Chapter 2: Superpower Verification (1)
"Pant, pant—pet me more!"
"...Alright."
Cotton Fist was the one begging, shoving that tiny head of his in between my palms. I ran my hand slowly over his body, and little by little Mother's barrage of nagging began to wind down.
"Oh, seriously, can you stop nagging already? Suhwan's right here. What is this?"
"Aigoo, getting shy just because your man's around? A fox if I ever saw one. If Mr. Shin weren't here, you'd be the one snapping back at me tooth and nail."
"Enough."
More precisely, the nagging was tapering off because Noona, half-sulking, had turned her face from Mother and was refusing to meet her eyes. And at the very moment she turned away with that pout, the front door lock sang out through the house.
Beep. Beep-beep. Brrrrrip—
"I'm home."
"What are you doing standing at the door?"
The one who stepped inside once the lock gave way was Noona's father. The moment he spotted me sitting on the living room floor by the entryway, he bellowed without so much as a hello.
"What's this. You rascal! I'm not giving you my daughter!"
Just as Mother had her own way of saying hello, Father's greeting was to declare that he would not be handing Noona over. I still hadn't gotten used to it, so an awkward laugh was about all I could manage.
"Dad!"
"You planning to go without dinner from now on? You've made up your mind to block the marriage of a daughter who's pushing thirty? If Ha-eun can't get married because of you, you better know the supper we eat that night is going to be your funeral offering."
Caught between Noona and Mother, Father huffed and clicked his tongue, then gave my shoulder a couple of pats. He talked like that, but he liked me more than anyone. He was, after all, the man who had called me son-in-law from the very beginning.
"So then, what brings our son-in-law over?"
"That... what was it. Animal commu... something-or-other. Says he awakened it and came to test it out?"
"Animal commu? And what's that supposed to do?"
Father turned to me, puzzlement written all over his face, and I gave him the same explanation I had already given Mother.
"Ooh. So that's why Cotton Fist is stuck to you?"
"Yes."
At that, Father murmured that it was really something and clapped his hands. Cotton Fist, who had been glued to my side until that very moment, whipped around, bolted over to him, and settled snugly between his knees.
"Guess he likes Dad more than Suhwan after all."
"Course he does! You have any idea how much money and time I've poured into this little rascal?"
Father broke into a bright grin at Noona's words and scrubbed his hands all over Cotton Fist. By the look of it alone the petting was rough, but Cotton Fist was loving every second of it.
"Master, Master! Love it! More! Ahk!"
Tail whipping back and forth, beside himself with joy—he really did adore Father. And of course he did. Father was that dad.
I can still see it clear as day, him declaring that if we brought a dog home, he'd be the one moving out.
Mother and Noona had ganged up on him until he had no choice but to take Cotton Fist in, and yet he fussed over the dog more than either of them. He was so devoted that he had even gone looking things up on MeTube and trained Cotton Fist himself. Thanks to that, the dog could do more than most well-trained pups.
I was turning over those not-quite-memories of Father and Cotton Fist when Noona tapped my shoulder.
"Suhwan. So when are you getting the superpower verification done? You've got the application all filled out, so it looks like it'll be soon."
"For now... tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow? On a Monday?"
"Yeah. With something like this, it's easier to just do it now instead of putting it off."
Noona listened, and for a moment she looked as if she were weighing something.
"Hmm. Suhwan. Could I come with you? I want to see it, just once..."
She asked with a shy little smile, and I let out a short laugh and nodded. I couldn't flatly turn her down when my girlfriend wanted to come along, and a superpower verification allowed an observer or two anyway. There was nothing to object to.
"Your superpower verification application is complete. Please wait a moment in the waiting room over there, and you'll be called by this number."
"Thank you."
I took the small number ticket the clerk at city hall's Superpower Affairs desk held out and nodded. I had already filled out the application, so the paperwork itself didn't take long.
"Ah! Your superpower is a rather special type, so you might be called a little later! We appreciate your understanding!"
"Yes, of course!"
I had already turned toward the waiting room when the clerk called after me, as if he had only just remembered. I nodded and went over to Ha-eun, who had claimed a chair ahead of me.
"All checked in?"
"Yeah. Seems like they've got a lot to set up. We might have to wait a bit."
"I hope they call you soon."
"You and me both."
Noona looked even more excited than I was. I smiled and let the talk wander the way it did at her café, one thing leading to another. What had happened yesterday was the usual opening, and from there we drifted into my ability, which had become something of a special subject between us. Right about the time the conversation started to thin out, my number was called.
"Applicant number sixteen! Are you here?"
"Here."
A staffer poked his head out of the verification room, calling the number on the ticket in my hand. I walked over and held it out. He checked it once, stuffed it carelessly into a pocket, and opened the door, telling me to follow.
"Ah, um—I'd like my girlfriend to sit in as an observer."
"Damn it. Couples are hell, singles are heaven..."
"Sorry? I didn't catch that. Could you say it one more time?"
"Ah, it's nothing. You may come in. Observers depend on the verifier's permission."
I nodded, though I couldn't quite smooth the puzzlement off my face.
He definitely muttered something.
A little curiosity lingered, but verifying the ability mattered more, so I set it aside. Inside the verification room, a handful of machines stood among several animals. A golden retriever sat neatly in a collar and leash. Up on the table, a cat was sneakily trying to nudge a pen onto the floor. And a small bird sat shut inside a cage.
"The verification we can perform here won't go beyond a basic level. If you'd like a detailed evaluation, including a rank assessment, we recommend completing the verification here first and then visiting a higher institution or a specialist firm."
"Alright."
I already knew as much. I nodded lightly and sat down in the chair he indicated. Spread across the table in front of me were the sorts of pads you would see on a low-frequency therapy unit at physical therapy, along with sponge pads meant for electrical treatment, lined up in a row.
"This device combines a superpower detector and a lie detector. Superpower-related fraud has been surging lately, so we're afraid we have no choice but to go through this procedure. We ask for your understanding."
He kept the explanation short, assured me he wouldn't put me in an awkward position, and attached the pads here and there across my body. Cold gel clung to my skin the way it did with those therapy pads, cool against me.
"Let's run a function test first. When I ask a question, please alternate—the truth once, then a lie. To begin, are you wearing a white T-shirt?"
"Yes."
"Truth. And are you wearing shoes at the moment?"
"No."
"Lie. That's right. Confirmed."
He watched the monitor as I answered and nodded. With those feather-light questions behind us, the verification finally began in earnest.
"Looking at your application, you've listed multiple superpowers. The verification you're applying for this time—is it not your existing ability to set the temperature of water, but a newly awakened ability?"
"Yes."
"And the superpower you wish to have newly verified is Animal Communicating. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
I kept nodding, affirming each question in turn. The examiner checked items off on his paper and jotted notes, and a few more questions followed—whether I had actually used the ability, and if so to what extent, and what level I thought it was.
"Nothing's tripping the lie detector, so we'll proceed to the next step. We'll start with the sorts of pets you commonly see around."
I had answered all of it truthfully, and when he nodded and said the real verification was about to begin, I tensed just a little. First he brought over the cat, which had already knocked the pen to the floor and was scouting for its next victim.
"Your first task is to learn this one's name, and the gender of its owner."
He set the cat down in front of me and looked back and forth between the figures climbing on the machine and my face, as if to say go on. Ha-eun was watching me in almost the same way. I could have brushed the examiner off, but I couldn't betray Noona's anticipation, so I stared straight at the cat.
"Kit—"
"What are you staring at. You wanna die?"
"—ty, you little alley-cat bastard."
"Hmph."
The cat had absolutely no manners.
None at all.
Even so, I couldn't simply refuse to go through with the verification, so I settled myself at once. Watching it groom away without so much as a glance in my direction stirred my irritation all over again, but I pushed it down and pressed on. For all its rotten mouth, the cat was cooperative enough in its own fashion.
"Hey. You. What's your name, alley cat."
"...Ah. Sure."
Hearing that name, I couldn't quite hide how dumbfounded I was, and I found myself intensely curious about whoever had thought to own this cat.
"Is your owner a man or a woman?"
"I have no owner!"
"...Then a butler?"
"A butler, yes. He keeps calling himself my butler and laying food at my feet."
"Right. So is that butler a man or a woman?"
"He's standing right in front of your eyes. What are you even asking?"
At that, my gaze slid to the examiner of its own accord.
"...Why in the world did you name a cat Fernandio Alexo Diablanca Jonathan the Fourth? That can't be easy to memorize."
"A-ahem. We'll move on to the next one."
He turned his face slightly aside at my question, then put the cat back where it had been. Returned to its spot, the cat carried on as if nothing at all had happened, already picking out the next thing to shove off the table.