The Time of Confrontation (3)
Hehe... Good, good. You're falling for it nicely. It feels a bit unsettling to use my appearance like this, but I have to use every tool available. The man's eyes, stained with guilt, were filled with pity for the little girl before him. That reaction was exactly what I'd intended, yet I hadn't expected it to work so easily, which left me oddly unsettled. The term "looksism" really wasn't just empty words. Appearance shouldn't matter, yet it clearly shaped people's perceptions far more than I cared to admit.
Having seized complete control of the conversation as planned, I glanced at the man sitting across from me, his eyes ringed with heavy dark circles. It was a psychological battle that exploited the compassion everyone possessed. Unless his heart was forged from steel, refusing a little girl's tearful plea would be difficult. As expected, the fact that he knew nothing about the "experiment" from a week ago also worked in my favor. The word "experiment" slipping from the tearful girl's lips would naturally lead the listener to fill in the blanks with their own imagination. Humans tended to spin endless theories from the smallest hints.
Even if he had known the truth about the experiment, the outcome probably wouldn't have changed much. What happened during it was undeniably something beyond words, whether intentional or not. Of course, simply complying with his demands might have been safer for me. But I'd already spent a week trapped in this underground facility, and I still had no idea what their true goals were. He was the first outsider I'd encountered. So I had to take a small risk and extract at least some information from him. If I just sat back and let things drift without knowing anything, I wouldn't be able to respond when real trouble arrived.
Even if they were acting friendly now, the future was impossible to predict. Offering him that deal earlier had been a calculated gamble, factoring in the risk. I'd based it on the assumption that he couldn't lay a hand on me, then layered in a relaxed proposal with a hint of provocation. Presenting a transaction while wearing a child's face would have been dismissed outright, so it was unavoidable. If luck had turned against me, an irritated man might have resorted to threats instead, but fortunately that hadn't happened. Given how many abnormal people roamed this place, I'd been slightly tense, yet he seemed to fall within the category of an ordinary person. Still, I couldn't afford to relax, so I maintained the act and carefully voiced my first question.
"Then first... who are you, mister? Are you a hunter who directly hunts monsters? Or a researcher here?"
"Hmm... Sharp guess, but you're wrong on both counts. I'm Park Yoo-han, the dedicated manager for Investigation Team 5. I support the hunters from behind the scenes. Remember that scary-looking guy who brought you here? Think of me as his direct subordinate."
Yoo-han, the tired-looking man, answered my question about his identity without difficulty. A manager, huh... From the impression he gave, I'd roughly guessed he wasn't a hunter, but a manager was unexpected. It was a non-hunter administrative role that assisted active hunters so they could focus on their main duties. Yet very few people actually knew about them. Most civilians had no idea, and even those in the industry were unfamiliar unless they worked directly for the Council. The reason I knew this was simple: back when I was desperately hunting for any job that paid well, I'd once tried applying for a manager position. Of course, I'd been crushed by competitors with impressive specs and versatile skills, and after a few months I'd given up and ended up as a porter instead.
I shook my head lightly, pushing the old memories aside. Since he didn't seem to be lying, I moved on to the next question. The man I'd first encountered in the dungeon where everything began—the one who'd brought me here. According to the two people who'd treated me kindly on my first day in this building, his name was Cheon Hyeok. He was an immensely powerful hunter and the leader of Council Investigation Team 5. Since the man in front of me was his direct manager, he likely knew something about matters concerning me.
"Then, Manager... why are you keeping me locked up in a place like this? The staff members just keep telling me to wait a little longer whenever I ask, and staying in the same room all the time is really hard..."
The pitiful voice of the tearful girl echoed through the room. Yet contrary to her innocent expression, it was a lie. Being cooped up was annoying, but deep down I was quite satisfied with this current NEET lifestyle. If I'd been an outgoing social butterfly who loved playing outside, it might have been different, but in my past life I'd been a classic hikikomori who only left the house for work and otherwise stayed glued to my phone. Since I couldn't say that outright, I added a suitable performance while speaking. At the same time, I twisted my body slightly, lowered my head a little, and looked up at the man with upturned eyes—the classic pose little girls in manga used when asking for something. The idea had struck me on impulse, so I'd tried it.
And the result was a resounding success.
"!!!......"
The man let out a silent scream, clutching his chest with one hand and bowing his head. Was the stimulus really that strong? It had only been a playful attempt, yet his reaction made heat rise to my face in embarrassment. After keeping his head lowered for a moment, he finally spoke.
"Hoo... I'm really sorry, but I don't know that part well either. Your treatment was decided by the team leader and the fox from the research department, so unless those two tell me directly, there's no way for me to know. Still... I can make a guess."
Shaking his head as he spoke, he immediately held out one of the documents lying in front of him. I accepted it with a puzzled expression and my eyes widened the moment I looked inside. The familiar girl's face in the top left corner, along with the striking gray hair that commanded attention—it was unmistakably my current appearance. The question of why my photo was here was naturally answered as I scanned the rest of the document. Name, age, weight, height, body measurements, blood type... and finally, detailed personal information. It was a file containing my personal data. It included the rough details I'd fabricated when questioned earlier, along with information I hadn't even known myself. What was even more surprising was how highly polished it was, despite being built on such flimsy information. The sections detailing my past actions didn't even make sense on their own. That alone suggested it was a well-fabricated fake document.
As I stared at the file with a bewildered gaze, the man who had been leisurely watching my reaction from across the table spoke up.
"How is it? Pretty good work, right? It took a lot of effort to make this... I actually came here to meet you to check if the details written here had any problems."
"This is... what exactly?"
"I did a little investigating and found there was no recorded personal information about you at all. So I made a new one from scratch at the team leader's request. It's illegal, of course... but as long as you don't get caught, it's fine. In this world, not having an identity is what's strange in the first place. With this, you've become someone who was 'originally in Korea' from the start."
He spoke with a voice full of pride, as if boasting about his skills. But my mind was occupied with entirely different thoughts. So that was why they'd suddenly started doing physical ability measurements and health checkups a few days ago. The photo printed on this document was clearly the one taken during those tests. Seeing my three sizes listed—details I hadn't even known about this body—left me with an indescribably strange feeling. Most striking of all was the "Awakener-related items" section near the middle. It clearly stated that I was an Awakener. The ability name was... "Self-Recovery." While the word itself wasn't technically wrong, something felt off. The results from the detailed examination had clearly been "uninterpretable." In other words, this ability name had been arbitrarily written by the two people who'd witnessed that scene—specifically, the woman who called herself Dr. J. But could the phenomenon of a completely destroyed heart restoring itself to normal really be expressed with something as simple as "Self-Recovery"? It fit, in a way, but it also felt forced.
While I pondered this internally, he concluded his answer to my question.
"So my guess is that they'll probably keep you underground until this new identity is completed. Since we still don't know your exact identity, you could be exposed to unknown threats. It's all for your safety. And this work is already in its final stages, so you'll be able to go aboveground soon."
"......"
His speculation made sense. But there were still unresolved questions. After a moment of hesitation, I voiced the doubt that had been building in my mind.
"...Why are you treating me so well? My identity isn't clear and you don't even know who I am. You're even making a new identity for me while taking risks. I don't understand the reason at all..."
At my voice tinged with faint fear, his expression hardened. Of course, part of it was an act, but I was genuinely curious. Not only were they protecting a child with an unclear identity, they were even creating a new identity for her. Protection itself I could understand. But going so far as to break the law and create a new identity for a girl they'd never met before was hard to comprehend. He could have simply finished a cursory investigation and handed me over to the police or a government agency without any issues. The only plausible explanation seemed to be my still-veiled ability, but that alone couldn't fully account for this level of goodwill. The man in front of me seemed to understand my doubt and nodded slightly.
"It's true... The team leader's actions are, to put it bluntly, a bit excessive. Only he knows the exact truth, but you don't need to worry too much. Unlike that fox, the team leader isn't the kind of person who would harm a child like you. He must have some greater purpose."
He smiled as he spoke, as if trying to ease my worries. It was clear how much he trusted his superior. After all, though I hadn't spent much time with Cheon Hyeok, aside from his intimidating appearance, he hadn't seemed like someone with a bad personality. The image of him seriously pondering what to say to a child in the elevator heading underground was still vivid. Recalling that mismatch between his looks and behavior, I smiled faintly to myself. In the end, it seemed I had no choice but to wait for now. The key to all the truth lay with "that man," who hadn't shown himself since that day. And for some reason, I had a feeling that the day I would meet him again wasn't far off.