100
Ch.100 Source of Abilities
I wanted to smell the scent coming from Yeo Woon-jae’s body more closely, so I sniffed a few times.
But the scent disappeared not long after.
“What a shame. If your ability had been one that grows the body rather than one that manipulates energy, I could’ve taught you other techniques… Ah, right, we’re in the middle of class.”
Yeo Woon-jae spoke with genuine regret, then composed himself and returned to the other students.
Since he calmed down, the scent faded as well.
Still, having smelled it this close, I think I understand the nature of the scent a little better now.
“Everyone, I believe the sparring earlier must have given you many realizations. As you’ve seen, no matter how strong a power is, simply changing its direction…”
Monsters, beasts, humans—all animals emit a peculiar scent from their bodies when they’re excited.
That scent, mixed with Yeo Woon-jae’s body odor and the stimulant smell from the lab.
For a drug to be secreted from the body… That’s quite strange.
The pill I found on Meister—could he have been continuously taking an improved version of it?
If I could tear off and devour even a part of Yeo Woon-jae’s body, I’d know for sure.
I widened my eyes and slightly lowered my stance.
“Mr. Park Deun-deun, the sparring is over.”
“I get that you enjoyed it, but let’s keep it reasonable. You’re not a beast.”
“Hm.”
Being an A-rank hero, he noticed the signs before my attack.
Stopped by Yeo Woon-jae’s two disciples, I crossed my arms and stood still as a gesture of backing off.
Maybe because I found the earlier play fun, my instincts got ahead of me.
It’s still too early to go wild.
Besides, I can’t definitively say Yeo Woon-jae is connected to the lab.
No need to cause unnecessary commotion and make the lab wary.
For now, I should investigate the reason behind the lab’s scent on Yeo Woon-jae’s body like a cat stalking its prey—quietly and stealthily.
“From now on, everyone must rely solely on their physical bodies.”
The class continued tediously after that.
Demonstrating techniques for the students, time spent trying to use techniques without relying on abilities.
“If you don’t even know how to move your body and only depend on your ability, your strength will fail you at the most critical moment. As a result, when both your ability and body reach their limits, you’ll end up with irreversible injuries like this.”
Yeo Woon-jae, having removed the prosthetic arm damaged during our sparring, lifted his severed limb.
The students moved their bodies like ordinary humans, suppressing all their abilities.
“This technique is called Balgyeong. Once you master it, you’ll learn how to momentarily amplify your ability’s output only when necessary, allowing you to use your strength efficiently.”
In other words, this is training to improve overall stamina for both abilities and the body.
For me, who can already manipulate not just my ability but even my core’s movements to hide my presence, this was pointless.
“How the hell did he do it right away…?”
“What are we even supposed to do?”
“Like this?”
“It’s normal to struggle to draw out any power at first.”
The superhumans glanced at me and continued practicing, while I yawned and stretched.
After the boring time passed, the most tedious part came last.
“Self-reflection through meditation is always important.”
As the sweaty superpower humans sat and regulated their breathing, Yeo Woon-jae walked among them.
“What if I had done this instead? What was lacking in this movement? By objectively observing yourself, you can gradually grope your way through the pitch-black darkness to discover what you’re capable of.”
A low, solemn voice and the sound of evenly paced footsteps.
I lay comfortably on my side and dozed off.
“Moreover, contemplating yourself is crucial in solidifying the form of your ability.”
Just as I was half-asleep, Yeo Woon-jae began talking about human abilities.
“This is common knowledge now. According to Meister's analysis, human abilities are related to fear and trauma.”
“Hm…?”
At the lab, where only monsters were discussed, I never learned about human abilities.
Lying down, I pricked up my ears at this new information.
“The moment you feel the greatest fear, you recall the strongest power and obtain what you need most—that is a human’s ability.”
Monsters devour the greatest fear and despair humans feel right before death and evolve.
“Someone you all know awakened the power to know everything amidst doubt about this situation. Another gained the fastest speed, another an impenetrable wall, another bullets to chase hidden monsters… And someone wished for the strongest power they knew.”
Meister, Electress, Kage, Baskerville, and the last one… Starlight? Or Yeo Woon-jae himself?
“And someone… Wished to be free.”
Now I’m not sure who he’s talking about.
As I listened, I grew interested in the process of ability awakening Yeo Woon-jae described.
If human abilities truly awaken by devouring their own fear and despair, just like monsters…
Then the power of superpower humans is no different from that of monsters.
“Face your own fear and ask yourself, What was the strength I envisioned meant to overcome? Right before my ability awakened, what did I desire most?”
Perhaps because I was half-asleep, Yeo Woon-jae’s voice unconsciously stirred my defenseless mind.
Like a dream, I recalled the fear I felt as a child.
“What was I most afraid of?”
Me, right in front of me, someone close to dying…
“Ugh…”
The unpleasant memory woke me up, and I frowned as I got up.
Coincidentally, the meditation seemed to have ended, as Yeo Woon-jae clapped his hands to rouse the students.
“That’s all for today’s class.”
“Thank you!”
“Trauma… Now that I think about it, it’s the most basic thing, but I haven’t revisited it in a while.”
“Because it’s not a memory I want to think about.”
“I’m hearing this for the first time. Do heroes take classes like this…?”
“No wonder the number of B-rank and A-rank superhumans on the hero side keeps increasing.”
The students, superpower humans, and heroes all stood up, bowed to Yeo Woon-jae, and left the hall.
Amidst the murmuring crowd, Yeo Woon-jae approached me, who was standing still, and spoke.
“Mr. Park Deun-deun, can we talk for a moment?”
“What is it?”
“You didn’t seem to know about the connection between trauma and abilities. Until recently, this was information only disclosed to heroes, so it’s not strange.”
When I answered with undisguised displeasure, Yeo Woon-jae smiled as if he expected it.
“Yet you’ve reached A-rank—you must have lived a rough life. One where you couldn’t survive without constantly seeking greater strength.”
“What’s your point?”
“How rude! Show some respect!”
Yeo Woon-jae raised his arm (minus the prosthetic) to stop his disciple from lashing out at me.
“Seeing how you’ve grown so strong on your own, just a little more knowledge could easily take you to S-rank. Whether it’s techniques you lack due to your ability’s uniqueness or methods to amplify its output—I can teach you.”
“Are you asking me to become your disciple?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Do you even realize what a huge opportunity this is…?!”
At my near-instant refusal, Yeo Woon-jae smiled knowingly, while his two disciples scowled and bristled at me.
Following the other students out, I flicked both women’s foreheads.
“Eek!”
“Eep!”
During breaks, even construction workers wearing helmets feared those forehead flicks—yet these two superpower humans took them bare-skinned, making strange noises as they clutched their heads.
Advice about human abilities is useless to me.
Monsters—CXI’s ability is the power to devour abilities.
It has nothing to do with the fears I had when I was human.
“Feel free to come back anytime.”
At Yeo Woon-jae’s words, I turned my head slightly and met his gaze with one eye.
I do plan to return.
Just not for the reasons Yeo Woon-jae expects.
***
Returning to the empty hotel, I slept briefly before waking to the presence of an approaching monster.
Gu Seo-ryong entered the room with both hands full of something called sliced raw flounder.
She said that if she stored it in Sagugu’s space, she’d keep sneaking it out to eat, so she carried it over by hand.
“Omnomnomnom!”
“So this is sliced raw flounder? It’s delicious.”
“A-City has so much good food!”
“Can’t you eat slower? Who’s gonna steal—oh, actually, yeah, from each other.”
This sliced raw flounder was incredibly tasty.
Sagugu seemed to agree, shoveling handfuls into her mouth alongside me.
“Sagugu is so happy… Big bro is here, mom is here, yummy food is here…”
With her belly full, Sagugu began dozing off with her head on Gu Seo-ryong’s lap.
Once she settled down, Gu Seo-ryong asked me about today’s events.
I told her everything that happened with Yeo Woon-jae.
“So, he even asked you to become his disciple?”
“Yeah.”
“Seriously, he never moves the way I expect… Anyway, this lab scent—it got stronger when Yeo Woon-jae was excited, right?”
Gu Seo-ryong stroked Sagugu’s head to lull her to sleep, then lightly tapped the bed instead of clapping her hands.
Probably to avoid waking her.
“What is it? Could accumulated drugs in the body released when excited? I’ve never heard of medication that triggers like that. Unless… He momentarily lost control of a suppressing drug due to excitement.”
“Hmm.”
At Gu Seo-ryong’s muttering, I recalled suppressing the lab’s drugs in my own body.
Forcing my emotions down could ignore the drug’s stimulation, but if something emotionally intense happened, I’d momentarily lose control.
If so, Yeo Woon-jae’s body must already be saturated with drugs.
“In that state, he’d definitely notice something’s wrong.”
“Right, so Yeo Woon-jae must know exactly what effects the drugs he’s taking have—and he’s controlling them. What the hell is he thinking? If you’re gonna take them, take them; if not, don’t. Why take them and suppress them?”
“Just give me the conclusion.”
“Judging by the drug’s composition, Yeo Woon-jae is maintaining a semi-awakened state at an optimal level. Or maybe the suppression itself is the goal? When building resistance to a new poison, I sometimes stay in a poisoned state on purpose.”
“Gu Seo-ryong, that’s not a conclusion.”
“We still don’t know enough, so investigate more. Focus less on the drugs or scent and more on whether Yeo Woon-jae knows about the lab.”
I frowned at Gu Seo-ryong’s non-answer.
“Not helpful.”
“Huh? You’re the one who slacked off instead of investigating properly. If he offered to make you his disciple, you should’ve said ‘Yes, thank you’ and wagged your tail a little to fish for info about the lab.”
“I have no intention of becoming his disciple.”
“Who said actually do it? Just say whatever sounds nice to get him talking. Geez, you’re impossible. After all the trouble I went through today, all I get is not helpful?”
“What did you even do?”
“I met a government official. Total creep. The moment Sagugu called me mom, he asked if the two of us wanted to come to his mansion… I pretended to be scared and played along. One more meeting, and he’ll answer anything I ask.”
Waggling his fingers, Gu Seo-ryong paused, his expression darkening.
“…During that, I heard something suspicious.”
“What?”
“Kage isn’t just acting up randomly. On the surface, things are quiet, but behind the scenes, he’s trying to replace all government officials. One of the justifications he’s using is evidence that the government sold orphans somewhere.”
“The lab?”
“Most likely. In this day and age, using hundreds of children for experiments over such a long period would be impossible without high-level government involvement.”
“Kage has that evidence…”
So there are people in the government connected to the lab.
Gu Seo-ryong made significant progress, yet she sighed instead of celebrating.
“The problem is… I can’t approach Kage to investigate.”
“You don’t think you can beat him?”
“No, it’s that Kage would recognize me. Even if I used an ability to change my appearance, superpower humans can identify others by their ability’s wavelength. The risk of him finding out who I am is too high.”
“Have you met Kage before?”
“After escaping the lab, I had nowhere to go, remember? I came to A-City first.”
“So you fled to W-City after losing to Kage.”
“Do we really need to keep talking about this?”
Gu Seo-ryong smiled, but her displeasure was obvious.
She’s sulking.
Maturely indulging her childishness, I changed the subject.
“So, you’ll investigate that evidence further through the government official?”
“And you, whether by becoming Yeo Woon-jae’s disciple or whatever, get close and see if he knows anything about the lab.”
“Sounds boring.”
“Investigations are supposed to be boring.”
Just thinking about it made me sigh. It already felt tedious.