Chapter 68 | Two Weeks To End It!

Chapter 68: Chapter 68 | Two Weeks To End It!

Han Dori was quiet for a moment.

"I was at the original expedition assessment briefing," he said. "Three years ago. Not as an assessor — I was a junior liaison for the licensing board. Observing. It was a routine joint-family expedition briefing. Nothing unusual on the surface." He paused. "But I knew one of the expedition members. Personally."

Kai waited.

"C-rank support hero," Han Dori said. "She was in the expedition’s secondary team. She didn’t make it out."

The room was quiet.

"I started looking into the expedition classification after," Han Dori said. "Informally. On my own time. The dual classification reports — I found the discrepancy eight months after the incident. By then the dungeon was sealed, the official record was clean, and the surviving heroines were — contained." He looked at his hands on the desk. "I filed the Foundation complaint because it was the only thing I could do without a license or an investigation mandate. Remove one of the coordinating parties from the oversight board. Create a gap in their institutional cover."

"It worked," Kai said.

"Partially," Han Dori said. "They were removed. But I still didn’t have enough to act on the rest of it." He looked at Kai. "Then your application came through. An unclassified applicant requesting combat performance pathway assessment. Former Renmei family. Married to Shira Voss and Mira Elys."

"You saw the connection," Kai said.

"I saw the name combination on the filing," Han Dori said. "I pulled the expedition roster. Their names were on it." He paused. "And then I agreed to take your assessment."

Kai looked at him.

"The canyon correction," Kai said. "You filed it the same day as the preliminary evaluation."

"I should have filed it three years ago," Han Dori said. "I didn’t have standing then. When your application gave me a reason to pull the expedition files officially—" He stopped. "It was the first thing I corrected."

The room was quiet for a moment.

Denko opened the folder on his lap.

"The documentation," Denko said. "Han Dori has the dual classification report comparison — original and altered. He has the expedition authorization chain showing the Ashford oversight board seat approving the joint-family framework. He has the Foundation’s involvement in post-incident containment management. And he has something we don’t have yet."

Kai looked at Han Dori.

Han Dori reached into the stack and pulled a single document.

He put it on the desk.

"Witness testimony," Han Dori said. "From the one other expedition survivor. Not a heroine. A junior equipment technician. He was near the entrance when the escalation hit — even closer than Shira Voss and Mira Elys. He saw the reclassification notification appear on the dungeon interface before the defensive responses activated."

Kai looked at the document.

"He saw it happen in real time," Kai said.

"He saw the dungeon reclassify from S-rank to SSS-rank mid-expedition," Han Dori said. "Which is not how dungeon reclassification works. Dungeon classification is set at gate assessment, before entry. It cannot reclassify mid-expedition unless someone with administrative access to the classification system intervenes remotely."

"Someone triggered it from outside," Kai said.

"Someone with Ashford family classification authority access triggered it after the expedition was already inside," Han Dori said. "The technician saw the notification. He’s been willing to testify for three years but had no one to testify to."

Denko put his folder on the desk.

"Combined with the supply chain trace from the dampener device, the oversight board documentation, and the expedition roster showing deliberate targeting — the case is substantial," Denko said. "Not airtight yet. But substantial."

Kai looked at the table of documents.

"The node," Kai said. "The Resonance node inside the dungeon. That’s what the Ashford family has been protecting."

Han Dori looked at him sharply.

"You know about the node," Han Dori said.

"My wives know about the node," Kai said. "Shira has route geometry from inside the dungeon before the escalation. Mira has frequency bearing — she felt the node’s signal through her Resonance Gift. Combined they give an approximate zone."

Han Dori was still.

"That’s what I’ve been missing," he said quietly. "I knew the node existed from the expedition briefing documents. I couldn’t locate it without interior data." He looked at Kai. "Your wives can locate it."

"Approximately," Kai said. "Close enough to document."

Han Dori looked at the stack of documents.

"If the node is documented and entered into the hero authority record," he said, "the Ashford family loses the ability to keep it private. The unsealing application becomes a matter of public interest, not private petition. That changes the entire legal framework."

"It becomes something they can’t bury," Kai said.

"It becomes something the hero association has a mandate to investigate," Han Dori said. "Which means the Ashford family’s classification alteration becomes a criminal matter under hero authority jurisdiction, not just a civil one."

Denko was writing rapidly.

"Timeline," Kai said. "How long to make the evidence chain airtight."

"Two weeks," Han Dori said. "The witness testimony needs to be formally recorded. The supply chain trace needs one more layer of documentation. The oversight board connection needs the Ashford family’s administrative access logs — Denko is working that."

"Two weeks," Kai said.

"Two weeks," Han Dori confirmed. "Then we file simultaneously — the unsealing application and the criminal complaint. Both at the same time. If we file sequentially they can challenge the first before the second is lodged."

"Simultaneous filing," Kai said.

"Simultaneous," Denko said. "I can coordinate the administrative side. Han Dori handles the hero authority filing. You provide your wives’ testimony."

Kai looked at the documents.

"They’ll agree," he said.

"I know," Han Dori said.

Kai looked at him.

"The woman who didn’t make it out," Kai said. "The support hero."

Han Dori looked at his hands on the desk.

"She was a good hero," he said. Quietly. "She would have been better."

The room was quiet.

"Two weeks," Kai said.

"Two weeks," Han Dori said.

=====

He was home by noon.

He hung his jacket on the hook.

From the living room — Shira’s rhythm, the deliberate quality. She was at the window.

From Mira’s room — still. The particular stillness of someone waiting.

He went to the living room first.