# Chapter 101
Hadn’t Dr. Jeong received different instructions from the headquarters?
“Ah. Was that what you were worried about? Even so, discarding you right away would be wasteful.”
Or was he rebelling despite having received instructions?
Dohyuk’s speculation rapidly tilted toward the latter. Dr. Jeong was obsessed with Dohyuk while pretending otherwise. It was because Dohyuk was his only remaining test subject. He could have been a success, but turned into a failure by the slightest margin. Yet, even with just the value of being “the only one,” Dr. Jeong wouldn’t easily let Dohyuk go.
Suddenly Dohyuk felt drained. It might be more accurate to say he was disgusted with the situation where both the headquarters and Dr. Jeong seemed intent on exploiting him down to his last cell.
“It sounds like you plan to use me to the maximum.”
And then dispose of him like garbage once he lost even the slightest value.
“Choi Dohyuk Esper, why are you talking that way?”
In response to Dohyuk’s self-deprecating words, Dr. Jeong finally frowned deeply enough to create wrinkles on his forehead. It was a signal that his manufactured kindness had reached its limit.
“You seem to be under some misunderstanding. Do you think you’re the one-sided victim here? What do you think a pathetic orphan like you could have done without the good fortune of participating in this experiment? Tell me. No matter how stupid you are, you should know who to thank for establishing yourself as a respectable Esper now. Having been a normal person who barely awakened with my help, such an impudent bastard… If others heard they could become like you, many ordinary people would pay money to receive this experiment!”
“……”
“These days, I feel you’re not like your old self. Is it because of that partner Guide? I hear he even gave you a controller. I don’t know what nonsense he’s been telling you, but don’t naively believe everything. Even Guides, who are discriminated against by Espers, are above non-ability users! Do you think your awakened power is really yours? In the end, the only one who will take care of you until the end, despite knowing all your weaknesses, is me.”
Dohyuk took the barrage of words with a composed face. It was strange. Until just a few weeks ago, every syllable had felt unnecessarily sharp. There seemed to have been a time when the person before him felt like a mountain, making him tremble.
That didn’t mean the words had no impact. But they were now at a bearable level. In the past, he’d felt empty, as if he were alone in the world. Even though he clearly had people who cared about him, he was filled with delusions that they would ultimately abandon him.
But Junseo was different. He was gentle enough to say he wished for Dohyuk’s supposedly useless future, even knowing Dohyuk was a test subject. Whenever Dohyuk recalled that moment, he felt overwhelmed. It was the first time he felt like he had a place in the world.
Unable to know what Dohyuk was thinking, Dr. Jeong eventually cleared his throat with a relieved expression. Those with enough power to freely vent their anger always used others as trash cans for their unpleasant emotions, then put on clean expressions themselves. “I say this because I care about you.” Adding these familiar closing words, Dr. Jeong smiled broadly as if he’d never spewed such harsh words. He removed his palm that had been patting Dohyuk’s shoulder and turned away.
About three minutes after he left the laboratory, the research assistant who had been standing at a distance, nervously watching the displeased Dr. Jeong, finally approached Dohyuk timidly. Despite having a cowed expression, Dohyuk, who had actually heard Dr. Jeong’s verbal abuse, maintained his usual face and gestured with his eyes for the assistant to speak.
“Um, Dr. Choi Jongwook has called for you. He said he’s in room 603.”
“Dr. Choi? He didn’t contact me directly?”
Dr. Choi Jongwook had been conducting joint research with Dr. Jeong Byeongseok for a long time. He had originally participated in the human experiments on Lee Seoyeon and Choi Dohyuk, but after Seoyeon’s rampage incident, he had split off into individual research, as if some friction had occurred between the two. Naturally, his connection with Dohyuk had disappeared, and Dohyuk thought they wouldn’t meet again, so he was puzzled that Dr. Choi had called for him first.
After hearing the assistant’s message, Dohyuk immediately headed to room 603. He didn’t have the freedom to refuse anyway, but he was also half hoping that Dr. Choi might know information he couldn’t get from Dr. Jeong.
Dohyuk lightly knocked on the door, which was identical in material and color to other private rooms, and twisted the doorknob as soon as he heard an affirmative response.
“Dr. Choi Jongwook? I heard you called for me.”
At Dohyuk’s appearance, the man sitting at the desk stood up. Unlike the stern Dr. Jeong Byeongseok, a much softer-looking man in his fifties gestured to Dohyuk. Dohyuk followed the gesture and sat on the sofa. The synthetic leather, full of lived-in feel, sank under Dohyuk’s weight.
“Choi Dohyuk Esper. Have you been well? It’s been a while. I only heard you returned to Seoul but couldn’t contact you properly. I’ve been too busy. Would you like something to drink?”
“No, water is fine. I also couldn’t visit you due to missions.”
“You must be very busy these days too?”
Dohyuk hastily reached out as Dr. Choi quickly handed him a cup. Water sloshed in the cup that was delicately filled with ice. As he stared limply at the rippling surface, he suddenly fell into the illusion of being transported back several years.
Dr. Jeong and Dr. Choi were well-matched partners. While one cracked the whip, the other coaxed and tamed with carrots. Certainly when someone applied medicine to painful wounds, it was natural to feel relaxed, but even Dr. Choi had that observational gaze no different from Dr. Jeong’s, so Dohyuk never considered leaning on him completely.
Dohyuk brought the cup to his lips to hide the weary smile that rose at such an overt gaze.
“…You know how it is. But why did you call for me?”
Only after swallowing the cold water past his Adam’s apple did he belatedly realize how thirsty he’d been. As Dohyuk emptied half the cup, Dr. Choi answered.
“I was wondering about your recent physical condition.”
“Pardon?”
“The test results. Because Dr. Jeong is being so protective, I couldn’t properly examine Choi Dohyuk Esper, so I had no choice but to ask like this.”
“But aren’t the results shared? You used to work with Dr. Jeong’s research team before.”
“Haha. Dr. Jeong is being a bit stubborn right now.”
When Dohyuk put down his cup, it made a soft thud as it hit the coffee table. Dr. Choi’s display of resentment toward Dr. Jeong seemed extremely calculated, but he pretended it was an unintentional slip and elegantly waved his hand.
“Oh my. Well, that’s our problem. So, Choi Dohyuk Esper. How were your test results?”
His tone continued, soft but strangely domineering. Dohyuk shifted his body as if leaning against the sofa, thought for a moment, then spoke.
“…He said there were no particular issues.”
“Dr. Jeong said that?”
“…Yes.”
“Does our Choi Dohyuk Esper still believe Dr. Jeong?”
It’s not that I believe him, it’s closer to resignation. It was like a strange sense of relief felt before someone who had exposed you to the core.
Dohyuk blinked and glanced at Dr. Choi, but he couldn’t figure out what the doctor wanted to say.
“I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.”
“Choi Dohyuk Esper is currently at a dangerous stage, as risky as Lee Seoyeon Esper was. Aren’t you feeling abnormal symptoms yourself?”
“……!”
“Right now, Choi Dohyuk Esper is probably at his limit, isn’t he? Dr. Jeong is obsessed with research results. Even knowing this is the time to monitor the progress toward a rampage and prepare for it, he’s applying external pressure to send you on missions for the sake of continuing research. Of the two who were thought to be successful cases, Lee Seoyeon Esper and Choi Dohyuk Esper, Seoyeon went on a rampage, and now that Dohyuk is showing abnormalities too, I understand his urgency, but keeping it secret even from the subject is too much. Didn’t Lee Seoyeon Esper also show some strange signs before her rampage?”
“What?”
Just until moments ago, Dr. Jeong had firmly answered Dohyuk’s question by saying there had been no such incidents. Dohyuk frowned at Dr. Choi’s information, which contradicted Dr. Jeong’s words.
“Oh my. You didn’t know? At that time, Lee Seoyeon Esper’s guiding efficiency dropped significantly. She never had a Guide with a high matching rate like you do, but at that time, truly. She was suffering even while receiving guiding from a Guide with a 15% matching rate.”
“I didn’t know there was such an incident…”
“Perhaps it’s because you’ve been fortunate enough to meet a Guide with a high matching rate? It seems you haven’t experienced that yet. But the efficiency did drop strangely. It’s too much for Dr. Jeong to hide all this information. Choi Dohyuk Esper isn’t a lab animal that can be discarded in an instant. Right?”
Perhaps because he had felt his body’s abnormalities and imagined the worst-case scenario, the pessimistic words about his current state didn’t strike him as particularly shocking. Dr. Choi’s statement only made him think, ‘So you did know I wasn’t a lab animal,’ which amazed even himself. But Seoyeon’s case was different. To send her on missions despite knowing.
“…Why did you send her on missions even though there were strange signs? Lee Seoyeon Esper carried out the same schedule as regular Espers until the very end.”
“Why do you think? Obviously to observe. At that time, we hadn’t quite considered her a failure yet.”
