But the current Earth had deteriorated from “all of us together” to a tendency of “only us” becoming happy. Shouldn’t the name be changed to “Only One” instead of “Earth”?
Both the government and the rebels were all shitty bastards alike. He didn’t like any of them.
Whatever they did from now on, whoever died or got hurt while they fought and squabbled with each other—he didn’t care, and he just felt so, so sorry for Haeju.
According to Wi Seokwoo, Haeju manifested his ability when he was young and awakened as a Transcendent—shouldn’t the parents’ role be to unconditionally embrace and care for such a child?
If he awakened at a young age, how shocked must he have been? How scared must he have been? But what did those things called parents do? All sorts of nonsensical treatments, experiments, prayer houses, mental hospitals. How much Seo Haeju must have suffered all that time, how much those things called parents must have tormented the kid—he couldn’t even dare imagine.
Yeojin was also from a prestigious university, so he knew very well the selfish and elitist tendencies of elite groups. Haeju’s parents were both doctors, so how much worse must it have been? If they went to medical school, they must have been smart from childhood and maintained top-tier grades throughout their school years.
Parents, teachers—everyone would have only praised them, and no one would have said anything they disliked. After becoming doctors, they met doctor spouses, and their lives became even more perfect by their standards.
But their perfect lives were about to be tarnished because of their child. They couldn’t understand it and absolutely couldn’t accept it. Why our child? Why did our kid end up like this? While suffering as they looked up all sorts of disadvantages and discrimination that Transcendent families would face, they must have made every possible effort to return their child to normal.
Because both parents were doctors, they perceived Transcendents as viruses or diseases. No, maybe they actually knew. That this wasn’t some disease. But they were in too much agony to accept reality.
Wouldn’t the parents who put the kid through all kinds of tests, treatments, strange pseudo-religious prayer houses, and ultimately tried to lock him in a mental hospital—wouldn’t they have poured out their resentment on the kid?
A model student born into a harmonious elite upper-class family. A bright, carefree child who excelled at studying, sports, everything. The splendid personal information about Seo Haeju that remained on record was an illusion.
He’d wondered why a kid raised in a family lacking nothing had such a scar on his wrist. The scar remaining on Haeju’s right wrist clearly seemed to be a trace of a suicide attempt, but he deliberately didn’t ask anything about it.
How agonized must the young kid have been, how difficult must it have been for him to do that? On the outside, he pretended to be fine, laughing and acting cheerful, but inside, how blackly must he have rotted? In a child’s world, parents are everything, but the parents who were everything in the world weren’t on the child’s side.
He thought he understood why Haeju trusted and followed him so much. Why he always only looked at Yeojin and liked him. Wasn’t Yeojin the only adult who extended a warm hand to that child?
Tsk. Haeju. Why is your life really like this?
Thinking of Haeju, his heart ached again. Emotions welled up. His eyes actually became moist.
“Black one.”
Feeling like he might embarrassingly lose control of his emotions and sniffle, he called the crow. The creature admirably answered with a “caw.”
“You little thing. Go back to Haeju. If you bring him here or anything, I’ll pluck out all your feathers.”
“Caaw. Caw.”
The creature cawed in protest.
“I’ll get out of here somehow on my own, so stay by Haeju’s side.”
Instead of being able to be his protector, shouldn’t he avoid becoming a hostage and holding him back? But the biggest problem was being tied to a chair. He tried moving and wiggling his whole body once more. It was still useless. Whatever they tied him with was so tight that the fixed parts wouldn’t budge.
Yeojin let out a sigh.
“But even if you’re going to leave, untie this before you go.”
He tried asking the crow. The creature blinked its bean-sized black eyes and cawed softly. I know. It’s pathetic. I don’t know what I’m doing asking a bird. Still, doesn’t that creature have sharp beak and claws?
“Don’t look at me like I’m pathetic and try untying this, come on.”
The creature really hopped up onto Yeojin’s thigh. Then it struggled desperately to untie the rope binding Yeojin’s hand to the chair armrest with its beak. It gnawed on the rope with its beak and even used its claws.
Perhaps because its beak and claws were so sharp, the rope began to fray. Yeojin’s arm and hand also got scratched, but this was nothing. He’d just casually thrown out the words, but it really seemed like this creature could untie the rope. No matter how he thought about it, it was a fascinating creature.
“Good job. You’re doing well. Hang in there. Just hang in there a little more.”
He cheered the creature on with sincerity. It really seemed possible. Just a little more, just a little! Soon the rope on his right wrist really snapped with a pop. He was so happy he felt like cheering.
“Wow, you’re really amazing. I apologize for saying I’d pluck out all your feathers.”
As if proudly boasting, the crow threw its head up sharply and cried with a gurgle in its throat. It couldn’t look more admirable and pretty. Unable to resist the urge to touch the creature’s shiny black body, he reached out his hand. When he gently stroked the neck area with his fingertips like petting a cat, the creature trembled all over. Even its tail feathers quivered.
Huh? It seems to like being petted? He moved his hand to stroke its head and very carefully scratched the boundary area from beak to head. The creature even flapped its wings in delight.
“Why are you so cute?”
Suddenly a clattering sound came from somewhere. Yeojin snapped to attention too. This wasn’t the time to be absorbed in the crow’s charm.
Yeojin quickly moved the hand that had been petting the creature to his other wrist. The rope wouldn’t come off easily with bare hands, so while he was struggling, the creature that had been sitting on Yeojin’s leg acting charming suddenly flew up whoosh and found a broken glass shard somewhere, brought it back in its beak.
At this point, honestly, it became a bit scary.
“Hey. You’re not a bird, are you?”
“Caw.”
It seemed to say stop talking nonsense and untie the rope. A magical beast controlled by a wizard that only appears in fantasy movies—could it be something like that? That thing definitely doesn’t seem like just a bird. While thinking all sorts of thoughts inside, he finished cutting the remaining ropes on his other hand and ankles with the glass shard.
Let’s go! He stood up abruptly full of spirit, but his body swayed pathetically. His whole brain rang. His vision spun round and round. It was dizziness he’d never felt before in his life. Even when he’d trained for three days and nights without a wink of sleep, he’d never felt such vertigo.
“I’m really going to kill that bastard.”
Wi Seokwoo. A bastard whose name alone he didn’t like. Next time, he’d beat that bastard like a dog until his brain rang too. While he was catching his breath for a moment to calm the dizziness, the crow hopped up onto Yeojin’s shoulder. Then it rubbed its head against Yeojin’s cheek. It was like a puppy whimpering with worry for its master.
“I’m okay. I’m okay.”
He muttered as if to reassure the creature while stroking the body of the bird perched on his shoulder. It acted like a puppy, but the texture of its feathers was completely different. It was smooth and elastic, but not soft—it had a stiff feel.
Still, the comfort from a single bird greatly stabilized his mind.
“Should it be Kkamang-i? Or Heukdol-i?”
He asked because he felt he should give it a name. He couldn’t keep calling it “black one” forever. Both were equally tacky and senseless names, but still, Kkamang-i seemed a bit better.
Even standing still, the world seemed to spin round and round, but when he took deep breaths and stabilized himself, the dizziness gradually subsided.
He felt like lying down and sleeping, but now wasn’t the time for that. There was no telling when Wi Seokwoo or the rebel bastards might come. He had to escape from here before that.
Yeojin took a deep breath and zipped down the jumper zipper he’d pulled up to his neck. The gun he’d hidden deep in his pocket was still there. His phone was also quietly there. It seemed they just knocked him out and dragged him here without searching his body.
Careless bastards. Body searching prisoners should be basic. Weren’t they a ragtag bunch too embarrassing to even call rebels?
He didn’t know how their organizational system was structured, but Wi Seokwoo was definitely one of the leaders. A guy who couldn’t control his own emotions, laughing and shouting like a lunatic, exploding his ability and even smashing surveillance cameras. A guy who showed no aspect befitting an organization leader.
Han Yongsu, who dragged Yeojin here. That guy was someone who dropped out of high school, caused all sorts of trouble, then manifested his ability and was quarantined at Seoul Center. Naturally, he hadn’t served in the military either.
And Yang Sujin. She was smart and capable, but likewise too young.
The characteristic of young kids without much social experience was that their emotions were fiery. Overflowing with energy, they easily flared up. Among the quarantined people who came to Seoul Center, the younger they were, the more extreme their emotional changes were, and they suffered greatly. There were kids who couldn’t suppress their resentment and charged at Center staff, ending up locked in solitary confinement or receiving disciplinary action.
Rather, quarantined people who were a bit older and had more social experience were calmer. Even if they struggled at first, at some point they would acknowledge their situation and accept it calmly.
