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Chapter 30
Translator: Enuma ID
Park Ji-hun furrowed his brow.
The chat was scrolling fast enough that it was clearly losing its mind.
Normally everyone would still be buzzing about the spirit reading he'd just done, but not today.
Park Ji-hun skimmed the chat.
W̃ е̌ b nо̌ v̆е̄ l Ё n̄ůma
-Wattadak : huh? his name's on wiki's trending searches yikesyikesyikes
-Summoner : yo holy shit it really was do-yun?
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
-Soljji : yeah do-yun's blown up alright
-LegendDrum : wait isn't that the streamer who bailed on his spirit reading last time?
-Ertel : yep he was the only one who skipped his reading
-LittleRadol : heard he torched his crypto, borrowed money, then went ghost?
Eǹu m̄ȧ. і d
-MuteStream : his face did look like death on stream that day
-Ertel : everyone thought it was sketchy so they dug in and it all came spilling out
-Summoner : word is it wasn't just friends' money, he hit up viewers too
Park Ji-hun opened a browser window.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Do-yun's name was plastered all over the portal's front page.
[Popular Streamer Do-yun in Money Scandal Involving Acquaintances]
W е b̀n̈о v̊ ѐl Е n̂ ùmӑ
[1 Billion Won Borrowed in Total; Went Silent After Failed Crypto Bets]
[Signs He Borrowed from Viewers Too...... Vanished After Promising to Repay Soon]
Maybe bailing on his spirit reading during that special broadcast had been the trigger.
Someone who'd found that suspicious seemed to have started digging.
The chat was sweeping upward even faster now.
-Jingdduri : borrowing from viewers is straight up crossing the line
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
-Gonggiliz : acted totally normal on stream, this is bad
-Summoner : guess that's why he's had so many off-broadcast days lately
-Ertel : so he didn't dodge the reading, he couldn't face it
But Park Ji-hun closed the article as if it bored him and parted his lips.
"mkt1922, get in the Discord."
The chat settled down a little.
Е̊ n_ú m а
-MuteStream : let's just get back to the spirit reading
-Summoner : yeah this is the way
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-Gonggiliz : if i drop 500 now can i get a reservation?
-Ertel : gonggiliz go read the notice first lol
Park Ji-hun added coldly,
"mkt1922. Join within one minute or I'm cancelling your reservation."
W.е bn̆о v е̌ l̄ Е nǔ mã
***
It was a morning nearly two weeks after the spirit reading.
Kim Tae-jun arrived at the research lab early in the day.
The moment he opened the door and stepped in, the air felt different.
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The lights were blazing, and every single person looked like a wreck.
Bloodshot eyes, crumpled shirts, empty paper cups, energy drinks piled high.
Е̇nûm̊ а.i d
They were plainly the faces of people who'd pulled an all-nighter.
Deeper inside the research wing, Research Director Yun Jeong-ho was hunched over a monitor with several of his working staff.
Someone was hammering at a keyboard; someone else was checking a printout.
Almost no words were passing between them.
Kim Tae-jun took a few more steps inside, then stopped when he saw a researcher with hollow, sunken eyes.
"Have you all at least eaten while you've been working?"
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The researcher gave an awkward smile.
"We were going to eat once we wrapped this up."
Kim Tae-jun clicked his tongue.
"You'll collapse at this rate."
He pulled out his phone right away.
"Just tell me what you want. I'll order it now."
Е n̄u m а̄
One researcher answered, looking flustered.
"No, really, right now isn't......."
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"It's precisely now that you should eat more."
Kim Tae-jun said it bluntly.
"Skipping meals isn't going to make the results come any faster. Take care of your health first. Come on, out with it."
After a short silence, orders started popping up from all over.
Е́nu mа̂
Porridge, sandwiches, coffee, and the like.
On any other day there'd have been a bit of petty bickering over the menu, but today nobody even had the energy to argue.
Kim Tae-jun finished the order with practiced ease.
Not long after, the food arrived, and a few staff began clearing the table in the meeting room next door.
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The food that had come was carried over there as well.
"Eat first, all of you."
Е́ ń.ǔm̀ а
Kim Tae-jun pulled chopsticks from the bag and started setting them out on the table too.
That was when it happened.
The research wing had gone unusually quiet, and then, led by Research Director Yun Jeong-ho, the entire working staff was staring intently at the main monitor.
The clatter of the keyboard cut off abruptly.
Kim Tae-jun faltered, then took a step forward.
Standing at the meeting-room doorway, he asked a researcher nearby,
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"What's going on?"
"One moment. We're checking it now."
Meanwhile one staffer was re-running the figures, while another was cross-checking against the data beside it.
Those few seconds stretched out long.
"......We've got it."
The researcher's voice was visibly trembling.
W е́.b̊ n оvеl Ė n̄ú m̂ а̃
Kim Tae-jun's gaze went straight to Yun Jeong-ho.
Yun Jeong-ho spoke without taking his eyes off the screen.
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"It isn't on the diabetes side."
Kim Tae-jun's expression hardened.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Yun Jeong-ho drew a short breath.
Е́ńuṁ ã .ĩ d
"The sample we've got right now won't work as a diabetes treatment."
Just as Kim Tae-jun's face was about to darken, Yun Jeong-ho quickly went on.
"But we caught a clear response on the liver side instead."
"You mean......."
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"That same signal we picked up before showed up identically in the validation batch. It repeated in the same direction, and we've confirmed reproducibility."
One staffer clapped a hand over their mouth.
Ĕ n u m̃ а̃ .i d
Another sank down into a chair.
And then someone muttered in a shaking voice,
"......It actually worked."
That single line set off the tension they'd all been holding down, and it burst in an instant.
"It's a success."
"We caught it."
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"We did it."
Someone threw their arms around the person beside them; someone else laughed with their eyes brimming.
The people who'd held out all night started pulling each other into hugs.
At last one researcher tugged Kim Tae-jun into it.
Caught off guard, Kim Tae-jun ended up in the middle of them.
He gave a sheepish smile.
Е nũḿ а
But that awkwardness lasted only a moment; he too shared in the joy with the researchers.
After a moment, once the boiling excitement had eased a bit, Kim Tae-jun smiled and spoke.
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"Good."
The researchers' eyes turned to him.
"You've all worked so hard. For now, go home and get some real rest. And."
Kim Tae-jun paused, then added,
Ӗ nu m̆а̃
"Tomorrow evening I'll book a banquet hall at a hotel. Let's throw a celebration there."
After a short silence, laughter broke out here and there.
Kim Tae-jun snorted a laugh.
"Save the fancy stuff for tomorrow. For today, just clock out. Before you all keel over."
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***
The next evening.
E nu m̄а.ì d
The chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the hotel banquet hall was dazzlingly bright.
The ceiling lights glittered, and the long row of tables was covered, without a gap, in fine food and expensive liquor.
The pop of champagne corks rang out one after another from all around.
The clink of glasses, giddy laughter, and calls of congratulations all blended together.
The researchers' faces, too, were completely different from the day before.
Their eyes were still bloodshot, but their expressions, at least, were bright.
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Some kept raising their glasses; some told the story of yesterday's result over and over, more times than anyone could count.
Yun Jeong-ho gave an embarrassed smile at the glasses being passed to him one after another.
Fatigue still lingered heavily at the corners of his eyes behind his glasses, but the corners of his mouth stayed turned up the whole time.
"You've all worked so hard."
A few researchers gathered around Yun Jeong-ho.
Kim Tae-jun stood there beside him as well.
Ē n ům ǎ . i ď
Yun Jeong-ho glanced at Kim Tae-jun, then opened his mouth.
"Ah, there's another unsung hero here too. Our Chief, Kim Tae-jun. If he hadn't pushed for us from the middle of all this, we'd never have made it this far."
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At that, the researchers nodded.
"That's right. He kept fighting to make sure the research never got cut off."
"Thanks to him, we made it here. Thank you!"
Someone clapped.
Е́ ǹù ḿ а . їd
And as others followed, a brief round of applause carried on.
Kim Tae-jun smiled, embarrassed.
"Thank you, all of you."
Someone held out a champagne flute.
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"You should have a drink too, Chief."
Kim Tae-jun shook his head.
Еňuṁа́ . і_d_
"Sorry. I've quit drinking."
"Oh, come on, if you don't drink on a day like this, when will you ever?"
"Haha, I'll have one next time."
Kim Tae-jun gave a short laugh and pushed the glass away.
That was when it happened.
A murmur ran through the entrance of the banquet hall.
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People's eyes turned that way for a moment.
A man in a black suit was walking inside.
The instant Kim Tae-jun made out his face, his eyes went wide.
"......Tae-hun hyung-nim?"
It was his eldest brother.
In that moment Kim Tae-jun's feet carried him that way before he knew it.
Е́ n̂ u m̆ а̂
The closer he drew, the stranger he felt.
This was a man who, on a normal day, wouldn't so much as call.
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Good news or bad, word usually passed only through their uncle.
He was the last person who'd come to offer congratulations in person.
Two researchers nearby whispered quietly.
"Must be the Chief's family. I think he called him hyung-nim......."
Ē nũm ӑ
"Seems so. But the two of them don't really... look alike, do they?"
Kim Tae-jun came to a stop in front of his eldest brother.
Tae-jun's eldest brother, Kim Tae-hun, gave a brief greeting to the people around them, then looked at Kim Tae-jun and said,
"Congratulations."
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It was a flat, level voice.
Kim Tae-jun hesitated slightly and asked back,
Е̊ num̆ӑ
"How did you even get here, hyung-nim......."
"Uncle told me. Said it was good news, and it didn't sit right to just let it pass."
It was a short answer.
And yet that short answer felt strangely unfamiliar.
There'd been a time when Kim Tae-hun was the person Kim Tae-jun liked most in the world.
With such a big age gap between them, as a child he'd wanted to copy his brother in everything, and a single word from him was enough to leave Tae-jun foolishly thrilled.
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But at some point his brother had turned cold.
More and more, he relayed things through their uncle instead of saying them directly, and each time, Tae-jun was nudged a little further back.
And now that brother was standing right in front of him.
In front of everyone, he was looking at Tae-jun's achievement and offering his congratulations in person.
Kim Tae-hun gave Kim Tae-jun's shoulder a light pat.
"Good work. You really pulled it off."
W̄ е̊ b̂ n_ovеl È n ũḿ а̄
At that brief touch, for a moment Kim Tae-jun couldn't get a word out.
It was unfamiliar.
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And yet, just for this moment, it felt as if the eldest brother of his childhood had come back for a little while.
"This is a first."
Kim Tae-jun managed a smile as he said it.
"You, congratulating me like this, hyung-nim."
Ẃ_е̄b̀n öv el̆ Еnu ṁa
Kim Tae-hun smiled faintly.
"Maknae. Because in the end, you did it."
Hearing that, Kim Tae-jun lowered his eyes for a moment.
At the word "maknae", which he hadn't heard in so long, he was suddenly at a loss for words.
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Just then Kim Tae-hun took a glass from a passing server.
And without ceremony, he held it out to Kim Tae-jun.
Е̌ ṅ ùm а
"Here, have a drink."
Kim Tae-jun hesitated, then waved a hand.
"Ah, I'm fine."
"Why?"
"I quit drinking recently."
Kim Tae-hun didn't pull the glass back.
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"When else am I going to share a drink with you, if not now? If I made you feel slighted, I'm sorry. Work got busy, that's all it was. Try to understand."
Kim Tae-jun bit his lip.
It was a simple thing to refuse.
On any other day, that's exactly what he'd have done.
But today was different.
It was right after their success.
Е nûm а
On top of that, his eldest brother had come to congratulate him in person for the first time.
He'd even apologized, saying it was only because work had gotten busy.
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Just for today...... maybe it would be all right.
After a brief hesitation, Kim Tae-jun nodded.
"All right. Just one, then."
The instant he reached out his hand.
Е̃ n̂ um̆а̄
The words Park Ji-hun had said came surging up in his mind out of nowhere.
「It was right after good news.」
「It was a celebration, and everyone was riding high.」
「The trouble came after. There was drinking in the mix, and it ended in an accident.」
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A chill ran down his back in an instant.
Kim Tae-jun's fingertips went stiff.
Ẁ e b́ n̊ о̌ ṽѐl Е́ n̂ um̄ a
"Tae-jun, my arm's about to fall off here."
Kim Tae-jun belatedly blinked.
The lights of the banquet hall came back into focus, sharp again.
In front of him, his eldest brother's glass was still held out toward him.
Without realizing it, Kim Tae-jun swallowed.
'No way.......'
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His lips trembled.
'That... now?'
*****
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