Homeward Bound (2)
The two voices brimming with tears tug at my heart as well.
I clutch my chest and turn toward the direction the voices are coming from... My mom and sister are sprinting toward me, tears streaming down their faces. Behind them, Dad approaches with a relieved expression!
“Mom! Dad! Siha!”
Seeing them rush toward me, I also blink back tears and run to Mom and Siha...
Whoosh!
“What the— Jung Seoha? No, you can’t do that.”
From the entrance of the building, the blonde Choi Soohan is moving at a speed that borders on a whirlwind. She appears right in front of me in an instant, grabs my shoulder, and stops me.
She’s insanely fast! Even though I detected her movements within my search range, I couldn’t react at all!
Only then did I look at the recorded movements of Choi Soohan in my search ability. She was showing a speed equivalent to twenty times my enhanced physical abilities by controlling my Phase Power... Is this the ability of a Physical Reinforcement user?
If seven thousand is this fast, then what level is the person with fifty thousand?
I was so shocked that the tears I was about to shed vanished. The blonde-haired one, who had stopped me, turned around, spread her arms in front of Mom and Siha who were running toward me, and shouted.
“I am Choi Soohan from the Survivor Protection & Management Department of the Ability User Association! Jung Seoha has just awakened, so there’s a high possibility that he’s exposed to dangerous viruses and such for ordinary people. Please refrain from direct contact!”
Huh, diseases! I never thought of that!
Hearing Choi Soohan’s shout, Mom and Siha don’t calm down at all. Instead, they burst into tears and wail. Even though they’re rational Mom and Siha, I thought they’d stop.
“Son! My son!”
“Uwaaang! Step back, step back!”
Mom and Siha push and pull at Choi Soohan’s blocking arm, trying to shake it off, but as expected from a Physical Reinforcement user, she doesn’t budge an inch.
At that moment, Dad, who arrived a beat late, looks as calm as if he’s family compared to Mom and Siha’s reactions. He grabs Mom’s waist and pulls her, then grabs Siha’s shoulder and says,
“Is my son okay?”
“Of course. After completing the current Ability User tests and registrations, we’ll do a simple check at the nearby Alliance Hospital and then head home... Since malnutrition is suspected, you can choose to be hospitalized. The entire hospitalization treatment fee will be covered by the state.”
What! Why! What! I was sulking, but I’m tough inside!
Ah, so that’s why Mom and Siha are acting like this because I look so skinny?
Choi Soohan, who had been muttering with a tail of words, turns back and speaks again. With a displeased expression, I watch her. Dad, with an expression only family could understand, speaks to me with a relieved tone.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m completely fine. So stop crying, Mom, Siha.”
“How much hardship have you gone through that your face... Uuu.”
“You idiot! I told you to eat well and live! What’s with this face!”
I need to say something that makes sense! How am I supposed to eat well in the Phase World!?
Mom, who had been held by Dad’s arm, looks at my face, buries it in Dad’s chest, and starts crying. Siha, angry at my skinny frame, squeezes Dad’s arm tighter and shouts. A drop of sweat falls from Dad’s forehead.
If I keep this up, Dad’s arm will break.
“How long does the test and registration take?”
“About an hour should be enough.”
“Understood. Then I’ll wait at the hospital. Son. After registration, come straight to the Alliance Hospital.”
“Got it. I’ll be there right away.”
Dad says that and, soothing the crying Mom and Siha, turns back the way he came. Although the tearful reunion was interrupted by Choi Soohan, my heart warms at the sight of my family’s backs.
“What a nice family~.”
Choi Soohan looks at me with a pleased expression, grabs my arm, and walks toward Uncle Kang Woohyuk waiting at the entrance of the Alliance building.
“But how did Mom and Dad know to wait here?”
“Senior must have contacted them earlier. The family waiting would have been the most desperate for news of survival.”
Hearing Choi Soohan’s words, I look at Uncle Kang Woohyuk waiting with his back turned in front. He’s handsome, but his consideration is on another level.
From the entrance of the Ability User Association, I thought there would be people, but it’s strangely empty. The central hall is completely empty except for two receptionists sitting at the guide desk between the elevators on the wall.
Is there such a waste of space.
Following behind Uncle Kang Woohyuk, who is walking while I look around the space filled only with white tiles, which is desolate enough to be called bleak, Choi Soohan speaks as if she understands my feelings.
“It’s pretty desolate, right? This is the survivor-only entrance. We made it this barren because survivors sometimes cause trouble. Even if we decorate it, it gets broken a lot.”
Ah, that’s why? Yeah, if a survivor with a twisted mind goes wild, there needs to be space to subdue them.
When I unfold my search ability, I find a bustling place symmetric to this one. The guide desk is huge and there are many receptionists.
They divided the entrances into two in preparation for trouble.
“But you said there might be a virus earlier, yet you’re roaming around like this without any special measures? What if a disease spreads?”
“Huh? That was a lie. If I didn’t say that, people wouldn’t calm down.”
...This guy!
Staring at Choi Soohan with an incredulous face, she chuckles.
“Seoha, your outfit is too dirty right now. Hugging your family in that state might cause some skin disease or something.”
Yeah, that’s true. I swam in water where corpses were rotting and got covered in Aberrant blood, so I’m really filthy.
But seeing her smile brightly, I can’t help but frown. Maybe it’s better for my mental health not to look at her.
Tsk, tsk.
Looking at the luxuriously decorated white guide desk, a man and woman pair are waiting.
They’re wearing clothes with geometric patterns embroidered in black thread on a white background. Is that the uniform? It looks like a uniform.
Anyway, the woman has neat short hair cut to her earlobes, matching the uniform well. Objectively, she’s pretty, but after living with Franc, my standards have risen a bit... Ugh. Her makeup is heavy too.
Anyway, since she’s a woman, I tried to scan her naked body with my clairvoyance... But this is the Ability User building. I became wary of using my scan freely in case there are detection devices.
Huh? Now that I think about it, my search is passive, right? And when I searched the first floor earlier, there was no reaction either?
Thinking that, I arrive in front of the luxurious desk. Uncle Kang Woohyuk speaks to the woman.
“Survivor Jung Seoha, KRAVP-0000134. Awakening time is 09:33.”
“Survivor Jung Seoha, KRAVP-0000134. Awakening time is 09:33. Confirmed. Jung Seoha, please move to the Ability User testing room on the 32nd floor.”
KRAVP-00134? What is that? Choi Soohan, noticing my confused expression, smiles and starts explaining.
“Survivor numbers refer to people who were sucked into the Phase World this year. You’re the 134th one this year. Usually, tens of thousands are registered per year. In KRAVP, KR is Korea, and AVP is the annual alphabet change based on the 1st year of the New Phase Power. It started with AAA and now it’s AVP.”
Tens of thousands per year... Since I’m the 134th, how many survived before me.
“Usually, about 30% of people become Ability Users.”
“30%? Out of those who awakened?”
“Awakened people aren’t all fine.”
Ah, I never thought of that. People who awakened but can’t live normal lives...
I might have gone insane if it weren’t for Franc. Hearing that made it feel less like someone else’s problem.
Ding.
A mechanical sound comes from somewhere, and the elevator door next to the woman opens. Following Uncle Kang Woohyuk and Choi Soohan into the open elevator, when the receptionist sister makes eye contact, she smiles faintly.
Is she wagging her tail now? I smile back and casually scan the receptionist sister’s naked body, but suddenly the hall lights turn red and the emergency bell rings... There was no such thing.
Is it because there are no facilities or because my ability is good?
[Moving to the 32nd floor]
A voice comes from above, so I look up and see a protruding black hemispherical thing. After turning my attention, I recall the scan results in my head... Hmm.
To be honest, despite the headache and fatigue, I forced myself to scan the naked body of a woman I’ve never seen before because I wanted to see it. I think I made a mistake.
Is it not worth scanning just to do it?
...Ugh. It feels like beef is floating in my head.
Imagining Franc’s sculpted body, I try to erase the shocking vision I just saw from my mind.
“...”
A sense of self-loathing makes me feel down. I just got powers and came back, and this is a crime? But I’ve done many things I can’t tell Franc, and now feeling guilty about this... Isn’t that hypocritical?
With many thoughts, a headache starts to come. I should stop scanning ordinary people and only scan Physical Reinforcement users from now on.
It was a dream I wanted to try once clairvoyance is unlocked, but now it feels shattered.
Wrapping my forehead with a headache, a refreshing floral scent passes by my nose. The headache slightly subsides with that scent, so when I open my eyes, a strange-colored flower pot is pushed in front of me.
“...What is this?”
“It smells good, right? It’s the scent of La Poliss flowers. It’s a rare flower that only exists in the jungle regions of the Phase World. It’s an expensive flower that emits a scent that disinfects disease germs attached to the outside!”
Choi Soohan says that and puts the flower pot she’s holding back on the elevator wall.
Seven leaves about the length of a finger are wrapped around the flower, and in the center, a blue light-like pistil and a yellow bean-shaped stamen are attached. The colors and shapes are very unique. Plus, the scent is quite good.
There are such strange flowers. It would be nice to put one in Dad’s hospital.
I approach the pot and smell the scent.
“You said the disease germs were a lie, right?”
“That’s what I mean, when entering the sterilization room, you disinfect your whole body. That’s it.”
“It’s expensive, yet you just leave it like this?”
“Who would steal it? And there’s CCTV monitoring like that? What Ability User would come into the Alliance building to steal just one flower?”
“...That’s true.”
Still, he seems popular with women. His personality is lively, face is sharp, features are balanced, and everything.
With hair that looks like it could be mistaken for a woman, it’s so beautiful that I thought it was a face women like lately.
But dyed yellow and spreading out like a lion’s mane... Even though it doesn’t have the looks, it has the value.
The sound of ding signals arrival at the destination, 32nd floor. The door opens, and a long white corridor unfolds in front of me. There are five wooden doors on each side of the corridor, totaling ten, and at the end of the corridor, a door twice as large as the others is visible.
The walls and floor are not ordinary cement or concrete; it’s a material I’ve never seen.
There are CCTVs mounted at regular intervals on the ceiling. Since the elevator has no buttons for floor movement, someone must operate it from elsewhere.
It definitely feels like a building built in preparation for terrorism or such.
...
I searched without realizing it, and the headache gets worse.
In the forest, there were many uniform objects like leaves, grass, and rivers, so it was fine, but coming back to reality, there are too many moving objects, which is troublesome.
If it’s not a special situation, should I reduce the range and objects? Or only expand when necessary, turn on only detection, and remove analysis and clairvoyance...
“We’re here. If you go inside the door, it’s the testing room. Go in.”
After thinking about various things, Uncle Kang Woohyuk, standing in front of the large door at the end of the corridor, turns to me and says.
“Then see you later! I’ll return your weapons later!”
Then the two of them turn and leave without looking back.
Huh, I didn’t ask about the test. And when will my weapons be returned?
Staring stupidly at the two who leave without looking back, as soon as I arrive in front of the elevator, the two who enter the open door go up to the upper floor.
The Survivor Protection & Management Department must be on the upper floor.
“Uhm.”
Trying to track the two with my search ability, they keep going up, so I turn on the telescopic vision to track them but stop. If it’s a high floor, there might be high-level Ability Users, and someone might notice the hint of the telescopic vision.
Hiding my power like a protagonist isn’t my taste, but since I’m not the protagonist and have no power to show off, I need to be careful with my body.
Above all, the search ability is shaking due to the headache. I reduced the number of objects to some extent at school earlier, so I should reduce the detection objects as much as possible. My head keeps throbbing.
I’ll gradually expand and get used to it...
After trying to shake off the many people walking inside the building from my mind, I briefly search beyond the large door in front of me.
In the L-shaped corridor beyond the door, there are two large rooms the size of school classrooms, two small rooms, and one place that looks like a shower room attached. One of the large rooms has several machines similar to a hospital CT scanner and other unidentified machines.
It’s a place like a hospital and research lab combined.
The two small rooms seem to be used as offices with document shelves and one computer each, and one person is sitting in each room. It feels like three are gathered in front of the machines in the large room or in what looks like private offices.
Two men and three women.
Thinking of Franc watching the current situation from outside the Soul Stone, I clench my pocket and speak last.
“After the test, wait until I come home alone.”
Analyst and Senser. My abilities are clearly different from these two types. Following Uncle Kang Woohyuk’s advice, I don’t want to be used, so I hide my abilities as much as possible. I pretend not to know about the Soul Stone.
After recalling a simple plan in my head, I take a deep breath.
Then, shall I go in.
Screeech
As I approach the door, it seems automatic, and a door several centimeters thick slides into the side walls. Beyond the door is the white corridor I confirmed with my search ability.
The color of the walls makes me feel like a disaster if I lean against them.
Sighing, I pass the threshold, and a beeping sound comes from the room next to the door.
Click.
The door that made the sound opens, and a woman walks out.
The woman wearing a white shirt, black flare skirt, and doctor’s coat has wavy long hair tied once at the neck, looking like an ordinary young woman. A name tag is on her left chest with the name Kim Eunha. Below it, it says “Researcher” in small letters.
Is she a resident researcher in the testing room? She doesn’t seem to be an Ability User.
“Annyeong? You’re Jung Seoha?”
Ah... Annyeong? She looks calm, but saying Annyeong to a stranger... I unconsciously scan her whole body, and after seeing everything, I’m startled by the thought that I scanned after all.
Scary, it’s a conditioned response!
...Still, it wasn’t bad. That place was neatly trimmed too.
“Yeah.”
“Shall we start the test after washing a bit? There’s a sign saying ‘Shower Room’ behind you.”
A slight sense of guilt comes over my innocent appearance. I know from scanning earlier, but I deliberately turn and check the door and look at her.
“Yeah.”
“Go wash there. Since the clothes look like they can’t be worn after washing, it’s okay to discard them, right? Open the cabinet and there are test clothes, so wear those.”
“Yeah. Ah, there!”
As soon as I finish speaking, she turns back to enter the room, so I hurriedly speak.
Why is she so hasty? Anyway, she doesn’t seem like an ordinary security guard... I need to plant bait about the Soul Stone in advance.
“I didn’t hear about the test method, but can you tell me how it proceeds?”
“Huh? It just ends when you receive it?”
Even a kid knows that!
“I’m curious...”
“Fufu, would I let a lowly paid worker like us harm a rare detection Ability User? I heard you’re a rookie who caught even low-tier Aberrants?”
...It seems he already knows everything through Uncle Kang Woohyuk. He’s fast.
Still, Kim Eunha looks at my eyes with a questioning gaze, so she brushes her hair behind her ear and says with an expression that it’s not that interesting.
“We’ll first recheck the type of Phase Power inside your body in the Phase Power Measurement Room. And in the Measurement Room, we’ll estimate your Phase Power’s growth limit.”
It starts to feel tense. What if I get measured for the existence of the Soul Stone?
“Um, can I bring the amulet I accidentally picked up in the Phase World?”
“Amulet?”
“Yeah, since I picked it up and felt lucky, I don’t want to leave it on my body.”
Of course, the amulet here refers to Franc’s Soul Stone. Touching the pocket inside my shirt, I look at her and speak. She seems to think for a moment and asks me.
“Is that item related to abilities?”
Huh? An item related to abilities? I look at her with a confused expression, so she makes an ‘ah~’ expression and says again.
“There are often people like that. People whose abilities increase by carrying a specific item on their body. Nothing bad about it, so bring it.”
Then she turns her body and enters the small room. Since she knows information about me, that sister probably isn’t someone without authority. Since she said it’s okay, I’ll believe it.
Entering the shower room, an opaque white curtain blocks the way at the entrance. Pushing the curtain aside, a space like a locker room appears.
There are five lockers near the entrance, each with a name tag, and one of them has the name Kim Eunha, so it’s probably the five lockers I detected earlier.
Casually scanning inside, I pass the lockers with two men’s clothes and look at the women’s lockers, which are full of various clothes, shoes, underwear, sanitary pads, and personal items like cosmetics.
The remaining about thirty lockers contain white patient clothes, puffy pants, vacuum-packed women’s and men’s underwear, slippers, and bath towels, and small bags with disposable toiletries.
Can I use anything?
Next to the lockers is some kind of machine laundry collection bin and trash can. Casually looking at the school uniform stained with blood, mud, and various filth.
If Mom or Siha see this uniform properly, it won’t end with a fuss. Maybe Mom will faint...
I take off the clothes and hang the pocket with the Soul Stone around my neck, then stuff the clothes and underwear into the laundry collection bin behind. The clothes-eating machine makes a weird sound inside and a pushy air sound, and with a clank, the clothes I put in fall into the bottom basket in vacuum compression packaging.
Convenient.
Opening one locker, I take a towel, underwear, and toiletries and open the door in the corner of the locker room. A normal cubicle shower room unfolds.
“Ooh! Shampoo! Conditioner! Body wash!”
Cheering at the shower supplies in each cubicle, I rush to the shower. When I turn on the shower, hot water pours over my head.
It’s not cold because it’s summer weather, but I wanted hot water.
I stand still for a while, letting the hot water from the shower pour over my body.
Swoosh.
Feeling happiness in the hot water pouring for a long time, I’m washing when a woman sitting in the room with a large machine comes out and walks slowly toward this side, caught by my search ability.
Is she coming to find me because she waited too long? Oh, I spent too much time.
Soon she enters the locker room and starts waiting, so I quickly finish my shower, roughly wipe my body with the bath towel provided in the shower room, and wrap it around my waist.
“Ahem! Ahem!”
The woman wearing similar clothes to Researcher Kim Eunha makes a noise as if she heard my rustling and clears her throat in the locker room to announce her presence.
When I come out of the locker room, there’s a woman with a short haircut standing there, and a name tag on the left chest of her white coat says “Dr. Oh Soeun.”
She looks like she’s in her early thirties, yet she’s already a director? But isn’t the title of director usually for a research institute or something?
Dr. Oh Soeun looks at my wet appearance with no particular expression and opens her mouth.
“I’m sorry. The testing machine has been ready since earlier, so I had no choice but to come to urge you because you were late. The longer the machine waits, the more Phase Energy Plate is consumed.”
“Ah, no. Since there’s hot water, I ended up staying longer without realizing it. Sorry.”
She looks at the pocket necklace hanging on my neck for a moment and says.
“Is that an amulet?”
I bit the bait!
“Can’t I bring it in?”
“There’s no reason not to. Some Ability Users don’t want to remove certain items from their bodies. Put on the test clothes and come to the innermost room by going around the corridor.”
“Yeah.”
I see. There must be people who don’t want to drop off precious items when receiving tests, like other Ability Users.
Following behind her, I track her with my detection ability.
Even though she speaks quietly, her voice is clear, so I thought she wasn’t an Ability User. And her appearance is so beautiful that she might not even be a Physical Reinforcement user.
...Just in case, should I analyze her properly?
Scanning her body, she was surprisingly ordinary. There are well-distributed muscles that look good and soft all over her body, as if she does yoga and exercises. Is that called slender?
If it’s a flaw, it’s a pity. I might be able to ally with my sister.
Hmph.
Still, it’s strange that every woman I meet, I scan their body...
Anyway, wearing the ugly, stiff, puffy test clothes, I tightly hold the pocket with the Soul Stone.
How is the Ability User test conducted? I hope I don’t get caught about the Soul Stone...
No matter what anyone says, I must never let this go.
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