Episode 18

Odysseus extracted all of the information he possibly could from the test subjects. With what he had, it may be difficult for him to apply this skill in actual combat, but it could still be sufficiently useful as a trap or other device.

“Oh, this would rock as an anti-personnel mine.”
“That’s because I found it from an anti-personnel landmine bomb recipe.”

To be precise, the knowledge Pluto had given him was a limited-range combustive explosive used as a detonator for directional fragmentation mines. The secondary explosive was assumed to be a specific gunpowder, so there was no separate formula for that.

‘Considering how hard it is to obtain gunpowder, this is really just for show.’

In any case, Pluto didn’t give it away for free for no reason. It was because they knew that it couldn’t be used properly even if provided, which was why they could just toss it out in the name of relationship building.

Anyway, by adding the magick formula that he’d bought separately and the mana bullet recipe, he found the ‘formula to create a combustion’. Through Horn’s research papers, he discovered the ‘formula to limit range and strength’, and he combined the two formulas.
He did have to do a few calculations, but Odysseus was now able to cause a combustive explosion with a customizable size and form whenever he wanted, especially now that he had data to work off of.

Considering the market value of pure formulas that didn’t have limits to range or power, this was an incredible gain. Even if it was low-quality, he was saving tens of millions Pí.

“Oh, looks like I killed them all. Sorry, Lucian.”
“No, it’s quite fine.”

However, it seemed like Lucian had also realized the meaning of his explosion experiments.
With a voice much deeper than it had been before the start of the operation and trembling eyes, he stared down at the boy. His eyes were brimming with greed and joy.

“That was… absolutely incredible.”
“Mmm, but the corpses that we were supposed to send to Iron Stick…”
“Mr. Yul, it’s better that they’re in this state.”

Lucian pointed at the four corpses that had become mangled from the experiments done on them. One was burnt to a crisp like a sausage, one didn’t have a single limb in its fit shape, and two of them had faces scarred nearly beyond recognition.

“What better way than this to bestow fear on them that they will be next?”
“Is that so?”
“I guarantee you. They’ll soon learn devastatingly just who they decided to mess with.”

Lucian delicately stowed the corpses away in the body bags as if they were some sort of valuable jewel. Though his subordinates were doing it, he still seemed to have a good stomach. This was certain from the way he was beaming at the four mangled corpses.

“Now, then. Shall we head back?”

Well, he would have been disappointed if an executive-level personnel couldn’t handle even something as trivial as this.

“What about those corpses?”
“They will be sent directly to the warehouse that Iron Stick has rented out. Freshness is important for presents like these, after all.”

Looking at the security guards pick up the pieces of flesh scattered on the ground, Odysseus just shrugged. He thought that there would be no problem with intimidating the enemy, even if the corpses were rotting a bit.

“Hyung, Noona. Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
“Is this all for today?”
“I’m not sure…”
“It’s only our first day. Why don’t we take it easy a little?”

Hearing Migo’s inquiry, Lucian swiftly jumped into the conversation.

“We’ll separately send you the information handled at the briefing. Jax.”
“Here it is.”

He hadn’t known since they never exchanged names, but the name of the man with Ray-Ban sunglasses must have been Jax. With a leisurely smile, Sunglasses handed a tablet-like device to each of them.

“This looks new.”
“Haha, we can’t give out used items to our guests.”

It was a budget model, but he’d still just given out three new devices. This was quite an eloquent way of boasting about one’s wealth, even when considering that they’d have to give it back.

“They’re also connected to the internet, so feel free to use them as you please. If you have any questions, you can ask them through this message channel.”
“Oooh…”

But the average child would be focused more on the ‘new device’ part rather than their limited time with it, especially if it was a newer version than the one they were using.
Keeping this in mind, Odysseus expressed a sufficient level of excitement, like looking up something insignificant and then being surprised at how fast the results came out. Small things like that.

“Oh, there’s a calendar, too.”

Whilst Odysseus was busy acting, Flag calmly inspected the information that the device contained. There must also have been a calendar among the documents, as there was an image of a chart on his screen.

“Introductions and joint training.”
“We do have separate operations, but we still have to be in tune.”
“You’re absolutely right. If we don’t do that, phew, you’re going to see this kid zip off on his own again.”
“Flag.”

Migo narrowed her eyes as she heard Flag reveal what could be considered their weakness. However, this was not a mistake. This was certain, as Flag had said this while making eye contact with Odysseus with a grin.
This was a part of the ‘play’ that they’d agreed to.

“But we can go back home and rest if we finish up early.”
“Look at this. The kid’s confidence is already through the roof.”
“Haha. It is natural for geniuses to have a different outlook on matters than Harmons.”

It seemed like the man was adding ‘arrogant without any intent to hide he is a genius’ onto his role as a ‘kid with a deep interest in intellectual exploration’. Smirking at Flag’s performance, Odysseus hugged the tablet device in his arms.

“Can we go now? I want to start organizing the data that I collected.”
“Ah, that’s right. It’s best to organize that as soon as possible.”

Lucian waved his hand with the smile of a benevolent man. While they loaded the corpses onto a seven-person Air Boat that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, the two cars that they rode here had been parked in front of them. It was now time to go back.

“Don’t use that carelessly, kid.”

As soon as Flag entered the room that Pluto had provided them with, he spoke to the boy in their encrypted language. With a smirk slightly different from Odysseus’s own, he pointed at the device they were given.

“There’s a high chance that they’re watching us. Whatever you look up, use, or record, they’re probably watching it live on a big fat screen.”
“…Aha.”
“This room might be bugged too, so send anything important through message. They won’t be able to see if you’re under the covers.”
“Okay.”

He thought that the man was being overcautious, but it never hurt to be careful. Keeping Flag’s warning in mind, Odysseus crawled into bed.
Unlike the creaking, springy bed that Yul owned, an incredibly soft bed greeted him.

“…They use really nice things here.”
“Well, it’s a bit nice for people like us.”
“Do you think Migo Noona got something similar?”
“Probably. There’s no way they would be that obviously discriminating, maybe just a few alterations in its shape.”

Letting down the hair that he had tied back, Odysseus unpacked his belongings. They’d all been things that he kept on him since he wasn’t sure what Pluto might try to pull.

“I’m going to take a bath first.”
“Go ahead.”

It was a long process to both wash and dry long hair. For this reason, he either had to wash now or later at night in order to make it to dinner on time, and Odysseus had chosen the former.
The boy marched boldly into the bathroom that shockingly came with each room.

“…Hyung! The hot water’s already coming out!”
“Yeah, that’s how it is in nice places.”
“There isn’t even any rust!”
“Damn. Pluto’s got the good stuff.”

And as a human from four thousand years ago, he was amazed. Although exaggerated for the sake of looking childish, his exclamation was partially genuine.
Since he was at it, Odysseus used the shampoo, treatments, and conditioner that had been provided, then stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist.

“Aren’t you drying your hair?”
“It’ll dry on its own.”

Since he’d dried it using up two towels, it was time to leave the rest to the winds. Squirming back into his everyday outfit that also doubled as his sleepwear, the boy dove back into his covers. Flag clicked his tongue as he watched the boy do this.

“You’ll catch a cold.”
“Not because of this, no.”
“Oh, look who’s not listening to his Hyung again.”

Instead of bickering some more, Flag brought out another towel and began patting Odysseus’s hair.

“Why are you even growing your hair out like this?”
“It’s a personal preference. Thank you very much.”

Odysseus also did not know why Yul had grown out his hair. However, there was a reason why he hadn’t cut it since.
Penelope. She liked his long hair. She described it as glittering gold in the sunlight and blooming flowers of spring, even when it wasn’t quite the right season.
That was why even now, with a different hair color, Odysseus was unable to cut his hair.

Hoping that she may once again take a liking to his long hair… He couldn’t bring himself to cut it. At least, he was not going to until he reunited with Penelope.

“…Yeah. That makes sense.”

Ignoring Flag’s oddly sinking voice, Odysseus activated the device that they received. He’d sensed it during the briefing, but he liked that the information was well-organized and detailed.

“Who do you think investigated this?”
“Hm, maybe that Jax guy? The one in the sunglasses? Those faces have a thing for collecting information.”
“What about faces like his?”

He found these claims ridiculous but strangely convincing. Once again, Odysseus was left dumbfounded. It was all because of Flag and his stupidly sharp intuition. The man’s senses were triggered at the strangest of moments.

“Anyway, I would like to learn how to collect information, if that’s possible.”
“You’re already branching out too much, and now you want to add hacker to your career list, too?”
“It doesn’t hurt to know how to do it.”
“That’s fair.”

After sufficiently ruffling up his hair, Flag then brought out a hair dryer, making him realize just how invested Pluto was in serving guests.
What was this, some sort of motel? How did a makeshift guest room have all of these things?

“Now that I think about it, our odyssia doesn’t have someone like that.”
“Because you don’t need that for hunting mutants. In the first place, the only people who need hackers are guys who do shady things like hunt humans.”
“Are you saying that Pluto is shady?”
“As if! Massive organizations like Pluto have a couple of hackers for the sake of security, whether they do shady stuff or not. We’re just not that big of a group yet.”
“I see.”

With a light whirring, a warm breeze dried his hair. His hair felt a little lighter now that the water that’d been weighing it down was gone.

“Anyway… On these grounds, it’s as hard to find a hacker as it is to find a magicks user since talent takes a big part in that field, too. Technique is also important, though, of course…”
“Then it must be difficult to learn the skill set as well.”
“Yeah, pretty much. I heard that real geniuses can break through all sorts of security programs with just a single device, but I honestly don’t think you’ll be any good in this field.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? If you were really a potential genius, then you would have done at least something during the time you were holed up in your room.”

It was the infuriating truth. That was the case, even though he and Yul were two different people. Odysseus was a dummy who couldn’t even understand what the word programming meant.

“But I still do want to try learning it…”

However, he was living in times when information was power. At least for the sake of making it to the Underworld, he had to build his knowledge of the field. He might be unable to become a professional, but he still had to get to the point where he could distinguish the credibility of the data he obtained.
Of course, it would still be ideal to reach the level where he could steal information himself.

“If you really want to learn, why don’t you go beg to Migo? From what I know, one of her cousins is in that field.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I know that Captain uses them sometimes, so their skill is guaranteed. But it’s a mystery whether they’ll accept your request or not.”

Clack. Flag must be done with his hair as he set down the hair dryer. Thanks to the various products that he used, his hair was now smooth and silky to the touch.

“All done. Why in the world does it take so long to dry?”
“I never asked you to dry it for me.”
“Shaddup kid.”

He’s just like his older brother. Odysseus’s ears picked up the grumbling under his breath.

‘That reminds me. I think Yun and Flag used to be roommates.’

When he thought about it, the one who organized Yun’s belongings and handed them to him had been Flag.
Of course, by now, Yun’s empty space had now been replaced by another.

“Did my hyung not like drying his hair too?”
“…!”

He must not have expected the boy to talk back as Flag froze in place for a moment.

“…Yeah. It was a pain in the ass. Every time he came back from a shower, the entire floor would get wet.”
“I see.”

Odysseus recalled Yun’s hair, which had been closer to a stub rather than a ponytail. It would have been hard to cause a mess on the floor with that hair, meaning he really didn’t dry his hair at all.

“What do you think is for dinner? What came out for lunch was tasty.”
“…I’m not sure. Well, I hope there’s a lot of meat. It’s nice that they don’t use cultured meat for their guests.”
“I can’t really tell the difference between cultured meat and natural meat, though.”

Perhaps because most of the cultured meat was processed, he actually preferred the taste of cultured-processed meat. To be more specific, he liked the seasoning that was added during the processing stage.
Even aside from that, however, he found the texture and smell of the cultured meat to be better. It was a shame that they had the signature juiciness of natural meat, but the seasoning could cover that.

“That’s because you’re still young. There will come a day when you get older where you start to like the real stuff better.”
“Wow, someone’s talking like an old-timer.”

After saying that, however, Odysseus’s heart stung a little. He’d suddenly remembered saying something similar to his own son, Telemachus.

“What’s with the sudden frown?”
“It’s nothing… I was just thinking how one’s mind really does follow their body.”
“Huh? That’s random.”

Perhaps it was just the difference between saying it and hearing it, or his mind was really adjusting to this body. Scratching his head, Odysseus reached for his bag.
Looking at the item that he brought out, Flag let out a small laugh of disbelief.

“…You brought that?”
“I got it as a present, so I might as well use it.”

He raised up what would become the item to lower Pluto’s guard to the minimum while protecting their belongings. Lo and behold, the W Series robot puppy from Exter.