Im Yena called out to it making a “jju-jju-jju” sound like calling a cat with a lisp, but the crow ignored her and flapped up to land in front of Yeojin.
“Is it Kkamang?”
At that, the bird cawed, its throat vibrating with sound. It tilted its head this way and that, so thinking it wanted to be petted, Yeojin gently stroked its small head.
“What is this? Why does it follow you so well, Doctor? It’s like a puppy, so cute.”
Im Yena stuck right next to Yeojin and made a fuss. She carefully reached out her hand and lightly stroked Kkamang’s body. Kkamang stayed still, not recognizing Im Yena as an enemy.
“Those crows seem to move according to Seo Haeju’s consciousness. Do you call the crows mentally or something, Seo Haeju?”
Kim Hanseong asked Haeju while looking at Kkamang with curiosity.
“I don’t know.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t really know either. Those guys don’t come just because I call them. They seem to fly to me according to my emotions, mainly when I feel extreme emotions like anger or murderous intent. But I can somewhat make the gathered ones disperse.”
“I see. Then when did the crows start appearing around you, Seo Haeju?”
“I think it was when I was 12 years old.”
Haeju stopped talking mid-sentence and glanced at Yeojin. Yeojin seemed to understand why he was gauging his reaction. Yeojin chuckled and said,
“It’s okay, I heard everything from Wi Seokwoo. You said your ability manifested when you were young? That must have been around age 12?”
“Yes.”
After answering, he immediately continued.
“I’m sorry for lying.”
“Forget it, what’s there to be sorry about. But will you be okay? If it’s painful, you don’t have to talk about it. Kim Hanseong, Haeju’s past isn’t important, right?”
Kim Hanseong immediately answered, “Yes, of course.”
“No, this is something I had to tell you someday, Doctor. My ability manifested when I was 12 years old. I met my crow friend at that time too.”
Haeju revealed his past in a calm tone. The story was very plain and concise. Rather than lamenting painful memories, it was closer to information delivery, pinpointing only the important events that had already occurred.
There was an accident at home where a ceiling storage unit broke, and it seems his ability manifested then. Haeju’s parents, who witnessed the situation during his awakening, were greatly shocked. Their child wasn’t ordinary.
It happened to be when news about Transcendents, a new race, was beginning to appear in the media.
What followed was exactly as Yeojin had heard from Wi Seokwoo. Haeju’s parents thoroughly hid the fact that their child was a Transcendent. And they ordered the child to hide his ability and not use it by any means necessary.
If it became known that their son was a Transcendent, the honor and wealth they had built up as doctors would vanish in an instant. Haeju’s parents used every method to try to eliminate their child’s ability.
They thought of the ability as a kind of disease. Because it was a disease, they firmly believed there was a way to cure it and continued unreasonable treatments. But while they called it treatment, from the child’s perspective it was abuse and torture.
Haeju laid out the horrifically painful past he had endured as calmly as reciting narration.
The child, suffering from his parents’ abuse that wasn’t called abuse with nowhere to turn, happened to pick up a baby crow. The child cared for the dying baby crow, and under the child’s care, the crow survived safely.
After that, the crow became the child’s friend. As he spent time befriending the crow, the child came to realize that he had developed a bond deeper than communion with the crow. The crow reacted sensitively to the child’s emotions.
Especially to anger.
When the child harbored anger from being tormented by his parents, sensing that emotion, the crow would attack the parents.
Though the attacks were cute-level pranks like hiding one of the parents’ shoes or pooping on the car windshield.
“The one I saved back then is that guy.”
Haeju said while indicating Kkamang with his eyes.
“That guy is the king of the crow flock.”
At Haeju’s added words, Kkamang flapped its wings proudly. Yeojin had thought it was an unusual creature, but to think it was the leader of the flock. Its small, black eyes somehow looked even more intelligent today.
“From one day on, that guy started gathering a flock. At first two birds, three birds, later ten birds. Now it’s become a flock of dozens.”
“It’s like a private army organization guarding Seo Haeju.”
“It seems like that.”
“He’s properly repaying the favor. Better than humans.”
Kim Hanseong also looked at Kkamang as if impressed.
“Have you ever thought about properly controlling the crows?”
“No, I haven’t. The crows were my friends. And they never harmed people before. The crows attacking people in a flock was the first time during the incident at the Center recently. I was surprised too. Not only the soldiers but they even attacked you, Doctor.”
Haeju stopped talking and glanced at Haeju’s reaction.
“So I thought I should learn how to control them.”
“It seems you should also learn how to control your ability.”
Kim Hanseong’s gaze lingered on the fragments of the cup Haeju had broken with his bare hands before falling away. Haeju said nothing. He wiped his wet hands with a napkin and picked up a fork to eat the cake. Even while eating food he liked, his expression wasn’t good.
“This tastes worse than the cake you bought me on my birthday before, Doctor.”
“It looks delicious though?”
Saying that, Yeojin also took a bite of the cake. It really was delicious. The savory whipped cream melted smoothly in his mouth.
“It’s just delicious.”
But Haeju put down his fork with a thud. The kid looked thoroughly displeased. In truth, Yeojin wasn’t comfortable in this situation either. But the cake was so delicious that he continued eating it with his coffee.
When Kkamang hopped over to Haeju, the kid handed Kkamang a cookie. Kkamang ate the cookie deliciously, crunching away. There really was nothing Kkamang couldn’t eat.
“Haeju, you continued hiding it even after your ability manifested. I did too.”
Seo Yul took up Im Yena’s words.
“That goes for me too, and for Hanseong hyung too. The number of Transcendents quarantined at the Center isn’t even half of all Transcendents, right? What’s half, no one knows how many unreported Transcendents there are. Among the politicians, famous celebrities, and famous figures we know, there are probably quite a few. If you’re determined to hide it, there’s no way to know. Abilities don’t explode at random times like people think. They’re quite controllable.”
“We just have special abilities beyond others, but we’re no different from ordinary people. We’re human too, just the same.”
Im Yena’s voice, which had maintained a cheerful attitude throughout, lowered slightly. Who would think these were a group of Transcendents? Just looking at their appearance, they were all ordinary people. Everyone claims that Transcendents are calamitous beings that cause extreme damage to the world, but are they really such beings?
They were sitting together quietly, eating meals, having conversations, drinking tea, and enjoying dessert like ordinary people.
They were all humans no different from Yeojin. Seeing them all sitting at one table wearing casual clothes suited to their tastes, eating meals and sharing daily life made that fact feel more real. At the Center, Transcendents and ordinary people were clearly distinguished. Transcendents wearing quarantine uniforms, ordinary staff wearing casual clothes. A space no different from a prison where status was distinguished by the clothes one wore.
“Seo Haeju, thank you for telling us about your difficult past. Let’s return to the main topic. I heard roughly from Director Im Junwoo that Wi Seokwoo’s gang is planning to attack the Seoul Center?”
“Yes, it’s what I heard while I was captured by them.”
“The purpose would be to extract the Transcendents remaining in the Center’s quarantine wing. He’s really a reckless friend. That friend isn’t the type to reconsider this and that the moment he thinks of something—he moves right away. He has frightening execution ability. He’s an amazing friend. This is pure admiration, really.”
Im Junwoo picked up where Kim Hanseong left off.
“Yes, he’s expanding in scale at a frightening speed. It’s not a gang anymore but becoming an organization. And a powerful organization made up of young, hot-blooded Transcendents at that. It’s not a level to ignore anymore, now. Attacking the Seoul Center means formally throwing down a challenge to the government.”
“They already threw down the challenge with the attempted attack on the Minister.”
Kim Hanseong stopped talking and fell into thought while drinking tea for a moment, then opened his mouth again.
“I don’t understand what they’re thinking to commit such reckless acts. They’re getting more radical as time goes on. I just can’t understand it.”
At Kim Hanseong’s words, Seo Yul snorted loudly.
“You think they have thoughts? They just do it first and see what happens. A grand goal? There’s probably nothing like that. Think of them as high on drugs as a group right now. Don’t try to think about it from a normal common sense perspective.”
“……”
“They’re just crazy bastards.”
Hearing Seo Yul’s words, Yeojin felt as if something that had been completely blocked was opening up.
