This time, I had Liberty and Victory meet each other in a relatively controlled setting.
By some miracle, the two of them just stared at each other the way a cow stares at a chicken.
Honestly, even that much counted as a resounding success, so I let out a quiet sigh of relief —
— and was about to go straight to Liberty to ask what she thought.
That's when the problem decided to show up.
Clank!!
The moment Liberty climbed up onto me, a sudden rattling of chains came from the other side.
I slowly turned my head in that direction, and there was Victory — who had been perfectly docile just moments ago — staring at Liberty with unmistakable jealousy in her eyes.
Probably a personality shift.
Liberty, still clinging to me, was oddly quiet.
I tried to figure out why right away, but she had buried her face into my shoulder, so I couldn't see her expression.
After that, in the silence that settled over the meeting space, Liberty made a move to bite me like she usually did.
But Victory, from the other side, called out loudly.
"Maxwell! That one's lying!!"
"Pardon?"
"She was just looking at me and laughing!!"
Liberty? Really?
Sure, it did seem like Liberty's hidden intelligence surfaced when she got angry.
I checked the face of the one clinging to me.
"Papa?"
"Hmm…."
Liberty tilted her head with an expression of absolute innocence.
But watching Liberty act like a puppy, Victory looked like she was about to lose her mind from frustration.
'So she actually has her wits about her right now, and she's just pretending to be an animal?'
The experiments on Liberty had been suspended because of me, so it was possible her intelligence was still reasonably intact.
And if she wanted to survive as a test subject in Black Cell, Liberty's judgment was sound.
The problem was that other researchers were watching from outside, so for now I decided to play along with her act.
After that, Victory sulked enormously, and I tried to put Liberty down —
— but unlike before, Liberty squirmed and wriggled against me and refused to budge.
She was far stronger than me to begin with, so forcing her off was simply not an option.
I found myself facing a complete and total disaster.
In the end, I resorted to the last option available: ending the meeting.
Beep!!
"Victory! I'm going to take Liberty back and leave right away!!"
I pulled the remote from my pocket and lowered the black curtain again.
As our figures slowly disappeared from view, Victory — on the other side — launched into a frantic stream of warnings: don't let him fool you, don't get bewitched by that dog, and every other variation she could think of, all in an increasingly desperate voice.
Liberty, on the other hand, became perfectly calm the moment Victory was out of sight.
"Liberty, why did you do that just now?"
"Whimper…?"
She was still wearing that face of complete and utter innocence.
Still, she had made things complicated, so I settled for giving her cheek a light pinch.
Then I undid Liberty's shackles and immediately sent a signal to the outside.
I was about to take her back to her cell, and I'd already warned everyone in advance: if they didn't want to get torn apart by this little wolf, they'd better stay out of sight.
When I stepped outside carrying Liberty, there was no one around.
Liberty, with her exceptional sense of smell, had clearly noticed the researchers hiding nearby.
But thankfully, she stayed perfectly well-behaved all the way until we reached her cell.
"I'll come back later, so wait for me."
"Woof woof!!!"
Liberty let out a bark that seemed to mean she'd be waiting to see me again.
I gave her one last pat and then ran back to the lab.
By the time I returned to my original position, panting for breath, the other researchers seemed to have gone off to do their own work.
There was no sign of anyone nearby.
The white rabbit alone in the meeting space was in a very foul mood, so it was fair to say everyone had made the right call.
Regardless, I walked back into the lab without even catching my breath —
— and found Victory inside, thoroughly sulking.
So their first meeting had ended in failure after all.
I was approaching Victory with a slightly bitter feeling when she spoke.
"Why don't you talk casually with me the way you do with the others?"
A cold sweat ran down my back at the white rabbit's chilled gaze.
****************
Just as Gloria and Liberty had fought the moment they first met —
this meeting made it abundantly clear that the children's possessiveness and jealousy were beyond anything I had imagined.
Of course, when I thought about what lay inside each of them — a bed, an empty cell, and nothing but me — I couldn't help but understand why they acted the way they did.
Regardless, I spent the rest of the time coaxing and soothing a deeply sulking Victory.
"So, Victory — would you prefer I talk to you casually like this?"
"Yes… yes!! Please keep doing that from now on!!"
This meeting with Liberty was one of the foundations being laid for us to eventually live together.
And seeing me burst back into the lab out of breath seemed to help, because Victory's mood lifted quickly —
and the moment I dropped the formal speech entirely, just like with Liberty, she returned to a state of pure happiness.
Now that Victory — whose mood and personality could flip in an instant — had settled down, I undid her shackles just as I had done with Liberty.
I was going to carry Victory back to her cell the same way I'd brought her to the lab, but the moment we stepped outside, there was someone I really didn't want to see.
"Maxwell, you're a lot more proactive than I expected."
"Director?"
The Director was standing just outside, surrounded by her agents.
She glanced at Victory in my arms, then gave a deeply satisfied smile.
"Even without me telling you to, you're treating her with such care."
"In the end, sincerity is all that remains."
"Sincerity… I suppose that's true."
I had no idea how she interpreted my words, but the Director seemed to reach her own conclusion and gave a small nod.
My concern was how Victory would react to seeing the Director — but as it turned out, the two already knew each other.
"Victory, is Maxwell's embrace really that wonderful?"
"Mmm-hmm…."
"Hehe, how adorable."
In a way, they had the air of an older and younger sister.
But when I thought about the ability the Director was after, a rather concise impression came to mind.
'Like a witch fattening up a child to eat her.'
Of course, in the future, Black Cell would collapse from within, Victory would escape, and the Director would go on to build an entirely different criminal organization — so the witch would never get to devour the white rabbit.
But right now, hadn't Victory become remarkably docile, all thanks to me?
I had no idea what that sociopath might do, so I'd need to stay prepared at all times.
After that, the Director — apparently having come purely to observe — offered her encouragement to me and Victory, then told me to come by her office later.
"Again?"
"My, do you dislike my attention that much?"
"I'm truly sorry, but I doubt there's a single subordinate anywhere in the world who enjoys being summoned by their superior."
"Tsk… you always have something clever to say. Anyway, this time it's not about work — it's a meeting, so don't worry."
"That is work."
The witch who understood nothing of human hearts departed.
Afterward, as I carried Victory back to her cell and we talked, she told me about her relationship with the Director.
"Director Eileen gave me my name!"
"Is that so?"
"Yes!"
Like Gloria and Liberty, most test subjects here were given names in the style of code designations.
But Victory had been brought in personally by the Director, who had apparently given her a proper name of her own.
And the meaning of Victory's name was, of course, 'victor.'
When I considered that alongside Director Eileen's ambitions…
The witch had wanted to become the true victor herself.
****************
The meeting between Liberty and Victory had wrapped up, one way or another.
I went straight to Gloria to tell her about it.
Somewhat to my surprise, she showed genuine interest.
"…So what you said before was actually true."
"Have I ever lied to you?"
I gave a small smile, and Gloria opened her mouth as if to say something — then stopped.
Instead, she seemed very taken with the soft blanket I'd bought her recently, and she sprawled out lazily across her bed.
But if we were all going to live together someday, I needed to start planting the seed now.
Laying out the full plan at once would only create enormous resistance, so I approached it from an angle.
"Gloria, is it that you simply don't want to go outside?"
"I just don't like things that are a hassle."
Gloria's answer was as vague as ever, but I made her a promise.
"I can say with certainty that you'll have a better life than the one you have here."
"…………."
Instead of answering, Gloria turned her head to face the other way.
Still, the fact that her range of reactions had grown compared to before was something to be grateful for.
She seemed to want to be alone with her thoughts, so I quietly slipped out of her cell.
The problem was that I had to go see the Director again…
What could someone barely a year into the job possibly contribute to a meeting?
I couldn't imagine being anything more than a seat-filler.
Dreading another late night, I made my way up to the Director's office — and found Secretary Min Chae-rin looking utterly exhausted.
She was still at her desk, unable to leave, working away at her computer. I looked at her with a sympathetic eye.
She must have noticed me too, because our gazes met.
"…………."
"…………."
Perhaps subordinates who couldn't go home because of a demanding boss simply understood each other on a deeper level.
Secretary Min Chae-rin gave me an encouraging nod of acknowledgment and then contacted the Director's office.
Click.
"Mr. Maxwell, the Director says you may come in."
"Understood. Take care of yourself."
With a heavy heart, I stepped through the door.
Inside the stark office, the workaholic was still buried in paperwork —
and the moment she heard my footsteps, she rose from her seat and turned to greet me.
"Did you get to see all the children?"
"They were all in good health. But why are you holding a meeting at this hour?"
"Because it's not important. That's why we're doing it now."
The Director gathered the various materials for the meeting and explained why she'd called me.
"To summarize broadly — you're looking to expand Black Cell's external activities. Wouldn't it make more sense to discuss that with the other executives rather than me?"
"After what happened last time, the other staff will obviously just tell me what I want to hear. That's why I need your input for this meeting."
So she called me because I always speak my mind.
It felt like I was signing up for more trouble again —
but then I thought back to the academy entrance ceremony: the hardships the heroes faced, and the unpolished gems I'd spotted who hadn't yet had their chance to shine.
And besides, the Director herself had said this wasn't an important meeting.
This seemed like exactly the right moment to bring those things up, so I followed her out.