Test Subject
I let out a long, shaky breath.
The tension was obvious as I finished straightening my school tie.
The uniform I was wearing belonged to Academy, an international institution dedicated to sexual education.
Two to three centuries ago, humanity faced a nightmare that threatened to end our endless progress.
It was the Great Degeneration of the entire human race.
This degeneration, which began in a certain generation and continued through all those that followed, was known as the First Degeneration Event. It brought countless devastating consequences.
Not only did average human intelligence plummet, but reproductive capabilities declined so severely that proper breeding became nearly impossible.
The shocking global average birth rate of 0.27 forced international society to scramble for answers.
The root cause they discovered was humanity’s genes.
A geneticist from Czechia had found that the genes of the generation where degeneration first appeared had undergone mutation.
There was a reason for the genetic alteration.
Humanity’s brains, flooded with dopamine and the fruits of modern technology, had concluded that further evolution was unnecessary and simply stopped.
As a result, humanity began its slow decline.
The genetic mutation proved impossible to fix even with gene-editing technology. The world’s top researchers eventually gave up on humanity altogether.
The world government recognized the severity of the situation and took action, but the plummeting birth rate showed no signs of stopping.
They even resorted to desperate measures like banning condoms, yet the mutated genes continued to suppress human fertility without mercy.
Then, a faint ray of hope emerged for humanity.
It was the miracle performed by that same Czech geneticist.
While studying the degenerating gene pool, he discovered one man who possessed overwhelmingly superior genes.
That man immediately began spreading his seed across the world.
The children born from his seed all possessed exceptional intelligence and reproductive abilities far beyond normal humans. They devoted themselves to rebuilding civilization.
The world soon honored him and his descendants with the title of Alpha.
But even then, degeneration continued.
In the end, the world government implemented an international policy called the Genetic Grading System, creating five distinct genetic ranks.
The Degenerate Grade, treated worse than livestock.
The 3rd Grade, where those who barely escaped the Degenerate classification gathered.
The 2nd Grade, fittingly called average and ordinary.
The 1st Grade, granted enormous national benefits, support, and the right to embrace anyone they desired.
And finally, the pinnacle…
The Alpha Grade, which granted power equivalent to that of an entire nation.
The world was restructured so that people could only breed with those of the same grade, or with males of a higher grade than themselves.
Women once rose up in protest, but after spending a night with just a few 1st Grade men, the policy approval rate supposedly reached 100%.
Thus began the Great Genetic Grading Era.
Yeah, that’s a perfect answer for a modern history exam in middle school.
I lifted my head proudly and patted myself on the back.
Then I glanced at the clock and realized it was time to leave.
I double-checked that I had everything I needed and was about to head out when—
“Oh, right! My name tag!”
Academy wouldn’t let anyone in without the pre-issued name tag, so I hurriedly searched for it near the front door.
It didn’t take long to find it beside the shoe rack. I clipped it onto the left chest of my uniform jacket.
Baek Sihyeon (3rd Grade Male)
And with that, my life at Academy officially began.
After the Degeneration Event, the world fully recognized its severity.
To prevent it from ever happening again, they began reforming the schools that would educate future generations.
That was how Academy was born.
Officially named the International Institute of Sexual Education, Academy made an overwhelming first impression from the moment it appeared.
All high-school-aged students of 3rd Grade or higher from every country must enroll in Academy.
With that single decree, every institution called “high school” disappeared from the world, leaving only Academy in its place.
One might wonder if there were no schools for the Degenerate Grade, but the truth was that the world had already stopped treating them as human beings.
Standing in front of Academy’s main gate, I felt a wave of nervousness I hadn’t experienced before.
Students who had come from all over the country for enrollment, just like me, were lined up in front of the gate.
At the very front of the line, I saw students entering one by one into what looked like a small prison checkpoint.
Not wanting to be late, I joined the queue and reviewed what I knew about Academy. Before I knew it, it was my turn.
The automatic door opened after confirming my approach. I slipped through the gap and stepped inside the structure. It was fitted with special one-way glass—impossible to see inside from out, but perfectly clear from within.
Through the glass, the new students outside were completely visible.
Inside, there was a desk and a woman who appeared to be an Academy teacher.
“Could you please state your name~?”
The female teacher asked with a kind smile.
“Ah, my name is Baek Sihyeon…”
“Yes, Student Baek Sihyeon.”
She checked my information on the thin tablet PC in her hand, confirmed there were no issues, and then reached into her coat.
What she pulled out looked like an EpiPen-style syringe.
“Um… what is that?”
The teacher answered my question kindly.
“It’s the newly introduced genetic mutation test kit.”
“Oh, I see…”
“I need to administer it, so could you tilt your head and expose your neck for me?”
“Yes.”
I loosened the collar of my uniform and offered my neck to her.
With swift, precise movements, she completed the injection without causing even a moment of pain.
“Do you feel any heat or pain in your chest?”
“Hmm… not really.”
“Good. Everything checks out. Please exit through the door behind you and head to the entrance ceremony venue.”
She maintained her smile until the very end.
Grateful for her courteous treatment, I managed to shake off some of my tension and made my way to the entrance ceremony.
Having experienced entrance ceremonies in elementary school, middle school, and now Academy, I can confidently say they are always boring.
The ceremony itself is simple and short, but the principal’s or chairman’s lengthy speech in the middle drags on forever.
I think I sat through more than an hour of it.
Now that the entrance ceremony was finally over…
“…”
“…”
I was being dragged somewhere by an unknown person.
Here’s what happened.
After the ceremony ended, I was walking around the campus to get a feel for the Academy buildings when two women in black suits with impressive physiques suddenly appeared and dragged me off to some unknown location.
“E-excuse me… where are you taking me…?”
“…”
They didn’t answer no matter how many times I asked.
They had even put a blindfold on me, so I couldn’t see anything.
After being dragged along aimlessly, we arrived at what seemed to be an elevator in some facility.
One of the women stepped forward, swiped a card key, and entered what looked like a series of passcodes.
We rode the elevator down, and I was eventually shoved into a room by the two women.
“Ugh… where the hell am I?”
The room I had been pushed into was divided in two by a long wall of reinforced glass, like the kind used in prison visitation rooms for safety.
Then, someone entered through the door on the opposite side of where I was standing.
“Oh, you brought him quickly.”
She said that and sat down at the desk in her section of the room.
“What are you waiting for? Sit down.”
Without saying a word, I simply sat across from her.
“Um… what is this place for?”
“I’ll be the one asking questions first.”
She cut me off with a cold, unchanging expression that made it clear I had no right to ask anything.
“Name.”
“B-Baek Sihyeon…”
“Age.”
“Seventeen… ma’am.”
“Place of residence.”
“Uh… 00-dong, 000, Seoul…”
“Correct.”
She made several checkmarks on the document in her hand and began asking for more detailed personal information.
“Height.”
“…”
“Height.”
“O-one hundred and sixty-one centimeters…”
One of my biggest complexes—my short stature.
Because I was noticeably shorter than my peers and had a youthful, delicate face, I had been mistaken for a girl more than once. It was a complete sore spot for me.
“Below average. Weight.”
“The last time I measured… I think it was fifty-five kilograms?”
“Also below average… Intelligence score is above average, though.”
I felt a strange sense of pride in my shoulders, but this was hardly the time for that.
“S-so what exactly is this place for?”
“…”
She didn’t answer me at all. She simply continued reading one of the documents in silence.
After a while, she placed the document on the desk, stared directly at me, and spoke.
“You want to know what this place is for?”
“Yes! Why did you kidnap me?!”
“This is the National Genetic Engineering Research Institute.”
“…Excuse me?”
I wondered if I had heard wrong.
The National Genetic Engineering Research Institute.
A place where only the greatest geniuses among South Korea’s geniuses could enter—the top 0.1%.
It was also a facility recognized worldwide for developing countless genetic engineering technologies, receiving massive government support.
And now I was supposedly kidnapped and brought here?
“D-do you plan to use me as a test subject or something…?”
“Obviously. Why else would we kidnap you?”
Oh my god.
“P-please spare me!”
“Suddenly?”
“You’re going to dissect me, aren’t you?! Please, I’m begging you, let me go!”
I pleaded with her as if I were ready to grab onto her pants leg.
“Dissect you? Why would we do that?”
But her response was the complete opposite of what I expected.
“Huh… you’re not going to dissect me?”
“What would we gain from dissecting you?”
“Data or… something like that…”
“We already have more of that than we know what to do with.”
“Then why am I…”
“Because something unique was only detected in you.”
Her expression and posture became far more serious than before as she looked at me and said,
“The Alpha Factor.”