Han Sooyoung couldn't remember how many traffic accidents she almost caused before arriving at the park's gate. When she jumped out of the car, her heart was still pounding. The Garden already had the park surrounded and navigated all the traffic around to other directions. A few scattered groups of confused people were being led out by park staff. Inside the park, a girl's well-pronounced voice was being broadcast on the speakers:

"Due to technical difficulty, the park will close in 10 minutes, please follow guidance to the nearest exit. I repeat, due to technical difficulty, the park will close in 10 minutes, please follow guidance to the nearest exit, thank you."

Lee Sookyung - codename Langley, regained her usual composure very fast. From the beginning, she only brought the minimal manpower, and all of them were behind her, waiting for her signal. Hiding her fluctuated emotion under the western hat, she lower her gun, however her offensive stance didn't change:

"I'm here to pick you up and take you back to MBCC headquarters. If you have any unfinished business, it's best to end it now."

Kim Dokja calmly stood up on his feet, as if the person who just curled up and clutched his head in pain just now wasn't him:

"I understand, so please withdraw your men, no need to make too much of the ruckus over a mere chief like me."

His arm were grabbed by the man in black next to him, the warmth from that hand steadied his shaken hand a little. With such a close distance, he knew for sure that his fake calmness would be impossible to hide from Yoo Joonghyuk, but this place had more than just their eyes, so Kim Dokja did not dare to take the risk. He loosened that large hand gently but firmly.

As his finger brushed Yoo Joonghyuk's hand, he could feel Kim Dokja faintly draw a pattern on his palm. His pupils were slightly constricted, he tapped his finger slightly together, sending a signal to Han Sooyoung who had been watching their movement closely.

'Do not move.'

Even though her status in The Garden seemed equal to him, there was still only one Mentor.

As Langley's car moved out effortlessly, Han Sooyoung couldn't hide her anger as she stomped toward Yoo Joonghyuk. Her gaze was saying that she wanted to grab his collar and slammed his head on the ground, but Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't care less, he walked past her:

"Let's return. We will have an emergency meeting."

Fifteen minutes later, Han Sooyoung sat across from Yoo Joonghyuk in the room on the 3nd floor. All the other members, including Yoo Mia, were sent to the 1st floor, waiting for their decision. Usually, every time he saw his sister trying to participate in an activity at The Garden, Yoo Joonghyuk immediately excluded her and took her home. But this time, he only had time to look at her with disapproving eyes, then immediately turned around and started rummaging through his spare coat on the rack. This was something that has never happened before, to the point that even Yoo Mia felt uneasy. She had a feeling that the current situation was more serious than just 'ugly ahjussi getting taken away again'.

Meanwhile, Han Sooyoung had calmed down:

"So, why did you let him go?"

"He remembered who Langley is. I don't know how much more he remembered."

Han Sooyoung's brow immediately knitted together. If Kim Dokja's memory has started to return, his 'expiry date' to Paradeiso will come to an end soon.

"We don't have much time anymore— Are you listening?"

Yoo Joonghyuk had been absentmindedly paying attention to his phone. A tiny piece of paper, which he found in his coat's pocket just a while back, was held closely in his hand. Only his answer remained on point:

"Time for phase 2. Kim Dokja's memory recovery process is happening earlier than usual, I think this is closely related to the appearance of 'Parma' when BR-004 exploded last time, let's start from there—"

A message floated up on his phone screen, trailing him off immediately. The text was very short and seemed out of place, but it was enough to make Yoo Joonghyuk breathe out a sigh of relief:

[Will text more after I get back to MBCC.]

Han Sooyoung brought her face closer, but before she could read the phone number at the top, Yoo Joonghyuk put the phone away. Still, the content of the message was too clear. It wasn't difficult for her to realize who sent this message.

"Was that from Kim Dokja? Give me his number."

"You have The Garden's other agents, I will keep this."

"You—"

A vein popped out on her forehead. And as one of their safe houses, this whole construction was built to endure battle between magic users. And since there was no other here, she couldn't care less about her image anymore. Several of her clones surrounded Yoo Joonghyuk. Han Sooyoung's cat eyes gleamed:

"Then it's time to let you taste how much my clones have improved!"

*****

On the helicopter, Kim Dokja put his phone away as Langley shielded him from the surveillance camera. Even though all the people she brought together were all her trusted confidants, the same couldn't be said to those behind the cameras. Luckily, those cameras couldn't record their voice, so a single wide brimmed hat was enough for her. As she use her sitting position to block the camera's view on Kim Dokja, she leisurely opened her mouth:

"Have you done texting him?"

"...Did you know him? You seem to particularly dislike him."

Langley, or Lee Sookyung touched her cheek with her fingers, unreadable emotion flickering in her eyes. Her lips curved up, yet her whole face's muscle stood still, as if someone just plastered a smiling sticker under her nose:

"Hm, I wonder?"

So this is how her real smile is.

Kim Dokja always thought her usual confident smile was somewhat strange, but to think her true smile was even more unsettling. The gentle smile in his memory felt like a distant dream. He held his breath unconsciously:

"Why didn't you tell me?"

About our relationship.

"...You should have had a lot of chances."

I wouldn't have been so lost.

As if sensing his emotion, Lee Soojyung lowered her gaze, the hat casted a large shadow on half of her face:

"In the previous cycle, the more your memory returned, the more unstable your emotion became. It will attract Paradeisos attention and make them take you back. My original intention was to wait until we got closer. Also, I don't know how much control they got on you. But now I know my worries were for nothing."

Not really, Kim Dokja's brow furrowed.

If he didn't learn the whole story from Yoo Joonghyuk and others before, he might really get confused and make irreversible mistakes. Misunderstanding that Kim Dokja's discomfort was because she uttered the name Paradeiso too easily, Lee Soojyung explained:

"I know you have learned about them. Do not worry, none of our conversions here will ever leave this sky."

He sighed, and change the topic:

"What was my life like?

"He didn't tell you?"

"He did, I just wanted to hear from you."

Ah, so you haven't believed him completely.

Kim Dokja could read that from her smile, which made him a bit unsettled. It wasn't that he didn't trust Yoo Joonghyuk - his emotion was too real to be an act, but that didn't mean his version was complete either. Only after hearing as many every version as possible that Kim Dokja could deduce the whole situation. It was the basics of investigating.

Might be due to their limited time, Lee Sookyung didn't ponder for long, her expression softened as she recalled the old days:

"You were a shy child, always hiding in our reading room whenever we had guests, unless it was your godparents. Our houses were close to each other, so aside from reading books, playing with them was what you were looking forward to the most. Your memories were exceptional in remembering the 'stories', no matter how simple or boring they were."

Another smile flashed over her face, but this one was different.

It was the most human expression he had ever seen at her. The gentleness in those curved lips was like a crack, revealing a bit of humanity inside that neat form. However, that expression didn't last long, dark clouds hanging over her head, a silent regret surged as she went on.

"On your 5th birthday, Paradeiso kidnapped you when you were on your way from school. Your school was very close, so I didn't think of picking you up that day. Your godparents and I tried many methods, but they never let us see you. Until 10 years ago, you finally returned to Korea and entered Seol. Accidentally, I was also there to visit a friend."

Then the Dome broke out.

Kim Dokja silently added.

"The rest, you can believe that... Yoo Joonghyuk's version. At least in this aspect, he is a trustworthy kid."

The hatred that Kim Dokja felt from Lee Soojyung when she uttered that name was still there, but at the same time, her recognition was also visible. The complication in this made Kim Dokja puzzled, he felt like he had overlooked something very important. But before he had the chance to voice out his question, their helicopter landed on the helipad, announcing the end of their private time. As the door opened, Lee Sookyung finished:

"Act like you haven't recalled anything. Do not trust anyone."

Yoo Sang-ah rushed toward him as he jumped off the helicopter, followed by the small figures of Hecate and Hela. Kim Dokja immediately steadied himself, getting ready before the kids hit him with the force of a truck. Luckily, he didn't see stars this time.

Next, he was immediately dragged toward the medical room. Usually, his medical checks were done by Dr. Iron and her trustworthy nurse - Anne, but this time, none of them were here. Instead, there were doctors that he had never met before. Considering how much of a frequent guest he was with the medical department, they definitely weren't here 2 days ago. It didn't take him long to guess the identity of those unfamiliar faces.

Paradeiso.

Well, whatever.

It would be even more suspicious if Paradeiso didn't do anything. Still, to send their people over instead of using their eyes and ears in the MBCC, did they suspect something? Kim Dokja had never revealed to anyone that he had learned about Paradeiso, in fact, he only knew about them roughly a week ago. Whatever reason they were here for, he didn't feel like it was because of this.

As Kim Dokja stayed with the doctors for his checkup, Yoo Sang-ah left the children to guard the perimeter of the medical room. After making arrangements, she left the room and returned to her usual work. Suddenly, her phone vibrated.

There was no name, just a line of numbers on a blue background, yet just the sight of it made her tremble. Unconsciously swallowed nervously, she pressed 'receiving'.

"How is the situation?"

"Your people are checking him, why don't you wait for their result?"

"That child has always been unpredictable, I doubt those incompetent can peek through his defensive line."

Then why bother sending them? Yoo Sang-ah wanted to curse at the person over the phone, but she held back, leaving off the heavy cloud of killing intent hanging over her head. She mechanical open her mouth, recited prepared words:

"He is very stable, no different from before, at least, I didn't sense any abnormal fluctuation of emotion in him. Whatever the cause of the incident you're alerted of, it wasn't from his mental side."

"Hm..."

The person over the line pondered for a while that felt like forever, then finally open their mouth again:

"Keep watching him, we will contact you again soon."

Better not. Yet the words flowed out of her lips were different, as much soulless and dutiful as they could be:

"Yes, sir."

And the phone was crushed.