Chapter 117 – Black Root (23)
“…Morning?”
“…Yeah.”
“What did we do yesterday? I don’t remember anything…”
“Oh my, me neither.”
Seohee, shooting suspicious glances at me, subtly tries to pry about what happened yesterday.
Having experienced the blue power herself, she probably thinks I did something.
Of course, that’s true, but… she doesn’t seem to have any solid proof yet, so I play dumb.
Unlike her daughter, Soyul is tidying up her disheveled hair from last night’s activities,
wearing an innocent smile as if she knows nothing.
“Mom was drunk from the medicine yesterday and fell asleep, so that’s understandable,
but why don’t I have any memories? Surely, I turned Mom into one of our kind and…”
“That’s right, that. Soyul, how does your head feel? Anything strange…”
Seohee, still suspicious, mutters to herself while deep in thought,
and I use that as an excuse to naturally change the subject. She looks angry that I interrupted her…
But getting hit by her is better than being caught using my abilities on her.
I pointedly ignore Seohee, who is glaring at me with sharper eyes than before, and look at Soyul.
“…Hmm, I don’t feel particularly strange. It feels like I’m not myself, but I am.
But besides that feeling, I also feel a little different from usual♡
I’ve realized that the ‘me’ up until now was pathetic and weak even to my own eyes…
And I’ve also realized how indifferent I’ve been to Seohee until now…♡”
…Soyul looks at her daughter with moist eyes, even after what happened last night.
Perhaps it’s because of the addictive drug, she was already a mother who cherished Seohee dearly,
but thanks to the addictive nature of the drug Seohee made, she’s showing an almost obsessive affection for Seohee.
She seems to be harboring feelings that she shouldn’t have for her own daughter…
But Seohee herself doesn’t seem to dislike it.
Rather, she’s satisfied and subtly smiling.
“…”
In the space where a strange atmosphere is felt, I quietly observe the two of them.
Soyul has finally met her daughter, whom she had longed for, and has become close in ‘another’ sense as well.
Similarly, Seohee, who, unlike other parasites, didn’t have a firm sense of her own existence,
has finally found a true parent who can understand her more than anyone else.
…It would be rude to sit here cluelessly.
Especially since it hasn’t been long since Soyul obtained a human body,
so this situation might be confusing for her.
“…Then I’ll go in now.”
“What, are you leaving already?”
“Oh my, that’s right. You could stay a little longer.”
“…I didn’t tell them I was staying out, so I’ll get scolded if I go back late.
Ah, right. And Soyul, you’re much older than me, so please speak comfortably.”
“…Hehe, then I’ll drop the formalities next time we meet.”
The kind smile she showed when I first met Soyul and talked to her.
She gives me a smile with something different mixed in and waves her hand.
I say goodbye to Seohee, who sees me off to the front door, and leave her house.
“…Seriously, I hope those two don’t overdo it.”
Thanks to the insight gained through the green fruit, I can’t just overlook even the smallest things.
I unconsciously caught the small changes in them during their short conversation.
Subtle changes in breathing, trembling of lips, movements of muscles…
Is it because of their mother-daughter relationship? Or is there something that attracts the original body owners to each other?
I couldn’t know for sure, but one thing is certain: the two of them are horny for each other.
“…If I sit there and get caught up in it, I’ll end up like yesterday again.”
I know myself best. If I see that scene with my own eyes, I don’t have the confidence to endure it.
Then I’ll become a beast that leaves my body to instinct and waste another day.
Honestly, I want to… no, let’s be firm, there’s an important task coming up soon…
Regaining my composure, I open the door at the end of the endless staircase,
and step out into the dirty exterior of the run-down villa.
————————————
“…Something’s wrong, it’s too strange.”
“…”
An unpleasant sensation of stuffiness digging into my ears.
I tap my head, which is ringing as if water has gotten into my ears.
Even so, the tinnitus-like sound doesn’t stop.
Ms. Minjung is just following me without saying anything in response to my words.
She and I are now standing in front of the main gate of the research association’s Busan branch.
“…How is it? Ms. Minjung.”
“…There are no reactions felt inside this building.”
The strange, very strange sensation that has been lingering around us since earlier.
The sea in front of us reflects the sunlight, stinging our eyes,
and on that sea stands a building of enormous size.
Of course, it can’t be said to be as large as the Seoul branch…
But that’s why it’s strange.
No life reactions are detected inside this large structure.
It’s absurd that there aren’t even laboratory mice, which are common in laboratories,
or even the reactions of small insects.
I quietly wondered if they had set a trap to catch me and were waiting for me to set foot in the lab,
or if there was some kind of strange scheme, but that’s not it either.
After setting up a residence close enough to observe the lab,
I had been monitoring it for a full week, but I didn’t see a single person entering or leaving the lab,
and even when I cautiously revealed myself here because I felt uneasy…
“…”
There’s no attempt to catch me or kill me.
It’s as if all the humans inside the building have evaporated, leaving only emptiness.
“…There’s no choice but to go in.”
I have no information about the Busan branch.
What I’m about to do is absurdly dangerous.
But I can’t just wait here for Chanwoo to arrive.
“Ms. Minjung, find a way to get in…”
“…”
“Who are you?”
I turned my head to order Ms. Minjung to scout.
There stood a man with his shirt unbuttoned.
Ms. Minjung, who had noticed his presence before I even turned my head, swung her electric baton first.
“…I asked who you are.”
The man casually grabs the steel rod carrying a high-voltage special current.
Seriously, seriously, seriously, what the hell are the people at this branch making?
There’s not much information to be gained about this man’s identity,
but I realized it from the man’s words and attire.
There’s no way a sane person would unbutton their shirt halfway and go to work just to show off their body.
In other words, he’s not an ordinary researcher trying to go to work at the lab.
If he were such a crazy person pursuing freedom, there’s no way he wouldn’t know me.
He wouldn’t ask me ‘who are you’ without knowing about the kill order given to all the researchers.
There’s no way he’d say it with such gravitas.
And this man is not an ordinary human.
His hand is being burned by the special current that worked on Chanwoo…
But his complexion hasn’t changed, and not even an eyebrow is twitching.
If he were a test subject, I would know because I have all of them memorized.
….Unless he’s a confidential test subject of a level that I haven’t been reported to.
So, the conclusion I’ve come to is that this man is something that the people at this lab made.
“I surrender~”
“…Are you kidding me?”
“I’m not kidding. Ms. Minjung, put down your weapon too.”
“…Yes.”
Ms. Minjung drops her weapon from her hand at my command.
I exaggeratedly raise my hands above my head to show that I have no intention of fighting.
I really have no intention of fighting. A monster that Ms. Minjung can’t even notice has returned behind us.
What can we do to defeat a monster that our weapons don’t work on?
Fighting now would be a dog’s death, nothing more, nothing less.
“…I will verify your identities.”
“Yes, please do. There’s an employee ID in my inside pocket….”
“…Jung Awoon, and you are Seoul Branch’s Number 4, right?”
“Wow, you’re smart.”
I don’t know what he did, but after briefly scanning me and Ms. Minjung,
the man rattles off my name and Ms. Minjung’s recognition number as a bio-weapon.
The man crushes the electric baton he was holding with one hand and says,
“…Why did you come here?”
“Just because.”
“Speak properly.”
“It seems like you’re plotting to cut off my head here. I came to check.”
It seems like ordinary excuses won’t work.
The man has been speaking in a calm and dignified voice since earlier.
The man looks at me and then passes between me and Ms. Minjung.
He stands in front of the building’s entrance without saying anything and…
“…Follow me.”
“…Is the voice thing your concept?”
He coldly looks back at us and goes inside the building.
“…What should we do?”
“…”
Ms. Minjung asks me for a plan.
Certainly, we can’t rule out the possibility that this is also a trap.
We have no information on this side…
“…Of course, we have to go in.”
That’s why we have to go in.
Even if we escape from here and save our lives, we’ll still be helpless without information.
Then the only remaining method is for me to go in and gather information myself.
“…I understand.”
An ordinary person would feel fear, but she nods calmly,
and Ms. Minjung tries to follow me in without the slightest hesitation.
“Wait a minute, Ms. Minjung.”
I extend my palm to stop her.
