53. The Centre

Jiwoo defeated the suit guy without any trouble and asked, "Tell me, where is our mom?"

"I will guide you. I was planning to guide you to Yujeong Kang anyways", he answered lying still on the ground after getting defeated by my brother.

"I don't care, just tell me where she is."

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't know. The area she's in is very confidential. So, it doesn't have an appropriate address. Even if I try to explain it to you, you wouldn't be able  to go there alone."

I slowly held Jiwoo's upper arm and slightly nodded my head, telling him that we should follow him. Jiwoo slightly nodded and commanded to the man, "Guide us." 

I kneeled beside the lying man and placed my hand on his shoulder. He panicked and said, "I-I said that I would take you there! Why are you still attacking me?!"

"Keep shut and let me take care of your injuries since we don't like harming normal citizens. Just so you know, if I can cure you, I can also harm you if you take us to the wrong place", I warned him and healed only his major injuries since a normal body can't be expected to not be harmed by one punch.

Jiwoo observed me heal the man and let out a small grin. 'I always knew he was too kind for his own good. You never changed even after so many years, Eunwoo', he thought.

Soon enough, the man took us to where our mom was and we saw many men in similar suits guarding the area. Jiwoo used his electricity ability to knock out the man who guided us just like Kayden had taught him.

When the men noticed us there, they had their guard up and inquired about what we were doing there. Once they understood that we were there for our mom, they took us to a small room as we waited. But instead of our mom, a professor entered. She exclaimed, "Oh my, how cute these children are! Are you the one looking for Professor Yujeong Kang?"

"Yes..."

She hummed observing our actions and used her awakened ability to control us. "Could you tell this noona here what your relationship with Yujeong Kang is?"

"We're family", Jiwoo answered knowing well that she was holding back assuming that we were normal citizens.

"Family?"

"Could we please meet with Mrs. Kang?"

"Alright!"

She guided us to another room. Our mother who was sitting stood up surprised to see us. She had multiple bruises on her face and her appearance looked so tired that I could tell that she was sleep-deprived.

"Mom...?"

"Jiwoo... Eunwoo... How did you get here...?"

Without replying to her, Jiwoo held her arms and inspected her injuries. I gently hugged her trembling form. My heart ached to see my mother hurt and still fearing for the safety of her children. If only my mother in my previous life was this caring, then I would have never left home.

Mom broke the hug and asked in her shaky voice, "H-How did you get to this place?"

"You stopped answering your calls...", Jiwoo tried to explain but noticed how petrified the elder woman looked.

"Jiwoo, Eunwoo... You both weren't supposed to come here."

"BHAHAHAHAHA!", laughed the purple-haired Professor. "Professor Kang...The reason you were resisting my ability that earnestly was because of them? But what can I do? You wanted to keep them a secret from me but they came here with their own two feet."

"I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING. SO PLEASE... LET THE THEM GO!" She then tightly held my arm, "I'm so sorry my kids... because of mom..."

"I'd have to refuse. How do I know your sons don't know anything even more juicier than the things you know? Just be thankful for how everything turned out. You got to meet your children before you became a test subject with no memories. Isn't that great? I'm planning to use you until the cos in your brain stops turning. And then I'll-"

I clenched my jaw angrily and punched her but she blocked it and slammed into the wall behind. I went back to mom and placed my left palm on her bruised cheek as Jiwoo stood in front of us. "Everything will be fine mom...", I say and inspect her injuries. 

"Eunwoo, you..."

I healed mom as Jiwoo fought against the crazy Professor. Even though I knew I was defenceless as I healed our mother, I couldn't allow myself to watch her in pain. After Jiwoo defeated the Professor we returned to the apartment where mom was staying. 

~~

"She's not up yet?", Kayden asked.  "Are you sure she doesn't have any problems with her body?"

Mom was asleep after Kartein had checked up on her condition. Jiwoo sat beside mom and sat on the other side of the bed holding onto mom's hand in mine.

Kartein answered, "Yeah. Eunwoo healed her in every way possible. After examining her condition, it looks like her brain and mental state have been heavily targeted... So there's nothing I can do about that. But still, since there weren't any major injuries she should wake up soon."

"Even now, I still wonder what kind of place my mom worked at was", Jiwoo continued, "and why she was forced into a situation like that there."

"You're sure that they were montal awakeners right?", Kayden asked.

"Yes. However, a thing I found strange was that the awakeners who escorted us didn't talk like they were awakeners. They took something out and placed it on their neck, suddenly becoming stronger too."

"What?"

"They inject drugs into their system and forcefully awaken themselves", said mom and I helped her sit up. She lightly stocked my hair and I unconsciously leaned into her touch. Kayden, Kartein and a surprised Jiwoo turned toward her.

"Are you alright, mom?", I ask.

"Yeah, I am." She then looked at Kartein and said, "Thank you so much for treating me."

"It's Eunwoo who healed you. I only further examined you to check if there were any abnormalities. In the place you worked in, did the people there research how to artificially awaken people?"

"...yes"

"I heard that all of that became illegal and that they conduct research on live human beings too..." said Jiwoo.

"You're right."

"Why were you working in a place like that mom? You told me you signed a contract with a legitimate company." He paused before the realization hit him. "Wait... Was it because of me?"

"It's nothing like that."

"What do you mean it's nothing like that? There's no reason for you to join any place like that if it wasn't for me."

"When I originally didn't know that your powers came from being awakened, I simply searched for ways to treat you. With the speeds you reached, it couldn't be something I could just look over. I didn't know if your powers would have any overload on your body either. You might be put in a dangerous situation if your powers were leaked to the public too. So to hide it, I sent Eunwoo to live with your uncle and then I looked for pharmaceutical companies to find treatment methods and worked in these companies, but it was difficult finding information about your powers under the said company's radar like that." She continued, "In that process, I was scouted by some organization. They said that they conducted research to awaken man's potential, and asked me if I wanted to join."

Kartein started, "I see, that place was a laboratory used to research the abilities of awakeners."

"Yes. Initially, I didn't realize the true nature of the company. I truly believed that they were conducting novel research: tapping into the potential of humanity. I also believed that I could find a cure to your speed there too. As I rose up to the ranks pushing out good results, in the end I learned just how that research was truly being conducted."

"Experiments on humans?", asked Kayden.

"Yes. In that laboratory, countless trials gained data, by using humans as testing organisms. I had no idea where the facility was when I was conducting my research. One thing I knew for sure was that the place wasn't your average laboratory and that this facility wasn't the only facility out there. I could only leave the place using my abilities. I decided after much thought to save at least one person who was being experimented on in there..."

Jiwoo asked worriedly, "You were going to try and save the people being experimented on?"

"Yes."

"And you got caught quickly if you tried to smuggle a live experiment target out?", I asked.

"I just faked accidents, or said that they were dead and took them outside It would have been impossible alone but I had some colleagues with the same idea as me, and they were the ones protecting the ones who we helped to escape. We've been doing that for several years and were caught recently."

"It must've been so tough for you, mom. Having to keep up with the company even though you might have wanted to report them, secretly trying to help the victims escape, and keeping the existence of your sons a secret for so many years. You couldn't stay long with us last time because you were afraid they would trace your location, right?"

"You both have grown up so much while I was away", she said before lovingly patting my left cheek twice. "I can't return home with you because since they've learned that I betrayed them, they will do anything to recapture me. Now that they know that I have you two, we cannot go back home. There's just no way we can..."

"Oh... that place..."Kayden started, "I destroyed the entire facility just now." I shook my head while Jiwoo and mom looked at him in shock while he continued, "Like I blew up everything. I'm sure that no one there would know anything about Jiwoo and Eunwoo anymore."

"For the first time, you did the right thing or else information about Eunwoo and Jiwoo would've been leaked somewhere", said Kartein.

Sometime later when mom had fallen asleep, I sat down on the couch and closed my tired eyes wanting to catch some sleep. After a few minutes, I felt a jacket cover my upper body. I didn't bother pealing who it was since I knew that the jacket belonged to Jiwoo and soon I was fast asleep. Amyeong came to visit mom and then explained the situation how she saved him and helped him escape from the research centre. Jiwoo soon understood his mother's actions and felt how truly the elder woman wanted to help the people in the centre.

The next day Jiwoo and I bid goodbye to mom after a heartfelt conversation with her. She told us how she was going to join others like her who wanted to help the awakeners who were being used as lab rats. 

(At home)

Jisuk, Subin and Wooin came over not much later after we returned and as expected they had another reason to party. Later they told us that the World Academy students were challenged by the Frame. It worried me if the kids were alright.