Chapter 46: One Down (3)
Asan burst into laughter at that answer.
Cough, cough.
She coughed heavily, her whole body trembling.
What kind of absurd reason was this?
Just because.
Shin Dae-ho died for such a trivial reason.
‘And me too…….’
Asan bit her lip.
She pressed down on the wound with her power.
It couldn't heal the wound, but it could buy time.
"...Do you know what Shin Dae-ho did?"
"I do not know."
"That guy maintained neutrality."
"I do not understand what you mean."
My head tilted slightly.
"We, our factions... are many. The scars we received from the Empire... are different, so even though our goal is the same, we can't get along with each other. Shin Dae-ho played the role of reducing infighting among us and picking out the fakes. You, you killed many of us, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Right, you must have done it. You must have picked out the fakes."
"Is that so?"
I felt no interest.
What did it matter?
"We just... want revenge on the Empire. ......By any means necessary."
"Are you trying to attack by pretending to let your guard down?"
Asan's words grew longer, and the corners of my eyes also lengthened.
"Did you think... I wouldn't die after you split open my abdomen?"
Asan was dumbfounded.
If she had only been stabbed, she might have thought of escaping, but how could she handle having her belly ripped open to kill her?
She was just going to die.
That beast would surely tear at her neck.
"No. I attacked with the intent to kill. I merely asked because I did not understand why you were giving information."
"You killed Shin Dae-ho, and you're a Black Eagle. You deserve to hear it."
Asan smiled.
This whole situation was just laughable.
She had always thought she might die someday, but she hadn't expected it to be today.
"......What a waste."
Asan looked at me.
"I could have used you well. Honed you properly, used you as a blade against the Empire......"
Would it have been better if she had met me just a little sooner?
‘Shin Dae-ho must have known he was an experimental subject too.’
She was curious about how he had been used, but strength drained from her body.
She felt herself dying.
The guy slowly approached.
He looked down at her.
"What's your name?"
"Seo Hyeon-yul."
"......Hyeon-yul-ah."
Asan smiled, and I looked back with displeasure.
"The Empire created us. ......The Empire used us, and discarded us."
"You are all the same."
"Right. ...We're the same. To you, we're the same too."
Asan snickered.
Remorse.
She had no intention of feeling such a thing.
She just did it, so she merely acknowledged it.
"......Kill the Poison King. Screw over the bastard behind him. That guy is dangerous."
"Do you know about it?"
"If I didn't know, would I have fabricated the incident to look like the Poison King did it?"
Just as I thought.
I recalled the poison incident spread around the building.
The mastermind was indeed Asan.
"What is the password to the experimental site?"
"My name."
Asan found it hard to grasp her fading consciousness.
"......Choi Asan."
Asan was about to close her eyes but staggered and got up.
As I extended my dagger, Asan clutched her stomach and spoke.
"I have no intention... of struggling pathetically. I have no intention of begging for my life either."
Asan had resolved herself thus from the moment she pointed her blade at the Empire.
That even if she were to be killed by someone, she would not beg pitifully.
But just one thing lingered before her eyes.
Asan took a step forward.
"What are you doing?"
"......Going to meet my child. Cut off my head after that."
I didn't answer.
Asan walked, and I followed behind.
Even when Asan walked, staggered, and fell, I didn't help her up.
I merely followed like a grim reaper coming to take her last breath.
Amidst the chaos and overturned surroundings, there was one place left untouched.
A grave could be seen in front of a large tree.
Asan smiled brightly looking at it.
Before dying, she wanted to return here.
She always had.
‘My baby, Mommy... is here.’
Asan gazed at the place that felt so far away.
Life hadn't gone as she wished, but she wanted to choose death for herself.
"Do you know that?"
I spoke out.
At the heavy voice approaching, Asan slowly turned her head.
"You people are always truly disgusting."
I seized her with darkness.
"...What are you doing? I told you to kill me after I meet my child! That I would let you kill me."
Asan spoke, flustered.
She lost.
She didn't struggle, begging to be spared.
She obediently said she would let herself be killed.
What more could she do here?
"Great cause, justification, I do not understand such things in the slightest. Even if you did not create me, wouldn't you have driven someone's life to despair?"
In the most hopeful moment, the greatest despair often surged.
That was precisely now.
"You too, after turning people into monsters and dragging everything into the abyss, why are you smiling now?"
Asan's eyes widened as soon as she looked at me.
A very old anger stirred within me.
It felt as though that anger would burn everything.
"You intend to die happily in the end? Who permitted that?"
"......You!"
"Nameless drugs entered my body, I spewed blood countless times, and received countless blood transfusions again. They said extreme fear and despair were needed to create power, didn't they? What kind of experiments do you think were conducted? How many times do you think I died and came back to life?"
—What drugs were used, what experiments were done, how many times did the body explode, to what extent did the mind collapse. How on earth did you endure for decades.
Only then did Asan understand.
That this was the answer to the question she had asked just moments ago.
"Do you think my body only exploded dozens of times? Hundreds, thousands, no, even more times than that. Yet this hand, this foot, which became monstrous, they returned again if only drugs were injected. My mind? The brain circuits were all burned out by drugs, so I became unable to feel anything. Still, I remember just one thing."
I slit Asan's throat.
Keol-leok.
"I will kill all of you who had even the slightest hand in the experiments that create experimental subjects."
I looked down at the collapsing Asan.
Tears fell from her eyes.
"I endured with just that one thing."
They said that even after death, the auditory cells could survive until the very end.
Holding Asan's head, I smiled.
"The emotion you feel will be just a fraction of the despair I felt for countless hours."
Holding the head, I walked towards the grave.
「I love you forever. Choi Ah-ra.」
Looking at the name written on the grave, I placed Asan's head in front of it.
"...Ah, do not worry about the Poison King either. I will kill him."
I gave a light bow and turned my back.
I erased my blood that had fallen to the ground, my footprints.
‘...He must be agonizing over the interior design right now.’
Leaning against the bed, Jeong-min looked at his laptop.
Books related to interior design were scattered around him.
Had he only seen Hyeon-yul once or twice?
He pretended not to, but why wouldn't Jeong-min know that Hyeon-yul desperately wanted a home entirely his own?
No matter how many times he suggested living together, the answer was always the same.
—You will be in danger, Doctor.
‘I wish… I had the ability to buy him a house too.’
He had talked big to Hyeon-yul, but his financial situation wasn't great.
Because he secretly bought medicine with his own money, his wallet was always empty.
Kung.
The sound of something falling was heard.
Startled, Jeong-min got up from the bed.
‘...What was that?’
His own ability was insignificant.
He could only erase his presence as much as he held his breath.
It was insignificant, but today it was incredibly welcome.
Jeong-min held his breath and carefully opened the door to look outside.
Someone was collapsed in the living room.
Seeing the spilled blood, Jeong-min felt his heart drop.
"......Hyeon-yul-ah?"
Jeong-min approached.
No way.
As Jeong-min reached out his hand, Hyeon-yul turned his head.
"...I apologize, Doctor. I tried to handle it myself, but the bleeding wouldn't stop."
His body trembled, but seeing my indifferent expression, Jeong-min suppressed the surging emotions.
He simply went into the room familiarly and gathered medical supplies.
"...I can't deal with you, really."
Jeong-min treated me while lamenting.
Sometimes.
Very occasionally, things like this happened.
He should have asked what I had done, but he couldn't bring himself to.
He already knew what Hyeon-yul desired.
If he asked, he would surely try to stop me.
He could tell just by looking at this body that it was dangerous work.
"...Doctor."
"......"
"I apologize."
"Don't apologize. There's no need."
"It is always surprising that even a body like this needs blood."
I looked up at the ceiling.
By tomorrow, I would recover to some extent.
Because it was a body developed for experiments, the recovery speed was brutally fast.
To think I wasn't human, yet had to maintain a human form to live.
Such ambiguously remaining aspects always shook me.
"That's natural for a human. Stop talking nonsense and close your eyes."
At Jeong-min's angry voice, I smiled.
"Did you take your medicine?"
"...No."
"I can't deal with you, really."
As Jeong-min's lament continued, I looked at him.
"Doctor. Still, I did not become a monster until the very end."
With Asan's death, everything came to an end.
I didn't want to fuel the anger beyond death itself.
So I buried her with her child and prayed for her soul.
Because even though I was a monster, I didn't want to be one.
"...This is the right thing, isn't it?"
"That's the right thing."
Jeong-min answered as always, without knowing anything.
"But I do not feel anything."
Relief.
Serves her right.
Not even such light emotions.
Not even the heavy feeling of having achieved partial revenge.
It was just quiet.
"It is truly difficult not to become a monster. Is it like that for other people too?"
"It's the same. They feel the difficulty just like you. Living well is always difficult."
"Is that so?"
"Life is like that. You, Hyeon-yul, are living well."
"I hope so."
As drowsiness washed over me like being forced into sleep mode, I closed my eyes.
‘......Difficult.’
Jeong-min looked at Hyeon-yul.
He was the one who told Hyeon-yul not to become a monster.
He was grateful that Hyeon-yul diligently adhered to it, but seeing him agonize over it truly broke his heart.
‘Still, you deserve a smack!’
Jeong-min lightly slapped Hyeon-yul's forehead.
That was that, but getting into fights somewhere was a different matter.
He really couldn't deal with this.
"...Mr. Hyeon-yul."
Hae-ryeon stared intently at me.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you say anything yesterday?"
‘Yesterday…?’
I blinked.
What was she talking about?
My wounds were almost healed, and I had hidden the minor ones well.
‘After killing Asan, I should have handled the cleanup thoroughly.’
It wasn't like I had done this once or twice; I hadn't handled the aftermath carelessly.
"When you went out for support, why didn't you report that Team 5 treated you badly?"
‘Ah.’
Only then did I recall the one thing I had missed.
"They said they would accept disciplinary action on their own. I thought that was sufficient."
"Right, that's exactly the problem. I only found out about that incident because the topic of disciplinary action came up."
The Team 5 leader position was currently vacant.
Since it was unknown who would become the team leader, the team member with the most seniority there brought up the disciplinary matter to her instead.
It was baffling.
Because it was a story she knew nothing about.
"I believe the rumors will not disappear anyway."
"No. I want to catch those rumors."
Why.
I didn't know the reason, but I answered anyway.
"I will report properly starting next time."
"And Mr. Hyeon-yul."
"Yes."
"Did anything happen yesterday?"
"Nothing happened."
"Really...?"
Hae-ryeon narrowed her eyes.
Somehow, my complexion looked different.
"Are your wounds okay? Do they hurt a lot?"
"No."
"Alright. Let's just do light work today."
Hae-ryeon smiled brightly, and I just blinked.
Light work.
I didn't know what that was.
"Could you wait just a moment? We need to decide when everyone arrives."
"Decide what?"
"Mr. Hyeon-yul, you're currently in your probationary period. We need to choose one person to accompany you. They're probably all rushing over here right about now?"
Hae-ryeon laughed loudly as if imagining the future.
She openly said she would assign easy work.
Who would dislike this?
The door opened urgently.
"...I'm first place, right?"
Na-yoon wiped her sweat and confidently raised the corners of her mouth.
"You're first if you exclude Mr. Hyeon-yul."
Hae-ryeon nodded.
"Hyeon-yul-ah. Usually, missions like this are done with the person who arrives first."
"Is that so?"
"Of course, of course."
Na-yoon nodded her head several times.
"Let's go together with Noona."
Just as Na-yoon beamed, rough footsteps were heard.
"Where do you think you're pulling this scam?"
Na-yoon jumped in surprise at Shin-woo's voice.
Turning her head, she saw Shin-woo staring murderously.
"You... dirty trickster, you didn't tell me about the 'hallway cleaning duty' note?"
"You should have read it yourself. Can't you read? Should I teach you?"
Na-yoon scoffed at Shin-woo.
What was the point of having eyes if you didn't use them?
"This is a mission. Who decides missions based on 1st or 2nd place?"
Na-yoon reacted incredulously to Shin-woo's words.
"If you had come in 1st, you would have said the exact same thing as me, right?"
"Right."
Shin-woo nodded.
Weren't words supposed to follow the situation?
"Your audacity is unbelievable. Anyway, since I arrived first, I'm going with Hyeon-yul."
"......?"
I looked back and forth between Shin-woo and Na-yoon.
Was it alright for them to decide so arbitrarily?
‘The decision-maker should be the Team Leader.’
When I looked at Hae-ryeon, she seemed to be enjoying the situation.
‘Is this fun?’
I simply watched.
While Na-yoon and Shin-woo were bickering, Ji-hwan approached.
Ha.
He sighed, sensing he was late.
Glancing over once, he cautiously spoke up.
"...Hyung, Noona. Can't we just do rock-paper-scissors?"
"Let's do it!"
"Do it!"
Na-yoon and Shin-woo answered simultaneously.
At the instantly changed atmosphere, I looked at Ji-hwan.
‘......After the Team Leader, is Mr. Ye Ji-hwan the real power broker?’
"...Hahaha!"
Shin-woo laughed loudly.
He had won fair and square at rock-paper-scissors.
To get assigned such an easy mission.
Seeing everyone look at him with envious eyes, he couldn't feel better.
"You're happy too, going with me, right?"
Shin-woo asked, grinning slyly.
"Anyone would have been fine."
"In times like these, you should just answer 'Yes, I am happy'."
"...Ah. I will remember that."
"I'll teach you other things too, so look at me when you're in trouble."
Shin-woo pointed to himself with his thumb.
"Then, may I ask?"
"Ask anything."
"This mission is a corporate investigation, what exactly does that entail?"
"......Shhh. Shush."
Shin-woo immediately placed his index finger on his lips.
Looking around, I realized I had mentioned the mission too openly.
Right now, they were outside not as Black Eagles, but as civil servants.
It was also something that shouldn't be said on a crowded street.
I nodded and closed my lips.