How to Live as an Immortal Chapter 102

Chapter 102

This ti, I would protect you

***

Even when the private party had been held, Baek Ryang had been certain of his victory, but not anymore. All that remained was the feeling of plumting straight down. Even if Ga-on was under detention, that was not a fundantal solution.

Moreover, the mont he appeared, I had no choice but to realize it.

That Baek Geum-do had been toying with all along.

“Didn’t they say the device was extracted by Outriders when Baek Gi was young?”

Still, they said he managed to survive because he had been so young.

It had also been Baek Geum-do who rattled off trivial background explanations, saying that Yeosanghwa was not on the family registry because she ca from an orphanage.

“He might have picked it up by chance while rolling around the back alleys. I heard the Black Market run by the Four Great Underworld factions is special.”

At the careless, even irresponsible remark, Baek Ryang clenched his molars.

“What about the na?”

Baek Ga-on and Baek Gi.

If Baek Geum-do was right, then at the very least, their nas had to be identical.

The information recorded in the device—in other words, the citizen ID—could never be altered. In the current situation, it went without saying who was closer to the truth.

It was certain that sothing had gone wrong, and an ominous premonition crept up, tightening around my throat.

“Just tell one thing. Is it true that you really brought him from Hyphen Colony?”

“There is nothing more foolish than asking sothing you already know.”

Telling to stop denying it, Baek Geum-do’s expression seed to scold , and Baek Ryang had no choice but to accept reality. Right, none of this had been a coincidence.

“What on earth have you done?”

“It’s exactly as you think.”

It was absurd for a third party to pass a paternity test. One could assu the institution had been bribed, but that was aningless. If it were Baek Seok-do, he would have cross-verified it multiple tis.

However, there was a way to bypass it.

Direct and bold.

“…Is he truly a clone?”

“It’s similar, but in the end, you could say that’s what it is.”

Asking whose genes had been used would have been a foolish question. Baek Seok-do had only two children.

“You’re insane.”

With trembling hands, Baek Ryang pressed his forehead and glared at Baek Geum-do.

One of the Four Fundantal Laws, the Clone Human Control Act.

In its early days, it had been in the spotlight as a new ans of extending life, but as various side effects erged, it eventually beca a regulated field under a single law.

There was no need to look far.

What would happen if a self that was not yourself coveted what belonged to you?

Inheritance disputes, infinite division, kin-slaying, and so on.

Indiscriminate cloning would ultimately reach a point where even the original lost its value.

Restoring ethics and rights that had fallen to the bottom was left to those who remained. Because of that, clone humans had no human rights. It was to prevent any possibility of causing problems in the first place.

The sa applied to Baek Gi.

He had no qualification to call himself part of the Baek family. Even if the sa blood flowed through his body.

“There’s nothing to worry about. If I order him to be a clone, then he will be a clone, and if I order that he is not a clone, then he will not be a clone.”

“You really spout such nonsense without hesitation.”

“How rude. You’re not at an age where you need discipline. You’re not going to report this now, are you? Saying it has nothing to do with you, that everything was planned by your uncle?”

“Why wouldn’t I? If Father were to find out—”

“If he finds out?”

In front of Baek Geum-do, who tilted his head as if genuinely interested, Baek Ryang could not say anything.

“You’re the one who committed such an act against Seol-i and still got away with it. Do you think I’d be any different? The one who suffers is the foolish one—the idiot.”

At least, that was how it was in Baekdu.

However, from Baek Geum-do’s perspective, it was rely regrettable. Because a variable had appeared, the trick had been revealed.

What was needed for a paternity test was only the father A and the child B. No one was curious about the relationship between B and another child, C.

If soone won the lottery twice, people would be amazed by that person’s fortune, not investigate which numbers they had matched twice.

This, too, was an extension of that idea.

It was a thod of exploiting blind spots by using information that was naturally excluded as the situation progressed.

“If you want, we can move the stage to the court. I’ll fight you as much as you like. But would that really be okay? I wonder if you’re only acting opportunistically when it cos to Seol-i. What do you think?”

You must not confuse your priorities.

With Baek Geum-do giving that warning, Baek Ryang—

***

could not laugh.

No matter how many tis I opened and closed the DuPont lighter, the conversation from earlier lingered in my mind, and I couldn’t calm myself easily.

Was it because I had been betrayed by the man I called uncle?

No, that couldn’t be it.

What wrapped around Baek Ryang’s entire body right now was humiliation. It was laughable—his own situation, being betrayed and yet unable to put up any aningful resistance.

To begin with, presenting a clone human just to secure shares.

When had he obtained the genetic information, when had he cultivated it to that extent, and when—

‘had he made the plan.’

Even looking back calmly, it was chilling. This was a checkmate. One that had likely been completed over decades.

What if Ga-on had never appeared? What if he had promoted Baek Gi as his half-sibling and ascended to the Chairman’s seat?

There was no need to even ask.

Most likely, he would have had his weakness seized and ended up as Baek Geum-do’s puppet.

As expected, I couldn’t walk the sa path as Baek Geum-do. Having reached that conclusion, it was only natural that Baek Ryang secretly called for Kenji.

“You know how things are unfolding, right?”

“More or less.”

I heard that soone had appeared claiming to be Baek Seok-do’s son. The na was—

“Baek Ga-on, was it?”

Kenji’s brow twisted strangely as he spoke that na, but Baek Ryang, cornered as he was, had no room to notice such a detail.

Click.

Closing the DuPont lighter, Baek Ryang spoke.

“Kill President Baek Geum-do.”

“You stuck to him like a paracium, and now you’re stabbing him in the back. No matter how hard I try, I can’t grow fond of the Baek family.”

“I don’t need the approval of soone like you.”

“To begin with, there was no clause in our contract about killing soone.”

When Baek Seol had been attacked, it was ant to instill a sense of crisis in her, not to cause direct harm.

“The most I can lend you is my reputation. And now you want my blade too? That’s absurd.”

“If this situation is resolved cleanly, I’ll help you. I’ll make sure the Miyauchi Group doesn’t bother you. That wouldn’t be a loss for you either.”

Quite deliberately, Baek Ryang’s gaze briefly swept over Kenji.

The traces of Yubitsu.

Baek Ryang had also heard, through the grapevine, that there had been an uproar when he was expelled. It seed they hadn’t parted on good terms, and even now, mbers of the organization were still searching for him.

“You know better than I do that they’re not the kind you can reason with. Rather than staining your hands with the blood of your own brethren, wouldn’t it be better to shed the blood of one person—soone who has nothing to do with you?”

“Soone who has nothing to do with .”

As if deep in thought, he stayed silent for a while, his eyes half-lidded. A mont later, what ca out of Kenji’s mouth was a sigh tinged with lant.

“So it was bound to co to this.”

“I’ll take that as agreent.”

Baek Ryang smiled in satisfaction and extended his hand, but Kenji ignored it, not taking it at all.

***

After coming out from deep underground and facing sunlight for the first ti in a while, I stretched both arms wide and loosened up.

The surveillance around had disappeared, and I could breathe fresh air freely, but that didn’t an I had regained my freedom.

This was, at best, a limited outing. There had been a summons from Baek Seok-do to gather and see each other’s faces.

“Obviously, oppa is going to dig into the fact that I hired you. There’s nothing better for him to latch onto.”

“Even if it was a coincidence.”

“It’d be more convincing to say you approached intentionally. At least it would look honest, wouldn’t it?”

Inside the car heading toward the main house, Baek Seol’s face, as she prepared for the confrontation, was nothing but serious.

“When it cos to Father, there’s a high chance he won’t accept the claim that you were exposed at all.”

“Ah, that.”

In truth, it was nothing more than an excuse to hide my real identity. The real Baek Ga-on, the original owner of the device, did not exist in this world. If compared and analyzed, it would inevitably be exposed.

In a normal situation, it would be difficult to claim that the genes had been damaged.

‘But.’

If the premise was that I had gone through the Black Shower, then it beca possible.

If it was that Black Shower where six tactical nuclear weapons had fallen.

I could simply say that I hadn’t received treatnt in ti and that it caused mutations. Even though genetic manipulation was widespread in this world, that didn’t an the technology was omnipotent. Very rarely, there were cases where it simply didn’t work.

Wasn’t Dobby one of those cases?

I had already deceived even an institution directly under the board of directors. They must have doubted it, but all the other information aside from the genes matched perfectly.

Fortunately, Nuclase was a type of drug that was not easily detected. The process and the result aligned, and even the chanism was analogous to radiation exposure.

However, just as convenient as it was, it also made it easy to lose one’s life—but that was a risk that did not apply to .

Of course, if many specialists were to examine over ti, the outline would eventually be revealed, as the saying goes that a long tail gets caught. But for now, this was an exception among exceptions.

Anything that wasn’t an essential procedure had been omitted, and everything was carried out in a simplified manner.

Just like when they received Baek Gi.

Still, I left the drug cocktail in the hormone regulator as it was. If there was only a slot and no actual substance inside, it would raise suspicion.

“And I heard you’re in a lot of pain—so much that you rely on drugs.”

Baek Seol’s concern ca out of nowhere, as if sothing had been slightly miscommunicated to her.

“Ah? Ah… that’s how it is.”

It was better not to correct the misunderstanding, so I let it be—but in the anti, another misunderstanding began to sprout elsewhere.

“Now that I think about it, you walked around Dong-gu without Clear Mount. I should have noticed then. That you have a strong resistance to radiation exposure. With so many mutated parts, you must suffer from severe aftereffects on a regular basis.”

Does it really work like that? From my perspective as the person involved, I wanted to call it a ridiculous leap, but it seed too late to correct it now.

Sure enough, after hearing Im Sol’s testimony, Baek Seol clasped both hands together.

“Co to think of it, when the car accident happened, you held out until the very end inside the car.”

There was a strange heat in her eyes.

Ever since she declared her younger sibling, it seed that her sense of internal closeness toward had increased significantly.

“This ti, I’ll protect you.”

***

The main house was a residence that faithfully recreated the scenery of the countryside. From the raw wood to the architectural style, the atmosphere of the old days remained intact, making feel as if I had returned to the 21st century. Perhaps it was a sense of nostalgia.

As I reflected on a past I could no longer return to, a voice ca from behind.

“Why are you just standing there blankly?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Following behind Baek Seol as she walked ahead, my eyes caught a deep indigo color, as dark as the sea.

A young man with vividly colored hair—sothing not seen in humans—let it fall long and tied it into a single strand, then bowed gracefully.

He was soone I had heard about in advance.

He was the Secretary Office Chief and Baek Seok-do’s right-hand man. The android who oversaw all affairs of Baekdu, Alfredo.

“Welco. Miss, and Mr. Baek Ga-on. The others have already arrived and are waiting.”