The Second Irregular
It was my fault for trusting that guy so easily. I’d forgotten that he sometimes acts like he’s missing a few screws even when things are going smoothly. On the bright side, it was fortunate that only a part of my body was here instead of my main body. If it hadn’t been, I would’ve let out curses too vile to repeat right then and there.
It was a situation teetering on the edge of the absolute worst, enough to turn my mind completely white, but the water was already spilled. All I could do now was watch how those two would react. With an uneasy gaze, I turned my eyes back inside.
Just then, he—who had been staring down at the documents with an unreadable expression—slowly opened his mouth.
“…This document. There’s no error or problem with it, right?”
“I thought it might be a temporary malfunction, so I ran the test several times. That’s the result. …After going that far and still getting the same outcome, it probably means there’s nothing wrong with the result itself.”
“Then what this means… you know better than anyone, don’t you?”
His voice was endlessly serious. As if she had been waiting for him to say that, she naturally lowered the hand that had been covering her eyes. Her two eyes, ringed with heavy dark circles, shone sharply as they fixed on him.
“It’s reasonable to see it as an ‘Irregular’ that has reappeared after several years. To think such a being would show up twice in this tiny patch of land… It really is a strange thing.”
At the same time, a deep silence settled between the two. Meanwhile, I—who had been carefully watching—felt puzzled by the unfamiliar word. Irregular… I’d been working in this field for quite a while, but it was the first time I’d heard it. Yet from the word’s literal meaning and the atmosphere between them, it clearly wasn’t anything good.
“You know this well too, but they’re never friendly toward ordinary people. If anything, they’re more like a threat. If we leave it alone like this, it might become a huge danger someday.”
“But back then, the first Irregular that appeared in Korea… that was partly our fault too. If our attitudes toward each other had been even slightly different, that disaster might never have happened.”
“Team Leader Kwon? That’s nothing more than hindsight. One thing is certain, though—we have a duty to protect the ordinary citizens living in this region, and we can’t just ignore even the smallest possibility of a risk factor.”
A conversation with no room for compromise passed between them, and a cold war of nerves continued. Though some parts were hard to follow, the core points were clear. First, there had been others before whose abilities couldn’t be identified even through precise testing, just like me. Second, their image was far from positive. Since this content had never appeared on the internet or in newspapers, it was likely something never made public to ordinary people.
And right now, in this place, there was another suspicious existence who could probably answer my questions. I quietly shifted my gaze toward where that very person had been. However, the familiar black cat never entered my sight. The creature that had nearly filled the narrow passage had vanished without a trace. He was always ghostly when it came to appearing and disappearing, but as I stared at the empty space, my face twisted. It felt like he’d hidden away in a hurry because the topic was too difficult to answer.
Meanwhile, the two resumed their conversation.
“Of course, I have no intention of doing anything harsh to that frail child. That said, we still need to properly address the suspicious parts. Fortunately, there’s a good method available. Whether that child is hostile toward humanity… or the opposite. Let’s use ‘her’ once.”
“…! You don’t mean…”
At that moment, cracks appeared on his face, which had been devoid of emotion. The expression—filled with sorrow, anger, and displeasure—was a tangled mess of too many feelings to define as one. Yet she continued speaking calmly, as if she had expected that reaction.
“If we let the two of them meet, it’ll become clear. Coincidentally, research on that side has been stagnant anyway… This could be a good breakthrough. But this matter requires your full consent… because it would mean using her.”
After that, she quietly stared at him, waiting for his answer. However, lost in anguish, he couldn’t easily open his mouth. With the situation unfolding this way, listening as a complete third party was pure torture for me. Who on earth was this “her” she was talking about? And why did she need his permission to mobilize her? From the flow of the story, she seemed to be an experimental subject in this research division. Moreover, judging from his reaction, she must have some connection to the man over there. But why they wanted to make me face her still remained a mystery.
“Think it over carefully… You already know it too. This is the most certain method. It’ll be mentally taxing, but don’t resent me too much. As you know, as a researcher, I’m only ever making rational proposals.”
As time passed and he still couldn’t make a decision, she pressed him to choose. Even so, he paid no attention and maintained his silence. Just as a brief lull settled in and boredom was beginning to creep in, a sudden chill ran down my entire body.
“!!!……”
It felt as if I had locked eyes with a wild beast in the forest. Instinctive terror flooded my mind. The cells in my body urgently sounded an alarm, signaling danger. The conviction that I’d been discovered filled my head. Within my vision frozen like ice, his head slowly began to move. The angle tilted, gradually turning upward. And just before that cold gaze reached me, I severed the connection with that part of my body almost unconsciously.
-----
“Hm? …Why are you suddenly like that? Is there something over there?”
At Ha-yeon’s question, the woman in the white coat, Cheon Hyeok narrowed his eyes. When no answer came after a long wait, she glanced over and found him blankly staring somewhere. Cheon Hyeok, who had been quietly looking toward the direction of the vent, soon made a strange expression and opened his mouth.
“Could there be a rat running around in that vent or something?”
“What are you suddenly saying? There’s no way a rat would be this deep underground.”
Ha-yeon gave a puzzled reaction to Cheon Hyeok’s out-of-the-blue question. His words were far too disconnected from the previous topic. Meanwhile, he tore his gaze away from that direction and calmly closed his eyes.
“It’s gone now, but… I felt some strange presence from over there. Got any guesses?”
“Hmm… If it’s something that can move through such a small passage, maybe a small escaped test subject. Well, we haven’t cleaned around here lately.”
Scratching her head, Ha-yeon said that. But his thoughts were slightly different. The sensation he had felt moments ago was closer to someone’s gaze. Letting out a groan amid the indescribable uneasy feeling, Cheon Hyeok eventually shook his head. There couldn’t be anyone in such a narrow place. Moreover, an external intruder in this facility that boasted ironclad security was close to impossible. It was probably just because he had become overly sensitive. Especially after hearing “that proposal.”
Right after, Ha-yeon stood up from her seat and walked toward the glass wall. Then, with her head slightly turned back, she looked at him.
“By the way… won’t you give me an answer soon? The child in that room seems to have woken up, too.”
Upon hearing Ha-yeon’s words, Cheon Hyeok immediately turned his gaze and looked beyond the glass wall. There, just as she said, stood the child who had accompanied them here. The girl leaning against the capsule had her ashen hair shining clearly under the lights. The mysterious girl who now occupied all of his nerves. The questions he thought the precise examination would resolve had only grown deeper. The second ‘Irregular’ to appear in Korea. Memories of the first Irregular—known only to key personnel—slowly surfaced. Memories of that day, now gone from his jurisdiction, leaving only regret. Suddenly, the face of that existence looking at him with a face that knew nothing came to mind. The fact that the girl over there overlapped with that existence was probably due to the faint remaining guilt. But precisely because of that, he needed to clearly address it at this point. Before he carelessly grew attached like last time, he had to tie up this knot of doubt. The question of whether that child would become harmful to humanity in the future.
“…If you’re saying that much, then that must be the best option. Fine. Do as you like.”
“Then it’s decided. It must’ve been a difficult decision, but you’ve overcome ‘that incident’ more than before.”
At her gaze laden with many meanings, Cheon Hyeok didn’t bother replying and instead took a deep drag from the cigarette in his hand. As white smoke drifted from his mouth, his vacant eyes stared not straight ahead, but at something distant beyond.
-----
I nearly caused a huge disaster. Still clutching my slightly trembling body, I took a deep breath. Although he hadn’t said anything directly, I could sense it intuitively. My gaze, which had been watching from inside, had been discovered. If I hadn’t severed the connection quickly, things probably wouldn’t have ended at this level. Swallowing hard at the memory of that spine-chilling sensation that had frozen my entire body, I wondered if this was the true killing intent of a powerhouse. That gaze, infinitely sharper than the one that had looked at me before, was exactly that of a starving beast. In front of those eyes, I was nothing more than a weak herbivore. Moreover, I had been far too careless. Just like I’d seen once in the infinite corridor, his senses—capable of instantly detecting tricks invisible to the eye—surpassed even the culprit’s. I had been inwardly surprised back then too, but experiencing it directly made me feel it on my skin. That the man over there wasn’t an ordinary uncle, but an absurd monster. Thinking about it again, it was only a matter of time. The moment I kept staring at him, my gaze was destined to be exposed eventually.
Once I calmed down somewhat, I looked up again at the glass wall that had become unknowable from the inside. Come to think of it, the conversation had been cut off while they were debating whether to conduct additional experiments or not… I was dying to know how the talk had concluded afterward. But whether fortunately or unfortunately, my anxious feelings were soon resolved. The long-silent speaker finally began to operate.
“Ah~ You were already awake! Thanks to your cooperation, the examination ended safely. But there’s just~ a little more I’d like to look into. Could you cooperate one more time? It won’t hurt this time either, so don’t worry! Once everything’s over, this big sis will buy you something delicious as a reward!”
Her nonchalant voice came through the speaker. But it was obvious even without looking that those words were lies. Safely ended, my ass. In reality, it had been a complete failure, yet she was spouting sweet lies to reassure me. Asking me to cooperate one more time clearly meant that suspicious experiment I’d heard about earlier. Even if I hadn’t known the truth, that suspicious nuance alone would’ve been enough to raise doubts that weren’t there before. But knowing the truth didn’t mean I could avoid it. All I could do now was pray that everything would pass safely. In such a critical situation, where the hell had that guy disappeared to? As the face of the culprit who had caused all this trouble came to mind, my expression twisted on its own. I thought to myself how heartless he was, only showing up when he felt like it.