Dirty Sweet Baby Chapter 107

Cha Moogyul smiled.

“First, it is outside my jurisdiction.”

General Choi also laughed good-naturedly and replied.

“Of course, I’m not asking for a favor empty-handed.”

“It’s not possible. I will not be going to the front lines anymore.”

“Don’t be so resolute. You should at least hear out my offer of goodwill, shouldn’t you?”

“I went out for you once. You should handle the cleanup yourself.”

Although smiles were blooming, it was clear that neither side was backing down an inch. At that moment, General Choi changed his target and turned to Heeheon.

“First Lieutenant Baek Heeheon.”

“…Yes, Commander.”

“Have you ever heard of imprinting?”

Imprinting…?

As the arrow turned to Heeheon, the atmosphere rapidly cooled. Cha Moogyul’s smile turned into a dangerous kind, and he showed a threatening attitude that went beyond mere caution.

“Commander. Please be careful with your words.”

Cha Moogyul took a step forward, blocking Heeheon. General Choi burst into a hearty laugh and waved his hand.

“My good man. It’s not a statement, but a proposal. Isn’t this the information you’ve been looking for all this time? I hear you were introduced to a few research directors with access rights through Brigadier General Kang Joongmo and others. It probably didn’t work out as you hoped.”

“Even so, it’s only a matter of time.”

“Indeed, once the 2nd Branch is established, what couldn’t you do with your authority? But not yet.”

“…”

“What do you think, First Lieutenant Baek? Isn’t an old man’s proposal worth listening to?”

General Choi closed the distance and approached Heeheon. Although Cha Moogyul was in front, he deliberately made eye contact with Heeheon and extended his hand.

Heeheon calmly looked down at the hand extended to him. Then, with a sidelong glance, he carefully looked back at Cha Moogyul’s face. His black eyes were sharpened to a fine blue edge. On the surface, he appeared unchanged and impassive, but Heeheon alone could discern the subtle difference. And seeing that expression, it seemed that what General Choi said was not wrong.

“Yes, Commander. I will listen carefully to your words.”

Heeheon bowed his head respectfully, and General Choi withdrew his extended hand and began his explanation.

“Imprinting. It is a phenomenon where the two unique waves emitted by a specific Esper’s core and a specific guide’s core are synchronized to form a complete bond.”

A complete bond between an Esper’s core and a guide’s core…?

It was a more surprising story than he had imagined. As such, he couldn’t help but focus on the content he was hearing.

“This is classified as top-secret, so it’s information that is inaccessible to anyone other than the head researchers of the R&D Department or a few authorized general-grade officers. Execution is even more impossible.”

As it was classified as top-secret, it was information that Baek Heeheon, who was nothing more than a late-manifested guide, did not know. Cha Moogyul, too, seemed not to know the key details, as he was listening with a deep frown.

“If imprinting is successful and a pair of cores are bonded, a guiding of the highest efficiency can always be established between the two. However, the two must become a community of fate to that extent.”

“If it’s always at the highest efficiency, does that mean that factors like the difference in rank also become meaningless?”

“That’s right. Because the cores of the two become one.”

“Then, what you mean by a community of fate is…”

“Just as there are gains, there are losses. I’ll make this clear in advance, but imprinting is a double-edged sword that should never be approved.”

As if a stone had been thrown into a calm pond, a gentle ripple of agitation appeared in Heeheon’s composed eyes. The bonding of cores. Unification. And a community of fate. Heeheon had realized the hidden meaning contained in General Choi’s words.

“Don’t tell me. Does it mean they share even death?”

For an awakened, the core was their life. If the core sustained fatal damage, such as being shattered or crushed, it could not be healed even with a healing factor. When the core is annihilated, the awakened meets their death.

Therefore, the meaning of a specific Esper’s and guide’s unique cores bonding to the point of overcoming even rank differences meant that if one of their cores was damaged, the other would be damaged as well.

General Choi nodded gravely. The affirmation he expressed was by no means light.

“If the core of one of an imprinted pair is annihilated, the other will also be annihilated and meet their death within a few days.”

“…”

“As of now, there is no way to avoid this. That is why the ranks of the awakened have become an absolute distinction that cannot be mixed.”

“An absolute distinction…”

“Matching according to rank. That is the minimum measure to protect the cores of the awakened. The same goes for you two. First Lieutenant Baek. I heard your core has been under considerable strain.”

Is that so. That explained it. General Choi had grasped and foreseen everything about Cha Moogyul and Baek Heeheon before he spoke.

“I received the report of your hospital examination results. If left as it is, your lifespan could be shortened. Nevertheless, to decide to maintain your dedicated partnership until now, there must have been a considerable amount of determination behind it.”

He had looked beyond the mere power struggle due to the new project, to the other side of their relationship.

The fact that Cha Moogyul had been looking for someone with access rights to top-secret information. The fact that Baek Heeheon had been hospitalized but had not requested the termination of his dedicated guide status. And one more thing.

“Unless one is a complete fool, it’s obvious that the two of you are so fond of each other as to boldly release the military-secret footage of mucous membrane contact guiding to the public.”

…Right. That footage that was released to the whole world.

The guiding that was no different from a deep kiss. The general public, who didn’t even know what mucous membrane contact guiding was, wouldn’t have suspected anything, but to the eyes of those who knew how guiding was actually done, it might have felt strange.

That it was a contact imbued with feelings for each other, beyond a simple act of guiding.

“I will approve the imprinting of Brigadier General Cha Moogyul and First Lieutenant Baek Heeheon under my authority. In return, please take care of α—stealth.”

Thud. The front door closed with a heavy sound.

As soon as he entered the silent house, Cha Moogyul threw off the formal cap he was wearing and unbuttoned the choking uniform collar. Just as blood runs cold and the mind becomes calm when one is excessively angry, he was expressing a cold fury with unwavering eyes.

“He got us there.”

Cha Moogyul let out a cold laugh and muttered cynically. Heeheon, who followed him into the entrance, took off his military boots and let out a deep sigh.

“It seems the Commander thoroughly investigated us before calling for the interview. There wasn’t anything he didn’t know.”

“Right. The reason he scheduled the interview late was probably to buy time for the investigation. A backroom old man, my ass…”

Although he was a Central Military Commander who wouldn’t cause trouble as he was about to retire, General Choi was in fact a powerful figure who knew the Center like the back of his hand and even delved into its finest veins.

Striding through the corridor and into the living room, Cha Moogyul turned a corner and entered the kitchen. He took out a bottle of water from the refrigerator, opened it, and took a gulp straight from the bottle.

Heeheon was also thirsty and needed a drink. When he reached out to Cha Moogyul, he handed the water bottle to Heeheon.

“To think there was something like imprinting. Did you know about it?”

“I was looking into it.”

“Then you should have at least told me.”

“I didn’t have any definite information either, and there was a high possibility it was just an unsubstantiated rumor. With all sorts of baseless rumors circulating about the cores of the awakened or creatures, it’s hard to believe without a reliable source.”

“I guess that’s true…”

Heeheon took the water bottle and drank, letting out a dry laugh. No matter how late he had manifested as a guide, he had still spent five years at the Center, yet he had never heard of the military secret of imprinting and didn’t even know of its existence.

It seemed that when it came to top-secret information, even fellow awakened were completely cut off from it. And there were probably more than just one or two powers or pieces of information that the top brass controlled and monopolized. He was certain that it was beyond imagination.

Imprinting was just the tip of the iceberg; the top brass of the Center must be full of secrets that not even awakened, let alone civilians, could access.

To take an immediate example, that α-creature was one.

To think that a dangerous, undetectable monster was still hiding near a general residential district. And that fact was not known anywhere. Since the goal was to capture it alive, even if they sent special operations unit members to track its movements, they would only be able to watch and not eliminate it.

In any case, it was certain that the current situation was an unprecedented disaster. If they didn’t capture the α-creature that was disrupting the central system, no one could guarantee what additional damage would occur. To prevent this, there was not a moment to be delayed.

Could a situation get any more twisted than this? It was as if their feet were tied up in a tangled vine, and they were slowly being sucked into a swamp.

Placing the water bottle on the marble countertop, Heeheon cautiously parted his lips.

“If.”

If. We were to imprint.

Leaving aside the new project, the establishment of the Center’s 2nd Branch, the power struggle, political strife, and the calculations of high-ranking officials, just, if Cha Moogyul and Baek Heeheon were to imprint…