“Did you go hunting wild animals or something? Why did you spray gas? Why did you fire tranquilizer guns? You’re saying that wasn’t threatening? If you sprayed gas, everyone would have been wearing gas masks, right? If you were in his position, would you just stay still when strange gas suddenly starts billowing out and people with gas masks and guns surround you? Would they look like enemies or allies to you? Why did you approach him like that when he was already scared and hiding because of what suddenly happened? Are you insane?”
“Seo Haeju is a dangerous individual. According to our investigation, Seo Haeju manifested his abilities even though the control chip is still intact in his body. And he’s in a state where he can’t control his tremendous power at all. We took that approach in preparation for an unfortunate incident.”
“He would have listened if you’d just talked to him. Why did you needlessly overreact?”
“Seo Haeju isn’t as weak as you think, Doctor. And he’s far more dangerous than you believe.”
“Hey, you guys have been taking turns since earlier saying Haeju isn’t as innocent as he seems, he’s not weak, blah blah blah, acting like I’m being deceived. Fine. Let’s say that’s true. Let’s say Haeju only pretends to be innocent in front of me and is actually black-hearted inside.”
Before he knew it, Yeojin’s voice had risen. When passengers started glancing over, Yeojin quickly lowered his voice.
“But hey. Haeju is only 20 years old now. He’s only an adult in age—his mental age is still a kid’s. How old are you? Twenty-four? Twenty-five? Were you a very, very rational and cool-headed adult at that age? Are you an adult now? I’m 31 years old and I still act like a kid sometimes, so how could a 20-year-old be an adult? You told me during our counseling sessions at the Center that around that time you were beating people up without thinking straight, didn’t you? Even living normally under well-off parents, everything is confusing at that age.”
Han Yongsu just stared at Yeojin silently without saying anything.
“So doesn’t that make Seo Haeju even more dangerous? If he can’t even control his own abilities and his mind is in a confused state?”
“That’s exactly why you should be considerate and protect him. He’s a fellow Transcendent. You guys know how confused Haeju must be right now. How flustered were you when you first came to the Center? With that mountain-sized body of yours, you were trembling and crying. Everyone’s like that. The quarantined people who suddenly become Transcendents and come to our Center—at first, they all tremble saying they’re scared, asking how they’re supposed to live now, and cry. They’re all that confused.”
Yeojin suddenly felt emotions welling up, so he paused and let out a deep sigh. His chest felt tight.
“Tranquilizer guns? Tear gas? That’s too much. Hey, Haeju is human too. Just like you guys are people, he’s a person too. Why are you treating him like a beast that escaped from a zoo? How are you guys any different from those NSP bastards?”
I contacted Earth’s side first without knowing they would approach Haeju that way. I exposed Haeju’s location. I should have just tracked his location myself or whatever and gone to find Haeju.
Haeju barely managed to hide in the mountains and went through trouble to get a phone to call me, but I ended up bringing in another dangerous element.
It was a stupid choice. I was an idiot. It was wrong to believe that Earth would unconditionally take Haeju’s side and help him.
“Hey, you guys really can’t do this. Why are you discriminating against someone in the same situation? You should comfort each other. You should be considerate of each other, help each other, and accept each other as family. Isn’t Earth an organization created so you could band together and live peacefully?”
“Live peacefully together. Exactly where?”
Han Yongsu’s eyes looking at Yeojin were cold. It wasn’t just his appearance that had changed. His eyes had changed first. This guy wasn’t the Han Yongsu that Yeojin knew.
“Does a space even exist where we can gather and live comfortably? We also dreamed of that kind of utopia at first. Leader Park Wiyeol said this: if we don’t cause any harm and quietly live together among ourselves, eventually people will recognize us as members of society. But the government tracked down the utopia we barely found and destroyed it to the very end. Still, Leader Park Wiyeol was dragged away by the military while advocating for non-violence and peace to the end. And eventually, he was murdered at the government’s hands. We realized it then. That there is no peace without violence.”
Yeojin had heard that after Park Wiyeol’s death, ‘Earth’ suddenly transformed into a radical terrorist organization. And he’d also heard the name ‘New Peace Town’ at meetings. The utopia Han Yongsu was talking about must be referring to the ‘New Peace Town’ that Park Wiyeol created.
“Leader Park Wiyeol’s non-violence peace theory was wrong. No matter how much we adhere to non-violence, the government wields guns and swords at us. Society has already branded us as a cancerous existence that needs to be cut out—will that stigma disappear just because we say we’ll behave? Cancer cells are cancer cells even when they’re just sitting there.”
“So what, you’re going to wage war against the government or something?”
“We must seize our peace even if it means going to war.”
“Why are you so extreme? When war breaks out, it’s not just one side that suffers. You guys will die and get hurt too. Why do you think that guy Park Wiyeol advocated for non-violence? It’s because you’d all hurt and kill each other.”
“It doesn’t matter if we die. Our lives didn’t feel like living anyway. Rather than spending our whole lives under the government’s control living in this hell, dying might be better.”
“Hey, Han Yongsu.”
“Doctor, you’ll never understand our feelings no matter what. Not until you become a Transcendent like us. What kind of hell we’re living in. How terrible our hell is—you’ll only know if you experience it directly.”
An unidentifiable chill dug deep into his bones. The nape of his neck tingled with an ominous premonition. Han Yongsu slowly blinked and moved his lips.
“We need Seo Haeju, Doctor.”
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
With that, Yeojin abruptly stood up from his seat.
“Move.”
To get off, Han Yongsu would have to move aside, but the guy didn’t budge.
“Doctor, please help us.”
“I said move.”
He shoved Han Yongsu aside and barely escaped from the back seat. He pressed the bus stop button and approached the exit door. The bus stop was right in front of them. The bus stopped at the station and the doors opened, and Yeojin hurriedly got off.
But someone followed closely behind and got off too. It was Han Yongsu, who had been sitting still until just now. Han Yongsu familiarly wrapped his arm around Yeojin’s shoulder. The moment Yeojin turned around saying “What are you doing?”, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, and then he lost consciousness.
***
[We Transcendents—how exactly did we come to exist? Why did God make us this way? People call us God’s Calamity and ostracize us. They confine and control us as if we were some highly contagious virus. They completely isolate us from our beloved family, lovers, and friends.]
It was a persuasive, deep male voice with good vocalization. His pronunciation was also good, so each and every word hammered into Yeojin’s ears. Who is it? Who’s speaking? He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt like they had thousand-pound weights attached to them. His mind was conscious, but it was hard to open his eyes. The man’s clear voice continued.
[People avoid us calling us God’s Calamity, but we’re just as bewildered. People who were normally going to work, going to school, hanging out laughing and chatting with family or friends living their daily lives—one day they suddenly become a malignant virus. Without any warning. Without any sign. Suddenly, without even knowing it, we go boom and burst. The power inside me that I didn’t even know about—boom!]
Yeojin struggled desperately to lift his eyelids. He had to open his eyes first to know who was saying such things and what situation he was in. With great difficulty, very arduously, he peeled his eyelids apart, but his vision was hazy. Only after blinking several times could he finally make out the objects around him.
Everywhere was dim and gloomy. He could see steel bars sticking out and crumbling pillars, and on the floor were cigarette butts, liquor bottles, and all kinds of discarded appliances scattered about. All the windows were broken and there were holes here and there in the walls, so cold wind leaked in mercilessly. It looked like an abandoned factory.
Once he grasped his surroundings, he also became aware of his own situation. He was sitting in a chair with his limbs tied. He tried wiggling his arms and legs, but they wouldn’t budge.
[Going to work, walking down the street, taking a walk with your dog, going on a trip with family—suddenly this happens. It seems like this power usually bursts when the person themselves or someone around them is in danger. Don’t they say people exert superhuman strength when facing a life-or-death crisis? But we literally burst forth with superhuman abilities.]
The man’s voice continued. Someone wasn’t speaking—it was a voice flowing from a video.
Someone seemed to have set up a beam projector playing a video on the factory wall. Since everywhere was dim and gloomy, the video on the wall screen was more visible. The scenery in the video looked like a church, and a middle-aged man was standing on a platform giving a speech. Many people were sitting and watching the man on the platform. The man on the platform had a warm and benevolent face like a neighborhood uncle.
The man on the platform looked around at the people carefully and then opened his mouth again.
[Whose fault is this? Is it our fault? It’s nobody’s fault, right? But people, the government—they point fingers saying it’s unconditionally our fault. It’s not like we used that power because we wanted to.]
The man paused for a moment, picked up a water bottle placed on the platform, moistened his throat, and continued speaking.
