intel, maybe she isn't too far gone.'
"Lee?" Evan called out to Lee Seng.
"Yeah?" Lee Seng turned around. "I'm fine. I think we should still find the Numbers. My brother and sister have probably found them so they're probably there."
"What're you going to do when you get there?" Chan-Yeol asked.
"Get information from them and finish this problem." Lee Seng answered.
"Problem?"
Lee Seng nodded and took a breath. "Yeah, long story short, I need to tie up some loose ends and these guys were willing to do it with me."
"What're you tying up? Finding someone? Finding people?"
"Killing loose ends."
"A-are you serious? Now? T-that's why you contacted me? I-it wasn't to find the CEO? It was to gather intel on specific people?" Chan-Yeol stood up and waited for Lee Seng to tell him it was all a lie. When he didn't answer, Chan-Yeol scoffed and turned around in disbelief. "Why would someone like you do such a thing? Are these bad people? Monsters? I-it must be monsters, right?" Lee Seng licked his lips and looked down.
"Lee..." Ritsuka turned and quietly whispered in his ear. "Should you really tell him what we're doing? He'll think your crazy." Lee Seng pulled his arm away and moved past Rituska.
"Experiments from the old days." Lee Seng truthfully told Chan-Yeol. "The ones that lived and got out of the lab after it blew up." Chan-Yeol's eyes were wide. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Come on, let's go. Thanks for the info, hyeong."
"Lee Seng." Chan-Yeol shouted his name loudly. "You're crazy. You're on some death mission. Y-you should leave this to the Creator. He can handle it! Just stay outta it."
"I'm not a kid anymore." Lee Seng shouted back. "If you didn't know, my dad is dead and I'm the only one left who can do this. C'mon, let's go guys."
"Lee!"