“Tsk.”
Wi Seokwoo clicked his tongue lightly and removed his hand from Yeojin’s face.
“Why are you bleeding so disgustingly?”
Saying that, he shook his hand to shake off the blood. Yeojin panted with his head thrown back. The direct stimulation had disappeared, but the stimulation that had stirred through his body remained, making his body intermittently twitch and tremble.
In this state, it was hard to breathe, so he barely squeezed out his remaining strength to lift his head that had been thrown back. He felt like dying. It wasn’t exaggeration—he really felt like he was going to die.
“Seo Haeju, you’re really not coming? Even though the Doctor you like so much is in pain?”
Wi Seokwoo muttered into the air. He seemed like a crazy bastard.
“Seo Haeju!”
He finally raised his voice. The loud shout became a physical vibration and echoed all around. Sounds of things breaking and shattering could be heard one after another. Discarded appliances like refrigerators and washing machines rolling on the floor also burst with bangs. Everything around was noisily destroyed except for the space where Yeojin was tied up.
It was warning shots, so to speak. A situation where there was no intention to kill the target, only to threaten.
That crazy bastard. That fucking lunatic. Yeojin cursed all kinds of profanities in his mind.
If, truly on the off chance, Haeju was hiding nearby, he absolutely must not appear right now. It would be like throwing himself to be caught. But no voice came out. He had no strength left to speak.
Fortunately, no one appeared during the whole commotion here and there. Soon, the surroundings became quiet as if nothing had happened.
Tsk. The sound of Wi Seokwoo clicking his tongue once again could be heard. Buzz, buzz—the sound of a phone vibrating rang out in the quiet space. It must be Wi Seokwoo’s phone. It seemed to be a text rather than a call, as Wi Seokwoo looked at his phone and muttered lowly.
“If we wait, he’ll show up eventually.”
The content of the text message didn’t seem pleasant, as thick wrinkles formed on Wi Seokwoo’s smooth brow. Soon Wi Seokwoo took his eyes off the phone, looked at Yeojin, and smiled brightly.
“It hurt a bit, right? The feeling of someone stirring your brain—that must have been really shitty.”
Yeojin glared at Wi Seokwoo while gasping for breath with his mouth open.
“Next time I’ll lightly break your fingers one by one.”
He says such things so cheerfully. “Lightly” my frozen ass.
“Seo Haeju will have to come before all ten fingers are broken, right?”
“You, I’ll, ha, haah. Kill you, cough cough.”
He squeezed out all his strength and barely dragged out his voice, but ultimately couldn’t finish his sentence. A violent cough burst out.
“Rest up. I’ll come again.”
Wi Seokwoo patted the shoulder of Yeojin, who was jerking his whole body while coughing, then turned his back and walked away. He wanted to hurl curses at that crazy bastard’s back, but the coughing wouldn’t stop easily. It was such violent coughing that he thought he might break a rib.
How long did he cough? As soon as the coughing finally subsided, wheezing breaths mixed with metallic sounds leaked from his mouth.
“Son of a bitch…”
He belatedly uttered a curse, but Wi Seokwoo, who should have heard the curse, had disappeared.
***
He must have dozed off for a moment.
At the sensation of something sharp repeatedly poking around his calf, Yeojin’s eyes flew open. Could it be Wi Seokwoo came back? He looked around, but no one was visible.
Everywhere was dark, and chirp chirp—the sound of insects rang out. The occasional cry of an unknown bird could be heard. Everywhere was quiet and peaceful.
What is this? Am I mistaken?
The moment he thought that, his calf area stung again. Startled, he looked down. He saw a crow. His gaze met the creature’s pitch-black eyes. Numerous thoughts flashed through Yeojin’s mind.
It definitely wasn’t just a crow. It must be one of those that flew into Haeju’s room at Seoul Center and attacked the soldiers.
Then did that mean Haeju was nearby? The moment he thought that, Yeojin raised his head again and examined his surroundings. Surveillance cameras were installed here and there on the walls. But the red power lamps on the cameras weren’t visible. Looking closely, some camera screens were broken, and some hung precariously on the wall as if about to fall at any moment.
When Wi Seokwoo shouted earlier, the cameras must have burst along with everything else. Didn’t he think his power would burst the cameras too?
“Isn’t he an idiot?”
He looked really smart, but maybe he was a guy with unexpectedly dull corners. He was a young guy who looked at most in his mid-twenties. An age where vigorous hot-bloodedness would come before cool judgment.
Only after confirming the cameras were broken did Yeojin turn his gaze back to the crow.
“Hey. Black one.”
When he called it, the creature tilted its head. Did it understand he was calling it? He’d heard somewhere that a crow’s intelligence was at the level of a young child.
“You’re one of those guys from back then, right? Who barged into Haeju’s room.”
As if saying yes, the crow opened its beak and gurgled.
“Where’s Haeju?”
Then it blinked its eyes and tilted its head. Is this not it? No matter how high its intelligence, what crazy thing was he doing talking to a beast that couldn’t speak?
“Did Haeju send you?”
Still, maybe it could answer at least this much. He asked just in case, and the creature shook its head.
“No?”
This time it nodded. It was fascinating. Did it really understand all human speech?
“Is Haeju okay?”
This time it moved its beak making a gurgling sound, then shook its head. Does that mean he’s okay, or he’s not? No matter how smart the creature was, it couldn’t speak, so he was going crazy with frustration. He thought he should study how to communicate with animals.
Since it was a creature that could clearly express yes or no, then he should try to induce those two types of answers.
“Haeju is alive, right?”
The creature nodded its head.
“But he’s hurt?”
This time too, it nodded.
“Badly hurt?”
The creature made a gurgling sound in its throat. So it meant Haeju was alive but badly hurt. Damn. How badly was he hurt? Han Yongsu said he fired a tranquilizer gun, but was it really a tranquilizer gun? Preparing for any eventuality, someone would have brought a real gun, and they might have shot when Haeju attacked them.
Yeojin worried about Seo Haeju even though his own physical condition wasn’t normal. He felt frustrated imagining Haeju covered in blood, sniffling and crying “Doctoooor.”
While Yeojin paused, the crow tapped Yeojin’s calf with its beak.
“What?”
The creature looked at Yeojin, opened its beak, and cawed softly. Somehow, the black eyes looking at Yeojin seemed full of worry.
“Are you asking if I’m okay?”
It cawed again. It really seemed to be the case. It was a strange creature. When did it attack after recognizing him as an enemy in Haeju’s room, yet now it’s worried? Is it thinking it should treat him favorably since he’s someone its master likes?
“Even to your eyes, I don’t look okay, right? Yeah. I’m not okay.”
Yeojin smiled wryly at the beast staring at him intently.
“Living life, I’m even having conversations with birds now.”
At this rate, won’t I be having conversations with plants later? Imagining it was funny, so he giggled emptily. Then the area around his ribs, which had been strained from coughing violently earlier, hurt, so he let out a groan of “ow, ow, ow.”
“I’m dying.”
This phrase will stick to my mouth now. But if he didn’t voice his groans, he felt like he would really die, so he couldn’t help it.
“What the hell is all this about?”
He let out a deep sigh into the air.
Rebels or whatever, war or whatever. Government and rebels. The majority of ordinary people and the minority of Transcendents. The resentment toward the government that had been accumulating steadily exploded with the death of Leader Park Wiyeol as a trigger, and Earth, which had been a non-violent peaceful Transcendent organization, completely transformed into rebels, a radical terrorist organization. They were trying to seize their freedom even if it meant going to war with the government.
Facts that would be shocking even to hear while drinking delicious coffee at work—Yeojin was experiencing them firsthand. Against his will, branded as a rebel and becoming a fugitive being chased by the government.
But Yeojin wasn’t a rebel. Nor was he on the government’s side. He didn’t want to get involved in either world. If Leader Park Wiyeol were still alive, he would have gladly sided with Earth.
He had long been dissatisfied with the government’s system of treating Transcendents as more lowly than livestock, calling them No. 13, No. 15, in such ways, and managing them by grading their abilities as if evaluating meat quality.
Yeojin had repeatedly argued from before that the government’s excessive control and coercive attitude would eventually cause big problems. And look, ultimately. What was going to burst has burst.
But those rebel bastards who tried to respond to violence with even more violence were also shitty. Even though he had many complaints about government policy, he had never thought about becoming a rebel and engaging in armed struggle against the government.
If they’re going to wage war against the government, they should do it among themselves—why are they trying to drag Seo Haeju into it? Why are they trying to use that poor kid as their tool? And doing it cowardly by using him as a hostage.
Wi Seokwoo said this. That Park Wiyeol’s ideology of comparing them to monsters appearing in the city center was wrong. That monsters in movies are villains, but they’re not villains, right?
Right. They weren’t villains. But now, aren’t they not hesitating to commit villainous acts? The phrase written on the membership application screen of the internet cafe Yeojin had joined through Haeju’s contact was different.
Dreaming of a world where you, me, and all of us coexist peacefully.
That was Earth. That was Earth’s original purpose.
