142
Ch.142 I Doubt It
"I hate her!"
After arguing with Ui for a long time, Gu Seo-ryong plopped down beside me like a child throwing a tantrum.
Meanwhile, Sagugu, who had eaten one lunchbox, was playing with Ui again, holding a Pipikung doll.
"Why buy another Pipikung when she’ll just break it right away? The most basic ones are at least on sale. If you start buying all kinds of them, you’ll have to keep replacing them every time she breaks one. She doesn’t even know anything…!"
"Kids don’t understand that."
Gu Seo-ryong, sitting cross-legged in irritation, glared at Ui being dragged around by Sagugu.
Ui, who had been pulled along, sat down and raised both hands above his head, becoming a human Pipikung palace.
"I’m already going crazy because she keeps begging to watch Pipikung animations, and now encouraging her… Playing with her like that just makes her want more."
"Isn’t it good to play with her?"
"It’s not playing, it’s enticing! Can’t you see? He’s trying to addict her with flashy things and turn innocent Sagugu to his side!"
"Hmm."
I shifted my attention from Gu Seo-ryong’s emotionally charged argument to Ui and Sagugu.
Whatever game they were playing, Ui curled up into a ball and was being rolled around, giggling as Sagugu kicked him.
"I don’t get it."
If a researcher had taken over the test subject’s body, it’d be best to kill him before he caused trouble, but Ui was becoming more childlike by the day.
Was he learning childlike behavior from Sagugu, or was his true nature emerging?
Gu Seo-ryong, who like me couldn’t definitively say what Ui was, let out a sigh.
"Killing him would be easier."
"But you don’t seem inclined to."
At my question, Gu Seo-ryong clicked her tongue.
When I was at the lab, the unspoken rule among test subjects not to harm children held multiple meanings.
It was both a rebellion against the researchers—a refusal to comply—and proof that we hadn’t fully become monsters.
Evidence of humanity is still left in the test subjects.
The bare minimum of camaraderie among test subjects who had once been children.
"Is there no way to know for sure?"
"Don’t you have one?"
"There’s a way, but I don’t really want to do it."
Reading Gu Seo-ryong’s gaze toward Sagugu, I guessed the method likely involved using Sagugu.
Though she called her a tool, Gu Seo-ryong had already grown too attached to Sagugu.
I finished the remaining lunchbox and handed the empty wrapper to Gu Seo-ryong.
"Then let’s just ask directly."
"What? Ask?"
"Whether he still has humanity or is just a collective of researchers—can’t we just ask?"
"No, why would he give a straight answer if asked directly…"
Gu Seo-ryong couldn’t hide her disbelief at my suggestion.
However, she soon closed her mouth, perhaps thinking my idea wasn’t so bad.
"I don’t like complicated methods."
Overthinking things only gives me a headache.
***
After lunch and Sagugu’s playtime, I suggested Ui come with me to the restricted district.
"I have something to ask you. Let’s talk where there are no humans."
"Sagugu also has something to ask!"
"Don’t bite."
"Nyaw."
As I pulled Sagugu away from my tail, Ui looked at Gu Seo-ryong and said,
"If you want to ask me something where there are no humans, it must be about the lab, right? Is the test over?"
"Test?"
"Since no mysterious disappearances have occurred despite living among refugees, you must at least trust that I’m a test subject who doesn’t attack humans. Now, hand over information about the lab… Isn’t that it?"
"If you phrase it like that, it just sounds like you’ve been withholding it on purpose for other reasons."
"Oh dear, I’ve gone and provoked the ever-suspicious Gu Seo-ryul again. But if I don’t speak, you’ll suspect I’m hiding something. What a troublesome personality you have."
"Enough."
I stepped between the two as they began sharpening their words again.
Ui then made a sour face.
"Fighting with that woman will only put Unus in a bad mood."
"Then will you shut up if you know that?"
"Let’s both shut up, Gu Seo-ryul. Fine. I’ll come along."
"Ui’s coming today too?"
"Yeah."
"Ui’s sleeping with us too!"
After that, the four test subjects—along with Sagugu, who excitedly circled us—headed to a deserted alley.
Using spatial manipulation to create a passage, we returned to the restricted district outside the outer walls, where no humans remained after construction hours. I released my human form first.
"Ooh… So this is…"
[Then, let’s start with the questions.]
Ui, seeing my Black Cat form up close for the first time, marveled and examined my body.
I brushed off Sagugu, who tried to sit on my front paw, and cut to the chase without circling like Gu Seo-ryong.
[Are you Ui? Or are you the researchers?]
At that, Ui’s expression stiffened oddly as he immediately grasped the meaning of my question.
"You’re asking whether my ego, having swallowed so many researchers, has been eroded by them or if I’m still in control. That’s what you’re doubting."
When Ui glared at Gu Seo-ryong, asking if this was her idea, Gu Seo-ryong shrugged.
Ui sighed and began talking about himself.
"Unus’s question is asking whether I still possess humanity, right? Morality, emotions, reason, love, compassion, empathy, justice, responsibility… Well, I can’t confidently say any of those remain in me."
"Oh my, so you’re saying you have no trace of humanity left?"
"Not exactly. The current me is Ui. A test subject from the lab—Dekel X Ui."
A monster test subject, neither human nor researcher.
Ui was fully aware of what he was.
His answer, showing he retained enough rationality as a test subject, further chipped away at the thought of needing to kill him.
[Why are you telling me about the Annihilation-class? How do you know so much about them?]
"First, fandom. I want Unus, whom I admire, to grow stronger. Second, obviously, because I’ve eaten many researchers."
"Just eating researchers doesn’t mean you’d know about Annihilation-class, right?"
"Ah, that kind of question. How I—or the researchers—know so much about Annihilation-class… Hmm…"
Ui tapped his head pensively before answering.
"I’m not sure either. How does the lab know so much about Annihilation-class?"
"Why are you asking us? You ate the researchers, so you should answer."
"I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but I don’t fully know either. As Unus has seen, I haven’t fully digested all the researchers yet."
"Ha? He really says whatever’s convenient."
Annoyed, Gu Seo-ryong watched as Ui provocatively spat out a clump of undigested researcher memories.
The immaterial mass, tangled in a red sphere, melted like candy.
Even the monsters frowned at the unfamiliar sight.
"What’s that?"
"A clump of memories from a researcher I’m still digesting. As you can see, I haven’t finished yet."
Ui returned the rapidly evaporating human memories to his mouth.
"I’d like to digest them faster, but I ate a lot of humans at once, and the dump memories are quite severe. Ah, if you ate the Alphabets in B-City, you’ve probably experienced this already?"
[It makes sense it’d take a while.]
Gu Seo-ryong, who knew about the interference of dump memories, clicked her tongue in agreement.
"If you still don’t trust me, I can regurgitate the memories of someone who knew about Annihilation-class monsters for you to consume. You might learn something."
"You expect me to eat what you vomited? And it’s still memories you chose to spit out!"
"If you’re going to be like that, I have nothing more to say. Hmm… Maybe the lab already had an Annihilation-class?"
"Not that you’re the Annihilation-class, but that they already had one?"
"Wouldn’t that make sense? As Gu Seo-ryul said, even if I were an Annihilation-class, knowledge like the crystals embedded in their brains couldn’t be known without dissection, right?"
"So, since you’re alive, you’re not an Annihilation-class, and the lab had a separate one?"
"Perhaps. I don’t know either."
"Then where did that Annihilation-class come from? How did they capture it?"
"Who knows? Maybe they luckily found a corpse?"
"This conversation is pointless. Even Sagugu wouldn’t believe—ack!"
Having listened quietly, I decided to step in before their argument went in circles, pinning Gu Seo-ryong under my paw.
[Let’s drop the question of how you know about Annihilation-class.]
Whether Ui didn’t want to answer or genuinely didn’t know, pressing further would be a waste of time.
What mattered wasn’t what Ui knew, but whether he was an enemy or an ally.
[Why are you helping me?]
"Because I want to be your strength."
[Why?]
"As I said, because I’m your fan."
[Why did you become my fan?]
At that, Ui smiled brightly.
"I liked the stories about you that I heard from the researchers."
I frowned, silently asking what stories could’ve led to that, and Ui began recounting what he’d heard.
"Before the monster era, before I was even born, you were the son of a firefighter who died stopping an arsonist during a subway fire—a man hailed as a national hero for saving many lives."
A stabbing pain shot through my head as fragmented memories resurfaced.
Whether because they weren’t fully consumed or due to someone else’s influence, the memories felt strangely unfamiliar.
"And you yourself led survivors during a monster attack while evacuating to W-city after the new urban construction was announced. Even though you were just a child, even though you’d lost your mother that day."
"Grrr…"
As more fragmented memories were triggered, scenes from that day flickered in my mind.
After witnessing an unforgettable sight, I dragged a girl I’d known since childhood to a fleeing vehicle.
Knowing the terrain of the future city, I guided the remaining adults and children to escape the monsters.
"You helped most of the children escape when you were taken to the lab too."
After passing through the military’s monster blockade, orphans were sent to a facility.
When researchers came to take them, I used a fire extinguisher to help them flee.
I was caught and beaten.
Only a few children and I made it onto a minivan.
The researchers summoned monsters to erase traces, and the orphanage burned down.
Recalling these events—memories Ui had made me unable to fully remember—I grimaced.
"You know more about me than I do."
"The researchers talked about you every day."
Through the monster’s senses, Ui silently showed me what the researchers had done to the test subjects.
They believed my creation was due to the host’s uniqueness.
So they tried to replicate me.
Using similar-aged hosts, transplanting my cells, recreating my experiences, brainwashing, memory manipulation…
Through this, Ui learned about my past.
"Some test subjects resented you for what they endured, but I loved hearing about your experiences."
"Why?"
"Because it’s amazing? Even before becoming a test subject, you were extraordinary. After becoming one, you refused to obey the lab, bit into Romania, and were discarded. The researchers’ stories sounded like this to me: ‘Even as a monster, you kept your reason. The researchers aren’t absolute. If you find an opening, you can kill them.’"
"I think I get it."
Gu Seo-ryong, still under my paw, nodded unusually in agreement.
"Even when we were frenzied on stimulants, seeing CXI stay calm helped us snap out of it. ‘This isn’t so bad. We can endure.’"
"Sagugu heard too? Who’s CXI?"
"How could I not be fascinated? In that hell, the researchers kept talking about a human who refused to become a monster. Then I thought, why should I listen to them? They’re just humans—easy to kill."
"So you eliminated Romania and the Alphabets. That’s it?"
"I also wanted to confirm the humanity left in me as a test subject. Like you, Gu Seo-ryul. It was revenge."
Ui bluntly tied Gu Seo-ryong’s vengeance to humanity.
Defining her not just as a monster but as a test subject, he implied he was the same.
"Did it feel good? Watching the researchers melt away. Their helplessness, their numb acceptance of death—it was deeply satisfying."
Gu Seo-ryong fell silent at Ui’s open hostility toward the researchers.
His motives, his explanations—they were starting to make sense.
"...It adds up."
As Gu Seo-ryong muttered, Ui’s smile faded.
"Who’s CXI? Sagugu, Sagugu—what am I?"
"Sagugu?"
"Nyyaaah… What is Sagugu?"
"What’s wrong with you?"
Sagugu clutched her head in pain.
As Ui stepped forward in alarm, Gu Seo-ryong hurriedly picked Sagugu up and injected a sedative into her neck.
Sagugu immediately calmed and clung to Gu Seo-ryong.
Watching this, Ui—who had seemed flawlessly composed—visibly faltered.
"What was that just now?"