Tao was elated that a miracle did happen.

After school, the children came to play over at the chairman's house and he could hear the sound of Ikhan's laughter again!

The noblesse have a truly incredible ability. For memory erasure to be possible without any problems...

The Union-supplied drug causes problems for the brain cells, and because it erases all memories of a specific period, it would leave an empty vacuum in their minds...

Instead, they had completely forgotten only the supernatural elements, replacing them with the hypnotic story supplied by the Headmaster, the details filled in by the children's individual imaginations.

"So," Ikhan checked, "you two are relatives?"

"Yes," Takeo answered, "Though our nationalities are different since our family is so cosmopolitan."

Shinwoo nodded, making sense of the new information, "Your names even sound similar."

"It's really fascinating how Shinwoo and Yuna know Tao's cousin."

They were like one big family now! Tao never imagined having the feeling of family before.

"Haha~" Takeo was enjoying himself freely now, "If it wasn't for you two, I would have been in a very difficult position. To meet my rescuers, Shinwoo the beast and the very sexy lady Yuna, here like this..."

The girl named Suyi spit out her drink at the crude descriptions of her friends.

Takeo kept going, unperturbed, "And, it's not only miss Yuna—even miss Suyi has a killer body."

Ta-Takeo? Tao didn't think his jokes would ever come back to haunt him like this.

"Perhaps it's because miss Suyi is an entertainer," he smiled in her direction, "but your hotness shines even more brilliantly..."

Tao had to cover his mouth from the laugher that threatened to leap from his lips.

"I can't listen to this anymore!" Regis snapped first, "How can you speak about such crass things!"

"Crass?" Takeo was confused, "My words?"

Takeo didn't know what crass meant.

"Of course," Regis fumed, "Are you saying there is nothing wrong with using such crass expressions in front of ladies?"

"Takeo." M-21 piqued, "Where did you learn Korean?"

Uh-oh.

"Me?" Takeo tapped his head, "I learned it from Tao..."

Tao couldn't hold it any more. His body was shaking, keuk keuk...

"Uh," he turned to his new 'cousin,' whispering, "Actually..."

"?"

"Crass," he switched to Japanese, "means rude, vulgar or insensitive, and calling a lady, especially a girl who's still in school and under-age," he switched back to Korean, "hot and sexy," and back to Japanese, "doesn't mean cute and sweet, it means 'killer body' or 'sweet chunk of meat'; something only a man would say to make her feel uncomfortable. Such comments are culturally designed to objectify their bodies, reducing their value to only physical appearance and sex in late night bars."

Poor Takeo. He really had no idea what he was saying. Haha...

The normally uptight man trembled in shame, "What have I done?"

"It's okay~" Tao comforted him, "It's okay~" He was a foreigner, it was forgiveable.

Still, the likelihood Takeo would ever show enthusiasm for learning another language from Tao... Well, Tao could live with that. M-21 was hiding his amusement as well.

Too bad Tao's search for M-21's origins led him to a dead end. It bothered Tao that someone higher up in the Union outmatched him. He made a mental note to spend some time every now and then to see if he could hack Crombel for the information. It was most unfortunate M-21 had such a... a code, not a real name. Tao would definitely look further into it, as best he can. If the man left only one survivor from his visit to South Korea, he must've been up to something. Crombel would certainly keep that information somewhere secret, so he could taunt M-21 about it. Just as how Dr. Arith and Yuriy continued to elude him about his origins.

Tao looked at all the smiling faces he was currently surrounded by.

He decided he didn't need to know who he used to be. It no longer mattered. He wasn't going to be taunted, Tao thought, it would spoil the cheery mood and bright atmosphere. He had found harmony and happiness for the time being. He was Tao now, to the children. He could be himself with them. That's what mattered.

Sometimes it's just more convenient to left go of the past, even with loose ends dangling, and focus on making the most of the present, with hope for a brighter future.