Chapter 257.2

Chapter 257.2

Even on mute, Lee Wooshin’s lips continued to twist and move. Overflowing with criticisms, he muttered incessantly like an observation program panel.

Channa tuned him out and just typed away on her keyboard. Each time she bypassed a security system, complex codes cascaded down the monitor like a waterfall.

Only the sound of the fans running in the server room and Lee Wooshin’s occasional snickers, taking a dig, alternated in the air.

Then, sensing the strangely heavy atmosphere, she looked up to see Lee Wooshin, who had crumpled an empty energy drink can, half-rising from his seat. Wondering what he was up to now, Channa narrowed her eyes.

He had paused the cam feed, zoomed in heavily on the man’s glasses, and was staring intently at the reflection of the Owl within them. An immeasurable longing was palpable from his tightly clenched jaw. Seeing that, Channa’s lips parted on their own.

“Instead of making that kind of face, find some pilots quickly! Why should I feel sorry for a rich man like you, Boss…! I hate this feeling, it’s uncomfortable!”

Channa bristled. Yuz Company was also struggling with a labor shortage, one of the issues being pilots. Without solving this, the operation was impossible. Without pilots, any plan was just a drawing on the ground.

And the person who knows that well is spacing out like that! Her sharpened eyes glanced sideways at the circuit breaker. Should I just cut the power…!

Just then, Lee Wooshin, who seemed to have come back to his senses, pressed his temples hard and sat back down.

“Right. Extraction.”

The situation where a private military company urgently evacuates a client or an operative. Having confirmed his living, breathing wife’s face, Lee Wooshin finally seemed to hear Channa’s sharp words and muttered something practical. Yes, exit routes were always important.

“So, where were we?”

“What conversation did we even have besides talking about how the Owl’s fake husband is a piece of shit?!”

“….”

“No matter how high I push the fee, these damn pilots just act cocky!”

“The money offered must have been insufficient.”

“Are you saying to offer an even fatter sum?!”

“Yes. Raise it,” He gave the instruction indifferently. Don’t be intimidated by those maniacs. Lee Wooshin turned his gaze back to the Owl and spoke.

That pilots had extraordinary temperaments was almost a proverb in this industry. Otherwise, they couldn’t withstand gravity. For those who split the sky at supersonic speeds, an ordinary mind was a luxury, wasn’t it?

Lee Wooshin was mentally reviewing a list of pilots who would fly him to his wife’s location and come pick her up from anywhere, no matter where.

He didn’t mind the high cost; in fact, he welcomed the near-insane pride. The problem was that such skilled pilots were always in short supply….

“……”

Lee Wooshin kept his eyes on the two figures in the monitor who seemed to be standing face-to-face, reiterating to himself.

What Yuz Company wanted were ex-military pilots with at least five years of aerial combat experience, proficiency in operating various aircraft like helicopters, transport planes, and charter jets, and experience carrying out dangerous missions in conflict zones.

At that moment, Lee Wooshin’s eyebrow twitched. The two people on screen were raising their voices as if they were arguing.

The ambient noise picked up by the Owl’s earpiece, converted into a waveform, danced jaggedly, exactly like that.

Lee Wooshin’s face instantly hardened at this sight, completely different from the calm wavelengths he had seen until now.

The Director handed her a large bag, almost thrusting it into her arms, and Seoryeong turned and moved away. Her footsteps were so heavy the screen shook finely.

Soon, Seoryeong entered a room and began changing her clothes. Then she unzipped the bag and pulled out something unknown.

Something large and intricate, made of silicone pads….

“What… is… that… exactly.”

All expression left his face. Even Channa, who by now was sick of the voyeurism, shut her mouth tight and widened her eyes in a round stare. But the camera’s narrow field of view and position prevented a clear look.

A short while later, Seoryeong, having presumably finished changing, came out and hesitated. Something like a mound hanging below the screen. Suddenly realizing what it was, Lee Wooshin shot up from his chair.

“――!”

Channa barely caught the roughly rolling chair, hiding her flustered face. The icy silence that descended was suffocating. Channa quickly raised the pilot fees fivefold via messenger.

“Right now, what did that fucking bastard put inside my wife’s body.”

Inside the large monitor. The Director, Tae Mu-kyung, was smiling, the corners of his mouth stretched.

He was caressing the Owl’s belly, which protruded like it was full-term….