Chapter 76 (1/2)

Chapter 76: Chapter 7 Excommunication-11

The three men, sensing her angry tone, benignly listened to her. Twins sat in the armchair, and the other two sat on each of the long sofas. Heart patted the seat next to him as he sat comfortably as if it was his house. Mad Hatter was smiling at her with his head tilted to one side. SoYoon went back and forth, looking between the two, then sat in the armchair opposite Twins.

”Why did you come here?” she asked.

”To come to get you,” Heart said.

”Because I missed you,” Mad Hatter said.

As much as they knew her, she knew that much about them. She may have been able to believe Mad Hatter, but Heart's words probably meant more than what he actually said.

If she had stayed even a day after the one week, then it might have been the truth, but given that this was not the case, there was something else that triggered him to come here. Heart pretended to be busy with something else then said one sentence.

”The people from the research facility came by.”

SoYoon felt the world around her go black. On the outside, she wore an emotionless expression and crossed her arms tightly. Heart and Mad Hatter signaled to each other and went outside. Seeing that she was lost in thought, Twins also followed them. The two men looked at Twins with unwelcoming eyes.

”What?”

”Nothing. I was just thinking how nice it would be to be oblivious to everything.”

”That reckless and stupid...oh, excuse me. I didn't realize I was repeating out loud my thoughts. Anyways, I'll applaud you on your courage.”

Mad Hatter's words were full of thorns as Twins had previously interrupted his confession.

If it had been Dee in front of him, then he would have blatantly gotten mad, but it was Dum. Having realized that they had barged into the house, he had swapped places with Dee in time. He smiled. Now he realized why she had such a weird reaction to his confession.

”Why? Do you think it's unfair? Are you afraid I'll take her away from you?”Heart asked.

”Arguing against you is not even worth my time.”

”You must be kidding me. Do you think that just because you blabbed a few words that my Whitey will budge one inch? Besides, that is not the important thing right now.”

The research facility's position was firm. If they had mentioned the upper echelons and the government, then they were set on finding any way to take her in.

”I've made it look like the ones who came today got lost and met an unfortunate fate in the slums, but there's no guarantee that they will alert me the second time around.”

”She is already prepared for the possibility of being captured and taken back to the research facility.”

”That's very unlike her.”

”Knowing her enemy, she said that she wanted to prepare for what she could because they will be unpredictable.”

”But why are those people after her?”

Twins, who had been listening to them, interrupted. From what Twins knew, it had been four years since SoYoon had escaped from the research facility. They couldn't understand why, after being quiet for that long, they had suddenly come barging in to find her.

Heart glanced over at Mad Hatter as he explained to Twins about the patch and brand. If Mad Hatter had found out that they were after the ability to block the brand's signal, then he knew for certain that Mad Hatter would create havoc in his own way.

And if Mad Hatter ended up in danger, SoYoon would not just stand around watching. She would barge into the place to save him. Heart, not wanting ever to see that again, kept his mouth shut.

Then, both Heart and Mad Hatter's smartphones alerted them to incoming messages. They checked them simultaneously and hurried inside the house. The house was empty.

/[I received a work request, so I'm leaving.]/

And so, the two men who had come to pick her up and the one man who couldn't persuade her to stay lost her right under their noses.

***

Alice saw an unbelievable sight when she went to Central. Next to March and Dor, whom she had not seen for a long time, was another girl. She was a pretty girl with short black hair. In the story ”Wonderland,” there was no such character like her around March.

Feeling threatened and an instinctive dread, she quietly followed them. They all went into March's house. A few moments later, when March came outside, Alice headed to the front door.

”Whatever happens, you cannot come inside,” she told Jeremy as she knocked on the door. Dor answered, and finding Alice there, her smile changed to a pout.

”It's been a while, Dor. May I go inside?”

When Alice had come inside, Li was doing the dishes. She was stepping out into the living room, wiping her wet hands on her apron, when she saw an extremely familiar face—a face that was now her nightmare.

The first thing Li did was look for Dor. She was not far away from where Alice was standing. Li grabbed Dor's arm and pulled her away.

”Huh? What's wrong, Li?”

”Whatever you do, don't come out.”

”Li?”