Chương 43: The Night the Flowerpot Grew

Seoul was quiet. That quietness was what woke Kichan's mother. Coming out to drink water, she saw a strange shadow beneath the gap of Kichan's door. At first she thought someone had gone into the room. When she opened the door, the room was empty. Instead, one small flowerpot by the window had changed. It was a seed Kichan had planted long ago as a joke. A flowerpot she had muttered over every time she watered it because no sprout had come up for a while. A stem had risen from that flowerpot.

It was not the growth of a day or two. The thin stem curved along the window frame, and the leaf veins were far sharper than an ordinary plant's. On the surface of the leaves, lines like letters or sheet music hovered faintly. The mother stood in front of the flowerpot and could not speak for a long time.

"Kichan?" There was no answer. But one leaf shook, very faintly. She picked up her phone, then put it down. She did not know who to call. It was not something to tell the police. It was not something to tell a botanical garden. If she said a flowerpot had grown in her missing son's room, people would look at her before they looked at the flowerpot. Mina Han came before morning. She looked at the flowerpot and did not touch it right away. She put on gloves, shone a light, and looked a little into the soil.

It was neither a Raon Bio plant experiment nor an ordinary mutation. The small metal traces left in Kichan's room, the soil of the flowerpot, and the lines of the leaf veins reacted in the same direction, very faintly. Mina was silent for a long time.

"What did my child do to become like this?" Kichan's mother asked. Mina could not answer right away. Instead, she said.

"If he is alive, he will try to come back." The mother wanted to believe those words. She did not say she believed them. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. At the same time, in a windowless conference room, the lights went out. A photo hung on one wall. The first slide was Han Kichan's ID photo. An ordinary face. Eyes that looked a little tired. Beside it, his name, age, family relations, and recent movement records were attached in small print.

Lee Seoyun stood in front of it. She did not hold a laser pointer. She only pressed a small remote in her hand. The photo changed. In front of a convenience store. Raon Bio contact. New York movement record. Temporary access code. Rome transfer log. And at the end, a blurry street video appeared. In the footage, Han Kichan stood among people in Rome. A few seconds later, light flickered, and people's gazes turned toward one spot. The footage cut. The next photo did not have Han Kichan in it.

Lee Seoyun paused briefly in front of that screen.

"That is what has been confirmed so far." The people in the conference room wore no name tags. Some were in suits, some wore lab coats under coats. The one who sat like a soldier did not push his chair back, and a woman who looked like she was from legal kept tapping the corner of a paper with her fingers. Someone asked.

"Probability of death?" Lee Seoyun did not answer immediately. The screen changed again. A photo of Kichan's room. The desk, the window, the small flowerpot. Over it, the photo of the plant with the strangely vivid leaf veins overlapped.

"We consider it low." The conference room went quiet. Another person spoke.

"Is it abduction, or relocation?"

"We cannot conclude either." Lee Seoyun flipped one more photo. The metal traces Kichan had left, the reaction of the flowerpot soil, and the access traces connected to the New York data were laid side by side on one screen.

"However, even after Han Kichan disappeared, the surrounding materials continue to react. It means he is alive, or something connected to him still remains." At those words, several people's expressions split. The man in the lab coat leaned slightly forward. It was a face that could not hide its interest. The man who sat like a soldier looked at the exit door before the screen. A face that classified things as hazardous materials. The woman from legal stopped the hand that had been tapping the paper edge.

A face that words like family, guardian, and ownership would suit well. Lee Seoyun looked at those faces. Then she turned off the screen.

"Han Kichan's mother has not yet entered the official protection system. If we rush contact, she will resist." Someone spoke low.

"We still must secure her." Lee Seoyun raised her head.

"Please be careful with your word choice." The air in the conference room cooled slightly. The people of unknown affiliation saw Han Kichan as a person, as an incident, and as an asset. There was no conclusion yet. So more eyes moved toward Han Kichan's house. The surveillance outside the house drew closer. Someone tried to search Kichan's room. Mina persuaded the mother and hid a few things. Kichan's old notebook. The small case that had held guitar strings. Kichan's herbal medicine notes.

The temporary access code that could connect to the New York data. That night, when the mother looked into the room again, the leaves of the flowerpot had grown a little larger. At the tip of a leaf, a very small droplet of water had formed. Inside that droplet, a short sound rang like a metallic echo. Tap. The mother did not know why. Still, she spoke quietly in front of the flowerpot.

"Kichan, are you eating while you're out there."