How to Live as an Immortal Chapter 99

Chapter 99

Hey, don’t say scary things with that kind of face.

***

I clenched both fists without anyone noticing. I had already expected that Baek Seok-do would not accept it easily, and Baek Seol did not give up and continued to protest.

“But that area was contaminated 20 years ago. In every respect, the investigation can only be limited.”

“So? Was it such a ss that you couldn’t even carry out decontamination work?”

Even if we did, an astronomical amount of money would have been consud. Let alone—

“The site was completely devastated. Even if they weren’t exposed to radiation, it’s not an environnt where a search can be conducted. Realistically, even recovering the remains would be difficult. On a corporate level……”

As if he could not bear to listen any longer, Baek Seok-do slamd his cane down.

“Enough. It seems you’ve only grown better at making excuses since I last saw you. You should have realized from the mont I told you to co see . Information of that level—Alfredo and I could obtain it with a re gesture. What you truly need to aim for lies beyond that.”

It was irrational.

Once it went that far, it was no longer a matter of funds or manpower, but of probability. In other words, luck. Baek Seok-do himself would know better than anyone that discussing such a thing was aningless.

But it was not without utility. There were things that only revealed themselves when one was driven into a corner.

Naly, tenacity and stubborn pride. What Baek Seok-do probably wanted to see was crisis managent ability.

Sure enough, similar words followed.

“The information you obtained is certainly excellent. Even if I were to send several more people, it would be difficult to secure anything beyond this. However, I question whether sothing of this level is enough to grant you shares.”

“Is it because of my brother?”

“That is both correct and incorrect. From a coffin whose contents have not been confird, anything may erge. What aning is there in a truth that anyone can refute?”

He ant that if it could not be brought to a perfect conclusion, it would beco a source of dispute.

It was a rebuke tinged with concern, but Baek Seol did not have nothing to say. It was a reaction I had already anticipated.

“I have already commissioned a follow-up request. It’s certain that soone took advantage of the disaster to play tricks. If I can just find the ringleader, my claim will beco clearer.”

To confirm that soone had died, I searched for the one who killed them. By finding the killer, the fact of death would be confird. A chain of cause and effect that bit into itself.

In other words, a rebuttal.

“Not a bad response. Very well, if that matter is uncovered, the shares will be yours.”

Though it was recognition earned after enduring hardship, Baek Seol could not honestly rejoice. The longer the conversation continued, the more it felt subtly misaligned.

For instance, the fact that he did not ntion Yeosanghwa at all.

Co to think of it, he had told to find my half-sibling, but he had never once asked about her whereabouts.

From beginning to end.

Since childhood, Baek Seol had revered Baek Seok-do and wished to resemble him, yet the more I followed in his footsteps, the more incomprehensible the areas that erged.

Just as the silence began to weigh heavily on my shoulders, Alfredo entered and bowed.

“The young master has arrived.”

“Tell him to co in.”

Imdiately afterward, as if he had been waiting, Baek Ryang entered. When our eyes t, I bit my lip. The timing was too coincidental. As if it had been deliberate.

I had no mory of contacting him beforehand, so there was only one possibility left.

“I didn’t realize my brother took such an interest in my schedule.”

“At tis like this, you call it coincidence, Baek Seol.”

He was not the type to bluff unnecessarily, so he must have co with a genuine purpose.

Then what was the source of that confidence?

The answer to my question stood right before my eyes.

An old monster who remained vigorous even past 150 years of age.

“It’s been a while, Baek Seol.”

“It has, Uncle.”

Baek Geum-do.

My father Baek Seok-do’s younger brother and the president of Baekdu Heavy Industries. And above all, the most powerful supporter of Baek Ryang.

The fine hairs on my arms inevitably stood on end. He was the one who had provided the decisive trigger for her departure from Baekdu.

Countless failures. No, countless failures that had been intended to fail—he had always been there.

Of course, I only had circumstantial suspicion, no concrete evidence.

Still, it was too coincidental.

Just like now.

Baek Geum-do had been insidious to the core since birth. It was almost strange that he followed Baek Ryang so obediently.

“If you intend to claim she is dead, then I would like to tell you that you are too late. Even if the difference is only a matter of minutes, that gap is unmistakable.”

Baek Seok-do spoke mildly, but Baek Ryang did not retreat and instead asked,

“Dead? Whom are you referring to?”

“Your half-sibling.”

“A rather interesting hypothesis.”

Glancing at Baek Seol, Baek Ryang seed to have inferred the course of the conversation and let out a scoff.

“It seems Seol was quite pressed. To think she would try to deceive you by claiming a perfectly alive sibling is dead.”

“What do you an…….”

Just as Baek Seol was about to respond to the absurd accusation, a third party entered behind him.

A man with long bangs covering one eye. He was smiling, yet sothing about him felt alien.

As if he had fallen straight down from the sky.

“It’s a pleasure to et you. My na is Baek Gi. Chairman Baek Seok-do. Or rather, I should say… Father, shouldn’t I?”

The man spoke calmly. At the back of Baek Gi’s neck, there was no device.

***

Edwick Morales.

Commander of the 06th Operations Squadron under Space Operations Command. Rank: Brigadier General.

He matched Dominique’s report with startling precision. Considering that he had left the military imdiately after the Black Shower occurred, even more so.

As a high-ranking officer originally from the Mars Defense Force, Edwick’s movents should have been strictly controlled even after his discharge—

[If it’s , it’s nothing]

For so reason, it sounded as if he had rubbed his nose lightly.

“Don’t let your guard down and be careful. If the Mars Defense Force catches you, you won’t even be able to make excuses.”

[Dad will handle it sohow]

This was exactly why people born with golden spoons and powerful backers were troubleso.

As Ga-on shrugged, Dobby muttered quietly.

[The more I investigate, the more things don’t add up. He hasn’t even gotten a job and is living alone]

The retirent plans of officers who left the Mars Defense Force generally followed one of two paths.

Either they entered a PMC as an advisor, or they joined a defense contractor as a director.

However, Edwick belonged to neither. The reason was unknown. The only way was to et him and ask directly.

[Oh, and I think it’s going to rain soon]

Suddenly, a droplet from the sky struck the top of my head. Rain in winter was the worst—it was no different from being forced into a cold-water plunge.

“You call this ‘soon’?”

[Well, I don’t get wet. Seems like there was a minor margin of error. Sorry, sorry]

***

With my hood pulled over my head, I arrived, dodging the drizzle, at the outskirts of District 39. It was sowhere between a dumpster and a junkyard.

In other words, a leftover patch of land inevitably left behind during developnt—a place not ant for people to live.

However, it seed Edwick thought otherwise.

“To live like a holess man in a world without holess people……”

A crudely built shack thrown together without care.

Its height was so low that a grown man had to bend his back, and the roof, made of plastic slates, had no drainage holes, endlessly spilling out rainwater.

As a result, a small puddle had ford in front of the house.

When I pushed open the half-torn plank and stepped inside, static crackled in my ears.

Bzzzt.

Reflected in a blurry hologram were milky-white pupils.

An old man whose muscles, shrunken from age, clashed discordantly with the steel attachnts fitted during his pri.

Rather than a human fitted with machines, it gave the impression of a machine with a human attached.

“Brigadier General Edwick, right?”

“Ed… hyung?”

“Hey, don’t say scary things with that kind of face.”

Edwick’s irrelevant reply ca out hoarse. At a glance, he was clearly not in a normal state.

Sure enough, when I stepped closer and snapped my fingers, there was no response.

He held a liquor bottle in his hand, so I wondered if he was drunk—

“That doesn’t seem to be it.”

The evidence was that he hadn’t even finished half of it.

Suddenly, Edwick shot upright, eyes wide open, and looked around. Then he checked the liquor bottle in his hand and sat back down. In the process, he took a swig as a bonus.

mory and language impairnt. Decline in reasoning and judgnt.

From head to toe, they were symptoms of dentia. A disease rarely seen in this era.

“Where did he stash all the wealth he accumulated to end up living in a place like this?”

[Looks like his family transferred it all into their own nas. When I searched the surna Morales, it was full of traces of extravagance]

“So they drove out an elderly man who had beco a burden.”

That was when I noticed a notebook on the table he was using in place of an armrest. Along with the date, a brief summary of that day’s events was written inside.

Was it so kind of device to retrace his mories?

I reached out to it reflexively—

“You shouldn’t try to take sothing another person cherishes so carelessly.”

A heavy, low voice rang out.

“So your mind’s co back?”

“If you’re a thief, take what you will and leave—except for that. I wish to go quietly.”

His tone was steeped in remorse.

No matter how unsound his mind was, it seed Edwick understood that he had been abandoned.

I had no desire to tornt a washed-up old man indefinitely either.

Sitting across from him, I imdiately brought up the main point.

“I recently went to the Hyphen Colony.”

“…Hyphen Colony? I don’t know what you want to hear, but you should give up. There’s nothing you can hear from .”

“Even after discharge, are you still affiliated with the Mars Defense Force?”

“Don’t spout nonsense. Can’t you see? My head’s no different from a blank sheet of paper. What could you possibly ask of soone like ?”

“What about receiving treatnt at a hospital? If you want a Slot implanted, that’s fine too. If you can get into a state where you’re able to answer my questions, I can tolerate a certain amount of bleeding.”

“No need. That wouldn’t cure it.”

“Wouldn’t cure it? Don’t tell …….”

I had heard of it.

The tactics and technologies handled by the Mars Defense Force were all top-level classified secrets.

Any knowledge that could be abused was erased from mory before discharge.

The basic principle was no different from brainwashing.

However, it was accompanied by severe restraints to prevent regeneration. As a result, side effects followed—like the rejection reaction that occurred when implanting a Slot.

The symptoms Edwick was experiencing must have been an extension of that.

Either way, it was not a asure befitting soone of general rank.

There was such a thing as courtesy.

“A kite with its string cut. You must have really fallen out of favor.”

As if that phrase had triggered sothing, Edwick’s gaze changed.

“It couldn’t be helped. Do you think it makes sense? This is an era where human civilization advances into space. Androids sustain the economy, and though limited, faster-than-light navigation is possible! I had to step in and stop it myself—the monsters were running rampant!”

“Monsters?”

When I asked back, it was Edwick who looked startled.

“Monsters? What are you talking about?”

It seed I had stirred up a mory that had not been completely erased. Just in case, I repeated the sa process, but the answers that ca back varied each ti.

Still, it was not as if I gained nothing.

Each ti I tried to grab the notebook, Edwick’s mory returned to the past.

“You shouldn’t try to take sothing another person cherishes…….”

“Forget that. They say you were the one who ordered the launch of the tactical nuclear weapon when the Black Shower occurred. On whose orders did you act?”

“I received no such orders. During my military service, I never yielded to any external pressure.”

“Then you’re saying you massacred civilians of your own will?”

“I did?”

“Only one of the six deviated from its course, but you know as well as I do that the number being small doesn’t lessen the cri.”

“What are you talking about? At that ti, the Mars Defense Force prepared five tactical nuclear weapons.”

“Five?”

Just as I was about to feel relieved, thinking I had finally found the missing link, Edwick’s head exploded like a firework.

A sudden attack.

Just before the splattered blood could touch my cheek, I arched my back and rolled away, drawing Qiongqi.

“Who is it?”