Aftermath and Tensions at Home
——
After Iseul was long gone, sleeping beautifully in her bed, oblivious to the attention she had brought to herself, the higher-ups from the scrapyard distribution center received a flag notification.
They had gotten a large amount of recyclable materials that showed almost no radiation or corrosion.
All levels were 10% and below—which was almost impossible, as all metals, materials, and even food were usually filled with radiation, banking at least in the high 40s.
Also, all metals were E–F graded alloy, which always had the highest rate of fast corrosion from radiation and the least protection compared to higher-grade alloys.
The higher-ups called in appraisers and researchers to continue testing the metals. But not only that—the trash as well.
They had managed to save one or two pieces from the trash pile before the radiation absorber mechas integrated the rest after absorbing almost all the radiation.
They began searching for the person who had turned in these items.
But when they checked the recordings, all they could see was the back or side view of Loadon.
His large figure had blocked off any clear recording of Iseul with his massive frame.
The higher-ups thought it might be a high-powered Master of some sort—or someone who had stumbled upon an encounter and didn't want to be seen.
Possibly, it could have been a Tinker Master testing out a new radiation absorber and coming to the scrapyard just to test it out.
But then they all had the same thought: who would ever want to come to their small scrapper's moon planet?
The Dominion had four moon-planet cities surrounding it, moving in orbit with it.
The higher-ups wondered if it was a hidden big-shot Master from the main planet.
Why would a hidden Tinker be here?
They weren't exactly sure, but they still kept an eye out and told their staff to be vigilant in case they saw that machine come again with the same person.
⸻
On Iseul's side, it was late morning when she stirred in her sleep.
She turned over in bed, only to roll into empty air and hit the floor.
"AGHHH!"
THUD!
Iseul opened her eyes, realizing she was no longer on her beautiful bed but on the ugly, cold debt-collecting floor.
"Tsk. My ass and elbow's funny bone hurts. Ow… way to go, Errorhead Iseul," she cursed to herself, dragging her limbs off the floor. She shot a stink-eye at the edge of the bed she had rolled off.
Iseul headed straight to the bathroom, handled her business, washed her hands and face, then brushed her teeth. She fixed her hair while humming a made-up tune.
She felt really good—more refreshed than normal days.
The house was humming with the buzz of radiation she had been absorbing nonstop since last night.
Before bed, she had tried calling the surrounding radiation herself instead of asking her Gift to do it for her.
When she finally succeeded, she quickly fell asleep, forgetting to tell the surrounding radiation to stop coming.
It seemed she was okay for now. But what if she had taken too much and exploded?!
The thought made her dizzy, but her Gift flared soothingly as if to say, "You won't explode, even if you take too much energy."
Then she remembered yesterday. Her body jumped in alarm as she rushed toward the rooftop balcony entrance.
"Thank you—how could I forget about Loadon?!"
'And where were her brothers?'
She didn't hear them or their normal morning bickering.
'Did something happen?'
'Why had she slept in so late?'
She never slept in. Hopefully her creation hadn't gone off the rails and turned into a murderous mecha.
Even though she had created Loadon—no matter how magnificent he was—she realized he wasn't the same exact mecha she had once built for her class project.
Loadon, whom she had rebuilt from memory and knowledge alone, was much more—and completely different from the others.
She needed to keep a tighter watch.
She had slacked the previous night because of exhaustion and the stress of too many events: being trapped, fully unlocking her dormant Gift, earning a lot of credits, encountering Do-Yoon and his posse of rotcutters, and Loadon's dramatic rescue.
It had been a doozy of a day.
Iseul reached the living room, but it was empty.
She broke into a run toward the stairs leading to the rooftop balcony.
"Woahhh…"
She froze when she heard the collective "oohs" and "ahhs" of her five younger brothers.
She rounded the corner of the connected balcony and opened the gate to the side where she had placed Loadon's bed.
And there she saw it—her brothers, poking and hitting Loadon with poles. Hyun-woo and Beom-seok even stood on his bed, getting it dirty and ruined.
Loadon had dents and scratches as he raised his arms to block the hits.
Even Yong-woo was joining in?!
Gasp.
She froze in horror.
"What is going on here?! Why are they attacking Loadon?!"
Her face turned red with fury—an anger she had never felt toward her brothers before. But this was too much.
"What the hell do you staticbrains think you're doing?!"
She grabbed Hyun-woo and Beom-seok by the ears.
"Owww!" they whined, wincing and grabbing her hand.
"What did we do wrong?!" they asked in unison.
All of them jumped in surprise—except for Loadon, who had already fixed his eyes on her the moment she stepped through the gate.
"Noona, we—" Hanseul began, wide-eyed in shock, dropping the pole in his hand.
Iseul raised her hand, cutting him off.
"No! You guys were just terrorizing my mecha and destroying it! And this is our homestead. How could anything get up here without my knowledge, hmm?"
She walked up to Hanseul and Chang, poking both of their chests.
"No, it wasn't like that! We just thought—just thought—since you probably picked it up at the scrapyard, it was junk or defective. We were just having fun. We didn't mean any harm!" Beom-seok cried, still trying to free his ear from her grip.
Iseul gave a mirthless laugh. She looked at all of her brothers with disappointment—even Yong-woo.
"Oh, let me guess. It's because you guys are so weak and helpless, bullied at school by stronger kids and unable to fight back, that you want to start bullying beings, creatures, and even robots that can't defend themselves? Because what—it's funny? It feels good?"
She turned her gaze to the once beautifully polished Loadon, now covered in dents and scratches caused by her own family.
She felt horrible. For a moment, she had thought he had done something to them. But it had been the other way around the whole time.
"Come here, Loadon."
She inspected each dent and saw a couple puncture holes with a dark red substance leaking out. She would've thought it was blood if not for the oily ozone smell. The sight nearly spooked the life out of her.
"Did I raise a bunch of hooligans and thugs?!" she cursed lowly.
Placing her hands on Loadon's chest plate, she channeled her Infinita Force into his body and wiring. She fixed him up—pushing the dents out and sealing the scratches until he looked brand new.
She turned to her five brothers.
"I don't ever touch or destroy your guys' property, even if I'm not sure if it belongs to you. Do not do the same to others. If it's up here on our rooftop balcony—which only the six of us have access to—and you knew I went to work last night, what gave you the right to think anything up here was for you to break apart? If it's here, the possibility is it's to be sold, so I can continue putting food in you ungrateful brats' mouths!"
"Now, everybody go inside. Go to your rooms, clean up the house, and do your chores."
Iseul watched them shuffle back into the house with their heads hanging low.
She felt deeply disappointed.
Maybe tomorrow she would think she had overreacted—it was just a machine, after all.
But no—it wasn't just about Loadon.
If her brothers felt it was okay to bully or harm someone weaker than them for fun, what would stop them from doing it again—to an animal, or even a human?
This was not behavior she could condone.
There's a difference between fighting to survive, fighting for your life, and bullying for fun. And what she had just witnessed was pure bullying.
She didn't know if her brothers would ever cross that darker line.
But now, it was something she would have to think about.
Did she come back to a parallel universe where her brothers are bullying the weak now?!