Chapter 78

Translated by boilpoil Edited by boilpoil

Hopkin was carried off the flying vehicle in Bright’s embrace. The aristocrat is wrapped in a blanket from top to bottom, and the man, beaming, isn’t wearing any upper clothing. He’s clearly not satisfied yet, preparing for part two in the house.

Yet, a message cuts the deed short.

Their ID is concealed; the message says, “your son is in my hands. To save him, go to XX at XX o’clock. Don’t tell anyone.” An attachment shows a picture of Hope blindfolded and bound.

As Hopkin was right under Bright when the message was received, he happened to see it and Bright couldn’t hide it.

No longer having the impulse, the two end their session unsatisfactorily.

Hopkin is looking at Bright’s expression. He knows how much the man cares about the experiment sample. Right now, he already has Bright so the sample has become useless. Might as well take the chance and abandon it.

“You don’t need to risk yourself,” Hopkin says.

“But he’s our child,” Bright is looking at Hopkin, his expression betraying his restlessness, “together with you, I have a home in this world. With Hope, our home is complete.”

Hopkin both feels sweet and bitter in his chest. He only needs Bright. There’s no need for an extra experiment sample to divide up the man’s attention.

“Being able to catch Hope, they must have a bit of power.” Hopkin retrieves the surveillance recordings, and discovers they were hacked. He sends someone to the scene, and they report even the pet doggy is gone. The door does not appear to be violently unlocked, and they probably took both the boy and the doggy away.

Hopkin analyses calmly, “perhaps the person would make Hope open the door of his own volition. Or they could have been caught while strolling outside. The community you’re in is highly secure. To be able to kidnap Hope without alerting anyone clearly shows their capabilities. Who knows about the relationship between you and Hope?”

“Quite a few. It’s my carelessness.” Bright says in shame.

“It’s not your fault.”

“Of course it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left a six-year-old child at home alone.” Hope is independent and quick. He knows how to take care of the doggy and even Wolfie when Bright is absent. He orders the daily necessities online by himself. He has never made Bright worry, so instead Bright has failed to give him enough attention.

Unlike Bright who is apprehensive, Hopkin is cold and indifferent. Considering the fact that the experiment sample is essentially missing, he decides to schedule a small operation immediately to cut the connection between him and the sample completely. While he has control over the connection of the five senses, and can connect and disconnect at will, but right now the sample has unexpectedly ended up in some other faction. Just to be safe, he will have to eliminate any potential risks.

While thinking so, Hopkin says to Bright, “I’ll be out for a while. Promise me, don’t act rashly. Wait until I’m back before doing anything.”

Bright thought they’re going to investigate, saying, “I’ll accompany you.”

Hopkin rejects that indirectly. He says in a vague manner, “there are some places you probably shouldn’t find yourself in.”

Bright looks at him, silent.

“I understand your feelings. I’ll try to save him for you as much as possible.” Hopkin says in a soothing tone, kissing Bright voluntarily.

Bright acts as if convinced, tentatively agreeing to endure for Hopkin.

Hopkin is only back by evening.

Bright was a bit happy, but after looking over the aristocrat, his smile disappears gradually, becoming expressionless, “what kind of investigation required a shower?”

Hopkin, who just finished his operation and treatment at Scientist’s, couldn’t say anything. He can’t make out the emotions in Bright’s expression. Though the tense atmosphere and the man’s cold, hard voice is immediately reminding him of the cold treatment he had received.

All his calls of “master” that separates them and the indifferent poundings are deeply etched in his brain, reminding him not to forget those lessons in pain.

Oh, nobody knows better than him how sweet the man can be, nor how terrifying the man gets when he is angry!

Hopkin is getting flustered. He had to clean when the operation is conducted, of course, but he can’t tell the truth. He can’t think of any reasonable excuses either.

His moment is pause has largely exposed him.

Bright appears as if smiling, “have you come up with an excuse?”

Hopkin wanted to say “I want to save Hope,” but it’s a lie; he doesn’t want to at all.

He wanted to say “I haven’t done anything against you,” but it’s a lie too. He did a lot of that.

When he sees Bright’s expression getting colder more and more, Hopkin is in a complete panic. As if he has accidentally twisted his neck, something bursts out of his thoughts. He isn’t even conscious of what he’s saying. His words jump out by themselves.

“Don’t look at me like that. I haven’t betrayed you… I love you Bright. Please believe me, ok?”

Both people are stunned after the words are blurted out.

The listener’s expression softens. He’s a bit angry, but also feeling a bit amused, as if facing a pet that is acting cute after tearing the house up, saying, “if I remember correctly, it’s the first time you said you love me.” The aristocrat has always used ‘like’ to express his feelings towards him. He never believed in love.

The speaker’s face and ears are reddened. He can barely maintain his gaze with the man, “then your answer?”

“I love you too, Hopkin, I always said that.”

Bright pulls Hopkin into his embrace. Hopkin locks his arms around his waist tightly. His head rests on his shoulders, murmuring, “I’m only willing to let you touch me. Only you can do it, Bright.”

“Mmh. I believe you.” Bright turns his head and kisses his neck.

Their relationship warms back up a bit, even having progressed despite the setbacks thanks to the unfortunate incident. Hopkin is feeling glad in his mind. He doesn’t care about the experiment sample’s life, but Bright does. So he will also give a bit of attention to it.

Hopkin says, “the latest result of the investigation shows that Hope is caught while taking the doggy out for a walk. Where they usually go footprints and a few strands of hair have been discovered. The cameras around that area have also been hacked. They have tracked down the hacker via his online trail and I have sent people after him.”

While the hacker is caught that night, after interrogation, it was discovered that the hacker only did his job after being given payment. He knows nothing about the kidnapping and the payment was directly deposited at his front door, untraceable. The clues end there.

Probably having discovered Bright’s side investigating, the kidnapper sends messages in provocation, warning Bright not to take any action.

“Daddy, I’m afraid.”

“Daddy, save me.”

“Daddy, are you leaving me?”

“You’re wasting your time.” Hope looks at the bad guy who keeps sending messages to annoy his dad, his expression full of disdain. “Wrah!” His face immediately gets pinched maliciously and then stretched.

His original round puffy face immediately becomes a distorted flat pancake face.

“Say, if I cut your fingers off and send them to your daddy, would he get so angry he’d go berserk?”

Hope glares at the kidnapper with his cat-like eyes, “dad will never lose his calm. Also, the advancements in medical technology can cure non-lethal bodily harm easily.”

“But it will hurt a lot.” The kidnapper lowers his voice in a threatening tone.

Hope doesn’t let his fears show up and says resolutely, “dad will hurt you more.”

Probably not finding much fun in teasing the child, the kidnapper stuffs his mouth back up again and then blindfolds him. The doggy is treated much worse than him, being smacked unconscious and then bound and thrown onto the ground.

Despite Hopkin’s protests, by noon the next day, Bright still appears at where the kidnapper has designated alone.

It’s a vibrant ring-shaped shopping centre with over 10 floors. It looks like an ‘8’ from a birds-eye view. The walkways twist into each other and turn around, creating an effect where the shoppers appear trapped once they enter, increasing their time inside and increasing the amount of sales.

As there are a great amount of traffic, no matter how many cameras there are and how smart they get they can’t necessarily capture the scenes precisely. Probably the reason why the kidnapper chose this place.

Following the instructions and entering the third floor, Bright can feel himself being watched as soon as he entered. He raises his awareness and walks about the place like a regular customer.

A few people are closing in on his location. Bright appears unfazed in expression and two of the people walk past him directly. One walks by him and throws a clump of paper on the ground. Bright does not pick it up and instead tries to go for the person directly. That person is dexterious and dodges his hands like a mudfish.

Suddenly, someone on the left shouts, “number 199 Bright is here!”

The whole floor has as if been paused. Bright suddenly feels pressured. He only has a simple disguise on and it can be seen through with just a bit of attention. The people around him look at him with ravenous gazes and start to scream one by one. Immediately countless groups of people rush towards him.

Bright realises the one shouting must have been an accomplice serving to create chaos among the crowd. With the interlude the one who left the crumpled paper behind has already slipped into the crowd. Bright could only pick the paper up and run away without even considering his path.

There are people on all sides, and their numbers are increasing.

“Ah——He’s jumping!”

Bright vaults across the fencing directly landing onto the first floor through the circular open-air areas. He whizzes through the crowd who have failed to react on time and escapes.

Somewhere beyond the prying eyes of crowds, Bright opens up the crumpled paper. A dog in a collar is drawn inside.

So it was him…

“That dog is too ugly.”

“It’s a fucking wolf!”

“Where are they?”

“Where’s the thing I wanted? Quit fooling me, I’ve made my conditions clear on the picture. The secret of the werewolves opening their bracelets.”

“I’ll give it to you during episode eleven.”

The other person is quiet for a while before sending an address over.

Having made a deal with Piers without hesitation, Bright does not head towards the destination directly. He contacts Harry instead, having him relay a message to a certain location.

“Boss, given how I’m diligent to the bone working for you, remember me when there are good things to share!” Harry mumbles as he finishes his mission quickly with Big Retard.

Ever since he has learned about the insane connection of the five senses, Bright has been considering ways of removing that connection between Hopkin and Hope.

First, he must not expose the fact that he knows about this, given he learned about it while stealing information, and it will be disadvantageous for him if this is investigated. For example, where did he get such an advanced u-drive? What other information has he learned of besides that? Piers and the werewolves would inevitably be involved, so he must not be the one that mentions it. It would be best if Hopkin removes the connection of his own volition.

Bright has been musing on this for a while before having come up with something – let Hope fall into danger so that Hopkin will cut the connection himself for his own safety.

That is the reason why he let Piers know about Hope and then instigated him. Of course, Ginger is also an accomplice helping to flame him further in a subtle manner. This resulted in Piers kidnapping Hope forcing Hopkin to take action.

This is quite a rough plan with many variables involved. Yet for the safety of his mind and body, for the happiness of his family, this is the best Bright could have done. Luck is on his side, however, and up until now, everything has proceeded as he planned.

As for Harry’s role in this, it begins with the apes.

When he met the apes in episode seven, the oldest one has briefly interacted with Bright. The apes are treated lightly by men and normally they’re shuttered inside a closed-off forest area. In fact, they are already highly intelligent and a primitive civilisation has already been formed. They have learned rudimentary methods of communication by covertly observing and mimicking the staff talking. They have become able to record and communicate using shapes and gestures, a bit like the apes in ‘Planet of the Apes.’ That is when Bright had become acquainted with the apes.

Afterwards, during the fire in the show, the apes have not lost their lives in the fire, but have escaped, temporarily sheltering inside a warehouse near the Sewers. Harry, following Bright’s orders, have shipped resources, firearms, weapons, fruits, food and so on to the apes. From Harry’s feedback, they have apparently acquired the ability to pronounce and communicate in a simplistic language. They have learned basic survival skills and have become adept at handling firearms. The only drawback is that they’re becoming restless stuffed inside a warehouse, and the upper hierarchies of the apes had to employ dictatorial measures to suppress all the apes.

Right now Harry is telling the apes to take Hope away in secret. This is a sudden idea of Bright’s, deciding to just use the chance to forever hide Hope and the pet doggy from the eyes of the public, from the surveillance and bounds, and also removing some weak points that could be used against him himself.

Bright pretends to shake off the people following him. He knows he’s always been under the surveillance of the cameras and while he is attracting all the attention, Hope and the pet doggy will have been saved and transferred to a safe location.

Bright finally makes his way in front of an abandoned building. He enters without much hesitation. It is completely empty and he removes the traces left behind by the apes.

Yet, suddenly an accident occurs.

Tick. Tock.

Boom——

In a loud bang, the whole building blows up.

Author’s notes: The Top is fine. He’s just getting a wake-up call.

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