The Superpower Research Institute
"All right! I'll show you the greatness of mankind—gyaaaaah!"
The burly man had tossed Cheongho the line clipped to the belt at his waist, and he was still roaring when he went tumbling across the floor. He was built like someone who'd been sketched with a gorilla in mind, and yet a single tug from Cheongho sent him rolling. From the sidelines—his friends, by the look of them—a chorus of jeers broke out.
"Boooo! Throw those muscles out!"
He'd gotten himself into this because of a little hands-on attraction that had sprung up after the broadcast and the videos of the animals' health checkups went online. People wanted to feel it themselves: a bite force closing in on a polar bear's, and the outrageous pulling power of that muscle. Just like the big man currently rolling across the floor, visitors had started showing up to take that strength firsthand.
Most of the challengers were the sort people called gym rats, confident in their own muscle and their own strength. Not one of them, of course, had yet managed to take a win off Cheongho.
"Hand it over. On the double."
Having claimed the victory, Cheongho strolled up to the man sprawled on the floor and set a paw lightly on his back.
"Nngh……."
Tasting the bitterness of defeat, the man groaned and fished something from his pocket. What came out was Cheongho's favorite treat—favorite enough that, set down beside So-eun, he would deliberate for about a tenth of a second before sprinting to her. It had become a kind of etiquette, started by the very first person to challenge him, who'd offered up the most expensive snack Cheongho liked. Some called it tribute from the defeated. Still.
Cheongho took the treat with a delighted wag of his tail and demolished it in an instant. A satisfying workout and something tasty afterward—he was thoroughly pleased.
"Happy?"
"Obviously, sir. A little effort, and something delicious turns up."
Having announced that both the exertion and the food were excellent, Cheongho made his joy plain and took off at a run for So-eun. I shook my head at the sight, went back to my seat, and sipped my coffee, meaning to pass the time that way—until Noona came quietly over.
"Suhwan."
"Yeah? What's up?"
"We've got a guest. Says he came looking for you."
"Looking for me?"
"Yeah. Didn't seem like a fan. Here—I got his card, too."
I took the small card she held out.
"Branch Director Ji Bujang?"
"Last name Ji, first name Bujang."
"……That is one remarkable name. So he lands the branch director post, decides it worked out nicely, and changes his name? Convenient, since he was a Ji already."
I stared at the card in pure disbelief. A quick search on my phone confirmed it: the director of the Korea Branch really was named Ji Bujang. Title and name, the very same sounds. Even the English page listed him as "Bujang Ji."
"Suhwan, why not meet him? It's a superpower research institute. Maybe he came because of your superpower."
"Fair point. I do want to know exactly what my ability actually is."
"Right. No matter how I look at it, I can't help thinking the reason they're all so healthy, all above average, is your ability."
I nodded. I'd already been thinking the same thing. Every animal I kept could boast a condition at the very peak of its species, and that couldn't be coincidence. Not one or two of them—more than a dozen, all the same. The odds of that were zero percent, plain and simple.
"All right. Let's meet him. If he's full of it, I'll just run him off."
Ready to throw him out on the spot if he'd come to spout nonsense, I went to see the waiting branch director, Ji Bujang himself. The man in charge of the Korea Branch was younger than I'd expected—capable enough, presumably, to hold the post. He looked young, though the middle-aged uncle hadn't entirely left him.
"A pleasure to meet you. I am Ji Bujang, branch director of the Korea Branch of the International Superpower Research Institute."
"……Shin Suhwan."
Hearing that name straight from the man himself, I was thrown for a second—it still wouldn't stick—but I put on a calm face, took the hand he offered, and shook it.
"I am truly sorry for dropping in like this, without so much as a call ahead."
"No, it's fine."
"Thank you for saying so. Then, may I explain why I've come barging in?"
Director Ji was being exceedingly polite. He was clearly older than me, and yet he observed every courtesy, which I found rather satisfying. I decided to be friendly in return.
"By all means. Oh—have something to drink while you do."
"Ah……. I'll accept, gratefully."
I handed him a glass of cold water and an americano, about as universal a drink as drinks get. He took one sip, made an appreciative remark about how good it was, and went straight to the point.
"I came because I saw your video. The one of the animals being examined at the veterinary hospital."
"Was there some kind of problem?"
"No, nothing like that. Rather, there was something important in it, which is why I came to see you so abruptly."
Having called it important, Director Ji cleared his throat, took out a tablet, and held it up for me.
"If you put together what's shown in your video, you'll see that each animal's physical ability far exceeds the average for its kind."
"Yeah. I've been finding that part pretty remarkable myself."
"Exactly. So did we, at first. But the more we thought about it, one particular thing came to mind. By any chance, have you heard of a Wide-Area Superpower?"
"Wide-Area?"
I tilted my head. I was genuinely hearing this for the first time.
"It isn't strange that you haven't. It isn't exactly well known."
Director Ji launched straight into an explanation. A Wide-Area Superpower was a type so rare you might get one in a hundred million people, if that—and unlike a superpower that affected your own actions, this one reached outward and exerted its influence on everything around you.
"So you're saying I have one of those?"
"Yes. That's our expectation. Which is why I ask…… would you be willing to undergo superpower verification once more? We'll bear every cost, of course. All we hope for is a case of a Wide-Area Superpower, and a little data."
He added that it was absolutely not the sort of verification that drew blood or took a sample of tissue, and I nodded. Once in a hundred million, maybe. How was I supposed to sit on my hands and not find out?
"Thank you. Then tomorrow I'll return with our researchers and the equipment."
With that, Director Ji bobbed a bow and swept off. He left half a glass of cold water and half a cup of coffee behind him, and early the next morning he was back.
Researchers loaded down with every conceivable piece of equipment had claimed the very front of the line, waiting for the café to open. Come on. Just show up at a reasonable hour.
I shook my head, opened the café, and let them in.
"When did you get here?"
"Ah, not long ago. Only about an hour……."
"……."
At Director Ji's utterly untroubled reply, I felt a little sorry for his subordinates. As if he had no idea what I was thinking, he immediately asked whether they might begin researching my superpower.
"Sure. Go ahead."
"Then, if you'll forgive me, could you wear these sensors today? You won't need to do anything else. Just go about things as usual."
He held out something like the pads of a low-frequency massager. They seemed to be wireless—nothing dangling in the way—so I stuck them on wherever he wanted. Shoulders, the back of the neck, the chest, and a bracelet-style pad at the wrist. That was all.
"We'll stay in the area for now and check the data with our various instruments."
I nodded, and the researchers melted away. All of a sudden there were people wandering among the ordinary customers, hauling measuring devices the size of a human head.
"Senior! We're getting a reading here, too."
"Ah—here as well……!"
"Readings from all over, I see. Outside, this time!"
Murmuring among themselves, they clustered up and poured out the door. I shook my head and went back to my usual rounds—looking after the animals as I wandered, taking a short break to horse around with Noona, that sort of thing.
Aside from the researchers roaming about, it was a day no different from any other. As I closed up the café, I looked over at Director Ji and the bunch of them gathered together.
"Mr. Suhwan, I'm terribly sorry, but would it be all right if we took a look at your home? Ah—not inside the house. We'd only like to glance around the yard. Just myself and one researcher."
"The yard? Well…… I don't see why not."
I gave a light nod. They weren't going into the house, only looking at the yard for a moment. Nothing to worry about. Director Ji and the one researcher followed me through the gate, glanced around at once, and then charged straight for the garden bed.
"This can't be!"
The two of them rushed the bed, took in the Korean melons, the tomatoes, the watermelons, and reeled in shock. Is that really something to lose your mind over? I couldn't make sense of them. The produce tasted a little better than what you bought at the market, sure, but was it worth all that?
Unlike me, Director Ji came over with astonishment still written all over his face.
"Mr. Suhwan. By any chance, are you free tomorrow?"
"I have the time, but…… what's this about?"
"I believe we'll need more precise measurements. Not with portable equipment like this—I'd like to take readings with the large-scale instruments that have to be installed in the building itself. You needn't worry, of course. Films and novels sometimes claim we run human experiments on Awakened Individuals, but we absolutely do not. There isn't a blade in the institute. There isn't even a syringe."
"Well…… all right."
Having agreed, somewhat dazed, to the giant equipment, I had to set out the next morning with the researcher who'd come to escort me.
"A helicopter?"
By helicopter, no less.
"If you're going to set up equipment that large, the surroundings have to be empty. The price of land is what matters."
They'd gone looking for cheap ground and built the institute far out of the way, so it was a long trip—and since my time was money, they'd arranged the helicopter. A short flight brought us to a building that could only be called enormous. There was no chance to look the place over. The researcher, eyes already gone wild for the work, led me straight to where the giant equipment stood.