After reporting the elimination of Yang Jin-Mu, Alice was immediately promoted to the rank of Grade 3 National Contributor.
Now, it was time to leave.
"...Doctor, thank you for everything."
"Whatever."
Yang Su-Hyeon replied indifferently as she severed Alice's arm and reattached it.
She was trying to uncover the mechanism behind Alice's abnormal recovery ability.
"By the way, did you and that bastard Yu-Han talk things out?" Alice asked. "Did you two reconcile?"
"Reconcile, my ass. I'm just sick and tired of trying to kill the bastard."
"So you did reconcile!"
"...You really don't listen to people, do you?"
After chatting idly with Yang Su-Hyeon throughout the maintenance, Alice headed for the Cheong-Am Center.
She wanted to say goodbye to Yi Rang and Kim Ga-Eun as well.
"Take care, both of you," Alice said.
"Alice C... You've worked hard all this time," Kim Ga-Eun replied.
"Ugh, Alice. If ya leave too, I'll be the only normal person left..." Yi Rang lamented.
Just as they were exchanging their farewells, the door opened and that bastard appeared.
"Let's go," Yu-Han said curtly.
After that brief remark, Yu-Han left for New Seoul with Alice.
To conceal her identity, Yu-Han advised her to at least wear a hat, a mask, and sunglasses.
Aside from that, he was unusually quiet today.
The two remained trapped in an awkward silence until they reached the security gate at the entrance to the Cheong-Wa Tower.
"So this miserable relationship of ours is finally over," Alice remarked.
"..."
"Don't you have anything you want to say?" she pressed.
Yu-Han remained silent for a while before finally forcing out an answer.
"Good riddance," he muttered. "Stay holed up in that tower forever, if you can. Just keep out of my sight."
"I'm an idiot for expecting you to say something nice."
But when Alice looked at Yu-Han's face, she found him wearing an unfamiliar expression.
There was no trace of pretense in it.
Only a lonely-looking boy stood before her.
Alice was deeply unsettled.
'...Get a grip. That murderer is all he is!'
A murderer could not possibly wear such a face.
It had to be another of his revolting little performances—the kind he had always put on.
Alice clung to that certainty and forced the thought into place.
Even so, part of her still wanted to learn more about Yu-Han...
But that would no longer mean anything.
When Alice approached the entrance to the Cheong-Wa Tower, a security guard questioned her.
"State your business."
"Report to your superiors," Alice instructed him. "Tell them the real 'Seong Yu-Hwa' has returned."
"What is that supposed to mean...?"
"If you don't believe me, I'll tell you things that only someone from inside the Cheong-Wa Tower could know!"
Alice explained the layout of the room where she had once lived, the personal details of the Royal Guard Captain who had protected her, and private information concerning President Seong Dong-Hyeon.
"H-How is this possible?" one of the guards stammered. "We need to report this to the higher-ups..."
"Who are we supposed to report it to?" another guard asked. "The President? Or the Captain?"
While the security guards discussed the matter in earnest, a mass of light suddenly descended in front of them.
It then assumed a human form.
[What are you hesitating over?
When the person you need to report to is standing right before you.]
"You...!" Alice gasped.
Long black hair and eyes glowing with bluish light.
It was the exact appearance of 'Seong Yu-Hwa' that had been stolen from Alice.
"Who are you?! You fake!" Alice shouted.
[I would rather ask you the same thing...
From the perspective of a third party, which one do you think looks like the fake?
The human, or the robot?]
"Well... obviously, the robot..." Alice admitted.
[At least you understand that much.
Then would you mind disappearing?]
"Wait!!" Alice cried. "Let me see Father! Or at least my sister!"
[You possess no such authority.
Only Grade 1 Contributors are permitted to enter the Cheong-Wa Tower.
As long as you follow the rules, I will not stop you, whether you are a robot or anything else.
Alice C.]
"...!"
The figure made of light vanished.
In the end, Alice returned to Yu-Han with a hollow expression.
Yu-Han, who had been watching from a short distance away, also wore a complicated expression.
"...Let's go back and think this through for now," he suggested.
The journey back with Yu-Han was far more awkward than the trip there.
The two sat beside the Han River in New Seoul and stared at the water for a while.
"So... what do you think that Seong Yu-Hwa was, then?" Alice eventually asked.
"...She was probably the real one," Alice answered her own question bitterly. "No matter how you look at it, I'm the fake! I'm a robot!"
Seeing how devastated Alice appeared, Yu-Han attempted to console her.
"But living in a robot body might actually be pretty good, you know?" he ventured.
"You have eternal youth and immortality, you don't seem to feel pain, and you can still eat, sleep, and do everything else.
You even feel emotions—way too strongly, if anything.
Isn't that body actually better than a human one!?"
"That's what you call consolation...?" Alice grumbled. "Still, now that you mention it, it does sound kind of convincing."
Alice found herself strangely persuaded by Yu-Han.
Did she really need to recover her original body?
Even if she returned to it, all that awaited her was a lifetime trapped inside that boring tower, doing tedious work.
"That's right!" Alice exclaimed. "Then I don't have to fight so hard to raise my Contributor grade!
I can take things easy, enjoy my work, and live however I—"
"Unfortunately, that will not be possible."
The final statement had come from neither Yu-Han nor Alice.
A man with long black hair and a thick, unkempt beard stood before them.
His mere presence exerted an inexplicable pressure.
Startled, Alice questioned him.
"W-Who are you?"
"...My name is Lee Nam-Yong," the stranger replied.
Alice searched her database for the name Lee Nam-Yong.
The leader of Thanatics, the man who had resurrected Yang Jin-Mu...!
Alice drew her beam sword in one fluid motion and slashed at Lee Nam-Yong.
"So weak, yet violence is your first resort," Lee Nam-Yong observed. "What a spectacle."
Lee Nam-Yong had caught the blade of Alice's beam sword in his bare hand.
For the third time that day, Alice was left dumbfounded.
"What does a terrorist want with us!?" Alice demanded.
"Allow me to correct you. Being a terrorist is not my true nature," Lee Nam-Yong responded.
"And as for my business here...
I came to express my gratitude."
In an instant, Lee Nam-Yong seized Alice and slammed her down beside Yu-Han, leaving her seated on the ground.
"Yang Jin-Mu," he continued.
"Thank you, truly, for freeing that pitiful soul from his resentment and lingering attachments..."
Alice stared at Lee Nam-Yong in utter bewilderment.
Anyone would have reacted the same way if the leader of a terrorist organization suddenly appeared to thank them for killing one of his comrades.
"But we ruined your plans!" Alice protested.
"You said you were going to exterminate the Koreans!"
"Ruined them?" Lee Nam-Yong echoed.
"I am already more than capable of exterminating the Koreans on my own.
This has affected nothing."
"Th-Then why haven't you finished your plan already?!" Alice shot back.
"The extermination of the Koreans is already as good as certain," Lee Nam-Yong replied calmly.
"Why should I be in such a hurry?"
"Uh..."
Alice was rendered speechless by the sheer confidence of his response.
Lee Nam-Yong smiled down at her as though she were an ant and continued speaking.
"I did not come merely to express my gratitude.
Gratitude is only sincere when accompanied by repayment...
A gift will arrive soon.
Look forward to it."
The moment he finished speaking, Lee Nam-Yong vanished from before their eyes as though he had been cut out of the scene in post-production.
Alice turned on Yu-Han reproachfully.
"Why were you just sitting there?"
"I only fight battles I can win," Yu-Han answered.
"You felt it too, didn't you?
He's not someone we can kill without making preparations."
---
"And with that, I hereby declare the beginning of the 'Awkward Party That Was Supposed to Be a Farewell Party Until the Farewell Got Canceled'!" Yu-Han announced.
At Inferno Pizzeria in Old Seoul, his declaration was accompanied by a feast of Italian dishes spread across the table.
Alice wanted to complain about the party's name, but she no longer had the energy.
"Alice, you met the leader of Thanatics!?" Antonio exclaimed. "Could you arrange for me to meet him too?"
"Antonio C? What are you talking about...?" Alice asked.
"Those damned Korean bastards have been putting kimchi on pizza all over social media lately!" Antonio raged.
"It makes me want to exterminate the Koreans too!"
"You're joking, right?"
Antonio grumbled a stream of Italian curses.
Yi Rang and Kim Ga-Eun were completely preoccupied with eating.
Meanwhile, Yu-Han was picking the strawberries out of his dessert because he did not want to eat them.
Watching them, Alice felt that perhaps this kind of life was not so bad after all.
She had just resolved to live a quiet, modest life away from public attention once the problems involving Kim Je-Hyeon and Thanatics had been dealt with.
[...Greetings.
I am Lee Nam-Yong, leader of Thanatics.]
A familiar voice emerged from the hologram screen playing inside the restaurant.
[Our precious comrade Yang Jin-Mu has fallen while carrying out his noble duty.
And we will never forgive the forces responsible for killing our comrade.
The Cheong-Am Euthanasia Center!
Its members shall be the first to meet their deaths!]
Alice, who had been slurping up a strand of pasta, spoke with a bitter look in her eyes.
"Oh, wonderful.
My dream of living a quiet life has already been smashed to pieces."
---
Meanwhile, Assemblyman Kim Je-Hyeon was also watching the declaration of war from his office.
"Lee Nam-Yong! What the hell are you doing?!" Kim Je-Hyeon roared.
Lee Nam-Yong's declaration of war would have instantly given the Cheong-Am Euthanasia Center the image of a righteous band of heroes.
And what did that make Kim Je-Hyeon, the man who had placed a bounty on them?
Politically, the entire situation had just become very strange.
"Yeah, it's me," Kim Je-Hyeon said into his phone.
"First, cancel the bounty on the Cheong-Am Center.
We'll have to proceed carefully and discreetly from now on."
Kim Je-Hyeon made the call and altered his plans.
"And make sure Lee Nam-Yong and those uncontrollable underlings of his are dealt with as soon as possible."