“Aren’t you scared of me, Doctor?”
“What’s there to be scared of?”
“If I wanted to, I could blow your head off without even touching you?”
“Then blow it off. But you can’t.”
Yeojin glared at Wi Seokwoo’s smirking face and muttered.
“That’s right. We need you, Doctor. Because we have to catch Seo Haeju who got away.”
“Even if you find Haeju, do you think he’ll cooperate with you guys?”
“No, he will cooperate. Because Seo Haeju knows very, very well. That no matter how hard we try, the world will ultimately just try to cut us out. We’re cancer cells that formed in the body, weeds that ruin beautiful gardens, pests, viruses that threaten citizens’ safety. Do you think they’ll acknowledge us no matter how much we advocate for non-violence and try? They won’t acknowledge us, nobody will. Even family won’t acknowledge us. Even family tries to get rid of us. Like Seo Haeju’s parents.”
It was similar to what Han Yongsu was saying on the bus earlier, but different. What did he mean that Haeju’s parents also tried to get rid of Haeju?
“What are you talking about? Haeju’s parents did what?”
“A car accident during a family trip? That’s the official record about Seo Haeju’s car accident, right? But no. It wasn’t a family trip—they were on their way to lock Seo Haeju in a mental hospital’s closed ward, and when Seo Haeju found out about it, he got into an argument with his parents and used his ability. That’s why the accident happened.”
What? It was hard to believe. It was definitely a lie.
“Don’t lie.”
“Why would I lie to you, Doctor? Ask Seo Haeju later. Whether it’s true or not. But if you ask, he’ll deny it. Because it would mean admitting he’s a monster.”
“I said don’t lie!”
He shouted, but the guy just laughed. His head felt like it was being stirred up into a mess. He was saying everything Yeojin knew was a lie. His skull rang with a buzzing sound.
But as the guy said, there was no reason to make up stories in this situation. What would he gain by fabricating facts about Haeju? And Yeojin didn’t know the exact truth about the car accident that day either.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Mom, Dad, I’m sorry.”
He remembered Seo Haeju, rescued from the accident vehicle, sobbing while muttering repeatedly. He thought it was an apology for surviving alone. He naturally thought that’s what it was.
“There’s a record of Seo Haeju taking a year off from school due to illness, right? This was also because Seo Haeju’s parents locked him in a prayer house. You see, Seo Haeju is a case where his ability manifested when he was young and he awakened as a Transcendent. Even though he didn’t have any disease, they did all kinds of tests and experiments at their hospital, and when the ability still didn’t disappear, they took him to all kinds of pseudo-religious charlatans to perform exorcisms and all sorts of shows, and then they locked the kid in a prayer house.”
“Wait, hold on. What are you saying? Explain it so I can understand.”
“I’m saying that everything you know is a lie.”
Yeojin was at a loss for words. He stared at Wi Seokwoo with his mouth hanging open like an idiot.
“If he awakened as a Transcendent, why didn’t they send the kid to a Center?”
“This is why ordinary people won’t do. Think about it. You have a child. But your young son suddenly uses an ability and awakens as a Transcendent. Would you immediately report the kid to the police or Center?”
He was left speechless once again. Yeojin asked himself. Could you report it to the government immediately? The answer was no. How could he report it? When it was obvious what kind of treatment a young child would receive. Even if it were Yeojin, he would have definitely hushed it up and hid it.
“I was the same. My family desperately hid me. Seoul Center, Jeju Island Center, Iryeongdo Center—the three Transcendent quarantine centers that exist nationwide. Do you think all the Transcendents locked up there are all of them? No. There are probably more Transcendents secretly living in hiding than the officially revealed number of Transcendents.”
Oops. He hadn’t even thought that there might be Transcendents hiding and living normally among ordinary people.
“But is it possible to live while hiding an ability that’s already manifested once?”
“It’s possible to control it even without implanting something like a control chip in the body. It just requires practice. The people who lived together in New Peace Town all controlled their abilities through practice.”
“If that’s possible, then the government doesn’t need to forcibly control Transcendents.”
“Exactly.”
“Then shouldn’t they just have people practice controlling their abilities at Seoul Center, which quarantines initial awakeners?”
At Yeojin’s dazed mumbling, Wi Seokwoo chuckled.
“As expected, you’re a bit different, Doctor.”
“If they just did that, you guys could live alongside people too.”
“How nice it would be if all government officials were like you, Doctor.”
“Have you tried telling the government about this? Have you tried submitting a suggestion through the suggestion box or something like that?”
“Leader Park Wiyeol already demonstrated it in practice. Through New Peace Town. He directly showed that we can control our abilities with our own will and live alongside ordinary people.”
Seeing Yeojin left speechless once again, Wi Seokwoo smiled.
“But what was the result?”
He knew well even without being told. The video he saw earlier would be the answer.
“I told you. They have no will to coexist and live with us. They only want to confine us, control us, and cut us out.”
“Anyway, those stubborn old bastards.”
The curse flowed out naturally. Having lived as a state civil servant, Yeojin knew better than anyone the completely closed-minded way of thinking of state agencies. They were people with no flexibility whatsoever. The higher up you went, the worse it got. They were the type who found change of thought and transformation most detestable.
Hadn’t he experienced firsthand the words and actions of minister and vice-minister level figures at the NSP meeting? It was full of people who would unconditionally start yelling first if something was a bit different from their own thinking.
“Haha. I really do like your personality, Doctor.”
Wi Seokwoo laughed cheerfully. After laughing pleasantly, he let out a short sigh, wiped all expression from his face, and looked at Yeojin.
“The introduction went on too long. I’ll get to the main point now.”
“Tell me more about Haeju.”
“I have nothing more to say. Hear it directly from Seo Haeju later. We’ve told you all the facts we know.”
Wi Seokwoo leaned his body forward, grabbed both of Yeojin’s shoulders tightly, and continued.
“Doctor Min Yeojin. Cooperate with Earth.”
“No.”
“You can’t go back to your old life anyway. The moment you go home, you’ll be dragged to the NSP, branded as a rebel, and tortured while they demand you spill everything you know?”
“What is this, 1988? What torture?”
“You think there won’t be torture? This is why ordinary people won’t do. You can’t even imagine how viciously the soldiers treat us.”
“Anyway, I won’t cooperate with you guys.”
“Why? I don’t understand. The only way for you to survive is to stick with us.”
Why did both the NSP people and these guys divide the world into only two categories? Government side, rebel side. Are there only these two colors?
“Are the only ways to survive standing with the government side or standing with the rebel side? You can live even if you’re not on the government or rebel side. You said it yourself. There are many Transcendents living in hiding. I can live like that too. Quietly, quietly, without being government or rebel.”
“With Seo Haeju?”
This time he didn’t give any answer.
“That doesn’t make sense from the start. If you’re going to live with Seo Haeju, how can you think of living quietly? Seo Haeju isn’t an ordinary person and he’s different from us Transcendents too. He’s a completely different new species that didn’t exist in the world—you don’t seem to realize it yet, but Seo Haeju is an unprecedented monster.”
“No. Haeju is human. He’s no different from me or you. Don’t call him a monster.”
Yeojin stared directly at Wi Seokwoo looking at him. His words were sincere without even 1 gram of falsehood mixed in. Yeojin had never once thought of Seo Haeju as a monster. He had also told the many Transcendents who passed through the Center, “You’re human just like me.” He swore to heaven that he had never once thought of them as strange.
Seo Haeju was a new type of Transcendent who had never existed before, using two abilities simultaneously. So what? Haeju was just Haeju. A cute kid who cried easily despite his size, laughed well, and was very affectionate. Even if Haeju used three or more abilities, Yeojin’s thoughts wouldn’t change.
“Now I see why Seo Haeju likes you, Doctor.”
Wi Seokwoo chuckled, then put force into the hand gripping Yeojin’s shoulder. His fingers seemed to dig into the shoulder. The pretty-faced guy had good strength too. Yeojin’s face trembled at the pain of his shoulder seeming to shatter while he was still alive.
“You clearly said no, Doctor.”
Wi Seokwoo’s tone sank coldly. More force went into his hand. Yeojin bit down hard on his lips to hold back the scream that was about to burst out. His eyes felt like they would pop out from enduring the pain, and veins bulged on his neck and forehead.
“You’re holding out well.”
The fingers that had been digging into his shoulder pressed hard below his collarbone.
“Aaargh!”
He couldn’t hold back any longer and let out a scream. It wasn’t just pressing with strong force—it was like being zapped with an electric shock device. Something like a tingling high-voltage current flowed from the fingertips pressing down hard. Wi Seokwoo was definitely using his ability.
“I kindly gave you a chance, but you threw it away, Doctor, so don’t resent me too much.”
“Ugh, uggh, you, you damn, kyaaaah!”
He couldn’t even curse properly. Against Yeojin’s will, his whole body jerked violently and convulsed. Like someone being tortured with electricity. Wi Seokwoo removed one hand, cradled Yeojin’s head, and released his ability. It felt like high-voltage current was stirring through his brain. It was an ability that could burst and kill a person’s head with bare hands.
The shock was so great that no scream came out, only sounds like “ugggghhhk,” foaming at the mouth.
“He’s not coming.”
Wi Seokwoo muttered flatly.
“I thought he’d come just hearing the Doctor’s screams.”
He was talking about Seo Haeju. Wi Seokwoo brought his face close and whispered.
“Doctor, try calling out ‘Haeju, help me! Save me!'”
Yeojin forcefully opened his eyes that were about to roll back and spoke with truly great difficulty.
“You, fu-, fuuuck. I’ll kill you. You son of a bitch.”
At that moment, blood burst from Yeojin’s nose and his head snapped back.
