One Day, My Dad Disappeared - Chapter 9

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 9
“If the Core has disappeared, doesn’t that mean Central Neodymium’s power has weakened?”
“It would have, yes. As for why no report was filed on something this critical—they thought they’d be able to find it. Besides, the Headron was classified information to begin with.”
Aidan shook his head several times, looking equally exasperated.
“And yet they’re saying the Neodymium is still functioning properly, so it doesn’t matter?”
“It’s madness.”
“Safety complacency. It’s been eighteen years since the Gate disappeared. They probably think something like this couldn’t happen again.”
Even so, this was something that should be reported to superiors immediately, wasn’t it?
“Which is why.”
I met those keen, unwavering eyes.
“Today, we’re going to investigate the Core. Since a Core can’t simply grow legs and walk away, this must be a theft.”
“You don’t mean to suspect my father, do you?”
“Even if I did suspect him, I couldn’t announce him as a suspect. You’re the only one who remembers Ashford.”
That sounded like suspicion to me.
“Why would my father do something like that! What would he even do with a Core!”
“I don’t know. But we still don’t understand why Gates appear in the first place, what lies beyond them, or the true nature of those creatures. Nothing has been explained.”
“What do you mean by that?”
The words spilled from my lips sharper than I intended.
But wasn’t it natural?
My father was being suspected of theft—I couldn’t be expected to speak gently.
“What I mean is, I’m not suggesting blind suspicion. It’s simply that the very idea of a person vanishing from everyone’s memory is illogical—scientifically impossible to prove. And yet, the Core happens to be something not of this world. So…”
“…You’re saying the Core might be responsible for making my father disappear from this world?”
“That’s what I think is most likely. Whether your father intended it or whether it simply happened—I can’t say. But that’s my best hypothesis.”
The Headron, which generates the frequency. The Core, extracted from that Headron.
“If my father really did disappear because of the Core…”
I turned my gaze toward the window.
It was true—we understood almost nothing about Gates.
“Could we possibly find him?”
All we knew was that Gates closed with a magnetic field, but was it even feasible to retrieve him from beyond one?
“Nothing’s been confirmed yet. That’s why we’re here.”
Just then, the door creaked open with a metallic groan.
“Come on, let’s go.”

The knights standing guard bowed respectfully the moment they saw Aidan.
“Young Master Winslow, we received word of your visit. Do you require an escort?”
“No. That won’t be necessary. I’ll call if we need anything.”
“Very well.”
So he’d given them advance notice of today’s visit.
Aidan moved forward with the ease of someone who’d been here before, and I gave the knights a brief nod before hurrying after him.
“Wow, this is incredibly imposing.”
“Is it?”
He seemed unbothered, but I found myself eagerly studying the space left and right.
Ordinarily, a Neodymium takes the form of a black tower.
Four massive black pillars with sharp edges stretching vertically skyward.
But unlike a normal tower, these pillars shoot upward so sharply that they taper as they rise, culminating in a pointed spire at the top.
Central Neodymium, however, differs from ordinary Neodymiums—four black pillars form a square, creating a single outer wall, and within that inner space, a smaller set of pillars repeats the same pattern on a reduced scale.
As we moved toward the center, the pillars grew progressively shorter, until at the very heart they reached only to my waist.
“This was the space where the Core was kept, I’m told.”
The black pillar at the center, unlike the others, had a flat top and was truly rectangular, with a perfect circular indentation in its surface.
“The Core was kept in this groove?”
“That’s right. It was designed so that normal strength couldn’t remove it, yet somehow it was taken. And whoever did it evaded the knights stationed throughout—they must be incredibly skilled.”
I understood well enough that the skilled person he was referring to was my father, but for now I pretended otherwise and examined the groove.
“May I touch this?”
“Go ahead.”
With permission granted, I carefully ran my fingers along it. As I traced the edges of the groove, fine scratches that weren’t visible to the naked eye became apparent.
“What is it?”
“There’s a strange texture when you touch it here.”
“Really? I haven’t heard any reports of that.”
“It probably wasn’t noticed because it’s invisible to the eye—they wouldn’t have thought to feel it.”
The moment I withdrew my hand, Aidan removed his gloves and carefully felt the spot where my fingers had been.
“……I see. Quite a few, aren’t there? Looks like traces from when the Core was removed. I should have someone investigate these blade marks.”
“No, there’s no need. These marks—they’re definitely from my father.”
Invisible to the naked eye, yet fine as thread—the blade marks.
No one else in the entire Empire could have left traces like this but my father.
Had my father truly stolen the Core?
But why?
“I see.”
Aidan answered flatly, as though he’d anticipated this all along.
“Let’s look around a bit more.”
We examined the Central Neodymium from every angle.
We inspected all thirteen Neodymium units one by one, yet only the one in the very center bore blade marks.
“For all the grandiose title of Central Neodymium, it’s really just several ordinary Neodymium units arranged together.”
“Right. With the Core that amplifies and connects all these magnetic fields gone, it’s no different from any regular Neodymium.”
He let out a sigh and shook his head.
“There doesn’t seem to be any other leads.”
“What if we asked the knights?”
Aidan nodded at my suggestion.
“You there. Come here a moment.”
“Yes, sir.”
A knight approached quickly.
“Has anyone suspicious ever approached this place?”
“Good heavens, no. If anyone like that had shown up, we would have reported it immediately. That’s why we’re just as baffled.”
“How far do your regular patrols extend? Do you come this far inside?”
“Of course. We inspect the entire Neodymium facility every thirty minutes.”
“All of you?”
“That would be impossible! As you can see, we work in groups of five—two guard the entrance while three patrol the interior.”
The security was thorough.
I recalled the day my father last came to this place.
“Then on April 18th of this year, no one came by?”
“Hmm, well, it was a few months ago now…. Let me check who was on duty that day.”
He hurried off, and after some time returned with another man.
“This is the man who was on guard that day.”
The man who’d come with him bowed his head and recounted what had happened that day.
“I heard something from the back area that day. But everyone else said they hadn’t heard anything.”
“Did you go check directly?”
“I went with someone else to investigate, but there was indeed no one there. Everyone said I must have heard some animal noise. Small creatures like squirrels and rabbits do occasionally appear here, after all.”
“Where did you hear the sound coming from?”
“From the Neodymium in the center.”
“Was the Core still there that day?”
“Yes. The Core disappeared in June, as noted in the report.”
The Core had vanished just days before the academy graduation ceremony.
“All right, you’re dismissed.”
The two bowed and left to resume their posts.
“So in the end, all we’ve discovered is that my father is the one who took the Core—nothing else.”
“It’s strange that you expected to find it easily when all other traces have vanished, except for the diary.”
He delivered this assessment without much warmth.
Was it strange? Perhaps it was.
I couldn’t make sense of any of it.
In the end, what had my father done with the Core he’d taken?
Why had he collected it? What was he planning to do with a Core that increases magnetic force?
I racked my memory, but nowhere in my father’s diary or work log was there any mention of the Core.
“In any case, the fact that the Core is missing will be reported to the Emperor.”
“Yes, there’s no way around it.”
Even if my father was the culprit, no one else could know it for now.
Once my father returned, I could set things right.
“After that, a Core Special Investigation Unit will be formed.”
“An investigation unit?”
“Of course. You and I will be part of that unit.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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