“Trait Research Center?”
Lee Hyeonseok brought me not to the hospital I usually went to, but to some place I’d never heard of before. Since we were going somewhere different from the destination I knew, I kept asking where we were going, but the bastard gave no answer. Only when I read the words ‘Trait Research Center’ written on the building wall did he smile unpleasantly and tell me to get out.
The pure white, massive building constructed in a remote location was clean enough in appearance that you could tell at a glance it had been built recently.
“What are you doing, not getting out?”
Lee Hyeonseok, who had gotten out at some point, opened the passenger door and looked down at me. I looked up at him and pressed my forehead.
“I didn’t think you’d sell me off….”
“Who’s selling you off?”
“I didn’t think you’d dissect me….”
“Want me to?”
Lee Hyeonseok didn’t bother to pull me out as I sat in the passenger seat muttering helplessly, knowing himself how bewildered I was right now. Instead, he casually denied each thing one by one.
“…Haah….”
I had said Lee Hyeonseok’s perceptiveness came and went, but my own perceptiveness was pretty reliably present. It had started with early education from my elementary school lower grades and improved further as I went through socialization. That perceptiveness was telling me. This building was definitely not a good place for me. When I didn’t hide my involuntary sigh, Lee Hyeonseok lightly smacked the back of my head and tilted his head.
“There’s a trait precision examination machine here that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world, so hurry up and get out.”
“Ah…. Fucking plot device….”
“If you knew how much went into that crazy plot device, you couldn’t make that face.”
I was slightly reassured by Lee Hyeonseok’s explanation, but that didn’t mean my anxiety completely disappeared. But there was nothing I could do about it right now either. Exhausted by this reality, I spoke in a drained, fed-up voice, and he replied with a rather serious face. Seeing him look stern, it seemed like a considerable investment had indeed gone in as he said, but I didn’t want to know.
Originally, it was a machine that would have been made somewhere else much later, but he said it came out early because he pushed people to the brink of death and poured money generously. As expected, you have to pressure people with money to get results.
As I dragged my feet while radiating reluctance, Lee Hyeonseok grabbed me by the collar and pulled me out of the car. I wanted to make his shameless face with zero expression changes spurt blood from the nose, but I just let out a sigh. Whether I made a fed-up expression or not, Lee Hyeonseok tilted his head as if telling me to follow and walked ahead.
“Ah, CEO-nim. You’ve arrived?”
“CEO-nim?”
Just before entering the building, someone who looked like a researcher came out and greeted us, calling Lee Hyeonseok CEO-nim and bowing. When I asked about this, Lee Hyeonseok touched his thumb and index finger together and rolled them into a circle. He had mentioned something about business and affiliates before, so this must have been that.
“Hello, I’m called Ji Seonghoon. You’re Seo Jiwoo-ssi, right?”
The man wearing a name tag that read ‘Trait Research Center Research Team Ji Seonghoon’ was proclaiming with his whole body that he was a researcher. He was quite authentic with his white coat and even a mask.
He soon extended a handshake to me. Even though he was wearing a mask, I could tell he had quite a handsome appearance. On top of that, he was even smiling with his eyes, so I naturally felt favorable toward him.
“No, Kim Hyeon.”
“Want to keep this friendly?”
“Who else would be Seo Jiwoo but me?”
I also extended my hand with a smile and a bit of playfulness, but Lee Hyeonseok was faster. He swatted away the hand Ji Seonghoon had extended and spoke threateningly with a smiling face. I thought I might be planning a funeral instead of playing around, so I immediately changed my words.
“You must have already heard, but I’ll explain once more as we go.”
“Yes.”
Explain, what explain. All Lee Hyeonseok had done to me was create anxiety and brag. But it wasn’t like I could say anything to this innocent researcher, so I glanced at Lee Hyeonseok once before answering. Lee Hyeonseok, still a shameless bastard, met my gaze with a ‘so what’ expression.
“You said you were diagnosed as a Beta at the hospital, right?”
“Yes.”
“You must have heard before the examination that ‘it’s not certain and there could be changes,’ but unless there’s a particular problem, it probably won’t be wrong.”
“Really?”
“Yes. There hasn’t been anyone whose trait changed yet.”
My voice naturally became cheerful at the news the researcher conveyed. I couldn’t completely trust the words of someone working under Lee Hyeonseok, but it was better to take it at face value rather than be needlessly wary.
It was pleasant news I’d heard in a while. Still, just in case, I secretly stole a glance at Lee Hyeonseok. He was following behind the researcher without any particular change in expression.
“However, the reason I can’t say it’s certain is… as you know, traits like Alpha and Omega were newly discovered this time. Though they say the DNA of Alphas, Omegas, and Betas are completely different, we have to leave open various possibilities.”
That made sense. Rather, it was obvious. To definitively conclude with just one result about a trait that had just been discovered for the first time would be absurd even for the loosest of plot devices. It was clear that new cases would occur as time passed.
“Lee Hyeonseok said it might manifest later….”
“That’s correct. What we want to research is also about that DNA transformation. You can roughly understand it as investigating the DNA differences of trait-bearers.”
When I brought up the point Lee Hyeonseok had insisted on from the beginning, the researcher turned his head to look at me. He sent me expectant eyes with a rather excited face, but for some reason, I felt uneasy about it. Anyone would think I was an experimental subject….
“By any chance, this examination I’m supposed to receive.”
“It’s not grand enough to call an examination.”
“So it’s correct that I’m an experimental subject.”
“An experimental subject! It’s not much different from receiving a trait examination at a hospital.”
The researcher even waved his hands and spoke nicely, but he never said it wasn’t true until the end. Should I say he was conscientious, or should I say he was stupid? This time I openly glared at Lee Hyeonseok, but he smiled leisurely and shrugged his shoulders. Should I really kill that guy or not?
“Am I the only one receiving this examination?”
“No, there are others besides Jiwoo-ssi, but to protect personal information, I can’t tell you about other people’s identities. I ask for your understanding on that point.”
“…….”
I didn’t have a choice anyway. I wanted to do some deduction, but my wretched imagination could only come up with something like an experiment to forcibly transform my trait. However, that alone was enough to be paralyzed with fear.
Thinking about it vaguely and actually seeing it were vastly different. Even when the news talked about heat periods and whatnot, before seeing it directly, only a lazy anxiety was planted. However, when I actually saw Lee Hyeonseok in heat, I felt like I had seen something I really shouldn’t have.
They say the important criteria that make humans human are intelligence and reason. But it seemed like he completely lost his reason for several days, not just one or two days.
That appearance wouldn’t have been strange even if described as a beast in heat wearing human skin.
If it had been a worldview where Alphas and Omegas existed from the beginning, I wouldn’t have faced such a corrupted image of humanity. The newly established and defined unknown desires that were difficult to control colored not only individuals but all of society with negative emotions. Especially in Korea, which was open yet conservative about sex, it was more fatal.
From depression arising as aftereffects of manifestation to suicide. With the depressing issues increasing day by day, I stopped searching for articles. I said I voluntarily distanced myself from the internet for the college entrance exam, but in reality, the previous reason was bigger. Depression and fear were easily contagious.
So after finishing my imagination of ‘an experiment to forcibly transform traits,’ I couldn’t take a step. Should I take out the car keys that would be in Lee Hyeonseok’s pants pocket right now and run away to the car, or should I just bolt with nothing?
“Why?”
Fortunately, there were only two people: Lee Hyeonseok and the researcher. Wouldn’t it be doable?
“…It’s nothing.”
Doable my ass. Even if I ran away from here right now, where would I run to? Even if I ran away, I’d have to prepare thoroughly later or something, at least not now.
“You don’t need to worry that much. We’re just observing.”
“Observing?”
“Yes. Honestly, it’s not even enough to call an examination. We’re literally observing to check hormonal changes according to environment. You don’t need to take any medicine or anything. Of course, we have to draw blood before and after observation, but….”
Whether it was because I’d lived by being evasive and lying, or because he saw me as too much of a pushover, the researcher was slithering through like a snake crossing a fence. He omitted a lot and said many things that didn’t match up. Overall, it was utterly shoddy. He probably wasn’t saying it on purpose. Even explaining wisdom tooth surgery would be more detailed. There was a limit to treating someone like an idiot.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t completely dismiss the researcher’s explanation as strange, because this novel itself was shoddy. What’s important in romance is the two protagonists getting it on, and supplementary settings can just be brushed off with a few words and that’s the end of it.
“…….”
“It was difficult to request help from ordinary people because we had to be mindful of human rights committees and various other things, but since the CEO-nim said Jiwoo-ssi could help… I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
This is the first time I’m hearing this, and even if I had heard it, I don’t have the slightest intention of cooperating with such a thing. Since I remained expressionless and said nothing, the researcher who felt guilty on his own was rambling on. Should I just stab him and go to jail? No, but I’d rather not get a criminal record….
While I was carefully pondering how to handle this situation, Lee Hyeonseok, who had been beside me, asked while maintaining some distance and being on guard.
“What are you that you’ve been gauging the kill angle since earlier?”
“?”
“Right now, that’s the look you had when you were making Cheon Jaekyung a eunuch.”
I thought I was acting well in my own way, but seeing how I got caught like this, maybe not so much. He hit the nail on the head, but I couldn’t exactly affirm it either, so I decided to just play dumb.
“I don’t know what that look is, but… I’m not the kind of person who would hear that I’m being used as an experimental subject and say ‘Oh, is that so? Then go ahead.'”
“What have you been hearing all this time? I said you’re not being used as an experimental subject.”
My parents outside the book said: Just do it first and see. But of course, you have to do that while reading the situation too; even I couldn’t do it easily in a place with no corner to escape to like this.
Before, there was also the fact that Lee Hyeonseok had burst my patience, but hadn’t he said he wanted to see me? When the accumulated resentment layered on top of that reached its limit, I did it.
With Cheon Jaekyung, it was something I did because Lee Hyeonseok said he’d have my back. But if I stabbed Lee Hyeonseok who would have my back? Getting a criminal record was an obvious outcome. I couldn’t make my parents inside the book cry. If worse came to worst, if they said they’d use drugs or something, I just decided to become a filial son with a fire attribute.
“What exactly are you doing?”
Since I didn’t know anything properly, I had no choice but to back down for now. When I let out a long sigh and asked, the researcher made an excited expression. As expected, he knew that the story of me participating in the experiment was Lee Hyeonseok’s unilateral claim.
Every single one of them was a bastard with ruined character.
