Karen lay there. To be precise, he was struggling to remain lying down.

  The pain radiating from his back would not leave him be. It wasn't the simple sting of a burn. It was a sensation as if something was writhing beneath his skin, scraping him from the inside out. He gritted his teeth. He took a deep breath, then exhaled shallowly. Even that simple process grated on his nerves.

  Though they had set their escape route toward the border, his condition had plummeted the following day. Nausea and dehydration made even walking a monumental task. Tirn had hurriedly moved him to a safe house near Mahaten.

  Karen was furious. And it wasn't just because of the pain.

  "What on earth... did you do to me, Major Tirn?"

  He squeezed out the words with what little strength he had. His voice was raspy and cracked. It was his back that had been ruined by the burns, but the fury was consuming his entire body. Tirn stood in a corner of the room. She did not answer. That silence made Karen’s nerves even sharper.

  The burns on his back were bizarre. From the day he left the facility, there had been no sign of recovery. Normally, new skin should have already begun to form. Instead, far from receding, the pain deepened with each passing day. He had always trusted his body. Through training and combat, he had been wounded countless times and recovered countless times. This time, however, was different.

  "Explain yourself," Karen said through gritted teeth.

  "You are jumping to conclusions," Tirn replied, bringing over bandages for his treatment.

  "The explosion in the observation room. The codebooks. The move to this location. Everything is unfolding exactly as you desire, isn't it?"

  He spat out each word with a pause, as if reading from an interrogation report.

  "And you... through all of this, you have no wounds, no symptoms."

  Tirn’s face remained unchanged. That lack of reaction only fueled Karen’s rage.

  "Tell me. Why are you the only one who is fine?"

  Karen’s gaze was relentless.

  "I saw them as I escaped—the injuries the others sustained. So why is there not a scratch on you? Was it like this during the last infiltration, too? Did you sacrifice your other comrades just so you could survive?"

  Tirn’s expression flickered. Her hands began to tremble.

  "Even if you are my superior, I ask that you refrain from such excessive insults."

  Karen’s face contorted.

  "Then explain it! Why are you the only one unscathed?"

  "I do not know the answer to that myself."

  "Shall I tell you why? Because this was all your doing. All for the sake of obtaining that disc data..."

  Karen pointed to the bag with a shaking hand.

  "I will say it again. I acquired that by chance during the mission."

  Karen forced himself into a sitting position. His back screamed in protest, and he doubted he could even speak properly through the vertigo. His vision was a blur. He saw Tirn approaching him, a blade in her hand.

  "What do you intend to do, Major?!"

  Karen’s voice turned sharp again. Tirn flinched, holding the bandages.

  "Drop the knife. Are you going to kill me to keep the secret of the discs?"

  Karen waved his hand feebly in front of him. In his mind, the puzzle pieces were snapping into place. Events that had seemed like coincidences were now connecting into a single line.

  The escape route heading toward the border.

  To disrupt that flow, the observation room had been detonated at a deliberately misaligned moment.

  That explosion had wounded him, rendering him immobile.

  And in that interval, Tirn had secured the disc data from a safe position.

  The subsequent deterioration of his health could not be a coincidence either.

  The non-healing burns, the worsening pain, the symptoms clouding his judgment.

  All these results converged on a single conclusion:

  To keep him from moving and to isolate him before crossing the border, his injuries were intentionally exacerbated.

  And the end of that path was here.

  Her family’s safe house. A space of isolation disguised as protection.

  It wasn't a relocation; it was a lure.

  It wasn't treatment; it was a sealing away.

  Karen had already reached his conclusion. From the moment he arrived here, everything had been part of a plan. It all clicked in a chain reaction. It began as suspicion, then hardened into certainty.

  "Blowing up the observation room—something not even in my orders—and wounding me... it was all your plan."

  Tirn took a slow, deep breath.

  "I did not cause the first explosion."

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  It was a short denial. Tirn was angry. But to Karen, it sounded like nothing more than an excuse.

  "Then explain it. What was it?"

  "I cannot know. I was in the Research Wing at the time."

  To Karen's ears, no matter what Tirn said, it sounded like a lie. Karen tried to push himself up from the bed but collapsed back down. Pain radiated through his back. Instead of a groan, a laugh escaped him—a neurotic, jagged laugh.

  "You have no answers for any of my questions. You committed an act of insubordination, and yet you exercise your right to remain silent on everything!"

  His gaze swept the room. Foreign walls, foreign air, foreign smell. Her family’s safe house. An isolation ward under the pretext of protection.

  "To maintain secrecy... getting rid of a superior is nothing, is it? How perfect this place is. What does your family want? Is it the discs?"

  The moment those words fell, the air in the room froze visibly. Tirn’s hand twitched. She looked up immediately, but this time, she couldn't offer a rebuttal right away.

  "...Stop it."

  Her voice was low, but different from before. Suppressed emotions were leaking out.

  "You are insulting my family."

  The corner of Karen’s mouth twisted.

  "Insulting them?"

  A short laugh escaped him.

  "Then tell me. Why are you so obsessed?"

  Tirn remained silent for a moment. That silence didn't look like an excuse; it looked closer to a resolution.

  "We want our country to remain at the center of the Alliance even after the war. But our nation has suffered too many sacrifices compared to the others."

  "And what do you think the discs can do about that?"

  "Haven't you already seen it for yourself?"

  "No, that was just a high-speed collision device. Not a projectile. They were saying things I couldn't understand... claiming mass was being converted into energy..."

  A realization suddenly struck Karen through his hazy consciousness.

  "I see... infinite steam production without a Hemolysis Point. If you hold that power, you'll seize the initiative even after the war..."

  Tirn bit her lip.

  "Many other things are possible as well. Yes. If I bring that back, I can be recognized by my family. ...I was lucky enough to use the family name, but my mother was not."

  Karen’s eyes narrowed.

  "A story as common as they come."

  Karen turned his head away. Tirn could bear it no longer.

  "Do you... have any idea how much insult a person in a story like that endures?!"

  Tirn exploded.

  "A noble’s duty is not fair to everyone! I was dispatched here precisely because of that unfairness. You are an expendable asset of the military, but I am an expendable asset just like you. The only difference is that I am an expendable asset of a family!"

  Karen exhaled quietly. Another piece of the puzzle locked into place in his mind.

  "So you volunteered for a dangerous intelligence mission."

  "And that's why you were obsessed with the discs."

  "And that's why... you used me."

  "I never used you."

  Tirn let out a hollow laugh.

  "I had no reason to wound my superior, nor any reason to kill him."

  Karen slowly shook his head.

  "No. There were reasons enough."

  He looked at her with eyes filled with conviction.

  "You had every reason to do it."

  To him, this was no longer a suspicion. It was a single story with a motive, a means, and a result.

  "If it meant being recognized by your family," Karen said lowly, "a single superior... would have been a price you were more than willing to pay."

  Tirn could say nothing more. She didn't want to respond to his logic anymore. His words had already crossed the line. The commander's reasoning, which had been standing on the boundary between delusion and logic, had already stepped over that edge. Karen began to cough again. His skin lost all its color. He struggled even to breathe. He collapsed back down, as if losing consciousness.

  Rilke’s strength was completely exhausted by the pain, and no painkillers had any effect. It felt as though his nervous system had been entirely destroyed. Amidst the agony, he felt a momentary peace. It seemed the doctor had used hallucinogenic drugs as a last resort. In that peace, he dreamed.

  He was in the middle of a desert. There was an incredibly clear night sky. He laid brick after brick to build an observatory meant for a massive optical telescope. And from far away, the telescope he had desired so much was arriving. It was so large that its diameter was wider than the roof he had built.

  After installing the telescope, he looked at a distant star with a joyful heart. The star was so far away it looked tiny, but he had gathered its light with great care over a long time. The color was so bright and beautiful. He discovered a new star and gave it his own name.

  He woke from that brief dream. And the pain of reality returned. He was now wearing a respiratory assist device, as spontaneous breathing had become impossible. A nurse looked at him as he woke. Fortunately, he could still move his tongue.

  "Did they block... the water supply?"

  Even in his disoriented state, he asked the question that worried him most.

  "What do you mean?"

  The nurse replied as if answering a meaningless question spat out by a patient whose mind was clouded by pain. At that response, Rilke gathered his strength and asked again.

  "My wife?"

  "Do you want to see her?"

  Rilke nodded. The nurse stepped out for a moment. A short while later, she returned with his wife. To prevent infection, she wore gloves on her hands and a mask over her face. Rilke’s fading optic nerves could only distinguish the outline of her face, so he didn't pay much attention to the mask.

  "I'm sorry," Rilke said as soon as he saw his wife. "And leave Yonic immediately. Don't even drink the water. The further, the better. Go inland. As far inside as possible."

  His wife said something, but he couldn't hear her. She was mumbling. For a moment, his brain cleared. The pain subsided. He felt as if his vision was returning. His wife’s masked face became clear.

  "I love you."

  He heard his wife's voice. Rilke smiled.

  "I do, too... Listen to me. It's my last request... Please, leave right now..."

  His wife nodded at his words. Rilke felt relieved. On the first floor of the hospital, the emergency room was overflowing with patients from unknown causes. Most were accompanied by symptoms of vomiting and hair loss.

  Karen woke from his sleep. For a moment, his mind was clear. He checked his physical condition. It was easy to see that he was no longer in a state to carry out the mission. He felt no pain now. But he realized this wasn't because the pain was gone, but because it was so excessive he could no longer feel it. He turned his head and saw contaminated bandages in the distance. He also saw bandages wrapped around his arms and legs.

  "Tirn..."

  He barely managed to squeeze out her name. Tirn glared at him. Her anger remained, but so did her humanity. The bandages covering his entire body told him she was doing her best.

  "Could you... get the photo from my jacket pocket?"

  Karen managed to speak. Tirn searched his clothes and brought the photo. It was a picture of his family. Tirn placed it in his hand.

  "They look like a sweet and happy family," Tirn said.

  "It was taken... before we went to the camp. They were classified as dangerous elements during the war."

  Tirn nodded.

  "My mother was the same. She was sent to the north."

  Karen was slightly surprised. That was a forced labor camp. A place where enemy prisoners or spies were held.

  "They seemed to intend to use the war as an opportunity to wipe away their shame," Tirn said without emotion.

  "I'm sorry... this time, my parents are scheduled for a classification review."

  "It's all right. When I return this time, I will pull my mother out with my own strength. With that..."

  She pointed to the bag.

  "That alone won't be enough. Take the materials I brought as well."

  Tirn nodded at Karen’s answer.

  "I’ve seen much death on the battlefield... and I've seen the process they go through..."

  Karen caught his breath for a moment.

  "There isn't much time left. You know what you have to do. There are no medicines or doctors here..."

  Tirn’s hand trembled slightly.

  "I have no experience in killing."

  "How surprising..."

  Karen looked at the family photo in his hand again.

  "Please... take care of the 'review'... This isn't an order..."

  Tirn nodded quietly. Her hands were shaking. She had risked her life for the mission, but she had never imagined the moment she would have to send off her superior herself. Yet, she knew this was the last mercy Karen wanted.

  "There’s medicine in the backpack pocket. I want to use that. I’ve seen the other ways on the battlefield, and they looked... too painful..."

  At Karen’s words, Tirn handed him the medicine with trembling hands.

  "Thank you for everything. I'm sorry for doubting you."

  Karen quietly swallowed the medicine.