Sooyoung was still shaken. She figured out a way to get as far as possible from the scary woman in black and eventually made it back to her father’s apartment. If her instincts were correct, that woman in her taxi might have been involved with the death of her father and the group she works for probably knows who she was as well. This was no laughing matter. If that group knew Sooyoung was trying to figure out what got her father killed, then she had to hurry and find her father’s research before that scary girl comes back with her friends.

She finally managed to unlock the door and immediately slammed the door shut while maneuvering four locks shut. The apartment was still in the same dirty state as she left it before. She headed straight for the group of file cabinets in the corner in hope of finding anything that mentions the words ‘evolution’. So far all she could find were random documents about string theory or the theory relativity. She was sure her father had something here he didn’t want anybody to see. There had to be a reason to why he was killed unexpectedly.

Just as she was about to give up, her laptop which was decrypting a thumb drive that had most of her father’s data, had beeped. Sooyoung set aside the documents about ice physiology and walked to her computer. It seemed her laptop was able to find a hidden word document within Dr. Choi’s data. Sooyoung immediately double clicked, but when the document opened there were only a few words shown on the screen.

On the Origins of Species – Charles Darwin

“Wait a minute. Isn’t that a book? I think I saw it in father’s bookshelf.”

Sooyoung got up and looked to the bookshelf on the other side of the room. She skimmed the shelves until she found the book she was looking for.

“This was the first book ever written that talked about evolution.”

Sooyoung grabbed the book and skimmed through the book in hopes of finding a slip of paper or something written on the pages.

Sooyoung tossed the book the floor in frustration. She thought about looking through the file cabinet again, but as she was walking she felt a slight draft come into the room. She looked at the windows and saw that they were still closed shut. She tried to follow where the cold air was coming from and saw that it was coming from the bookshelf. The open space where she took the book revealed an unknown room.

The heavy bookshelf was pushed to the side with difficulty. Sooyoung pushed it just enough so that she could slide her body through. She looked around the dim lit room and saw a broken table with papers and books scattered on the ground. The walls were covered with highlighted documents and pictures that were held up by thumb tacks and all connected by colored string. Sooyoung also saw that there were dents on the wall, as well as the ceiling. Another thing that caught her attention was a giant world map that had multiple thumb tacks and random pictures attached.

Oh my god. Is this what the girl in black wanted?

In her father’s handwriting, she saw that he scribbled random words like regeneration or pyro manipulation. There was so much information around her. She didn’t know where to begin. She looked to a document filled table to see an audio recorder with a red light blinking. Thinking that it might shed some light on her father’s research, Sooyoung rewound the tape a little bit before pressing play.

C: Please! You need to calm down, Irene! I can help you!

It was her father’s voice. Sooyoung felt so happy to hear his voice again, but that feeling was cut short as she heard loud banging from the device.

I: Help me?! You call this helping?! I told you not to trust them! Now you’re just as blinded as the rest of them!

Another bang was heard and now Sooyoung could hear her father panting.

C: You need to trust me! The Children are trying to live in peace with people like me!

Next thing she heard almost made her drop the recorder. The sounds of her father gasping for breath could only mean that he was choking, and that Irene girl was probably the one doing it.

I: You listen to me Doctor. I’ve seen what those ‘creatures’ can do. You and the Children are one in the same. All you want is power. I swear to you, one day they’re going to know about your discoveries. Once they do, they’ll go as far as killing you to find it.

A loud thud escaped the small device. The sound’s of Dr. Choi gasping for breath echoed through the room before the recorder stopped. The doctor probably ended the recording there. Sooyoung looked to the broken table near the wall. That was probably where that girl choked him.

She knelt down near the broken table and picked up a manila folder that stood out from the papers. She opened the folder to see a stack of papers with a picture of a young girl with a paper clip attached. Sooyoung glanced at the first page.

FULL NAME: UNKNOWN

AGE: UNKNOWN

CODE NAME: IRENE (GODESS OF PEACE)

ABILITY: ----------------

Sooyoung flipped though the other pages and saw that most of the words were highlighted with a black permanent marker. Did her father do this? Or somebody didn’t want this information to get out? She only saw a few notes in the papers, but on the very last page the words weren’t typed up. Instead it looked to be a message written hurriedly with a pen.

Don’t Trust Anybody!

Now Sooyoung was definitely curious about what her father was doing here. She pulled up a chair and began to quickly absorb as much data her father had collected.

My god. What were you getting yourself into, Dad?